Nick Anderson blogs ...

Green Health Watch subscriber David Ryde was once recognised as the UK’s least-prescribing GP. His studies and experience had led him to advising changes in diet rather than dishing out drugs. In this article we summarise what convinced David that: humans were probably originally vegan, even fruitarian contemporary levels of meat-eating may be a factor in many diseases. Microscopic marks found on both the teeth of living species and on fossil teeth indicate that the humans of four million years ago (Australopithecus robusus) were fruitarians rather than omnivores, like present day chimpanzees Although the move from veganism to omnivore happened over millions of years, it may still have outstripped the ongoing evolution of the human digestive system, he suggests, causing many of the illnesses from which we suffer today. David's evidence David’s evidence includes: The human stomach needs half as much hydrochloric acid to digest plant protein as it needs ...

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the build-up of excessive fat in the liver cells of people who drink little or no alcohol. It is the main cause of liver (hepatic) damage worldwide, and affects up to a quarter of US adults - an estimated 90 million people. 1 When more than 10% of the weight of their liver is from fat (an alternative definition of NAFLD) people are more prone to inflammation and scarring of the liver, becoming (i) overweight or obese and often (ii) 'insulin resistant' (see GHWM47p10). Severe cases of NAFLD can even trigger liver failure. If you are not attracted by the raft of drugs and side effects that orthodox medicine offers people with NAFLD, cinnamon may be a powerful alternative. One meta-analysis of ten trials (covering a combined 543 patients) found that various cinnamon doses (between 120mg and 6g per day for between four and eighteen weeks) significantly reduced (i) fasting blood glucose levels, (ii) blood total and LDL (...

When blood glucose levels rise too high the body attempts to restore a healthy level by releasing insulin from the pancreas (exposure to insulin encourages cells in the body to draw glucose from the bloodstream). If, however blood glucose levels are chronically* high, meaning that cells throughout the body are chronically exposed to insulin, they lose their sensitivity to insulin's effects, and become what is called 'insulin resistant' (IR). As the cells in the body become insulin resistant they ... are increasingly unable to draw glucose from the blood and become low in glucose (hypoglycaemic) …leading to: lower energy production by the cells higher storage of fat in the body raised blood glucose, fat and insulin levels, and reduced function Two examples: IR liver cells are less able to fulfill one of their major roles: the regulation of glucose and fat levels in the blood, resulting in even higher blood levels of both IR brain cells...