Words: Dr Richard FIRSHEIN  Why are food allergies and particularly peanut allergy on the rise? Researchers have been trying to understand why peanut allergies are on the ascendance and their exact causes are still mysterious. Studies show that the possible factors for food allergies, specifically peanuts, may include foods being introduced too early in life,

Words: Dr Richard FIRSHEIN Does your food talk to you? Maybe, it doesn’t audibly yell at you, or whisper sweet nothings, in your ear; but, the fruit, meats, and vegetables that we eat every day have a message to tell us. We are only now beginning to realise what birds, bees, and even other cultures

Words: Dr Richard FIRSHEIN  Recent medical research indicates that specific antioxidants, such as lutein, can lower the risk of eye disease, and prevent macular degeneration, cataracts, and glaucoma from occurring. Macular degeneration is a process that obstructs vision by damaging the fragile capillaries in the eye. It is the leading cause of blindness among people

Words: Dr Richard FIRSHEIN  Much research is being conducted on the value of nutritional and preventative medicine, giving us new insights into the body’s innate healing abilities, as well as ways to build up and create natural defences to ward off illness. We are learning how vitamins co-operate with one another, and the way they

Words: Dr Richard FIRSHEIN  Traditional Chinese medicine [TCM] considers the ginkgo leaf as one of its prized medicinal treasures. This tree dates back to the time of the dinosaurs and has been found among fossils over 200 million years old. Its ancestry makes it a mix of a fern and a modern-day tree. Today, there

Words: Dr Richard FIRSHEIN Free radicals. When I was in medical school, I rarely heard a word about them. Only a small group of ‘kooks’ would rave about the powers of vitamins and minerals. It wasn’t until my own struggles with asthma in the late 1980s that I began to appreciate the benefits of antioxidants;

Words: Dr Richard FIRSHEIN  Natural supplements are being increasingly used to combat stress, anxiety and depression. They are useful all right, but they need to be taken with prudence and preferably under medical guidance.  St John’s Wort, or Hypericum perforatum, was among the first natural, herbal supplements to break into the mainstream market. It remains

Words: Dr Richard FIRSHEIN Jim Weston was 71, when he first faced bypass surgery. Although he had had attacks of angina [chest pain] prior to surgery, causing frequent discomfort, Jim’s mind had always been razor-sharp. He was a retired army drill sergeant, as strong as he was smart. After his surgery, however, Jim quickly noticed

Words: Dr Richard FIRSHEIN Kate Vogel [34], suffered from irritable bowel syndrome [IBS], characterised by gas, bloating, diarrhoea, and food sensitivities, as well as shortness of breath. She had also been losing weight rapidly, shedding 20kg in the last two months. Her job as a freelance computer analyst required her to hop from office-to-office, offering

Words: Dr Richard FIRSHEIN It is reported that more than 15 million people die of heart disease annually. This will continue to ‘ring out’ its death toll until we accept the whole truth — that high cholesterol alone is not the ‘root’ cause. In fact, many people die from heart attacks and coronary artery disease