Several weeks ago while sitting at the dinner table my 17 year old daughter mentioned how she had felt sorry for one of her friends because of the rough life she has had. As I listened it brought to mind a patient that I was currently treating. This patient who I will call Francine was …
Being a doctor in 1908 is a far cry from the easy life we have today as physicians. A page from a Chicago family physician, C.H. Bryan, MD diary recently was printed in JAMA. Let me quote a part of it. Dr. Smith was sitting by his fire one night about 11 o’clock. The frosty …
Ideally, babies should breastfeed. The combination of friendly bacteria in the intestines with the antibodies present in breast milk builds resistance until the child’s own immune system becomes fully competent. Do not hurry to substitute cow, goat or soy milk for breast milk, as these can induce allergic reactions and immunological changes in the intestines. …
New parents frequently seek advice about when is the best time to introduce food into their baby’s diet. It is important to introduce new foods slowly, one at a time, when the child’s appetite indicates a need and taste for them. One indicator of the right moment may be the emergence of the two upper …
Many doctors are dedicated to their profession and will make untold sacrifices to help those that are suffering. However, Stubbins Ffirth, a doctor-in-training living in Philadelphia during the early 19th century went further than most. Having observed that yellow fever ran riot only during the summer months he hypothesized it was not a contagious disease. …
Avandia is currently the top-selling diabetic drug with total US sales of $2.2 billion in 2006. A one-month supply sells for between $90 and $170. Several months ago the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) revealed that Avandia is associated with a 43% increase in heart attacks and up to 64% increase in cardiovascular deaths. …
The Greeks are credited with being the first to practice “science-based medicine and effective pharmacy around the 5th century BC. The first pharmacopoeia had a list of 600 drugs and how to acquire and prepare the ingredients. New evidence is emerging that the Egyptians during the time of the pharaohs knew about pharmacy. The biggest …
About a hundred years ago John Harvey Kellogg persuaded a great number of fluent and well educated Americans to sign themselves into his sanitarium at battle Creek, Michigan. Here they were submitted to a regime that included all-grape diets and almost hourly Bulgarian yogurt enemas and of course whole grains. At this same time millions …
TOver the years there has been quite a lot of publicity on the amount of salt that Americans consume and the health problems attributed to this high salt intake. However, there is another side to salt that is seldom mentioned. Dr. Jacques Loeb (1859-1924) proved through experiments that industrial-grade sea salt solution (at the same concentration …
We all know that whole wheat is far superior to white bread. Two recent studies have show just how beneficial eating a single serving of whole wheat can be. One study that looked at 31,208 California Seventh Day Adventists found that those who ate whole wheat bread compared to white bread had a 50% reduction …