Fudges, fiction and folly

For those with the ability to self-educate in all things healthy and the means with which to translate the learning to life, our stories this week may mean less catastrophe and more motivation to hoe your own health road. But for those less fortunate who depend on the mainstream healthcare system, the ramifications are far more sinister.

Our lead story this week looks at how research, even in the highest echelons of science, can still be full of fudges and fiction. We felt the latest update from the Cochrane Collaboration on omega 3 fatty acids and cardiovascular disease was such a stitch up that Rob Verkerk PhD took time out of his holiday to review the paper. Turns out we were right. Whether it’s a deliberate pro-statin stitch up or not, the result is the same. Yet fats, and particularly long chain omega 3 fats, are essential for good health. Take this paper at face value at your peril.

Our second article is an excerpt out of retired barrister and long-time health advocate, Richard Eaton’s opinion piece in PositiveHealthOnline. In it he poses some critical considerations reinforcing why the NHS should engage with complementary, alternative and integrated medicine practitioners. Given the news this week in The Times that a 5th of UK citizens will suffer with at least one chronic condition by age 30 and almost all citizens by age 50, something drastically different needs to be done.

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, then it is surely pure folly for the NHS to resist change? Hold that thought… our blueprint on a sustainable healthcare system is due out in September and that is anything but folly.

For those short reads whilst relaxing in the summer sun, we have our news snippets in bite-sized chunks.

In health, naturally

Meleni Aldridge

Executive Coordinator