Help knit a petition for Oxfam

Oxfam are calling on knitters everywhere to turn their knitting needles into poverty fighting needles by creating a patch for Oxfam's giant baby blanket - a 'visual petition' they're handing in to world leaders in September 2008, demanding that they honour their promises to make sure mums in poor countries get the maternal health care they need.

Click here for more info.

Has the Oympics inspired you?

Has the Olympics inspired you? May be not with any hope of ever being an Olympian, but just to get out there and get fitter?

If you have, but you know you find it difficult to sustain enthusiasm for exercise and fitness, get yourself some support in the shape of our Exercise Motivation self hypnosis CD. This CD helps you to look forward to exercise, to enjoy it, to commit yourself to getting fitter and healthier.

Check it out – we’ve got a sample you can listen to.

And remember everything in our health products shop comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee, so if you don’t like it you can return it and get your money back (less the carriage charge).

Go for it, enjoy yourself, get fit.

Free Web site healing experience

I received this email from a colleague Andrew Kemp:

I have now finished converting the principles I use in my kinesiology practice into a free website healing experience, with specially composed music running alongside. I have put it into a new website, along with free access to the latest version of my book 'Quantum K'. The website is http://www.quantumk.co.uk/ My goal is to provide some support to those who are interested in subtle healing but cannot afford to see a therapist regularly. It is also designed to support those who do see a therapist but need additional support in between sessions.

Air Pollution

The Olympics in China has reminded us about the problems of air pollution. Athletes have been concerned about how the pollution levels will affect both their health and their performance. Images from China show far from crystal clear air so the concerns seem justified.

It is easy to view the quality of Chinese air as a remote problem. After all, our air doesn’t look like that, does it? But there are problems with air quality in many countries, even where we cannot see any obvious cause for concern. Read On >>

herbs and spices for good health

there's an interesting study of the benefits of herbs and spices. The article in particualr focuses on the benefis of cinnamon for diabetics, but includes other herbs and spices too.

The conculsion is that we should all be using a lot more herbs and spices to increase the health value of our food.

It's easy to grow a few herbs in pots on a window sill at least in summer, and it's great to have some health advice that tells you to do something rather than things not to do!

My Child Is Being Bullied

with the return of children to school after a long break many children and parents are feeling apprehensive. Saddly for some children school is not a great place to be but is a place of torment. Bullying is a real part of many children's lives and can have lasting effects on their confidence and ability to make friends and forge relationships even later in life.

The Indigo essences - specially formulated for children - can be a great help, so I've written a piece on bullying and the Indigo essences in time for the new school year.

Herbal Mouthwash

Gingivitis, gum disease, bleeding and painful gums are a real problem for a lot of people, and they've been linked to heart disease. Diabetics often need less insulin if they get their gums under control.

A new product Perigum - lauched recently in the UK after being very successfully sold in the USA - is a great product to help gingivitis.

It's a natural product based on cayenne and other good stuff. Try it if you've got problems with your gums.

Rememeber everything we sell comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee.

Constipation Solutions

Constipation can be a real problem so we're pleased to stock Regulate, a natural problem to help sort out constipation. It's a non-drug approach based on getting your gut working and helping it to be more healthy.

Psyllium husk, FOS and probiotics work together to get you moving and smelling sweet - all in one of the best constipation herbal formula.

At the moment we are running a spevcial offer on this product - buy 2 pots and save 20%. Give it a go and help yourself go :-)

Best probiotics

in my last post I told you about a special offer we have running on some of our probiotic supplements.

A piece in the UK Sunday Mail national newspaper recommended this range from this manufacturer.

Do take a look at our acidophilus probiotics - we have probiotics for babies and children, for travellers, for when you have diarrhoea, and more.

Special offer on probiotic acidophilus

Special offer on probiotic acidophilus

Probiotic acidophilus are proving to be important for people’s health in all sorts of ways. They help repopulate your gut with the good bacteria that are important for health.

Probiotic supplements can help people with digestive problems, such as diarrhoea, and now research is also showing they are great for baby eczema, for hay fever and for helping the immune system.

But it’s important to choose the right strains. Some strains just do not survive the acid environment of the stomach – they get broken down before they get to the intestine where they do their work. Different strains are more effective for different problems.

If it all sounds confusing, we’ve done the hard work for you by picking supplement combinations that do specific things: for babies and pregnant women, for travellers, for immune support, etc. There’s even a diarrhoea combination that works as well as Imodium, and helps your digestive system get healthier.

We are currently running a special offer on two probiotic formulae: the Travel formula and the Diarrhoea formula. Buy one of these and get a travel first aid kit free.

Probiotic drinks are often expensive, full of sugar and don’t always contain the right strains to do the job.

Check out our full range of probiotic supplements.

And remember we offer a 60-day money-back guarantee on everything on our site.

Gap Year Travels And Health

If you've got a teenager exciedly planning a gap year, you might want o buy a homeopathic travel kit to give them to take with them.

They are compact and come with an explanatory booklet that allows them to find the right remedy for the right situation.

Pesticide Contamination Of Wine

A study by the European Pesticide Action Network (PAN) of forty bottles of wine from France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Portugal, South Africa, Australia and Chile found 100% of conventional wines contained pesticides, with one bottle containing ten different types, the average being four. In all, 24 different contaminants were found, including five classified as being carcinogenic, mutagenic, reprotoxic or endocrine disrupting by the European Union. See www.vintageroots.co.uk for a link to the full report

Breast Feeding Advice

Most mums want to do their best for their new babies and know that breast is best, but sadly many encounter problems and don't know what to do.

Here's a great site for breast feeding advice.

Pharmacy Influence On Medical Journals

Here's an abstract of an interesting article:

Does pharmaceutical advertising affect journal publication about dietary supplements? by Kathi J Kemper and Kaylene L Hood
BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2008, 8:11doi:10.1186/1472-6882-8-11
Published: 9 April 2008

Background
Advertising affects consumer and prescriber behaviors. The relationship between pharmaceutical advertising and journals' publication of articles regarding dietary supplements (DS) is unknown.

Methods
We reviewed one year of the issues of 11 major medical journals for advertising and content about DS. Advertising was categorized as pharmaceutical versus other. Articles about DS were included if they discussed vitamins, minerals, herbs or similar products. Articles were classified as major (e.g., clinical trials, cohort studies, editorials and reviews) or other (e.g., case reports, letters, news, and others). Articles' conclusions regarding safety and effectiveness were coded as negative (unsafe or ineffective) or other (safe, effective, unstated, unclear or mixed).

Results
Journals' total pages per issue ranged from 56 to 217 while advertising pages ranged from 4 to 88; pharmaceutical advertisements (pharmads) accounted for 1.5% to 76% of ad pages. Journals with the most pharmads published significantly fewer major articles about DS per issue than journals with the fewest pharmads (P < 0.01). Journals with the most pharmads published no clinical trials or cohort studies about DS. The percentage of major articles concluding that DS were unsafe was 4% in journals with fewest and 67% among those with the most pharmads (P = 0.02). The percentage of articles concluding that DS were ineffective was 50% higher among journals with more than among those with fewer pharmads (P = 0.4).

Conclusion
These data are consistent with the hypothesis that increased pharmaceutical advertising is associated with publishing fewer articles about DS and publishing more articles with conclusions that DS are unsafe. Additional research is needed to test alternative hypotheses for these findings in a larger sample of more diverse journals.

Full abstract and author contact info

Drug Free Hay Fever Help

A recent study in the journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy gave one group of volunteers probiotics, and took blood samples from each volunteer before, during, and after grass pollen season, checking for antibody levels of immunoglobulin E (IgE). Those who took the probiotics had significantly lower levels of IgE specific for grass pollens and other allergy-related immune substances at peak season and afterward. (www.medicinenet.com)

Check out all our natural drug-free hay fever products.

help Wildlife

Here's some nice ideas for helping wildlife:

http://www.ravensbeard.org/Ravensbeard-Wildlife-Center-Simple-Things-to-help-Wildlife.htm

Vegetarian And Vegan Frozen Food

I was recently at a trade show in London and got to try some great vegetarian and vegan frozen food from Great Nineveh. It's handmade with local cheese and vegetables and tastes amazing. You could wow anyone with these dishes.

I loved the Malaysian split pea curry and the beans in Nigerian peanut sauce.

Frozen food doesn't get much better than this.

Preventing Prostate Cancer

Vitamin D can really help prolong life in several different ways. Here's some more research on its importance:

By inducing a specific gene to increase expression of a key enzyme, vitamin D protects healthy prostate cells from the damage and injuries that can lead to cancer, University of Rochester Medical Center researchers report.

Buy good quality vitamin D supplement.

Tips For Being Green - Or More Green!

A lot of people want to be more green but see it as being expensive and difficult. If you're on eof these people, I've just posted some quick things you can do on Health & Goodness.

Cyling Again As An Adult

Today's Times has a headline 'Claims For Hybrid Cars Dismissed As Gimmickry' and has an article about how so called green cars often emit more CO2 than their manufacturers claim.

So, there's a timely article on Health & Goodness about cycling for beginners or for those getting back on the bike as an adult. It's got lots of cycling tips.