Some Scary Facts...

• Each year in the U.K alone we consume 200 million alcoholic drinks and 83 billion cigarettes. We all know of the health-risks associated with these "vices" and of course not everyone is going to give up their pleasures/habits. What you should/can do is to consider how to limit the damage done to your body. Here we would find the role of anti-oxidants to be invaluable in at least slowly the progression of associated diseases.

• Currently you have a 50% chance of acquiring heart disease during your life - it accounts for a quarter of all deaths before the age of 65.

• Breast cancer is occurring more frequently and earlier on in women's lives compared to the mid 1980's. A contributory factor seems to be higher levels of oestrogen from medications and xenoestrogens, which are now commonly found in pesticides, plastics and even our drinking water!

• By the age of 60 nine in ten people have arthritis. Patients are often given Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs which do deal with the pain and swelling. Unfortunately they also speed up the progression of the disease. In the U.S.A. NSAID's are a $9.5 billion industry - $ 5 billion for the drugs and a further $4.5 billion to treat the side affects from the very same drugs.

• Prescription medication has killed one hundred and thirty seven thousand people in the USA. And that's in 1994 alone! According to the research conducted at the University of Toronto it would be safe to assume that since 1990 doctor-prescribed medication has killed over I million people in the United States alone. These are not illicit narcotics, we referring to FDA approved prescription medication that is administered by a licensed physician. This astounding statistic makes FDA approved medication prescribed under a physician's care the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S.A. The study excluded errors in administration, noncompliance with instructions and drug abuse. In other words, the medication was correctly prescribed under the supervision of a licensed physician and used as directed. Result: 137,000 dead.

• Listed below are some of the interactions of commonly used medications with micronutrients, which in effect reduce the action of the micronutrient in the body even if ingested in adequate amounts and fully absorbed and assimilated.
• Essential Nutrients and the Drugs that deplete them...

In addition to the above prescription medication interaction it should be considered that many other factors interfere with nutrient uptake. These would include stress, caffeine, alcohol, smoking, pollutants, toxic metals, pesticides, food additives and even some foods that contain natural anti-nutrients. An example of the latter can be seen in bran, which is widely promoted as a health food yet it is rich in phytic acid, which is known to inhibit mineral absorption.