7 Natural Home Remedies for White Tongue

A healthy tongue is essential for our survival because, through it, we can drink, talk and consume diet. Sometimes, because of improper hygiene, our pink tongue turns into white. This is called oral candida. This is not a disease but because of certain factors such as bad breath, poor oral hygiene, usage of cigarettes or smoking, fever, dry mouth, dehydration or reaction to certain medications, excessive alcohol consumption, etc. You can consult your doctor if your issue is persistent and severe to get appropriate diagnose and treatment. However, before going to your doctor, you can give these natural home remedies for white tongue a try because they will help remove the white coating and keep your mouth healthy and clean. Read on below!

Top 7 Home Remedies For White Tongue

1. Salt

Among home remedies for a white tongue, this might be the simplest treatment. The salt will work as a natural tongue scraper which helps eliminate dead cells and debris. Moreover, thanks to its anti-septic property, salt can kill bacteria that might result in bad breath.

To use salt for relieving a white-coated tongue, you can sprinkle some salt on the tongue and use a toothbrush to scrub gently for 60 seconds. After that, rinse your tongue off with warm water. Follow this routine twice per day until you get your desired results.

Alternatively, you could also add 1 teaspoon of salt in one glass of warm water. Use the solution to gargle your mouth. Repeat this routine a few times per day for satisfied results.

2. Vegetable Glycerin

This is another time-tested home remedy for a white tongue. Vegetable glycerin is particularly effective for people having white tongue because of dry mouth. Moreover, it helps remove bad breath. Vegetable glycerin can be found at most health food stores.

What you need to do is putting a small amount of vegetable glycerin on your tongue. Then, brush your tongue lightly by using a soft-bristle toothbrush. After that, rinse your mouth with warm water. It is recommended to do this method twice per day until your tongue turns into its natural color.

3. Oil Pulling

Oil pulling is an age-old Ayurvedic medicine, which can be used to treat white spots on teeth and white tongue, particularly due to oral thrush. Oil pulling can eradicate the yeast from oral thrush while expelling toxins from your body.
Just simply put 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin coconut oil in your mouth and brush your tongue with it. After swishing it around in the mouth, you spit it out and rinse your mouth with warm water. You can also use sesame oil to do this oil pulling method.

4. Hydrogen Peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide with its strong antibacterial property can kill bacteria on your tongue. In turn, this helps treat white tongue and make your teeth white. For safety, you should use 3% hydrogen peroxide solution.

To use hydrogen peroxide for white tongue relief, you can mix hydrogen peroxide with water as the ratio of 1:2. After that, dip a soft toothbrush into the solution and scrape your tongue gently with it. After spitting it out, you rinse it off with water. This remedy should be done once per day for about one week. Do not swallow hydrogen peroxide for safety reasons.

5. Turmeric

This is another good solution for those who are looking for effective home remedies for white tongue because of its antibacterial properties that can prevent bacteria growth on the tongue.

To eliminate your white coated tongue, you just need to mix ½ teaspoon of turmeric powder with a small amount of lemon juice to have a fine paste. Then, scrub the paste over your white tongue for several minutes. Use warm water to rinse your mouth thoroughly and repeat the process daily for one week.

6. Baking Soda

Similar to salt, baking soda has a coarse texture which can exfoliate the residues sticking to your tongue and maintain the normal pH levels in your mouth by naturally neutralizing acids.

Mix a small amount of baking soda with enough lime juice to get a good paste. Use this paste as homemade toothpaste and brush your teeth. Apply this home treatment regularly until you get rid of white tongue.

7. Aloe Vera

Due to anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and healing effects, aloe vera can treat oral problems, such as white-coated tongue.

What you have to do is to take a fresh aloe vera leaf and extract the gel. Blend it with some water to get a fresh juice. Swish 1 tablespoon of aloe vera juice in your mouth for several minutes before spitting it out. Rinse your mouth thoroughly with warm water. You had better do it daily for several days to get complete relief from the white tongue.

These are 7 natural home remedies for white tongue which are used by many people around the world. These methods use natural ingredients which do not cause any side effect, so why don’t you choose one of these tips and apply for yourself to get rid of white coated tongue?

References:

https://draxe.com/

https://www.wikiyeah.com/

7 Natural Home Remedies for White Tongue

NHS accused of waving white flag as it axes 18-week operation target

Patients will face longer delays for operations after the NHS decided to shelve one of its most important waiting time targets as part of its ambitious survival plan, which will also result in hundreds of thousands of people being denied surgery.

Simon Stevens, NHS England’s chief executive, has announced that the NHS is significantly relaxing the requirement on hospitals to treat, within 18 weeks, 92% of all patients in England who are waiting for a hip or knee replacement, cataract removal, hernia repair or other non-urgent operation.

The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCSE) immediately accused the NHS of “waving the white flag on the 18-week target”.

A clampdown on surgery deemed of “limited clinical value” will affect people with certain spinal conditions, for example. Overall, a greater number of people with back pain will be treated with physiotherapy rather than surgery.

Stevens said rolling back the 10-year-old 92% target was necessary so that hospitals could concentrate on more urgent priorities, particularly in terms of easing the strain on overloaded A&E departments, as well as enhancing access to GPs and improving the treatment of cancer – diagnosis will be speeded up to 28 days – and mental health care.

The RCSE said the move risked going back to the time when patients faced excessive delays for surgery, leaving them to suffer in pain for even longer before finally undergoing necessary procedures.

“We are concerned that the 18-week waiting times target for surgical treatment has now effectively been jettisoned in all but name, having been dropped from the list of priorities for the next 12 months,” it said.

Clare Marx, the RCSE president, said: “It will be difficult for the general public to understand how waving the white flag on this target is compatible with a vision of an improved health service. We risk returning to the days of unacceptably long waits for elective surgical treatment.”

The move could see the number of people waiting for surgery within 18 weeks under the referral to treatment system going above 4 million for the first time since September 2007. The political importance of the target is likely to prompt criticism of Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary.

Stevens said: “We are saying that we expect that the number of operations that the NHS pays for will continue to go up, but we recognise that [while] right now about nine out of 10 people get their operations in under 18 weeks, in some parts of the country that will be under pressure.

“There is a trade-off here. We expect there will be some marginal lengthening of waiting lists, but this will still represent a strong, quick waiting times experience compared to 10 years ago, let alone 20.”

Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

The British Medical Association claimed the NHS’s inability to meet all its waiting time targets showed that it was “at breaking point”. Its leader, Dr Mark Porter, said: “Achieving one delivery promise only by missing another is a textbook example of rationing access to care. It should not be happening in today’s NHS.”

Hunt insisted that the fact that hospitals were still giving around nine out of 10 patients elective care within 18 weeks, despite the huge demands being placed on them, was a sign of success, not failure. The NHS met the 92% target every month since its inception in April 2007 until December 2015, when performance was 91.8%.

However, medical bodies fear that watering down the 92% target will lead to a significant further jump in the number of patients forced to wait beyond the maximum 18 weeks guaranteed under the NHS constitution. Although the target is not being formally scrapped, in future NHS trusts will face no sanctions for failing to deliver on it.

Hospitals have already breached the target for the past 11 months and, in January, hospitals only achieved a 89.9% rate: 3.255 million people were treated on time but 364,218 were left waiting. Scores of hospitals across England had to declare large-scale alerts and convert gyms and other non-clinical areas into makeshift wards.

Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS providers, which represents most hospital trusts in England, welcomed Stevens’s move as proof of “greater realism” among NHS bosses. “But we do need to remember the impact on patients. The [NHS] plan reinforces a simple, stark truth: that you get what you pay for,” said Hopson.

NHS England’s 75-page delivery plan outlines how it intends to transform healthcare by 2020. The document makes repeated reference to how “modest” budget increases mean that it is unable to provide as much care or care within existing waiting times.

The plan makes clear that what critics call greater rationing of some types of care was imminent. GPs will be expected to refer fewer people to hospital and instead arrange treatment in the community. NHS England will expand the use of “referral management processes”, under which doctors assess whether patients need to go to hospital at all. More patients will be offered online advice.

Stevens announced that hospitals would be financially penalised if they did not screen patients who smoked or drank too much and refer them to tobacco or alcohol services, and said he was determined to reduce the wide variation in patients’ chances of being referred for certain surgery depending on where they lived in England.

Radical modernisation of how the NHS works is needed to ensure it survives as a service funded by general taxation that is free at the point of use, the document adds.

But Niall Dickson, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, called the plan “a leap in the dark”, adding: “We have no alternative but to embark upon such fundamental change, but to do so when services are under enormous pressure and money is so tight is without precedent.”

NHS accused of waving white flag as it axes 18-week operation target

Nine Everyday Uses For Plain Old White Vinegar

We all run into situations where we end up using chemical products we don’t want to use. So, it’s nice to know there’s a safer alternative. Trusty old vinegar, especially white vinegar, can solve many of those problems without side effects. Here are nine ways to use it at home.

White Vinegar vs Cider (or other) Vinegar vs Cleaning Vinegar

Not all vinegars are equal. One reason why I specify white vinegar rather than apple cider or other kinds of vinegar is price. White vinegar only costs about $ 2.50 a gallon. Another is because other vinegars have residues in them. The same apple cider vinegar with the “mother” that is so beneficial when consumed, will clog the tiny openings in your nebulizer. It might leave smelly residue on your pets, or particles on your bathroom shower walls or door. Why pay more when white vinegar gives better results?

Most white vinegar is 5% strength. Another product, called cleaning vinegar, is a bit stronger at 6%. Cleaning vinegar has a bit more punch, but watch the price. At $ 5/gallon, it’s not THAT much better. At $ 3/gallon, it’s a deal.

Personal Uses for Vinegar

Vinegar to Prevent Cellulitis

This trick is one I figured out when my lower leg flared up on a weekend when the doctors’ offices were closed. I’d had cellulitis before and didn’t want it to progress to the infection stage. But it wasn’t worth a trip to the emergency room, either.

I figured that it couldn’t hurt to try the vinegar treatment – better that than do nothing. After soaking a dishtowel in vinegar (I could have used any type of vinegar as the residue wouldn’t make a difference,) I wrung it out and wrapped it around my ankle and lower leg for about 30 minutes. It worked. The inflammation went down right away and it didnt feel hot anymore. I did this again the second day, and my leg returned to normal by the third day.

Caution, though. If you do this and don’t get noticeable results within an hour or two of the first application, do seek medical care. If it’s hot and tender, definitely go to an urgent care or the emergency department. People have been hospitalized for cellulitis.

Vinegar to Remove Dry Skin

One outcome of treating the cellulitis was that the some of the vinegar dripped down to my foot. After 30 minutes of that, my dry, “summer foot” callouses began to break down. After scrubbing them with a washcloth to remove the vinegar-saturated, calloused skin, I was down to nice, soft skin on my feet. Compared to using lotion, which often took several applications, over several days, resulting in only partial softening the vinegar worked in less than an hour.

I’ve noticed, also, that anytime I work with vinegar, my hands are softer. And that’s better than using chemical laden lotions.

Vinegar as Pet Wash and Flea Killer

Like most cats, Mr. Mooo hates baths, so, we keep this torture as short as possible. This is as much for our benefit as his – he’s been known to draw blood the longer he’s kept wet. Judging from his angry eyes and iron grip on the edge of the sink (if not my arm,) I’m sure he hates this, but it cleans him nicely and leaves his fur extra soft.

While he rarely has fleas, we found that washing him with plain white vinegar kills any fleas he does have, immediately. They fall off easily during rinsing.

While, even with a thorough rinsing, he might smell vinegary for a while, the smell goes away completely once he’s dry. It also rinses off much easier than pet shampoo, so he, and we, are in and out much faster. And if he gets away before he’s completely rinsed, the vinegar won’t hurt him. I don’t know how licking off shampoo would affect cats, but it can’t be or taste good.

If you’re camping or RVing and have to wash your pets, especially outside, white vinegar is a godsend. No one’s going to care if you rinse a vinegar soaked dog in a river, or from a hose in the camping area.

Vinegar IS a weed-killer, so rinse where nothing desirable is growing, like a lawn or flower bed. Most RV slips have patios, dirt or graveled areas where you wouldn’t want weeds growing anyway, so you can knock out two jobs at once this way.

Practical Uses for Vinegar

Vinegar as Weedkiller

Speaking of weed-killer, white vinegar is a perfect choice. It’s natural, so no chemicals. Mix it with some magnesium and your weeds will wilt in about a day, and you’ll do no harm to the environment, people or critters. But, it can also kill off plants and grass that you want to keep, so apply it directly on the weeds you want to kill.

Vinegar to Remove Hard Water Stains

One day my husband decided to clean the shower door with vinegar instead of the chemical products we usually used for this purpose. Hard water is the toughest thing to clean in a shower, but white vinegar makes it a snap to clean off.

He was amazed at how easily and thoroughly it cleaned everything. It’s even easier when you use one of those Mr. Clean white sponges. But even with a regular or scrubber sponge, it works so nicely that I wonder how commercial products ever made it to the shelves. No chemicals, no smells, no fumes. And it disinfects, too.

Vinegar for Cleaning the Stove 

Easy-off and similar products clean ovens, stove tops, grills, very nicely. But they give off toxic fumes, and an RV is so small a space that everyone has to get out if they want to breathe safely.

On the other hand, good old white vinegar can cut right through those burnt spots. Well, not right through, but spray it with vinegar and let it sit a while. Then scrub it off with a scrubber sponge or a Mr. Clean sponge. If it doesn’t come off right away, spray the stubborn spot down then warm the oven or microwave before scrubbing to soften those stubborn stains.

Vinegar for Cleaning Burnt Pans

We’ve all burned something while cooking, then get frustrated about how to clean it up. Vinegar is excellent for loosening burnt on foods. Pour a layer of vinegar, enough to cover the burned-on area, and simmer it for a few minutes. Let it sit for an hour, then scrub it off. Heating it usually works when you need a bit more cleaning power.

Vinegar for Cleaning the RV’s Black Tank

Most of us use the bacteria solutions in our black tanks, but sometimes that’s not enough. About once a month we pour a gallon of cleaning vinegar into the tank to help break down whatever solids that are stuck to the tank. Because vinegar kills bacteria, pouring the usual tank solution with bacteria would be a waste of that product, so save it for the next time you flush the tank.

Vinegar for Cleaning Respiratory Equipment

If you use any type of respiratory equipment at home, you may wonder about the best way to clean it. This equipment can range from nebulizers for breathing treatments, to CPAP machines, to oxygen concentrators, and anything you reuse.

I’m a retired respiratory therapist (RT) and, at one time, owned a medical equipment company. I’m disappointed in how things have changed over the years. It used to be that an RT came to your home and showed you how to assemble, disassemble and clean this equipment. But lately, the trend is toward just delivering the equipment via UPS or FedEx, assuming you will read and understand the instructions. That is, if they’re even included.

The good news is that cleaning this equipment isn’t difficult. Just disassemble the pieces of the nebulizer, or water bottle for the concentrator, or CPAP, or whatever equipment you reuse for any type of treatment. Pay close attention to how the pieces go together so that you can re-assemble them easily.

Then soak them in white vinegar mixed with water for about 30 minutes. Then rinse them and lay them on a paper towel to dry before reassembling them. Hang tubings so they can drain and dry faster. Alternatively, reassemble them and run the equipment so that the airflow dries the insides of the tubes, nebulizers, bottles, etc.

Distilled water is best, but people have used tap water with no problems. Recommendations vary from using one part vinegar to either three or four parts water (20% to 25% vinegar solution.) While either concentration works, it does matter that you use white or cleaning vinegar and not cider vinegar, because the particles can clog the tiny openings in nebulizers and water-bottle filters.

Hope these tips make your RVing life a little easier and healthier.

Fulltimers in spirit since 1999. We’ve worked from home since 1977 and have plenty to share about that. As a full timer, the ability to work from wherever we take our RV is a survival tactic. Our travels our funded through writings, Udemy.com courses, Shoestring Startup™ business books, teaching courses in working from home or RV, courses in genealogy, and our affiliate sales of similar materials. Our resource pages are accessible through http://www.adhocgroup.net. Everyone can do something, and we’ll help you live healthier by making a living from whatever it is you do, naturally. Full timing was the best decision we ever made. We enjoy a healthier lifestyle and time to give and take according to the opportunities life presents us.

Nine Everyday Uses For Plain Old White Vinegar

Nine Everyday Uses For Plain Old White Vinegar

We all run into situations where we end up using chemical products we don’t want to use. So, it’s nice to know there’s a safer alternative. Trusty old vinegar, especially white vinegar, can solve many of those problems without side effects. Here are nine ways to use it at home.

White Vinegar vs Cider (or other) Vinegar vs Cleaning Vinegar

Not all vinegars are equal. One reason why I specify white vinegar rather than apple cider or other kinds of vinegar is price. White vinegar only costs about $ 2.50 a gallon. Another is because other vinegars have residues in them. The same apple cider vinegar with the “mother” that is so beneficial when consumed, will clog the tiny openings in your nebulizer. It might leave smelly residue on your pets, or particles on your bathroom shower walls or door. Why pay more when white vinegar gives better results?

Most white vinegar is 5% strength. Another product, called cleaning vinegar, is a bit stronger at 6%. Cleaning vinegar has a bit more punch, but watch the price. At $ 5/gallon, it’s not THAT much better. At $ 3/gallon, it’s a deal.

Personal Uses for Vinegar

Vinegar to Prevent Cellulitis

This trick is one I figured out when my lower leg flared up on a weekend when the doctors’ offices were closed. I’d had cellulitis before and didn’t want it to progress to the infection stage. But it wasn’t worth a trip to the emergency room, either.

I figured that it couldn’t hurt to try the vinegar treatment – better that than do nothing. After soaking a dishtowel in vinegar (I could have used any type of vinegar as the residue wouldn’t make a difference,) I wrung it out and wrapped it around my ankle and lower leg for about 30 minutes. It worked. The inflammation went down right away and it didnt feel hot anymore. I did this again the second day, and my leg returned to normal by the third day.

Caution, though. If you do this and don’t get noticeable results within an hour or two of the first application, do seek medical care. If it’s hot and tender, definitely go to an urgent care or the emergency department. People have been hospitalized for cellulitis.

Vinegar to Remove Dry Skin

One outcome of treating the cellulitis was that the some of the vinegar dripped down to my foot. After 30 minutes of that, my dry, “summer foot” callouses began to break down. After scrubbing them with a washcloth to remove the vinegar-saturated, calloused skin, I was down to nice, soft skin on my feet. Compared to using lotion, which often took several applications, over several days, resulting in only partial softening the vinegar worked in less than an hour.

I’ve noticed, also, that anytime I work with vinegar, my hands are softer. And that’s better than using chemical laden lotions.

Vinegar as Pet Wash and Flea Killer

Like most cats, Mr. Mooo hates baths, so, we keep this torture as short as possible. This is as much for our benefit as his – he’s been known to draw blood the longer he’s kept wet. Judging from his angry eyes and iron grip on the edge of the sink (if not my arm,) I’m sure he hates this, but it cleans him nicely and leaves his fur extra soft.

While he rarely has fleas, we found that washing him with plain white vinegar kills any fleas he does have, immediately. They fall off easily during rinsing.

While, even with a thorough rinsing, he might smell vinegary for a while, the smell goes away completely once he’s dry. It also rinses off much easier than pet shampoo, so he, and we, are in and out much faster. And if he gets away before he’s completely rinsed, the vinegar won’t hurt him. I don’t know how licking off shampoo would affect cats, but it can’t be or taste good.

If you’re camping or RVing and have to wash your pets, especially outside, white vinegar is a godsend. No one’s going to care if you rinse a vinegar soaked dog in a river, or from a hose in the camping area.

Vinegar IS a weed-killer, so rinse where nothing desirable is growing, like a lawn or flower bed. Most RV slips have patios, dirt or graveled areas where you wouldn’t want weeds growing anyway, so you can knock out two jobs at once this way.

Practical Uses for Vinegar

Vinegar as Weedkiller

Speaking of weed-killer, white vinegar is a perfect choice. It’s natural, so no chemicals. Mix it with some magnesium and your weeds will wilt in about a day, and you’ll do no harm to the environment, people or critters. But, it can also kill off plants and grass that you want to keep, so apply it directly on the weeds you want to kill.

Vinegar to Remove Hard Water Stains

One day my husband decided to clean the shower door with vinegar instead of the chemical products we usually used for this purpose. Hard water is the toughest thing to clean in a shower, but white vinegar makes it a snap to clean off.

He was amazed at how easily and thoroughly it cleaned everything. It’s even easier when you use one of those Mr. Clean white sponges. But even with a regular or scrubber sponge, it works so nicely that I wonder how commercial products ever made it to the shelves. No chemicals, no smells, no fumes. And it disinfects, too.

Vinegar for Cleaning the Stove 

Easy-off and similar products clean ovens, stove tops, grills, very nicely. But they give off toxic fumes, and an RV is so small a space that everyone has to get out if they want to breathe safely.

On the other hand, good old white vinegar can cut right through those burnt spots. Well, not right through, but spray it with vinegar and let it sit a while. Then scrub it off with a scrubber sponge or a Mr. Clean sponge. If it doesn’t come off right away, spray the stubborn spot down then warm the oven or microwave before scrubbing to soften those stubborn stains.

Vinegar for Cleaning Burnt Pans

We’ve all burned something while cooking, then get frustrated about how to clean it up. Vinegar is excellent for loosening burnt on foods. Pour a layer of vinegar, enough to cover the burned-on area, and simmer it for a few minutes. Let it sit for an hour, then scrub it off. Heating it usually works when you need a bit more cleaning power.

Vinegar for Cleaning the RV’s Black Tank

Most of us use the bacteria solutions in our black tanks, but sometimes that’s not enough. About once a month we pour a gallon of cleaning vinegar into the tank to help break down whatever solids that are stuck to the tank. Because vinegar kills bacteria, pouring the usual tank solution with bacteria would be a waste of that product, so save it for the next time you flush the tank.

Vinegar for Cleaning Respiratory Equipment

If you use any type of respiratory equipment at home, you may wonder about the best way to clean it. This equipment can range from nebulizers for breathing treatments, to CPAP machines, to oxygen concentrators, and anything you reuse.

I’m a retired respiratory therapist (RT) and, at one time, owned a medical equipment company. I’m disappointed in how things have changed over the years. It used to be that an RT came to your home and showed you how to assemble, disassemble and clean this equipment. But lately, the trend is toward just delivering the equipment via UPS or FedEx, assuming you will read and understand the instructions. That is, if they’re even included.

The good news is that cleaning this equipment isn’t difficult. Just disassemble the pieces of the nebulizer, or water bottle for the concentrator, or CPAP, or whatever equipment you reuse for any type of treatment. Pay close attention to how the pieces go together so that you can re-assemble them easily.

Then soak them in white vinegar mixed with water for about 30 minutes. Then rinse them and lay them on a paper towel to dry before reassembling them. Hang tubings so they can drain and dry faster. Alternatively, reassemble them and run the equipment so that the airflow dries the insides of the tubes, nebulizers, bottles, etc.

Distilled water is best, but people have used tap water with no problems. Recommendations vary from using one part vinegar to either three or four parts water (20% to 25% vinegar solution.) While either concentration works, it does matter that you use white or cleaning vinegar and not cider vinegar, because the particles can clog the tiny openings in nebulizers and water-bottle filters.

Hope these tips make your RVing life a little easier and healthier.

Nine Everyday Uses For Plain Old White Vinegar

Pineberries – The Delicious White Strawberries That Taste Like Pineapples

Pineberries – The Delicious White Strawberries That Taste Like Pineapples

Whether to have a Down’s syndrome baby – it’s not black and white | Frances Ryan

There’s a scene in BBC2’s A World Without Down’s Syndrome?, which airs tonight, in which Sally Phillips, Bridget Jones’ Diary actor and mother of a son with Down’s, shows a video of a disabled girl competing at a gymnastics competition to a woman who chose to end her own pregnancy. The interaction isn’t designed to guilt the woman who made a different decision – Phillips is an empathetic presenter and describes herself as pro-choice – but it is a snapshot of how the conversation around disability and abortion is routinely set up: one woman’s choice versus another’s.

We see this in articles praising women who choose to have their child despite the fact a foetal abnormality has been detected, often asking other female readers: what would you do? Or the tone of news items in which women express doubts or fears about raising a disabled child. Katie Price was described as having “confessed”when she said she probably would have had an abortion if she’d known her son Harvey was going to be severely disabled, as if the thought, let alone the act, was a heinous crime.

On the other hand, I’ve seen women with disabled children – and disabled people themselves – be asked incredulously (often by complete strangers) why an abortion wasn’t chosen. Such attitudes are particularly alarming in a climate where disabled people are increasingly perceived as a costly burden to the state.

When it comes to disability and pregnancy, we are routinely stuck in this sort of black-and-white dichotomy: having a disabled child is said to be a tragedy or inconvenience that should always be avoided, while women who do choose to abort a foetus with abnormalities are vilified as “shallow” and “selfish”. Neither is accurate nor addresses the issues that really matter.

The truth is there is still considerable prejudice around disability. We live in a culture where disabled people’s lives are often said to be worth less, and difference is equated with failure or negativity. Even Paralympians are described in some media reports as “suffering” from their disability. It’s not alarmist to accept that the way as a society we understand disability can directly impact on how individuals feel about bringing up a disabled child.

Medical professionals – the very people pregnant women rely on – are not exempt from spreading such attitudes. Phillips has spoken of the way that, after her son was born with Down’s, her doctor broke the “bad news” and the nurse cried. (Her child’s disability wasn’t detected during pregnancy.)As the NHS looks set to introduce a more effective screening for Down’s syndrome, it’s a valid moment to question how we view disability as a society, and to accept that women, and of course men, deserve accurate information in order to make an informed decision.

But in doing so, we should be vigilant of how quickly this conversation can be derailed. It is an ongoing strategy of anti-choice groups to hijack disability, generally as a way to reduce women’s reproductive rights. This sort of faux concern tends to be less about disabled people’s equality and more about women’s inequality. (And though we’re often cut out from the discussion, disabled women can be the ones who are pregnant.) Days before Phillips’ documentary was even set to air, the Mail used it as an opportunity to run an article claiming women “are being pressured to abort babies” with Down’s.

And yet anti-choice campaigners and media organisations who purport to wish to “protect” disabled foetuses tend to be very quiet – or in the Mail’s case, very vocal – about the support disabled people should receive once they are out of the womb. Raising a child with a severe disability can be exhausting and difficult, as well as wonderful, and this is much harder when the state cuts play centres for disabled children, respite care and transport. Phillips herself admits she was lucky to be able to afford to hire a live-in nanny to help with her disabled child, an advantage women on low incomes struggling alone can only imagine.

And we need to talk about that too, if we are going to really have this discussion. We need to admit that things such as economic and gender inequality, as well as perceptions of disability, impact on our supposedly free choices. And we need to argue for positive change, such as more government support for disabled children (and adults), and more inclusion of disabled people in all parts of society.

As we all know, life, let alone disability or raising children, is not black and white but rather filled with multiple shades of grey. I hope Phillips’ documentary starts a long overdue and nuanced conversation. Both women and disabled people deserve better than simplistic judgments.

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Whether to have a Down’s syndrome baby – it’s not black and white | Frances Ryan

If my team’s research on ME is rejected, the patients will suffer | Peter White

Chronic fatigue syndrome – sometimes called ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis) – is a sad tale for everyone involved. It is a debilitating illness that affects about 250,000 children and adults in the UK alone, wrecking lives as people are unable to hold down a job and are sometimes left bed-bound for years on end.

Unfortunately these patients have not been treated well – their illness is often dismissed or belittled, leading to much anger, misinformation and argument. There are claims of foul play, with issues over freedom of information and sharing of trial data; this week it was claimed that sexism is part of the reason those with ME struggle to get the proper treatment. My colleagues, Professors Trudie Chalder and Michael Sharpe, and I have spent our careers trying to improve care for patients with CFS/ME. At the heart of this story is the Pace trial we have been conducting since 2005.

For many years Nice (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which oversees healthcare evidence) recommended just two treatments – graded exercise therapy (GET) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) – because it had the best evidence that these therapies worked. However, many patients were not using them, following instead a self-guided treatment called “pacing”: listening to the messages from their bodies and pacing themselves – trying not to do too much, wary of pushing themselves to a point where they might make the illness worse. The idea of doing exercise therapy was scary for some patients, worried that over-exertion would exacerbate their ill-health. The idea that CBT, a talking treatment, might help, raised fears that the illness was regarded as “merely psychological”, or even “all in the mind”.

With so much uncertainty and fear among patients, we wanted to find out which of these treatments worked best and whether they were safe. So we ran a large trial with 640 patients that would seek to replicate earlier studies, but on a much bigger scale. All those who took part were given specialist care and randomly allocated to also receive either pacing therapy, CBT, GET, or nothing extra. We had involvement from CFS/ME community, and the research was overseen by independent committees looking at data, safety and how the trial was run.

The results of our study, published in The Lancet in 2011, were clear – those patients given CBT or GET experienced significantly greater improvements in both symptoms and ability to do things, compared with either pacing therapy or specialist medical care alone. Not only were CBT and GET more effective: crucially, they were just as safe as the other treatments when done correctly.

In short, CBT and GET are safe, can definitely help some people and are more effective than other treatments

Our results confirmed the earlier smaller trials, and strengthened the evidence upon which the recommendations of Nice were based. Added to this, a recent Cochrane review (a summary of all the evidence, and considered the gold standard in medical research) also concluded that exercise is a safe and effective treatment. In short, CBT and GET are safe, can definitely help some people and are more effective than other treatments: but, as with all treatments in medicine, they cannot help everyone.

From here on this should have become a happier story. However, some of the ensuing newspaper headlines – such as “Got ME? Just get out and exercise, say scientists” – gave the misleading impression that patients just needed to pull themselves together, or even that they were making it all up. In our clinics we had seen far too much suffering to ever think this illness could be dismissed in this way.

Our research, and that of our colleagues in this field, has attracted its fair share of criticism. Some campaigners have even called for the research to be stopped, the findings retracted, and CBT and GET abandoned completely as they cause harm. One recent focus of criticism has been whether CBT and GET can actually bring about recovery or remission from the illness, not just reduce the symptoms. And by recovery we mean recovery from a patient’s present episode of illness – which is not necessarily the same as being cured, as someone might fall ill again.

To address this we did another test on the data, and found that 22% of people could be considered as recovered with either CBT or GET. Though not a large proportion it was about three times more than the recovery rates achieved by the other two treatments. Other studies showed similar proportions recovering after CBT.

In the latest step in this saga, a blog that hasn’t gone through the rigours of scientific peer-review, or being published in a journal claims that CBT and GET are not as effective as we reported. The authors got their figures by tweaks such as increasing the pass-grade for what counted as recovery, and excluding patients who had reported themselves as “much better”.

Whichever way the data is viewed, patients get better results from CBT and GET – both confirmed as safe – than they do from pacing or medical care alone.

This whole affair is perhaps saddest for the patients themselves, whose suffering has been neglected for far too long. However, there is hope. First, the important message for patients is that it is possible to get treatment that will help them improve and for some to recover. Second, we agree with campaigners that we need more research into the causes and treatments of CFS/ME. However, if their campaign puts people off trying CBT and GET, it will be the patients themselves who will suffer the most.

If my team’s research on ME is rejected, the patients will suffer | Peter White

Loneliness will be the next great moneyspinner | Emily White

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Isolation among young people is increasing, spawning a new industry in companionship. Soon paying for walks, dinners and dates will feel normal

Chuck McCarthy, we heard last week, is an LA man who charges a per-mile rate to walk and talk with customers. Billed as a novel form of social interaction, his business is expanding – he now has five assistant walkers – and the service he offers is part of an emerging trend. Like others in what might be called the companionship industry, McCarthy is packaging up social connection into something we can buy.

Related: ‘We need human interaction’: meet the LA man who walks people for a living

Related: A literary cure for loneliness

Continue reading…

Loneliness will be the next great moneyspinner | Emily White

Coconut Sugar vs. White Sugar: The Facts

Coconut Sugar versus White sugar

Which is the healthier option?

You May be surprised by my response

 

I read numerous nutrition articles, research articles and health books weekly if not daily.    Most of the information is very helpful and informative.

Usually it leads me to ask more questions which then lead me to more research. Along the way I stumble upon some blogs-some very good ones and some really bad ones.

This blog post is created because of a blog I read on “Ways to Alter Recipes to make them Healthier” This was written by someone called “Dr. Donna” but no other information about her was provided.

While the article had many errors (and a few good points) the comment that made me laugh was this:

“Commit to NO sugar in a recipe.  You can do this by using coconut sugar instead”

Hmmm, last time I checked coconut SUGAR is still sugar!

What concerns me is that her post has been viewed over 46,000 times in the past year since it was posted!  How many of those people now have chronic health conditions due to their “sugarless coconut sugar” eating.

I’m sorry, what did she not understand in the wording “coconut sugar”

I admit that I use coconut sugar in some of my baked good recipes. BUT I would never mislead my guests or clients and say “here, try some of my no sugar added cookies!”

The Facts

• Some tout coconut sugar to have a lower glycemic index than regular processed/refined white sugar.  But if you look at the research, only a couple of studies have been done and on only a handful of people.  One study was done by a government that is one of the largest producers of coconut sugar in the world.


• Studies vary saying coconut sugar has a glycemic index anywhere from 35 to 54.  (White sugar is around 60).  For me, I need to see more research.


• Coconut sugar is higher in some minerals as opposed to white sugar BUT….


• In order to get the nutrient benefits from coconut sugar you would have to eat A LOT of it!  Eat whole foods instead.


• Regular table sugar is 50% fructose, 50% glucose.  You may see claims that coconut sugar is fructose free but in reality it is roughly 40% fructose.  Fructose gets processed by the liver and the excess get stored as fat.  Fructose contributes to heart disease, diabetes, obesity and in my opinion, mental health issues and systemic inflammation as well.


• Coconut sugar does contain some inulin which is a prebiotic fiber.  Again, how much do you need to consume to reap the benefits? Eat raw onion, raw garlic, raw asparagus and not overly ripe bananas for your prebiotic fiber instead!


• Some coconut sugar products are not 100% coconut sugar but instead a blend with cane sugar.  Know your products or ask someone who does know which products to use!


• If you are diabetic you should treat the consumption of coconut sugar the same as consuming refined white sugar.


• While it may be the better choice than white sugar, it can still impact your liver and blood sugar health.


• If you opt for coconut sugar, use it in small, limited quantities, not part of your daily intake.


• It has the same amount of calories as white sugar.

Bottom Line

Coconut sugar is still a sugar. It is a better option that GMO white processed sugar for the occasional baked good but don’t be misled. It is still sugar.  Use it as an occasional treat instead.

Coconut is a great source for healthy fats but in the form of coconut oil. Fat gives food its flavor. I make banana bread that really does not have any added sugar!  What gives it a great taste is the coconut oil and the bananas provide all the sweetness that you need.

Final Thoughts

There is so much information on the web and unfortunately much of it can do more harm than good. Always check the sources of the information provided and do further research. If you are still unsure, bring the information to a qualified professional in that subject area to get their take on the information.

I always research products and information. Most product companies that stand behind their products and their words are more than happy to respond to you and share more information.  I email and call companies all the time!

Sadly (for me, not for her!) there was nowhere to comment at the end of “Dr. Debbie’s” post to let her know of the error but I’m sure she is glad that I was unable to comment!

Sources

Bauman, E. & Friedlander, J. (2014) Foundations in Nutrition.  CA: Bauman College

Gunnars, K. (nd) Coconut Sugar-Healthy Sugar Alternative or a Big, Fat Lie? https://authoritynutrition.com/coconut-sugar/

Perlmutter, D. (nd) Coconut Palm Sugar-What’s the Skinny? http://www.drperlmutter.com/coconut-palm-sugar-whats-skinny/

Virgin, JJ. (8/18/14) Coconut Sugar: Healthier Sweetener of Another Pretty Name for Sugar? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jj-virgin/coconut-sugar-healthier-s_b_5669084.html

Karen Brennan, MSW, CNC, Board Certified in Holistic Nutrition (candidate), author of the E book Tru Foods Depression Free Nutrition Guide; How Food Supplements and herbs can be used to lift your mood and owner of Tru Foods Nutrition Services, LLC believes in food first when addressing the root causes to your health conditions.  For more information, visit her website at www.trufoodsnutrition.com

As a nutrition professional, Karen Brennan does not treat, cure nor diagnose. This information is for educational purposes only.

Coconut Sugar vs. White Sugar: The Facts

White Home Strategies To Shift Medicare Away From Fee-For-Support 50% Of Payments Tied To Good quality By 2018

The Obama administration will push Medicare payment swiftly away from charge-for-services medicine within four years, outlining a program to have half of all Medicare bucks paid by to doctors and hospitals by means of “alternative” reimbursement models by the finish of 2018.

U.S. Secretary of Well being and Human Solutions Sylvia M. Burwell today said reforming Medicare payment is a priority now that millions far more Americans have overall health coverage beneath the Affordable Care Act and her company as a result will concentrate “energies” on making use of “incentives to inspire increased-value care.” A detailed seem is here.

“A vast majority of Medicare charge-for-service payments currently have a link to good quality or worth,” Burwell stated in a standpoint piece published in the Jan. 26 New England Journal of Medicine. “Our purpose is to have 85% of all Medicare charge-for-service payments tied to top quality or worth by 2016, and 90% by 2018. Probably even far more crucial, our target is to have 30% of Medicare payments tied to high quality or worth by way of alternative payment designs by the end of 2016, and 50% of payments by the finish of 2018.”

Currently, just twenty percent of payments from the Medicare well being insurance system for the elderly are paid through option payment versions like bundled payments, patient-centered health-related houses and accountable care organizations, a swiftly emerging care delivery program that rewards physicians and hospitals for operating collectively to improve top quality and rein in expenses. In these designs, medical doctors and hospitals get on more risk that they can streamline the care, improve quality and remove bureaucratic inefficiencies.

“Three many years in the past, Medicare produced virtually no payments by means of these alternative payment versions,” Burwell stated.

Just last week, UnitedHealth Group UnitedHealth Group (UNH) reiterated its commitment to enhance payments that are tied to value-based mostly arrangements to $ 65 billion by the finish of 2018.  Aetna Aetna (AET), Cigna Cigna (CI), Humana Humana (HUM) and other individuals are expected to supply updates on their worth-based mostly contracting for this yr inside the subsequent two weeks.

Asking yourself how the move away from charge-for-support medicine  will affect your overall health care? The Forbes eBook Within Obamacare: The Resolve For America’s Ailing Well being Care Technique answers that query and much more. Accessible nowat Amazon and Apple.

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White Home Strategies To Shift Medicare Away From Fee-For-Support 50% Of Payments Tied To Good quality By 2018

Three slices of white bread a day linked to weight problems

They found that total bread consumption was not linked with obesity but when they looked at folks who ate only white bread, it was found that these who ate two or far more portions per day, or 60g, have been forty per cent a lot more most likely to be overweight or obese five years later on compared with people who had one portion or much less per week.

The investigation may possibly recommend that folks who eat a good deal of white bread have much more unhealthy diet plans general.

Lead author Professor Miguel Martinez-Gonzalez from University of Navarra, said: “Refined grains such as white bread start to taste sweet in the mouth practically as soon as you eat it, that is the starch becoming broken down into sugar.

“It is this feeling that leaves you wanting far more. When white bread is a staple food, consuming at one or two primary meals a day then this is a lot of added calories on a day-to-day basis.

“The message is clear, go for wholegrains alternatively of white bread when eating your meals.”

He said there was no link with obesity and wholegrain bread discovered in the study, and the basic trend suggested that consuming wholegrain bread might shield towards obesity.

This was simply because wholegrain bread includes far more fibre, nutritional vitamins and minerals and the carbohydrate is broken down and absorbed much more gradually, he explained.

Three slices of white bread a day linked to weight problems

President Obama To Convene White House Summit On Youth Concussions

Amid the expanding concern of mother and father, coaches and athletic trainers about the potential prolonged term results of concussions in children engaged in sports routines, the president is scheduled to convene convene a summit right now at the White Home which aims to not only advance investigation, but also spot a spotlight on approaches, along with prevention, detection and awareness of sports activities-connected concussion in children

The “Healthy Youngsters and Safe Sports Concussion Summit” is also a step towards addressing the developing public well being demand for viable approaches and remedies to concussion identification, evaluation and management at the youth level—something that was in no way addressed adequately in the previous decades. In reality, latest research has suggested that younger brains may be more vulnerable than adult brains to repeated “hits”, due to the fact the window for injury is drastically lengthened for youth who encounter repeated blows.

DSC_0383 (Photograph credit score: Brian J. McDermott)

Numerous professionals are now more concerned about the idea of repetitive injury in kids because this may involve basic differences in the real makeup or structure of a developing brain in contrast with the far more developed structures and anatomy in an adult brain. Even so, other researchers have challenged the concept that so-referred to as “sub-concussive blows”—blows not sturdy sufficient to generate headaches, dizziness, nausea or stability issues-actually outcome in any proof of prolonged injury simply because of a lack of published data on this entity.

As a end result, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the National Investigation Nationwide Study Council published a report last fall detailing that we have a lack of usable data about concussions predominately in youth sports, along with a “culture of resistance” in which some kids and teen athletes do not self-report concussions or concussive signs to steer clear of “being positioned on the bench.”

As a mother or father of two young daughters who are energetic in athletics, President Obama needs to make it clear that sport-related concussions are a national priority and so deserve a area in our nationwide discussion.  As an avid sports activities fan, Obama understands and appreciates the dangers of sports associated concussions and desires all parents to have a discussion with their youngsters to guarantee their overall health and security not only even though engaged in sports, but in the many years to come right after they may not be competing.

By convening the summit, the President’s objective is to produce a united hard work amongst essential stakeholders which includes the NCAA, NFL and MLS and to forge new research and collaborative efforts that will end result in novel ways for parents, trainers, coaches, and doctors to not only stop, but spot concussions earlier and react with more efficient treatment options.

Some of the efforts detailed in today’s press conference include a collaboration in between the Department of Defense (DOD) and the NCAA to fund a key clinical examine evaluating effects of head impacts and resulting concussions in youth going forward. In addition, one hundred Pop Warner teams will get portion in a prolonged term venture monitoring the cumulative effects of concussions suffered at a younger age into the higher school many years. The NFL has also made the decision to pledge 25 million dollars more than the up coming three many years to design and employ youth security projects aimed at concussion security and awareness. An lastly, Major League Soccer and US Soccer program to convene a conference that will emphasis on increasing  awareness and management of concussions.

Clearly, many would argue that the 25 million dollar sum pledged by the NFL for investing in youth concussion analysis for this initiative–in light of the 765 million dollar settlement in the previous year for gamers who have suffered the effects of traumatic brain injury–is not in trying to keep with a fiscal investment that may possibly be expected for this kind of an endeavor. It is clear that the league will have to reflect on this as a starting stage and gauge their investment in our youth as the program grows.

While there have been no significant advances in the treatment method and management of concussions in the past 30 years, there is now a push to unite government resources, academia, and the private sector to share so-called “common information elements” in the hope of developing a shared national database of individuals who have suffered concussions.  The believed is that this may support accelerate the approach of discovery and lead to viable mechanisms to aid lead to far more powerful care and identification of concussions.

1 location of study for concussion awareness and thus management has involved the use of scalp and helmet- mounted sensor technologies as a approach to detect the force of a hit, and therefore create a cumulative “hit count”.

X2Bio, a  specialized engineering organization based in Seattle, has been at the forefront of advancing such technologies for use in youth sports.  Their scalp-mounted sensors and accelerometers have been tested exhaustively during college football more than the previous several years, executing properly as predictors of considerable head trauma warranting more evaluation by trainers and healthcare personnel for concussion. In truth, X2’s specialized ICE concussion application was just lately adopted by all 32 NFL teams for sideline evaluation for gamers with suspected concussion.

Dr. Geoffrey Manley, Professor and Vice Chairman of Neurosurgery at UCSF, chief of Neurosurgery at UCSF and lead investigator for the Transforming Investigation and Clinical Knowledge in Traumatic Brain Damage (TRACK–TBI) study, has utilized magnetic resonance imaging to identify structural abnormalities in practically 30% of 135 sufferers with mild TBI and a regular computed tomographic (CT) scan. The existence of these abnormalities witnessed n MRI predicted unfavorable outcome at three months. This represents an essential phase towards far better identification of complex patient subgroups within the population typically classified as having mild TBI or concussion.

Total, Track-TBI represents portion of a national effort made to generate a unified database of so-named “common data elements” which can be shared among researchers in purchase to result viable options to the complexities of concussions an traumatic brain injury (TBI). This dataset will help to populate the Federal Interagency Traumatic Brain Injury Study (FITBIR) databank, an informatics technique that offers a collaborative platform for imaging, evaluation, and genomics investigation.  The goal is to have so- known as “big data” produce considerable advances in an location that has yet to see any appreciable gains.

And an organization primarily based in Seattle, A single Mind, is at the forefront of selling the idea of shared information.  As CEO of 1 Mind, Common Peter Chiarelli [Ret] has helped to advance the nationwide conversation towards promoting a unified database for clinicians to draw on to make a united front. At a recent conference in Crystal City Virginia in early May possibly, Chiarelli thorough an aggressive strategy to website link industry, academia and numerous branches inside the National Institutes of Overall health (NIH) in a collaborative style to help perform towards advertising shared data with frequent information components.

The long term seems to be very promising, with the President taking an essential first step towards having an open and ongoing nationwide conversation about the potentially life changing effects of traumatic brain injuries and concussions that could get started in childhood.

President Obama To Convene White House Summit On Youth Concussions

On Heroin: More Users White And Suburban Than Ever Before

Four years ago, the makers of OxyContin changed the formulation so that it would be more difficult to abuse. It became less crushable and less dissolvable, so users would have more trouble snorting or injecting it. Some people predicted that this change would simply push OxyContin abusers to go for more accessible drugs – like heroin. And they were absolutely right, according to a new study in JAMA Psychiatry. Heroin is no longer a drug that inner city kids experiment with – it’s one that people, often well-to-do suburbanites, graduate to when their prescription drug addiction becomes financially unsustainable.

“In the past, heroin was a drug that introduced people to narcotics,” said study author Theodore J. Cicero. “But what we’re seeing now is that most people using heroin begin with prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, Percocet or Vicodin, and only switch to heroin when their prescription drug habits get too expensive.”

(Photo credit: ShuttrKing|KT)

And the “type” who’s addicted to heroin has shifted considerably over the years, according to the new study. In the 1960s, the average heroin beginner was 16 years old, a minority male, and from an inner city. Now, the average age of first use is 23, and more new users are men and women from suburban or even rural areas: 90% of new users in the last decade were white. And, the study found that most heroin users – 75% – had migrated to heroin from a previous prescription opioid drug addiction.

“Our earlier studies showed that people taking prescription painkillers thought of themselves as different from those who used heroin,” Cicero said. “We heard over and over again, ‘At least I’m not taking heroin.’ Obviously, that’s changed.”

The main reason for this blurring of boundaries is that buying prescription drugs on the street is becoming cost prohibitive. “The price on the street for prescription painkillers, like OxyContin, got very expensive,” Cicero said. “It has sold for up to a dollar per milligram, so an 80 milligram tablet would cost $ 80. Meanwhile, they can get heroin for $ 10.”

And, of course, making prescription drugs harder to crush hasn’t really helped the problem – it’s just changed where it lies. Says Cicero, “these people aren’t just going to stop using drugs. As we made it more difficult to use one drug, people simply migrated to another. Policymakers weren’t ready for that, and we certainly didn’t anticipate a shift to heroin.”

Bringing light to the problem may help to some degree: Certainly celebrities’ public or losing battles with heroin addiction have helped do that, but that’s not the only fix.

Understanding why the problem exists – what heroin use is really a symptom of – is the first step in addressing it. “You can’t effectively treat people or prevent addiction unless you know why they are taking drugs, and we don’t really have a handle on that yet,” says Cicero.

That’s only partly true. Stress, depression, other mental health issues are probably pretty good guesses. But it’s going to take a lot more research to understand all the causes, and more creative thinking to come up with the right treatments.

For more information, or to find treatment, see SAMHSA’s website. http://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/

Follow me @alicewalton or find me on Facebook.

Courtesy JAMA Psychiatry

On Heroin: More Users White And Suburban Than Ever Before

How Marco Pierre White went from fine dining to a fine previous mess

Marco Pierre White: retired as a chef in 1999 to focus on his company ventures. Photograph: Don Arnold/WireImage

Identify: Marco Pierre White.

Age: 52.

Appearance: Remember that time your dinner lady came to college drunk and wild-haired and clutching a knife? A bit like that.

That is no way to communicate about the enfant horrible of British cuisine. Marco’s eating places are prestigious. They’re influential. They are … in want of a swift clean?

Pardon? Environmental wellness officers visited the Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar &amp Grill in Birmingham earlier this yr and awarded it a foods hygiene rating of zero. The specifics of their report appeared in the Instances this week.

And what does the zero rating indicate, exactly? It signifies they identified raw meat and cooked meat stored together and dealt with with the exact same gear, they found the cleanliness, layout and ventilation to be ‘poor’ and they had no self-confidence in the management. Workers say they have acted on the inspectors’ suggestions and subsequent revisits have been constructive, but the zero rating will keep legitimate till the subsequent inspection.

But I was going to go there subsequent week. Conserve your income. There is an Eat4Less sandwich store 10 minutes away. You could get dozens of 99p baguettes for the same cost.

Are there any options that nevertheless involve Marco Pierre White? Oh yes, quite a couple of. White retired as a chef in 1999, which has offered him a lot of time to focus on his other business ventures.

Such as? There is Marco’s Grill, which is inside a football stadium. Or the sports bar he created with a jockey, which is also inside a football stadium …

I’d rather consume someplace that is not within a football stadium. In no way worry! Marco is also the encounter of each Bernard Matthews and condiment makers Knorr, so you could usually go and sit on a park bench someplace, crumble a stock cube above a packet of Hickory BBQ Turkey Chunks and reside out your fantasy of fine dining that way.

Are you suggesting that Marco Pierre White has squandered his talent in favour of an effortless buck? No, I am stating it baldly as truth. I considered that was apparent.

Do say: “I would like to order the beef bourguignon, please.”

Don’t say: “Yes, I’m cancelling my reservation. We’re just going to remain residence and neck some gravy.”

How Marco Pierre White went from fine dining to a fine previous mess

Racist couple "demanded white doctor"

Dr Nadeem Moghal, from George Eliot Hospital in Warwickshire, was creating in the BMJ about how the Macpherson report, that looked into institutional racism in the police following the murder of Stephen Lawrence, could be applied to the NHS.

He explained: “The report defined institutional racism as the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and expert service to people since of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin.

“This report is appropriate to every organisation, private and public yet this was not sufficient in a situation which took place in a former workplace where mothers and fathers of a child patient refused to have care delivered by black or other minority ethnic medical doctors.

“The story is that the mother and father of a youngster patient refused to have care delivered by black or other minority ethnic physicians though the request was phrased a touch a lot more colourfully.

“The patient necessary the specialist skills accessible in tertiary hospitals. The clinical director concluded that simply because of the nature of the illness and the clinical need of the patient, the parents’ decision would be enabled.

“Attendance at the clinic was planned to guarantee that the patient saw 1 specific white British medical professional.

“The clinical crew, which included physicians of South Asian origin, knew of this arrangement.

“On 1 occasion the patient seemed to be acutely sick, forcing the white medical doctor to check who was operating in the evaluation unit ahead of choosing to see the patient simply because of the diversity of workers on the unit at the time.

“The arrangement continued for more than a year. There was an assumption that the rest of the clinical team accepted this arrangement on the grounds of clinical need.

“Even so, when the arrangement was unveiled to other folks outside the particular service in question, as a supposed instance of very good determination generating in a tough circumstance, the reactions ranged from ‘this is no different from a female patient requesting a female doctor’ to ‘this is the first time in my specialist job I have felt defined and judged by my ethnic origin rather than my skilled capability’.

“Following a challenging approach, like requests for a reversal of the decision (such as from me), which unexpectedly led to a board degree inquiry, the healthcare director told the family that care would be provided by staff irrespective of their ethnicity and the loved ones relented.”

He added: “Is institutional racism occurring in our hospitals?

“The determination to enable racist mothers and fathers to determine who was to deliver their child’s care based mostly on ethnicity was to effectuate the racist views of a racist.

“But there are limits to patient option and when racists are confronted they might ultimately relent.

“Any organisation may uncover it challenging to accept that it had behaved in an institutionally racist way but that Macpherson’s definition makes it possible for comprehending and the strengthening of institutions’ policies.

“It was a difficult journey but the right final result was ultimately reached and that the key lesson is right away confronting and standing up to racists.”

Racist couple "demanded white doctor"

AstraZeneca cancer drug hailed as "great white hope" in battle towards sickness

AstraZeneca’s head drug developer: This drug could “hold the prospective to form the future of cancer treatment”. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Photos

It might not be the catchiest of names, but AstraZeneca drug MEDI4736 was revealed on Wednesday night as a “new fantastic white hope” in the fight against cancer as it took centre stage in the British company’s battle against Pfizer’s planned £63bn takeover.

It is this drug, designed in Cambridge and Maryland, that AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot was referring to when he warned MPs that an aggressive cost-cutting transaction could delay improvement and price lives.

Physicians and scientists are so excited about the likely of MEDI4736 that it has been quickly-tracked to phase III hospital trials just before the outcomes of the initial clinical benefits have even be published.

AstraZeneca’s head drug developer Briggs Morrison believes the drug, which has initially been trialled on lung cancer but could be extended to a total range of tumours, could “hold the potential to shape the long term of cancer remedy” and rake in yearly sales of up to £3.9bn.

The benefits of phase-I trials were launched on Wednesday night ahead of a full presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference later this month.

The advancement of MEDI4736, or in scientific terms a human monoclonal antibody, is so critical to AstraZeneca that Soriot will fly to the ASCO conference in Chicago to oversees its presentation.

MEDI4736 performs by stripping cancer cells of their “stealth cloak” so that the patient’s immune technique can detect and destroy tumours, and could change chemotherapy in some cases. AstraZeneca last week began testing the drug on 702 patients that are suffering from non-tiny-cell lung carcinoma at a lot more than a hundred hospitals across the globe. The tests have begun far more than six months ahead of schedule as AstraZeneca rushes to get the drug to market ahead of rivals.

“MEDI4736 is an crucial molecule in our immuno-oncology portfolio and its entry into phase III clinical trials is more proof of our commitment to invest in distinctive science in our core therapy regions, and to rapidly progress our immuno-oncology pipeline,” Morrison said. “Lung cancer is still the major cancer killer, there is a clear need for a lot more treatment method possibilities to provide individuals with a greater possibility of beating the illness.”

The pleasure surrounding the drug was even more underpinned on Wednesday when the business announced plans for a separate trial of MEDI4736 in conjunction with yet another drug to develop “an enhanced anti-tumour immune response”.

Savvas Neophytou, analyst at Panmure Gordon, said the investment and scientific communities were buzzing with excitement about the “excellent white hope [of] MEDI4736″.

He mentioned combining MEDI4736 with US biotech organization Incyte’s NCB24360 molecule was the equivalent of “removing the stealth from cancer and hitting the target with significantly higher ballistics at the same time”.

“MEDI4736 blocks the signals that support tumours keep away from detection by the immune technique, countering the tumour’s immune-evading tactics, although INCB24360 enhances the potential of immune cells to combat the tumour,” he stated.

Colin White, lead analyst and head of oncology at Datamonitor Healthcare, mentioned MEDI4736 had “a incredible sum of commercial possible”.

“It looks like it truly is going to be an effective remedy against a wide selection of distinct tumours, so there is possible for higher industrial returns.

“This drug could be really worth multi-billions of dollars, but here there are lots of rivals out there and there is a chance they could get beat AstraZeneca to market and steal a enormous industrial benefit.”

Roche, Merck and Bristol-Myers are also creating similar immunotherapy therapies.

Regardless of AstraZeneca’s criticism of the positive aspects of massive pharmaceutical acquisitions in the wake of Pfizer’s curiosity, it picked up MEDI4736 when it purchased Maryland analysis firm MedImmune for $ 15.6bn (£9.3bn) in 2007. The business has developed a number of of AstraZeneca’s most promising pipeline drugs which includes other cancer immunology medicines Tremelimumab, MEDI0680 and MEDI6469.

If MEDI4736 proves as profitable as hoped it could be well worth about £35bn if it was spun out on its very own, according to analysts.

Soriot warned on Tuesday that a Pfizer takeover and the struggle to reconcile “saving tax and saving lives” could jeopardise the progress of medicines. “Any distraction on operate we are doing now could run the chance of delaying our drugs pipeline,” he mentioned, alluding to Pfizer’s wish to save US tax payments via taking above AstraZeneca and domiciling the mixed organization in the United kingdom. He additional: “From the lab to the patient takes several many years.”

There are fears that long term of MedImmune, in Gaithersburg, Maryland, could be particularly at risk because Pfizer has committed to basing at least twenty% of analysis and improvement employees in the Uk and the US business already has a 25-acre globe-major oncology analysis park in San Diego, California.

John LaMattina, Pfizer’s head of investigation from 2004-2007, said he would be anxious if he worked at MedImmune and pointed out that the business consolidated three oncology investigation internet sites into its La Jolla campus while he was in charge.

US politicians have written to Read to implore him to sustain MedIummune’s investigation in Gaithersburg if the deal goes ahead.

Maryland congressman John Delaney mentioned Read’s promises to preserve 1 fifth of the mixed company’s investigation in the United kingdom made him fret that it would “put much more strain on choices they make in the US”.

Soriot has accused Pfizer of making an attempt to snap up AstraZeneca on the cheap just before the accurate worth of its long term medicines are reflected in its share price.

“A year and a half ago, we did not have significantly of a portfolio,” he explained. “Now we have one particular of the best in the market.”

Roy Herbst, chief of medical oncology at the Yale Cancer Center, stated: “Each and every company is realising that immune therapy is going to be element of armamentarium [doctor"s arsenal towards] nearly every single cancer.”

He mentioned acquiring AstraZeneca would give Pfizer “all the immune treatment they will not have. They absolutely want to spouse.”

AstraZeneca cancer drug hailed as "great white hope" in battle towards sickness

White men and women the least healthful ethnic group in Britain

The figures, based on a survey performed in 2012, have been launched on Tuesday as the final portion of a series of scientific studies by the ONS examining the way of life of Britons.

The “non-white” category incorporated men and women categorised as Asian, black and Chinese, as effectively as those of mixed race.

This is imagined to be the very first time that official statisticians have examined the comparative probability of suffering extended-standing illnesses between individuals from various ethnic backgrounds.

An ONS spokesman stated the researchers were “curious as to what was driving the difference” but the review did not offer an explanation.

Prof Kennedy Cruickshank, professor of diabetes and cardiovascular medication at King’s School London, mentioned the differing ages in the white population in contrast to individuals groups described by the ONS as “non-white”, could be a “main issue” behind the trend.

Previous ONS research have identified that white groups have a tendency to be older than these from other ethnic backgrounds and this analysis found that older people have been significantly far more very likely to have LLIs or disabilities.

In 2012, 67 per cent of people aged 75 or in excess of had this kind of illnesses, in contrast to 14 per cent of people aged amongst sixteen and 24.

The ONS mentioned that when variable factors this kind of as age have been taken into account the distinction among the two groups grew to become “smaller sized” but the proportion of white folks with limiting LLIs was nevertheless double that of non-white groups.

Prof Cruickshank also stated that previous studies had shown that some newer immigrants had been more “reticent” about divulging personalized data for surveys, which could also have impacted the outcomes.

The examine comes following well being specialists explained that a wholesome diet regime ought to consist of 10 portions of fruit and greens a day, doubling the existing five-a-day official advice.

Investigation by University College London, which involved a 12-yr-examine, identified that eating large quantities of fruit and vegetables significantly lowered the threat of premature death.

The research also exhibits that unemployed people hunting for perform have been almost twice as very likely as these with jobs to have a limiting long-standing illness (LLI) or disability.

Amid the jobless, 17 per cent had such an sickness, compared to nine per cent of those in operate.

People with increased incomes were far less most likely to suffer from a disability or prolonged-term illness that limited their action – with only 6 per cent of folks with an cash flow of £50,000 or a lot more falling into this category.

By contrast eleven per cent of people with incomes of much less than £10,000 suffered from LLIs.

White men and women the least healthful ethnic group in Britain

With A Forked Tongue: How The Obama White Home Stymies Innovation in Meals Manufacturing

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg occupies 1 of the most critical positions in government.  Her agency regulates items that account for much more than 25 cents of every client dollar, a lot more than $ one trillion yearly.  Additionally, FDA is a “gatekeeper,” which indicates that its affirmative approval is essential before numerous classes of goods, such as drugs and health-related units, can be sold. 

Inevitably, FDA’s leaders guarantee that the agency’s choices will be primarily based on science, but a lot of ultimately succumb to partisan politics.  It seems that Dr. Hamburg’s time has come.

In testimony final week ahead of the Senate Overall health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee during a hearing about the agency’s existing initiatives, Hamburg spoke about the pending application for approval of a genetically engineered Atlantic salmon.  ”We will be moving forward in a deliberate, science-driven way, reflecting all of the critical inputs … as we contemplate this item application,” Hamburg testified to the committee.

That’s disingenuous, and she understands it.  The truth is that only one “input” counts: the White House’s undue influence over the FDA’s overview.

Margaret Hamburg, Commissioner of Meals and Medicines, May possibly 18, 2010 Press Conference, UN Geneva (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The genetic adjustments made to the fish – the addition to the genome of a growth hormone gene from the Chinook salmon and a regulatory DNA sequence from the ocean pout — confer no detectable distinction in its appearance, ultimate size, taste or dietary value it just grows about twice as fast, a tremendous financial advantage to those farming the fish in a closed water method.  The availability of such a salmon would be a incredible boon to shoppers looking for lower-excess fat and reasonably priced choices for sources of protein, especially in the face of meals value inflation and the weight problems epidemic.

Approval of the AquAdvantage salmon has been delayed simply because of the antagonism of the Obama White Property, which hijacked the evaluation two years ago.  The fish would have been in our markets and on our plates prolonged ago, had Hamburg and her agency been permitted to do their work.

Following a number of years of deliberation, regulators concluded as early as 2012 that the AquAdvantage salmon has no detectable variations and that it “is as protected as meals from standard Atlantic salmon.”  And because the fish will all be sterile females and farmed inland, there is negligible chance of any type of “genetic contamination” of the gene pool or other environmental effects.  (Even in a worst-situation situation, these fish are maladapted to compete in the wild.)

When the FDA completed its Environmental Assessment in April 2012 and was ready to publish it — the final needed hurdle prior to approving the salmon for advertising and marketing — the decision-generating was mysteriously expropriated by the White Home.  The assessment process vanished from sight until finally December of that yr, when the FDA was finally permitted to publish the EA (the unsurprising verdict: “no significant impact”), which need to then have gone out for a brief time period of public comment.  (The comment time period, which was extended, ended on April 26 of last yr, but the salmon even now has not been authorized.)

The explanation for the delay in FDA’s publishing the necessary Environmental Assessment was exposed by science author Jon Entine.  He relevant that the White Residence interference “came following discussions [in the spring of 2012] among Well being and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ office and officials linked to Valerie Jarrett at the Executive Workplace [of the President], who had been debating the political implications of approving the [genetically modified] salmon. Genetically modified plants and animals are controversial among the president’s political base, which was imagined vital to his reelection efforts for the duration of a reduced stage in the president’s reputation.”

There’s an additional sordid influence at function here obstructing the machinery of government.   According to several independent, reputable sources, the continued delay in the approval of the AquAdvantage salmon is due to opposition to it from assistant White Home chef Sam Kass.  A chef who has a bachelor’s degree in background influencing crucial governmental regulatory decisions that are usually manufactured by Ph.D. scientists and skilled regulators?  What’s subsequent – the Obamas’ podiatrist determining whether or not a new Alzheimer’s drug or Hepatitis C vaccine ought to be approved?

Citing the illegality of the White House actions, Entine wrote in December 2012, “The Federal Food, Drug &amp Cosmetic Act demands that Well being and Human Solutions secretary approve the AquaBounty application inside of 6 months following compliance with Part 512.”  The organization was notified by the FDA early last 12 months that each and every key component of its application had been successfully addressed, but as typical, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius – Hamburg’s quick boss — rolled more than when instructed to by the White Residence.

There are ripple results from this kind of abuses of federal power.  Henry Clifford, vice-president of AquaBounty, told me in an email last September: “Next week I am going to our venture in Panama (which I control) [where the salmon is getting farmed] to harvest 15,000 lbs of gorgeous 15 pound (mean excess weight) AquAdvantage salmon, all of which will finish up in a landfill.  I can not even donate the harvested fish to the bad.  Our regulatory authorizations in Panama are only for ‘R&ampD’ (no human consumption) right up until we get FDA approval.”

7-and-a-half tons of large-top quality, fresh salmon dumped into a landfill in an impoverished, protein-bad nation – courtesy of a know-practically nothing White House chef and Obama administration bureaucrats who declare to care about nutrition and the public interest.  That is grotesque.

The cynical, self-serving actions of the Obama administration have decimated an entire when-promising sector of U.S. biotechnology – a sector that could have yielded animals like leaner pigs, dairy cows that make non-allergenic milk, chickens that make much less environmentally damaging excreta, and cattle resistant to mad cow condition.  Would any entrepreneur in his appropriate mind now finance the improvement of a meals solution that faced an uncertain, years-prolonged regulatory path?

Dr. Hamburg has three selections: (1) She can continue to go along to get along, even if it involves dissembling to protect her political masters (2) she can grant the approval – which is way overdue, and which she has the capacity to do (below authority delegated to her by the Secretary of Overall health and Human Companies) — and dare the President to fire her or (3) she can resign and expose the unlawful and corrupt actions of her bosses.  Which one particular she chooses will say a great deal about her character.

Henry I. Miller, a doctor and former director of the FDA’s Workplace of Biotechnology, is the Robert Wesson Fellow of Scientific Philosophy and Public Policy at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

With A Forked Tongue: How The Obama White Home Stymies Innovation in Meals Manufacturing