REFLECTION SERIES

Many of you have heard or read that moderate alcohol may be beneficial to your health. Here is an example of a CNN report from December 1997 - A Drink A Day Keeps The Grim Reaper Away."  Researchers report that modest drinking is, on balance, healthful and alcohol's ill effects are offset by alcohol's benefit to the heart. As a physician, it was important for me to go to the scientific literature myself to examine the evidence before I would start advising patients, as some doctors have, that alcohol be used for medicinal purposes. First, I obtained the original research paper printed in the  New England Journal of Medicine , December, 1997. Then, I did a literature search of all the articles that have been published on alcohol in the last three years. What I found was quite surprising, considering all the popular press coverage of the beneficial and medicinal properties of alcohol. The largest and longest study to date was published in the  New England Journa...

Introduction Like refined grains, Refined sugar is considered one of the most harmful foods consumed today. In 1915, the national average of sugar consumption per year was 15 to 20 pounds per person. On average, we now consume our weight in sugar each year, plus over 20 pounds of corn syrup. Some people consume much less than the average figure, which means that there is a percentage of the population that consumes a great deal more refined sugar than their body weight each year. This large amount of refined carbohydrates causes considerable damage in the body. How is Sugar Refined? Sugar is refined by a process of extraction or separation. Refined sugar, such as white table sugar or confectioner’s sugar, is commonly made from sugar cane or sugar beets. Through heating and mechanical and chemical processing, every nutrient is removed until only the sugar remains. The sugar cane and sugar beets are first harvested and then chopped into small pieces. Then the juic...

  Dr. Beatrice Wiafe (Founder and President, Breast Care International) The president of Breast Care International Dr. Beatrice Wiafe -Addai has urged men to handle the breast of women with care as it is a very fragile part of a woman’s anatomy. Speaking on the sidelines of the breast cancer awareness month which is celebrated in October every year, Dr. Wiafe-Addai told Starr Fm morning show host Francis Abban that contrary to claims that the sucking of breast by men reduces the risk of getting breast cancer in women, those claims are untrue. “It is not true that the more you suck a woman’s breast it prevents the risk of getting breast cancer. What is true is that women who have children should breastfeed, and breastfeeding has some positive effect on the woman as far as breast cancer is concerned. But not adult men to go and suck the breast thinking it will protect the woman from breast cancer, that is...