Feelgood 24-09-2010

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FeelgoodFriday, September 24, 2010

FeelgoodFeelgood

CHECK UPRegular dental visits helpearly detection of cancer: 4, 5

HEART MATTERSMore women die fromstroke than men: 4, 5

SMART BUYSTop ten foods for studentson a tight budget: 12

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HEALTH NOTES

Kate O’Reilly

WHAT’S ON

News front

www.irishexaminer.com www.irishexaminer.comFeelgoodMag FeelgoodMag www.irishexaminer.com [email protected] Editorial: 021 4802 292 Advertising: 021 4802 215

Lorna Byrne, author of Angels In My Hair, talks about miraclesof life in her latest book, writes Helen O’Callaghan

HEAVENLY: Lorna Byrne, author of thebestseller Angels in My Hair.Picture:: Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland

Heaven sentLORNA BYRNE sees angels

all the time. She has seen themriding bikes in Amsterdam,

mimicking people at a party and playingNintendo with a young boy in awheelchair at a book signing in Dun-drum Shopping Centre.Two years ago, this previously un-

known Maynooth widow took theworld by storm with her autobiography,Angels In My Hair. The book’s essentialmessage: that “every single person has aguardian angel, regardless of their reli-gious belief, even if they have no faithand don’t believe in anything”.Now the 56-year-old mum of four has

just launched Stairways To Heaven,which takes up the narrative of her lifewhere Angels In My Hair ended, withthe death of her husband, Joe, in 2000.She recounts how miracles unfolded togive her a new farmhouse home in CoKilkenny, essential for the healing of heryoungest child’s grief after her dadpassed away — aged five at the time,Megan is 14 now.“All the little joys of normal everyday

life, making friends, getting a puppy,having a homely home, helped Meganget over her grief,” says Byrne.In Stairways To Heaven, the author

tells how key people came into her lifeso that she — who, due to dyslexia, hasnever read a book in her life — couldwrite books about angels and their wis-dom. She reiterates that she sees the

light of the guardian angel behind everyperson and that this angel is with usfrom before conception to after ourdeath.In the case of people who are in de-

spair and contemplating suicide, she in-variably sees the guardian angel inter-twined with the soul of the troubledperson. And she says the gigantic angel,Jimazen, guards our planet — his morefrequent appearance to her is a sign thatthe planet is hanging in the balance.Byrne — whose first book sold almost

half a million copies, was translated into20 languages and even attracted ap-proaches from Hollywood — says she’ssurprised at the number of men movedby Angels In My Hair. “They say ‘I’dnever before have read a book like thatbut somehow it reached out to me’.They thank me for saving their lives.”So, can Byrne see my angels? Not

over the phone, she says. “But I’m be-ing told they’re whispering in your earall the time. And there is a beautiful an-gel on your right giving courage andconfidence.”

■ Stairways To Heaven by Lorna Byrne,14.99. Lorna Byrne will sign copies ofher books in Eason, Patrick Street,Cork, tomorrow at 12pm.

BIG LAUNCH: AvaO’Donnell, 2, RTEpresenter Michael ÓMuircheartaigh, andFair City’s BryanMurray at the launchof Dementia: It’stime for action! tomark WorldAlzheimer’s Day.Picture: James Horan/Collins

THE Alzheimer Society of Ireland (ASI)wants dementia to be made a national healthpriority in Ireland following a new global re-port which warns of the devastating eco-nomic and social impact dementia will haveworldwide in coming years.The landmark report, published by

Alzheimer Disease International to markWorld Alzheimer’s Day (September 21),maintains governments are unprepared forthe most significant — and growing —health crises of the century.It is predicted that the number of people

with dementia in Ireland will spiral from acurrent 44,000 to more than 104,000 by2036. Up to 13 people develop dementiaevery day in Ireland.For information visit: www.alzheimer.ie.

The Alzheimer National Helpline 1800 341341 offers information and support.

A television documentary, The End of Age-ing, featuring, Rose Anne Kenny, professorof geriatric medicine and consultant geria-trician at St James’s Hospital, will bebroadcast on RTÉ 1 this Sunday at 9.30pm.The feature, part of RTÉ’s Coming of Ageprogramming, which coincides with Posi-tive Ageing Week, looks at how and whyIrish people are living longer and how Ire-land is leading the way in the developmentof age prevention technologies.

Get your heart pumping and go the extramile for the Irish Heart Foundation by tak-

ing part in a World Heart Day walk thisSunday. If you’re in Dublin, join Irish rugbyhero Keith Wood at 11am in the PhoenixPark for a 5k walk. It starts near the Castle-knock Gate. Or head to Galway to joinOlympic silver medallist walker OliveLoughnane on the Prom at 11am. Call theIrish Heart Foundation for more details on01-668 5001 or visit its website irishheart.ie.

Physical inactivity is estimated to cost Ire-land 1.6 billion per year and this will growunless the problem is dealt with, accordingto Dr Muireann Cullen, manager of theNutrition and Health Foundation (NHF).“The comprehensive Slán survey of

lifestyle, attitudes and nutrition showed

38% of Ireland’s population is overweightand 23% is classed as obese”, says DrCullen. According to the Slán survey, 59%of adults do not meet the Department ofHealth’s recommended levels of physicalactivity.

Smart phones and apps helps those with awide range of cognitive and communicationproblems to recall what happened during theday, to share pictures of events and to com-municate through a high-tech device widelyregarded as ‘cool’.The Irish Association of Speech & Lan-

guage Therapists (IASLT) offers key infor-mation on using the latest aids. For detailsvisit www.iaslt.ie.

■ AMD TESTING: Age-related MacularDegeneration (AMD) is the most com-mon cause of registered blindness inIreland, thought to affect one in 10 Irishpeople and the principal cause of sightloss for people over 50 in the westernworld. Symptoms include distortion anda blurring in the centre of the vision.This week is AMD Awareness Week,and in order to increase public aware-ness of the disease and highlight theimportance of regular testing, free test-ing is available at locations nationwide,including Cork City Library, GrandParade tomorrow from 10am to 1pmand the Royal Cork Yacht Club,Crosshaven from 3 to 6pm. More infor-mation is available on www.amd.ie

■ LIFEBOAT DAY: The RNLI HelvickLifeboat Station in Co Waterford willhost an Open Day this Sunday from12pm to 5pm, where members of thepublic will see the RNLB Alice & Charlesand meet the crew. The local vintagetractor car and bike owners will do avintage run in aid of the HelvickLifeboat, departing from the RNLILifeboat Station at 1pm and returning at3pm with over 70 vehicles taking part.For further information call 058-46314.

■ NUTRITION DIPLOMA: The Collegeof Naturopathic Medicine (CNM) runs apart-time nutritional therapy course inCork, as well as courses in acupuncture,naturopathy and herbal medicine inDublin. If you would like to learn more,the college is holding a free open night,where you can meet course tutors in theRochestown Park Hotel on Tuesday nextbetween 7 and 9pm To reserve a placecall 01-2353094; www.naturopathy.ie

■ OPEN DAY: The Inner AwakeningOpen Day at Dervish in Cornmarket StCork tomorrow is designed to bring in-formation on the workshops, groups,etc that take place there to a wider audi-ence. Free one-hour talks will be held(11am to 7pm) in the Bodega. To bookor for information call Dervish on021-4278243 or call into the shop.

■ RCSI LECTURE: As part of CultureNight 2010 and to celebrate 200 years ofthe Royal College of Surgeons in Irelandon St Stephen’s Green, the College willhost two free public lectures tonightcharting the history of RCSI, from itsfoundations on a disused Quaker grave-yard, to the part it played in the 1916Rising. Professor Clive Lee, Head of theDepartment of Anatomy in RCSI, willgive the lectures entitled Surgeons’Halls — building the Royal College ofSurgeons in Ireland, from 7 to 7.30pmand 8 to 8.30pm. You can register atwww.rcsi.ie/culturenight or phone01-402 2196.

■ NEW CHARITY: Jewels for Cures is acharity which was launched this week toraise funds for the Cancer Clinical Re-search Trust founded by Professor JohnCrown and based in St Vincent’s Univer-sity Hospital. The charity is asking fordonations of gold, jewels, fine art andantiques and classic furniture, whichwill be auctioned at a special Jewels forCures Christmas Auction in early De-cember. For information see www.jew-elsforcures.ie or call 01-2916169.● Items for inclusion in this columncan be sent to [email protected]


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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2010Feelgood

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THE SHAPE I'M IN Red Hurley

If I’m not on theroad working, I getup in the morning,don’t bother with

breakfast and do afour to five-mile

run alongClearwater beach

IN SHAPE: Red Hurley rarely eats fried food and now drinkswater instead of tea and coffee.

He’s still red hotA STAR of the Irish entertainment world in the

1970s and ’80s, Red Hurley is still going strongand is set to perform with multiple Grammy

Award-winning vocalist Rita Coolidge in the EverymanPalace Theatre, Cork, on Sunday.The cabaret star — who has spent a total of 140 weeks

in the Irish charts — now spends most of his time in theUS, where he has a home in Clearwater, Florida.During the last year he has recorded with various choirs

in Ireland, Africa and America for the album How GreatThou Art. He is currently working with American poetMaya Angelou on a new joint DVD and CD. “She’s awonderful woman,” he says. “She has opened a lot ofdoors for me in the US. She’s 82, but she has the mind ofa 40-year-old and speaks about 10 languages.”Red Hurley won’t tell how old he is, preferring to say

he’s “on the wrong side of 50, but the right side of 40”.No doubt his marriage to Norma (his partner of 20 years,he married her two years ago) and his two daughters, agednine and 10, help keep him young.Tickets for Red Hurley and Rita Coolidge at the Every-

man Palace Theatre Cork are available by contacting021-4501673 or visiting www.everymanpalace.com.

What shape are you in?I’m in reasonably good shape. If I’m not on the roadworking, I get up in the morning, don’t bother withbreakfast and do a four to five-mile run along Clearwaterbeach. Then I have breakfast.

Do you have any health concerns?Not really — I don’t suffer from anything too dramatic. Idamaged my back and shoulders in an accident in 1998but that has all repaired itself. I go to my doctor for anMOT every now and then.

What are your healthiest eating habits?Even though I love a mixed grill, I rarely have fries.Breakfast is usually orange juice, bran flakes, a banana andhot water with a squeeze of lemon and a spoonful of hon-ey. I generally drink water instead of tea or coffee. I usedto love two cups of strong tea in the morning, but I foundit made me edgy.

What’s your guiltiest pleasure?I love really good Asian food — Chinese or Thai. I tryto steer clear of it but, after a big show, well, you can’t begood all the time.

What would keep you awake at night?If I’m doing something new, I can find it very difficultto fall asleep. When that happens, I get up, walk aroundfor a while and talk myself around — or I read for half anhour.

How do you relax?I look at the worst case scenario, then say ‘well, that’snot the end of the world’ and suddenly my mind settles it-self.

When did you last cry?Recently, I watched the TV series, Roots, which I’dseen years ago with my parents — about the transportationof Black slaves to America. I felt myself filling up abouthow cruel people can be to their fellow man. Maybe I wastearful too because both my parents are now dead.

What would you change about your appearance?I’d make myself a couple of inches taller and about sevenpounds lighter.

What’s your favourite smell?Opium perfume, worn by my wife.

What’s the best book you’ve read recently?Secrets, which portrays the positive aspect of the mind aslike a magnet — if you think positive thoughts, it drawsgood things to you.

What trait do you least like in others?I don’t like unnecessary boisterousness or gratuitous vul-garity.

What trait do you least like in yourself?I’d like to be in a better mood a lot more of the time.

Do you pray?I do. My dad was a Protestant, who became a Catholicwhen he married my mother. He used to tell me to say afew Hail Marys if I was ever in trouble — I used to thinkit was an interesting thing for an ex-Protestant to say.

What would cheer up your day?A phone-call from a member of my family to say some-thing has gone well for them, for them to say ‘oh, by theway, do you remember that problem I had — well, I’ve gotgood news on that’. That always lifts my day.

Helen O’Callaghan

World HealthOrganisation:

“Health is astate of completephysical, mental

and social well beingand not merelythe absenceof disease”.

For more details see our websitewww.holisticmedicine.ie

Irish Association Holistic Medicine66 Eccles St., Dublin 7. Tel: 01 830 4211

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One Year Diploma Courses.Weekends, October to JuneTrain for a worthwhile and financiallyrewarding career with Ireland’s longestestablished college of holistic medicine.All our courses are designed and taughtby practitioners with many years ofexperience in their chosen fields.

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Cork on Thursday 30th September9.30 am to 9.00 pm

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Feelgood Feelgood

took

Real-life stories

CORK nurse Nuala Dee, 34, had justturned 30, when — in July 2006 — she felta hard lump about the size of a ping pongball on the left side of her neck.“I thought it might be a swollen gland

but it felt very hard. My GP said it was ablocked salivary gland and an ultrasoundconfirmed this. A biopsy showed nothingsuspicious. The ear, nose and throat sur-geon said the whole gland would have tocome out because the duct that fed it wasblocked.“I went for surgery in April 2007. A

week later I returned to have the stitchesremoved. I asked about the histologyreport. The consultant went to find it. Hefound the news wasn’t good — the glandwas malignant.

“It was a complete bolt from the blue. Iwas a 30-year-old woman, living a normalhectic life. I socialised with friends, lovedthe outdoors, kayaked and liked to run. Iwent into shock when I heard ‘cancer’ butI also went into professional mode. I start-ed firing questions — what’s the nextstep? What’s the treatment? What’s theprognosis for this type of cancer?“The surgeon said it was rare for a

woman my age to get this cancer. Hereferred me to the oncology team. Treat-ment was 30 sessions of radiotherapyover six weeks as a precautionary mea-sure — doctors felt the cancer had beenencapsulated in the gland they’d re-moved.“I went back to work seven months

after radiotherapy, but in June 2008 ascan showed a cancerous lymph nodeclose to my original tumour.“It was like I’d been punched in the

stomach — I thought I’d put the wholething to bed. I had surgery to remove thatlymph node, as well as a lot of the tissuesurrounding it.“I feel fantastic now. The treatment

didn’t affect my fertility, but I have side-ef-fects from the radiotherapy — I can’t toler-ate spicy food and I suffer occasionallyfrom a dry mouth.“I was a smoker, about 10 a day. That

probably contributed to my getting can-cer. Alcohol’s another contributory factor. Iknow what to avoid now. I don’t smokeand I drink very moderately.”

It was a complete bolt fromthe blue — I was only 30

Head and neck cancer kills three people a day but early signs can be detected by regular dental checks. Helen O’Callaghan hears the story of three survivors

Shock diagnosis turns life aroundH EAD and neck cancer (HNC)

has hit some high-profile people— Sigmund Freud, Ronnie

Drew, Humphrey Bogart, Michael Douglas— and it kills at least three Irish people aweek, yet it’s very low on the public radar.“It kills more people than malignant

melanoma, Hodgkin’s disease or cervical can-cer,” says Dr Eleanor O’Sullivan, clinical lec-turer in the Cork University Dental School& Hospital.HNC can strike in any of 30 sites — it can

affect:■ lips■ gums■ cheek■ tongue■ palate■ tonsils■ throat■ salivary glands■ sinuses■ nose■ voice box

Symptoms include ulcers that won’t heal,white/red/speckled patches, necklumps/swellings and difficulty swallowing.Mouth, head and neck cancers are increas-

ing in Ireland. Incidence is low under age 50and it’s three times higher in males than fe-males, but incidence rates in women and inyounger men are rising, particularly in thecase of tongue cancer.“Oral and pharyngeal cancers increased by

26% in Irish females over the last decade.90% of patients are smokers and/or drinkers,or have a his-tory of smok-ing/drinking.Heavy use of

alcohol and to-bacco raisesyour chancesof gettingHNC between48 and100-fold,” saysDr O’Sullivan,who points toa 2004-pub-lished studythat found al-cohol con-sumption inIreland in-creased by 41%between 1989and 1999, withwine con-sumption upby 300% andcider con-sumption up by over 500%.Many HNCs can be detected by a simple

and painless oral examination. Early detectiongenerally ensures good outcomes, withfive-year survival rates of 80 to 90%. But sur-vival rates drop drastically with later diagno-sis.Dentists are currently the only primary

health care professionals trained specifically inoral cancer examination. However, only onein three Irish adults visits a dentist annually,while fewer than 50% visit bi-annually — at-

tendance rates among older adults, medicalcard holders and those with no natural teethare even lower. “Examination of the softtissues of the mouth should be a routine partof every dental visit,” says Dr O’Sullivan.

● The Cork and Dublin Dental hospitalswill host free head/neck cancer screening forthe public on Wednesday, September 29.

Screening is simple, painless and takes aboutfive minutes.No appointments are necessary — just drop

in. Follow-up appointments will be made foranyone needing further investigation.Dublin screening is at the Dental School

and Hospital, Lincoln Place, Dublin 2, 9am-4pm.Cork screening is at the University Dental

School and Hospital, CUH, Wilton, 9.30amto 4.30pm.

● Expert advice on smoking cessation, alco-hol moderation, healthy eating and oral carewill also be available. For a head/neck/oralcancer information leaflet, call the Irish Can-cer Society (1800 200700) or visit www.can-cer.ie. Also visit www.dentalhealth.ie.

Incidencerates inwomen andin youngermen arerising,particularlyin the caseof tonguecancer

FINISHING LINE: Lia Mills, who has survived mouth cancer, says every day carries her closerto the five-year finish line. Picture:Billy Higgins

LIA Mills was told at age 48 that she had atumour in her cheek and gums and that thecancer had spread to several lymph nodesin her neck.Today, the 52-year-old Dun Laoghaire

mum-of-three — who subsequently wrote abook about her experience — feels luckyand grateful to be alive.Lia’s cancer story began in 2005 when a

stubborn sore developed in her mouth. “Itwas like an ulcer gone mad. One dentistsaid to use Bonjela. Another thought I had achronic condition. He changed my fillingsand prescribed steroids and antibiotics.Nothing worked.”Eventually, I went to my GP. By now, this

thing in my cheek was getting bigger. It wasinterfering with eating. I couldn’t open mymouth properly.“My GP referred me to the National Max-

illofacial Unit at St James’s Hospital. Theydid a biopsy straightaway and I waited aweek for the result. While waiting I went onthe internet.“From what I read, I didn’t fit the profile

for mouth cancer. It seemed to usually hitolder men, who were heavy drinkers andsmokers. I’d been a fairly committed smok-er but had quit eight years earlier so Ithought I was okay.“But the doctors told me I had a squa-

mous cell carcinoma in my cheek. They’dhave to do more tests to see how advancedit was and whether it had spread. The fullpicture emerged within a few weeks.“I told them: ‘do what you have to do be-

cause I want to live’.“I had one major 14-hour operation in

May 2006. They removed most of my lower

They

jaw, my cheek and some of my cheekbone,as well as lymph nodes, muscle and nervefrom my neck and shoulder. They took bonefrom my leg to rebuild my face. Radiothera-py treatment followed.“I’m well now. Every day that passes car-

ries me further from the operation and clos-er to the five-year finish-line. I used to wor-ry about what it’d be like to have a facialdisfigurement. I have a lot of hair, whichcovers quite a bit, and even when peoplelook, there’s no hostility. I feel there’s nopoint in hiding. When you’ve been given asecond chance you take it.”

bone

leg to

rebuild

my face

Fiveyearson allis wellTHE first sign that Doneraile-basedRichard Wilkins had head/neck can-cer came out of the blue in May2005.”On the Thursday, I didn’t havea lump. On the Friday, I was shavingand all of a sudden there was a hardlump on the right side of my neck,”recalls Richard, now 64, a former fi-nance worker turned massage thera-pist, who’dgiven upsmoking ear-lier in 2005.“I visited

my GP imme-diately. Hetold me tocome back onMonday if Iwasn’t happy.By then, itwas al-mond-sizedand the doc-tor said itwas a very in-flamed tonsiland sent meto A&E in Mal-low. The con-sultant said hedidn’t like the look of it and I was op-erated on two days later to removethe tonsil. After the operation, thedoctor said it certainly looked like atumour of some sort — he’d sent itoff for analysis.“I was very concerned — it’s like

you go into some sort of netherworldwhere you don’t know what’s hap-pening. Just over a week later we gota phone-call to say my wife, Trish,and I had an appointment with a can-cer specialist. He told me I had asquamous cell carcinoma but that itwas eminently treatable. This was soincredibly reassuring.“The cancer had wrapped itself

around a nerve so I had surgery toremove the nerve, as well as manylymph nodes and a major muscle. Ialso had 34 sessions of radiotherapyover seven weeks. That was thehardest part of the journey, but now,five years on — and many check-upslater — all is well.”

CLOSE SHAVE:Richard Wilkinsdiscovered a lump.Picture: Denis Minihane.

UNEXPECTEDDIAGNOSIS: NualaDee a theatre nursewas diagnosed withhead and neckcancer four yearsago. Picture:Dan Linehan

from my


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Feelgood

Tony Humphreys

A high number of teenagers rate theirfathers and mothers poor at parenting

Generation gapDIVIDINGPARENTS: Manyparents candelude themselvesthat they knowtheir teenager andcan be in quite astate of denialwhen troubleknocks on thefamily door.Picture: iStock

A N interesting survey in Britain found thatteenagers rated mothers above fathers in all butone of the 36 categories — the exception being

driving. Given that adult males cause more accidents, the lat-ter finding is worrying.More than 500 teenagers were asked to rate their parents

on such issues as communication, advice-giving, schoolhomework, literacy, sexuality, public outings, privacy.Parenting children and teenagers is largely about love, limits

and lettings teenagers be. While the study indicated thatteenagers rated mothers higher than fathers across all the es-sential parenting categories, it alarmingly showed that a highnumber of teenagers not only rated their fathers poor at par-enting, but their mothers as well — indeed, 41% of teenagersrated their experience as less than good.Fathers were often portrayed as second best, deadbeat or

more concerned with their jobs than the wellbeing of theirsons or daughters. A worrying outcome of the 2008 survey isthat 43% of the teenagers felt they could manipulate theirmothers while 33% felt they could manipulate theirfathers. Sadly, it is often because of this very weakening ofparental resolve that teenagers manage to get themselves intotrouble.In terms of knowing teenagers, many parents can delude

themselves that they know their teenager and can be in quitea state of denial when trouble knocks on the family door —‘I know my son would never do anything like that’ — eventhough the proof of the wrongdoing is staring the parent inthe face.This kind of denial can spring from a need to be seen as

the ‘good’ parent and the parent who is not in the matureplace to see that we all get it wrong sometimes is unlikely tosee any ‘wrong’ in her offspring.Getting to know a teenager is not about making sure he

doesn’t get into trouble. Knowing another is crucial to ma-ture communication in the relationship. Getting to know ason (or daughter) takes being interested in him, being com-mitted and engaging in active listening, showing a non-inva-siveness of his private space and a willingness on the parent’spart to self-disclose. Knowledge of a teenager needs to begained through the open experiencing of him and notthrough subterfugal ways which break trust in the relation-ship.Teenagers are very adamant on the issues of privacy and

personal space — their bedroom is their private space, as istheir diary containing their private thoughts on self, peers,the past, the present and the future.It is difficult when a parent has a worry that a son or

daughter may be taking drugs, abusing alcohol, engaging pre-maturely in sexual activities, not being where they are sup-posed to be or being where it is not safe for them to be.The most effective ploy here is to communicate your con-

cerns in an open, honest and authentic way, such as: ‘I amworried that you may be experimenting with drugs and Iwant you to know that I care for your welfare and am herefor you’.Watch for the young person’s response, particularly the

body language that accompanies any verbal attempt to reas-sure you, ‘Ah Mum, there’s no need for you to worry aboutme’. When there is no accompanying eye contact, or thetone of voice is tentative, or the message is given ‘on the

run’, then further expressions of concern are required alongwith closer but open supervision of your teenager’s where-abouts.Whether teenagers like it or not, parents are legally respon-

sible for their welfare up to the age of 18 years, and have aright to know, for example, who they are with, where theyare going, what time they will be home. When teenagers donot co-operate with these rights, parents are required to setdown definite boundaries around what is permissible and notpermissible, but they need to be respectful and ensure theirexpectations are reasonable. When teenagers are not regularlyco-operative, a deeper enquiry is needed: ‘How is it that youdo not co-operate with what are reasonable requests?’The checklist below is a guide to some of the important

things that parents need to know about their teenager:Do you know:

■ What gives your teenager satisfaction and joy?■ What distresses him/her?■ What are the life questions that engage your teenager?■ What challenges are important to your teenager?■ What are their experiences of and meanings around sexu-ality?■ Who are their friends? Do you know their names, wherethey live, their telephone numbers?■ What are the names of and have you met the parents ofyour teenager’s friends?■ What school subjects does your teenager like and what arethose he/she dislikes?■ What teachers does your teenager speak well of and whoare those he/she resents? Do you know why?■ Is he/she interested in any sport? Does he/she have anyfavourite sporting team/figure?■ What kind of music does your teenager most listen to?Who is his/her favourite singer or group or composer?■ What are your teenager’s hopes and dreams?■ When your teenager is troubled to whom is he/she likelyto go to?■ Is your teenager interested in reading?; What books, maga-zines does your teenager mostly read?■ Is your teenager interested in computer games?■ How much time does your teenager spend watching TVand on the computer?■ What does your teenager most love to do in his/her sparetime?■ If your teenager drives, do you know that he drives re-sponsibly, conscious of his own safety and that of others?

If parents have the answers to the above questions thiswould indicate a strong knowledge of their teenager. Nothaving any of the answers indicates the need for an increasein efforts to know more fully the ins and outs of theirteenager’s life.

■ Dr Tony Humphreys is a clinical psychologist and author.

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It makes sense to look afteryour health. And so it’s agood idea to check up onhow you’re doing from

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designated Irish Heart monthby the Irish Heart Foundation.To support this campaign,cardiovascular risk assessmentsare being offered by pharmaciesin the McSweeney group.Health promotion advice willbe available, emphasising thebasic positive changes thatcan lessen risk factors such assmoking, cholesterol, alcohol,stress, weight, and poor diet.It’s amazing what you canachieve just by changing a fewaspects of your lifestyle, and

once you’ve had the best advice,you’ll wonder why you didn’t doit before.

Staff within the McSweeneyPharmacy Group have beenfully trained by the Irish HeartFoundation, the Irish CancerSociety, and the DiabetesFederation in providingappropriate health promotionadvice. They’re not there tolecture or nag, they’re thereto help you check for dangersigns, and then advise on thebest way to deal with these.The technology and proceduresthey use have all been externallyvalidated to ensure reliableresults are obtained.

Looking Good AfterBreast Cancer

October 2010 is breastcancer awareness month.These days we all have someexperience of this disease,whether directly or through afriend or relative. Taking up anormal life again after treatmentcan sometimes be challenging;and McSweeney’s offer a local,friendly, confidential fittingservice, to ensure that younot only feel better, but lookbetter too, with a wide rangeof bras, swimwear, and breastforms to choose from. Theyhave teamed up with the MarieKeating Mobile InformationUnit and its trained nursingstaff to launch this service, andalso to raise local awarenessof about cancer preventionand early detection. You’ll find

details on this page of where theUnit will be located on whichdays. Individual pharmacieswill offer professional, totallyconfidential fitting services onan appointment basis, so youdon’t have to wait around,and this will become a regularservice on a long-term basis.Youmay know someone who wouldreally like to hear about thisservice, so do them a favour andlet them see this.

Be Proactive AboutYour Health

The point is, says RachelDungan of the McSweeneyPharmacy Group, that you can’talways tell your state of healthjust by looking in the mirror.“Inorder to be proactive you needto know where your baseline is,and the tests we will be offeringcan establish that. Then we cangive you the advice you needto work towards achieving andmaintaining the best of health.”

Mary Hynes in one of themastectomy services andsupport departments

Amanda Leahy, Pharmacist and Trish Lawlor, Point of Care Technician

Bermingham’s Pharmacy8 Patrick Street,Fermoy, Co. CorkTel: 025 31336Email: [email protected]

McSweeney Pharmacy3-4 The Courtyard,Fairhill, Killarney, Co. KerryTel: 064 6635931 Fax: 064 6635943Email: [email protected]

McSweeney PharmacySuper Valu S.C. Railway Rd.,Kenmare, Co. KerryTel: 064 6679880 Fax: 064 6679896Email: [email protected]

Forristal’s Pharmacy59 Pearse St.,Clonakilty, Co. CorkTel: 023 8833393 Fax: 023 8833701Email: [email protected]

Kelly’s Pharmacy2-3 Riverside Way,Watersedge, Midleton, Co. CorkTel: 021 4631092 Fax: 021 4631035Email: [email protected]

Know YourNumbers!

Rapid,ReliableTestingfor• Blood Glucose• Cholesterol*

• Total Lipid Profile*(Total Cholesterol, HDL Cholesterol,LDL Cholesterol and Triglycerides)• CardiovascularRisk Assessment*

from €6 to €25Complimentary blood pressure, weight, body massindex and waist circumference measurement withany test that involves the collection of a drop ofblood from the finger-tip.

*Available in the Cork pharmacies only.*Soon to be available in all pharmacies

Marie Keating Mobile Cancer Information Unit. Available on the same day in each pharmacy from 10am to 4pmPretty in Pink complimentary make-over in our pharmacies for all participants, by appointment only

Pretty in PinkConfidential fitting service, followingbreast surgery, by appointment

Prettyin Pink

Friday, October 1st9am to 5pm

Saturday, October 9th9.30am to 5pm

Friday, October 8th9.30am to 5pm

Friday, October 15th10am to 5pm

Friday, October 22nd9am to 5pm

Know yournumbers!

Sept 13-17, Oct 18-20Nov 15-20, Dec 6-119am to 5pm

Selected test byappointment

Selected tests byappointment

Sep/Oct 27-2, Oct 4-9Nov 8-13Nov/Dec 29-410am to 5pm

Sept 20-24, Oct 11-15Nov 2-6, Nov 22-279am to 5pm

Call your local pharmacy forevent details

McSweeneyPharmacy Group,

helping youstay healthy


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Feelgood

Cover story Addicted to the web

A new book argues the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember.... and fostering ignorance in the process. Can it be right? Pól Ó Conghaile reports

EAT, PLAY, LOVE (my PC)

NO DEPTH: Author of TheShallows, Nicholas Carr, saysregular internet surfers arewhiling away the time,“tripping lightly from link tolink”.

TWO SIDES: Dr JurekKirakowski, UCC lecturer,says since the invention ofthe wheel people have beeneither for or against humantechnology.

SILENT INFLUENCE: OrlaMcHugh, psychotherapist andauthor of a book on teens,says online communication isdepriving young people of theart of conversation.

C AN you feel your mindchanging? When (or if) yousit down to read a book, does

your concentration drift? Do you find itmore difficult to apply yourself? Do youget fidgety? Nicholas Carr does. “Once Iwas a scuba diver in the sea of words,”Carr writes in The Shallows, a new bookexploring the internet’s impact on theway we think. “Now I zip along thesurface like a guy on a jet ski.”The sentiment will be familiar to many.

Last year, according to ComReg, the av-erage Irish internet user spent 13.2 hoursa week online, up from 10 hours a yearearlier. We use the internet to watchvideos, scan publications, Google, postFacebook and Twitter updates, buy appsand send email — whiling away the time,as Carr puts it: “tripping lightly from linkto link.”And his conclusion? This radical shift in

how we consume information is not onlychanging the ways in which we think, butalso the very structure of our brains.“I would be lying if I said I hadn’t re-

ceived enormous benefits from the inter-net, including very practical benefits likebeing able to research much more quicklyand stay in touch with people more easi-ly,” explains the author, a former execu-tive editor of the Harvard Business Re-view.“But my problem isn’t with those

things. It is that, as digital media becomeever more deeply woven into our livesand society, they begin to crowd outother possible ways of thinking... attentivethought, concentrating on one thing for along period of time — they’re not en-couraged by the technology.“Until recently, they were taken as very

important parts of a rich and full intellec-tual life. I fear that not only are we losingthe ability to engage in those things, butthe technology has also such a strong ef-fect on us that we’re beginning to pretendthose things don’t really matter.”The internet’s influence is so pervasive,

he argues, that we now expect informa-tion in the way it is distributed online —fast, fresh and fragmented. And due to theplasticity of our brains, our interactionwith the internet is actually prompting a

re-wiring of our neural circuitry.It is changing our behaviour,making thinking staccato,and killing our ability toconcentrate.“I can’t read War and

Peace anymore,” con-fesses one medicalprofessional in TheShallows. “Even ablog post of morethan three or fourparagraphs is toomuch to absorb.I skim it.”It’s easy to

empathise. As ajournalist, theinternet hascompletelychanged the wayI work. With re-ports now just acouple of clicksaway, I no longerneed to visit Com-Reg, for example, toaccess the internet usagestatistics cited above. It’sthe same contacting Carr,reading reviews of his book, ortracking down suitable interviewees.And this story is filed by email.And the downsides? Email and Twitter up-

dates ping all over my screen. Texts buzzthrough on my iPhone. When I Google, thelinks play out like dominoes, and I can end upway off topic, on YouTube, The New YorkTimes, or deep in the comments section of avaguely relevant blog. I need to log off toactually write. My desk is no longer a desk —it’s a universe of distraction.“When access to information is easy,” as

economist Tyler Cowen, quoted in The Shal-lows, says, “we tend to favour the short, thesweet and the bitty. We tend to do thingsfaster, but sloppier,” Carr says. This endlesspinballing between stimuli, friends and follow-ers, he writes, is over-taxing our brains to thedetriment of deep thinking. Our intelligence isbecoming artificial, in other words, and wemay not be in control of the process.Of course, the

internet isn’t the

first technology toprovoke panic. Platoworried that writingwould spoil the art of re-membering. In 1660, Eng-land’s first book censor musedabout typography creating“more mischief than advantage”.Modern cultures have frettedabout TV and video games.Is it the internet, or how we use it, that real-

ly poses the problem? “Ever since the wheelhas been invented, there have been peoplewho are enthusiastically for human technologyand people who say it is going to radicallychange human beings for the worse,” saysDr Jurek Kirakowski, a lecturer at UCC’s

Department of AppliedPsychology.

He believes the internet is “yetanother tool that enables us to expand

our mental abilities.” Getting the best outof it is just a matter of using it intelligently.“Human beings are absolute gluttons for mak-ing new tools... it is what made us the domi-nant species on the planet. But there is alsowithin the human psyche this Frankensteincomplex, the fear of the unknown.“Tools themselves are ideologically neutral.

You can use a hammer to drive a nail, or tosmash someone’s head in... [it] doesn’t makethe hammer any better or worse.”For Kirakowski, who began his career using

physical reference materials, the benefits ofresearching and communicating online far out-weigh any downsides. “We can live withoutthe internet, like we can live without the mo-tor car,” he says. “But our lives would not beas rich.”Carr rejects the notion that technology is

neutral. “No. I think we’d like to think that,because it makes us feel all-powerful over ourtools, but I think the technology itself doespush us towards a certain use. Though it’s

within our power to shut down our email,turn off Twitter, Facebook or even our webbrowser to focus on one thing, very few peo-ple actually use it like that. We have, I think, anatural craving to follow lots of informationand juggle lots of tasks.”Among other losses that may be experienced

as we migrate online, according to Dr GarySmall, psychiatrist and author of iBrain, are“fundamental social skills” like the ability toread facial expressions. His book Small cites aStanford University study that found everyhour spent on computers caused face-to-faceinteraction time to drop by almost 30 minutes.The gulf between digital natives (children

born into the internet age) and their parents,Small says, is less a generation gap than a“brain gap”. And though the internet has thecapability to connect and empower, this evolu-tionary leap has its dangers too.“If you take it that conversation, like any-

thing, is a practised or learned skill, then themore you practise it the more able you are totalk to different people,” says Orla McHugh,psychotherapist at the Rathgar Consultancyand author of Celtic Cubs — Inside the Mindof the Irish Teenager.“But online communication is actually de-

priving [children] of that practise... it impactson their use of language, the extent of theirvocabulary, makes them more inhibited in ver-bal communications. It’s very easy to fire off aFacebook or text message. But what you don’tlearn is the courage it takes to talk face-to-faceto someone about how you’re feeling.”“Show me the proof,” counters Kirakowski.

“Where is the proof that my brain is becomingradically altered because I spend about eighthours a day on the internet? Qualitative assess-ments are cheap and easy to come by... wewant hard scientific proof.”Carr concedes that there is a lack of hard

science. “Much of the studies I look at areabout components of the online experience —things like hyperlinks, multimedia, interrup-tions. There are very few studies that actuallylook at how the entire experience of spendingmore time online may be changing the waywe think.”But if this is the case then isn’t The Shallows

ultimately an opinion? What does he make ofcritics who say his valuing of “deep” readingand “conceptual memory” over online multi-tasking, or what Kirakowski calls “meta-textu-al” reading, is little more than subjectivehand-wringing? “There is a certain energy andcreativity that comes from being connected tolots of people and ideas,” he says. “But if welose that contemplative, meditative and intro-spective side of ourselves, I think we dobecome shallower thinkers... I am wary of let-ting that go, and maybe that’s mindless nostal-gia. But maybe it’s a very rational response.”

● The Shallows is published by Atlantic Booksat 13.99.

Where would we be without it?

HIDDEN DANGERS: Declan Finn says theart of conversation is being lost amongchildren by increasing use of theinternet. Picture: Ray Ryan

Declan Finn, 29, Balli-nasloe, Co GalwayI’D spend about five hoursa week on the internet, nomore. I keep an eye onFacebook, to make contactor keep in touch withpeople I rarely see, butprimarily I send emails,pay bills, and keep an eyeon media or teachingwebsites.As a teacher I can see

the internet affects thenine-year-olds I teachthrough the spelling andgrammar in their copies. Ithink the internet has cre-ated a world of instantaneity... peoplewill soon forget ‘the art of conversa-tion’ and this worries me.Where did ‘I’ll meet you for a coffee

and a chat’ go?But to end on a positive note, paying

bills and booking flights, etc., online isa magical invention. Where would webe without it!

An amazing communication tool

WORLD ONLINE: Miguel Fitzgeraldfinds the world is at his feet when he’sonline. Picture:BILLY HIGGINS STAFF

Miguel Fitzgerald, 21,Shankill, Co DublinAT the moment, since I’mnot working, I’m online acouple of hours a day. Icheck job sites, theweather, the news and soon. I reference collegework through an onlineprogram, and bookmarkeverything interestingunder categories — cars,insurance, college, inter-ests etc. It’s almost like adatabase.On Facebook, I like to

look and leave; otherwiseI’d just be on it for hours.But it’s an amazing com-munication tool — last night two peo-ple got together, for example. He forgotto ask her number, but no worries, he’sgonna Facebook her. Everything is dif-ferent once you can use the internetproperly. Even Skype makes using anormal phone for international callseem difficult.

How to stopthe mentalmeltdown■ Keep a log ofhow and whenyou use the In-ternet.■ When youneed to concen-trate, turn offunnecessary dis-tractions. Thesecould includeemail, Twitter,Facebook —even your webbrowser andmobile phone.■ Re-invest in your real-life relation-ships. Set aside time for family andfriends.■ Focus. Could you check emails two orthree times a day? Do you need to be onseveral social networks? Could you uselists or groups to make social mediamore efficient? Edit. Don’t feel obligatedto friend or follow everyone.■ Take up a new hobby. Instead ofspending free time online, what aboutreading, going for a walk, doing a jig-saw, or signing up for an exercise classor book club?

Sources: Helpguide.org, Nicholas Carr,HealthyPlace.com, Center for InternetAddiction.

Due to the plasticityof our brains, our

interaction with theinternet is actually

prompting a re-wiringof our neural circuitry.

It is changing ourbehaviour, making

thinking staccato, andkilling our ability to

concentrate


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Feelgood

CatherineShanahan

MUM’S WORLD

CatherineShanahan

MUM’S WORLD

Dr Niamh Houston is aGP with a specialinterest in integrativemedicine. If you have aquestion about your child’shealth email it [email protected] send a letter toFeelgoodIrish ExaminerCity QuarterLapps QuayCork

Dr NiamhHouston

FAMILY

THERE was a time when owning agoldfish was almost as exotic as own-ing a colour TV.

Despite the glamour, a lack of under-standing of the intricacies of goldfish hus-bandry meant the TV was a better bet iflongevity was foremost in mind.There is scarcely a child alive who hasn’t

managed to murder poor Goldie, either byshaking enough food flakes into his bowl tofeed an entire family of carp, or by lettinghim swim in his own excrement longenough to ensure the ammonia in his peehas poisoned him.For most parents, selecting a fish for a

household pet is more to do with afford-ability, inability to bark, insignificantgrooming requirements and the neat size ofthe bowl (when compared to a kennel)than the desire to introduce the owner tothe responsibility of caring for another life.

The flipside of this is it is harder to keepa goldfish alive than Rex, because Rex isfar less likely to overeat to obesity and thereis no danger that changing his water willgive him chemical shock. There is scarcelya parent alive who hasn’t fled to the localpet store in frantic search of a match forthe floater on top of the two-gallon gold-fish bowl.These days, things are simpler. A child

can grow his own pet and produce some-thing far more sophisticated than a littlelump of vermilion. For instance my son re-cently grew his own dinosaur. This in-volved nothing more complex than buyinga dinosaur egg in Smyth’s. No feeding isnecessary; once submerged in water, theegg does the work itself and hey presto, af-ter 48-hours your child is the proud ownerof a T-Rex.None of this requires any effort on your

part save ensuring the jug in which the eggis submerged is not knocked over.As dream pets go, T-Rex seemed to rank

right up there. The excitement of watchinghim hatch was no less enthralling than ob-serving a chick emerge from a real-life egg.It was David Attenborough, Life in ColdBlood, in our kitchen.On the downside, once T-Rex popped

out, the fun ended. Like most things in life,the enjoyment was in the anticipation andmy son was disgusted to discover T-Rexwas no more than a toy. “He doesn’t doanything Mammy,” he wailed. “He’s not areal dinosaur. Can I get a dog instead?”I headed for the pet shop mindful that

there’s nothing like the weight of responsi-bility on one’s shoulders to keep two feetfirmly on the ground. A dog was clearlyout of the question — but a goldfishshould do the job.

NOTE: The information contained in Dr Houston’s column is not a substitute for medical advice. Always consult a doctor first

STARTING OVER: Having a miscarriage is heartbreaking for couples. Picture: Getty Images

Q I RECENTLY suffered a mis-carriage at eight weeks. Am Iat a higher risk of repeat mis-carriage if I try to conceivetoo soon. I’ve been told by

my doctor to wait for three cycles. Isthere any physical reason for this? And isthere anything I can take to prevent thishappening again?

A. I’m sorry to hear about your loss. Hav-ing a miscarriage is heartbreaking for manycouples. Naturally, the first question thatarises is: when is it safe to start trying again?Most doctors advise to wait for two or threecycles before conceiving again.The rationale is to give your body time

for the lining of the womb to recover aswell as giving you some time to grieve andprepare emotionally for another pregnancy.It also helps to work out dates of concep-tion and delivery if your natural cycle hasre-established itself. But there’s no ideallength of time to wait before trying again.It’s natural to want to become pregnantagain right away, however it is best to waituntil you are physically and emotionallyready.After one miscarriage your risk of having

another one is not increased. At least 85%of women who have had one loss will goon to have a successful pregnancy the nexttime. In some situations specialist help isneeded if you have had two or more miscar-riages, are over 35 years, have fertility prob-lems or if there is an illness such as diabetesthat may affect your pregnancy.In most cases, there is no way to prevent a

miscarriage. You should avoid known risks,such as being overweight, drinking alcoholand smoking cigarettes. Risk of miscarriagedoubles with more than two drinks per day.Keeping yourself healthy by eating well, ex-ercising regularly, minimising stress, gettingenough sleep, will help your generalwell-being.If you are trying to conceive it is essential

you take folic acid supplement up to the12th week of pregnancy. Take also vitaminD 10micrograms daily. Omega-3 fatty acidsfound in flaxseed, oily fish such as salmon,lake trout and mackerel and fish oil supple-ments may also benefit you and baby duringpregnancy. Omega 3 fatty acids are highlyconcentrated in the brain and appear to beimportant for a developing baby’s cognitivefunction. Make sure to take a high qualityomega-3 supplement when pregnant. Theherb agnus castus is often used to help bal-ance female hormones but it is not recom-mended to take this or any other herbalproducts if pregnant, trying to conceive ortaking fertility drugs.

Q. I was diagnosed with asthma as achild and use inhalers regularly to keep it

under control. I recently found out froma cousin that there is a history of a condi-tion called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiencyin our family. Could my asthma be causedby this and should I get myself and therest of my family checked out?

A. Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (orA1AT deficiency) is an inherited conditionwhere a person lacks a protein known as al-pha-1 antitrpysin, made by the liver. A defi-ciency in this protein can result in lung orliver problems.The job of alpha-1antitrypsin is to protect

the body from inflammation, especially inthe lungs. Although this inherited conditionis present from birth, often the effects arenot apparent until someone reaches adult-hood — from 20 to 50 years.Emphysema can be an outcome with

coughing, shortness of breath and wheezingbeing the most common symptoms.People with this condition are often be-

lieved to be suffering from asthma orCOPD (chronic obstructive lung disease).Liver problems may be apparent from birthor show up later in adults. In the liver, dam-aged liver cells become scarred and fibrosed,due to inflammation, and cause cirrhosis.A person affected by A1AT deficiency, has

inherited a faulty gene from one or both ofparents known as an auto-somal co-domi-nant inherited condition. If you inherit two

faulty genes you have a 90% chance of ab-normal A1AT levels. IF you inherit onefaulty gene — 40% of affected people arestill at risk of lung and liver damage . It’slikely that most cases of A1AT deficiencyare so mild they are never diagnosed. Ifthere is a family history you can have ablood test or screening test to determinewhether you are a carrier or have the abnor-mal gene.There’s no specific treatment or cure for

this condition and the outlook for most af-fected people is good. Many won’t evenknow they have it while others can keephealthy with careful management.People with A1AT deficiency are especial-

ly vulnerable to exposure to chemical andenvironmental pollutants which can aggra-vate lung and liver disease. For this reasonthe most important thing someone withA1ATdeficiency can do for their health isnot to smoke and avoid people who smokearound them. They are also very prone torecurrent lung infections, so it’s important toreceive immunisation against flu and pneu-mococcal infections.To protect the liver from further unneces-

sary damage, you are advised to avoid alco-hol, and if possible, medicines that mayharm the liver. Exercise will boost your im-mune system to protect the body from in-fection as will having a healthy diet packedwith fresh fruit and vegetables.

Medical matters


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Red alert

How to makeyour diet work■ A low GI diet with an emphasis onvegetables, pulses, wholegrains,omega-3 oils and a little red wine isthe way to go. Studies show this In-do-Mediterranean style diet can cut therisk of heart disease in half.

■ Avoid trans/hydrogenated fats, deepfried foods, processed foods, sugar,white flour, coffee and fizzy drinks.Limit alcohol, salt and saturated fats.

■ To lower cholesterol, eat apples, ar-tichokes, bananas, berries, eggs,fish, garlic, nuts, oats, onions,pears, poultry, soya beans,tuna, turmeric, vegetablesand wholegrains. Supple-ment with niacin —vitamin B3.

■ To lower high blood pressure, addbeetroot, celery, citrus, greens, lin-seeds, seaweeds, seeds, tomatoes,water and watercress to the list above.Supplement with magnesium.

■ For all-round heart health, includebeans, chillies, garlic, ginger, grapes,green tea, chocolate, hawthorn tea,lentils, oily fish, olive oil, pomegranatejuice and wholegrains. Supplementwith omega oils, co-enzyme Q-10, vita-min D and a high-strength vitaminB-complex, or go for a specific formulasuch as Floradix Protec-tor Liquid.

Women need to wake up to cardiovascular disease risk, writes Rosie Shelley

Put your heart first

STARS HELP: TV3 presenter Sinead Desmond, singer Hazel Kaneswaran and former MissWorld Rosanna Davison launch the Irish Heart Foundation’s Red Alert for Women campaign.Picture: Leon Farrell Photocall Ireland.

MOST of us are unaware thatheart disease and strokecombine to be the major

cause of death among Irish women, killing5,000 in 2008 alone. With this in mind, theIrish Heart Foundation (IHF) has launchedthe Red Alert for Women campaign as partof its Heart Month.

“Women are more concerned about breastcancer, even though seven times as many diefrom heart disease and stroke in Ireland eachyear,” says Dr Kate McGarry, chairwoman ofthe Irish Heart Foundation’s council onwomen and cardiovascular disease.

Medical director, Dr Angie Brown, adds,“There is a common misconception thatcardiovascular disease mainly affects men. Butin fact one-and-a-half times as many womendie from stroke as men.”

Ireland’s death rate from heart disease isone of the highest in Europe, and Dr Brownis particularly concerned that current trendsare leading to a rise in younger women pre-senting with cardiovascular problems.

“Young women are the biggest smokershere, and when this is combined with obesitylevels, and the fact that 59% of women havehigh blood pressure, this is a cause for seriousconcern.”

It’s true that overall rates of heart-relateddeaths have dropped here in recent decades,but, according to the Women’s Health Coun-cil, females are experiencing an increasingprevalence of heart failure, and more womenthan men develop high blood pressure as theyage. They are also less likely to be correctlydiagnosed or referred to a specialist. Due per-haps to the lack of research focusing onwomen, it seems that even professionals areslow to pick up on symptoms, especially giv-en that they can be much more subtle inwomen — discomfort and pain in the chest,pain spreading to the jaw, neck or back,dizziness, fatigue, palpitations and indiges-tion-like sensations that don’t go away.

As the World Health Authority has pointedout, the old stereotype of heart disease affect-ing only stressed, overweight, middle-agedmen no longer applies. Increasingly womenare adopting habits once considered mascu-line — juggling domestic responsibilities withlong working hours, and seeking relief fromthe resulting stress in drinking and smoking.

We are indeed getting fatter, and eatingmore convenience foods. Having children in-creases the risk of heart disease for both sex-es, but more so for women, and the loss ofprotective oestrogen at menopause throws upits own dangers. We are also living longer,and heart disease strikes women on average10 years later than men.

Aside from learning to recognise the signs,the Red Alert campaign aims to raise aware-ness of healthy lifestyle behaviours and howto manage high blood pressure and choles-terol. The key messages include better nutri-tion, getting active — inactivity is as risky assmoking — being aware of family health his-tory, booking regular health checks, and tak-ing time out to enjoy life.

Stress is a huge risk factor, with sufferers ofchronic anxiety being 40% more likely tohave a heart attack. Similarly, getting less than7.5 hours sleep a night has been associatedwith a 27% increase in the risk of heart con-ditions.

Blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceridelevels are important markers for heart health,but many experts believe an even more im-portant indication is the blood level of anamino acid called homocysteine.

Raised levels have a strong, proven linkwith heart disease and stroke (along with nu-merous other serious health issues), indepen-dent of other factors including cholesterol.

If your doctor isn’t able to provide a bloodtest, a pinprick home test is available fromYork Test Laboratories. And if your levels arehigh (9 or above) the good news is that tak-

ing high strength B-vitamin complex willbring them down easily. All of us can main-tain a healthy level by cutting down onalcohol and coffee, and upping intake ofthose beans, seeds and greens.

■ York Test is offering home testing kits forhomocysteine at the special price of 90 forthe duration of this month. Go to www.ire-land.yorktest.com

■ For more information, visit www.irish-heart.ie/goredforwomen

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Healthy food

Roz Crowley

G ETTING stocked up for heartymeals after a hard day’s lecturesand a hard night’s revelling is one

sure way of getting settled into a great year atcollege.Apart from the staples listed below, which

you will get in most decent supermarkets, goto butchers and country markets if possiblefor thick sausages and economical pieces ofmeat and fish.Most supermarkets have bargain meat days,

and if you have spare cash it’s worth stockingup and storing the lot in the freezer compart-ment. Make sure you separate slices ofcooked meat so you can use one piece at atime. Remember, the use-by date is haltedonce it is frozen, so don’t worry about usingit a month or two later.One website for inspiration is spoonfedsup-

pers.com. It’s good for economical tasty dish-es when you run out of ideas. Here are mytop 10 essentials to give you a head start.

1. Sardines With a can costing anythingfrom under 50c to over aeuro, there are plenty ofhealthy oils and proteinhere to sustain you, espe-cially as these oils aregood for brain power. Onbrown toast they make a

simple, nutritious meal. I alsolike a few tomatoes, grilled at the same timeas the toast, and a green salad on the side.Toss the sardines with a few chopped chilliesin oil to give them some zing and use as apasta sauce.

2. Cans of soup This chunkylentil and bacon soup from Marks& Spencer ( 1.49) is typical ofhow bought soups can make agood base for added vegetables.Add grated carrot (quicker tocook than sliced), finely choppedcelery, even some shreddedspinach and you have an easy main

course. Bread will do with this, butadd some pasta or rice and you have a feast.

3. Parmesan This is one of the best stand-bys as it keeps for weeks and makes any meal

special. Use insteadof salt and pepperfor flavouring. Tryit grated intosoups, stews, onbaked beans, in

stir fries, and if you have nothing elsein the house, just cook pasta, drain itand toss in olive oil. Grate the parme-san at the table. If you have fresh herbsadd them too. Lidl’s Lovilio Parmi-giano Reggiano is nicely crystalline asit’s 24 months old, and has loads offlavour. At about 5 a chunk, it’s agood price and will last for several serv-ings. Don’t be tempted to buy theready grated variety as it is usually taste-less and more costly. Buy in Italian delis

and speciality food shops for top quality.

4. Chickpeas Along with cans of beans,these are the mainstay of the store cup-board as they can be added to anystew or stir fry. To be most economi-cal buy them dried, then soak andboil, but not many students man-age to get around to doing this.Full of fibre and protein, they arealso delicious with chopped an-chovies and olive oil as a pastasauce, as a salad with choppedonion, or stir fried with onion andgarlic. Make an easy chickpea cur-ry by adding them to a bought

curry sauce, or make your own starting withonions, garlic and ginger in oil and adding acan of tomatoes and spices.

5. Olive oil If you want to buy just onestore-cupboard item, olive oil is a goodone to have in stock as it will make agood sauce, dressing and flavouring,and can be used for frying too. Howev-er, avoid heating it too high or the nu-trients will be lost. We shouldn’t fryfood anyway, so make easy soups byboiling whatever vegetables are availableand drizzling some olive oil into eachbowl. The flavour is excellent.This is often done in Italy and Spain

with chickpea and bean soups.

6. Tinned tomatoes With a tin of toma-toes or passata — the smooth sauceversion — in stock, you alwayshave a ready meal. A tin oftomatoes can cost as little as 45cwhich, compared to a readymadepasta sauce at over 2, makessense to use. Gently fry achopped onion, a few choppedcloves of garlic, ideally a choppedcarrot and celery to make a richsauce. Add in fish, meat, beans, afew sausages, chopped chorizo and you havea feast. The Italians are good at usingsausagemeat or minced beef in pasta sauces.

7. Brown rice Full of vitamin B tosupport a healthy nervous sys-tem, brown basmati cooksquicker than chunkier rice andtastes great. Add a stock cube ora wedge of lemon to addflavour, and when rice is juststarting to absorb the water, sitsome ham, fish (smoked mack-erel is quick and easy and usefulto keep in stock), grated vegeta-bles to steam on top and save fuel —and washing up. Mix it all in, adding soyasauce at the last minute. Cook some meat-balls in the tomato sauce sug-gested above and serve withthis rice.

8. Noodles and pastaThese are interchangeablewith rice and easy to cook.I find the straight-to-wokstyle noodles useful to addat the last minute to stirfries. Add water to thestir fry early on toavoid burning the meatand veg, then add thenoodles with soya or chillisauce.

9. Soya sauce and chillisauce A great rescue forany dull dish — add themto finished dishes, not dur-ing the cooking stage.

10. Garlic and lemonThey are a great partner-ship for adding flavour.Add a wedge of lemon toany fried food, onto a pastadish or stir fry. As well as thejuice, grate lemon for extra flavour into soupsand stir fries. Grating garlic finely at thelast minute to a dish will avoid burn-ing and a bitter taste. Oth-erwise cook onions be-fore adding chopped gar-lic. Both are great tokeep colds away. Wedon’t want you missinglectures.

Not just beans...Top 10 essential foods for heartymeals on a student budget

Picture: iStock


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Deirdre O'Flynn

MOSTLY MEN

DId you know...Backyard inspirationfor male wellness

Croke Park stadium atthe heart of awareness

Meditationincreaseswellbeing inadolescent boysSource: University of Cambridge,UK)

CROKE Park has become the first‘Heartsafe Stadium’ in Ireland inrecognition of the level of care pro-vided by the GAA and the facilitiesat the venue.The Heartsafe Community Pro-

gramme is an Irish Heart Founda-tion initiative which aims to en-courage communities tostrengthen every link inthe ‘chain of survival’.“We promote best prac-

tice in this area, not justhere at Croke Park butacross all levels of the as-sociation and we ask allour units to be mindful ofthe role they can play in

raising awareness of the threat toheart disease among our membersand the wider public,” says GAApresident Christy Cooney.Since 2007, the GAA has sold

800 defibrillators to clubs andthousands of people of all ages havetrained in the use of defibrillators.

And in January this year,all inter-county refereeswere also trained in the useof defibrillators. The chain-of-survival concept com-prises four steps that cansave a life: early access, earlycardiopulmonary resuscita-tion, early defibrillation andearly advanced care.

Managingthe pain

ON TARGET:Barry Clohessyhas Barrett’soesophagus,which leaves himin dailydiscomfort buthe is focussedon his LeavingCert.

Picture: Des Barry

THE Leaving Cert year can be toughfor even the best of students but forBarry Clohessy it’s a fine balancing

act. Experiencing daily stomach pain, he isstill navigating the joys of the Leaving Cert inPobal Scoil na Tríonóide in Youghal, CoCork. “I had reflux when I was born but itwasn’t properly diagnosed until I was aboutnine,” says Barry, 17.Three years later, his condition had wors-

ened so much that he had difficulty swallow-ing his food properly and frequently got sick.“I was sent to a hospital in Cork for a bariumswallow test and told to go straight to Crum-lin,” says Barry. A barium swallow is a medi-cal imaging test used to examine the uppergastrointestinal tract, which includes the oe-sophagus and helps to determine the cause ofpainful swallowing and difficulty with swal-lowing among other things.In Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crum-

lin, endoscopic tests showed that Barry hadBarrett’s oesophagus, which leaves him at a

higher risk of developing oesophageal cancer.But Barry is focusing on managing his refluxand daily pain, with all eyes firmly fixed onnext June’s Leaving Cert. “I have this solong, I just live with it,” he says.According to the Irish Cancer Society, the

latest cancer incidence data (2008) from theNational Cancer Registry shows that 384people were diagnosed with oesophageal can-cer in 2008 (246 males and 138 females).The symptoms of oesophageal cancer can

include difficulty swallowing, heartburn (acidreflux) that won’t go away, pain in yourbreastbone, back or throat, vomiting, weightloss, poor appetite, frequent hiccoughs or

belching and an ongoing cough.If you feel you may be at risk, first talk to

your family doctor. Remember, these symp-toms can be caused by many conditions otherthan cancer. But get them checked out byyour doctor, especially if they go on for morethan four to six weeks.Elsewhere, the Oesophageal Cancer Fund,

through its annual Lollipop Day, has commit-ted to funding 500,000 for research overthe next three years to establish the first na-tional register of Barrett’s oesophagus pa-

tients. This will be a significant step towardsoffering people the best chance of curativetreatment.If this is something that affects you, you

might check out the International Sympo-sium on Oesophageal Cancer taking place inBrookfield Health Sciences Complex, UCCon Friday, October 1 and Saturday, October2 with a Meet The Experts session on Satur-day at 3pm.

Contact the National Cancer Helpline 1800 200 700 tospeak to a specialist cancer nurses.

What’s newwith Kate O’ReillyTAKE

A NEW concept in men’swellbeing is being launchedon October 1. The IrishMen’s Sheds Forum is rollingout the concept of Commu-nity Men’s Sheds, an updatedversion of the shed in thebackyard where men feltcomfortable chatting andpassing on skills.The Irish Men’s Sheds Fo-

rum (IMSF) is being set upto act as a resource forMen’s Sheds in Ireland andto promote the idea of In-dependent CommunityMen’s Sheds. The fo-rum aims to represent

and promote the shed move-ment, and to act as a communi-cations hub with this websitebeing a key mechanism.Based on a successful Aus-

tralian model, the forum will belaunched in the Amber SpringsHotel, Gorey, Co Wexford, onFriday, October 1 at 2.30pm byMinister of State Sean Connick(pictured) and Professor Barry

Golding, University of Bal-larat, Australia.Interested? Contact John

Evoy at 086-8046748,[email protected] let him know you’reon your way.

Male health

COUGH SYRUP: ManukaHoney is known for its an-ti-bacterial properties and anew product available in Ire-

land this autumn is Manuka Health’s MGO400+Manuka Honey Syrup, 14.99. Thesyrup, which also containspropolis and herbs with expec-torant properties, is designed toboost the immune system natu-rally and assist with the symp-toms of cough, flu, cold andrespiratory conditions. Formore information seewww.naturalife.ie or call0404-62444.

NATURAL SLEEP: New Rescue Night Liq-uid Melts contain four drops of Bach RescueRemedy and are designed to ease the mindand help you enjoy a peaceful night’s sleep.Try placing one alcohol-free capsule onyour tongue and letting it dissolve beforebed, if you are finding it difficult to nod off.New Rescue Night Liquid

Melts are 9.95 and will beavailable in health stores andpharmacies in October.

LIQUID SUNSHINE: The healthbenefits of vitamin D — producednaturally in the body through sunexposure — have been the subject of

much research in recent times and manypeople now consider boosting their vitaminD intake with supplements, especially dur-ing winter months. According to nutrition-ist Rob Clark, “Recent research showsthat a deficiency in vitamin D3 is linkedto weak bones and joints, obesity, lowmood, SAD (Seasonal Affective Disor-der), poor immune health, and hor-monal imbalance.” New Nature’s PlusLiquid Sunshine Vitamin D3 5000IU isa natural formula, sweetened with cit-rus fruit and agave syrup and is glutenand lactose free. Suitable from 12years onwards, it costs 16.36 for463ml and is now available in healthstores or from www.nutricentre.com.

SUPER SOAK: Need a little TLC?New Arnicare Arnica Bath & Mas-sage Balm has been created to soakaway tension and strains. As well

as naturally anti-inflammatory Arnica, thisbalm contains calendula, sweet

almond and evening prim-rose oil to hydrate the skinand Lavender and Grape-fruit essential oils to pro-mote relaxation. Addtwo capfuls to runningwater, or massage thebalm directly onto theskin to soothe achingmuscles. This new dualpurpose balm will beavailable in October inhealth stores and phar-macies and costs 9.95.

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Feelgood

STUFF WE LIKE

Beauty

The news on ...

SOMETHING really unpleasanthappens to me when I don’t getenough sleep. My skin goes all

papery and flaky. My eyes end up deeplyetched with lines and my personality takes anose dive. I’m reluctant to turn up at theoffice with my complexion looking like it isentirely constructed from blotting paper. Thismeans I’m strict about getting to bed early. Italso means that wearing a moisturiser at nightis as much of a ritual as brushing my teeth. Itdoesn’t matter if it’s a five quid tub of some-thing basic, or a luscious velvety treat. Whatdoes matter is that it’s slathered in a thicklayer across my face before my head hits thepillow.Night creams have become big sellers in

the beauty industry, largely because mostcompanies recognise that women have amoisturiser-addiction. After all, whowouldn’t prefer to wake up looking refreshed,with hydrated glowing skin, rather than like acrumpled paper bag.Staying the night in a friend’s house recent-

ly, I came across a pot of Neal’s Yard Frank-incense Nourishing Cream. It doesn’t smellthat nice, it doesn’t feel that nice going on,and it’s for “mature skin”, but come morningmy skin was softer than I have ever felt it be-fore. Which is exactly the kind of complex-ion you want to wake up with.This autumn is the season of the night

cream. There are tons of new launchesaround, but while it’s easy to get dazzled bythe glut of new creams flooding the market,it’s worth bearing in mind that there aresome great night creams out there already,from the likes of Aveeno, Neal’s Yard andOrigins — the smell alone of its High Poten-cy Night-a-Mins sends us into paroxyms ofbliss.New from Dr Nick Lowe this month is a

night-time version of the award-winning TheSecret is Out Lifting Cream. Using active in-gredients, such as sodium hyaluronate, whichhelps keep moisture and water in the skin,

and a collagen peptide Hexapeptide-9, whichhelps repair and regenerate skin cells, thecream is designed to make the skin appearfresh and radiant.RoC’s new skincare breakthrough involves

electro-stimulation, if you don’t mind. Bio-electricity, which is the term used to describethe natural process of electrical currents re-leased from one cell to another, has beenstudied by parent company Johnson & John-son for the last 20 years and this new skincaredevelopment harnesses the power of bioelec-tricity to create a new anti-ageing range.RoC Sublime Energy uses energised parti-

cles of zinc and copper to give a jumpstartaction to the skin and help increase elastinand collagen production. And as it’s alwaysbetter to let creams work on your skin whileyou sleep, the range naturally includes a nightcream.Mind you, you don’t have to spend a for-

tune to get a product that is effective. Whilea price-conscious supermarket might notsound like the place you’d find what has beendescribed by fans as a “miracle cream“, Aldiis the go-to spot for one of the most effectivenight creams around, and it costs less than3. It’s got retinol and Q10 — tworenowned anti-ageing ingredients in it — andanyone we know who has tried it has comeaway converted. And you can’t really arguewith that.

Hervé Léger for Avon

AVON has become pretty cool over thelast few years. Yes, it may have sufferedwith a slightly dowdy image for a while,but the products are now high-qualityand innovative. Proving they have a fin-ger firmly on the pulse is their new fra-grance from French couture designer,Hervé Léger, who is most famous for his“bandage dress”. Beautifully housedwithin a delicate pink bottle,the woody floral scent hasnotes of Moroccan orangeflower, Sicilian pink grape-fruit, Chinese magnolia, cy-press wood and vanilla.Available exclusively fromAvon sales representatives,avon.ie, 26.

Take three… Autumn Lips

IT’S all going a bit late ‘90s on the lipstickfront with dark berry shades worn againsta palette of very pale, very perfect lookingskin. Dark tones are high-maintenanceand dramatic looking and they can drainthe face of colour. Make sure to wear witha flattering blush and keep checking yourteeth.

Mac Lipstick in Cunning, 17.50.Frost formula lipsticks can be hard towear, but this new shade from MAC’sPalace Pedigreed collection is darkand very sexy. It’s got a good richplummy tone that makes it aspecial one for after-dark.

Maybelline Colour Sensa-tional in Midnight Plum,10.45. Plummy shades send usright back to 1998, but if you’reafter a dark, sensual shade of lipstick thisseason, then this is a good bet and it’snot too pricey either. The colour is rich,deep and long lasting.

Bobbi Brown Lip Gloss in BlackChocolate, 21.50. This is seriouslydark but, thankfully, it’s a gloss, so itdoesn’t deliver the kind of deep saturationof colour you get with lipsticks. It’s a veryrich colour and won’t be up everyone’sstreet, but if you want something darkand brooding then this is the one for you.

RoC Sublime Energy Night, 49.95.Does your skin need to be energised?Check out this new night cream is part of arange from RoC that promises to put a zingback into your complexion. It’s high-techstuff which is reflected in the price tag.

Neal’s Yard Frankincense NourishingCream, from 20.67. Frankincense andmyrrh might be more associated withthe three wise men, but here they’ve

packed it into a creamthat is designed to re-duce the appearanceof fine lines. It’s notspecifically a nightcream, but we’vefound it works best at

night, leaving us with a silky soft complex-ion in the morning. Great for very dry skintypes.

Clinique Youth Surge Night Age Decel-erating Moisturiser, 44. Night-time iswhen your skin repairs itself and Clinique’snew cream aims to give the skin an“eight-hour effect” come morning, as it

plumps skin with natural colla-gen. It has a nicerich texture andleaves the skin feel-ing soft and look-ing fresh in themorning.

Clarins Vital

Light Night Revitalising Anti-AgeingComfort Cream, 77. Lovely and soft,this night cream uses the benefits of twopioneering plants to restore freshness toskin. We love its silky texture — it feels re-ally hydrating, and used in conjunctionwith the day cream, it makes the skin feelsoft and look more radiant.

Aldi Lacura Face Care Q10Night Cream, 2.19.Just like with Boots’s Pro-tect & Perfect, Aldi’s sim-ple night cream causeda hoo-haa a few yearsago after it was votedbest skincare product(along with a pot of ex-

pensive Lancôme cream) on the Channel 4show How to Look Good Naked. It’s ridicu-lously cheap, it’s effective and it does what agood night cream should — it moisturiseswell.

Bobbi Brown Hydrating Intense NightCream, 54. New from Bobbi Brownthis luxurious night cream containsdeeply hydrating ingredients such asshea butter, jojoba, oliveand sweet almond oil tomoisturise, as well asrice bran extract andapple extract to helpeven out skin tone. It’srich, creamy and verypleasant to use.

Emily O’Sullivan

TAKE THREEA fresh start

Night creams are the best way to protect your complexion


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Megan Sheppard

Do you have a questionfor Megan Sheppard?Email it [email protected] send a letter toFeelgoodIrish ExaminerCity QuarterLapps QuayCork

Megan puts the spotlight on: Avoiding Alzheimer’s

Radiationto the brain

impactsnegatively,particularly

long-termexposure tomore subtle

forms ineveryday life

NO SWEAT: Although the deodorant-breastcancer link is still under question, it makessense to go aluminium-free and organic.

Picture: iStock

Q I HAVE just been to the hos-pital to get a large breast cystaspirated, my third one in asmany years. While I was there,the consultant showed me at

least a dozen smaller ones which are stillthere. Is there any way of either getting ridof these or, even better, avoiding gettingnew ones? My mother had breast cancer,and my two aunts died of it, so I get amammogram every one to two years. Nat-urally, I am delighted the lumps are be-nign, but I would prefer not to have them.Overall, I am pretty healthy and take sup-plements.

A. I’m sorry to hear of your family trou-bles with breast cancer — it must weighlargely on your mind with the appearance ofthese cysts. Fortunately, family history is notas significant as was once believed. In a ro-bust Boston study of more than 117,000women, only 2.5% of cases were attributableto a positive genetic predisposition. Breastcancer is not the result of any one factor —instead it is the result of a combination ofrisks. You can make a number of lifestylechoices to decrease your overall risk.Instead of taking mammograms — which

are widely available and affordable — youcould consider the combination of physicalexamination and thermography, which arefar more accurate tools.Mammography utilises radiation and the

pressure exerted on the tissue during theprocess can damage the cells which may leadto the formation of lumps within the breast.Thermography utilises infra-red thermalimaging to accurately assess the health ofbreast tissue.Those who have embarked on a raw food

diet have found great success with eliminat-ing cysts, tumours and lumps from theirbodies, however this way of life is often seenas extreme and difficult to maintain. It hasbeen shown that women who eat a diet highin meat and dairy products have a higher riskof breast cancer, so it is worth seriously cut-ting back or removing these from your diet.Also, unhealthy fats, sugar and processedfood play a significant role in the rising can-cer rates.Women are eight times more likely to de-

velop breast cancer in the area closest to thearmpit. Toxins are purged from the bodythrough perspiration, but aluminium chloro-hydrate and aluminium chloride, found an-tiperspirants, prevent perspiration by block-ing the sweat ducts. This means the toxinsare deposited in the lymph nodes under thearms, where most breast cancer tumours ap-pear.Although the deodorant-breast cancer link

is still under question, it makes sense tochoose aluminium-free and organic options

such as MiEssence and Forever Living Prod-ucts.While there is much confusion over soy

isoflavones, xenoestrogens (commonly foundin plastics and herbicides), oral contraceptivepills, and HRT (Hormone ReplacementTherapy), one thing is certain — choosingnatural products over synthetics is a step inthe right direction. Organic is not only thenumber one choice for foodstuffs, it is alsothe best option for personal care and house-hold products as well.In 1997, medical anthropologist Sidney

Singer discovered a connection betweenbra-wearing and breast cancer. Wearing a braat least 14 hours a day tends to increase thehormone prolactin, which decreases circula-tion in the breast tissue, resulting in carcino-genic fluids becoming trapped in the breast’slymph nodes.Low levels of vitamin E and A have also

been linked to breast cancer. Natural foodsources of vitamin E include dark, greenleafy vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, brownrice, eggs, milk, watercress, sweet potatoesand wheat. Herbs that provide a good sourceinclude alfalfa, nettle, oats, raspberry leaf and

rose hips. Betacarotene (used by the body tomanufacture vitamin A) is found in yellow,red and dark green vegetables and fruits. Re-cent research has also shown that fish oil sup-plementation helps to protect against breastcancer.For an in-depth look at the roles of herbs

for women who want to maintain breasthealth and those diagnosed with breast can-cer, I recommend Susun Weed’s book, BreastCancer? Breast Health! The Wise WomanWay.

Q. I have recently found out I have os-teoarthritis in the L4/5 area of my back. Ialready take EPO (evening primrose oil)and agnus castus but I’m interested in anysupplements that could halt or alleviatethis progressive condition.

A. Osteoarthritis is the most commonform of arthritis. A degenerative joint condi-tion commonly affecting the knees, feet, fin-gers, hips and lower back, osteoarthritis isthe result of a combination of biochemicalprocesses and general wear and tear on thecartilage.Essential fatty acids will certainly help to

alleviate any pain and inflammation causedby your condition, so you are doing theright thing by taking the EPO. Health Per-ception has developed a product calledOmega Plus, which provides both Omega-3and Omega-6 fatty acids.A double-blind crossover study in 2002

showed that patients with osteoarthritis re-sponded well to a supplement containingturmeric (curcuma longa), also known ascurcumin, and the resin of the Indian frank-incense tree (boswellia serrata). Bothboswellia and curcumin have been usedwidely for their anti-inflammatory proper-ties, while curcumin also acts as an antioxi-dant.The inflammatory agent nitric oxide is

thought to be a significant factor in os-teoarthritis, as it is present in much higherlevels in individuals with osteoarthritis. Cur-cumin actually inhibits nitric oxide produc-tion, hence its effective action as an anti-in-flammatory agent.FSC has combined boswellia and curcumin

with ginger to increase joint mobility. Avail-able from www.all-ages-vitamins.co.uk, 60tablets cost £12.63 ( 15.05). You can ex-pect to have less difficulty walking afteraround one month, and after three monthsof taking this combination your resting andactive pain levels should be significantly re-duced. Do not take supplements containingginger if you are presently on anyblood-thinning medication.For more information and details of sup-

port groups, visit Arthritis Ireland online atwww.arthritis-foundation.com.

ALZHEIMER’S disease is a form ofdementia, characterised by confusion,disorientation, speech disturbances,

restlessness, memory failure, agnosia, hallu-cinosis, and an inability to perform pur-poseful movements. It counts for over halfof dementia cases, and typically occurs overthe age of 65 years.Scientists are now claiming that supple-

menting daily with B vitamins may delaythe onset of Alzheimer’s. A recent OxfordUniversity trial indicates that thewell-known link between homocysteinelevels and Alzheimer’s can be taken one stepfurther, by using vitamins B6, B12 and folicacid to control the amount of homocysteinein the bloodstream.The study involved individuals with mild

cognitive impairment (MCI), which com-monly leads to dementia within five years,and gave one group daily tablets containingthe B vitamins, and the control group were

given a placebo. After two years, MRI scansof the participants’ brains, along with cogni-tion tests, showed that those who had beenreceiving the supplements had experiencedon average 30% less brain atrophy than thosereceiving the placebo. Furthermore, thosewho began the trial with the highest homo-cysteine levels experienced the greatest bene-fit, showing 50% less brain shrinkage.It is important to get your homocysteine

levels tested first if you feel the B supple-mentation may be of benefit, and also to re-alise that it is very early days for this particu-lar research and treatment. B vitamins arebest taken together, as they work synergisti-cally, so find a good B-Complex, such as therange offered by Solgar.Research has shown that aluminium is

linked with Alzheimer’s, and can be found insurprising products. Most of us know thatanti-perspirant deodorants typically containaluminium, but did you know that baking

soda, toothpaste, antacid preparations,shampoos, and food additives can also con-tain aluminium? Radiation to the brain al-so impacts negatively, particularlylong-term exposure to television, mi-crowaves, cellular phones, and computers.Plenty of fresh local produce and whole-

foods (apples, strawberries, and essentialfatty acids are particularly good in the pre-vention of Alzheimer’s), pure drinking wa-ter, daily exercise, sunshine, and oxygenat-ing herbs such as gotu kola, lifeflower(breviscapini), black walnut, blessed thistle,damiana, and ginkgo biloba (not availableover the counter in Ireland). Gotu kola iswell-suited for Alzheimer’s since it con-tains a substance known as bio-aluminium,which attaches to manufactured alumini-um and helps to remove it from the body.■ The Alzheimer Society of Ireland offerssupport and information. For details: visitwww.alzheimer.ie or phone 1800-341341.

Natural health

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