Salmon, Tuna, and now Prawns in the News

An informative look at recent Holistic Fitness News

DR KAPLAN'S WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

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Once upon a time, not too long ago we all thought that fish was really good for us. But the men in white coats have been throwing some cold water at this idea. First it was the farm-bred salmon that had a question mark put next to it. Or we were advised that it was quite 'safe' to eat 2 meals a week of farm-bred salmon! Then last week there were medical reports that showed that tuna contained quite a lot of mercury which isn't that good for us. So our old friend and faithful companion of mayonnaise and lettuce in a baguette, got some bad PR.

This week prawns, or more specifically prawn fishing, or prawn trawling as they call it in the trade, came in for some fairly heavy criticism. Apparently the trawling of the seabed for this delicacy is bad news for sea turtles and seahorses. What is actually trawled up by the prawn trawlers is only 5% prawn. The rest which comprises a staggering 150,000 sea turtles a year is thrown away. (Bad news for consumers of turtle soup!) This has led the Environmental Justice Foundation to conclude that prawn fishing is wasteful and destructive. It's director, Steve Trent lamented the fact that poorer countries of the world are paying very dearly for our prawn sandwiches.

A Real, Wonder Drug

Regular readers know that I'm a medical doctor with a great interest in alternative and holistic medicine, especially classical homeopathy and the therapeutic benefits of laughter and comedy. However, I fully recognize the marvelous breakthroughs made by conventional medical science, especially in the last decade. Penicillin is a good example. It put terrible diseases such as syphilis, meningitis and pneumonia to the sword and still does. Whenever my friend, the comedian Arnold Brown, hears someone deriding Scottish people for being drunk, disorderly or 'Rab C. Nesbitt - like, he says: "Isn't it fortunate that Alexander Fleming sobered up long enough to discover penicillin?"

But the wonder drug I want to talk about this week is aspirin. Aspirin has been used as an excellent and relatively safe analgesic (pain killer), anti-inflammatory and anti-pyretic (reduces high temperatures) for many decades. Then they discovered that it inhibits platelet aggregation which means it stops the blood clotting as quickly as it normally does. In doing this it is effective at helping prevent the formation of clots which can cause heart attacks. So now many people at risk of heart attacks take about a quarter of a normal aspirin a day and many heart attacks have probably been averted.

Now the men in white coats in Italy have found that aspirin even has a role in preventing cancers in the mouth, throat and gullet. What next for this amazing drug of which 50, 000 tons are manufactured annually?

So perhaps the old medical advice on the phone: "Take an aspirin and call me in the morning" cured more people than we know!

Homeopathic Tip of the Week

Okay, so you've read my eulogy to aspirin. But should we always use it to reduce a temperature? Some say that the fever is there to help the body do something, like kill a virus, so we shouldn't just reduce it with medicine. On the other hand very high fevers can be dangerous in their own right! And aspirin can have some side-effects, occasionally severe ones. And some parents would prefer to use something 'natural' (eg. cold wet flannels) instead of aspirin or paracetamol, when their children have a high fever.

Well, here is an idea. If your child has a fever, they MUST first be examined by a doctor to exclude serious illnesses such as meningitis. However if the doctor diagnoses a cold, 'flu or 'virus', there is a chance to use homeopathic medicine (which can safely be taken alongside any medication the doctor prescribes). There are many homeopathic medicines for all sorts of different fevers but a useful one to keep in the house is ABC 30 (a combination of 3 homeopathic medicines, Aconite, Belladonna and Chamomilla). Take one tablet every 2 hours for a day or two. But remember, in a child with a fever, the small chance of a serious illness like meningitis must be ruled out by a doctor.

Dr Kaplan's personal website is: www.drkaplan.co.uk and his practice website is www.140harleystreet.co.uk and he can be contacted on (020) 7487 3416