Blogs

From our mailbag:

I was all set to buy a juicer but then I read that drinking blended fruits and vegetables is healthier than drinking their juiced counterparts because with blended drinks, you get naturally occurring fiber that you lose out with juices.

Could you please explain which is better: juicing or blending?

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There are health benefits to fruit and vegetable juices made with both methods. Read more

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported late last week that there has been a 19 percent increase in the number of people who have picked up a dangerous eye infection, a condition called Fesarium keratitis. Read more

A recent case study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal points to the potential dangers of using chamomile products while taking warfarin.

Warfarin, also called Coumadin and Marevan, is an anticoagulant that is often prescribed for people who are at risk of suffering from thrombosis and embolism. Read more

Fungal nail infections, also called onychomycoses, tend to occur more often in toenails than in fingernails. If you are not familiar with what fungal nail infections look like, they tend to make nails look brittle, crumbly, and discolored, usually to a dark yellowish or brownish tinge.

Your body is a host to trillions of microorganisms, some of which are fungi that can live on the outer layers of your skin, your fingernails, your toenails, your hair, and in your digestive tract. When some of these fungi are provided with conditions that allow them to grow rapidly, they can develop into infections. Read more

Ingredients: 

8 cups frozen peas
5 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons of organic butter
Sea salt and black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Over medium to high heat, cook garlic in butter for 2-3 minutes. Add peas and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.

Add vegetable or chicken broth, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to allow ingredients to simmer for 5 minutes with the lid on. Read more

Born in the city and raised with the luxuries associated with urban living, I have never been one for camping, hiking in the woods, or climbing trees in apple orchards. I never thought that avoiding nature and all of the creepy-crawlies living in it would have hurt my health, but research on the topic suggests otherwise. Read more

Upon reading yesterday's Toronto Star newspaper, I came across a disturbing article that talked about cigars being dressed up to look like treats for children. The sub-heading for the article states:

Teens are falling for mint-chocolate flavoured, honey-dipped, sugar-tipped baby cigars because they're sweet, they're cheap and they're easy to get.

These cigarillos, or "baby cigars", are sold individually, are often displayed among or close to the store's selection of candies, smell and taste delicious, and may be perceived by children and teenagers as being less harmful and addictive than "adult" cigars and cigarettes. And while it is illegal to sell tobacco products to underaged individuals, the fact of the matter is that store owners often don't bother to check I.D. or even care if they are selling to kids. Read more

My first born child was vaccinated at age 3 months with Diphtheria, tetanus, whole cell pertussis and oral polio. These were the vaccines available at that time and I was clueless. My child had an adverse reaction and died a few hours later.

When my daughter died, I was already pregnant with my next child. This was almost 20 years ago, so there was no internet to get easy access to vaccine info. In fact VRAN was just forming and the USA just formed the NVICP. The only info I had at that time was what our attorney was able to dig up. Which was actually enough to prove liability in his pertussis-brain injury case, but he was not able to prove causality and in Ontario law, both liability and causality must be proven. Of course science does not even know how the immune system functions, so it is almost impossible to prove causality without this knowledge in science. Read more

I just ran across an interesting article on the dangers of tongue piercing in the on-line version of USA TODAY.

The article mentions the case study of a 20-year-old woman who grew a permanent "second tongue" after wearing a stud in her tongue for approximately one year. Her "second tongue" was scar tissue that likely formed due to irritation by an inch-long stud that was a haven for plaque formation. Read more

From Our Mailbag:

Dr Kim,

I know that this has nothing to do with health, but since you seem to enjoy writing about Korean culture, I thought I would ask...why is it that so many young children from Korea have attended our elementary school in the past 3 years? I have a cousin who is a teacher in Los Angeles and she tells me that the same thing is happening there.

Wendy Griffin
Vancouver, British Columbia Read more