Some medications used to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus have anti-inflammatory effects. In today’s instalment, I discuss two of these classes of drugs and how they work.
Read moreMetformin, a medication which costs pennies a day, lowers insulin levels and has been shown to have powerful effects against a host of disorders including cancer, cardiovascular disease, brain and kidney disorders, obesity, as well as inflammation. But there is reason to believe that many players in the health care industry, prefer that you not know this.
Read moreCertain behaviours increase our risk of suffering from inflammation, and should be avoided if possible.
Read moreA number of beverages including coffee and green tea, have anti-inflammatory effects, and we might want to increase our consumption.
On the other hand, modern diets are often loaded with ultra-processed foods and with food additives that contribute to inflammation. We may want to try to eliminate these.
Read moreWe can reduce inflammation by eating less of certain foods. This includes animal-based foods, high-protein foods, and possibly, fruit! Find out why.
Read moreInstalment 1: The nitty-gritty. What is inflammation? What causes it? Do-it-yourself approaches to controlling inflammation. How to identify strategies that reduce inflammation.
Read moreWhile inflammation serves an important purpose in helping us survive and recover from injury, pain from inflammation can also cause a lot of misery and suffering. So, to decrease pain, what can we do to keep inflammation under control?
Read moreSlides and notes for the presentation, “Why we get old and die, and what to do about it” can be found here. Update 2020-07-23: This handout needs to be updated to include recent research suggesting that dietary fructose is something to be avoided because it raises insulin levels. Executive Summary…
Read moreThis is the text of a talk given to members of the Westmount Rotary Club, 2017-6-14 The diseases of aging include cancer, heart disease, dementia, arthritis, cataracts, osteoporosis, and stroke. Oh, and type 2 diabetes. It is likely that all of us have relatives or friends with these afflictions. Possibly…
Read moreThis was a very condensed version of my talk, “Why we get old and die, and what to do about it”. As ex-mayor Peter Trent is reported to have said when informed of the title, “Sounds depressing, like some of Leonard Cohen — music to slash your wrists to. But…
Read moreWhen I was a medical student at McGill in the late 1970s, we learned a straightforward explanation for the cause of Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes in adults, accounting for about 90 per cent of all diabetes cases. We were told the insulin resistance responsible for…
Read moreGout is caused by an excess of uric acid (urate) in the system, which can then form crystals in various places, including the joint of the big toe. Crystals in the joint cause inflammation and pain. Excess uric acid can be due to excessive dietary intake of purines, insufficient urinary…
Read moreI’ve been reading a most interesting book, titled “Deadly medicines and organized crime: how big pharma has corrupted healthcare,” by Dr. Peter Gøtzsche. Dr. Gøtzsche, a specialist in internal medicine and professor at the University of Copenhagen, co-founded the Cochrane Collaboration in 1993 and established the Nordic Cochrane Centre. The…
Read moreIt was recently reported on the CBS program “60 Minutes” that diabetes might be caused by sleep deprivation [link to web article]. As frequently happens, the reporting is more striking for its sensationalism than for its depth. Here is a deeper look: First, what do we know about sleep duration…
Read moreConference given at Ste. Anne’s Hospital on 2007-2-13, as part of the Department of Psychiatry Conference Series. Download a pdf of the presentation slides and notes.
Read moreConsultation-Liaison Rounds, 05-3-3, at the SMBD – Jewish General Hospital Article: Stockhorst, U., and R. Pietrowsky (2004) Physiol Behav 83:3-11. Olfactory perception, communication, and the nose-to-brain pathway. Abstract: The present paper’s aim is of to give an overview about the basic knowledge as well as actual topics of olfaction–with a…
Read morePresentation as part of a panel discussion, AMI-Quebec, Montreal, QC, on 2003-11-24. Download a pdf of the presentation slides and notes.
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