Articles

First there was plain yoghurt, then fruit yoghurts, then yoghurt drinks, and now everyone ‘s talking about – and apparently consuming – gut-friendly probiotics. Yakult started the trend almost 10 years ago but, since then, big names like Danone, M “uller and Nestl’e have jumped on the milk-train. Now, even supermarkets like Asda and Tesco […]

The writs are flying in Los Angeles after a six year old girl, Sabrina Brierton Johnson, developed Stevens Johnson Syndrome – a devastating inflammatory disease that can result in serious gastrointestinal problems, blindness and death – soon after being given a children’s ibuprofen manufactured by Johnson & Johnson for a mild fever. Since her case […]

Soap is one of those things we all take for granted. Yet, we’ve used it for thousands of years as part of daily life and in religious ceremonies. These days, the art of making soap has largely died away, overtaken by the trend towards detergent use. Today, most of us use detergents moulded to look […]

Wet shaving with a blade is one of the oldest ways of removing unwanted facial and body hair. There are now a wide variety of shaving gels and foams on the market for both men and women. They look nice, they feel nice and some even smell nice. But they can contain some not-so-nice ingredients […]

History will relate that it was the chemists of drug giant Pfizer who first brought men ‘s most intimate problem out from under the bedclothes into the light of day with the invention of Viagra in 1998. But Pfizer ‘s greatest achievement was to turn male impotence from a guilty secret into an everyday medical […]

We all know we’re experimental guinea pigs for the food industry. The thousands of additives and pesticides that form part of our daily fare mean that our bodies are storehouses of chemical toxins. The long-term health consequences of this situation are totally unknown-and that’s official. Even the UK government’s food experts admit this sad fact, […]

Most of us believe that, as we get older, we’re going to suffer increasing disability and illness, and medicine convinces us that it’s just a natural part of ageing. To deal with the symptoms of decline, we’re given a variety of prescription drugs – usually in combination. It’s now commonplace for the over-65s to be […]

Constant stress is a defining feature of modern life, and a source of common health problems such as anxiety, insomnia, heart disease, diabetes, chronic pain and gastrointestinal problems like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). These days, 60-90 per cent of all visits to the GP are for stress-related disorders. The profound effect of stress on our […]

Baby bath, baby oil, baby lotion, baby wipes. A quick skim of supermarket or pharmacy shelves and you could be forgiven for thinking that having a baby was more of an opportunity for niche shopping than a responsibility towards the future. But there is ample reason to consider the bigger picture of baby toiletries and […]

What’s in your perfume bottle? Pat Thomas dissects the ingredients of Eternity by Calvin Klein, uncovering a sweet smelling array of carcinogens, neurotoxins and hormone disruptors.   What’s the difference between perfume and pollution? Absolutely nothing. Perfumes may be sold as luxury items that enhance our wellbeing and sexuality, but at heart they are composed […]