Articles (What Doctors Don't Tell You)

In 1999, we published an investigative report on toxic toiletries by our contributing editor Pat Thomas (WDDTY vol 10 no 7). The article caused a furore, raising public awareness about the chemical dangers in common cleaning products. went on to write a book on the subject, Cleaning Yourself to Death (Gill & Macmillan, 2001). The […]

The epidemic of eczema, which affects one fifth of children, may be the fallout from our obsessive concern with keeping our children free of germs. Eczema is now a worldwide epidemic. In the UK, up to one fifth of school age children and one in 12 adults suffer from it. It is itchy, painful, reduces […]

The drugs industry rushed the new ‘human insulin’ onto the market and forced out animal insulin, leaving many diabetics far more ill and now with no alternative form of insulin. In nearly all areas of medicine, the advances come so thick and fast that it can be hard to keep up with them. But, in […]

Touted as the ‘natural cure’ for menopause, the high dose plant supplements may have strong oestrogenic effects on the body, with all the dangers of large doses of ordinary oestrogens. As bad news about HRT keeps rolling in, conventional and alternative practitioners have found themselves scrambling around for something to give women complaining of menopausal […]

It took the death of a 20th century icon, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, to bring non Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) to the world’s attention. With her passing, we began to realise that this once rare form of cancer was not so rare anymore. In the last 20 years, the incidence of NHL increased by approximately 73 per […]

Throughout the world, folic acid has now become the sacred cow of preconceptual health advice because of its apparent ability to reduce the rate of neural tube defects. But is this faith justified? In one sense, yes, as it does appear to help prevent neural tube defects. When the Medical Research Council conducted a trial […]

An Aladdin’s cave of products now exists in our healthfood shops, on the Internet and through specialist suppliers, all claiming to be a key to good health. Books and magazines all give advice about how to live. Every generation has its health fads, and every new guru has a new, improved health regime, claiming to […]

The glossy images we’re fed by the media hide a dangerous secret: most of our toiletries, even the “natural variety”, are made up of the same harsh, toxic chemicals used for industry. What could be more healthy than a refreshing body wash, a nourishing shampoo, a minty fresh toothpaste and a moisturising facial cream? Commercials, […]

In the body, no area presents more of a problem to doctors than the back. Second only to head pain, disabling low back pain strikes 80 per cent of us during our lifetimes, causes millions of lost work days and accounts for a steady stream of presentations to general practitioners. In spite of endless research […]

Most of us never think about death until it is upon us. Even then, we can become absorbed by the minutia the funeral arrangements, coffin selection and flowers instead of the bigger picture of how we die. Although death is mostly a family affair, it is increasingly hidden from public view. As people become less […]