General Health Newsletter – July 2009 

By the time you read this I’ll be in Sydney, Australia, at the Hillsong Conference! I look forward to a little break, so please email my wonderful staff on pa@sallyanncreed.co.za if you have any concerns, or visit Creeds (our Tokai health store) where you will be welcomed and cared for.

I know this is a health newsletter, so the fact that I’m going to be discussing some rather interesting new findings on alcohol might surprise you. However, it’s really important, I feel, and because of this article, this month’s newsletter will be considerably longer than usual – I hope you enjoy it. It’s a bumper month with both the newsletter and E-Mag being longer, and a fantastic Bumper Bulk List of special prices, offers and once-off ‘deals’ for our readers.

The Alcohol Myth Sue Nelson, BBC Radio reporter went behind the headlines to find out how alcohol really affects our health based on the Million Women Study. She found was that there was an increased risk in certain cancers just from having 1 or 2 alcoholic drinks a week. Age, gender and genetic makeup influence our risk, and nobody really knows their personal risk. (I really don’t want to spoil anyone’s weekend here, but this is so relevant in our society today.)

Ian Gilmore, President of the Royal College of Physicians in London stated that in the UK death certificates citing the primary cause of death directly from alcohol itself were around 8,000 a year. 12,000-15,000 death certificates mention alcohol as a contributing factor and a staggering 40,000 death certificates attribute death to diseases which could be caused by alcohol - about 15% of these being oesophageal cancer and hypertension.

The alcohol-cancer link has been known about for well over 100 years but the mechanism is still not fully understood as so many areas are under-researched and under-funded. David Nutt, Prof of Neuro-Psycho-Pharmacology at the Imperial College in London says alcohol acts on the brain, is processed by the liver and affects hormones profoundly.

Professor Helmut Sykes from the University of Heidelberg, states that the metabolites of alcohol are toxic compounds which bind to proteins in the blood causing an immune response. These metabolites also bond to proteins in the cells and have a carcinogenic effect. He stated categorically that all alcoholic beverages are carcinogenic.

The Million Women Study made headlines recently when it found that only one drink a week increases your risk of breast cancer. In 10 women having 2 drinks a week, if all 10 get cancer, one will have been caused by the alcohol. No study like this has ever been done before, so previous government guidelines of 2 drinks daily are now totally obsolete. No amount of alcohol is safe, according to Prof Gilmore.

The study showed that the most increased risk was breast cancer. Helmut Sykes said that an increase in oestrogen levels is the primary cause. The enzyme that degrades oestradiol and rids it from the body gets preoccupied with metabolizing alcohol, thus preventing removal of oestradiol and it remains in the body stimulating breast tissue growth. If you drink, whether you are a man or a woman, you are likely to increase your risk of breast cancer, he said.

What about the resveratrol and the antioxidants in red wine? Apparently according to these experts, you’d need many thousands of litres a day to receive ‘benefit’. Binge-drinking was also shown to increase heart attacks. So why is this only surfacing now? Perhaps ‘big money’ is responsible for under-funding and lack of research into this field. I’m taking no chances.

A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble – Charles H. Spurgeon

BUMPER Bulk Specials for July

Lots and lots this month including SuperSweet, MaxiFOS, MaxiBiotic 5, Fennel and other spices in our growing organic spice range, plus our delicious wholegrain organic spelt flour (see recipe below) amongst others! Request the Bulk List for July from pa@sallyanncreed.co.za. As little as one kilogram can entitle you to a special “bulk” price.

Our doctor would never really operate unless it was necessary. He was just that way. If he didn't need the money, he wouldn't lay a hand on you! – Herb Shriner


Spiritual Health: I love the way The Message (a modern translation of the Bible) puts Romans 8:9-11: “But if God Himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of Him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome Him, in whom He dwells - even though you still experience all the limitations of sin -you yourself experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, He'll do the same thing in you that He did in Jesus, bringing you alive to Himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and He does, as surely as He did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With His Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!”

THE HEALTH CAFÉ

Recipe: Whole Grain Spelt Pizza Crust Creeds have the most delicious, nutty-tasting organic wholegrain spelt in – at last – so you can make a really healthy, nutritious pizza now for the whole family!

What you need:
2 cups Creeds organic whole grain spelt flour
1 cup of Creeds organic all-purpose flour (gluten-free, or light spelt, or wheat)
1 small package of active dry yeast or 15-20g Creeds wet yeast
2 tbsp organic raw sugar or Creeds raw honey
1 tsp Creeds Himalayan salt
2 tbsp Creeds olive oil
1 cup of very hot water (preferably distilled for purity)

What you do next:
• Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
• Slowly add the oil and the water. It's easiest to use your hands to work the dough.
• Spread out the crust on a pizza stone dusted with flour, using your fingers to pinch the dough at the edges to create a crust.
• Now bake in a very hot oven of 220 degrees C for a few minutes. When it’s ready, take out, spread your tomato base and all the other lovely healthy goodies onto it, and bake for another 7 minutes. Enjoy with a crunchy salad!

NB: Creeds have a special price for you on Wholegrain Spelt for July on our BULK LIST whilst stocks last. Contact pa@sallyanncreed.co.za to request our Bulk Price List for July.

It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice – Anon

BYE

Till next month, love & God bless from 

Sally-Ann Creed, Clinical Nutritionist
Dip Clin Nutr