Japanese researchers just published a study that green tea doesn’t prevent breast cancer in the Journal Breast Cancer Research.
Whenever a study does not fit our expectations, we have to consider if we are dealing with a biased or otherwise flawed study.
Do these researcher want that we throw out green and herbal teas "because they don't prevent breast cancer"? We would assume that Japanese people would want to increase the sales of their Japanese tea, wouldn’t we? But that is as flawed as thinking that all American would want to boost the sales of American lettuce.
Medical science is confusing to lay people - and to doctors as well. Clearly, this study goes in the face of everything I am standing for ) or pretty much everything), and you could call me biased. I am. And that study did not convince me that green tea is not good for you – or me. (But clearly, I have a hard time arguing my case here!).
Looking into the research, two facts are interesting: The Breast Cancer Research journal is reputable – but certainly not The Lancet, The British Medical Journal or the New England Journal of Medicine. It clearly is a second tier journal. Why was this article not accepted by any of the biggies?
The other find is that the numbers are all over the place, even more varying with the bancha than with the sencha tea drinkers. Bancha is the cheap version of sencha. Could it be that people who can’t afford sencha can also not afford a healthier diet? We know that junk food has made inroads into the Japanese society. Sencha comes out sort of even – the claim that green tea doesn’t do anything against breast cancer comes mostly from the bancha drinkers.
Since we don’t know anything else about the lifestyle of the cohort, we do not know how healthy people lived otherwise.
Meanwhile, I suggest sticking with common sense and green tea for your health because sugared beverages are clearly not the answer. Read More
Blog: On Health. On Writing. On Life. On Everything.
Getting Down on the Ground
October 28, 2010
If you don’t do a single exercise at all – no walking, biking, swimming, yoga, playing ball – this is the ONE THING you have to do every single day: Getting down on the ground.
Why? Use it, or lose it. Many people who remember fondly crouching under the big family table as a child or romping around in the living room with the dog as if it was just yesterday, can’t get down on the ground anymore, to their big surprise.
Or, let’s rephrase it: Once they are down, there is no way to get up again, alone. The arms aren’t strong enough anymore to push you up, and the legs … forget the legs. So, that is the last time they have been down - voluntarily.
For, you see: down you will come. We all one day end in the earth. What brings us there are often falls. You trip or slip, and the next thing you know (if you know anything at all), the ambulance arrives and drives you off to the hospital. Only because of two things: You couldn’t keep your balance, and you couldn’t get up from the floor.
This is your homework today: Get down on the floor, and get up again. Once you are down, you can try a yoga pose like the fish, or the sphinx. But the point is really to be able to get up again. If you are not sure you can make it up, get help: Make a friend lend a hand.
Let the ground not be your enemy – let it be your friend, the place that gives you strength daily. We will go to the earth, but we also are from it. The Earth, our home, is not only for trampling on her, she is also supporting us. Her gravity exercises our muscles. We are alive as long as we can use her. Read More
The Here and Now
October 27, 2010
Yesterday at yoga, my wonderful teacher Carol Nelson encouraged us to be in the Here and Now.
A great suggestion!
But then I thought: Wait a second!
As a physician I know that the people most in the Here and Now are Alzheimer’s patients. First, in the development of dementia, one loses the future and dwells on the past. Later on even the past dims, and there is nothing there than the Here and Now – a sad state of affairs.
That is not to mean, when your thoughts are churning about a project at work or a past lover who jilted you, it is not a good idea to focus on the Here and Now, take some deep, slow breaths - always start with exhaling! – and feel your diaphragm move.
It only means one shouldn’t stretch a philosophical tenet too far. The Here and Now has it merits – but driven to exclusivity, it becomes hollow and ridiculous. Moderation also is a reigning principle in philosophy.
However - now look at “moderation”, as a concept. When you are falling a love, deeply in love, do you want to “moderate” yourself? Or do you want to live the most important moments of your life?
Questions, questions… Read More