I will discuss all the nutritive factors connected with better hair growth, or, in reverse, the nutritional deficiencies connected with hair loss and baldness. But first let me disprove one of the fallacious notions held by many authorities on the hair-through-nutrition subject. They claim that for healthy hair growth you need first and foremost “protein, protein and more protein!’
It is true that just about all your body is made up of protein. Of course it is true that your hair is also made up largely of protein. But this does not mean that you have to eat masses of protein each day. Your actual protein need for the normal, healthy functioning of all the vital organs and processes of your body is only about 30 grams a day, which can be supplied by one pint of milk and a cheese sandwich. Protein intake should not exceed 50-60 grains per day—which is less than half what is usually advocated in the United States. Proteins eaten in excess of the actual need, especially animal proteins, are definitely detrimental to your health, including the health of your hair. And don’t forget that practically all natural foods contain some protein, even fruits and vegetables.
Here is something to ponder: Are there many bald heads in Japan, China, India, or Mexico? In these countries a bald man is rare and the hair retains its blue-black color until very old age. Yet these people live, by American standards, on a very low protein diet. Certainly, hereditary factors have some part to play in this. But heredity is not the whole answer, as demonstrated by the fact that Chinese and Mexicans get gray hair and even become sleek-bald when they move to the United States and adopt western habits of eating. Studies of the nutritional habits of these people have shown that their diets are very high in vitamins, especially vitamins C and B; minerals; trace elements, especially iodine; and essential fatty acids—ail very important for healthy hair growth.
If you’d like to undertake a program of feeding your hair from within, please don’t stuff yourself with huge amounts of animal protein. Too much animal protein may cause metabolic disorders, self-intoxication and hardening of the arteries with resultant impaired blood circulation—in other words, it may create the very problems you are trying to remedy. Enough, but not too much, should be the rule in regard to protein.
*111\58\2*
Heart signs are seen in the second major zone: Blood and Muscle zone—locally at left iris:
10′-15′, right iris: 45′-50′—commencing directly at the iris-wreath.
With heart signs, as with the entire iris, a lightening of colour signifies over-activity
= inflammation, and darkening indicates underactivity = weakness.
With all cardiac conditions, more so than with other organ signs, one has to consider the entire iris, and in particular the blood zone, brain, liver, lung and kidney areas. In addition, the finger-nails, legs and lips should be examined, since these often give early indications.
Heart signs for individual conditions are:
1. Endocarditis (inflammation of the endocardium): shows small white flakes in the heart area, or short white lines, especially close to the iris-wreath in the blood zone.
2. Myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle): is recognised by the appearance of small white flakes or clouds in the muscle zone: in the middle of the heart area, or further outwards towards the skeletal zone. These signs are very often apparent during the course of, or following an infectious disease, and must then be regarded as very grave indications. These signs are also frequently to be found with so-called ‘rheumatic’ patients. With such people the whole iris is too white, and these patients complain of generalised rheumatic pains, e.g. in shoulder, neck, back muscles, etc.
With such patients one often observes merely a thick, white zigzag line in the heart area which shows a small white flake at its termination in the mucous membrane zone. In such cases it will be found that the patients suffer severely from changes in the weather, and complain of great uneasiness and anxiety from stormy weather.
3. Pericarditis (inflammation of the pericardium): the pericardium registers approximately at left iris: 15′-17′, showing clouds in the lower margin of the heart signs when there is pericarditis. Since pericardial disease very easily gives rise to adhesions, one should always give careful attention to the fine white adhesion-signs (transversals) in this area, as well as to the adjacent pleural area below.
4. Cardiac neuroses: are widely spread in these times of increased tensions, haste and anxiety. Since in many cases of neurotic disturbance no clinical evidence can be found, iris-diagnosis becomes an especially important help.
In the early stages, nervous disturbances of the heart are shown by a very fine white line which runs out over the heart area from the iris-wreath, roughly horizontally. The patients complain of disturbance and sudden palpitations (the heart beats ‘up into the throat’). If this white line takes on a more acutely zigzag form, then stronger disturbances are probable. Patients with such signs usually have enlarged ‘moons’ on the finger-nails.
If near these fine white lines contraction rings are observed (i.e. nerve rings), which interrupt at the heart area, then there is a risk of cardiac spasm, resulting in the appearance of praecordial anginal attacks.
If the nervous heart disturbances have existed for some time, then the fine white lines become darker, i.e. grey to black; usually there is only a dark line to be seen, known as ‘irritation line’. Patients with such signs have constant heart disturbance as a result of irritation, grief or fear. If the lines become somewhat wider apart and give rise to lacunae, then the patient will complain of an anxiety state. If these signs lie at about 10′-12′ (left iris) then according to Frau Flink there is a condition of heart oppression and dyspnoea; if they lie at 16′-17′ then agitation and excitement will give the patient the feeling as if the heart was being strangled. Patients with these signs have nail ‘moons’ which are too small, or are wholly or partly missing.
5. Cardiac myasthenia (heart muscle weakness): is shown by a darkening of the heart area, appearing as dark wisps, clouds, and closed or open weakness-signs. The iris fibres no longer run radially, but more or less in arc form. For so long as the dark signs are small (narrow) and the fibres only slightly separated, then the condition is one of simple debility of the heart muscle, but if not treated this becomes a heart muscle weakness. The weakness-sign itself is usually evidenced above or below (also above and below) by a light well-defined arc. Frau Flink interpreted a well-defined upper arc as a tendency to asthmatic symptoms, which arise on slight exertion. In the case of a lower arc, then according to Frau Flink the patient can eat only little.
When in addition to these signs the stomach and intestinal zones are coloured brown, then every excitement affects the stomach of such a patient.
The wider the separation of the fibres in the muscles zone of the heart area, the greater the tendency to cardiac dilatation. If the weakness-signs are closed, then according to Frau Flink, the condition should be regarded as one of cardiac dilatation and cardiac weakness. Such patients must always be treated as for a heart condition, especially with feverish infections—e.g. rheumatic and renal conditions. If the weakness sign is not closed, but is open as far as the iris margin, then the condition is one of hypertrophy (Frau Flink). If besides the weakness-sign in the heart area one finds an overgrowth of the nail-quick on the fingers, then the patient suffers cardiac anxiety and oppression. In children this is a sign of fearfulness.
As is well known, a heart muscle-weakness leads to stasis in the systemic and pulmonary circulation. With left cardiac insufficiency this gives rise to dyspnoea with cough and catarrh, whereas with right cardiac insufficiency there is liver and portal stasis, haemorrhoids and hydropericardium. Thus, with weakness-signs in the heart area, one always pays attention to the lung areas. Stasis here makes the lung fields appear dark, the patient complaining of cough and dyspnoea, especially at night. Cardiac asthma and pulmonary oedema are possible dangers.
In proportion to the extent of cardiac weakness, stasis signs may be found in the areas for liver and kidneys, together with a dark neurasthenic-ring, haemorrhoidal signs in the rectum area, and stasis signs in the extremity areas. These areas become dark and the iris fibres separate.
Small lacunae in the heart area are sometimes found even in small children, in which case the cause is attributable to the mother. If during pregnancy the mother suffered much irritation and worry then the child is liable to have a heart-area lacuna. Such children are very nervous, and remain affected throughout the whole of life.
6. Cardiac valve lesions: show in the iris as small black points in the heart area in the vicinity of the iris-wreath, lying in the upper part of this area. There may be one to three black points. The appearance of a fourth point is a presage of death. Struck wrote on this matter in
Iris-Korrespondenz as follows: a visible fourth heart point renders hopeless any measures to counter impending death. This iris indication is diagnostic of the last stages of struggling man.
Another sign in the heart area which is difficult to interpret is the black wedge-sign. It lies in the blood zone with its base to the iris-wreath and the apex pointing into the muscle zone. It indicates that the patient may suffer a sudden cardiac arrest.
If in the heart area one or more black points are observed in the blood zone (indicating valvular defects), or in the muscle zone (indicating callosities), then one must not neglect to make a thorough examination of the mouth-throat area. Dark points in this area will suggest that the heart damage is secondary to a focal infection arising in the teeth or tonsils (angina, diphtheria).
7. Coronary sclerosis: was earlier the privilege of elderly and aged persons. Today, however, it not infrequently affects persons between 30 and 50 years of age. In the iris it is recognised by the following signs: At 15′ the iris-wreath shows a thicker white margin, conjoined with the lower arc of a cardiac weakness sign, and extending with it to the muscle zone.
Sometimes a fine white line can be observed running obliquely from this white margin to the spleen area. This line is a sign of threatened cardiac infarct.
8. Roemheld syndrome: is shown in the iris as a strong dilatation of the colon (i.e. iris-wreath) in the direction of the heart area. This dilatation may lie above or below the heart area.
9. Coloured flecks in the heart area: Such colour or toxin flecks in the heart area are small light to brownish-red pigment flecks. These indicate that the patient suffers mentally, and such patients tend strongly to brooding (melancholy, true depression, religious delusions, etc.). These signs very often go together with abdominal disturbances —usually affecting persons of
Sepia-type (yellow glistening of the nose, dirty ring around the mouth, unable to get going in the mornings yet gay and lively in the evenings.)
*20\78\2*
A last word about housework — which often is the last word. Some women enjoy housework and feel really happy when their home sparkles. For others, it’s a pain, but they do it because they feel compelled. If you are like that, try putting it last in your order of priorities. After all, it’ll always be there and will wait for you. The advertising men would like you to believe that the best wives and mothers are the women sitting in band-box clothes in an immaculate ideal home, but I hope you won’t be taken in by that. Aim to do the things you enjoy —first. Play with your children when they’re in their most delightful mood; make love whenever the spirit moves you both; dance when you feel like it; eat when you want to; if the sun calls you, go out and sunbathe. Enjoy life and let the dishes wait and the vacuum cleaner stay in the cupboard. You can make your own routine. And the more fun there is in your life, the easier it is to bear the painful moments.
*64\177\2*
First visit
A baby’s first visit to the doctor’s office is usually between two and four weeks after birth and this visit serves several purposes. For one thing, it gives the parent, the doctor, and the child an opportunity to meet together and begin a relationship. The parent can get to know the doctor and the customs of the practice, the doctor can get basic information about the family, and the child’s general health can be evaluated. At this first visit the doctor will take the baby’s physical measurements. This initial information is necessary so that the child’s development can be followed from the beginning of life. The doctor will also examine the baby for abnormalities. Some babies are born with physical problems and abnormalities that are obvious right away. Other inborn problems do not show up until a few weeks after birth.
At the first visit, the doctor will ask questions about the parents’ health and health history as well as examine the baby. Some medical problems can be inherited, and some can run in families. It is important for the new baby’s medical record to show such background information. If the child later shows signs of problems that have appeared before in the family, the doctor will be able to make a diagnosis more quickly.
The first visit will also include checking to see that the umbilical cord is healing as it should, that the circumcision (if it was done) is healing, and that the child has had no ill effects from labor and delivery. Feeding schedules, vitamins, and immunizations will be discussed as well. Usually a schedule of regular return visits is made up at the first visit. The number and spacing of the visits will depend on the baby’s health, the parents’ needs and wishes, and when the baby should have immunizations.
If the baby’s health and development seem to be normal, some or all of the later visits may be handled by a pediatric nurse practitioner, a physician’s assistant, or another health professional. These people are specially trained to be an extension of the doctor. They can work with you to clear up any questions you have about taking care of your baby. Of course, any question or problem that the nurse or assistant cannot handle is referred to the doctor.
Later visits
As the child grows past babyhood, questions will come up about how to handle toilet training, rivalries with brothers and sisters, obedience, temper tantrums, and the like. These are areas where your doctor and the staff can help. Go ahead and ask about them. A child’s doctor is not concerned only with the child’s physical body. Social and psychological development is also a part of every child’s growth and affects health in many ways.
*266/84/5*
Many children cannot remain dry through the night before they are four or five. About 10 percent of all children over the age of five are bedwetters. Children of any age may have occasional accidents at night, especially if ill or in exhausted sleep—conditions that do not represent true bedwetting.
Five to 10 percent of children who bed-wet have a physical disease, such as an infection or abnormality of the urinary tract, diabetes, or a neurological (nervous system) disorder. If a trained child suddenly begins bedwetting, the cause may be physical. If bedwetting develops a year or more after night training has been established, or if a child wets himself both day and night, a physical disease is likely.
However, most cases of bedwetting are not caused by an identified physical disorder. Some cases seem to be hereditary, with brothers, sisters, and parents also having been bedwetters. Some are caused by overemphasis by the family on toilet training. Others are caused by taking children out of their night nappies too soon or by waking children to urinate in an effort to train at night. Some children have emotional problems that cause bedwetting. Still, the cause of many cases of bedwetting remains unknown.
Signs and symptoms
A child who frequently and consistently wets the bed after age five has a bedwetting problem.
Home care
Before beginning any home treatment of bedwetting, see your doctor. The doctor can perform tests to determine whether bedwetting is being caused by a physical disease, such as a urinary infection or diabetes.
If the doctor finds no physical cause, then the best home treatment is to ignore bedwetting as much as possible and to try to avoid it. Do not take a child out of night nappies until the child consistently remains dry. Do not make a big fuss about daytime training. Do not try to shame a child into remaining dry at night.
Consult your doctor before using devices which awaken the child as urination starts. Withholding liquids during late afternoon and evening hours is not usually successful and may seem like punishment to the child. Behavior modification techniques (rewarding success and reacting neutrally toward failure) rarely work. Rubber sheets and plastic pants are helpful until the child stops bedwetting. Until then, patience, calmness, and understanding may be the best treatment.
Precautions
• Do not let a minor problem like bedwetting become a major destructive factor in your relationship with your child. Anger and frustration between parent and child are more costly than extra laundry.
• Do not allow other children to taunt a bedwetter.
Medical treatment
Your doctor will insist first upon conducting a physical examination and urinalysis. The doctor may suggest X rays of the urinary tract or consultation with an urologist; imipramine (an antidepressant) by mouth at bedtime for a trial period; dextroamphetamine, phenytoin, or caffeine also on a temporary basis; or a program of behavior modification. Although many of these treatments are not always effective, they may be worth a try.
*20/84/5*
These foods contain little or no carbohydrate and are used together with carbohydrate exchange foods to prepare meals and snacks. They provide the remainder of the total energy requirement and can be divided into two main groups:
1. Foods containing both protein and fat
2. Foods containing fat only
You will be advised by your dietitian how many servings to use from the choices in these lists.
1. Protein and fat containing foods:
These foods are listed below and are separated into those with a high protein, low fat content and those with a high protein, high fat content. As much as possible choose foods with the lower fat content and remove any visible fat before cooking. The method of cooking is also important. Try to avoid cooking with oil or fat or keep to a minimum.
Each of the following amount provides approximately 315 kjoules (75 kcals).
High Protein – Low Fat Foods
Amount
White fish
60g
Canned tuna/Salmon in brine
45g
Chicken (no skin), Turkey, Rabbit
45g
Lean Red Meat
(beef, lamb, liver, kidney, brains)
30g
Oysters or Scallops (12)
110 g
Prawns, Crayfish or Crab Meat
100g
Egg
1 large (65g)
Non-fat Cottage Cheese
100g
High Protein – Fat Foods
Amount
Fried Fish 30g
Fried Chicken or Turkey 30g
Fried Veal Cutlets 30g
Scallops – Fried in Batter 30g
Sardines/Herrings in Oil 30g
Tuna/Salmon in Oil 30g
Full Cream Cheese 30g
Nuts 15g
Bacon – cooked l0g
2. Fat containing foods
These foods are concentrated sources of energy. Each of the following amounts provides approximately 150 kjoules (35 kcals) and is therefore interchangeable.
Food Amount
Margarine (polyunsaturated) 1 level teaspoon (5g)
Butter 1 level teaspoon (5g)
Oil (polyunsaturated) 1 level teaspoon (5g)
Cream 2 level teaspoons (l0 g)
French dressing 2 level teaspoons (l0g)
Mayonnaise 1 level teaspoon (5g)
Coconut, shredded, flesh 2 tablespoons
Olives – Green 5 medium (30g)
– Black 3 medium (20g edible part)
Avocado 1/8, 10cm diameter (25g)
*105/54/5*
Don’t Take My Wife, Please
Comedians have been getting cheap laughs at the expense of the old ball and chain for as long as there have been women and steel. The funny thing is that as much as we joke about women driving us to our graves, the fact is that they actually add years to our lives. Finding a mate and being happily married is about as good as, if not better for our health than, quitting smoking, maintaining healthy blood pressure, eating a low-fat diet, or exercising more than 60 minutes a day.
Marriage may also be the key to disease survival, say experts. When researchers at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Miami checked the survival rates of 143,969 men with prostate cancer, they found that those who were married lived almost three years longer than those who either were never married or were separated or divorced. Marriage is even better for your health if you do it only once. Researchers found that the trauma of divorce can be bad enough to negate the benefits of being remarried.
“But the findings are pretty consistent that being married has plenty of health benefits for men,” says study author Joan Tucker, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. “Women traditionally do things for men that have health benefits. Things like improving his diet, reducing his risky behavior, providing stress relief, and helping him remember to take medication are all strong health supports.”
You are what you eat
Remember the tired old “an apple a day” cliche? Well, a 20-some-year study of almost 10,000 people in Finland confirmed it. Those who ate the most flavonoids, which are natural antioxidants found in many fruits and vegetables, had lower risks for all cancers and half the risk for lung cancer than those who ate the least. The clear winner for lowering lung cancer rates? You guessed it: apples.
But apples aren’t the only fruit of paradise for your health. A study of more than 2,000 Welsh men demonstrated that those who ate the most of any kind of fruit had half the risk for all cancers compared to those who ate the least.
Hell, it’s becoming so hip to eat healthy that major-league ballpark stadiums are even hawking fruits and vegetables next to the weenies and fries these days. Busch Stadium, the Astrodome, Dodger Stadium, Jacobs Field, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Riverfront Stadium, and Shea Stadium all offer vegetables, garden salads, or fruit and vegetable platters. Others, including Candlestick Park and Wrigley Field, offer garden burgers and other healthful stadium snacks.
Laughing in the Face of Death
Though Bobby McFerrin almost drove us all to an early grave in 1988, with his incessant and insipid “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” his advice was scientifically sound. If you can laugh in the face of adversity, you can live better, longer.
A Japanese researcher studying 157 men and women ages 65 and older has found a strong connection between maintaining a general sense of well-being and having low levels of total cholesterol, low levels of artery-blocking low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and high levels of healthful high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Lifting your spirits, he concluded, is important in caring for your heart.
Any moves that men can make to relieve their stress and lighten their moods will probably decrease their risks for heart attack, says Dr. Ichiro Kawachi of the Harvard School of Public Health.
*14/36/5*
It’s probably news you don’t want to hear, but coffee is not the best thing for your heart. Coffee affects our metabolism in several ways that place us at increased risk of heart disease. One way that coffee increases our risk of heart disease is by promoting inflammation in our body. A study done in Greece recruited 1514 men (aged 18-87 years) and 1528 women (aged 18-89 years); their blood levels of inflammatory chemicals were analyzed in relation to coffee consumption. When compared to men who drank no coffee at all, men who consumed more than 200mL per day had a 50 percent higher level of interleukin-6 (IL6), a 30 percent higher C-reactive protein level, 12 percent greater serum amyloid-A, 28 percent higher tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha levels and three percent higher white blood cell counts. For women who consumed 200mL per day of coffee, these figures were even higher. All of these chemicals are indicators of inflammation in the body, and are directly linked to higher rates of heart disease.
Coffee also has the ability to raise blood pressure and damage our blood vessels. An Australian study was conducted on 18 healthy middle aged men and women who consumed 250mg of caffeine per day; this is roughly the amount found in two or three cups of coffee. The study showed that caffeine caused raised blood pressure and made the aorta less elastic and more rigid. The aorta is the largest artery in the body. People who drink coffee have higher amounts of the stress hormones Cortisol and ACTH in their bloodstream than people who don’t. These stress hormones can act as free radicals in our body and promote abdominal obesity.
Drinking unfiltered, boiled coffee can raise total cholesterol, LDL “bad” cholesterol and triglycerides if six or more cups are consumed per day. This effect is not present in filtered coffee, as it is the coffee oils found only in unfiltered or boiled coffee that are the culprit. Unfiltered coffee is more common in Europe; ground coffee is placed in a device that goes on the stovetop. Greek coffee is a type of unfiltered, boiled coffee. A more worrying fact is that coffee can raise homocysteine levels; four or more cups per day are required to have this effect. High homocysteine levels are a major risk factor for heart disease because homocysteine causes damage to artery walls and makes platelets stickier. Caffeine also promotes insulin resistance, meaning it makes us more likely to gain weight and develop diabetes. It is okay to enjoy coffee in moderation, approximately two to four cups a day.
*18/53/5*
If you’ve ever wondered how, precisely, people die, we can tell you the one place you should not look for answers: television. On TV, sometimes folks die an agonizing death from the slightest case of sniffles. Other times, the helicopter slams into the bridge and the whole A-Team emerges unscathed.
“It’s hard to answer the question of whether death itself hurts because nobody really knows,” Dr. Iserson says. There can be pain and discomfort at the initial onset of a fatal event, especially with trauma or where a heart attack or a terminal illness is involved. “But it’s not likely that the final moments are very painful since the brain is shutting down. In fact, some dying processes, like drowning, can actually be quite peaceful,” says Dr. Iserson, a near-drowning victim himself. Here’s a quick look at how we die.
The big three. The three top causes of death-heart disease, cancer, and stroke-are also the easiest to understand. They cause death by shutting down vital organs. Most heart attacks occur because the heart is not getting enough oxygen through plaque-constricted coronary arteries. The heart stops, and the lights go out. Stroke is similar but occurs when the brain, not the heart, fails to get enough blood (which is why some doctors now refer to stroke as brain attack). And cancer kills by impairing the functions of the organs it invades.
Bang! You’re dead. Fatal events such as car crashes, falling from high places, or being shot cause trauma. More than half of the time, death in trauma cases is actually the result of injury to the heart, a major blood vessel, the brain, or the spinal cord, which causes blood loss and shock or massive injury to the brain or other vital organs. “That’s why the Safety Council folks are so adamant about people wearing seat belts, helmets, and other protective gear,” says Dr. Wecht. “Often if you can protect your head, you can stay alive.”
Bleeding to death. We tend to think of bleeding as something we do on the outside. But internal organs such as the spleen, liver, and lungs are like miniature blood banks. Rupturing such organs can cause massive internal bleeding, which takes precious amounts of blood out of circulation. A quick loss of 40 to 50 percent of your blood, which is approximately five to six pints in a 170-pound man or four to five pints in a 130-pound woman, is enough to cause coma and death. When too much blood is taken out of circulation, the heart speeds up to try to compensate for the loss. But once the pressure and volume get too low, the person falls into a coma, and the oxygen-deprived heart stops.
From gallows to swallows. Finally, there’s asphyxiation. One sure way to put your heart to rest and your brain to sleep for good is to cut off your air supply. When you can’t breathe, whether a chicken bone is lodged in your throat or cement shoes tied to your feet haul you down to drown, you experience asphyxia. During asphyxia, the pulse quickens, the blood pressure rises, and the amount of carbon dioxide in your blood shoots up due to the lack of new air coming in, or of old air being expelled. In a few minutes, the heartbeat becomes irregular from lack of oxygen and then stops.
Though death accounts are predictably grim, experts say that your final moments, if you are dying from a chronic, natural illness, probably aren’t all that bad-even if they aren’t exactly pretty. “In many cases, it’s just a slip out of consciousness,” Dr. Iserson says.
*25/36/5*
Most people know that if they stopped smoking, drank very moderately, ate the right food, exercised regularly and got enough sleep they would live longer and be healthier. Yet most of us continue to do all or most of the things we know we shouldn’t. True, mortality rates for heart disease and strokes have been falling in the US (heart attack deaths have fallen by 30 per cent over the last 10 years), but the number of people having heart attacks has not fallen as dramatically. Clearly at least some of these improved statistics are the result of better medical care, once a heart condition is apparent.
In the face of unhealthy pressures all around us it would be surprising if self-help methods unfailingly succeeded in improving the health of the individual. But how reasonable is it to place the burden on the individual when cigarette and alcohol advertising continue to bombard him or her from all sides? Can children be brought up to take control of or responsibility for their health when they learn so soon that what they try to do has so little impact? And supposing our man described above did cut out all his vices, what would he do instead – and might it not be even more hazardous?
So if individuals often cannot help themselves, how about the State lending a hand? This only works if the public is ready for the legal restrictions. Prohibition in the US did not work because people weren’t ready for it, yet penalties for driving when under the influence of drink and for not wearing seat-belts are apparently acceptable in the UK and elsewhere. Increased taxation on illness-producing habits works at least to some extent but research shows that real devotees simply give up other things (a healthy diet perhaps) to fund their addictions. Anyway, how far does a government have the right to impose its will on the masses? In other words there is a considerable ethical dilemma involved in preventive medicine. Should 1 be allowed to behave in any way I want, even if it affects others adversely? We all want to see laws such as those that prevent drunken driving, but a balance must be struck between measures like this, which benefit us all, and the reasonable liberty of the individual And then there is the question of individual freedom to act in ways that don’t directly affect others. It could be argued that the man who smokes heavily in private is doing society a favour in several ways. First, he is relieving the society of the cost of the drugs that might otherwise be consumed if he were not smoking and being tranquillized by his cigarettes. Second, his habit will kill him younger, and relatively quickly, by lung cancer (the average lung cancer victim lives only eight months from the discovery of the tumour) or heart attacks-the other major smoking disease. Both kill very quickly, so reducing his capacity to be a burden on society and its medical facilities. Lastly, he will probably not live long enough to collect his old age pension-another saving to society.
My approach to prevention, then, is not a dictatorial one, mainly because after fifteen years of preventive medical experience I know that forcing it on people does not work. In the last analysis everyone must be free to choose his or her way of death-and most of us will do so whatever governments or health educators do. Some kill themselves with overwork, some on the road, some through their hobbies, while others smoke themselves to death, and so on. What I as a health educator can do is to make them aware of the dangers of these harmful pursuits so that they have a choice. I never tell a patient to stop smoking. That’s his or her choice. I don’t expect patients to tell me to stop driving my car-and that could kill me. What I do is to lay before them the facts as they are currently understood about the harmful effects of smoking. The choice is then theirs.
The difficulties come when another person’s behaviour affects my life and health adversely, and most of us agree that the State should step in here. But here again the problems are formidable. Should the State, for example, pass laws to prevent any form of extramarital sexual activity on the basis that it harms innocent third parties? Such a suggestion seems preposterous yet we happily go along with similar laws that stop people polluting the air of innocent third parties with cigarette smoke on far flimsier evidence.
*20/72/5*