“SUSTAINABLE HEALTH IN AN AGEING POPULATION” (Part 2) | 老龄化人口的可持续健康 （二）

Contributions by: Prof Ian Brighthope

Cancer is an enormously complex set of diseases, the result of genetic, nutritional and environmental factors. Nutritional deficiencies are common among sufferers, and surgery/ radiotherapy/chemotherapy options (sometimes called the cut, burn and poison schools of treatment) actually make these deficiencies worse.

Sometimes these therapies are necessary, but let’s try again to shake off the disease model. The question should be “How can we leave the person healthier than when we started?”

Obviously, if a therapy leaves a patient less healthy than the original state in which the cancer was contracted, the cancer will come back. Nutritional Supplements improve outcomes, reduce the toxicity of treatments and provide a better quality of life. Patients treated this way have extended lifespans and can tolerate a higher dosage of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. There is also the greater chance of remission or cure. These rules apply to most solid and non-solid cancers. Routine supplementation is not available in Australia.

In the not-too-distant future, cancer patients may be suing doctors, hospitals, training bodies and universities for failing to teach or offer these supportive therapies, which are now routinely offered in many European and American clinics.

Cancer patients in Australia have access to some of the best care that orthodox medicine can provide. However, the overall cancer incidence continues to rise. The average survival for cancer patients with breast cancer, prostate cancer and ovarian cancer has not changed greatly in the last decade.

Spending by the government, cancer societies and the pharmaceutical industries on cancer research and new drug developments for cancer treatments is reaching an all time high. International reviews place grave doubt on the world-wide war on cancer succeeding. It should be asked: have the Australian cancer programs become an entitlement program for various institutions, physicians, scientists and bureaucrats whose livelihood depends on the funding process?

It needs to be determined also whether the Pharmaceutical companies are truly facilitating the efforts on the war against cancer or whether their influences and presence are actually inhibitory.

A condition that contributes enormously to the cost of disease care in this country is arthritis, yet this is a disease that responds extremely well to diet, and diet therapy has the potential to save the disease budget tens of millions of dollars.

Simply prescribing drugs fails to reveal the cause of the problem, and the failure to reveal causative factors results in more disease. Scandinavian medical science commonly recommends dietary changes – more fish, fruit, vegetables and less sugar, fat and dairy.

They add to this an antioxidant regime including the vitamins A, C, and E, and the minerals zinc, selenium and copper, together with more fish oils and exercise, and the results are outstanding.

Excellent results are also achieved with supplements like SAMe, glucosamine, folic acid and vitamin B12. Why is no one recommending this? Is it because drug company reps don’t come to the doctor’s door to explain it?

This approach not only helps arthritis, it reduces the incidence of other chronic diseases later, increases the productivity of the individual and saves tens of millions of dollars. Let me reiterate – the majority of people growing older do not need drugs to be happy and healthy. Actually, people have been growing old for millennia before they had COX II Inhibitors for arthritis. People are not stupid, they just need some-one to give them a viable option.

Neurological disorders also respond well to natural healthcare. For example, Parkinson’s disease can be slowed with vitamin E. Other more common problems are headaches and migraines. Stress, spinal problems, food allergies and simply dehydration can cause headaches. Natural approaches, like magnesium, B-vitamins and elimination diets should be tried first, before the painkiller, which is invariably toxic and/or habit forming.

Upper respiratory tract infections and middle ear infections – let’s also apply some common sense to the treatment of these conditions. Opportunistic infections like these are like weeds in a garden.

Using antibiotics is like spraying the whole garden for weeds. It doesn’t take long for the weeds to pop up again. Any gardener will tell you that the trick to reduce weeds is to plant the garden full of plants. In NH, we use probiotics, or good bacteria, to naturally crowd out infections and make sure they won’t return. Together with echinacea, vitamin C and zinc, and decreasing dairy foods from the diet, the results are first-rate.

One of the cases that most astonishes me regarding the lack of nutritional common sense among doctors concerns those patients undergoing surgery.

Imagine for a moment the changes on a biochemical and physical level for the body. Firstly, the stress of needing surgery. Then, during the actual event, the liver must metabolise large amounts of an anaesthetic not normally present in the body. Then, the body must physically repair itself – make new tissue to bridge incisions.

And in this weakened state, the body is exposed to a raft of other ill people, and all kind of infections, often resistant to antibiotics. Of course, it needs more nutrients! This is the most basic kind of common sense. Vitamins A and C, and zinc decrease the likelihood of a transfusion, and reduce the risk of post-operative infections.

And finally, Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia. Delaying and even avoiding dangerous and expensive surgery, with all it’s risks, is achieved using the herb Saw Palmetto and the mineral, zinc.

These are just a few examples to illustrate what natural health products do. They maintain and promote optimal health in both healthy and sick individuals, prevent disease in the healthy and reduce the risk of complications or progression of disease in the sick. Natural health products are relatively cheap and extremely safe compared with the treatment of disease and the financial costs and risks associated with pharmaceuticals.

在上一期的文章里，我们探讨了天然保健的巨大潜力以及目前医疗系统的弊端。今天，我们了解一下天然保健品在癌症治疗方面的益处。

癌症是一类极其复杂的疾病，由于遗传、营养和环境因素共同作用所导致。营养缺乏在癌症患者中非常常见，而且外科手术、放疗和化疗(有时被称为切割、烧伤和毒害疗法)实际上会使营养缺乏更加严重。

有时这些疗法是必要的，但是让我们尝试摆脱这种以疾病为中心的思维。我们要问的问题应该是：“我们怎样才能让这位患者比刚接手时更健康?”

很明显，如果病人在接受治疗后的健康状况并没有比患病最初时有好转，那么癌症就会复发。营养补充剂可以提升治疗效果，减少治疗带来的毒性，并为患者提供更高的生活质量。用这种方法治疗患者可以延长他们的寿命，并使他们能够耐受更大剂量的化疗和放疗，也有更大的机会缓解疾病带来的痛苦或者完全康复。这适用于大多数实体肿瘤和非实体肿瘤。目前在澳大利亚不会常规提供营养补充剂。

在不久的将来，癌症患者可能会起诉医生、医院、培训机构和大学，因为他们没有教授或提供这些辅助疗法，而这些疗法现在在许多欧洲和美国的诊所都是常规提供的。

澳大利亚的癌症患者可以获得正统医学所能提供的一些最好的治疗。然而，总体癌症发病率仍在上升。乳腺癌、前列腺癌和卵巢癌患者的平均生存期在过去十年中没有太大的变化。

政府、癌症协会和制药行业在癌症研究和治疗癌症新药开发上的支出达到了历史最高水平。国际评论对全世界抗击癌症的战争能否成功表示严重怀疑。人们应该问：澳大利亚的癌症项目是否已经成为各个机构、医生、科学家和官僚的福利项目，他们的生计依赖于资助?

还需确定的是，制药公司是否真的在抗击癌症这场战役中起到了积极的作用，又或是他们的影响和存在实际上是无益的。

在澳洲，造成疾病护理费用巨大的一种病症是关节炎，然而这是一种对改善饮食反应非常好的疾病，饮食疗法能够为疾病护理预算节省数千万澳币。

只是简单地开药并不能揭示问题的根源，不能揭示致病因素会导致更多的疾病的产生。斯堪的纳维亚医学通常建议改变饮食结构——多吃鱼、水果、蔬菜，少吃糖、脂肪和乳制品。他们还添加了抗氧化剂，包括维生素A、C和E，以及矿物质锌、硒和铜，再加上更多的鱼油和身体锻炼，效果非常显著。

服用S-腺苷甲硫氨酸、葡萄糖胺、叶酸和维生素B12也能达到很好的效果。为什么没有人建议这样做？是因为医药代表不上门向医生解释吗?

这种方法不仅有助于缓解关节炎，它还减少了以后其他慢性疾病的发病率，提高了个人的生产力，并节省了数千万澳币。让我重申——大多数年龄正在增长的人不需要依靠药物来保持快乐和健康。事实上，在人们使用COX II抑制剂治疗关节炎之前，几千年来人们就已经在经历变老的过程了。人们并不愚蠢，他们只是需要有人给他们一个可行的选择。

神经系统疾病对自然保健也有很好的反应。例如，服用维生素E可以减缓帕金森病的发作。其他更常见的问题是头痛和偏头痛。压力、脊椎问题、食物过敏、甚至脱水都会引起头痛。在服用止痛药之前，应该先尝试一些天然的方法，比如镁、维生素B和排毒饮食，因为止痛药总是有毒性的，可能会让你养成习惯。

让我们也应用常识来治疗上呼吸道感染和中耳感染。这种机会性感染就像花园里的杂草。使用抗生素就像给整个花园喷洒除草剂。没过多久，杂草又冒了出来。任何园丁都会告诉你，减少杂草的诀窍是在花园里种满植物。在自然保健中，我们使用益生菌，或有益细菌，自然地排除感染，确保不会复发。再加上紫锥菊、维生素C和锌，以及减少饮食中的乳制品，效果是一流的。

最让我吃惊的是，医生在治疗正在接受手术的患者时所暴露出来的对营养常识的缺乏。

想象一下身体在生化和物理层面上的变化。首先，患者面临着手术的压力。其次，肝脏必须代谢大量的麻醉剂，而这种麻醉剂通常不存在于体内。同时，身体必须进行自我修复——制造新的组织来愈合切口。

在这种虚弱的状态下，身体暴露在大量的其他病人和各种各样的感染中，通常会对抗生素产生抗药性。当然，身体在这时候需要更多的营养！这是最基本的常识。维生素A、C和锌降低了输血的必要性，并降低了术后感染的风险。

最后我们来讲讲良性前列腺增生。通过使用草药锯棕榈和矿物质锌可以延迟甚至避免危险和昂贵的手术，以及手术的所有风险。

这些只是几个例子来说明天然保健品的作用。它们能够很好地维持和促进健康人群和患者的身体健康、预防疾病、降低并发症或疾病恶化的风险。与治疗疾病以及与药物相关的花费和风险相比，天然保健品相对便宜，而且极其安全。

下一期的文章我们将探讨如何将自然疗法融合到医疗体系中。