Dear Health-Savvy Friend,

With the recent spate of aeroplane crashes, I'm a little nervous about flying. But it seems there may be something more deadly to worry about than the plane going down. It's a silent threat that not many are aware of.

Dr Douglass has some facts and advice about long distance travel and how to avoid this little known killer...
 
In the name of good health,

Taryn Strugnell
Managing Editor of Nutrition & Healing

P.S. With stress and tough financial times most of us are facing, depression is bound to come creeping in. See what Dr Wright has to say about natural treatments to beat the blues.

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The silent threat of long distance travel
Dr WC Douglass
Editor of Healthier News

The biggest threat of flying doesn't come from bad weather, faulty equipment or even terrorist attacks. It comes from a silent threat called a venous thromboembolism (VTE).

A VTE is a blood clot that forms in your legs, which can get dislodged and cause a deadly blood clot in your lungs called a pulmonary embolism.

It's already known that long-distance travel can increase the risk of VTEs. But according to the most recent research, the threat could be as much as three times greater that was originally thought.

Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston also found that the more you travel, the greater your risk. For every two hours spent driving in a car, the risk of VTE goes up 18%. But for air travel, the risk skyrockets 26% for every two hours in the air.

It might seem like a surprisingly high percentage, but it's hardly a surprising conclusion.

Blood clots tend to form in your legs when you're rooted in one position for hours on end - and that's the case with any long-distance travel, whether it's in the air or on the ground.

Still, for all the seemingly grim news about VTE, there's a relatively small number of people who are affected by it. Those at the greatest risk are those recovering from major surgery (especially joint replacements), cancer patients and women on birth control pills.

Of course, this doesn't mean you should ignore the potential danger of VTE, either.

If you do a lot of travelling, the best thing you can do to avoid VTE is to get up and stretch your legs periodically on long flights or car trips. Sounds simple, but like I always say - staying healthy was never meant to be complicated.

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Beat the blues.... naturally and safely

Q: My daughter was recently diagnosed with depression. I hate to see her suffer, but am concerned about the serious side effects of prescription drugs. Is there anything else we can try?

Dr. Wright: In over 30 years of practice, I've found that depression could almost always be cleared up with an individualised amino-acid supplement programme.

Most patented antidepressants "work" by boosting the levels of mood-regulating neurotransmitters in the brain. Amino acids do the same thing - but without the unpleasant side effects like nausea, sleeplessness and decreased libido. And since I've found that most depressed patients have low levels of amino acids, it's always made more sense to me to put back what they're missing, rather than give them an artificial "band-aid" solution.

Usually, when my patients add a specific combination of amino acids determined by their personal test results to their supplement programmes, they start feeling better in just a few weeks. And it usually stays away for good.

You can have your fasting essential amino acids checked with a blood test. If your levels are low, make sure to use a blend of all eight essential amino acids (including tryptophan) individualised for you. And, just as importantly, make sure to look for the cause of your low levels. It probably won't surprise you to learn that, quite often, that cause turns out to be hypochlorhydria, or low stomach acid.

If that's the case, then add injections of vitamin B12 with folic acid to your programme: These are always a good idea for anyone with low stomach acid. Individualised amino acids along with these injections could frequently help your depression clear up over a few weeks to a few months time. If this isn't effective enough, you may want to consider adding the mineral rubidium.

As you can tell, all of this may be a little complicated, so it's best to work with a physician skilled and knowledgeable in nutritional and natural medicine to help you coordinate it all. For a list of such physicians in your area, contact The Society of Integrated Medicine on (021) 887-5364 or lucia@integrativemedicines.co.za .