Dear Healthy Friend,

We all know meds come with a list of side-effects. But there's one side-effect you won't find listed on the insert... 'death by fall'. In a recent study, researchers reveal an alarmingly high rate of deadly falls in older patients. Christine O'Brien details the findings of the study here...

In the name of good health,

Taryn Strugnell
Managing Editor of Nutrition & Healing

P.S. We all know olive oil is good for us! But it's expensive and not everyone enjoys the flavour. Keep reading to see what Dr Wright recommends as a substitute for this oil - both in taste and price...

The 'side-effect' you don't know about!
Christine O’Brien
Contributor to Nutrition & Healing

More than one third of people over 65 fall each year. It’s the most common cause of traumatic brain injuries and the leading cause of injury deaths among older adults.

And, if you're over 75, you're more than four times more likely to land up in a long-term care facility after a fall.

Why on earth would you do anything to increase your chances of falling?

Unfortunately, if you're on certain medications, you're doing just that.

A four-year study out of France, reported in the journal BMC Geriatrics, reveals your risk of falling could be 1.4 times greater if you're taking a long-acting benzodiazepine, commonly prescribed for anxiety.

There's also a similar risk among older individuals who use tranquilisers, muscle relaxants and anti-spasmodics, as well as some antihistamines that block nerve responses (called "anticholinergics").

The average age of the 6,343 participants in the study was 74 years. About 30% of them reported using these kinds of drugs and 22% of them had fallen two or more times over the course of the study.

The reason for this increased risk? Researchers call it "inappropriate medication" - medication that’s likely to have a greater effect on elderly people. This includes medication with side effects such as dizziness and drowsiness.

Seems to me this should be obvious. Why would you give drugs that cause dizziness to people over 65, who are already at an increased risk for falling? Medical treatment is not one-size-fits-all. But, of course, creating highly individualised (and natural-medicine based) treatment plans would take time and energy.

This is probably way too much to ask of mainstream doctors. They're more than happy to keep writing out the same prescriptions. And as long as they keep doing that, we're going to keep seeing results like this.

The alternative to olive oil

Q: I know olive oil is good for me. But I just can't get over the taste. Are there any other oils that are just as good for me?

Dr. Wright: What makes olive oil such an appealing choice for many people is that it doesn't oxidise as easily as other cooking oils when subjected to heat. It also has a high antioxidant content, which helps fight free radical damage in the body. But there's another oil that actually beats olive oil in both categories: Macadamia nut oil.

Macadamia nut oil can withstand significantly more heat than nearly any other cooking oil before it starts to burn and smoke. It also has significantly more antioxidant content than most other cooking oils.
 
Perhaps the biggest drawback to macadamia nut oil is its price - typically about R34.95 for 250ml from Pick n Pay, although the price is still lower than high-quality olive oil.