It’s an undisputed fact that vitamin C contributes to good health. Most of us already know that it helps us deal with coughs and colds. Linus Pauling’s popular book Vitamin C and the Common Cold discussed this some 40 years ago. We know that old-time sailors and the occasional broke university student have ended up with scurvy after leaving it out of their diets. But you might be surprised to learn just how much vitamin C does for your body. It’s much more than an orange-flavoured tablet to keep colds at bay; vitamin C is part of the glue that holds your body together.

When someone develops scurvy, they notice loose joints, loosened teeth, muscle pain, and haemorrhaging. They might seem unrelated but these symptoms all have to do with vitamin C and its role in forming collagen. Collagen is a vital part of the connective tissue found throughout the body in muscles, joints, cartilage, skin, blood vessels, teeth and bones. The amino acids that make up collagen – specifically hydroryproline and hydroxylysine, which bonds collagen molecules together – are produced by vitamin C-dependent enzymes, so without it, the body literally begins to fall apart.

Vitamin C also plays a role in producing many of the chemicals your body uses to function, including noradrenaline and serotonin.  Low vitamin C levels can result in not just physical symptoms, but also anxiety, fatigue and depression. It really is an all-rounder vitamin: it’s an antioxidant, it can aid synthesis of iron and folic acid, it can act as an antihistamine and, as we know, plays a role in boosting immunity to defend against viruses and infections.

Current recommendations say an adult’s daily intake of vitamin C should be around 65mg. However, many people fail to get even that much through their diet, and we also need to take into account that humans are one of the few animals which don’t produce their own vitamin C. Kinesiological studies have shown that the optimal daily intake of vitamin C to achieve tissue saturation isoftenmore like 10g a day. You may need even more if you’re recently been injured – your body needs to produce more collagen to heal – or if you are fighting off an infection.

Vitamin C supplements are of course readily available on the mass market. They’re usually orange-flavoured pills made from glucose, which is in turn produced from corn starch. The combination of corn products and the citrus bioflavonoids used to give it a pleasant orange taste actually contribute to allergic reactions in a significant proportion of people. Tapioca vitamin C avoids both these problems by sourcing the vitamin from tapioca and packaging it in capsules rather than pills. It’s hypoallergenic and may have better bioavailability than commercial pills – meaning you can take less for the same health-enhancing effects.

As supplements go, this is one of the easiest ways to give your health an all-round boost. A dose three times a day could be all it takes to see your immune system responses and energy levels soar.

If you’re lucky enough to have never had a migraine, it’s difficult to see how a “headache” can be so debilitating. But millions of sufferers struggle to live with the threat of a migraine hanging over their heads – so to speak. No one is sure exactly what causes migraines, and it’s quite possible that there is no single cause that applies to everyone. The good news is that we are not entirely in the dark, and there are still plenty of ways to prevent migraines.

Most sufferers know the common-sense precautions: avoid caffeine, alcohol and stress; get enough sleep; watch your diet and get out in the fresh air. However, sometimes the trigger can be hidden. For example: how’s your magnesium intake? It’s one of the many dietary minerals that most people don’t pay much attention to – but more than one study has linked migraines to low magnesium levels. One of them found that 80% of participants experienced less frequent migraines if they took just 200mg. However, other studies have suggested a dosage of400-600mg magnesium daily, and this is the amount we usually recommend.

It’s thought that magnesium helps to stop blood vessels from suddenly tightening. This rapid vascular constriction and expansion is believed to be the source of the symptoms of a migraine. Magnesium may also reduce the frequency of attacks by stabilising the cell membranes in your blood vessels.

Other supplements make up for deficiencies in vitamins, antioxidants, fatty acids (crucial for brain health) and amino acids. For example, riboflavin, also known as vitamin B2, can reduce the frequency of migraines by up to 50% when taken daily in 400mg doses. For the best results, we recommend combining riboflavin and magnesium with feverfew: a traditional herb with a two-thousand-year history of migraine relief.

Don’t expect immediate results
Our usual recommendation is to combine magnesium 400-600mg per day, riboflavin (Vitamin B2) -400mg daily, and feverfew as per the dosage on the label, as the three nutrients have an excellent cumulative effect.  In other words, taking all three together is over three times more effective than taking one on its own. One book currently found in many health food shops suggests that combining these three nutrients will give the vast majority of sufferers their lives back again.

Individual response times vary, but the studies have mostly been based on 3 month trial periods.  We advise sufferers to regard their first 3 months using these nutrients as a trial period. If you find yourself getting far less severe and less frequent migraines, and we hope that you do, you can continue using them indefinitely.

 

Other natural solutions for migraines
Usually the suggestions above work extremely well. But if they don’t, other herbs, like Ginkgo biloba, can help you reduce or manage your migraines, but you may need to take them for a couple of months before you notice an effect.

Co-enzyme Q10, or CoQ10, is an antioxidant that acts much like a vitamin. It supports energy production and your body produces it naturally, but as we age, we produce less and less. Studies show that sufferers of frequent migraines are often deficient in CoQ10, and supplementing with just 150mg a day could reduce migraine frequency by more than half.

If your migraines are infrequent but severe, you may be looking to control symptoms rather than decrease frequency. Migraine sufferers who supplemented with fatty acids, specifically omega-6 and omega-3, experienced shorter and less severe migraines along with a reduction in frequency and nausea.

Desperate for relief, many sufferers turn to drugs to control their symptoms, like methysergide – now no longer in use due to some pretty severe side effects – and propranolol, which ironically can cause nausea and trouble sleeping. The amino acid 5-Hydroxytryptophan has been shown to be just as effective as these two medicines, with the added bonus of not adding foreign chemicals to your body.

Ginger for migraines
The drug of choice for many migraine sufferers is sumatriptan, but a recent Iranian study found that powdered ginger was just as effective at decreasing the severity of migraines without the dangerous side effects. 250mg of ginger powder can result in less severe migraines within just two hours of use, while avoiding the common side effects of sumatriptan, which include heartburn, dizziness and mild sedation.

 

Final comments
Of course, no supplement can give you the best possible results if something deeper is wrong. If you experience migraines, try tracking your food and sleep, drink plenty of water and rule out any major illnesses. Give your body the best chance you can to let it heal.

 

Evans R W, Taylor F R. “Natural” or Alternative Medications for Migraine Prevention.Headache 2006; 46:1012-1018

Smith C B.The Role of Riboflavin in Migraine.Canadian Medical Association Journal 1946; 54: 589-591

Maizels, M., Blumenfeld, A., &Burchette, R. (2004). A combination of riboflavin, magnesium, and feverfew for migraine prophylaxis: a randomized trial. Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, 44(9), 885-890.

Sandor P S, Di Clemente L, Coppola G, Saenger U, Fumal A, Magis D, et al. Efficacy of coenzyme Q10 in migraine prophylaxis: a randomized controlled trial. Neurology 2005;64:713-5.

Titus, F., Davalos, A., Alom, J., &Codina, A. (1986).5-hydroxytryptophan versus methysergide in the prophylaxis of migraine. European neurology, 25(5), 327-329.

Maghbooli M, Golipour F, Esfandabadi A, Yousefi M. Comparison between the efficacy of ginger and sumatriptan in the ablative treatment of the common migraine. Phytotherapy Res 2014;28:412-415

We have some really great discounts on around 60 products on our spring sale page. These include (but are not limited to) the following products…

Adult Multivitamins

Biocare Bio-Acidophilus, Bifidobacerium, and a few other probiotics
Advanced brain nutrients – for memory, concentration, cognition etc

Aeterna Gold natural beauty  / anti aging capsules

Cervagyn – probiotic vaginal cream for thrush

Get Up and Go Breakfast Energy Shake

Gingko Biloba – memory / brain support / antioxidant / circulation support

Liver health and support products

Mega GLA Complex (fish oil – very high GLA content)
MaleForte Plus 30 Capsules – helps low testosterone in men – helps increase sex drive and fertility

Megahydrate powder (but not the capsules) – Antioxidant – 10 x more antioxidant power than Vitamin C

Micro-Floragaurd (Probiotic with anti fungal oils for candida sufferers – Winner of the “Best Product” award at the Natural Trade Show, Brighton 2004 – this is a product which should be flying off the shelves!)

Mindlinx – Bio-Acidophilus probiotics + Glutamine for healing the gut – designed with the brain / gut axis in mind
Mixed Ascorbates (great tasting Vitamin C powder from a balance of magnesium, calcium, zinc, potassium and manganese ascorbate – very well balanced and easy on the stomach)

Mum-2-Be tablets – multivitamin for use in pregnancy

Neversnore Anti Snoring capsules

Omegacare – great tasting fish oil product

Hemp Seed Oil

Hemp Protein

Sprouted flaxseeds
Superphyte – Amazingly powerful antioxidant product combining free radical protection from Grape seed, Green tea, Bilberry, Turmeric, Oregano, Broccoli sprout, Olive leaf, Alpha Lipoic acid, Lycopene, Lutein, Astaxanthin, Beetroot, Watercress, Carrot and Garlic.
Performax (Electrolyte Re-hydration Sachets for sports performance)

Theanine – natural relaxtion aid
True Food (food state) Vitamins and mineral products – several products including Vitamin B, Vitamin C etc.

 

We only have very small volumes of these special offers, so click here to avoid disappointment. When we say it’s first come first served, we aren’t trying to put a gun at your head, we genuinely only have a few units of most of the sale items. So if you want to save a few quid, get your order in now.

I’d like to mention incidenally that many of these are fantastic products, and the only reason you don’t know more about them is that we are banned by the inept, petty minded, totally unqualified interferring bureaucrats from the EU, who have no interest in public health, from being able to tell you what the products actually do! This is thanks the EU Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation (No 1924/2006), which bans all health claims including stating what the traditional uses are, the expression of legitimate opinion, and suppresses your human right to be provided information – even including well documented academic studies which prove any claims are true! That’s despite the the European Convention for the protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms which states (in theory, but not in reality) that EU action should be directed towards improving public health, including ‘promoting… health information and education..’ (Article 168, ECHR). But hey, big pharma making money, doing everything in their power to put companies like ours out of business, and finding work for EU officials to waste £55million per day of UK taxpayers money on, is obviously a more important priority than your health, longevity, freedom of choice, freedom of publication and right to information.

Best wishes, and enjoy the sale

Mark G. Lester – Company Director

www.thefinchleyclinic.com

A few days ago, we posted a blog about the Saatchi Bill – the great step forward for medical innovation that would allow doctors to try new and radical treatments to save dying cancer patients without fear of legal repercussions. But on February 28th, we found that Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb has announced that his party will refuse to debate the bill when it comes up for debate in the House of Commons.

In the words of Lord Saatchi himself: “They have killed the Medical Innovation Bill. It is dead. By killing the Bill they have killed the hopes of thousands of cancer patients…It is as simple as that. Nick Clegg has handed down a death sentence to cancer patients. It is an extraordinary turn of events.”

This is a great blow to so many – to patients, to their families and to any of us who might find ourselves in the same unfortunate position. The Bill has gone through two years of close scrutiny and plenty of amendments and debate in the House of Lords. Lamb cites pressure from medical unions and patient organisations among his reasons for killing the bill. But instead of debating it in the precious amount of time left before Parliament goes on election break, the Lib Dems have chosen this utterly nonsensical route. And as a result, people will die.

Politics aside, we still hold out hope that the Bill will get another shot when MPs return from break. However, if there is a chance, it is a slim one. The Finchley Clinic will continue to back Lord Saatchi and his supporters’ honourable fight against undemocratic MPs, shady corporate practices and a medical world that runs on the fear of litigation. We know that dying patients will one day be given the ray of hope they desperately need.

The so-called Saatchi Bill passed the House of Lords last week – a ray of hope for cancer patients and pioneers of innovative medicine. After three years of revisions, amendments and debates, it’s ready to face the House of Commons. We can only hope that our MPs know that they hold in their hands a chance for a better life for thousands of British cancer sufferers.

Cancer treatment is a long, painful and sometimes futile road. On top of the agony of their disease, a patient currently faces gruelling months of harsh chemical treatments that weaken their immune system, isolate them from loved ones and ravage their bodies. For elderly patients, it’s often too much. Doctors and carers chirp that a patient’s best hope for recovery is a “positive attitude” – but that’s tough to maintain when your body and your world are falling apart around you.

The cancer treatments currently available are almost all in the same vein, but in laboratories and hospitals all over the world, a rebellion has long been brewing. The Medical Innovation Bill gives better legal protection to doctors who want to try new techniques on patients in desperate need. In a medical world where a patient’s health is often weighed against the risk of failure and legal action, it gives doctors the freedom to “treat outside the box.”

While this is great news for health advocates promoting alternative remedies as well as to patients unable to bear the pain and indignity of current treatments, the reality is that the Saatchi Bill might just be too little, too late. When unfamiliar treatments are combined with timid doctors, the outcome is that only the most hopeless cases are likely to reap any benefits from this bill. Experimental, radical treatments tend to be used as a last resort, on patients who have already been through gruelling rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy with no results.

The bill could give these patients another precious shot at life – however, their damaged state means the likelihood of any kind of successful treatment is extremely low. After disease and medicine alike take a toll on their bodies, they are often too weak to fight on. Those unsuccessful results could mean negative publicity for new and brilliant innovations, and patients in need will have fewer opportunities to take control of their cancer treatment.

We also still have the Cancer Act 1939 to contend with – a rather archaic piece of legislation which hasn’t been entirely repealed by the Saatchi Bill. The Act prohibits advertisements for cancer treatments, including offering advice and regardless of format. How can patients request a new remedy, or doctor’s find the answer to their prayers, when the entire industry is gagged?

Hurdles aside, this is still a great step forward for innovative treatments in the UK. It’s inspiring to see such progress being made despite often draconian EU laws governing alternative remedies. We can only hope that the benefits of this law go not just to ease the passing of critical patients, but to give a second chance to those who still have a hope of recovery.