There are 21,708 people in the Soviet Union who are over 100 years old, according to the 1959 census. And there are quite a few who have reached the respectable age of 150 and over.

Some years ago the famed Russian scientist, biologist and experimental botanist, Dr. Nicolai Tsitsin, was engaged in research on longevity. The aim of his inquiry was to find out ways of prolonging human life.

“We decided to send letters to 200 people claiming to be over 100 years old with the request to answer the following three questions: what was their age, how had they earned their living most of their lives, and what had been their principle food.”

Dr. Tsitsin received 150 replies to his 200 letters.

“We made a very interesting discovery. The answers showed that a large number of them were bee-keepers. And all of them, without exception, said that their principal food always had been honey!”

But as sensational as this discovery was, this was not all!

“We found,” continued Dr. Tsitsin, “that in each case it wasn’t really honey these people ate, but the waste matter in the bottom of the beehive. They were poor and they sold all the pure honey on the market, and kept only the dirty residue for themselves.”

After a series of laboratory experiments and tests, Dr. Tsitsin discovered that the “dirty residue” of the honey scrap was neither dirt nor honey, but almost pure pollen, which falls off the bees’ legs while they deposit their honey. Tsitsin was on the verge of a great nutritional discovery!

*116\58\2*

The best possible way of solving the growing heart disease problem in the United States would be to follow the European example of a preventive program with a massive network of cardiac reconditioning centers where prospective heart cases could go to rebuild their health and strengthen their hearts. While waiting for action in this direction from our government, life insurance companies, or private industries, here is a 9-point do-it-yourself program for a better heart which can help you to prevent a potential heart attack, or give your already damaged heart the break it deserves.

1. Vital nutrition

See that your diet contains the complete vital nutrition needed to keep your body and your heart in perfect health. An abundance of fresh raw vegetables and fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and beans, with the addition of raw, unpasteurized milk and natural cheese, preferably in the form of homemade fresh cottage cheese,* will supply you with all the necessary vitamins, minerals, complex carbohydrates, trace elements, proteins and enzymes needed to build, repair, replace or renew the worn-out cells of your heart, keep your blood well oxygenated and its circulation smooth and strong, and your blood vessels elastic and free from deposits.

2.    Food supplements

Supplement your diet with vitamins E, B and C. Use wheat germ oil and vitamin E capsules for vitamin E. Take up to 300 I.U. a day as a preventive dose, and up to 600 I.U. as a therapeutic dose-ask your doctor for the most desirable dosage in your case.

For B-vitamins, use brewer’s yeast. Use the dosage suggested on the container, or take three to four tablespoons daily. Or take high potency B-vitamin tablets, made from yeast.

Take rose hips or rose hip tablets for vitamin C—500 to 1000 mg. per day.

In addition to vitamins, use cold-pressed vegetable oils, especially linseed or soy oil, for the unsaturated fatty acids (not the usual supermarket type). Dosage: 1 or 2 tablespoons per day. For minerals, especially calcium and magnesium, and trace elements, use dolomite and bone meal tablets, and kelp—all obtained in health food stores. Take 1 tablespoon of lecithin granules each day. Lecithin will not only help in fat metabolism and the prevention of cholesterol deposits, but is essential for your nervous system and the stimulation of glandular activity.

3.    Low animal protein

Excessive amounts of protein, especially animal protein, may harm your heart and your health generally. A study of blood vessel and heart disease in Negroes in St. Louis and in Uganda demonstrates that low-protein vegetarian diet can prevent 90 percent of thrombo-embolic disease and 97 percent of coronary occlusions.21 A recent study shows that Seventh-Day Adventists, who do not eat meat for religious reasons, have 40 percent less blood vessel and heart disease as compared with the general American public. Dr. Richard Walden, who directed the study, is convinced that the meatless, low-animal-protein diet of these people has much to do with it.

Avoid an excess of meat, especially fat meat in your diet. Do not worry about getting enough proteins. Almost all natural foods contain some protein, so, unless you are starving, it is virtually impossible to get too little. The official recommendations for protein requirement are far too high. A low animal protein diet will help prevent heart troubles; and, when the heart is already affected, will help to restore it to health. A lacto-vegetarian diet of fruits and vegetables with whole grain bread and cereals, beans, sunflower seeds, raw nuts and milk products will supply you with all the proteins you need.

4.    Eliminate from your diet:

Sugar in every form: soft drinks, ice cream, cakes, candies, cookies, pastries, jams, chocolate, puddings, syrups, etc. Natural honey can be used for sweetening. Eliminate white flour and white bread and all processed cereals and canned and frozen foods.

Reduce salt intake drastically or cut it out entirely. If absolutely necessary, use sea salt moderately.

5.    Keep your weight down

Do not overeat! Every extra inch on your waist, every excess pound you carry around, makes your heart work harder and wears it out sooner. Remember: the death rate from heart disease in 50 percent higher among the overweight!

6.    Avoid smoking tobacco

A recent survey shows that the death rate from heart disease among women smokers is twice as high as it is for non-smokers. Smoking destroys vitamin C in the body (25 mg. for every cigarette) and causes vitamin B deficiency. It causes constriction of the blood vessels and raises the blood pressure. Smoking disturbs the fat metabolism, raises the fat level of the blood and causes oxygen deficiency, thus contributing to the development of heart disease.

7.    Avoid drinking coffee, tea or cola drinks

Coffee, tea, and soft drinks containing caffeine are to the heart what a whip is to the horse. They stimulate and increase the sugar level of the blood temporarily, then drop it down to dangerous levels and cause an oxygen deficiency in heart muscle tissues. Coffee also interferes with iron absorption and may cause a deficiency of inositol, one of the B-vitamins necessary for effective heart function. A good friend of mine was practically living on coffee—10 to 15 cups a day from early morning to late at night. He was constantly boasting that he had never been sick a day in his life, but he dropped dead of a heart attack at the age of 49. Cola drinks, by the way, contain even more caffeine than does coffee.

Warning: If you are a heart case and a coffee addict, be careful how you cut out coffee drinking. Reduce the number of cups per day gradually to condition your heart and avoid distressing withdrawal symptoms.

8.    Exercise

There are piles of evidence that the lack of exercise and physical exertion is a major factor in the increasing incidence of heart disease. A British study showed that mortality from heart disease among those who do heavy physical work was less than half that of the group who did little or no physical work.

As I have stated before, the ultimate cause of heart attack is an oxygen deficiency. Outdoor sports, .exercise and physical exertion promote the oxygenation of all the tissues of the body, including the heart, increase the blood supply to the heart and strengthen the blood vessels and the muscle tissues of the heart.

Points of warning for heart cases:

Exercise with caution, prudence and moderation.

Avoid competitive sports and games.

Walking, up to ten miles a day, is the best form of exercise for the prevention of heart disease.

9.    Avoid emotional stress

Fear, greed, hatred, disappointment, insecurity, jealousy, depression, resentment, anxiety, worries, tension, emotional upsets— any or all of these can destroy your heart. According to famous stress-doctor Hans Selye, M.D., all the above mentioned emotional stresses can cause arteriosclerotic lesions. Severe emotional, stress causes depletion of vitamin C in the adrenal gland and increases the body requirement for vitamin C—another predisposing factor of heart disease.

“Americans are the most worried people in the world,” says Dr. Joshua Bieres, British editor of the International Journal of Social Psychiatry. The highly competitive business climate of the United States is geared to an atmosphere of continuous worry, anxiety and desperation. A typical American businessman or executive does not really know what the terms leisure, relaxation, or a health-building vacation mean. His ultimate in relaxation is a round of golf on a smog-filled city course, where he is trying to close another business deal with his partner! No wonder he worries himself to death at 40 or 50 and leaves a rich widow. It is my conviction that if you apply the above nine-point do-it-yourself program, you will be rewarded with a better heart which will give you long and friction-free service.

*90\58\2*

In the year 1893, the Swedish pastor Liljequist brought out a work entitled Om Oegendiagnosen. The book consisted of 284 pages, and an atlas with 258 monochrome and 12 coloured double-iris drawings. At first, he maintained that he developed eye-diagnosis independently from Peczely, and goes so far in the above work as to correct Peczely’s statements.

From about the year 1887, the Tubingen ophthalmologist Schlegel supported Irisdiagnosis. The Eye-diagnosis of I. v. Peczely, was well known at that time. The names of others who were prominent at the turn of the century should be mentioned: Stiegele, Rapp, Wirtz, Zoepperitz.

However, these well-known names are superseded in significance by that of Pastor Felke (1856-1926), to whom the credit belongs for complete originality in this field. His eye-diagnosis, upon which he himself unfortunately never wrote, has been expounded by A. Miiller in a book, The Eye-diagnosis based upon the principles of Pastor Felke.

Even after his death, Felke influenced the development of Irisdiagnosis through his pupils, whose influence is still evident today. To this group belong H. Hense, as well as Frau Pastor Madaus and her daughter, Eva Flink, together with many other indirect pupils. Many of these pupils have in their turn acquired student groups.

Other well-known authors and investigators should here be mentioned: Maubach, Dr. Schnabel and Thiel; Anderschou in England; Collins, Kritzer and Jensen in the U.S.A.; Vannier in France. The list may be concluded with the names of Angerer, Baumhauer, Deck, Kronenberger, Struck, Dr. Unger and Dr. Wermuth.

*1\78\2*

Signs and symptoms

The common wart is a rough, raised growth that ranges in size from 3 to 25 millimeters and occurs anywhere on the skin. A juvenile wart is a small, smooth, pinkish wart that is common on the hands. Warts on the soles of the feet are plantar warts. They may be pressed into the foot (sometimes to a depth of 6 millimeters or more) and are often surrounded by a callus. Groups of plantar warts are known as “mosaic warts.” Many warts are unmistakable, but some are not. When they are tiny, plantar warts may be mistaken for small brown splinters on the sole of the foot. Also you may not be able to see them if they’re surrounded by a callus.

Home care

Leave warts alone. If they have to be removed, it is probably safest to have a doctor do it or instruct you in the use of an appropriate ointment. Usually, treatment must continue for many days or weeks.

Precautions

• If excessive pain or redness occurs on the surrounding skin, stop treatment.

• Do not treat any warts on the face or eyelids at home.

• Warts that involve the cuticles or extend under the nails should not be treated at home.

Medical treatment

No treatment is successful in all cases. Treatment may even spread warts or they may recur following treatment. In general, your doctor will remove warts with acids, podophyllin, electric cauterization (burning away), surgery (curetting), liquid nitrogen, solid carbon dioxide, or phenol.

*247/84/5*

Every baby is different.

One thing that is easy to forget is how tiny even the healthiest, heftiest baby really is. A newborn usually is only 45 to 55 centimeters long, stretched out. And very young babies often keep their legs in the pre-birth, folded-up position for several months, which makes the baby seem even smaller. The baby was in that position for many months before birth, and it takes a while to get used to an uncramped environment.

Remember that at birth the baby has left a warm, dark, still, safe environment, been pushed through a narrow birth canal, and been suddenly thrust into light, noise, and a new degree of independence. It’s a difficult adjustment to make, even more difficult than the adjustment you must make as new parents.

There are some other things about a new baby’s appearance that may worry you if you’re not prepared. It is perfectly normal for a newborn baby to be:

• born with a bluish tinge to the skin, which soon turns to pinkish-red;

• born with a slightly lopsided head;

• born with soft spots, called “fontanelles,” above the forehead and at the top of the head.

It is also quite common for a new baby to have jaundice, which gives a yellowish color to the skin and the whites of the eyes. Also, at birth the baby still has a lot of growing and developing to do. Many bones are still unformed; they are made of tough, elastic tissue called cartilage that will gradually harden into bone. The legs are often bowed, and shorter than you’d expect when you compare them to the arms. The head may seem too big for the body. The baby’s face may seem abnormally plump in the cheeks and flat in the nose. The eyes will not move together well and may seem to be crossed. The genitals, especially on a baby boy, may seem abnormally large.

In a few months, the baby will begin to look more like an individual. Movements of limbs, eyes, and neck will become more controlled as muscles develop, and the face will become more alert and expressive.

*1/84/5*

Medical science has come a long way. Epileptics are no longer possessed by the devil, the insane are not incarcerated for life in neglected prisons, and epidemics are not popularly believed to be a punishment sent from God. Despite this, ailments which have tormented mankind for centuries continue to do so. The influenza virus so clearly isolated and characterized is still capable of inflicting its misery, leaving us virtually powerless to curb its debilitating effects. Comfort can at least be found in the compassion of fellow sufferers.

The community has come to accept our vulnerability to the influenza virus which invariably leads to sympathy from family, friends and employers. The chronic snorer has few sympathizers. He is mostly regarded as a threat to the nocturnal harmony of the home, but more widely regarded as an object of hilarity. Cartoons and situation comedies have long used the spectacle of the noisy snorer, apparently sleeping soundly, quite oblivious to the disruption caused to those in his immediate vicinity.

Below the thin comic veneer of the stereotypic snorer lies a range of sociological and physiological problems. Snoring is the source of acute social embarrassment and marital disharmony. The heavy snorer may also experience personality changes, daytime drowsiness, loss of memory and cardiac complications.

At what point does snoring become a problem and when is intervention indicated? Snorers are often referred to a local doctor by spouses who are frustrated by the interruption to their own sleep. The doctor has to make an assessment based upon the story of both partners. If, for example, the husband is the snorer, his wife is probably the better judge of its severity and of accompanying symptoms such as frequent choking sounds or excessively long periods of time between respiratory efforts. These symptoms in conjunction with a physical examination will help the physician decide on appropriate intervention and whether further tests are indicated. A small proportion of snorers have complications, which may be life threatening, but the majority do not require medical intervention. They nevertheless require in many instances professional counseling, reassurance and a guide to some of the simple techniques available to minimize snoring.

*1/51/5*

Concepts of preventive medicine as we think of it today started with the Greeks, although undoubtedly there were simple forms of prevention being practiced worldwide before this. In Ancient China the Yellow Emperor spoke about wholism and preventive medicine:

Sages here do not treat those who are already ill; they rather instruct those who are not yet ill. . . The superior physician helps before the early budding of disease. The inferior physician begins to help when the disease has already developed. He helps when the destruction has already set in.

Two thousand years later Huai-nan Tzu wrote:

The good doctor pays constant attention to keeping people well so that there will be no sickness.

Such concepts were adopted by the Greeks-the first western culture to take prevention seriously. From the very beginnings of Greek medicine efforts to preserve health seemed more important than those to cure diseases. Health, they maintained, was a state in which the various elements and forces of the body were in balance. Disease in this way of thinking was a disorder of this equilibrium. It seemed fairly clear that external (environmental) factors were important in causing a poor balance and the Greeks talked a lot about poor nutrition and physical factors. To the Greek the ideal life was one in which nutrition, exercise and rest were properly balanced. Other important factors were the person’s age, sex, type of constitution and the seasons.

This ecological approach to medicine, which seems so modern today, led the Ancient Greeks to strive to balance their diet, exercise and environmental factors to keep the mind and body in good health. Unfortunately, because this meant a change in lifestyle, few could actually afford to go along with such elegant theories and as a result it was only the middle and upper classes who had the incentives, money and leisure to pursue these goals. Even though few Greeks actually lived like this the concepts continued to influence medical thought for centuries.

In the Middle Ages people began to realize that there was another major dimension to health which had to be taken into account in addition to the Greek notions. This realization came about with the appearance of leprosy as a serious health hazard in Europe. The primary need to do something about leprosy led the society of the day to band together to isolate people with the disease and to clean up the environment, not just for the benefit of individuals but for that of society as a whole. Preventive public health could be said to have been born at this time.

The Church led the way with its insistence that spiritual and physical uncleanliness were linked. The Old Testament, and especially the book of Leviticus, puts great stress on processes such as menstruation and urethral discharges as being unclean and holds that people with such afflictions should be isolated from the rest of society until they have been purified. So leprosy was treated by the Church in a very literal Old Testament way and sufferers were isolated from the community to protect the healthy. Because this disease was untreatable the individuals became socially dead as they were cast out from life.

*1/72/5*

Over the course of a year, I’ll see 5,000 or more patients who come to me for treatment. Of all the symptoms my patients tell me they have, malaise, or a general sense that they’re not feeling as well as they could, is one of the most common complaints I hear. Unfortunately, whenever a patient tells me she is feeling weak and unwell, it opens the door to the possibility of every single medical problem on earth. This can be frustrating and overwhelming to the physician as well as to the patient, so if she simply says she doesn’t feel quite right, I ask her to be as specific with her complaints as she can. It’s important to keep in mind that age and activity levels have a lot to do with how people define malaise. For instance, the malaise of a 20-year-old athlete who cannot run 10 miles every day because of an injury is much different from the 50-year-old executive who can’t seem to find the energy to go to work or the 65-year-old grandmother who just feels too tired to do chores around the house.

If you have been feeling weak and out of sorts lately, answering the following questions will help your physician zero in on the possible causes:

1. How long have I been feeling unwell? A week, a month, or longer?

2. Has there been a change in my appetite or thirst? In my urination or bowel habits?

3. Have I gained or lost a significant amount of weight in the last few weeks or months?

4. For women, if I am still menstruating, has my cycle or flow, or both, changed recently?

5. Have I recently had a fever, night sweats, or a physical intolerance to hot or cold temperatures?

6. Have I recently traveled abroad or to a different region of the country?

7. Do I have a symptom such as a rash, arthritic pain, or swollen glands?

8. Do I think I might have been bitten by a tick recently?

9. Have I been undergoing problems in my personal life lately?

10. Do I have a past history of a serious illness that was cured or went into remission? Have I begun to take a new form of medication recently?

11. Has my urine darkened in color recently?

12. Do I have a history of blood transfusion, sharing a hypodermic needle, drug abuse, or even one unsafe sexual encounter?

13. Do I feel a general ache in my bones?

*566\167\8*

A complete medical history and physical exam as well as a series of specific diagnostic tests will help your doctor determine the necessary treatment for your unexplained weight gain.

As with any medical treatment, the risks must be weighed against the benefits when you and your doctor decide about your specific treatment. If your doctor has prescribed steroids to treat another medical condition, you should realize that the short-term use of steroids for a week or even up to a month has not been found to cause any permanent weight or health problems. You’ll lose the extra pounds once you stop taking the steroids.

Water pills, or diuretics, can help reduce a weight gain of a few pounds that comes before menstruation and is caused by water retention—if they’re used judiciously. However, they do not help reduce the body’s stores of fat and are dangerous to use on a reduced-calorie diet since they can cause potassium depletion and dehydration.

Since most cases of weight gain are caused by eating too much and/or moving too little, what I’m going to say next is going to sound boring, but I’m going to say it anyway. If your weight gain is the direct result of too many calories and not enough exercise, you’re going to have to change your lifestyle if you want to lose weight. A sensible weight-reduction plan should include a low-fat, low-calorie diet and regular physical exercise. Your doctor is the best person to advise you about the best course of action for you.

*570\167\8*

In an elderly person, weight loss can have certain causes a doctor would never consider to be a problem in a younger person. For one, your elderly aunt may not be able to obtain nutritious food because she’s unable to make it out of the house to go shopping and there’s no one else around to do it for her. Poorly fitting dentures can make it uncomfortable for her to eat, or she may be experiencing increasing senility due to Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, or an underlying infection and has lost her appetite.

As with younger people, I consider weight loss in an elderly person to be serious if she loses more than 10% of her body weight over the course of a month or two. If this happens, I’ll order a blood test to determine if there is evidence of malnutrition. Lower serum protein levels, albumin levels, and lymphocyte counts ate all signs that the immune system is beginning to deteriorate, making an elderly person more prone to infections, bedsores, falls, and other health problems. These can depress the appetite even mote.

The treatment for your elderly relative will depend on the cause. Using Meals on Wheels, taking food supplements, and getting new dentures, as well as possibly going into a nursing home are some of the steps that might be considered by the doctor and the patient’s family.

*574\167\8*

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