We’ve all said it: “Let’s sleep on it.” Often when something troubling feels overwhelming today, it seems more manageable after a good night’s sleep. Why? Because sleep — especially REM-sleep (dream-sleep) — is healing. It helps process psychological stress, integrate difficult experiences into our mental framework, and reduce the sharp edges of what otherwise would feel unbearable.

Walker’s point: it isn’t time alone that heals all wounds. It’s time in sleep, and especially dream cycles (REM), that provide emotional convalescence. Research supports this: sleeping on things allows emotional memory processing and diminishes the raw intensity of trauma.

Beyond mental healing, the scope of sleep’s importance spans every major physiological system — neurological, lymphatic, immune, hormonal, cardiovascular, metabolic. Chronic sleep deprivation appears to be associated with myriad poor health outcomes including poorer cognitive function, impaired immunological responses (such as reduced efficacy of vaccines) and an increased risk of diabetes and obesity, to name but a few. 

Indeed lack of adequate quality sleep can kill! It has been shown experimentally in rats that total sleep deprivation is rapidly fatal in a comparable time frame to total food starvation, on average 15 days. 

Absence of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep was similarly fatal in about 15 days whilst selective suppression of non-REM sleep was also fatal but in a longer time frame (around 45 days).¹ 

So this is important” take notice!

Immune system vulnerability

Your immune system strongly depends on healthy sleep. In one experiment, healthy subjects restricted to four hours of sleep for one night experienced a 70 % drop in key cancer-fighting immune cells (natural killer cells). This shows just how quickly sleep deprivation can meaningfully impair immune defense. ² 

Hormonal ageing and male health

Sleep restriction also profoundly affects hormonal systems. In a study on healthy males restricted to just four or five hours of sleep per night for a week, testosterone levels dropped to the equivalent of a man ten years older. In other words: chronic short sleep pushes physiological ageing forward.³ 

Summary: Sleep as system-wide reset

Sleep isn’t something you get after life’s work is done; sleep is the foundation layer of life’s work. Without it: immune fragility, hormonal inversion, cardiovascular stress, impaired cognition, emotional dysregulation — all climb quickly. The data support Walker’s statement that sleep is not optional. ⁴ 

Get your sleep, for sure, and then fit in life and duties around that, without disturbing your sleep routine.

Here are evidence-based, medically-grounded tips to improve sleep quality — particularly useful for those of you with demanding schedules, irregular nights, or intermittent insomnia.

1. Prioritize regularity

Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day(yes, weekends too). Consistency anchors your brain’s 24-hour clock (the circadian pacemaker) and strengthens sleep quality. ⁵ 

Instead of just setting your wake-up alarm, consider a “time-for-bed alarm”. That’s your cue to wind down behaviorally, reducing the “lying awake wondering if I’ll sleep” trap.

2. Create darkness in the last hour

Light at night suppresses melatonin release — melatonin signals the body that it’s night and time for sleep. So: in the final hour before you plan to sleep:

• Dim the lights by about half.

• Turn off screens (computers, tablets, phones). Blue-light plus cognitive/emotional arousal from scrolling kills sleep quality. Consider blackout curtains or reducing ambient light from devices/chargers.⁶ 

3. Keep your bedroom cool

Your body temperature needs to drop by about 1 °C (or 2–3 °F) for optimal sleep onset and maintenance. That is why you may have trouble falling asleep in a “stuffy” room. A room that’s too cold is better than one that’s too hot. Aim for ~18 °C (?65 °F). Layering (hot water bottle, socks) is fine — just the ambient room should be cool.

4. Don’t linger in bed awake

If you’re in bed for more than ~25–30 minutes and you’re still awake, get up. Lie-waiting teaches your brain that “bed = being awake”, which undermines sleep associations. Instead: get out of bed, go to another room, do something quiet and relaxing (not screen-heavy), and return when sleepy.

This may feel counter-intuitive, especially when you’re exhausted, but it resets the bed-sleep connection.

5. Moderation of caffeine & alcohol

• Caffeine: Blocks adenosine, the chemical that builds “sleep pressure” while awake. Caffeine late in the day undermines sleep onset and depth. 

• Alcohol: While it may sedate you initially, it suppresses REM sleep and causes frequent awakenings. That compromises the essential emotional-processing phase of sleep.⁶ 

After a bad night: don’t over-compensate

If you had a terrible night, resist the impulse to: wake up later, nap longer, or go to bed earlier. These all disrupt your schedule and can lead into a cycle of poor sleep. Instead: get up at your usual time, avoid long naps, wake gently, go about your day. Your brain will rebuild healthy sleep momentum.

Why This Matters More Than Ever

In today’s hyper-connected, 24/7 culture, sleep is undervalued. We mistakenly treat it as “lost productive time,” when in fact it is the time our brain and body use to restore, repair, and integrate. According to Walker, “[Sleep] is the single most effective thing that we can do each and every day to reset our brain and body health.” ⁷ 

Ignoring sleep is not just sub-optimal; data show it increases risk for serious disease: obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular events, impaired immunity, accelerated aging, cognitive decline. 

There is compelling epidemiological data around daylight saving time changes. When we lose one hour of sleep in the spring, there is a ~24 % relative increase in heart attacks the next day. Conversely, when we gain an hour in the fall, heart attack rates drop by about 21 %. These shifts underscore how finely tuned our cardiovascular system is to sleep adequacy.

Other correlations: road traffic accidents spike, suicide rates shift, even judge sentencing shows variation with less sleep. The less you sleep, the worse the decision-making, the poorer the self-regulation.

One study even saw a drop in quality foods chosen by participants who were sleep deprived. Subjects had a significantly greater desire for high-calorie, weight-gain-promoting foods.⁸ 

Sleep needs to be addressed with the same urgency as diet, exercise, medication. Often times sleep is the hidden variable.

Final Summary & Patient Message

Sleep is not optional. It’s a non-negotiable component of health. Treat it as your life-support system.

For patients: frame sleep as the foundation of your prescription: fix the sleep schedule, advance the dark-cool environment, reduce screen/blue-light exposure before bed, moderate caffeine and alcohol, and rescue the behavioral association between bed and sleep.

Summary Of Healthy Sleep Habits

Bedtime Routine

Set regular hours. Go to bed and wake up at the same time daily (weekends included).

Use a “to-bed alarm.” Set a reminder 30–60 min before target bedtime.

No screens 1 hour before bed. Dim all lights by half.

Keep bedroom dark, cool, and quiet. Ideal room temp ? 65 °F (18 °C).

During the Night

If you can’t fall asleep after ~25 min:  Leave bed, go to another dimly lit room, do something calm (reading, breathing, quiet music).

Return to bed only when genuinely sleepy.

Avoid heavy meals, alcohol, and caffeine within 3 hours of bedtime.

Daytime Habits

Get morning light exposure (10–20 min) to anchor circadian rhythm.

Exercise regularly, but finish intense workouts ? 3 hours before bed.

Caffeine cut-off: No caffeine after 2 p.m. (earlier for sensitive patients).

Skip long naps. If necessary, keep naps < 30 minutes before 3 p.m.

If You Had a Bad Night

Do nothing extreme…

? Don’t sleep in late, to try and catch up.

? Don’t nap long hours, to try and catch up.

? Don’t go to bed early, to try and catch up.

? Don’t overload on caffeine, to stay awake!

Just resume your regular schedule; your sleep drive will self-correct the next night.

When to Seek Further Evaluation

Persistent insomnia > 3 months.

Loud snoring, choking, or witnessed apneas (stopping breathing).

Excessive daytime sleepiness.

Restless legs, parasomnias, so-called narcolepsy (falling asleep without choice during the day) or shift-work insomnia.

Ask your doctor a referral for sleep study (polysomnography) or CBT-I (cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia).

Finally, One Last Resource!

This one is massive. Falling asleep means dropping from beta-frequency brainwaves to alpha (12 Hz), to theta (4 -6 Hz) and then delta (0.5 – 4 Hz), which is deep sleep. So what if you could hum to the brain and persuade it to drop gently from beta, to alpha, theta and then into delta. You would fall asleep (couldn’t help yourself, actually)!

Well, it can be done. I am associated with a device which can deliver these soporific brain frequencies. It’s called the Kasina and it wraps 4 different sleep aids into one pleasant “mind walk.” I have had patients say they could not stay awake till the end!

The 4 modalities are:

1. Binaural beats

2. Photic driving (flashing lights)

3. Slow relaxing music, integrated with the sounds

4. A calm, relaxing voice giving you instructions to travel in your mind in creative ways.

Go here to learn more.

To your good health,Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby
The Official Alternative Doctor

SOURCES:

1. Brain, Volume 141, Issue 6, June 2018, Pages 1884–1886, https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awy115
2. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/01/27/what-an-insomniac-knows
3. https://time.com/7160802/sleep-longevity-live-longer-health/
4. Br J Gen Pract. 2018 Apr;68(669):193. doi: 10.3399/bjgp18X695609
5. https://news.berkeley.edu/2017/10/17/whywesleep/
6. https://www.masterclass.com/articles/matthew-walker-on-improving-sleep-quality
7. https://www.cogneurosociety.org/going-deep-sleep-matthew-walker/
8. Nat Commun. 2013;4:2259. doi: 10.1038/ncomms3259

Magnus calls it “Eat Bright”. His company Food Nation has won the Best of Arabia in their category for 3 years running.

Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby
The Alternative Doctor

Magnus Mumby. Chef and Food Philosopher

When I first stepped into a kitchen as a young chef, the world of food looked very different. There were no shortcuts, no ready mixes, no packets waiting to be torn open. Everything was made from scratch. Stocks simmered for hours, sauces were built layer upon layer, bread was kneaded by hand, and every plate told the story of real ingredients treated with respect. I still remember the fish that came in from the boats, cod fish as big as me, glistening and firm.

Beef and lamb arrived with a balance of marbling that was both lean and rich, animals raised on pasture, their flesh full of flavor. Even the eggs were vibrant, their yolks golden and deep.

Over four decades I have watched that world vanish. Bit by bit, the integrity of ingredients has been eroded, sacrificed to the power of the dollar and the obsession with gross profit margins. Industrial agriculture, processing, and marketing combined to create what I call the agri-pocalypse. At first it was subtle, an extra shortcut here, a packet there. But soon entire supply chains shifted. The very raw materials we chefs depended upon were altered beyond recognition. Foods that once carried vitality became hollow.

The cost has not only been culinary but human. Today, our food system produces abundance, yet much of that abundance makes us sick. The diabesity crisis, this entangled rise of obesity and type 2 diabetes, is not the result of scarcity but of over-engineered convenience. The foods are a double body blow of calorie-dense but nutrient-poor, designed for profit not health. At the same time, we face a mental health crisis unlike any in living memory. More than ninety percent of our serotonin is produced in the gut, and the gut’s microbiome thrives only on fiber-rich, diverse, whole foods. Strip away that diversity, flood the body with processed starches and seed oils, and the mind itself begins to unravel.

This is the world I found myself confronting when I founded Food Nation. I could not stand by as children were fed the very foods that I knew were damaging their health. Having seen, firsthand, what real food once was, and having trained in kitchens where every dish began with honest ingredients, I knew there was another way. Clean eating had to be scaled. It could no longer remain the privilege of those with time and money. If diabesity and mental health decline were industrial in scope, then the cure also had to be industrial: a new model of clean eating delivered at scale.

Food Nation became that experiment, and over time, that reality. Today, more than fifty thousand students eat meals with us every day. For more than a decade, we have served tens of millions of meals, each one designed to nourish rather than to fill. We called our initiative “Eat Bright,” because I wanted food to be seen as vibrantly as it tasted. Vegetables were unpeeled to preserve fiber. Sauces were built with ‘hidden goodness’ vegetables to deliver extra nutrients and phytochemicals. Plates were designed with variety in mind, each color a nutrient, each meal a lesson in what food can and should be.

Tasty salad boxes. Way to get kids to eat healthy!

But my journey wasn’t only about the food, it was about changing habits and culture. We invited parents to “Top Table” events, brought cookery classes back into schools, created ingredient showcases, and collaborated with farmers. The goal was never to dictate a diet but more to restore a relationship. Children need to see food not as fuel to be rushed through but as something to explore, enjoy, and respect. Parents began to remember the pleasure of cooking, of sitting together at a table, of knowing where meals came from.

Over the years, I have grown ever more convinced that diets do not work. I have seen the rise and fall of every trend – keto, carnivore, paleo, juice cleanses, intermittent fasting. They create temporary change at best, despair at worst. Once the diet ends, the body reverts, because diets are external impositions, not internal transformations. The only lasting cure is a lifestyle change, and that begins not in a clinic or a packet, but in the kitchen.

I speak with the conviction of a chef who remembers when all food was cooked from scratch. Cooking is the act of reclaiming control. Every time you chop an onion, sear a piece of fish, or simmer a pot of lentils, you take back responsibility from an industry that wants you to believe health comes from a packet, a pill, or a powder. It does not. It comes from the daily act of cooking and eating whole foods.

The forces that oppose this are powerful. Big Food, Big Pharma, even the remnants of Big Tobacco, are all aligned in ways that should alarm us. They profit from both ends of the spectrum: first from processed foods that compromise our health, then from the medicines that manage the resulting conditions. Their weapon is convenience. But I have learned that convenience is a shortcut, and a very valuable lesson. “A shortcut is the fastest way to a place you do not want to be”.

The only real resistance is to slow down. To take time to cook, time to sit, time to share meals with those you love. This is not nostalgia, it is survival. Real food heals. It strengthens bodies, steadies moods, sharpens focus, and knits families together. It is not instant, but it is permanent, and progressive once you start.

Smoothies are offered ready to blend. This is how to get kids to eat veggies!

Food Nation proves this is possible at scale. If a catering company can nourish fifty thousand children every day with clean food, then families can certainly reclaim their own kitchens. I know because I’ve seen it: the impact on students, the gratitude of parents, the way teachers speak about the difference in energy, attention, and happiness when children are well-fed.

The agri-pocalypse has stripped us not just of nutrients but of trust. My life’s work has been to rebuild that trust, one meal at a time, first as a chef in kitchens where everything was made from scratch, and now as the founder of a company feeding a generation. The message is simple: Hippocrates had the answer nearly 2500yrs ago, let food be thy medicine. We gave the keys to our health to corporations chasing profit. It is time to take them back, with our hands, our knives, and our kitchens.

Because against diabesity, against depression, against the hollow promises of industrial convenience, the most radical thing you can do is the simplest: cook real food, every day, and never stop. Let the revolution begin!

Magnus Mumby 14th Sept 2025

Food Nation also educates the kids, with instructive posters in the canteen, such as this one…

For years I have been writing about my 3 principles of anti-cancer health:

Rule #1. Any good health measure is an anti-cancer measure!

Rule #2. Any good health measure is an anti-cancer measure!

Rule #3. Any good health measure is an anti-cancer measure!

No kidding: this is writ LARGE in my famous anti-cancer book CANCER RESEARCH SECRETS. Truth is, it’s simply not possible to separate cancer tendencies from general health issues.

In fact I have 3 easy-to-remember pillars of health: 

1. Diet and nutrition

2. Chemical unburdening

3. Emotional detox

4. (these days I would add EMFs)

As usual, the medical profession as a whole eventually catches up with what I am telling you about! And so it is again. They have decided that “comorbidities” (other health conditions) have a profound influence on cancer vulnerability! So what I have known for decades is gradually creeping into the orthodox medical canon (as it must).

CANCER DOES NOT JUST HAPPEN! It does not drop out of the sky into your poor innocent body! Cancer is a signal that your general health is a wreck! As I have written often, cancer is not a death sentence. BUT IT IS A WAKE-UP CALL. You better listen, or else!

Face it, cancer is not a challenge that any of us want to face. It’s scary. Treatment is questionable, to say the least. Indeed, I have suspected that most people die of cancer treatment, not the disease! 

[Ooops, am I allowed to say that? Oh yes, RFK is in there, fighting for the truth! Haha!]

The statistics are pretty grim. One in every two men and nearly that many women will get cancer at some stage in their life. 50/50 chance! Meaning you or a loved will almost certainly contract the disease. In effect, it means that we are all fighting cancer. An unpleasant thought.

BUT WE ARE NOT HELPLESS. General health is a gift and open to you to claim. If you already have heart disease, diabetes, you’re obese, gut issues, fatty liver or indeed if you are taking meds for any reason, then you have left things a bit late! But still, you can put that into reverse. If you don’t do that you’re back to 50/50 (the toss of a coin in effect) that the Big C will come visiting you.

Now there is a new study to put even more figures around this issue and maybe it will help you be mindful of the risks of doing “nothing”. [Of course nobody is doing nothing. The majority of citizens are daily dosing themselves with death in what they eat and drink—not you of course, dear reader! But they believe, or are told, that exercize and nutrition are irrelevant to their health]

It is clear that there is a strong correlation between existing health conditions (so-called comorbidities) and the likelihood of cancer, meaning specific risks for specific types of cancer. The study came from the prospective Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) screening trial.

For purposes of the current study, comorbidities were classified into five specific combinations: cardiovascular conditions (coronary heart disease or heart attack, stroke, and hypertension); gastrointestinal conditions (ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, diverticulitis or diverticulosis, etc. and gallbladder stones or inflammation); respiratory conditions (chronic bronchitis or emphysema); liver conditions (hepatitis or cirrhosis); and metabolic conditions (obesity and type 2 diabetes).

Among nearly 130,000 participants without a history of cancer, the risk of any incident cancer was significantly higher for adults with a history of respiratory  and cardiovascular conditions. Not so with gastrointestinal, liver, and metabolic disease.  However, it was a complex multiple risk assessment meaning, for example, there was a very definite link between a history of liver conditions and risk of liver cancer, but otherwise liver conditions were associated with a significantly REDUCED risk of endometrial cancer (womb lining).

Meanwhile, metabolic conditions (obesity and type 2 diabetes) were associated with an increased risk of liver, endometrial, kidney, biliary, thyroid, rectal, colon, pancreas, and hematopoietic cancers (leukemias), with a DECREASED risk of melanoma, lung, head and neck, and prostate cancers.

“The strong positive associations together with the high global prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes further underscores the public health importance of efforts to curtail these conditions,” was the obvious conclusion.

Additionally, cardiovascular conditions were associated with an increased risk of four cancers: prostate, biliary, upper gastrointestinal, and kidney. Plus a DECREASED RISK of breast cancer. 

Gastrointestinal conditions were also associated with an increased risk of four cancers: thyroid, breast, kidney, and ovarian and AGAIN, a decreased risk of prostate cancer, while respiratory conditions were associated with an INCREASED risk of lung and pancreatic cancers, and a REDUCED risk of prostate cancer.

Quite a complicated picture, as you will see. But little comfort. If you are a man and at risk of demise from lung cancer, it is hardly reassuring to think “Well, at least I won’t get prostate cancer!” Doesn’t really work, does it?

In fact only one position “works”, which is to do your very best to remain in good health overall.

And let’s not be coy; I’m talking also about death here.

For individual cancer types, metabolic conditions mean you are more likely to die following a diagnosis of endometrial cancer, upper gastrointestinal cancer, and leukemias, and prostate cancer, while cardiovascular conditions were associated with a higher hazard of death following a diagnosis of leukemia-type cancers and lung cancer.

[I have used the word leukemias here, to simplify. There are of course several leukemias but there are other “cancers” of blood, bone marrow, lymph, and lymphatic system, such as Hodgkin’s, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma. 

Having assembled all this good data, the authors of the study appear to have then turned daft and hypothesized that the reason for the higher-risk connections is that not enough of the right “treatment” (suboptimal was their word) was used to combat the cancers, because of concern over the patient’s overall health!

What? Death by cancer is NOT a deficiency of chemo or radiation, we all know that. It’s lack of health!

But then, thank goodness, they slip in that these results create a strong concern for “individualized primary prevention among individuals.” That is correct and is the ONLY way to do battle with the Big C. It’s back to my dictum: any good health measure is an anti-cancer measure.

And nothing I have written here overrides my main teaching, which is that YOU are responsible for your own health and cancer risk. To leave it to the medical profession has the same outcome as suicide!

To your good health,Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby
The Official Alternative Doctor

Source Reference: 

Lavery JA, et al “Comorbidity in midlife and cancer outcomes” JAMA Netw Open 2025; DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.3469.

Secondary Source

Koroukian SM, et al “Moving closer to personalized cancer prevention strategies by assessing comorbidity and multimorbidity” JAMA Netw Open 2025; DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.3476.

Aristotle walked for clarity of thought while he lectured his students. As a matter of fact I walked the same walk as he did, back in April 2017. It certainly stirred my juices; I had the most amazing transcendental experience and had to sit down for a half hour! (secret revealed one day!)

Virgin boss Richard Branson does this with his associates to help generate ideas. For the poet William Wordsworth, it was an essential daily habit that fired up his imagination. Friedrich Nietzsche, Charles Darwin and Ernest Hemingway too! For philosophers, poets, writers and chief executives alike, walking is a good way to stimulate creative thinking.

Even desk geeks like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg have used walking to get inspiration. So why not the rest of us?

Don’t tell me you don’t need inspiration… The word means “the breath of life”. To inspire is to breathe! C’mon, of course we all need it. If you get some bright ideas while you are engaged in walking, that’s good too.

You may not get a best-selling novel come into your head but crisp clarity of thought will often help you plan your day or week for the best. A conversation with God. It may even just be a tune that you like to hum as you go. I defy you not to think good thoughts as you stride along!

So What’s All This About?

It’s about slowing down aging and being your best YOU, for as long as possible! Boomer’s don’t just die or fade away—we like to drop off the twig mid-action! Haha!

There is no question that mild exercize is a valuable health intervention. Don’t pay too much attention to the endorphin freaks, who think more is better and everyone should sweat and grind for hours and hours. Especially stay away from Crossfit, which is a cult in my view; people use it to hurt themselves seriously (in fact they don’t rate the experience, till it starts tearing muscles and sinews! Just kidding).

We do know that exercizing to the point of mild breathlessness, 3 – 4 times  week, is a good target for most of us over 60. You can do what is called interval walking training (IWT). Like other “interval” trainings, it means on and off. Walk gently for 3 minutes (you should be able to hold a conversation easily) and then for 3 minutes push harder and swing your arms (conversation becomes broken but not impossible, because you are slightly out of breath).

IWT is efficacious in improving physical fitness and muscle strength, and reducing factors associated with lifestyle-related diseases. In individuals with type 2 diabetes, IWT improves glycemic control directly through enhanced glucose effectiveness, challenging conventional views on mechanisms behind training-induced improvements in glycemic control. The problem comes with individuals with chronic diseases and/or overweight/obesity, because of their difficulty in exercizing.¹ 

If you are interested in weight loss, IWT can boost the exercize intensity and calorie burn without adding too much stress or strain to your body.

Most importantly, it’s great for cognitive health as we age. An increasing body of research evidence indicates that exercise can be an effective intervention for improving cognitive performance. According to an article in the prestigious journal Nature, the underlying neurophysiological mechanism by which exercise enhances cognitive performance is thought to be accelerated brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) synthesis causing activation of pathways to initiate neuroplasticity and neurogenesis in the hippocampus. Furthermore, research indicates that exercise is associated with enhanced mood states and diminished stress and anxiety levels, which in turn indirectly influence cognitive performance.²

Another Mechanism

However, research at New Mexico Highlands University showed there is another performance enhancement pathway that rarely gets mentioned and that is the hydraulic pumping effect. As we walk we bounce up and down to a degree. 

The impact of feet hitting the ground sends pressure waves through the arteries. These waves synchronized with heart rate and walking stride to increase blood circulation in the brain. While running has a greater impact, walking was still very effective, and when it comes to boosting blood flow to the brain, it’s better than cycling, because the cyclist doesn’t go up and down so much!³

It’s really amazing that it took scientists so long to tumble to this important advantage of running and walking; it isn’t just about deep breaths, increased blood pressure, faster heartbeat and “getting fit”. It’s also about pumping. There are backward-flowing waves in the arteries which have a very beneficial effect on cerebral blood flow.

Considering that nearly one in three cases of memory loss and decline in thinking ability is caused by so-called vascular dementia, in which blood flow to the brain becomes more and more restricted, walking stands out as an activity that should become an essential part of your everyday health regime. It is, in effect, putting blood flow to the brain under your own direct control!

Nothing wrong with that!

How To Get The Most From IWT

1. Warm-up: Begin every workout with a 10-minute warm-up. During the warm-up, start with an easy walking pace and gradually work your way up to a moderate walking speed. When walking at a moderate pace, you should be breathing deeply but comfortably.

2. Speed Interval: After the warm-up, begin your first interval. If you are new to this exercise style, start with a short thirty-second or one-minute interval. During this burst, bend your arms and pump them forward and back. Your breathing will become deeper and eventually you’ll have a slight pant.

3. Moderate Pace Interval: After the quicker burst, return to your moderate walking pace for 2 minutes or until you recover your breath. 

4. Repeat: Repeat the interval set four more times for a total of five interval sets. 

5. Cooldown: Finish the workout with a 5-minute cooldown or until you recover your breath.

6. Increase Your Push Interval. Gradually, over the space of days, increase the drive time (the time when you are pushing harder) up to 3 minutes and maybe 5 minutes. No benefit from trying from longer spells. It’s the on-off that does the good! Hence the term interval training.

Now The Stories

David K. struggled with obesity and unhealthy habits for years. After reaching over 300 pounds, he decided to take control of his life by incorporating walking into his daily routine. He started with short walks around his neighborhood, gradually increasing his distance, and eventually jogging and running. His transformation not only helped him shed over 150 pounds but also improved his mental health, reducing stress and anxiety.

Antionette S. battled severe depression and was diagnosed with prediabetes due to her sedentary lifestyle. When her doctor recommended more movement, she started walking for 15 minutes daily. She gradually increased her pace and distance, eventually walking five miles every day. Not only did she reverse her prediabetes diagnosis, but she also found relief from depression, using her walks as a form of meditation and mindfulness practice.

Diane M. was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition that left her feeling exhausted and immobile. Determined to take control of her health, she started walking in small increments, even when it hurt. Over time, walking improved her mobility, reduced her pain levels, and enhanced her overall well-being. She eventually completed a 10K charity walk, proving that perseverance and daily movement can lead to significant health improvements.

Cancer

While specific documented cases of patients achieving long-term remission solely through walking are limited, numerous studies and personal accounts highlight the significant benefits for cancer patients of regular physical activity, including walking. Engaging in consistent exercise has been associated with improved treatment outcomes, enhanced quality of life, and reduced risk of cancer recurrence.

A meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that increased muscle strength and aerobic fitness can lower the mortality risk for cancer patients by up to 46%. The study emphasized that exercises like walking can substantially improve survival rates and overall health.⁴ 

Additionally, the American Cancer Society recommends that cancer survivors engage in regular physical activity, including walking, to help reduce the risk of recurrence and improve overall health. 

OK, that’s it. I’m off for my walk!

To your good health,
Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby
The Alternative Doctor

References:

1. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2024 Jul 1;49(7):1002-1007
2. The effects of high-intensity interval training on cognitive performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sci Rep 14, 32082 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-83802-9
3. https://www.nmhu.edu/research-shows-walking-increases-blood-flow-brain/
4. Association of muscle strength and cardiorespiratory fitness with all-cause and cancer-specific mortality in patients diagnosed with cancer: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med. 2025:bjsports-2024-108671. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2024-108671

Who he?

Keys is the man who saddled us with the fake science claiming that saturated fats kill and sugar was NOT the culprit. He did not simply make a mistake; he criminally FAKED his results. For why? Because he was paid to lie, as a supposed scientist  in pursuit of the truth.

That’s what I have against him. Heck, you could even claim that Genghis Khan was just “doing his job” (aggressive head of state). But Ancel Keys set out cynically and deliberately to hurt Mankind by steering medicine in the wrong direction.

He was paid by the sugar industry to deflect attention from the manifold dangers of invert sugar, which is one of the deadliest, most inflammatory food substances known. It underlies modern metabolic disorders, from obesity, to diabetes.¹

Prof. John Yudkin, who wrote the awesome book Pure White and Deadly, assembled masses of demographic figures proving conclusively that sugar was a VERY BAD THING and the industry wanted him GONE. Keys set out to demolish Yudkin and his legacy.

The current trend to blame seed oils and omega-6 PUFAs, notably linoleic acid, is laudable in its way but it in no wise means that we were wrong about sugar. It remains a deadly dietary player.

Whereas fat, which Keys targeted, is not only not the problem but is an important dietary need and keeps us healthy.

So we got the current soaring debacle of health, where millions are going down with heart disease, diabetes, stroke and dementias. Yes, dementias. We currently have an epidemic of dementias, since the introduction of low-fat diets in the 1970s. Guess what? The brain is 60% fat, so for low-fat diet, read low-brain diet.

How did he do it?

Keys Conniving With Commerce for His Thirty Pieces of Silver

Keys won the battle with Yudkin (which was totally rigged by corrupt dollars) and Keys became nutritional dogma. The way he faked it was to pick only countries that illustrated his point. The rest were ignored.

Keys collected data on deaths from coronary heart disease and fat consumption from 22 countries but he cherry-picked the data from only the 7 countries which supported his theory that animal fat was the main cause of coronary heart disease. The results of what later became known as the “Seven Countries Study” appeared to show that saturated fat in the diet was strongly related to coronary heart disease mortality both at the population and at the individual level.

The title itself is a fraud: it was actually a 22 countries study! Here’s the truth:

The graph on the left was what Keys published. It looks quite convincing: the more fat you ate, the more certain you would have a fatal heart attack. The graph on the right includes all the data Keys had and, as you can see, there is no real pattern. Yikes!

In fact if you took the results from just Finland, Israel, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France, and Sweden, the exact opposite would have been found: that fat in the diet protects against heart disease.

But history enshrined Ancel Keys as a virtual folk hero. He even had a picture on the cover of Time magazine (1961), a slot usually reserved for celebrities, politicians and heroes (like Taylor Swift??)

Meanwhile, John Yudkin lost his post, his career was damaged by the food industry and prominent nutritionists who tried to destroy his reputation. He was ostracized by his college at the University of London and vilified in the scientific press.

Oh, and did I mention: hundreds of millions died of the false dogma, which continues to this day.

Cristin Kearns discovered by chance secret documents of the Sugar Industry in which its campaigns, lies and deceptions are collected since the 1970s. She contacted Gary Taubes, and together they published the whole truth in Mother Jones magazine.

The official Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) publishes an influential study linking sugar consumption to the risk of death from cardiovascular diseases 40 years after Yudkin did.²

Fortunately, it’s gradually becoming recognized that Keys cooked his data. But incredibly he still has his admirers and defenders, which I typically rate as those who supported the phoney cholesterol myth and refuse to admit they were wrong; an all-too-human quirk.

But there was evidence Keys was wrong, damnably wrong, even before the famous seven countries study.

For example, recently an unpublished 56 month randomized study of 9,423 adults living in state mental hospitals or a nursing home (which made it possible to rigidly control their diets) was unearthed.

This study, which Keys was the lead investigator of, found that replacing half of one’s animal (saturated) fats with seed oil (e.g., corn oil) lowered their cholesterol, but for every 30 points it dropped, their risk of death increased by 22% (which roughly translates to each 1% drop in cholesterol raising the risk of death by 1%).³

Note: The author who unearthed that study also discovered another (unpublished) study from the 1970s of 458 Australians, which found that replacing some of their saturated fat with seed oils increased their risk of dying by 17.6%.⁴

Likewise, recently, one of the most prestigious medical journals in the world published internal sugar industry documents.⁵

They showed  the sugar industry had used bribes to make scientists place the blame for heart disease on fat so Yudkin’s work would not threaten the sugar industry.⁶

In turn, it is now generally accepted that Yudkin was right, but nonetheless, our medical guidelines are still largely based on Key’s work.

However, despite a significant amount of data that now shows lowering cholesterol is not associated with a reduction in heart disease, the need to lower cholesterol is still a dogma within cardiology. For example, how many of you have heard of this 1986 study of older patients which was published in the Lancet which concluded:

“During 10 years of follow-up from December 1, 1986, to October 1, 1996, a total of 642 participants died. Each 1 mmol/L increase in total cholesterol corresponded to a 15% decrease in mortality (risk ratio 0 to 85 [95% Cl 0·79 to 0·91]).”⁷

And this:

For half a century, a high level of total cholesterol (TC) or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) has been considered to be the major cause of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD), and statin treatment has been widely promoted for cardiovascular prevention. However, there is an increasing understanding that the mechanisms are more complicated and that statin treatment, in particular when used as primary prevention, is of doubtful benefit.

Expert commentary: Our search for falsifications of the cholesterol hypothesis confirms that it is unable to satisfy any of the Bradford Hill criteria* for causality and that the conclusions of the authors of the three reviews are based on misleading statistics, exclusion of unsuccessful trials and by ignoring numerous contradictory observations.⁸

*Association does not equal causation, as we are accustomed to hearing. That doesn’t mean we have to dump all such potential evidence. It COULD be correct to draw a causative relation. In 1965 Sir Austin Bradford Hill first proposed 9 criteria that would help strengthen the causality. Here are the first 6, for your understanding. I think only an epidemiologist would need all! 

Strength of association: The stronger the association, the more likely it is causal. 

Consistency: The same findings should be observed in different populations, study designs, and times. 

Specificity: There should be a one-to-one relationship between the cause and outcome. 

Temporal sequence: Exposure should precede outcome. 

Biological gradient: Changes in disease rates should correspond to changes in exposure. 

Biological plausibility: There should be a potential biological mechanism.

Sir Austin Bradford Hill CBE FRS was a British epidemiologist who pioneered the modern randomized clinical trial and, together with Richard Doll, demonstrated the connection between cigarette smoking and lung cancer.

Well, I hope that got you thinking!

Eat well and don’t die before your time!

To Your Good Health,
Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby
The Official Alternative Doctor

Final Note: You know what really pees me off? Ancel Keys went to live in Calabria, a region in southern Italy famous for the longevity of its population, and he lived to over 100 years. Yet people are still dying younger than they should of his dogma and the so-called cholesterol myth.

Spare a little thought for John Yudkin in your prayers tonight: he worked to help humanity and was destroyed. Ancel Keys worked to destroy the truth and lived to over 100! Go figure…

BTW I know why Keys lived so long! There’s a secret to the Calabrian longevity miracle; it’s Bergamot juice and I’ve got some.

References

1. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-industry-shifted-blame-to-fat.html
2. Kearns CE, Schmidt LA, Glantz SA. Sugar Industry and Coronary Heart Disease Research: A Historical Analysis of Internal Industry Documents. JAMA Intern Med.2016;176(11):1680–1685. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.5394
3. https://www.statnews.com/2016/04/12/unearthed-data-challenge-dietary-advice/
4. BMJ 2013;346:e8707
5. JAMA Intern Med. 2016;176(11):1680–1685. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.5394
6. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/13/493739074/50-years-ago-sugar-industry-quietly-paid-scientists-to-point-blame-at-fat
7. Volume 350, Issue 9085p1119-1123October 18, 1997
8. Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, 11(10), 959–970. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512433.2018.1519391

But I have one question (remember I’ve been teaching fasting as a health tool a lot longer than the current fashion—since 1983 in fact): the question is WHY DON’T THEY FOLLOW UP WITH TRIAL AND ERROR EATING? I mean, Duh!

If giving up food has such a health benefits—for some even their whole problem clears up—why not identify WHICH FOODS ARE THE TROUBLEMAKERS? 

For many decades, in many of my books, and on countless radio and TV interviews, I (often jokingly) say, “One test for food allergy is to give up eating. If your problem goes away, it’s a food allergy.” I mean, how logical is that?

Usually I suggest that fasting is a bit steep for many, so we compromise with an elimination or exclusion diet—giving up the most likely foods and seeing if that works. But then we have to follow up with challenge testing. Eat the banned foods again, one at a time, done carefully (there are rules) and see which one(s) bring back the symptoms. Those are the ones to avoid!

It’s all in my book ONE DIET FOR LIFE.It’s very rare to see this simple, basic routine described on Mercola, Natural Health News (Health Ranger) and GreenMedInfo; in fact I never have. But I’ve cured 10,000s of patients; had them up out of wheelchairs; got an epileptic man his driving license back; solved lifelong migraines; asthma, eczema, colitis, Crohn’s, urticaria, got infertile women pregnant (oh pur-lease, by their husbands!), irritable bowel, arthritis, schizophrenia (yes!), depression, ADHD and hyperactivity, learning disorders, violent attacks, rage, even tinnitus… the list goes on and on.

So maybe you can see why I’m baffled by a bit of daft science that came into my INBOX today. An article announced that “Cambridge scientists may have discovered a new way in which fasting helps reduce inflammation – a potentially damaging side-effect of the body’s immune system that underlies a number of chronic diseases.” 

In research published in Cell Reports, the team describes how fasting raises levels of a chemical in the blood known as arachidonic acid, which inhibits inflammation. The researchers say it may also help explain some of the beneficial effects of drugs such as aspirin.¹

Yes, well I would say that also explains the health benefits of things like omega-3 fatty acids, curcumin, colchicine, epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) and quercetin. And they don’t have anywhere near the same dangerous side-effects as aspirin but they are highly effective anti-inflammatories.

But they are seriously wrong on another account: omega-6 fatty acids, like arachidonic acid, are serious CAUSES of inflammation, not mediators. More exactly the ratio of omega-3s to omega-6s is to blame. It now stands at 20:1! Traditional diets, omega-6s were low (around 2%) and the ratio was nearer 1:1.²

Arachidonic acid leads to pathways prostaglandins, prostanoids and leukotrienes, some of which are also important inflammatory mediators. They are probably of particular importance in leucocyte-mediated aspects of chronic inflammation.³

I just don’t understand this muddled article!

Never mind, to go back to my main thrust, researchers like this never seem interested in seeing what foods? Just what chemical pathways? I’m baffled. I can only surmise that it’s because they think we are all identical (average) and all triggers are the same.

That’s just not true. As I have written thousands of times, nobody is average! There isn’t one single average human being walking on this planet. So rather than fuss about HOW it does it, I care about WHAT does it?

The Inflammasome

I practiced medicine for 40 years without knowing this word. Hah! Well apparently, although inflammation is our body’s natural response to injury or infection, this process can be triggered by other mechanisms, including by the so-called ‘inflammasome’, which acts like an alarm within our body’s cells, triggering inflammation to help protect our body when it senses damage. 

But the inflammasome can trigger inflammation in unintentional ways – one of its functions is to destroy unwanted cells, which can result in the release of the cell’s contents into the body, where they trigger inflammation.

Professor Clare Bryant from the Department of Medicine at the University of Cambridge (UK) said: “We’re very interested in trying to understand the causes of chronic inflammation in the context of many human diseases, and in particular the role of the inflammasome.

“What’s become apparent over recent years is that one inflammasome in particular – the NLRP3 inflammasome – is very important in a number of major diseases such as obesity and atherosclerosis, but also in diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, many of the diseases of older age people, particularly in the Western world.”

Dear Dr. Clare, the inflammasome is a mechanism, not WHAT triggers inflammation. We need to dig deep into causes, not mechanisms. Still you are on the hunt for drugs I suppose, chemicals which will block the inflammasome, even though it’s an absolutely crucial self-defence mechanism?

Back To The Study

A team led by Professor Bryant and colleagues at the University of Cambridge and National Institute for Health in the USA studied blood samples from a group of 21 volunteers, who ate a 500kcal meal then fasted for 24 hours before consuming a second 500kcal meal. 

The team found that restricting calorie intake increased levels of arachidonic acid. As soon as individuals ate a meal again, levels of arachidonic acid dropped. As I said, whatever led to reduced inflammation, it was not arachidonic acid. Even the team were surprised, as arachidonic acid was thought to be linked with increased levels of inflammation, not decreased.

Just to remind you, association is not causation.

Professor Bryant, a Fellow of Queens’ College, Cambridge, added: “It’s too early to say whether fasting protects against diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease as the effects of arachidonic acid are only short-lived, but our work adds to a growing amount of scientific literature that points to the health benefits of calorie restriction. It suggests that regular fasting over a long period could help reduce the chronic inflammation we associate with these conditions. It’s certainly an attractive idea.

“There could be a yin and yang effect going on here, whereby too much of the wrong thing is increasing your inflammasome activity and too little is decreasing it.”

I return to what I said, fasting is good. Therefore why not try and establish which foods trigger inflammation AND THEY WILL BE DIFFERENT FOR VIRTUALLY EVERY INDIVIDUAL. Wheat, dairy and coffee are mine, but they drift. I enjoyed coffee for over 35 years. Now it gets to me! Plus I had milk daily in my two coffees. So now I’ve given up coffee, I’ve gone dairy-free!

OMG look at this picture!

To Your Good Health,Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby
The Official Alternative Doctor

The research was funded by Wellcome, the Medical Research Council and the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Division of Intramural Research.

References:

1. Pereira, M & Liang, J et al. Arachidonic acid inhibition of the NLRP3 inflammasome is a mechanism to explain the anti-inflammatory effects of fasting. Cell Reports; 23 Jan 2024; DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.113700
2. https://mindandmatter.substack.com/p/why-are-we-getting-fatter-part-iv
3. Equine Vet J. 1984 May;16(3):163-75.  doi: 10.1111/j.2042-3306.1984.tb01893.x

All these dudes care about is grabbing maximum attention and recognition. They know almost NOTHING but are good at positioning themselves high up on Google and keep showing up on searches. From there they just spout the same old same olds. None of it is backed by clinical experience; they don’t have any.

Eventually of course the orthodox scientists and doctors get onto it. They are always late for the party. You probably know the old saw, I think it’s modified from a saying by French philosopher Michele de Montaigne (1533 – 1592):

1. It’s nonsense; you’re crazy

2. There might be something in it but where’s the proof?

3. We’ve known that all along, of course!

Montaigne was very funny. He said “On the highest throne in the world, we still sit on our own ass!

So with some reluctance I turn to the dangers of sugar. This is something where citizen science comes into play, so listen up. YOU can save lives!

Recently we have been seeing a huge uptick in cancers in young people. No, not COVID and the vaccines. This surge started long before 2019 and the cause, I’m sorry to say, is obvious.

Sweeties, candies and sodas, especially so-called energy drinks. The younger generation seem to have gone crazy for ridiculously-priced drinks that contain only sugar and caffeine.

As of March 2024, 32 percent of adults ages 18 to 29 consume energy drinks regularly, and energy drinks are the second-most popular ‘dietary supplement’ among adults in that age group behind multivitamins.

A can of Red Bull, one of the most popular of genre, costs 9 cents to make ($0.09) and sells for an average of $1.79. That’s over 98% profit and most of “cost” goes on the can, not the contents! Red Bull’s energy drinks are sold in over 171 countries, which equates to over 7.5 billion cans sold per year.

Yet it’s junk…

As a result, the number of people under 50 being diagnosed with cancer in the UK has risen by 24 per cent in two decades, a sharper increase than any other age group, and doctors trying to work out what’s behind the rapid rise have suspected for some time that modern diets are to blame in some way. 

Earlier this week, UK cancer expert Professor Charles Swanton expressed concern over the rise in younger cancer diagnoses.¹

He said: ‘Over recent decades, there has been a clear increase in cancer incidence rates in young adults in the UK. 

‘Evidence suggests that more adults under 50 may be getting cancer than ever before.

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL

This was an interesting study. They surveyed kids eating habits and looked also at fiber (can’t stand the American way of spelling that word!)

I used to think that if fiber was healthy, we could all just chop up the carpets and eat those! That was till I met with Denis Burkitt back in the 1960s. He was a rock-star physician/researcher/maverick. His name is now forever attached to a lymphoma (a form of cancer) which is now known to be transmissible by a virus. It was the first story in the long saga of viruses and cancer. There will be MANY more before the end.

But that wasn’t the theme of Burkitt’s lecture that day; it was fiber. He joked with us all (as old-time professors used to do). He ran the figures on the massive upsurge in cancers, diabetes, obesity and heart disease among native Africans and then proposed that the “cause” was plastic buckets!

Plastic buckets must have been a godsend for women, who had to carry water on their head in a clay jar.

See, since the wild tribes became Westernized and took on the trimmings of civilization, they had all sorts of modern gadgets, including cup-and-saucers, food whisks and plastic buckets. Burkitt showed us pictures of bands of individuals and there was a plastic bucket in every pictures. Case closed! Haha!

Well we knew it wasn’t that. Then he showed us several pictures of human poop (outdoors, by the road, etc.) They were spreads of fecal splat, quite frankly. This he said, is at the heart of the problem. Natives on a traditional diet ate lots of fiber, they pooped cow-pat sized deposits. But they never got cancer, diabetes, overweight or heart disease.

The typical Westerner, on the other hand, ate badly and pooped rocks. To this day I remember Burkitt’s slide of a telephone in the can in an hotel! That says it all.

The difference… you guessed it… is fiber in the diet. Now, in the West, nobody bothers with fiber. Factually nobody bothers much with food! It’s all ultra-processed nonsense. The calories are there but not any of the characteristics of food for which we evolved.

95 percent of Americans don’t get enough fiber, according to the USDA, which recommends that adults get between 25 and 30 grams of fiber daily. However, most Americans consume only about 10 to 15 grams of fiber a day. In the UK it’s worse: only 9% of Brits consume the recommended 30g of fibre per day. 

But Why?

Dysbiosis is a problem and leads to overgrowth of pathogenic microbes which induce inflammation, leading to accelerated aging in [early-onset colorectal cancer],’ the researchers wrote. 

The team noted that the findings align with other recent data, suggesting that low-fiber, processed diets throw off the gut microbiome balance in a process called intestinal dysbiosis. 

Additionally, researchers at the University of Florida introduced a trial this weekend which will aim to evaluate the effect of energy drinks on young colorectal cancer patients.

The team is recruiting 60 colorectal cancer patients ages 18 to 40 with no family history of the disease to see if taurine, an ingredient in energy drinks like Red Bull, feeds H2S-metabolizing bacteria (hydrogen sulfide), which has been linked to increased incidences of colorectal cancer.²

‘These bacteria preferentially use taurine, an essential amino acid, as a primary energy source. Energy drinks represent one of the largest dietary sources (6-16x normal daily intake) of taurine in contemporary diet,’ the team wrote.

So what with the toxicity of taurine, excess sugar and lack of fiber in their diet, leading to dangerous cancer-forming dysbiosis, the kids are in trouble. This could make them more susceptible to mutations that leads to cancer and less likely to be able to fight off the growth of tumor cells.

If you have youngsters (and under-50 is a pretty liberal definition of “young”!), you need to berate, bully or outright threaten them, to stop them eating and drinking ultra-processed garbage. You MUST do this.

To Your Good Health,Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby
The Official Alternative Doctor

Sources:

1. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13487377/deadly-diet-combos-colon-cancer-young-people.html
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8861923/

The reason I was so sure is that cancer is NOT a genetic disease. To remove breast tissue was merely to drive the disease process deeper inside and that will force it to come out in some other guise. 

Cancer is actually a disease of metabolism, as discovered by Otto Warburg, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1931 (less well-known is that Warburg was nominated for the award 47 times over the course of his illustrious career!)

He showed decisively that cancer thrives in a low-oxygen environment. Cancer cells turn to an alternative metabolic pathway (energy-creating route) called “glycolysis”. It’s not very efficient and yields only 2 molecules of ATP, compared to the normal full-oxygen route, which creates 36 molecules. This healthier route is called aerobic metabolism.

I repeat, it’s not about genes. There are frequent DNA mutations found in most cancers BUT THEY ARE ALL DIFFERENT! There is no one gene mutation that stands for all cancers. Indeed, some cancers have no DNA mutation at all!

And known cancer-promoting genes, like BRCA1 and BRCA2, mean nothing without the epigenetic enabling. Genes just ARE; they have no effect unless they are switched to “ON”. It’s the switching on that is the problem, not the presence of a gene.

We call this switch on effect “epigenetics”, which means over and above the genes themselves. Low tissue oxygen is just one possible epigenetic trigger. The presence of sugar is another. Glycolysis of cancer cells needs sugar (blood glucose) to make the pathway work.

It was a brilliant and PROVEN hypothesis.²

But then, in 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick pieced together the structure of the DNA molecule and set the stage for the triumph of molecular biology’s gene-centered approach to cancer. In the following decades, scientists came to regard cancer as a disease governed by mutated genes, which drive cells into a state of relentless division and proliferation. The metabolic catalysts that Warburg spent his career analyzing began to be referred to as “housekeeping enzymes” — necessary to keep a cell going but largely irrelevant to the deeper story of cancer.

“It was a stampede,” says Thomas Seyfried, a biologist at Boston College, speaking of the move to molecular biology. “Warburg was dropped like a hot potato.”

But Warburg will have the last word against the dinosaurs. His discovery, later named the Warburg effect, is estimated to occur in up to 80 percent of cancers. It is so fundamental to most cancers that a positron emission tomography (PET) scan, which has emerged as an important tool in the staging and diagnosis of cancer, works by showing up the places in the body where cells are consuming extra glucose. In many cases, the more glucose a tumor consumes, the worse a patient’s prognosis.¹

Which gets me to thinking about mitochondria. Healthy mitochondria are the standard for aerobic metabolism, as opposed to dangerous, pro-cancerous glycolysis.

These little “energy bunnies” in our cells were known to Warburg, but not the full understanding of how important they are. Indeed, Warburg was so monumentally stubborn and arrogant that he refused to use the word “mitochondria,” even after it had been widely accepted as the name for the tiny structures that power our cells. Instead Warburg persisted in calling them “grana,” the term he came up with when he identified those structures as the site of cellular respiration.¹

Look After Your Mitochondria!

I have a brilliant mitochondria energizer food (Mito-Cell Rejuvenator) but I would not be allowed to say it can cure or prevent cancer! Indeed, I couldn’t prove that. But I can use the allowed cant of the day: “Supports healthy mitochondrial function”.

It has coenzyme Q10, which mitochondria gobble up for food. Plus a heart-healthy sugar: D-ribose. That too selectively feeds mitochondria (which is why it is good for the heart!)

I also added DMG, dimethyl glycine (DMG), a superb energy booster, and Rhodiola, a so-called adaptogen (enables stress tolerance).

I’m currently on a move to add PQQ (polyquinoline quinone), which actually stimulates the growth of new mitochondria. We lose them gradually, as we age, so growing plenty more makes a lot of sense.

Epilogue

Near the end of his life, Warburg grew obsessed with his diet. He believed that most cancer was preventable and thought that chemicals added to food and used in agriculture could cause tumors by interfering with respiration. He stopped eating bread unless it was baked in his own home. He would drink milk only if it came from a special herd of cows, and used a centrifuge at his lab to make his cream and butter.

The current Warburg revival has allowed researchers to develop a hypothesis for how diets linked to our obesity and diabetes epidemics may also be driving cells to the Warburg effect and cancer— specifically, sugar-heavy diets that can result in permanently elevated levels of the hormone insulin.

The insulin-cancer hypothesis can be traced to the research of Lewis Cantley, the director of the Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medical College. In the 1980s, Cantley discovered how insulin is switching cells onto the Warburg-cancer route. One way to think about the Warburg effect, says Cantley, is as the insulin signaling pathway “gone awry — it’s cells behaving as though insulin were telling it (sic) to take up glucose all the time and to grow.” 

Cantley is currently studying the effects of diet on mice that have the mutations that are commonly found in colorectal and other cancers. He says that the effects of a sugary diet on colorectal, breast and other cancer models “looks very impressive” and “rather scary.”

James Watson, 88, remarked that locating the genes that cause cancer has been “remarkably unhelpful” — the belief that sequencing your DNA is going to extend your life “a cruel illusion,” he says. 

But there is a lot of money in it, however! And more money still from its justification of similar interventional surgery and other actions (as with Jolie). Oncologists make MOUNTAINS of money out of the now-defunct DNA mutation hypothesis. So it isn’t going to go away any time soon!

If you want to beat cancer, look after your mito-cell energy bunnies!

Give them a good feed. Go here.

To your good health,Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby
The Official Alternative Doctor

References:

1. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/magazine/warburg-effect-an-old-idea-revived-starve-cancer-to-death.html
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3506713/

Yes!

For the first time, the 2020 World Health Organization guidelines on physical activity recommended reducing sedentary behaviors owing to their health consequences. 

A 2011 study documented 800,000 people and their sitting habits. The study found that people who sit the most, compared to people who sit the least, have a greater risk of disease and death:

• 112% increased risk of diabetes.

• 147% increased risk of cardiovascular events like heart attack and stroke.

• 90% increased risk of death from cardiovascular events.

• 49% increased risk of death from any cause.¹

It can even increase your risk for certain types of cancer, though results have not been consistent in that respect.²

Yikes! Why should it be bad for us?

Blood flow slows down.  This can allow fatty acids to build up in the blood vessels, leading to heart disease.

Sitting for extended periods of time, regularly may lead to insulin resistance which can cause type 2 diabetes and obesity—2 major risk factors for heart disease.

A 2018 study found that 82% of people who suffer from blood clots, sat for a significantly greater amount of time than the remaining 18%.

Your body’s ability to process fats is slowed.  When you sit, your body’s production of lipoprotein lipase (an enzyme essential for breaking down fat) drops by about 90%.  When your body cannot break down fat, it is stored instead.

However, associations between occupational prolonged sitting and health outcomes are not consistently demonstrated. Prospective studies have generally found that occupational prolonged sitting increases the risk of diabetes, for example, but not cancer. Similarly, an analysis found that associations between prolonged sitting and health outcomes are dependent on sex. In addition, the health risks of prolonged sitting have been shown to be independent of leisure-time physical inactivity. 

Working long hours shares similarities with prolonged sitting in terms of health impacts, demonstrating dose-response associations with coronary heart disease and stroke. Thus, one would expect similar, if not worse health consequences for prolonged occupational sitting.

Today (Jan 2024) a brand new study came across my desk and it has a tale to tell. It was a large study—nearly half a million individuals, followed over a dozen years or so. In a nutshell, individuals who predominantly engaged in sitting at work exhibited a higher risk of mortality from all causes (16%) and cardiovascular disease (34%) compared with those who predominantly did not sit. The results were adjusted for sex, age, education, smoking, drinking, and body mass index.³

With more and more people working at home, sitting in front of a computer for hours at a time, we need to take a closer look…

What To Do?

Many of us, I know, spend far too much time at the computer, reading, writing and perhaps watching videos. For some it can be up to 6 hours a day, or more. Can we do something to mitigate the damage caused by endless sitting. You can STAND to work at our computer! Really!

I had a set up years ago, that had my computer at chest height. The keyboard was actually BETTER placed than typically, at a desk workstation—about level with my waist. The screen was opposite my eyes, while standing. I worked, literally, standing up.

It really does engage your whole body, just to stand; not just your legs but arms, spine, pelvis, head and neck. Everything. So it is a subtle form of continuous exercize and it keeps you fit.

I can’t remember what happened to that work station but clearly, it vanished some time ago. I’d almost forgotten about it, till this article. But I do remember the main negative that worried me from the get-go: varicose veins! I don’t have them, thank goodness. But as an MD I do know that people who are on their feet the whole working day are at risk for developing this unpleasant condition.

For example a 2005 Danish study, following 2939 men and 2708 women aged 20–59 years, found the pooled risk was 1.78.⁴ That’s moving towards double.

Don’t Stand All The Time

I’m going to recommend a stand up work station (no commission). Standing desks have been proven to increase brain function, creativity, and productivity. But in view of the previous section, I think it advisable to spend some of your work time standing and some of it sitting.

Courtesy of Ergotron (ergotron.com)

The best standing work stations are those that can be switched to sitting down too, such as lowering the boom and trays.

Ergonomic Kneeling Chair

This is definitely worth consideration. It’s a fine compromise between standing and sitting. It’s kneeling!

You have the comfort of sitting but your body is forced to do far more to keep its posture, because there is no chair back (illustration).

Courtesy of UpliftDesk (upliftdesk.com)

Manufacturers claim lower back pain relief, improved circulation, and more energy with an active sitting solution that encourages proper posture and strengthens muscles. The UpliftDesk Ergonomic Kneeling Chair properly aligns your back, shoulders, and neck, and engages your core so you stay active but comfortable.

The kneeling chair allows you to shift your weight between your butt and your shins to vary your position. Sit on the top seat with your legs tucked back, or sit more traditionally with your feet on the floor and enjoy the rocking motion enabled by the curved bottom rockers.

Simple Ideas

Other ideas include getting up at least every hour and move. Stand, walk around, stretch.  You can even download apps onto your phone to remind you!

Watch your posture. If you must sit, keep your shoulders back, your chin tucked, and your stomach pulled toward your spine in order to keep muscles engaged, bones aligned, and circulation flowing.

Commit to exercising every single day. Go on a walk during lunch.  Plan to attend a fitness class.  

Choose the far parking spot and walk to the store doorway.  Every minute of physical activity counts!

Don’t sit so much.

To Your Good Health, Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby
The Official Alternative Doctor

References:

1. van Uffelen  JGZ, Wong  J, Chau  JY,  et al.  Occupational sitting and health risks: a systematic review. Am J Prev Med. 2010;39(4):379-388.doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2010.05.024
2. Moore  SC, Lee  IM, Weiderpass  E,  et al.  Association of leisure-time physical activity with risk of 26 types of cancer in 1.44 million adults. JAMA Intern Med. 2016;176(6):816-825. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.1548
3. Occupational Sitting Time, Leisure Physical Activity, and All-Cause and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(1):e2350680. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.50680
4. Tüchsen F, Hannerz H, Burr H, Krause N. Prolonged standing at work and hospitalisation due to varicose veins: a 12 year prospective study of the Danish population. Occup Environ Med. 2005 Dec;62(12):847-50. doi: 10.1136/oem.2005.020537. PMID: 16299093; PMCID: PMC1740939

I may do that some day. It would make an engaging booklet for sure. But it triggered me to think: which are the very BEST, most universal plant healers?

That would mean the widest possible use against the most possible conditions.

Here’s my “Awesome Foursome”! Don’t underestimate them.

Nigella Sativa

Nigella sativa, commonly known as black seed or black cumin, is a flowering plant native to South Asia and the Middle East. The seeds of Nigella sativa have been used for centuries in traditional medicine for their therapeutic properties. 

I have some growing in my garden in France.

Nigella has a very pretty flower

The prophet Mohammed is reputed to have said Nigella is the cure for EVERYTHING… except death! The historical figure doesn’t strike me as a comic, so maybe it’s just an apocryphal story. Still, it makes a strong point.

Black seed oil is just as famous as the seed. It is circulated widely. You can buy it on Amazon.

In recent years, scientific research has provided substantial evidence supporting various health benefits associated with black seed. Due to its almost miraculous power of healing, N. sativa has got the place among the top ranked evidence-based herbal medicines.

Macroscopically, seeds are small dicotyledonous, trigonus, angular, regulose-tubercular… Haha! I put that in as a joke. You don’t need all that crap! Let’s just say the seeds are tiny and will stick between your teeth, for sure.

Black seed contains several active compounds, of which thymoquinone is paramount. These compounds can inhibit inflammatory pathways and reduce the production of inflammatory cytokines. As chronic inflammation is linked to various diseases, including heart disease and cancer, black seed’s anti-inflammatory effects may contribute to overall health.

Black seed is rich in antioxidants that help combat oxidative stress and free radicals in the body. Once again, thymoquinone is a biggie but there are other phenolic compounds, which may protect cells and tissues from damage caused by oxidative stress, potentially reducing the risk of chronic diseases.

Research suggests that black seed may support the immune system. It can enhance the production and activity of immune cells, such as natural killer cells and T lymphocytes, which play a crucial role in defending the body against infections. Killer cells are our main defense against cancer. They track down malformed cells and destroy them ruthlessly.

It’s a good antifungal and an anti-parasitic. What’s not to love?

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3642442/]

Part from the above it protects your liver and kidneys. Several studies have indicated that black seed may have positive effects on cardiovascular health. It can help lower blood pressure, improve lipid profiles by reducing LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, and enhance the function of blood vessels. These effects contribute to a reduced risk of heart disease.

It helps with blood sugar management so can be a boon, used properly, against type 2 diabetes. Research suggests that it can improve insulin sensitivity, reduce fasting blood glucose levels, and decrease HbA1c levels.

It may help alleviate symptoms of conditions like indigestion, bloating, and gas. Some studies suggest that it may also protect the gastrointestinal lining from damage caused by toxins and pathogens.

Topical application of black seed oil has been studied for its potential benefits in treating skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis. Its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties may help soothe irritated skin and reduce symptoms.

(you swallow it, don’t rub it on the skin).

Aloe Vera

The name Aloe vera derives from the Arabic word “Alloeh” meaning “shining bitter substance,” while “vera” in Latin means “true.” 2000 years ago, the Greek scientists regarded Aloe vera as a great cure-all.

I love Aloe vera, often referred to as the “plant of immortality.” It is a cactus-like  succulent plant that has been used for centuries for its medicinal and therapeutic properties. It is native to North Africa but is now cultivated worldwide for its various health benefits. It’s easy to grow. You can raise it in pots on the window sill. Then if you burn yourself, or have a rash, just break off a ”leaf”, which will ooze healing juice, and rub it in.

In fact, Aloe is renowned for its beneficial effects on the skin. Scientific studies have shown that aloe vera gel possesses anti-inflammatory, moisturizing, and wound-healing properties. It is commonly used to treat sunburns, minor burns, and skin irritations. Aloe vera gel can accelerate the healing process of wounds and reduce inflammation when applied topically.

Magic!

It’s even a kind of cosmetic: Aloe vera gel is a natural “moisturizer”. Research has demonstrated its ability to increase skin hydration and improve skin barrier function. It is often used in cosmetic products such as creams, lotions, and moisturizers to help keep the skin hydrated and supple.

Aloe gel that is rich in vitamins A, C, E, and B12,as well as various healthy polyphenols. If you grow it yourself and want to take it orally, place the cut side down in a bowl and leave it for about 15 minutes to allow the yellow aloe vera latex to drain out and discard it. The latex has laxative properties and may not suit everybody

Aloe vera juice is consumed for its potential digestive health benefits. Some studies have shown that aloe vera can help alleviate symptoms of conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and acid reflux. 

Aloe vera has been investigated for its potential benefits in oral hygiene. Some toothpaste and mouthwash products contain aloe vera due to its antimicrobial properties, which can help fight harmful bacteria in the mouth and contribute to better oral health.

Finally, Aloe makes a beautiful decorative plant on a side table!

Berberine

Berberine is a real biggie. It is not a plant as such, but is a substance found in several herbal plants, notably Berberis species, goldenseal, and Chinese goldthread. It has a long history of use in traditional medicine systems such as Ayurveda and TCM (traditional Chinese medicine). Over the years, scientific research has provided a huge amount of evidence supporting various health benefits associated with berberine. 

One of the most well-documented benefits of berberine is its ability to help regulate blood sugar levels. Numerous studies have shown that berberine can be effective in improving insulin sensitivity and reducing insulin resistance. It may also lower fasting blood glucose levels, making it a potential adjunctive therapy for individuals with type 2 diabetes.

It has also been found to have a positive impact on lipid metabolism. Research indicates that it can lower total cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL cholesterol levels while increasing HDL cholesterol levels. These effects contribute to improved cardiovascular health and a reduced risk of heart disease.

Some studies suggest that berberine may aid in weight management and obesity prevention. Berberine’s ability to regulate blood sugar levels may also help control appetite and reduce cravings, making it a potential tool for weight loss.

Berberine exhibits potent antimicrobial properties, and it has been extensively studied for its ability to combat various pathogens, including bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites. It may be used as a natural alternative to antibiotics in some cases. 

In addition to that, berberine possesses powerful anti-inflammatory properties. It can inhibit the activity of pro-inflammatory molecules and pathways, which may be beneficial in conditions characterized by chronic inflammation, such as inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

Berberine can influence the composition of the gut microbiota, promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria and inhibiting harmful pathogens. 

Berberine’s ability to improve lipid profiles, regulate blood pressure, and reduce inflammation contributes to its positive effects on cardiovascular health. Studies have suggested that berberine may help reduce the risk of heart disease and protect against atherosclerosis.

There’s more to this amazing substance but I think you are already impressed.

I myself (Dr Keith’s Own) sell a version of this remedy as Super Berberine. Check it out if you are interested:

GET YOUR SUPER BERBERINE HERE.

Curcumin

Curcumin is a bioactive compound found in turmeric, a bright yellow spice commonly used in Indian cuisine and traditional medicine. Over the years, curcumin has gained widespread attention for its potential health benefits, and numerous scientific studies have explored its various properties. 

Personally, I get lots of it in curries… Yum!

Turmeric powder, which is rich in curcumin

Curcumin is well-known for its potent anti-inflammatory effects. It inhibits the activity of inflammatory molecules and pathways in the body. Chronic inflammation is linked to various diseases, including heart disease, cancer, and neurodegenerative conditions. Curcumin’s anti-inflammatory properties may help reduce the risk of these diseases and alleviate symptoms in inflammatory disorders.

Curcumin is a powerful antioxidant that helps neutralize harmful free radicals in the body. Free radicals, as you know, can cause oxidative damage to cells and DNA, leading to aging and various diseases. Curcumin’s antioxidant activity may protect cells from oxidative stress and reduce the risk of chronic diseases associated with oxidative damage.

Curcumin has demonstrated analgesic (pain-relieving) properties. Studies suggest that it may be effective in reducing pain and inflammation in conditions like osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Some individuals use curcumin supplements as a natural alternative to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for pain management.

You can give it a try.

Curcumin may benefit digestive health in several ways. It can help stimulate bile production, aiding in digestion and the breakdown of dietary fats. Additionally, curcumin’s anti-inflammatory properties may soothe the digestive tract and help alleviate symptoms of conditions like irritable bowel syndrome. Yes, soothing curry! Haha!

Research suggests that curcumin may support cardiovascular health by improving several risk factors for heart disease. It may help lower bad LDL cholesterol levels, reduce blood pressure, and enhance the function of the endothelium, the lining of blood vessels.(that’s where fatal clotting events often occur)

And finally, this is what’s of great interest to us Boomers: curcumin has shown promise in supporting brain health. It may enhance cognitive function and protect against age-related cognitive decline. Some studies have also investigated its potential in reducing the risk of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, although obviously more research is needed in this area.

Emerging research has explored the potential of curcumin in managing symptoms of depression. It may have a positive impact on mood and mental well-being by modulating neurotransmitters and reducing inflammation in the brain. Jolly good!

Well, that’s a LOT for one newsletter. But this is my “Awesome Foursome!” Engage with them, learn their properties and how to handle them. I’m sure there will come a day when you will be glad you did!

To your wonderful health and may Mother Nature bless you.Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby
The Official Alternative Doctor