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Our weekly health expert panel

Carmel Thomason
29/ 1/2007

EACH week our panel of experts look into your health problems and this week they unveil the hidden health secrets of cabbages and how to treat asthma, using acupuncture.

THE DENTIST

Phil Broughton award-winning dentist and founder of The Mall Dental Care clinic in Manchester city centre.

Q: I am a woman in my early fifties with a number of amalgam mercury fillings and I am concerned about their long-term effects. Can you tell me if I should stick with the amalgam fillings currently causing me no problems or have them replaced?

Phil says:

Many dentists would share your concerns. Health issues that are associated with mercury have been well documented, both for and against its use in dental amalgam.

However, the view of the British Dental Association is that amalgam is safe, though we are advised to avoid it's use when treating pregnant women and children.

But it is a good idea to be informed and seek out expert advice.

Dr Philip Wander, Chairman of the British Dental Homeopathic Association informs me that there is some controversy surrounding amalgam fillings and your general health, revealing some evidence regarding mercury and the immune system.

Dr. Wander also says that amalgam is not permitted for use in certain European countries including Germany and Sweden.

Look into it

But don't worry! Tests can be carried out to see if your amalgam fillings are a problem for you.

Remember, dental amalgam has long been a prime feature of UK dentistry because of it's relatively easy and forgiving restorative usage for replacing damaged tooth structures.

One alternative, composites - tooth coloured fillings, are very technique sensitive, and as such can be prone to failure. If the material is manipulated with respect, then composite fillings can last 15 years or more.

THE ACUPUNCTURIST

Dr. Dapeng Zhang is a doctor of Chinese Medicine, based at Dr & Herbs, Manchester Arndale.

Q: I have been suffering from asthma for a few years, is it treatable with acupuncture?

Dr Dapeng says:

In terms of traditional Chinese medicine, asthma can be divided into cold type, heat type and deficiency type.

The main symptoms and sign of cold type asthma are: a feeling of fullness and distress in the chest, dyspnea with a wheezing sound in the throat, coughing with thin sputum, and frequent attacks in cold season or caused by cold, whitish, moist and glossy fur on tongue, taut and tight pulse.

The treatment principle is to ventilate the lungs and expel pathogenic cold, and eliminate phlegm to relieve the asthma.

The main symptoms and signs of the heat type asthma are: Dyspnea with wheezing, irritable, oppressed sensation in the chest, even gasping for breath.

Symptoms

Yellowish mucoid sputum, thirst, frequent occurrence in hot season or onset closely associated with heat, reddened tongue, with yellow greasy fur, slippery and rapid pulse.

The treatment principle is based on removing heat phlegm and facilitating the flow of Lung-Qi to relieve asthma.

The main symptom and signs of deficiency type asthma are: chronic and recurrent attacks for a long time, contact minor and persistent asthma at ordinary times, the sound of cough being low and weak, palpitations and shortness of breath, spontaneous perspiration and aversion to wind, general debility, pale tongue with a little fur, deep thready and weak pulse. The treatment principle is tonifying the lungs and spleen and improving inspiration to relieve the asthma.

Although there are different types of asthma, my clinical experience shows that main types of asthma occur differently in China compared to Britain.

Rich food

There is more heat type asthma in Britain, due to the different geographical conditions and different lifestyles.

In Britain, most asthmatics suffer because of high pollen, lack of fresh air, eating and drinking too much high energy, high heat and rich food. This causes excessive heat in the lungs.

The lungs fail to be moist, the patient feels short of breath leading to tightness in the chest, general hot feeling with dry mouth with red tongue and lips. It is usually accompanied by eczema and hay fever.

In the term of traditional Chinese medicine, it is usually due to exogenous pathogenic factors, improper diet and improper caring after illness, leading to retention of endogenous phlegm in the lung.

Recurring condition

The latent phlegm is easy to be provoked by climatic changes, diet, emotional changes and over strain, leading to ascendance of the phlegm with Qi that obstructs the trachea and cause asthma.

Recurrent asthma will result in simultaneous asthenia of the lung, spleen and kidney, or even involve the heart and bring about critical condition.

Acupuncture can strengthen lung, spleen and kidney function; to get rid of the retention of the fluid in the lung, to clear and dissolve the stagnation of the phlegm-heat and to improve immunity function.

Herbal medicine and balanced diet is also necessary, especially, to stop eating chocolate, cheese, milk, chips and crisps and eat more pears, radishes and other fruits and vegetables.

THE NURSE

Gillian Fox, health care manager for Acumen Medical Services and health advisor to Medi-Lab.

Q: Both my father and uncle died of a heart attack before they where 50, should I have my cholesterol level checked?

Gillian says:

There are many factors that increase an individuals risk of developing coronary artery disease - family history is one, this is predicted to affect one in 500 of the population, autosomal dominant familial hypercholesterolaemia (there is a 50% risk to all children of an affected parent).

This results from an altered gene that is involved in the removal of LDL cholesterol.

It is important with your family history to have your cholesterol levels checked along with other at risk family members.

Check up

Identifying this condition early allows for lifestyle modification i.e low fat diet, exercise, smoking cessation, and if necessary drug treatment plus regular check ups and avoids the high risk of heart problems and strokes.

A lipid profile will measure your total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol (which is a bad type of cholesterol/ and HDL cholesterol, which is a good type of cholesterol.

In people with familial hypercholesterolaemia the fat is removed at a much slower rate so you get high levels of LDL cholesterol.

It is the proportion of LDL cholesterol to HDL cholesterol that influences the cardiovascular risk.

THE OSTEOPATH

Coby Langford runs Soothe osteopathic clinic in Manchester City Centre.

Q. I SUFFER with osteoarthritis and in the winter my knees hurt a lot. Is there anything I can do to help ease the pain?

Coby says:

A really effective technique that many of my patients swear by for osteoarthritis is a cabbage poultice. The cabbage has anti-inflamatory properties that reduce the inflammation in the joint.

Take a dark green leafy cabbage leaf (curly kale or savoy is good) and scour or bruise it. Place it directly on the skin over the joint and cover it up with a crepe bandage.

To increase the effectiveness you can place a warm wet cloth over the leaf before putting the bandage on. Cover it with cling film to keep the water in.

Leave the poutice on your knee over night. When you wake you should find the swelling and pain much reduced. As well as having anti-inflammatory properties, the cabbage is also said to draw toxins out of the joint.

A cabbage poultice is also known as a 'chlorophyll plaster'- the magic of nature!

Anti-inflammatory drink

There is a product called barley grass, that I recommend to arthritis sufferers. It comes as a powder, You place just ' a teaspoon of dried Barley grass in juice or water each day.

Drinking this has an all-over body anti-inflammatory effect and can help ease the pain of inflammation in all your joints. You can buy barley grass from Ru Health.

If you've got a question for one of our experts write to them c/o Carmel Thomason, Features, Manchester Evening News, 1 Scott Place, Manchester, M3 3RN.

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