EiR Blog

Hypothyroidism (low thyroid function) is something that those suffering from environmental illnesses often struggle with. Poor thyroid function has been linked to many of then illnesses covered on this site and is often the hidden cause of a host of chronic symptoms including fatigue, poor cognitive function, low mood, low sex drive, cold intolerance, weight gain or inability to lose weight...and many others. Assuming you have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism (not easy in itself), unless the cause is obvious such as a tumour or autoimmune disease and is detectable using routine tests, chances are you will simply be given a prescription for thyroxine (the main hormone produced by the thyroid gland and also referred to as 'T4') and have your blood levels monitored, along with levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) - a pituitary hormone that stimulates production of T4 by the thyroid gland. Unfortunately many patients find that T4...

Last week I blogged about how the two phases of liver detoxification can get out of balance due to chronic exposure to toxins, for example, and how this can impact on a person's health. As discussed, the most common problem is that phase 1 speeds up and phase 2 cannot keep up - someone in this situation is known as a pathological detoxifier because of their increased risk for symptoms and disease. The previous blogs with more detailed information can be found at: Pathological Detoxifiers and Environmental Illness Detoxification Profile Results - The Pathological Detoxifier and Chronic Illness   Now I want to take a look at foods and supplements that pathological detoxifiers can use to balance their liver detoxification pathways and improve their health. Essentially what we want to do is slow down phase 1 while speeding up phase 2. There are many foods and supplements that can help. One...

This week a major review of scientific research into whether certain antioxidant supplements improve health and extend life caused another debate on the usefullness and safety of nutritional supplements to erupt.

Scientists at Copenhagen University, Denmark, who are part of the respected Cochrane Collaboration looked at 67 studies on beta-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and selenium