Dr. Arturo M. Volpe

A survey published in the Journal of Internal Medicine (Jul 2001;16:451-459) reveals that most physicians are dissatisfied with various aspects of their work, including professional autonomy, leisure time available, time available with individual patients and income. When compared with a similar survey performed in 1986, these results show a sharp decline in job satisfaction among MDís.

In my work there is a great deal of job satisfaction, even though leisure time is clearly a problem. More and more MDís are making the switch to nutritional medicine because it gives them the tools to help people regain their health rather than just controlling their symptoms.

Tags: Health, Physicians and their Work
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It has been my consistent experience that allergies to common foods – including milk, wheat and eggs – explain the vast majority of migraines. Certain studies were done once and, even though the results were remarkable, they were never repeated – probably for lack of funding. In an older but still valuable study (Lancet, 1979;966-969) 60 migraine sufferers were placed on a strict elimination diet and 85% became migraine-free. Elimination diets are short-term eating plans that require complete avoidance of foods that are most likely to cause a reaction.

When study participants re-introduced the eliminated foods, the most common causes of their migraines were found to be wheat, oranges and eggs. Incidentally, 25% of the participants to the study also happened to have high blood pressure, and in each participant the blood pressure also normalized when they eliminated the foods to which they were allergic.

Tags: Food Allergies
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It had been known for some time that fish oils help prevent heart disease. More recently a new class of cholesterol-lowering “statin” drugs were also shown to help prevent heart disease. However, these two products were never compared. A recent review article published in the Archives of Internal Medicine (Oct. 2001;161(18):2185-92) looked at a number of existing clinical trials on fish oil and concluded that they “demonstrated reductions in risk that compare favorably with those seen in landmark secondary prevention trials with lipid-lowering drugs.”

The article proposes that fish oils may work by preventing arrhythmias, lowering blood lipids and preventing clot formation.

Tags: Fish Oil
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