Lessons from “Trust me, I’m a Doctor” Series 3- 2015

This is Part 3 of my sharing on these useful lessons/summaries.  Here are the links to my other posts for the other parts – Part 1 for Series 1 (2013), Part 2 for Series 2 (2014), the rest will be published soon.

I stumbled upon a few episodes of this BBC series “Trust me, I’m a Doctor” and found all of the findings make good sense, many proves the traditional wisdom on health and fitness. Since healthy living is carefree living, it’s great to find out such are supported by solid scientific evidence via medical research (elaborate tests via drawing bloods, scans, etc at before/after stages) on control volunteer groups through studies over periods of time. The series were so popular that BBC has been running it yearly since 2013- the 2013, 2014 and 2015 series each comprised 3 episodes. in 2016 or Series 4, BBC has 4 episodes in Feb and also in July (Summer Special) 2016. In Hong Kong, TVB Pearl is now (July 2016) showing the Feb 2016 episodes. You can access here to read up the titles of the topics and buy the episodes, OR you can see below the summary lessons.

The BBC ran an excellent third series (July 2015) of three episodes of “Trust Me, I’m a Doctor”. You can dig into all their conclusions here. Here are the 20 take away lessons from it (adapted from Akshat Rathi writeup- see credits at bottom. I’ve enhanced the contents with checks/corrections and elaborations) :

1. Marinating meat in beer (or wine) can help reduce the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons—known to be cancer-causing agents—during barbecuing.
2. Cramps are only caused by exhausted muscles, not because of lack of salt or water. Best way to relieve it is to stretch the muscle that is cramping. To prevent more cramps from happening, try putting a pillow under the muscle, which will gently stretch it.
3. More than one in four health supplements don’t contain what they claim to contain. Don’t think high price indicates high quality. In the UK, look for the THR certification mark -traditional herbal registration (THR) is granted by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for herbal medicines in UK (see current list here).
4. Ear buds don’t remove ear wax. If anything, they make it worse. We should leave ear wax where it is.
5. Rosemary aroma can improve memory by about 10%, because of the way the aromatic chemicals interact with our brain. Lavender smell, on the other hand, can make us feel sleepy.
6. The claims that overweight people may be protected against dementia doesn’t stand up, because researchers used the flawed metric of BMI. The best way to protect against dementia remains getting fit by keeping active and cutting belly fat. Socializing and learning a new skill are definitively helpful.
7. The use of soap, shower gel, and shampoo is best minimized. These “detergents” remove the beneficial oils that our body secretes. Using moisturizers to replace some of these healthy oils is only a cycle of illogicality.
8. To stop snoring: a. avoid alcohol b. lie on your side c. try a nasal strip or a mouth piece. The best solution, however, is a simple set of exercises. Do it 2 mins at a time at least 3 times a day. Roll your tongue on to the top and bottom palate (once each) and hold. Open your mouth as wide as possible and say “AAAAA.”
9. A lot of shoes are too high, too flat and too small. Wearing such shoes affects are posture, putting us at greater risk of osteoarthritis, knee pain and back pain. The solution is to get shoes of the right size, use cushion on heels, and avoid using high heels altogether. Some foot exercises using a tennis or a golf ball to massage the foot or picking marbles with the foot can go a long way to keep your feet healthy.
10. How to stop a hiccup? Try to get your attention on something else (hold lemon wedge in your mouth, drink lots of water slowly, breathe slowly). Try exercising the diaphragm by holding your knee to your chest.
11. How to prevent lyme disease? If you are outdoors, check your body for ticks. If you are bit by a tick, look out for symptoms such as a bad rash, headache, fever, and muscle pain.
12. Fecal transplants work, at least in the case of those with Clostridium difficile infections (treating the intractable bug Clostridium difficile-an emerging epidemic in hospitals and nursing homes causingdiarrhea to life-threatening colon inflammation.). Other uses are under trials, and the initial results seem promising.
13. Could a DNA-test mediated diet help us to lose weight better? Probably not. We just don’t know enough. Trials are on and may tell us more soon.
14. How can you prevent heart disease? Lowering cholesterol, lowering blood pressure, and stop smoking. Try lowering salt intake. Doing exercise. Taking statins works. Aspirin should be used only if you have had a heart disease or stroke.
15. The best way to lowering cholesterol by altering your diet: Cut animal fat (red meat, cheese). Increase fibre (oats, aubergines, nuts). The “portfolio” diet (involves a combination of plant sterols/stanols, almonds, plant fibres and soya protein alongside regular physical activity and a largely vegetarian diet) can work.
16. To reduce cravings, imagine the situation of satisfying your craving (works for chocolates, and other kinds). Your overall consumption should reduce. In the test, the control group who imagined eating 30 chocolates actually subsequently ate much less choc than those who only imagined eating 3!
17. You can lose warts with duct tape. Stick it on, keep it for six days. When you remove it, try rid yourself of the dead cells. Repeat three or four times.
18. For cooking and frying, use oil with more monounsaturated than polyunsaturates. So olive oil, groundnut oil and rapeseed oil. But not sunflower oil, corn oil and vegetable oil.
19. Don’t waste your money on Manuka honey. There is no evidence that it is beneficial.
20. Non-organic food in the UK contains only trace levels of pesticide and thus are no more harmful than organic food. And surprisingly frozen food can be as good as fresh food.

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor nor trained in any medical field. I’m an engineer and I choose to believe in sound scientific evidence. What I’ve shared here are extracted/copied from below.

Credits: to Akshat Rathi and this link.