Dr. W. Gifford-Jones

LATEST STORIES BY DR. W. GIFFORD-JONES

GIFFORD-JONES: How a sore throat, scratched knee can kill you

A book called, The Microbe Hunters, thrilled me as a boy. It explained how bacterial diseases were responsible for killing millions of people in the past — and how years later antibiotics saved them. But even so, the World Health Organization (WHO) still warns that a sore throat or a scratched knee could kill us. The best defence is a strong immune system.

August 10, 2019 Diet & Fitness

GIFFORD-JONES: Is North American diet a recipe for blindness?

How often have we been warned, we are what we eat? A book by Dr. Chris Knobbe, Ancestral Dietary Strategy to Prevent and Treat Macular Degeneration , is an eye-opener. Knobbe claims doctors have been taught for years that macular degeneration “MD” which destroys the macular, a tiny spot on the retina responsible for central vision) is due to aging and genetics but it’s an absolute untruth. Rather, he claims the leading cause of blindness in North America is actually due to the garbage we’re eating.

August 3, 2019 Diet & Fitness

GIFFORD-JONES: The hypocrisy of pain control

Why is it that patients in severe pain from serious diseases are being denied painkillers?

July 27, 2019 Diet & Fitness

GIFFORD-JONES: A talking scale to fight obesity

Are readers tired of me telling them that they should step on the scale every day? No one has said, “enough is enough!” Besides, tons of readers evidently ignore my advice. Since the obesity epidemic gets worse year after year, is there any other way to convince readers that obesity causes Type 2 diabetes, heart attack and strokes? This week, here’s another idea to prevent these tragedies.

July 20, 2019 Diet & Fitness

DR. GIFFORD JONES: Is there such a thing as sensible sun exposure?

In their book, Embrace the Sun, Drs. William Grant and Marc Sorenson, experts on vitamin D, report that North Americans have been taught to believe excessive amounts of sun can cause potentially fatal skin malignancies. The result? North Americans have developed sun phobia and spent billions of dollars on sunscreen protection. But does the sun trigger melanomas?

July 13, 2019 Diet & Fitness

GIFFORD-JONES: The pill epidemic

Barnum and Bailey, the circus promoters, were right when saying, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Or, as Dr. William Osler, professor of medicine at McGill and Johns Hopkins University, would add, “the one thing that separates man from animals is man’s desire to take pills.” Now, a report from the University of California sites data from the Centers of Disease Control indicating this obsession with pills sends more than one million people to hospital emergency departments every year due to adverse drug reactions.

July 6, 2019 Diet & Fitness

GIFFORD-JONES: What do air ducts have to do with your health?

Do you have dirty ducts? When did you last look? And while regular cleaning of your ducts may be important for your homeowners insurance policy, what might your ducts have to do with your health?

June 29, 2019 Diet & Fitness

GIFFORD-JONES: Believing in myths can be bad for your heart

George Orwell, the English journalist, once wrote, “Myths that are believed in tend to become true.” Today cardiovascular disease is still the number one killer. Yet there are still myths about this disease which can be dangerous to your health and longevity.

June 22, 2019 Diet & Fitness

GIFFORD-JONES: What you should know about low intensity light therapy

Years ago I nearly made a bad decision. I was asked to attend a pain conference and initially declined. The meeting was about treating pain and other medical problems with low intensity light therapy (LILT). I thought it resembled old-fashioned snake oil. But then I noticed the speaker’s credentials and decided to attend. Now for the last 15 years, I’ve seen how this natural remedy is able to treat a variety of acute and chronic conditions.

June 15, 2019 Diet & Fitness

The good doctor using a ow intensity light therapy (LILT) on his wrist.

GIFFORD-JONES: Louis Pasteur's grave a reminder of great medical discoveries

Today, we face a recurrence of measles because some parents have refused to have their children vaccinated. This error reminded me of a time several years ago when I interviewed professor Etienne-Emile Baulieu, a researcher at the famous Pasteur Institute in Paris, on the works of the renowned Louis Pasteur. Today, parents and children should be grateful for the discoveries of this great scientist.

June 8, 2019 Diet & Fitness

An undated portrait of French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur. (AFP/Getty Images)