Organico Bantry

Well, from our years of both taking and recommending various vitamin and mineral supplements, we would, as Healthfood Shop owners, say ”No”. And certainly not under normal circumstances. Water, salt, aspirin, the sun… all these can kill, if you drink/eat/swallow/bathe too much. If a person attempted to live on vitamins alone, they would not live very long. That is why all vitamin supplements carry a warning that they are not to be used in place of a varied diet. But when they are used as ‘’supplements”, which they are sold as, and taken in the correct dosage, there is no risk to human life.

Recent news coverage would suggest otherwise. The most recent controversy surrounds a recent “study” led by Serbian scientist and “visiting researcher” at Copenhagen University Hospital, Goran Bjelakovic. His name is now synonymous with vitamin meta-analyses (studies of other studies) which appear to show that vitamin supplements either don’t work or end up increasing your risk of death. Two recent bursts of negative international headlines on vitamins supplements (1 October 2004 and 28 February 2007) followed releases of previous research papers (see asterisked articles in Reference list below).

So how did the researchers come to their conclusion, which was that anti-oxidents increase the risk of heart attacks? how did the Cochrane Library arrive at such a conclusion? According to http://www.laleva.org ”it’s easy: The researchers considered 452 studies on these vitamins, and they threw out the 405 studies where nobody died! That left just 47 studies where subjects died from various causes (one study was conducted on terminal heart patients, for example). From this hand-picked selection of studies, these researchers concluded that antioxidants increase mortality ”.

How does this kind of ‘’science” make it to the front pages, one might ask? 

In the UK there is a groups called The Alliance for Natural Health. Their response to this study can be found on their home page.

I have taken several points of interest from their argument:

1. This is not a new study - it is a rehash of the very same data sets that led to the previous negative studies – and these methodologies tell us nothing about the way in which high quality combinations of nutrient supplements work. This is a re-analysis of studies that have been conducted and reported on previously, by a man at a computer. In this case a group of men with a known axe to grind, who have never produced a study favourable to supplements, which is itself statistically unlikely unless you have a bias.  
 
2. This isn’t meaningful. When you select or reject studies on criteria that only mean something to statisticians, and ignore important things like duration, how long the study ran for — which ranged from 28 days to 14 years — your findings are immediately meaningless. Even the huge difference in dose of supplements between different studies — Vitamin E ranging from 10 to 5000 units daily, for instance — they didn’t deem important.  

3. These studies apply only to synthetic forms of vitamins (as produced by the pharmaceutical industry). The authors of this latest Cochrane review state: “The present review does not assess antioxidant supplements for treatment of specific diseases (tertiary prevention), antioxidant supplements for patients with demonstrated specific needs of antioxidants, or the effects of antioxidants contained in fruits or vegetables.” This shows that the study has no relevance to natural sources of vitamins and minerals or antioxidants sourced from plants (e.g. flavanoids, anthocyanins, sulforaphanes,  salvestrols/resveratrol, etc.), which are included in many of the leading-edge natural health supplements claiming potent antioxidant activity.

As the ANH states, it has to be asked what the Cochrane Collaboration is doing, allowing, endorsing and indeed promoting unscientific, invalid rehashes such as this. Cochrane were supposed to be the only guys you really could trust.

REFERENCES (from the ANH Article):
 
**Bjelakovic G, Nikolova D, Gluud LL, Simonetti RG, Gluud C. Mortality in randomized trials of antioxidant supplements for primary and secondary prevention: systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA. 2007 Feb 28; 297(8):842-57. Review. 
 
Bjelakovic G, Nagorni A, Nikolova D, Simonetti RG, Bjelakovic M, Gluud C. Meta-analysis: antioxidant supplements for primary and secondary prevention of colorectal adenoma. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2006 Jul 15;24(2):281-91. Review.
 
Bjelakovic G, Nikolova D, Simonetti RG, Gluud C. Antioxidant supplements for preventing gastrointestinal cancers. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004 Oct 18;(4):CD004183. Review.
 
*Bjelakovic G, Nikolova D, Simonetti RG, Gluud C. Antioxidant supplements for prevention of gastrointestinal cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet. 2004 Oct 2-8;364(9441):1219-28. Review.

** Paper on which latest Cochrane review is based; negative findings created wide media interest
 
* Paper which created extensive media interest and formed basis of Cochrane review published in the same month.

Please leave your responses below and I will publish them. Hannah Dare.

The following text is a summary of a letter circulated by my colleagues in the Irish Association of Healthfood Stores. It was written by an Osteopath called Mardi Jameson in the Brixton Center in London. I feel that this information should be made available to more than our mailing list. I first published it a couple of months ago, and the responses I recieved are very interesting. Please see the bottom of the article. I have published every response rreceived regardless of what sentiment they expressed.

Dear Friend /Colleague,

You may not be aware that last week the controllers of BBC Health www.bbc.co.uk, one of the most accessed health websites in the world, decided to remove all coverage of complementary medicine!

They used to have substantial coverage with over 40 pages on this subject covering all the major therapies, their pros and cons, evidence for their effectiveness, how to find a qualified practitioner, etc. However the site has in recent months been targeted by the self-appointed ‘Quackbusters’, (scientists and medics vehemently opposed to complementary therapies such as Prof David Colquhon et al) who sent a deluge of letters and emails claiming that complementary therapies such as homeopathy and cranial osteopathy were ‘unscientific’ and should be removed. As a result large chunks of this part of the site were simply removed overnight and now, following recent cutbacks, it was decided that, rather than update this part of the site, it should simply be removed altogether!

It may seem incredible that a public service site this prominent can deem complementary medicine so insignificant that it no longer warrants any coverage other than the odd news story. This is despite the fact that complementary medicine is used favourably by a significant proportion of the population (recent surveys have estimated that around 1 in 5 Britons use it at some point or other) and that increasing numbers of people are now seeking to train in these therapies. However, as the ‘quack busters’ become more organised and active, evidence of the backlash against complementary medicine is appearing all over the place - such as the removal of NHS Trust funding for homeopathy, the threatened closure of the homeopathic hospitals, many negative news stories in the press and so on. Rather than taking a reasoned view and considering the evidence from good research studies on complementary medicine these individuals seem simply hell bent on trying to ’stamp out’ complementary medicine in any way possible. The BBC removal of complementary medicine coverage (which has been in place for almost 15 years!) is one example.

If you care about complementary medicine and believe information pages on it should be returned to BBCi, please, please take just a minute to express your views using their online comment form at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/feedback/ to make your view known. As a public service company they to listen to your views so your email will make a difference. Apparently for all the many letters and emails that they received that were against complementary medicine they only received a handful in support…

Therefore if you are in support please let them know so they may revise their thinking on this subject.

Please act as soon as possible and pass on these details to anyone else you know who may also be willing to write in support of complementary medicine.

Thank you.

Blogged by Hannah Dare

Bantry Fair Trade group in support of fair trade fortnight is showing the documentary Black Gold on Thursday the 28th of Febuary in the Cinemax. Black Gold is a film by Nick and Marc Francis that highlights the plight of Ethiopian Coffee growers. The wedsite states: ‘As westerners revel in designer lattes and cappuccinos, impoverished Ethiopian coffee growers suffer the bitter taste of injustice. In this eye-opening expose of the multi-billion dollar industry, Black Gold traces one man’s fight for a fair price’.

For more information please look at http://www.blackgoldmovie.com

Clouds West Cork

The current exhibition in Organico Cafe is work by Anne Marie Mcinerney from Skibbereen, West Cork. Anne Maire’s work has a wide range of influences, from the wild seas and wide skies of West Cork to drousy Italian vinyards. Anne Marie studied fine art in the Crawford College of Art and Design in Cork and then went on to Belfast to do a Post Graduate Diploma in Fine Art. This exhibition is titled ‘Skyscapes’. The canvasses are large, striking and well worth a viewing!

Come and view Anne Marie’s work in Organico Cafe during Febuary 2008 (we’re going to keep in for some of March if we can - we’re enjoying it that much!)

Organico shop now has organic certification? Yes, it’s true - shops now need to be certified by an official certification body. If we want to sell loose organic vegetables, that is. And don’t want to be taken to court by the Department of Agriculture. Or don’t want to sell our lovely organic veg in plastic packaging, which is the only alternative to certification.

In Organico we sell lots of organic fruit and veg loose, which we buy from certified organic suppliers. And we are very careful about how we source our fruit and veg, because we feel passionately that fresh organic fruit and veg should be affordable and available to everyone. And we use it in our cafe too, so we would want to be getting the best quality. But until this summer we had no idea that we were technically ‘breaking’ Irish law.

Becoming certified (we chose to join the Irish Organic Trust) was actually very easy, because we were already doing most of the things they want us to do. To keep our certificate we need to do a bit of paper work and we need to keep in good contact with the Organic Trust. And they will visit us every year, and next year we hope to obtain Organic Certification for our Bakery.

All this is good - we are very happy to be working with the Trust and to be improving our service to our customers. What I think is very wrong is that many shops would be very put off by the way the Inspectors from the Department came in to our shop and started telling us how ‘bad’ we were. When actually, we were only breaking the letter of the law, and their job is to inform us of the law, which they had never done. And their attitude was such that we felt harassed, when their job should be supporting retailers selling organic produce, not terrifying them so much that they give up, or even worse, start to sell their vegetables in plastic packages like supermarkets do.

If you want more information on this topic, or if you have a shop and want to become a certified organic retailer of fruit and veg like Organico, please contact me (Hannah Dare) at info@organico.ie or the Organic Trust, and beware of the Department of Agriculture Inspectors!

This is very important -please sign this petition. If the Eu are allowed to ‘harmonise’ our supplements we will lose vitamins such as vitamin C for no good reason! Do you know anybody who has suffered from taking vitamins? How many people who have benefited? If you feel strongly that you and your families should be allowed to continue taking vitamin C and B Complex and calcium without needing to get a prescription, please visit

http://irishhealthstores.com/

and sign the petition you find there. Please pass this on to anyone you think might be interested. If you live in the UK, please visit:

http://www.consumersforhealthchoice.com

Organico Cafe is delighted to host the Festival Club (18.00 - 21.00)

Entry is free - come along and enjoy a glass of wine and a bite to eat while you enjoy some great literary company. Events scheduled include a Read Dating Game, impromptu sessions, music and a very exciting line up of Guest Authors…

See you here!

Organico Cafe - 3 Glengarriff Road Bantry

Jan de Vries visited Organico recently and gave 53 of our lucky customers a free consultation. Jan is one of the world’s foremost natropath’s and it was amazing to have him visit Bantry. His insight into health, nutrition and herbal medicine is humbling.

Organico Bantry was chosen by Herbal Company A. Vogel to be a ‘Specialist Store’, thanks to the high level of training our staff have received and the variety of herbal products we stock.

We were delighted to receive this accolade and were even more delighted when they announced the Jan de Vries would be visiting us and would be giving a talk on health to our customers. Jan has an incredible reputation as a healer and is the author of over 30 books on health care. The visit is taking place on Tuesday the 29th of May in the morning between 9.30 and 11.30, and the talk is on the Monday night in the Celtic Ross Hotel in Rosscarbery, starting at 7pm.

For information on alternative health call in to Organico and talk to one of our highly trained staff who can advise you.

Organico Shop, Glengarriff Rd., Bantry, Co. Cork, Ireland. Phone +353 (0)27 51391

If you would like to meet Jan de Vries in person, come along to Organico on the morning of Tuesday 29th of May at around 9am. From 9.30 Mr de Vries will be signing books and giving brief health consultations on how to live a healthy life.

We can wholeheartedly recommend coming along to this event as Jan De Vries is one of the most respected Natropaths working today. the fact that he is still working is nothing short of a miracle - he is over 70 and has been practicing as a natropath for 50 years. he has clinics in Dublin, Edinburgh, & Glasgow; and he has published over 30 books on natural healing and healthcare. As a source of inspiration, Jan is unrivaled - don’t miss this opportunity to meet him in person!

If you want to call us on (027) 51391 we can give you more information about the day. We will be dedicating a corner of the shop to Jan’s visit and meeting him will be on a first come basis. There will be chairs if people need to sit down; if you have any books you would like him to sign please bring them along.
Organico Shop (027) 51391 Open Monday - Saturday 9.30 - 6 pm