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Letter from the Editor,
D.I. Minkoff, MD
Dear Reader,
I don't know about you, but everywhere I look I am inundated with
information about health. At every turn, there are billboards, radio,
television, email: "Do this, do that, don't do this, don't do that,
this is good for you, this is bad for you..."
Feeling confused?
Absolutely.
So why The Optimum
Health Report?
Is this just another one?
No. No. No.
Here's why. In my 30 years as a Board Certified Medical Doctor, I
have searched into many ideas and therapies, have read thousands of
books and read countless newsletters about the human body and health
with one agenda: What will make my patients better faster so they can
enjoy optimum health? So I am always keeping my eye on "What really
works?"
"What is true?"
When I started Medical School, one of my favorite Professors said
to the class, "Medical knowledge is advancing very fast. Information
doubles every few years. There is a lot to know and absorb. But there
is a shortcoming I think you should know about. Of all you learn about
in the next four years, only half of it is actually true. The real
problem is, we don't know which half!"
What?????? Are you kidding?
Unfortunately, he was being truthful.
When I look back at what I was taught in the early 70's, much of what
I learned is very unacceptable today. For example, I remember my dad's
final instructions from the hospital after his heart attack in 1970, "Margarine
and Crisco are good fats for you, stay away from butter." See what
I mean?
Wrong half.
False information abounds. Its cost in human life and suffering is
immeasurable. Half (or more) of what you are told about health today
is not true. Accepting and acting on untrue data is not good for one's
future.
The trillion dollar question in this sea of confusion of medical information,
is what are the TRUE facts about the body, health and wellness that
one needs to know, and that will still be true in 25 years? If one
knew that, he could be wiser and not fall into the pitfalls of every
hair-brained idea that comes down Madison Avenue or that make the medical
news page of the New York Times. Like why would a thirty-something
year old baseball hero need Viagra? Isn't he embarrassed to admit that
to a World Series TV audience of millions?
A good friend of mine sent me a quote not too long ago that sheds
a lot of light on this whole area.
"News is what someone wants to suppress. Everything else is advertising."
Rubin Frank--former President, NBC News
Is this true that most medical "news" is advertising? Is the real
news suppressed? Is there another agenda from the person presenting
you the information?
This would be good to know.
In The Optimum Health Report? I will give you my best shot at discerning
what is "news" and what is advertising. Something is true because it
is workable. It is an accurate observation of the physical universe.
It has survival value because it can enable you to act and predict
the consequences. Thus, it can guide behavior and allow you make correct
choices.
For me this is a partnership and your feedback is important. So please
let me know how we are doing. My goal is that you become a savvy evaluator
of health information so that you can find the truths that are workable
for you and your loved ones.
One very important idea, that has been around medicine for a long
time is from the Father of Medicine, Hippocrates. Primere non nocere. Above
all do no harm. This oath is taken by every graduating physician. I
always thought it interesting that back more than 2000 years ago a
leading doctor was exhorting his students to "do no harm," as his first
guiding principle. Even back then, the amount of false information
purveyed as medical truth must have been a problem and the well-intentioned
physician could cause harm because he didn't have the correct data
to act upon.
To do the right action, one must know what is the right action to
do. This is the purpose of science and discovery. Figure out what is
true and workable.
But our country's health care has obviously missed a few turns on
this road to end up in our current state of over-drugged, obese, chronically
ill, diabetic, hypertensive, heart and stroke prone, arthritic, and
impotent. It's not an accident. It's false data applied well. Hippocrates
might well look at this scene and comment, "Gee, I never could have
dreamed it would come to this!"
This is not an attack on any of the real truths of modern medicine.
Obviously, in the middle of a heart attack, modern medicine can
be life-saving and is good medicine. That's true data applied well.
On the other hand, giving a 6-year-old amphetamines for "ADHD" is
acting on false data and applying it. That's bad medicine because
it is doing harm.
So my mission is to help you figure out what is the true data that
is out there and bring it to you, and to point out the false data so
you don't think it will get you anywhere you want to go.
So get ready for a fun ride. It will be an adventure. May you enjoy
your life to be 120 and then some.
See you there.
Yours in Health,

D.I. Minkoff, MD
Copyright © 2010 Optimum Health Report, All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer
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