Health articles in The Good Life

This is an index of health articles that were published in The Good Life a newsletter on natural health and healing, which I published between 1989 and 1997. 

  These health articles were summaries of news reports that appeared in newspapers and news magazines during the period. Some of them have obviously become out-dated. Others, however, remain as relevant today as they were 10 or more years ago. These are the articles that I reproduce here.

Some of these articles can also do with updating, such as the article about more teenagers turning vegetarian. Has the trend continued? Or has it l slowed down or even reversed? I am curious to know. If you know the present situation, do write to me and I will publish an update. 

One of the health articles that I find most fascinating is about a study that used spiders to test the toxicity of drugs. The study suggests that caffeine is even more toxic than marijuana!

Below are short summaries of the health articles, with links to them:

HEALTH ARTICLES ON LIFESTYLE TRENDS AND ISSUES
Angel craze hits the Vatican	Angels are today much associated more with the New Age Movement, which many Catholic and Christians churches frown upon. But a September 1995 report in The Catholic News tells us that “Angel Mania” had hit the Vatican!
Health promotion at the office	Fortune Magazine reported in 1996 that more companies are investing in health promotion efforts – because they significant improve the bottom line with lower health costs and higher productivity.
Teenage vegetarians	Newsweek reported in August 1995 that teenagers in the US are turning vegetarian in a big way. Anybody knows if the trend has continued?
Warning on mind machines	Would the Buddha approve of mind machines that induce a meditative state? Well, the US FDA doesn't. It warned that some people could suffer seizures from using them.
Green inns are in	Th Saunders Group in Boston introduced 140 measures to make its chain of hotels more environment friendly.
Public breastfeeding	A number of US states have passed laws exempting breastfeeding in public from public indecency laws, after a highly-publicised case in 1993 where a woman in Florida was harassed for breastfeeding in public.
Painful truth about abortion	A scientific study has confirmed that the fetus in the womb can feel pain. So the researchers now recommend that babies be given painkillers before they are aborted -- ie killed by being torn into bits! Ouch!
ARTICLES ON DIET, LIFESTYLE AND HEALTH
Obesity among Malays	Malays in Singapore suffer from higher rates of obesity and they have been advised to cut down on coconut milk. I wrote this commentary arguing that coconut milk is NOT the problem.
Golfers get cancer	Pesticides, herbicides and fungicides sprayed at golf courses mean that superintendents and regular golfers face higher risks of lung and brain cancer, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
	Researchers in the US and Finland have found a link between high levels of iron and cancer.
HEALTH ARTICLES ABOUT FOOD QUALITY
Organic foods have greater life force	German researchers have found a way to measure the life force of foods, and they found organic foods to have more vitality.
Colouring in tea	The Penang Consumers Association found the cheap tea sold in coffee shops often contain harmful food colouring... plus tips on how to detect artificial colouring.
Bottled mineral water scam	The Penang Consumers Association found many brands of bottled mineral water to come from polluted industrial estates and oil palm plantations!
rBGH / rBST introduced	The synthetic growth hormone, rBGH or rBST, was introduced by Mosanto in the United States in 1994 despite public protests and reports of cancer risks. All other industrialised countries have banned the hormone.
HEALTH ARTICLES ON MEDICAL SCIENCE AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
The spider web toxicity test	New Scientist magazine tells us that Nasa scientists had been using spiders spinning their webs to test the toxicity of drugs. And they found out that caffeine is more toxic than marijuana!
Homeopathy for diarrhea	A study on homeopathy for diarrhea is the first stiudy on homeopathy to appear in a majr US medical journal.
Healing power of prayer	Studies on the healing power of prayer confirms what religious leaders have always taught -- that prayer works!
Natural antibiotics	Garlic and Chinese herbs are among natural remedies found to be effective against antibiotic resistant bacteria.