Looking through a pile of New Scientist magazines form the Spring, I came across an article explaining why not all body fat is equal nor indeed bad.

Recently the question of whether to supplement or not was raised again, this time as a result of a report from a highly regarded research body known as the Cochrane Collaboration working from the Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark.

Some psychiatric drugs are known to cause massive weight gain in many patients according to a recent article in New Scientist.

I first came across Individual Energy Toxins, (IETs) through my involvement with Thought Field Therapy (Callahan Techniques), which is an energy based, a meridian therapy. Other such therapies are shiatsu, acupressure and acupuncture.

So what is an Individual Energy Toxin? It’s a substance, probably found in everyday life which is often harmless to most people. But for some people this substance is adversely affecting the energy system. Remember we’re not talking about physiology here, but energy.

BBC2 is running a short series on alternative therapies presented by professor Kathy Sykes (Professor of Science at Bristol University). The first episode was on Monday 17th March 2008 and featured hypnotherapy. I didn’t have very high expectations so was pleasantly surprised at some of the content.

New Scientist, 16th February 2008, carries a feature about memory. Starting with a description of AJ who has the rare capacity to remember accurately every day of her life since she was in her teens, it goes on to highlight the drawbacks of something which might initially be perceived as a unique talent.

AJ describes the phenomenon as a “running movie that never stops” which is “uncontrollable and totally exhausting”.

According to New Scientist, there is increasing evidence that it is training that makes the musician, rather than an innate gift.

Studies on rats show that they get fatter on diets containing artificial sweeteners than those containing ordinary sugar (New Scientist 16th Feb 2008).

Having reflected in my last post on the dangers of over-refined carbohydrates, more grist is added to the dietary mill with the publication of Michael Pollan’s book “In Defence of Food”.

The Diet Delusion

There’s an article in this week’s edition of New Scientist (19th January 2008) concerning his new book The Diet Delusion by Gary Taubes.

Now I haven’t read the book, only the article, which says that whilst the established advice for those who want to lose weight is to consume fewer calories than you expend, this doesn’t actually seem to reverse the course of obesity.