Rachel's Blogs
SSRIs – A Weight On Some Patient’s Minds
Given 1 in 8 Australians right now are taking an antidepressant, chances are you're seeing a lot of clients on these, especially the SSRIs. Erica McIntyre (fellow naturopath) and colleagues, found that in fact, mental health diagnoses affect about 43% of individuals...
Walk Towards The Light!
Now find a comfy spot everyone & I'll tell you a story...'Once upon a time, a long long time ago, we lived our days out in the dark, regarding potential calcium dysregulation!' But ever since serum Calcium has become a standard lab included in most routine...
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By popular demand
Many of you have been asking if we could make my presentations available for download instead of on CD. You can now do both! The Rachel Arthur Nutrition (RAN) store on the website now has downloadable audio and CD-audio sections where you can buy my presentations. You...
Visit our facebook page
We have finally taken the step into the brave new world of social media with the Rachel Arthur Nutrition facebook page. The first step is to reflect the posts that we add to this site and our newsletter. We will let you guide us as to what you would like to see us do...
No change in 25(OH) D levels in spite of supplementation?
Scenario: Patient presents with low baseline 25(OH)D levels, let’s say 40 nmol/L and you prescribe a high dose (e.g. 5000IU/day) bioavailable vitamin D supplement and retest in 3 months but the 25(OH)D levels haven’t improved…what do you do now? Sound familiar? It...
Have you checked the children?
Over the last year, I’ve seen paediatric patients with various presentations (alopecia, behavioural issues etc.) whose thyroid results have seemed out of whack e.g. TSH values in the 3s and 4s. I noticed as well that each pathology company provided a slightly altered...
Looking into Dis-ease in Women
This week, care of Health Masters, I am delivering the first part of a 3 part webinar called ‘Clinical Case Analyses in Women with Anxiety’. I originally wanted to call this brand new seminar series Dis-ease. The idea was in response to the large number of female...
The Canary in the Mine – Assessing Androgens in Men
Often I find practitioners are a bit mystified by the male hormonal milieu and their skills at interpreting androgen results are patchy compared with their confidence in female hormone investigation. Yet, just like in females, understanding the sex hormones is a...
Call for mandatory labelling for trans fats in Australian food products
Professor Andrew Sinclair, a leading Australian nutrition scientist from Deakin University, has warned that some snack foods on Australian supermarket shelves contain high levels of trans fats acids (TFAs) and is calling for mandatory labelling of TFAs in processed...
Communities need for happiness can amplify negative moods
Societies promotion of happiness and happiness campaigns puts expectations on people of how they should feel. Expectations of happiness may be making sad people feel worse. Psychologist, Brock Bastian from the University of Queensland and colleagues, have...
Honey for a night-time cough
Upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) are a normal part of childhood that often disturb sleep, parents and children alike, but a simple dose of honey may just be the remedy needed. A recent study published in Pediatrics (Aug 6 2012) has confirmed that honey is...
Numb feet reveal deeper woes
Mid-40 female presents with acute onset pain in both feet and hands. Questioning reveals that she has experienced episodic numbness in her feet over the past 2 years. Patient suspects gout but blood urate levels are normal and patient’s diet and lifestyle not...
Identifying & Addressing the Marked Stress Response in Drug Withdrawal
A current patient is a 20+ year old male who is trying to recover from a heroin addiction. Having been on the methadone program for the last 7 months and only having ‘used’ once or twice during this time, he is doing well. He has managed to get down to just 25mg/d of...
Coeliac disease presents as behavioural problems
Recently I started seeing an 8 year old girl diagnosed with ODD and ADHD as well as impaired IQ at 6yo. Notable features include: She has variable bowel and bladder control - often coming home from school with wet pants and a Bristol type 1 stool in her underwear. ...
Snoring kids may need help
Parents should be aware persistent snoring is not normal in children and should be investigated. Researchers, whose results appeared in the journal Pediatrics May 2012 found that two- and three-year olds who snored loudly at least a couple of times per week tended to...
Limitations of serum B12 testing
The limitations of serum B12 testing have been reported for some time. When testing for deficiency, Serum B12 does not give an accurate picture unless there is an overt deficiency and even then not consistently. This is because the majority (approx.70%) of B12 in the...