Q: For 12 years I have had chronic hepatitis C, which has resulted in cirrhosis of the liver. The doctors say I can’t have iron because there is already too much in my liver, although I am anemic (the fault of my bone marrow which does not produce enough red blood cells)…Can you help me?

Q: I have read from several different sources that olive leaf extract is a very good and potent natural antibiotic and, in some cases, antiviral compound. What is your opinion on olive leaf extract? Is it safe to take, and does it have any long-term side effects?

Q: One recent newsletter (from another source) espouses much higher magnesium than calcium. Your newsletter says something entirely different. Can you help me reconcile these differing opinions?

Q: Thank you for your excellent newsletter, which we appreciate a great deal. My husband is 69 in good health except for lower back problems (herniated discs) and acid reflux.

Q: I would like your opinion on natural vitamins vs synthetic. I read a bulletin by an alternative medical doctor who claims that the body recognizes only vitamins made from natural resources.

When I caught a croupy viral cough from one of my little patients three or four years ago, I started in on all things you’ve read about for beating a virus, including vitamin C, vitamin A, echinacea, and colloidal silver. But the remedy that kept the cough away and let me sleep until these remedies could “catch hold” was a homeopathic combination called Mucolytic Drainage Formula.

Last year, the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study of horse hormones and patent medicine “progestins” ground to a premature halt when excess risk of breast cancer and other problems were discovered.1 This year, the British “Million Women’s Study” (MWS) reached the same conclusion: Current users of “estrogen” alone, or of “estrogen” plus progestin, all had a higher risk of breast cancer.2 And it’s been all gloom and doom about “hormone” replacement therapy ever since.

If you listen closely, you can probably hear it: Women every-where yelling out a collective “Ha!” It seems they aren’t alone anymore in the great hormone battle, now that the concept of male menopause is gaining more acceptance in medical circles.

As I’ve written before, Atkins-type diets are not good for everyone. But they are particularly suited for people with hypoglycemia, “syndrome X” (insulin resistance, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, hypertension), and type 2 diabetes. They’re also particularly suited to overweight individuals with a family history of type 2 diabetes. These days, that adds up to close to 90 million Americans. High-protein diet plans are a great way to be proactive about it, and cut the epidemic off at the pass.

Until a few months ago, when I thought of saunas, I thought of Scientology. It sounds like a stretch, but actually, researchers affiliated with the Church of Scientology have been studying the health benefits of saunas since the 1970s, and their findings have been impressive.