WhatFinger


W. Gifford-Jones, MD and Diana Gifford-Jones

W. Gifford-Jones, MD is the pen name of Dr. Ken Walker, graduate of Harvard Medical School. Diana Gifford-Jones is his daughter, a graduate of Harvard Kennedy School. Their latest book, “No Nonsense Health” is available at: Docgiff.com Sign-up at DocGiff to receive our weekly e-newsletter. For comments, contact-us@docgiff.com. Follow our new Instagram accounts, @docgiff and @diana_gifford_jones .

Most Recent Articles by W. Gifford-Jones, MD and Diana Gifford-Jones:

What Women Suffer Most from Menopause?


There’s a universal fact for women. If they live long enough, their capacity to bring forth children will end, and they will become menopausal. Menopause can be when the thermostat becomes their most prized possession.

But not all women have hot flashes. Some go through this period wondering why they have no symptoms. The best advice for them is, “Enjoy the smooth sailing!”

- Saturday, March 23, 2024

Protecting Eyesight with the Right Food


It was 200 years ago that Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, a French lawyer and culinary writer, first wrote “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.” It’s a simple and enduring message. But people are not being watchful of what they eat, and it is having far-reaching consequences, not just around the middle.

- Saturday, March 16, 2024

What to Know About the Mammography Debate


At what age should women’s breasts receive radiation to detect breast cancer? In Canada, some provinces are lowering the age of eligibility from 50 to 40, even before a task force releases an update on breast cancer screening guidelines. The current guidelines do not recommend routine screening for women in their 40s. In the U.S., a separate task force urges women ages 40 to 49 to get this procedure every two years. Why the conflicting advice?

- Saturday, March 9, 2024

A Failing Grade in Basic Mathematics


Have even one in a thousand North Americans ever heard of Kissick’ s Law? More than 25 years ago, if you were reading the Ontario Medical Review, you would have seen an article, written by Dr. Samuel Vaisrub, explaining the message. Kissick stated that if the U.S. Declaration of Independence was written in contemporary times, it would declare the pursuit of health, rather than happiness, after life and liberty, as the third inalienable right of Americans.

- Saturday, March 2, 2024

Work Hard to Be 100 and Healthy


Few children have the good fortune of wishing “Happy 100th Birthday” to a vibrant, healthy parent reaching that esteemed age. But that’s what my brothers and I are doing this week. We’ve had the incredible journey of growing up with Dr. W. Gifford-Jones as our dad!

- Saturday, February 24, 2024

Never Ignore the Symptoms of Early Heart Failure

Years ago, after interviewing Dr. Michael McDonald, I asked, “Will you be my cardiologist?” Now, as I reach my 100th year I’m grateful his sound advice has kept me alive. He’s associated with the world class Peter Munk Cardiac Center affiliated with the University of Toronto. During my visit he stressed that more patients would be living longer if they reported to their doctors the early signs of heart failure. Prevention is always better than cure.

- Saturday, February 17, 2024

Do Unto Others Lesson Needs Retelling


What do you hope for each morning as your tired eyes read the news? You try to be a positive person, but day by day, things are getting worse. The world is in an awful mess.

- Saturday, February 10, 2024

Barbers Now Being Trained to Spot Clients with Troubled Minds


Is necessity or curiosity the mother of innovation? Sometimes good old common sense is the driving factor, and there will be no Nobel prize for seeing the obvious. That, however, is what’s behind a new development in barber shops and hair salons.

- Saturday, February 3, 2024

In the Lab with Natural Immune Formulas


This week let’s look behind the scenes, in the labs where doctors and scientists are designing health supplements that address specific goals. What’s motivating them? What are they trying to do? And how successful are they?

- Saturday, January 27, 2024

Postbiotics for the Gut, Body, and Brain


Last week’s column suggested we are minnows in the grand life adventure. This week we’ll look at little beings in our bellies that seem to have outsized influence. What is it about these microscopic components of the gut-brain connection that leads us to thinking that a postbiotic supplement might be a very good investment.

- Saturday, January 20, 2024

Jobs One, Two and Three for Lifelong Health


By the time you are reading this article, the stakes establishing the life course of your health have long been set. Your genetic inheritance, location, and family circumstances, combined with a complex set of early life factors determine how your health trajectory will begin. Through childhood and adulthood, you have opportunities to influence your well-being, but in the grand scheme, it’s tinkering at the margins. As you age, the question becomes, what can you do to maximize good health and minimize the impact of the inevitable decline?

- Saturday, January 13, 2024

An Active Lifestyle is the Right Resolution

One week into the New Year, and how are you doing on your resolutions? Most people make ambitious plans at the end of December and by this point can’t remember what they were. A few people overdo it, like those who commit to running a marathon before they’ve had success with a daily walk.

- Saturday, January 6, 2024


The Season for Sorrows and Joys


Why is it that the scariest and toughest illnesses occur at the festive time of year? Instead of family gatherings at home with music and merriment, for some people the holidays involve hushed tones at the bedside in a hospital.

- Saturday, December 23, 2023

Heart Disease Prevention Begins with Children and Good Parenting


Heart disease is called the “silent killer”. Why? Because the first symptom can be a fatal attack. Most people lead their lives unaware of the ticking time bomb within, neglecting lifestyle changes that could radically reduce the risk. The fact is, preventing heart disease needs to be a lifelong practice, starting in childhood.

- Saturday, December 16, 2023

Why Some People Die Early and Others Live On


What’s the most depressing part of a newspaper? It’s the obituary section where you see many people dying too early in life. What causes these untimely deaths? A Gifford-Jones Law states that one bad health problem inevitably leads to another and another, causing people to die early. One of the cardinal sins is not having a healthy and sensible breakfast. Where to lay blame? It’s the neglectful practices of food companies, governments, schools, and parents, all of whom are commonly ignoring the hazard.

- Saturday, December 9, 2023

Alternative Medicine Makes a Good Gift


What’s the gift we’d like to have in stock for our readers this holiday season? It would be a healthy dose of common sense, and a reminder that not every health problem needs a medical solution. Unfortunately, few people open their minds when confronted with a swollen joint, an injury to the skin, back pain, broken bones, or even brain injuries. Yet, instead of costly, dangerous drugs that come with side effects, or surgical treatments that involve other risks, these are examples of problems that respond well to alternative forms of therapy.

- Saturday, December 2, 2023

Think Before you Drink Alcohol


The festive season is a time for social gatherings and alcohol often aides the merrymaking. Yet recent headlines advise to avoid alcohol at any time of year. The claim is that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption. But the truth about alcohol is more nuanced, and recommendations for abstinence can be misleading.

- Saturday, November 25, 2023

Have Faith in the Doctor, with Limitations


Is it wise to believe what the doctor tells you? Or are there misleading types, not entirely honest with their patients? Does the medical system place the patient’s best interests first, as commonly stated on health center posters? Or do other factors, like pressure to ease wait times for a high-demand treatments, mean that some people aren’t informed of their best options. The truth is, having implicit faith in the medical profession is risky business.

- Saturday, November 18, 2023

Beware of Falling, It May Kill You


What a sad way to lose a friend. Not from a heart attack or cancer. Rather, a slip and backwards fall caused a strike of the head on a hard unforgiving surface. The traumatic injury resulted in death a few days later.

- Saturday, November 11, 2023

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