JUNE is National Osteoporosis Month, when the National Osteoporosis Society will raise awareness of the disease which affects all generations, and not only, as is so commonly thought, the post-menopausal woman. The society is working with Boots the Chemist, and there will be free information leaflets in stores across the country throughout June.
Coinciding with this awareness month is the launch on June 10 of the first European report on osteoporosis in Brussels. The European Union has been looking at the scale of the problem, and the report will recommend to governments how to tackle the disease, a move which particularly interests the NOS.
Later in the month, from June 22 to 26, the sixth biennial Bath conference on osteoporosis, organised by the NOS, will bring together scientists and clinicians interested in bone. Delegates are expected to come up with new ideas which in time will not only help those who suffer but will help prevent the devastating loss of bone density.
MEANWHILE, this is National Sprouting Week. Eddie Cairney, the man who has done more to encourage the sprouting habit in Scotland than anyone, will be at Grassroots, Woodlands Road, Glasgow, on Saturday to demonstrate how easy it is to produce your own little organic garden of living, nutritious plants. Cairney's sprouting jars make it possible for the busiest urban dweller to produce their own interesting and tasty range of sprouts for salads, soups, and for incorporation into delicious recipes. In three days, you can sprout anything which takes your fancy. Using organic mung beans, alfafa, quinoa, or green peas, for instance, you can produce shoots which are bursting with goodness and have the most surprising tastes.
THE British Lung Foundation's Breathe Easy Week runs from Saturday to June 7, when it hopes to raise awareness of lung health and raise funds for research.
In Scotland, half a million people have a lung disease, from children with asthma to pensioners with emphysema and lung cancer. Children are more susceptible than adults to respiratory infections and develop lung failure more quickly. According to the BLF, one in seven children has asthma, three or four children in every classroom will have respiratory problems, and more than 20,000 children are admitted to hospital every year with lung problems. Bronchiolitis reaches epidemic proportions in babies and toddlers every winter, and children who have the infection often go on to develop asthma and more serious lung problems in later life.
During Breathe Easy Week, the public can test lung health at a stall in Glasgow's Buchanan Street on June 3 for a donation of #1, and there will be a sponsored cycle ride from Bathgate to Airdrie on June 7. For details about this event, call 0141 204 4110. The British Lung Foundation supports people with lung disease through its Breathe Easy Club, and provides information on all aspects of lung health. Information on the same telephone number.
PEOPLE who have an intolerance of cows' milk, who don't want to use dairy produce because they are vegan or who want to lower the fat content in their diet can choose from a whole range of soya drinks which mimic milk. Since the introduction of genetic engineering, however, some consumers may have felt they were leaping out of the milk bottle and into the fire, because soya was one of the first crops to be genetically engineered.
Unless the product is labelled as organically produced, you cannot be sure that it is GMO-free. The new line of soya drinks from ProSoya UK Ltd, of Livingston, is produced from whole organic GMO-free soya beans and filtered water.
ProSoya So Nice drinks are available from health food stores and selected grocery outlets.
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