Our body is a very complex mechanism and it is dangerous to try to 'fine-tune' it without knowing
enough about it. There are levels that are empirically too high or low and as such should be
'adjusted'. For example, too high a level of blood pressure represents great risk and this has been
proved time after time. But there are other levels and the elevation or lowering of them has been
quite debatable among the medical community.
I would like to recommend an approach, similar in nature to the one which is espoused by Dr. Milton
Friedman, a Nobel price winner in economics, to reduce govenment expenditure, in cutting what we
take into our bodies daily.
In cutting government expenditure, each department in the government fights like hell to keep its
budget intact while shifting the axe to other departments. What Dr. Friedman proposes is: keep the
defense budget intact while apply a fixed % cut to ALL the other departments!
Perhaps an idea that is worthy of pondering over is this: keep your blood pressure under relatively
safe levels but *trying* to cut a fixed quantity of your food intake into the body each day and see
if it would make a difference. That is to say, rather than to focus upon lowering this or that
level, just EAT LESS of *everything*, including your favorite chocolate bar, your beloved glass of
red wine...and cigar, you have been enjoying. After all, even tobacco has its role to play in our
daily life. Nicotin helps reduce tension. Too much of ANYTHING is no good. Moderation is the key!
You won't die or suffer from taking *less* of what you have been taking.
I am no doctor but I wonder if such an approach should be resorted to prior to taking any junk-
lowering drugs that might produce unwanted effects.
Comments?
FP