Products that enhance the uptake of this neurotransmitter are burgeoning - including drinks that mimic the effects of alcohol, without the hangover. Here’s what happened when I tried them “Chinese medicine.” “That weird Hungarian liqueur.” “Something my grandad would drink.” The taste test is not going well. Dry January is over and we’re hitting the bottle, but this is not alcohol we’re drinking. It’s theoretically the next best thing: Sentia Black, “a unique blend of functional botanicals, designed for focus and conviviality,” reads the blurb We’ve been trying it neat, but once you mix it wit ..read more

My wife Georgina Towers, who has died aged 43 from a brain tumour, was an art psychotherapist and a “people person”; she was also renowned for her advocacy of human rights. She volunteered for Freedom from Torture, where she was humbled by its work with survivors; she felt inspired to raise funds for the charity and completed the Dublin marathon and various triathlon events. She was a keen wild swimmer and even completed the length of Wastwater in the Lake District a few months after her second brain surgery ..read more

Reformhaus retains an unmatched selection of tea and slippers but is morphing to stay competitive Wellness, organics and sustainability have become buzzwords in modern consumer marketing, but the mainstreaming of “green” lifestyle is creating some challenges for the German retailers that pioneered these products. As the country gears up for the holiday shopping season, the Reformhaus cooperative, a long-established promoter of homegrown health and beauty in the retail sphere, is morphing – gently – to stay competitive against incursions from discounters, the bite of inflation and shifting cons ..read more

Danielle Carr-Gomm, 71, fell fatally ill after she stopped taking insulin for type 1 diabetes during Hongchi Xiao’s retreat An alternative healer who promoted a “slapping therapy” taken up by millions of people across the world has been jailed for the gross negligence manslaughter of a British woman who died at one of his workshops in Wiltshire. Hongchi Xiao was sentenced to 15 years after a jury found him guilty of the manslaughter of Danielle Carr-Gomm, 71, who had type 1 diabetes and fell fatally ill after she stopped taking her insulin and fasted during one of his paida lajin therapy retre ..read more

For healthy people, pills, patches and gummies just create ‘expensive urine’. But for those with nutrient deficiencies, vitamin supplements have clear benefits Supplements are no cottage industry: an estimated third to nearly half of Australians regularly take vitamins or minerals. Hawked by the likes of the Kardashian-Jenner clan, vitamin gummies have in recent years found popularity among millennials and zoomers, who are more receptive to supplements in the form of “powders, liquids and gummies” than older generations. Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop – no stranger to dubious health trends – sells its ..read more

Police raid Collins Creek property where 46-year-old Jarrad Antonovich died after taking Amazonian ‘medicines’ in 2021 Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Homicide detectives are investigating the death of a man who consumed a cocktail of Amazonian “medicines” at a spiritual retreat in northern New South Wales three years ago. Forensic officers were also involved in a raid late last week on the property up a steep rainforest track in Collins Creek, near Kyogle, where 46-year-old Jarrad Antonovich died on the night ..read more

By now you would have seen the countless stories about supermodel Elle Macpherson and her breast cancer treatment choices. Most of the headlines and articles amplified her decision to forgo some standard medical treatments in favour of alternative therapies. But what crucial information was missing? Guardian Australia’s medical editor, Melissa Davey, speaks to Nour Haydar about the controversy and how to make sense of the claims and products pushed by the wellness industry. You can support the Guardian at theguardian.com/fullstorysupport Read more ..read more

Like other celebrity wellness entrepreneurs, the former model seems to peddle nonsense Elle Macpherson’s gratitude journal must have written itself last week. Most days, any leader in the wellness industry is right to feel gratitude for the gigantic profits to be made seemingly out of human gullibility: the welcome for her latest venture suggests that the market for experimental self-care may have been wildly underestimated. Since the exclusive revelation of Macpherson’s “cancer journey” in the Australian Women’s Weekly, there can hardly have been enough time in the day, without contracting th ..read more

Supermodel says she is in remission after being diagnosed seven years ago and rejecting some aspects of traditional medicine Elle Macpherson has said she was diagnosed with breast cancer seven years ago but is now in remission despite refusing chemotherapy. The Australian supermodel and actor, who rose to fame in the 1980s, is publishing a memoir – Elle: Life, Lessons, and Learning to Trust Yourself – in which she says she took a holistic approach to the illness, going against the advice of 32 doctors. This article was amended on 4 September 2024 to correct a reference to “traditional” medicin ..read more

Danielle Carr-Gomm fell fatally ill when she stopped taking insulin during Wiltshire workshop run by Hongchi Xiao • Profile: the healer convicted over two deaths An alternative healer who promoted a “slapping therapy” taken up by millions of people across the world has been found guilty of the gross negligence manslaughter of a British woman who died at one of his workshops. Danielle Carr-Gomm, 71, who had type 1 diabetes, fell fatally ill in 2016 after she stopped taking her insulin and fasted during a paida lajin therapy retreat run by Hongchi Xiao at a country house in Wiltshire ..read more