Helix Clinic blog

When a patient first comes into the clinic, as well as asking about their primary complaint, we ask other general questions about their health to build up an overall health profile for that person. This helps us to treat in a truly holistic way.

One of the questions we ask is if a person is eating well and do they eat a good breakfast? It is surprising how often someone will come in feeling low in energy, or finding it tough to get through the day and then we discover that they never eat any breakfast, or at most grab a coffee and a pastry on their way into work!

We appreciate that it can be hard to find time in the mornings to make a full breakfast, but it really is the most important meal of the day. So, following on from yesterday’s 5 a day post, we have a delicious, easy to make and most importantly quick breakfast smoothie recipe to help give you a good start to your day.

The recipe serves 2 people. Put 2 bananas, a mug of rolled porridge oats and 4 dates into a blender. Add enough oatmilk to bring the mixture level to 1 and a quarter pints, and then add a quarter pint of blueberry juice to bring the total level to a pint and a half. Blend for 2-3 minutes, then serve and enjoy.

You will be amazed how much better you’ll feel, and the energy from the smoothie should keep you going right up to lunchtime.

Tags: breakfast, smoothie

We all know that we need fruit and vegetables every day to provide the body with the fibre, minerals, vitamins, phytonutrients and trace elements it needs to prevent deficiency related diseases such as scurvy, depression, heart disease and cancer.

Most of us in the UK manage to eat just 2 to 3 servings a day and few realise that ‘5-A-Day’ is the absolute minimum. Other countries exceed our guidelines – some almost double them! For example the Australian government recommends 7-a-day and in Greece it is 9-a-day.

One portion is about 80g of fruit or veg which roughly equates to an apple, an orange, two plums, a handful of grapes or berries, two serving spoons of cooked veg, a dessert bowl of salad, two serving spoons of beans and pulses and a 150ml glass of fresh juice or smoothie

It is not that easy however, otherwise more people would be following the government guidelines. So, to move forward, our nutritionist Anneliese suggests the following.

Keep a note of how many portions of fruit and vegetables you eat each day over the course of a week and then pledge to increase this figure by 1 portion per day each week until you are eating a minimum of five but ideally eight to ten servings a day – at least three of which should be vegetables.

Some easy ideas…

• Eat a piece of fruit mid-morning and mid-afternoon with a few nuts.
• Add chopped apple, pear or berries to cereal or porridge.
• Cook a bowlful of frozen veg with each main meal.
• Drink fresh vegetable juice.
• Add veg to omelettes, lasagne and other typically veg-free meals.
• Eat raw veg with hummus.
• Order salads, soups and side dishes of veg when eating out.

Best of luck!!

Tags: fruit, vegetables

An interesting paper was published in 2008 in the BMJ, by Bhattacharaya et. al., that raises questions about the effectiveness of two of the most commonly used treatments for couples with unexplained infertility (a quarter of all couples with fertility problems have unexplained infertility).

Clomifene (or Clomid) is a medicine that stimulates a woman’s ovaries to produce more eggs, and IUI (intrauterine insemination) is a procedure that involves injecting sperm directly into the womb. Both of these treatments are currently endorsed in the UK by the NICE fertility guidelines for couples with unexplained infertility.

The research paper is interesting because it suggests that these treatments are no more effective than waiting for 6 months without treatment. The likelihood of falling pregnant during the study’s 6 month period was the same for all couples, whether they had one of the treatments or not.

The research is convincing because it included 580 couples and adhered to the strict standards of a randomised controlled trial, making it one of the largest good quality studies of this type of infertility. So if you have unexplained infertility and have been offered clomifene or IUI, it would be worth mentioning this study to your consultant and asking why they think this treatment would be relevant for you.

Tags: clomid, clomifene, infertility, IUI

Chinese New Year celebrations are happening in London this coming weekend on the 1st February to celebrate Year of the Ox.

In Buddhism, the white Ox symbolises contemplation and wisdom, and oxen are blessed by the compassionate Chinese goddess Guan Yin because of their gentle and peaceful nature.

According to an ancient Taoist legend, human beings have a special relationship with the Ox. In early farming communities, people often went for days without eating and feared starvation during poor harvests. To aid suffering humans, the gods and goddesses removed the Ox from heaven, where she was a star, and sent her to earth.

The gods instructed the Ox to tell people that with her help they would avoid starvation and eat every three days. But Ox misunderstood and told humanity that they would eat three times a day. The Ox had to keep to her word, so that is why Oxen have to work so hard and endure many burdens without complaint.

The year of the Ox is traditionally a time of  hard work, duty, and discipline, and not a time for laziness. In the year of the Ox, success is attained through diligent labor and conscientious effort.

Why not check out the celebrations in London this weekend, or visit the British Museum, where there is an exhibition of ancient Chinese bronzes and jades from Shanghai. An old Chinese text, the Canon of Mountains and Rivers, suggests that a type of jade used to be ground into needles for acupuncture treatment, the so-called ‘Bian stones’.

Tags: Chinese new year, year of the Ox

AMH stands for Anti-Mullerian Hormone, which is produced directly by the ovarian follicles. AMH levels correlate with the number of antral follicles present in the ovaries , so women with lower AMH  have lower antral follicular counts compared to women with higher levels.

Antral follicles are small follicles (about 2-8 mm in diameter) that can be seen, measured and counted with ultrasound. Antral follicles are also referred to as resting follicles, and according to some fertility clinics, the antral follicle count (in conjunction with female age) is the best test for estimating ovarian reserve and/or chances for pregnancy with IVF. The day 3 FSH levels are also important.

AMH levels are considered optimal between 28.6 pmol/L - 48.5 pmol/L, satisfactory between 15.7 pmol/L - 28.6 pmol/L and low between 2.2 pmol/L - 15.7 pmol/L. They do not vary through the menstrual cycle and can be measured on any day.

Because AMH levels correlate with the number of early antral follicles, they is useful for prediciting ovarian response in an IVF cycle. Women with low AMH levels are more likely to be poor ovarian responders.

The AMH test can also give a measure of ovarian aging – women with poor ovarian reserves generally have low levels of AMH. The AMH test is fairly new, expensive and not always available, which is why the gold standard for ovarian reserve testing is still the day 3 FSH test.

Tags: AMH, Anti-Mullerian hormone, antral follicles, FSH, infertility, IVF