LETTERS ON THE December ISSUE
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New Treatments
I was impressed with Luke O'Neill's thoughts in "If I Ruled the World", especially that healthcare should be made accessible.
Healthcare changes dramatically because of technological developments, from anaesthetics and antibiotics to magnetic resonance imaging scanners and radiotherapy. No new predictions can satisfy everybody, but every patient should be allowed faster access to new discoveries and medicine. My uncle who suffers from Huntington's disease had to fight “tooth and nail” to get a new treatment then being trialled for his condition.
It is a shame that most people don't donate to international aid charities because they believe that their governments already spend too much on foreign aid. I'd like to see more money going into medical research and the world more willing to share medical breakthroughs. Look how quickly they all came together for a COVID-19 vaccination.
JANA COPLEY, North London
What Would Gran Eat?
As we head into the new year, health is very much at the forefront of my mind, which is why I found “10 Nutrition Myths” so informative. Eating well can often feel so complicated and yet, as your article outlines, it’s actually really easy—eat whole foods with no nasty additives and no unnecessary processing. This is what my grandparents did, and it certainly served them well. My gran used to say to us, “Eat what you want and then finish.” And science has now shown that our guts are not really big fans of snacking. She’d also eat fresh, local, seasonal foods, and all in moderation.
Your article reminded me that eating well is actually simple—we just need to tune back into our natural environment and tune out from the food industry. In fact, I think one of the best things we can all do is cultivate a healthy scepticism of heavily packaged, ultra-processed, over-marketed pseudo-foods.
Always ask yourself whether your grandparents would have eaten it. And feel empowered to feed your body, your mind and your soul real whole food, this year and beyond.
JENNIE GARDNER, Bath
Planting Roots
I was delighted to read about Olly Mann’s aloe vera plant and its colourful, significant history. I think it’s fantastic that a plant can become one of the family. I love houseplants, and there are many leafy individuals crowded round the windows of my flat.
The head of my houseplant clan is a cactus I’ve named Spike. My mum bought it for
