Dr Jenny Goodman

Sometimes research comes out with results which are really, really important, but about which the person-in-the-street could say “Well, duh! I could have told you that!” A new study from The Health Foundation shows that our years of healthy life have declined, on average, by two years over the past decade. We’re still living as long, but two more years of each life are plagued by ill-health: we’re living sicker.

Furthermore, poverty is the main determinant of ill-health. Exactly as Prof Michael Marmot showed back in 2010, the rich live longer and healthier lives than the poor. The difference has become even more stark, though; the wealthiest people have, on average, 20 more years of healthy life than the poorest. It’s shocking, but it’s not new; ‘twas ever thus.

So, what needs to be done about it? What we don’t need is yet more research, more studies telling us what we already know about how bad things are. “Further research” can be a way for governments to avoid taking action, kicking the can down the road. What we need is nothing less than the elimination of poverty, of deprivation, of the misery that comes with poor housing and crap food. It’s not about “How to make poor people healthier”, it’s about how to make sure that nobody is poor.

As the inequalities of our society, due to the untrammelled greed of a few, increase year on year, so will illness. But it would be perfectly possible, if the Government chose to do it, to make fresh organic produce cheap and easily available to all, and to tax the highly profitable junk food industry out of existence. To incentivise farmers to grow real, organic food, not the monocrop wheat and oilseed r**e which feed that industry, as well as devastating the countryside. To have a vegetable garden in every primary school, and a local farmers’ market in every area. To teach schoolkids to cook.

Organic rocket, not rocket science! 🥬

Post 2: Bone Recovery.

Back to the bone; surgeons know how to fix it in place, but it is herbalists and nutritional therapists who know how to speed the healing of bone. We learn in medical school that bone is a miraculous, living tissue, but doctors don’t do much with that knowledge. Herbalists know about Comfrey, which is also called Symphytum or Knitbone. There’s a clue in that name! The internet is full of nonsense about how comfrey will rot your liver. Well, ANY herb or drug will cause liver damage if you take 20 gallons a day, and keep doing it for ages. A reasonable dose for a few weeks, in my case, 3 cups of comfrey tea daily, each made with one teaspoon of the leaves, is harmless to someone with a healthy liver. And it can halve bone-healing times, as I’ve seen with many people over the years.

Lastly, bone is made of many minerals, not just calcium. It also contains (and therefore requires) magnesium, zinc, silicon, boron, strontium and more. And it needs a good level of Vitamin D3 to absorb calcium from the gut into the bloodstream, and Vitamin K2 to get calcium from the bloodstream into the bone itself. I’ve been taking all of these. Imagine a world where orthopaedic surgeons knew this, and gave out nutritional advice along with slings/surgical boots and painkillers? Dream on!

Break a bone?

Which kind of medicine do we need? Conventional, high tech? Alternative, natural? The answer, of course, is both. Depending on what needs fixing, but also depending on what stage of the illness/healing process you are at.

Here’s an example from my own recent experience. I had an accident and broke a bone in February (that’s why you haven’t heard much from me for quite a while). The immediate need was for an operation; sophisticated, high-tech surgery, as it turned out. Orthopaedic surgeons are brilliant at aligning the ends of broken bones correctly, reassembling the fragments where necessary, and holding them all in place. But what next? 🦵🏼

Conventionally, just physiotherapy. The orthopaedic doc deals with the bone, the physio helps you get the joints and muscles going again (ouch). But who helps repair the connective tissue – the fascia, ligaments and tendons, which also got damaged? Who helps take the trauma out of the body? Who deals with the shock to the system on the energetic level? Indeed, who soothes and heals the muscles rather than just exercising them?

This is all way beyond what conventional medics/surgeons understand. This is the terrain of cranio-sacral osteopathy, which has been/is being a crucial part of my recovery. A good cranial osteopath understands the body’s processes on a much subtler level than a surgeon does, and I am deeply grateful to have access to this wonderful healing modality.

Infra-red light has been a great source of healing and pain relief too; see my previous post about 's book “Coherent Health”. I gave it a wildly enthusiastic review, and didn’t know how much I would need the wisdom it contains; I’m even more enthusiastic now! 📗

Join Dr Jenny Goodman, renowned doctor and author, in her conversation with nutritionist Zuzanna Zielinska of about health and farming.

Join the second webinar in the AgriHealth Outcome Payment Model series.

During this free online session, Dr Jenny Goodman, medical doctor, ecological medicine practitioner, and author, will:

- Explain what ecological medicine is
- Share her exploration of the links between human health and regenerative farming
- Explore how we can reduce and eliminate toxins from our bodies
- Offer reflections on what the future of public health could (and should) look like
- Answer participants’ questions

This webinar is the second in a 5-episode series on transforming the connection between regenerative farming and health. The series is developed by a Dutch-based consortium and supported by the Province of South Holland and the European Union.

Tickets available here: www.eventbrite.ie/e/ecological-medicine-and-regenerative-farming-with-dr-jenny-goodman-tickets-1980729052917

Back in 1988, my brilliant colleague, Dr Damien Downing Dr Damien Downing, president of the British Society for Ecological Medicine (where I learnt everything I know!), published a book called “Daylight Robbery”. It was radical and life-changing, the first book to really wake us up to the fact that the sun in our sky, which we tend to take for granted, is absolutely vital for our health and wellbeing in ways we hadn’t even considered.

The focus of that book was Vitamin D, which sunlight makes by acting on the cholesterol under our skin. Vitamin D is vital not just for our bones but also for our brains and immune systems. But it turns out that sunlight benefits our body in many other ways too, and I am thrilled to announce that Dr Downing has just brought out a brand new book which expands on the topic in a timely and fascinating way. “Coherent Health”, published by Hammersmith Health, is all about light; natural light, which we need so much more of, and unnatural (indoor) lighting, which is damaging our health in all sorts of ways. It is a book full of solutions, and explains, among many other things, the interaction of light with water in our bodies.

Sunlight creates structured water in our bodies, which allows blood to flow in our arteries and energy to be made in our cells. I learnt that 50% of the sun’s rays are infra-red, and that trees and plants reflect that infra-red back to us; one of the many reasons we feel better out in green spaces. I learnt so much I didn’t know about Melatonin: it’s not just the hormone of sleep! And there is a clear account of PhotoBioModulation (PBM), the use of different wavelengths of light in the clinical setting to treat all sorts of illnesses, especially autoimmune diseases. This is a sophisticated and essential book for our time, conveying the very latest science in an exciting, relevant and accessible way. Highly recommended!

Speaking of the sun, I am off on a much-needed holiday for a couple of weeks, and won’t be in touch with social media or email. So I wish you all well, and I hope to write some new posts in late February. Watch this space!

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When is organic not organic? Well, quite often when it’s not food. When it’s cosmetics or clothing. This is a minefield. Labelling laws for food are strict: if it says organic, it generally is, and if it carries the logo, the criteria applied are extremely rigorous. But when it comes to clothing and cosmetic products, regulation is virtually non-existent.

With cosmetics, or more broadly “personal care products” such as deodorant, moisturiser, aftershave, perfume and so on, it is perfectly legal to label a product as organic if it contains just 1% organic ingredients. So how can you tell if something is truly, 100% organic? Look for the logo of either the Soil Association or COSMOS, the international certification body that regulates these things strictly, but entirely voluntarily, with no government backing.

Clothing presents a similar problem. Many garment labels say “made with organic cotton”, but that word “with” is a cheat. You want clothes (and ideally bed linen) made of 100% organic cotton, not merely blended with it. Look for the GOTS label - Global Organic Textile Standard. This helps ensure you’re not absorbing toxic pesticides through your skin, or contributing to the ecological damage caused by non-organic cotton farming and the serious health problems faced by those who grow and process it. H**p and linen (flax) are even better, especially as they’re grown here in the UK.

Organic clothing is expensive, so prioritise what touches your skin: underwear, T-shirts, leggings, nightwear and bed sheets. You can’t replace your whole wardrobe at once, and even if you could, you shouldn’t. The longer we can delay synthetic fabrics (nylon, polyester, viscose etc.) ending up in landfill, the better. Amelia Twine of says there are now enough garments on the planet to clothe the next six generations. Appalling excess. Fast fashion pollutes when it’s made, pollutes our bodies when we wear it, pollutes again every time we wash it (thousands of microplastic particles), and again when we throw it away. So: repair, re-use, swap, sell and recycle. Less is more.

How much do you need of each essential vitamin and mineral? The official Recommended Daily Allowance, now renamed Nutrient Reference Value or Dietary Reference Value, is supposedly the answer. But it’s terribly flawed, and almost always a gross under-estimate, for two main reasons.

Firstly, these levels are based on science from about 100 years ago, when vitamins were first discovered, and were thought to be merely substances needed in minuscule quantities to prevent specific deficiency diseases. For example: vitamin C to prevent scurvy, vitamin B1 (Thiamine) to prevent Beri-beri, vitamin B3 (Niacin) to prevent Pellagra, vitamin B12 to prevent Pernicious Anaemia and vitamin D to prevent Rickets. So the RDA for vitamin C, for example, is set around 100 mg, represents what you need to Not Die Of Scurvy. It does NOT represent what you need to be really healthy, avoid coughs and colds, prevent infection and reduce the risk of cancer. Scurvy is one extreme, vibrant health is the other, and how much vitamin C you take (especially in the winter) may determine whereabout along that spectrum your health falls.

Similarly, the RDA for vitamin B12, set at around 2.4 micrograms for adults, is indeed enough to stop you dying of pernicious anaemia, but for most of us it’s not nearly enough for maximal cognitive function and immune health.

Finally, for vitamin D, the RDA is set at 400 iu (international units), which will certainly prevent rickets (or the adult equivalent, osteomalacia) ,but we need about 10 times that amount in a British winter to fully support the brain and the immune system.

The second reason these RDA levels are ludicrously low: we are living in such a polluted world that our requirements for these vitamins have increased hugely. Many of them (and the minerals too) are needed for our detox enzymes to work, and sadly, those enzymes have far more demands upon them than 100 years ago. Air pollution, drugs, alcohol, cigarette smoke, paracetamol and more, all destroy vitamin C, for example; so we need a higher intake than we would have done a long time ago. C’est la vie, these days.

Thanks for the conversation, Lloyd!

In this episode, I break down what’s really poisoning your body, from indoor pollution and petrochemicals to heavy metals, fluoride, and EMFs, and why understanding these hidden exposures is the first step to healing.

I also share simple, practical strategies I have used across my career to detox safely, reduce daily toxic load, and help patients reclaim their health without fear or overwhelm.

Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgzu0Glv0aU

There is a pervasive view, among those of us who care about the health of people and planet, that the cow is a problem. That we should be eating less beef or no beef, and that cows belching out methane are contributing to global warming. That view is challenged by a study from the , headed by Patrick Holden who ran the many years ago. Essentially, he says, “It’s not the cow, but the how”. In other words, in the dreadful, industrial farming systems which dominate agriculture in the UK and the USA, yes indeed, the cow is a huge problem. But if incorporated into regenerative, small-scale mixed farms, as part of a diverse mix of other animals and varied arable crops, the cow in moderate numbers can not only Do No Harm, but can positively contribute to reversing both climate change and soil erosion. The cow’s sequestration of carbon and nitrogen (polite sciency words for pooing on the soil!) more than offsets any carbon dioxide produced by belching, according to Prof Myles Allen from Oxford University. Furthermore, it is even possible that cows fed on grass (their natural food) as opposed to grain (which could better go to feed humans directly) belch less! And as Sir David Attenborough pointed out, cows living a free-range life are good for biodiversity. He said in the BBC Wild Isles series: “If grasslands are to be rich and diverse, they have to be grazed”. After all, plants and animals evolved together.

Cows fertilise the soil, reducing or eliminating the need for synthetic fertilisers (the production of which is extremely polluting and climate-damaging). And regenerative farmers imitate Nature; their cows are not stuck in one field till they’ve grazed it bare. Like their wild ancestors, the aurochs, cows on regenerative farms are moved on regularly, in a system called Holistic Planned Grazing. This means the growth of the grass (and the herbs which should be growing there along with it, making the result much healthier for the cows and for us) is stimulated, not impeded. The soil needs the animals, and the crops need the fertility that the animals provide. It’s a win-win.

Learn more at : https://surl.li/aadxvl

What is The Dirty Dozen? This is a list produced by PAN UK , an organisation for which I have immense love and respect and boundless admiration. It’s a list of the most poisoned NON-organic fruit and veg.

In other words, we know that all non-organic produce is sprayed, but which is the worst? So, if you really are broke, and, even taking into account my four responses above, you feel you still can’t afford to buy all your food organic, then which foods should you prioritise? Clearly, the ones which, when not organic, are the most heavily polluted with pesticides.

And, PAN says, those include:

All citrus fruits (gr**efruit, oranges, limes and lemons), gr**es, strawberries, cherries, melons, peaches, nectarines, herbs, sweet peppers, broccoli, mushrooms... all the yummiest foods! It’s not fair! I mean, no offence to swedes and turnips, but if they were on the “No-no” list, it might not impact your quality of life quite so much.

Actually, the list is a bit more complicated than my summary above, and I would really urge you to look at PAN UK’s results in detail. As they explain, the government is not consistent about which foods it tests for pesticide residues, so compiling these statistics is very challenging.

PAN in fact have two lists, one for 2024 and one for the five years 2020-2024 combined, for reasons which they explain. My simplified list above comes from looking at both of theirs.

Either way, when it’s time for summer fruits, and indeed now if you’re buying citrus fruits from the Mediterranean countries 🍊; try and make it organic. It’s so worth it.

Learn more ➡️ www.pan-uk.org/site/wp-content/uploads/Dirty-Dozen-2025.pdf