Health & WellnessS


Bulb

'White' Light Suppresses the Body's Production of Melatonin


Medicalxpress.com
Mon, 12 Sep 2011 20:06 UTC
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© astrosociety.org
Exposure to the light of white LED bulbs, it turns out, suppresses melatonin 5 times more than exposure to the light of High Pressure Sodium bulbs that give off an orange-yellow light. "Just as there are regulations and standards for 'classic' pollutants, there should also be regulations and rules for the pollution stemming from artificial light at night," says Prof. Abraham Haim of the University of Haifa.

"White" light bulbs that emit light at shorter wavelengths are greater suppressors of the body's production of melatonin than bulbs emitting orange-yellow light, a new international study has revealed.

Melatonin is a compound that adjusts our biological clock and is known for its anti-oxidant and anti-cancerous properties.

The study investigated the influence of different types of bulbs on "light pollution" and the suppression of melatonin, with the researchers recommending several steps that should be taken to balance the need to save energy and protecting public health.
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Beaker

Phthalates May Impact a Child's Development


NewsInferno
Fri, 09 Sep 2011 19:25 UTC
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© kinderworld.us
The chemicals that make plastic and vinyl more flexible - phthalates - have long been linked to adverse health events and are part of a group of endocrine disruptors, which interfere with the body's hormone system. Phthalates can be found in nail polishes, cosmetics, perfumes, lotions, car interiors, floor tiles, raincoats, synthetic leathers, food packaging, and shampoos and are used to carry fragrance, increase product flexibility and durability, coat time-release medications or supplements, and are used as solvents.

A new study has found that the ubiquitous chemical might harm children's mental and behavioral development as well as their muscular coordination, said WebMD, citing a study published in the journal, Environmental Health Perspectives. How phthalates adversely affect development is unclear; however, emerging evidence suggests phthalates affect thyroid hormone levels, which are important to prenatal and newborn brain development.

Comment: For more information about Phthalates and their effects on children read the following:

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Red Flag

Pesticide Exposure Linked to ADHD


NewsInferno
Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:02 UTC
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© unknown
Pesticide exposure has, again, been linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The pesticides are being seen in food nationwide as well as in the home, according to the journal, Pediatrics.

"It's mainly exposure through food. Diet is the driver," said pediatrician and public health expert Phil Landrigan, MD, professor and chair of the department of community and preventive medicine at Manhattan's Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "For most people, diet is the predominant source. It's been shown that people who switch to an organic diet knock down the levels of pesticide by-products in their urine by 85 to 90 percent," said Dr. Landrigan, wrote Rodale.

The Canadian team reviewed data from about 1,140 children participating in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The team also looked at pesticide by-products found in urine. The team revealed that 119 children met ADHD criteria, said Rodale.

Comment: To learn more about how Fruit and Vegetables Have 'Unacceptable' Levels of Pesticides and the effects of pesticides on children's mental and physical health read the following articles:

Organic Foods Offer Alternative to Foods Containing Food Dyes & Pesticides Linked to Raising Children's Risk of ADHD
From the Fields to Inner City, Pesticides Affect Children's IQ
Research Links Pesticides with ADHD in Children
U.S. Study: Pesticides Tied to ADHD in Children
Pesticide Susceptibility In Children Lasts Longer Than Expected
Exposure to Pesticides in Womb Linked to Learning Disabilities

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Sherlock

New Documents Detail How Feds Downplayed Ground Zero Health Risks

Anthony DePalma
Alternet
Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:32 UTC
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© Alternet
New documents show that federal officials went further than was previously known to downplay concerns about health risks from the contaminated air at ground zero.

In the dark and uncertain days after Sept. 11, 2001, the sight of thousands of shaken New Yorkers returning to their apartments, offices and schools in Lower Manhattan seemed to signal a larger return to normalcy.

Now new documents have emerged showing that federal officials in Washington and New York went further than was previously known to downplay concerns about health risks, misrepresenting or concealing information that ultimately might have protected thousands of people from the contaminated air at ground zero.
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Pills

How and why melatonin is an effective cancer treatment

Connie Strasheim
Natural News
Wed, 07 Sep 2011 06:34 UTC
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© Illustration Works RM
Numerous studies have established melatonin as one of the most effective anti-cancer treatments in existence. It inhibits cancer cell growth and proliferation; it destroys cancer cells, stops angiogenesis (new tumor blood vessel growth), and prevents harmful forms of estrogen from stimulating cancer cell growth. Despite its success in clinical trials and in doctors' experiences with their patients, it has not been widely prescribed in conventional medicine, though its effects have proven to be superior to those of many chemotherapeutic drugs.

In one clinical trial, patients with glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, were given either radiation and melatonin, or radiation alone. Twenty-three percent of the patients who took the melatonin were alive after a year, while none who had received only radiation were still alive. Similarly, in another study by oncologists in Italy, patients with non-small cell lung cancers who had failed chemotherapy were given melatonin. They were compared with other patients with non-small cell lung cancers who weren't given melatonin. A year later, 26 percent of the patients who had taken melatonin were still alive; whereas, none in the non-melatonin group remained alive.
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Smoking

Flashback Why smoking may have a health benefit


The Age
Sun, 11 Sep 2011 06:38 UTC
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Scientists have uncovered a gene that helps protect smokers from Parkinson's disease.

The medical world recently discovered that cigarette smoke decreases the risk of getting the degenerative neurological condition - but the genes responsible were a mystery.

US geneticist Professor Jeffrey Vance, from Duke University in North Carolina, has told the International Congress of Human Genetics in Brisbane he has found a gene that helps explain the link.

The gene - known as NOS2A - is found in every cell of the body and is responsible for the production of nitric oxide.

If too much is produced brain cells can die, leading to neuro-degenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
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Smoking

Flashback In China, cigarettes are a kind of miracle drug

Geoffrey York
Globe and Mail
Sat, 11 Jun 2005 05:46 UTC
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Guiyang, China - Here's some exciting medical news from the Chinese government: Smoking is great for your health.

Cigarettes, according to China's tobacco authorities, are an excellent way to prevent ulcers.

They also reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease, relieve schizophrenia, boost your brain cells, speed up your thinking, improve your reactions and increase your working efficiency.

And all those warnings about lung cancer? Nonsense

You're more likely to get cancer from cooking smoke than from your cigarette habit.

Welcome to the bizarre parallel universe of China's state-owned tobacco monopoly, the world's most successful cigarette-marketing agency.

With annual sales of 1.8 trillion cigarettes, the Chinese monopoly is responsible for almost one-third of all cigarettes smoked on the planet today.

Comment: Reality truly is stranger than fiction! The Communist Chinese government preaches truth to the masses while the Kafkaesque western governments go on overseas propaganda missions to peddle their falsehoods.

This was 6 years ago.

Since then, the Chinese government has folded to international pressure. We would LOVE to know what went on in those meetings.

China ban on smoking in public places comes into force

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Smoking

Indonesian research clinic ignores anti-smoking fascists, seeks to cure illnesses with tobacco smoke

Jon Meyersohn
ABC News
Wed, 07 Sep 2011 04:38 UTC
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At a clinic in East Java, a 3-year-old boy named Satrio lies on a medical table, squirming. His father holds him and his mother looks on as a technician blows tobacco smoke through a small tube onto the boy's skin.

Satrio, whose parents say he has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is part of a controversial study by Sutiman Bambang Sumitro, a molecular biology professor at the University of Brawijaya in Malang, Indonesia.

Sutiman and his colleagues believe that tobacco can be manipulated to treat illnesses, including cancer.

It has been decades since anyone in the U.S. proclaimed any possible health benefits from smoking. Thousands of international studies show tobacco is addictive and harmful to health. The World Health Organization says tobacco kills about half its users, or more than 5 million people annually. Even tobacco manufacturers have admitted smoking is dangerous and addictive.

Comment: WHO statistics are not worth the paper they are printed on. But it is true that big tobacco companies produce contaminated tobacco products which are dangerous. That is why it is important to seek out toxin-free tobacco. Tobacco is only addictive for those whose genetic profiles seem to require smoking to cope with the toxic and stressful global environment we live in:

Genetic link tied to smoking addiction

The Genetics of Smoking: Fundamental Biological Differences Revealed Between Smokers and Non-Smokers

Comment: Typical hack-job against smoking - no facts, just bald assertions! This clinic may or may not be onto something with its nanotechnology research, but the evidence that smoking unadulterated tobacco is beneficial continues to pile up:

5 Health Benefits of Smoking

Does Smoking Help Protect the Joints?

Dr. Gori on the passive smoking fraud

Smoking Helps Protect Against Lung Cancer

Health Benefits of Smoking Tobacco

Don't Quit Smoking! Longtime Smokers Less Likely to Develop Parkinson's Disease

Long-Term Smoking Protects Against Parkinson's, Study Confirms

Study: Quitting smoking increases risk of developing type 2 diabetes

Smoking 'Can Improve Schizophrenic Minds'

Tobacco plant-made therapeutic thwarts West Nile virus

Modified tobacco plant may block HIV

Tobacco used as medicine

Using tobacco plants to fight cancer

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Beaker

The Surprising 32-Year Scandal That's Kept This Toxic Substance in Your Head

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:14 UTC
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© news.harvard.edu
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), once the world's "gold standard" for food, drug, and device regulation, has evolved from industry regulator to industry captive.

Political scientists are not surprised. The evolution from tough regulator to passive regulator to industry captive is a pattern in Washington. Unless an agency engages in a major system of re-invigoration, the spiral continues. But the FDA seems comfortable being the hand-maiden for industry; it has brought big bucks to the agency and lucrative jobs after time at the FDA.

The big bucks are in the FDA's pay-to-play approval system. Drug companies pay seven-figure amounts into FDA coffers to gain approval of their drugs.

FDA staff knows that the cash means higher salaries and more perks in the agency budget. The drug companies know the high fees prevent small competitors with good ideas from getting their products to market. The coziness between the FDA and major drug and device companies gets tighter, while innovative entrepreneurs are shut out and the public loses twice: good drugs aren't being considered, and controversial drugs are rubber-stamped.

Comment: For a more in depth look at the issue of Mercury in Modern Dentistry read the following articles:

FDA to Review Science Behind Ruling on Mercury in Dental Fillings
FDA Reluctantly Admits Mercury Fillings Have Neurotoxic Effects on Children
Dental Fillings - Mercury Exposure At Dangerous Levels and Alzheimer's Disease
FDA, ADA Conspiracy to Poison Children with Toxic Mercury Fillings Exposed in Groundbreaking Lawsuit
FDA to Review Safety of Mercury Fillings
Mercury Dental Fillings: What the FDA and the ADA Are Not Telling You

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Health

Mother's Diet Can Positively Influence Infant Allergies


redOrbit
Fri, 09 Sep 2011 13:23 UTC
Mother's Diet
© redOrbit

According to new research, pregnant women can reduce the chances of their babies developing food allergies by eating a diet rich in fish oil and nuts.

Researchers found that omega-3 fatty acids prompt the gut to develop in a way that boosts the immune system.

The team from France's National Agricultural Research Institute (INRA) found that when pregnant women ate a diet high in a particular group of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), the gut walls of their offspring were more permeable.

"There is intense research interest in maternal diet during pregnancy.

In the western diet, the group of polyunsaturated fatty acids that we have shown to help gut function are actually disappearing - our dietary intake of fish and nut oils is being replaced by corn oils which contain a different kind of fatty acid," Dr Gaëlle Boudry, of the INRA research institute in Rennes, France, said in a press release.

"Our study identifies that a certain group of polyunsaturated fatty acids - known as n-3PUFAs - causes a change in how a baby's gut develops, which in turn might change how the gut immune system develops. These changes are likely to reduce the risk of developing allergies in later life."
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