And even worse scanners may be coming.

As we reported earlier this year, the full-body x-ray scanners used in airports are so dangerous that the European Union has banned them. The backscatter machines being used by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) emit "low" levels of ionizing radiation with an impact that is 10 to 20 times higher than the manufacturer's calculations. They are a cancer risk.

There have been press reports about these dangerous machines being removed. But you have to read the fine print. The backscatter machines are being taken out of the busier airports not because of documented safety concerns, but because they are slowing down the line! Many people opt out of a scan from the backscatter machines because of privacy concerns (the scanners display a nude image of each person scanned to TSA officers in a nearby room), choosing instead to undergo the physical screening instead. And this is causing long waits at some airports.

The machines aren't going away, however: they're merely being moved to smaller, less-busy airports. So the health risks (not to mention the invasion of privacy) will be just as great as before - but perhaps harder to avoid.

This study was published in Circulation 1990 Dec;82(6):1916-24 Study title and authors: An analysis of randomized trials evaluating the effect of cholesterol reduction on total mortality and coronary heart disease incidence. Holme I. Life Insurance Companies' Institute for Medical Statistics, Ullevaal Hospital, Oslo, Norway. This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2242517

The study investigated the relationship between cholesterol reduction and death rates by analysing the results of 19 randomized clinical cholesterol reduction intervention trials (by drugs and diet). The 19 trials included 103,598 subjects and lasted between two and ten years.

The study found that those who had the cholesterol lowering treatment had a 3.7% increased risk of death compared to those who had no cholesterol lowering treatment.

Pharmaceutical industry ads convey unrealistic expectations for fall-to-sleep time. The pills they shill do not always even work.

Many first heard of the uber sleeping pill, Ambien, in 2006 when former Rhode Island representative Patrick Kennedy drove to Capitol Hill under its influence to "vote" at 2:45 a.m., crashing his car. He had also been taking Phenergan, a gastroenteritis drug that can cause drowsiness, said published reports.

Soon Ambien-induced blackouts were so common, they captured the attention of public health agencies. The FDA issued warnings in 2007 about the potential of "complex sleep-related behaviors" with Ambien and 12 other sleeping pills that included "sleep-driving, making phone calls and preparing and eating food (while asleep)." Meanwhile, law enforcement officials reported traffic accidents increasing under Ambien's popularity with some drivers not even recognizing police officers there to arrest them. Dude! Help me get my car out of this ditch.

Then, horror stories began to circulate about blackout eating. Skinny dieters were waking up horrified amid mountains of pizza, Krispy Kreme donuts, and Häagen-Dazs cartons consumed by their evil twins when they took Ambien. Blackout eating became such a lifestyle problem - hours on the treadmill shot to hell - Sanofi-Aventis, Ambien's manufacturer, was forced to publish full page newspaper ads telling people if they were going to take Ambien, to get in bed and stay there. No calling for pizza delivery either.

Dead fish don't lie - except for a lot of the ones served in restaurants.

A new study from conservation group Oceana found that 39 percent of New York restaurant fish DNA-tested by the group was mislabeled. That, combined with past studies of Los Angeles (55 percent), Boston (48 percent), and Miami (31 percent), paints a sad and even scary picture of what diners can expect when they sit down at American seafood restaurants.

The aromatic thyme (Thymus Vulgaris) plant is a perennial and woody shrub harnessing square stems and attractive flowers. A member of the mint family, thyme is an herb that originates in the Mediterranean basin and has a number of varieties, each with its own distinctive oil composition. Thyme is a powerful herb, popular in aromatherapy - so it must be used with caution and care. Do know, though, that the health benefits of thyme are very real.

Thymus vularis ct. linalol is recommended by herbalists as an effective and safe beginner herb for children and the elderly. Other varieties are more potent, and their use should be reserved for qualified herbalists with experience in using them. The volatile essential oils in thyme are packed with anti-septic, anti-viral, anti-rheumatic, anti-parasitic and anti-fungal properties, which explains why thyme-based formulas are used as an expectorant, diuretic, fungicide and antibiotic.

Thyme is also a powerful detoxifying agent, making it one of many liver detox foods. What's more, the herb is a great immune system booster that encourages white blood cell formation while increasing resistance to foreign organisms. With cold and flu season upon us, considering adding thyme-based formulas to the medicine cabinet is a great idea. There is a reason the health benefits of thyme has been experienced for all of time.

The placebo effect is one of the most misunderstood, misrepresented, misused and maligned effects of health and medical products.

Placebo is an interesting word, the definition of which helps to create a false image of the placebo effect. Placebo, according to Webster, is "a usually pharmacologically inert preparation prescribed more for the mental relief of the patient than for its actual effect on a disorder". Written as if placebos do not provide physical relief. But they do.

Many doctors prescribe 'placebos' because they recognize that mental relief is an important aspect of physical relief. Even if they don't understand the details. These doctors are not 'deceiving', they are acting in the best interests of the patient. They often prescribe 'patent medicines' that, in theory, will have no effect on the condition, rather than an alternative medicine - because paying more, and going to a pharmacy, increases the placebo effect.

Some doctors recognize that drugs with an actual effect - not specifically related to the patients (untreatable by medicine) condition have a stronger placebo effect. In those cases, the most effective placebo is not an inert pill, but one that the patient can 'feel working'.

Not even nutrient-related disease! Our executive director's gripping report from the front lines.

As we discussed last week, ANH-USA attended the international Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses, which met last week in Germany. Our executive director, Gretchen DuBeau, reports that the committee made a number of decisions that may well affect natural health in the US.

Here in the US, we have been debating various issues concerning natural health: Will we retain access to a wide variety of dietary supplements in high-nutrient-level dosages? Will we be able to access nutritious, healthy foods, or will selection and quality diminish because of industry or government control? Will we finally achieve mandatory labeling for GMOs? We naturally think that, if we are able to convince our policymakers, our rights will be protected. But we could be wrong. We have to keep a close eye on what happens overseas too.

Codex, which was established by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is creating international guidelines for member nations to follow. And while these guidelines are supposed to be voluntary, it is conceivable that our country's food policies could be overridden by international trade law. At the very least, the wrong international guidelines won't make it easier to keep the right ones here.

One of the reasons grains may be such a problem to eat is because they contain lectins - in addition to gluten. Although gluten in wheat, rye and barley has gotten the headlines, lectins are a bigger problem, according to Sayer Ji, author of The Dark Side of Wheat.

Wheat found in bread today (triticum aestivum) is a far cry from the bread of Roman times. It has been genetically tweaked - not genetically modified, but aggressively crossbred and hybridized. And with all that hybridization, the gluten content of some varieties has increased by as much as 50 percent.

Wheat also contains a lectin known as wheat germ agglutinin (WGA). Lectins are sugar-binding proteins. In plants, lectins serve as a natural defense system to fight off mold and parasites. When plants sense an invader, lectins counterattack by binding to the foreign sugar molecules to stop the unwanted cells in their tracks. That is good news for the plants.

But when lectins get into your body, they are still programmed to attack sugar molecules. That is bad news for your digestive system, which is lined with sugar-containing cells that help you break down food. Lectins are drawn right to that lining, and your immune system retaliates.

Lectins are found in all foods, but in some more than others. All seeds of the grass family - wheat, rye, rice, spelt, etc. - are high in lectins. You also find lectins in beans, dairy and in the nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant). According to a 1991 study, dairy may be potentially more harmful in pasteurized, processed milk because of the reduction of SIgA, an immunoglobulin that binds dangerous lectins.

Five patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center became infected after a heart surgeon operated with an inflammation on his hands

Five heart patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center contracted staph infections after a doctor operated on them with bacteria on his hands, the hospital said this week.

The doctor, whom the hospital declined to name, had an inflammation on his hand when he implanted replacement heart valves into five patients last June.

He wore gloves, but they developed microscopic tears, the hospital said, causing the infection to pass to patients.

Mothers can pass their drinking habits down to their children, experts from a British think-tank warned.

Researchers at the think-tank Demos analyzed a survey of 17,000 adults in their 30s. The participants were asked how often their mother and father drank when they were 16, with options like always, often, sometimes or never.

Researchers found that teenagers who had mothers who "always" drank were nearly twice as likely to have alcohol problems in adulthood.

Many middle class parents "reach for a bottle of wine at night to cope with the stress," and while adult may think that their drinking may have "no impact on their families," researchers said that this habit may be obstructing their ability to be effective parents, Daily Mail reported.

Experts at Demos estimated that a fifth of UK children or a total of 2.5 million children live with a parent with a bad drinking habit.

Researchers stressed that the example set by a family member is significantly more important than the minimum price per unit of alcohol, currently being proposed in the UK.