Health & WellnessS


Beaker

Nanoparticles Cause Brain Injury in Fish


ScienceDaily
Sun, 18 Sep 2011 10:37 UTC
nanoparticles
© n/a
Scientists at the University of Plymouth have shown, for the first time in an animal, that nanoparticles have a detrimental effect on the brain and other parts of the central nervous system.

They subjected rainbow trout to titanium oxide nanoparticles which are widely used as a whitening agent in many products including paints, some personal care products, and with applications being considered for the food industry. They found that the particles caused vacuoles (holes) to form in parts of the brain and for nerve cells in the brain to die. Although some effects of nanoparticles have been shown previously in cell cultures and other in vitro systems this is the first time it has been confirmed in a live vertebrate.

The results will be presented at the "6th International meeting on the Environmental Effects on Nanoparticles and Nanomaterials" (21st -- 23rd September) at the Royal Society in London.

"It is not certain at this stage of the research whether these effects are caused by the nanoparticles entering the brain or whether it is a secondary effect of nanoparticle chemistry or reactivity," says Professor Richard Handy, lead scientist.
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Family

Saccharin: A Sweet Sugar or Toxic Danger?


Natural Health Sherpa
Wed, 21 Sep 2011 06:37 UTC
If someone dared you to eat coal tar, would you? Would you happily sip it down or gleefully sprinkle it on your morning cereal?

Probably not. After all, you'd have to be crazy to knowingly consume something as awful sounding as coal tar.

But what if I told you it was sweet? Really sweet. As in 700 times sweeter than sugar. Would that matter?

Before you answer an emphatic "no," consider this. Not only have you likely eaten or drank this mysterious coal-derived sweetener, it graces virtually every table in restaurants across the country.

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Ambulance

UK: Chlorhexidine Mouthwash Kills Young Woman at Dentist


Ninemsn.com
Fri, 16 Sep 2011 06:30 UTC
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Sacha Rumaner died within minutes of washing her mouth.
An English woman died in the dentist's chair after suffering a deadly reaction to mouthwash, an inquest has heard.

Sacha Rumaner was receiving treatment for a suspected infected tooth at a Brighton dental clinic in February when she began complaining of feeling hot and itchy after rinsing with household mouthwash Corsodyl.

She then suffered an anaphylactic shock and slid onto the floor, dying within minutes.
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Smoking

Best of the Web: Science is conclusive: Tobacco increases work capacity

Niels Ipsen & Klaus Kjellerup
Den Gule Negl
Sun, 20 Mar 2011 15:22 UTC
Image
© Graham Jeffery/brighthub.com
  • Nicotine improves human brain performance
  • Is the bad reputation of smoking undeserved?
  • Professor: About time the positive side of tobacco is emphasised
By Niels Ipsen, environmental biologist, and Klaus Kjellerup, researcher.

New Analysis Summary: Update Of 40 Years Of Nicotine Research

According to public health officials, tobacco has no benefits at all: "A harmful and unnecessary product," says the WHO (World Health Organization), which has lobbied national governments to combat tobacco use since 19751.

The Danish anti-smoking lobby wants a total ban on tobacco: "We can not see what tobacco contributes," said the Cancer Society. "A smoke-free society should not be an unreasonable policy objective," they say in the Danish health directorate2.

Since the 1960's authorities worldwide have focused exclusively on the health hazards of tobacco, and thus given it a very negative image. Their many anti-smoking campaigns may have made the world forget that tobacco use also has positive aspects. But as we know, any issue always has at least two sides, and now the positive effects of tobacco have resurfaced in the scientific literature.

After 40 years of scientific research on the effects of nicotine, researchers now say that they have sound scientific proof that smoking and nicotine have a significant positive effect on human brain performance.

The brain works better when it gets nicotine - almost like an optimized computer. Nicotine is a "work-drug" that enables its consumers to focus better and think faster. The brain also becomes more enduring, especially in smokers: Nicotine experiments show that smokers in prolonged working situations are able to maintain concentration for many hours longer than non-smokers.

Comment: Any questions?

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Red Flag

15 Food Companies That Serve You 'Wood'

Miriam Reimer
TheStreet.com
Sat, 12 Mar 2011 15:40 UTC
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Wood pulp, or cellulose, in processed food! Are you getting what you pay for on your plate?
The recent class-action lawsuit brought against Taco Bell raised questions about the quality of food many Americans eat each day.

Chief among those concerns is the use of cellulose (wood pulp), an extender whose use in a roster of food products, from crackers and ice creams to puddings and baked goods, is now being exposed. What you're actually paying for - and consuming - may be surprising.

Cellulose is virgin wood pulp that has been processed and manufactured to different lengths for functionality, though use of it and its variant forms (cellulose gum, powdered cellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, etc.) is deemed safe for human consumption, according to the FDA, which regulates most food industry products. The government agency sets no limit on the amount of cellulose that can be used in food products meant for human consumption. The USDA, which regulates meats, has set a limit of 3.5% on the use of cellulose, since fiber in meat products cannot be recognized nutritionally.
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Attention

Avoiding Artificial Sweeteners? This Study Will Surprise You...

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:02 UTC
Image
© iStockphoto.com
For those of you who are aware of the health dangers posed by artificial sweeteners and dutifully avoid them, the featured study findings may come as a shocking surprise...

Researchers have found that the artificial sweetener sucralose (Splenda) is a widespread contaminant in waste water, surface water, and ground water. In a recent test, water samples from 19 U.S. drinking water treatment plants serving more than 28 million people were analyzed for sucralose. The sweetener was found to be present in:
  • The source water of 15 out of 19 of drinking water treatment plants tested
  • The finished water of 13 out of 17 plants, and
  • In 8 out of 12 water distribution systems
The average amounts of sucralose in source water and finished water was 440 ng/L and 350 ng/L respectively.
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Smoking

British government to introduce plain packaging to deter youths from smoking

Richard White
The Guardian
Tue, 20 Sep 2011 11:50 UTC
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© Alex Segre/AlamyThere's little evidence to show that plain packaging will deter young people from buying cigarettes.
Forcing cigarette manufacturers to introduce plain packaging, following Australia's lead, will not prevent young people smoking, says Richard White

Australia's health minister Nicola Roxon is aiming for the country to be the first to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes. In what she calls a "courageous" move against the tobacco industry, legislation is expected to come into force on 1 July 2012 that will make all packets a uniform olive green with the name of the brand in small type. The World Medical Association has called on other governments to follow Australia's example.

Here in the UK, health secretary Andrew Lansley says he wants to look at the idea of introducing plain packaging so that brightly-coloured cigarette packets do not lure youths into smoking. The coalition government will launch an official consultation by the end of the year to discuss introducing plain packaging in England as part of its tobacco control plan. It is unlikely to happen soon, however, as ministers and the Department of Health have stated that they want to judge the effectiveness of the measure in Australia before making a firm decision.

Comment: See, your government cares about your children! Nevermind that they have indentured them and their children to lifetimes of debt slavery and promote foods that are killing them slowly, tobacco must be the culprit!

And now for the propaganda antidote: Pestilence, the Great Plague and the Tobacco Cure

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Cookie

Kid's Health: Food Allergies, Diet and Child Behavior

Andrea Dashiell
Parentmap.com
Mon, 29 Aug 2011 07:43 UTC
Image
© Unknown
When Jodi Sternoff Cohen of Seattle became overwhelmed by her then-4-year-old son's hyperactivity - and his recurring bouts of vomiting, rashes and ear infections - she searched for solutions in every parenting class and book she could get her hands on. And yet, no matter which method or approach she tried, nothing seemed to help.

"Everywhere we went, I felt like this total failure who couldn't control my child," Cohen says. She knew her family needed help, but when doctors suggested treating the ear infections with tubes and the behavior (which they thought may be attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, commonly known as ADHD) with medication, she resisted. "I didn't think it was necessary. There had to be a different way."

Comment: For further information regarding a healthy diet, see these Sott links:

ADHD: It's The Food, Stupid

Everything About Fat

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Ambulance

First, Let Them Get Sick


Seth's Blog
Tue, 20 Sep 2011 07:03 UTC
Image
© Unknown
In Cities and the Wealth of Nations, Jane Jacobs tells how, in the 1920s, one of her aunts moved to an isolated North Carolina village to, among other things, have a church built. The aunt suggested to the villagers that the church be built out of the large stones in a nearby river. The villagers scoffed: Impossible. They had not just forgotten how to build with stone, they had forgotten it was possible.

A similar forgetting has taken place among influential Western intellectuals - the people whose words you read every day. Recently I wrote about why health care is so expensive. One reason is that the central principle of our health care is not the meaningless advertising slogan promoted by doctors ("first, do no harm") but rather the entirely nasty first, let them get sick. Let people get sick. Then we (doctors, etc.) can make money from them. This is actually how the system works.
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People

With more talk in mind

John Read
National Times AU
Thu, 15 Sep 2011 06:41 UTC
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© Robin Cowcher.
Serious problems in Victoria's mental health system have been revealed recently in The Age. The important thing now is to find solutions. In doing so we should remember that although Victoria is in the spotlight, similar ''crises'' occur regularly all over the world. Perhaps this is because Victoria is not alone in having a system based on fundamentally flawed principles.

Mental health services have become increasingly dominated by psychiatry's ''medical model'', which claims that feeling depressed, anxious or paranoid is primarily caused by genetic predispositions and chemical imbalances.

This has led to alarming rises in chemical solutions to distress. In New Zealand, one in nine adults (and one in five women) is prescribed antidepressants every year.
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