Health & WellnessS


Better Earth

In Defense of Nutritious, Delicious Grassfed Butter

Stanley A. Fishman
Tender Grassfed Meat
Sun, 26 Jun 2011 06:57 UTC
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The domination of our government by the large agricultural industry has led to some of the most ignorant and ill-advised nutritional advice in the history of our planet. I thought the idiotic "food pyramid" with its emphasis on dead carbohydrates as the foundation of diet and its demonizing of healthy fats and protein was as bad as it was going to get.

I truly did underestimate our government. The replacement for the "food pyramid," "MyPlate," is even worse.

The first clue as to how bad this is comes when you look at the plate, at "choosemyplate.gov." The plate has sections for fruit, vegetables, grains, and protein. There is also a small circle labeled dairy. The text on the page informs us that the dairy should be 1% fat, or less. But there is no place for the most important food group, fats. To our government, fat is no longer a food.

I know that the most nutritious food ever discovered is the butter from grassfed animals. But where in "MyPlate" is the butter?
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Bell

US - Arizona Death: Possible Connection to E.Coli Outbreak

R. Leigh Coleman
Christianpost.com
Sat, 25 Jun 2011 17:15 UTC
More deadly than previous outbreaks, doctors say

The death of an Arizona patient could be linked to the deadly German E. coli epidemic that caused 29 deaths and sickened thousands, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday. The outbreak has alarmed doctors, who have never seen such an aggressive intestinal bacteria before.

U.S. health officials say the epidemic was more deadly than previous outbreaks because it combined dangerous characteristics of two different strains of the bacteria. The unusual combination of traits makes it more likely for infected people to develop a potentially fatal kidney complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, researchers said.

There are already five confirmed cases in the U.S., but the Arizona man would be the first death directly linked to the outbreak in Europe.

It has been confirmed that the man had recently visited Germany, according to a statement by the CDC.

His death is currently under investigation but health officials say he did have hemolytic uremic syndrome (kidney failure) similar to the hundreds of afflicted people in Europe.

The massive outbreak has sickened 3,601 people, including 815 with HUS, and killed 39, according to the Robert Koch Institute.
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Ambulance

Pharmageddon: America's Top Selling Statins Cause Diabetes

Dr. Mark Hyman
drhyman.com
Sat, 25 Jun 2011 13:51 UTC
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© drhyman.com
If all doctors followed the latest cholesterol treatment guidelines, and all their patients took their prescribed statin medication, there would be 3.5 million more diabetics in America. But wait! There is another pill (injection actually) that has been shown to reduce the risk of diabetes. And it's only about $50,000 per year per patient. Let's see 3.5 million times $50,000. What does that bring us to?

Pharmageddon!

We are stuck in an absurd cultural habit of thinking that medication will save us from lifestyle and social diseases.

Two separate studies in today's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) underscore that we have come to the end of an era of being saved by medication. Antibiotics and vaccines were a huge advance in medicine in the 20th century. But the single pill for the single ill just doesn't work for 21st century chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes.
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Attention

Consequences of systematic poisoning? 350 million adults have diabetes: Study reveals the scale of global epidemic


Imperial College London
Sat, 25 Jun 2011 13:25 UTC
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© Unknown
A major international study collating and analyzing worldwide data on diabetes since 1980 has found that the number of adults with the disease reached 347 million in 2008, more than double the number in 1980. The research, published today in The Lancet, reveals that the prevalence of diabetes has risen or at best remained unchanged in virtually every part of the world over the last three decades.

Diabetes occurs when the cells of the body are not able to take up sugar in the form of glucose. As a consequence, the amount of glucose in the blood is higher than normal. Over time, this raises the risk of heart disease and stroke, and can also cause damage to the kidneys, nerves and retinas. High blood glucose and diabetes are responsible for over three million deaths worldwide each year.

The new study found that between 1980 and 2008, the number of adults with diabetes rose from 153 million to 347 million. Seventy per cent of the rise was due to population growth and ageing, with the other 30 per cent due to higher prevalence. The proportion of adults with diabetes rose to 9.8 per cent of men and 9.2 per cent of women in 2008, compared with 8.3 per cent of men and 7.5 per cent of women in 1980.

The estimated number of diabetics was considerably higher than a previous study in 2009 which put the number worldwide at 285 million.
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Ambulance

Deadly New Strain: Hong Kong confirms second scarlet fever death


TerraDaily
Thu, 23 Jun 2011 01:02 UTC
Scarlet fever
© Kronawitter/Wikimedia CommonsStrawberry tongue from scarlet fever.

Hong Kong health authorities on Thursday confirmed that a five-year-old boy had died from scarlet fever, the second death in the southern Chinese city as dozens of new cases were reported.

The number of infections in the territory has soared above 500, according to health authorities, who said that more than 9,000 people had been infected in the Chinese mainland -- doubling the average figure in recent years.

Local scientists said the outbreak may be linked to a deadly new strain of the disease which could make it more contagious than before.

It was discovered by researchers at the University of Hong Kong and appears to be resistant to antibiotics traditionally used to fight the illness.
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Mr. Potato

Potatoes New Villain in Fat Epidemic


The Dominion Post
Fri, 24 Jun 2011 05:00 UTC
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© expressionsofsoul.com
The villain of the obesity epidemic isn't cupcakes, fizzy drink or the Double Down - it's the humble potato, no matter which way you slice it.

A long-running Harvard University study has found that daily consumption of an extra serving of spuds - french fried, sliced into crispy chippies, mashed with butter and garlic, or simply boiled or baked - caused more weight gain than downing an extra can of sugary drink or eating an extra helping of red or processed meats.

After tracking the diet and lifestyle of more than 120,000 people from around the United States for at least 12 years, researchers calculated that participants gained about 360 grams a year. Their findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine this week.

Comment: It's not just potatoes that are the culprit, but eating a diet high in carbohydrates. For more information on the link between carbohydrates and obesity read the review of Gary Taubes book Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It.

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Info

More Details on the Mysterious German Microbe

Ross Anderson
Food Safety News
Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:00 UTC
E.coli
© unknownE.coli
Bit by bit, gene by gene, doctors and researchers in Germany and around the globe are cobbling together a profile of the microbe responsible for Europe's alarming outbreak of food poisoning.

Even as the grim toll climbed to 3,800 sick and 44 deaths, online articles in medical journals continue to shed light on the suspect bacteria known as E. coli O104:H4. And the authors appear to support the conclusion that the rare strain has properties that make it unusually toxic to its victims.

"Taken together, these data suggest that the pathogen in the current outbreak is exceptionally virulent," concluded a team of German doctors whose article was published online this week by the New England Journal of Medicine.

However, health authorities in the U.S. continued to cast doubt on the staggering statistics coming out of Germany. While the epidemic has undoubtedly been unusual, actual statistics depend on how health authorities define and diagnose illnesses, and how many less-severe cases may have gone unreported.

Either way, the latest papers affirm previous reports that the German E. coli strain has the pathogenic traits of two previously known strains -- a Shiga toxin similar to that of the more familiar E. coli O157:H7; and an ability to stack itself like bricks and cling to the interior surface of the intestine, thereby maximizing its ability to convey poison to its host.
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Question

To Salt or Not to Salt, That is the Question


Newswise
Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:46 UTC
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© telling-secrets.blogspot.com
A new eight year long European study concludes that salt consumption is not dangerous and may in fact be beneficial. This is certainly contrary to advice from American Medical Association, American Heart Association and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, which says higher sodium consumption can increase the risk of heart disease. It's not unusual to see differing opinions, but what are we ordinary folks to make of the controversy?

The study followed 3,681 middle-aged Europeans who did not have high blood pressure or heart disease at the start of the study. They were divided into three groups: low salt; moderate salt; and high salt consumption. There were 50 deaths in the low salt group, 24 in the moderate consumption group and only 10 in the high consumption group. In fact, the heart disease risk in the low consumption group was 56% higher in the low salt group. What they concluded was that the less salt the participants ate, the more likely they would die from heart disease.

Comment: For more information about salt consumption and the benefits of natural salts read the following articles:

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Radar

Climate Change May Worsen Plague

Katharine Gammon
LiveScience
Tue, 14 Jun 2011 09:50 UTC
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© Flicker/Todd Huffman
When the climate gets wetter, plagues can get worse, according to a new study that reveals why the plague was much worse in China's north than in the south.

The results also suggest that climate change could mean more virulent plagues in northern China and North America, as parts of the globe get wetter.

A bacterium called Yersinia pestis, which is carried by rodents, is responsible for three types of plague: bubonic (also called Black Death), septicemic and pneumonic plague. Together, these illnesses have been responsible for the deaths of millions of people the world over, including an estimated third of Europe's population during the Middle Ages. While modern antibiotics can effectively treat plague, thousands of cases are still reported each year to the World Health Organization, and the bacterium has been identified as a possible biological warfare agent.

Comment: Although science considers plague to be controllable with antibiotics (regardless of drug resistance) the actual source and methods of dispersal may not be known or accepted at this time. New ideas contrary to popular beliefs are now emerging.

New Light on the Black Death: The Cosmic Connection

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Health

Congo cholera outbreak spreads to populous capital

Richard Valdmanis and Kevin Liffey
Reuters
Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:12 UTC
A cholera epidemic that has already killed 32 people in Democratic Republic of Congo has spread to the capital Kinshasa, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

Three cases of the deadly waterborne disease have been confirmed since last week in Kinshasa, home to at least 9 million people, many of whom live in cramped, unsanitary conditions.

"If there's an epidemic here it will be very, very dangerous," said Eugene Kabambi, communications officer for the WHO. "People are living in very precarious conditions, there are zones along the river which are very exposed."

Traders traveling by boat down the Congo River are bringing the disease from Bandundu province, he said, near an area where an outbreak has infected more than 680 people and killed 32 this month.
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