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Why high fat diets are not fattening

Because it's called fat, it makes sense and is intuitive to believe that fat is fattening. It's also rich in calories compared to carbohydrate or protein. The thing is, though, the evidence does not strongly link fat-eating with obesity, and eating low-fat diets are, on the whole, spectacularly ineffective for the purposes of weight loss. Never mind what common sense may dictate, taken as a whole the evidence suggests fat is not particularly fattening after all.

To understand how this can be it helps to understand a little about what influences the accumulation of fat in the fat cells. One key player here is the hormone insulin. This hormone predisposes the body to fatty accumulation through a variety of mechanisms, including enhanced uptake of fat into the fat cells (through activation of the enzyme lipoprotein lipase) and suppression of fat release (by inhibiting the enzyme hormone-sensitive lipase). Here's the thing: fat does not stimulate insulin secretion directly. Is it possibly then that someone could eat a diet of nothing but fat and lose weight, even if they were not in calorie deficit?

This concept may sound far-fetched to some, but there is some evidence for it. One piece of evidence comes in the form of a study in which individuals, on separate occasions, were allowed no food or fed with fat into a vein.

Syringe

Drug Resistance Hampers Fight Against Tuberculosis

Rising rates of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (TB) are hampering world health programs aimed at tackling TB and threaten to wipe out progress made against the disease, scientists said on Friday.

Experts from the World Health Organization and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said they were concerned about spreading multidrug-resistant TB, known as MDR TB, in Europe, and the persistence of TB among children.

A second report, in The Lancet medical journal, said sub-Saharan Africa was disproportionately affected and accounted for four of every five cases of tuberculosis linked to HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS.

"Increasing rates of drug-resistant TB in eastern Europe, Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa now threaten to undermine the gains made by worldwide tuberculosis control programs," said researchers in The Lancet.

TB kills an estimated 1.7 million people each year and the worldwide number of new cases -- more than 9 million -- is higher than at any other time in history, they said.

According to data from the WHO's European office, reported rates of TB have been falling in Europe since 2005 with a regional average of 36.8 notifications per 100,000 population in 2009. But notification rates of newly detected and relapsed TB cases in 18 high-priority countries remain almost eight times higher than in the rest of the region, the WHO data show.

Comment: Low levels of Vitamin D have been found to correspond to the progression of tuberculosis according to the CDC.

Vitamin D has also been shown to play a critical role in the human body's response to tuberculosis.


Life Preserver

Healing Japan: Psychological Fallout Could Last Years

Distress, Nuclear Anxiety, PTSD in the Years to Come

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© Toshiyuki Tsunenari/APA woman reacts amidst debris caused by Friday's massive earthquake and the ensuing tsunami, in Natori, northern Japan.
The trauma doesn't seem to end for Japan: First earthquake, then tsunami, now a country with more than 4,000 known dead and nearly 10,000 more missing must cope with the threat of nuclear contamination.

Although officials are still struggling to meet the immediate, physical needs of survivors, the psychological wounds of this disaster, for those directly impacted and the nation as a whole, will leave their imprint for years, even decades, to come, psychologists say.

Beyond the practical aspects of rebuilding, how does a devastated nation restore the minds and hearts of its people and stave off long-term psychological distress? Even as relief efforts fight to get food, baby formula, water, and oil to the affected region, post-trauma mental health care has already begun.

Psychiatric teams have gone into the area, says Dr. Makiko Okuyama, head of the Department of Psychosocial Medicine at the National Center for Child Health Development, who is part of the relief effort now in Japan.

Wine

English booze shocker: 3-year-old treated for alcoholism

Talk about underage drinking.

Authorities in England say a 3-year-old there was recently treated for alcoholism. The unnamed child had been given alcohol regularly, a trust that runs three hospitals in central England confirmed on Tuesday.

The case highlights a new low in Britain's struggle to control a binge-drinking culture. which has seen alcohol-related deaths double in the past two decades.

Of course, England isn't the only country to struggle with an underage drinking problem.
Alcohol baby
© Credit: CBS/The Early Show

X

MOX plutonium fuel used in Fukushima's Unit 3 reactor two million times more deadly than enriched uranium

Largely absent from most mainstream media reports on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is the fact that a highly-dangerous "mixed-oxide" (MOX) fuel is present in six percent of the fuel rods at the plant's Unit 3 reactor. Why is MOX a big deal? According to the Nuclear Information Resource Center (NIRS), this plutonium-uranium fuel mixture is far more dangerous than typical enriched uranium -- a single milligram (mg) of MOX is as deadly as 2,000,000 mg of normal enriched uranium.

On March 14, Unit 3 of the Fukushima reactor exploded, sending a huge smoke plume into the air. This particular reactor, of course, contains the rods fueled with MOX. You can watch a clip of that explosion here:


If even a couple milligrams of MOX were released during this explosion -- or if other explosions at the plant inflict any damage on the MOX-filled rods -- then the consequences could be exponentially more devastating than the mere leakage of enriched uranium. And since nobody knows for sure exactly which rods have been damaged, and whether or not the situation can actually be contained, it is only a matter of time before the world finds out for sure.

Family

Dangers Of General Electric's Mark 1 Reactors Known For 40 Years (GE)

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© Unknown
The New York Times reported this week that the Mark 1 nuclear reactors were developed in the 1960s by General Electric (NYSE: GE).

As far back as 1972, there were warnings that, if a Mark 1 reactor's cooling system failed, the fuel rods would overheat and, as a result, the primary containment vessel surrounding the reactor would burst, spilling radiation into the environment. That warning is dangerously close to becoming a premonition, with a containment vessel damaged at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan.

Soon after GE began production of the Mark 1 reactors, American regulators began identifying weaknesses. Stephen H. Hanauer, then a safety official with the Atomic Energy Commission, said in 1972 that the Mark 1 system should be discontinued because, among other concerns, the smaller containment design is more susceptible to explosion and rupture from a buildup of hydrogen, which may be the case at Fukushima Daiichi.

Also in 1972, Joseph HenGdry, who later became the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said that while the idea of banning Mark 1 systems was attractive, it could also spell "the end of nuclear power" due to the fact that the technology had become so widely accepted.

Family

Wholesale prices up 1.6 percent on steep rise in food

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© Associated Press/Al Behrmann this March 1, 2011 photo, a customer looks at fresh vegetables at a Kroger Co. supermarket in Cincinnati. Wholesale prices jumped last month by the most in nearly two years due to higher energy costs and the steepest rise in food prices in 36 years.
Washington -- Wholesale prices jumped last month by the most in nearly two years due to higher energy costs and the steepest rise in food prices in 36 years. Excluding those volatile categories, inflation was tame.

The Labor Department said Wednesday that the Producer Price Index rose a seasonally adjusted 1.6 percent in February -- double the 0.8 percent rise in the previous month. Outside of food and energy costs, the core index ticked up 0.2 percent, less than January's 0.5 percent rise.

Food prices soared 3.9 percent last month, the biggest gain since November 1974. Most of that increase was due to a sharp rise in vegetable costs, which increased nearly 50 percent. That was the most in almost a year. Meat and dairy products also rose.

Energy prices rose 3.3 percent last month, led by a 3.7 percent increase in gasoline costs.

Cut

How Sweet It Isn't! Cutting Through the Hype and Deception of High Fructose Corn Syrup

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© Alliance for Natural Health
"Corn sugar"? It's high-fructose corn syrup by any other name, and it's dangerous. What sweeteners are safe? What's not? You may be surprised at the latest research.

Last September, manufacturers of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) asked the federal government for permission to sweeten its image with a new name: "corn sugar." Their TV ads say, "Your body can't tell the difference between corn sugar and cane sugar." A popular website, Sweet Scam, purports to clear up the confusion, while condemning "activist groups like the Weston A. Price Foundation, Joseph Mercola, and the Naturopathy Movement, which have perpetuated unfounded myths about sweeteners [and] completely ignore the scientific and nutritional evidence to backup [sic] their outlandish claims."

The website was created by the Center for Consumer Freedom, a lobby begun with $600,000 from the Philip Morris tobacco company, and is sponsored by restaurant and food companies like Arby's, Tyson Foods, HMSHost Corp, and Wendy's. So much for impartiality.

Beaker

Mercury-Containing Medicines: Harmful to Children

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© drmercola.com
New studies have linked mercury to serious harm in children. These peer-reviewed publications provide pertinent scientific findings at a crucial juncture in the ongoing debate about the dangers of using mercury in medicine.

In the past three months, various governmental groups have explored mercury-related health risks.

Most recently, concerned about the growing mercury poisoning of the environment, the United Nations Environmental Programme's Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee met in January 2011 to continue its development of a worldwide 'mercury treaty'. Members of various groups from the United States attended the convention, including representatives from the Coalition for Mercury-Free Drugs (CoMeD), a Maryland-based non-profit group and UN-recognized non-governmental organization (NGO) founded with the goal of stopping the use of mercury in medicine and dentistry.

Comment: For more information about mercury and thimerosal being 'potentially damaging to the health of children' read the following:

Pediatric Love Affair with Mercury Continues

FDA Reluctantly Admits Mercury Fillings Have Neurotoxic Effects on Children

Dangerous Mercury Contamination of Human Body Increasing, Study Finds
Now comes this worrisome news: deposits of mercury in the bodies of Americans are increasing at an alarming rate and the health repercussions could be staggering.

Mercury especially targets the liver, the immune system and the pituitary gland. Numerous studies have associated chronic mercury exposure with elevated risks for autism, mental impairment and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. Previous research by U.S. Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) researchers estimated that chronic mercury exposure caused between 300,000 and 600,000 American children to be born with elevated risks of neurodevelopmental disorders between 1999 and 2000.

A new University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) study of government data on more than 6,000 women in the US found not only that mercury loads in bodies are increasing but it also identified significant associations between chronic mercury exposure and immune and endocrine system functions. The research specifically revealed that levels of the pituitary hormone, lutropin (also called luteinizing hormone) are significantly associated with chronic mercury exposure. This could explain a mechanism for how mercury causes or contributes to degenerative and neurodevelopmental diseases.
The following is helpful information about how to detox mercury from your body:

Detoxification: Heavy Metals, Mercury and how to get rid of them

Mercury: How to Get this Lethal Poison Out of Your Body

Health Videos: Mercury Amalgams, Toxic Chemicals and Foods, Activated Charcoal


Health

Mitigating Japanese Nuclear Radiation Exposure Toxicity

The unfolding disaster in Japan now threatens the health of millions of people in the short term, and many more in the long term. Now more than ever there is a need for evidence-based natural preventive and therapeutic approaches to mitigating radiotoxicity. Sayer Ji, founder of http://www.greenmedinfo.com explains a resource that is the byproduct of two years of information gathering on the topic of reducing Radiation Disaster Associated Toxicity. There are over 100 substances listed which are foods, spices and nutrients which may contribute greatly to reducing suffering associated with this event.