Health & WellnessS


Attention

Did You Just Eat a Plastic Bag? How Plastic Pollution Has Entered Our Food Chain

Lisa Kaas Boyle
Huffington Post
Thu, 06 Jan 2011 14:48 UTC
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© nakedmaninthetree.wordpress.comPlastic Pollution in the Ocean
Many of us limit our intake of tuna and swordfish due to high mercury levels in those fish, but research is just beginning to show that we are consuming many other chemicals through our seafood, and our disposable plastic waste may be a potent source of this contamination. This article will take you on a possible journey from your plastic bag, to the ocean, and back to your dinner plate with a fish that may have fed on a plastic bag. Has our quest for convenience with throw away plastics led to contaminated fish?

Comment: To learn more about the plague of plastic contaminating the world's oceans read the following articles:

What is the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch?

Pacific Ocean garbage patch worries researchers

Plastic trash vortex menaces Pacific sealife: study

The world's rubbish dump: a garbage pit that stretches from Hawaii to Japan

New garbage patch discovered in Indian Ocean

Huge Garbage Patch Found in Atlantic Too

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Health

Broccoli Reduces Bouts of Crohn's Disease


Times of India
Fri, 07 Jan 2011 14:28 UTC
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© n/a
Plantain and broccoli fiber could help prevent relapses of Crohn's disease, a new study suggests.

Crohn's disease is a condition, in which the intestines can become painfully inflamed, causing diarrhea, vomiting and weight loss.

Now scientists have found that certain types of soluable fiber can help prevent bacteria from sticking to the gut's walls, and hence reduce the progress of the disease.
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Sheeple

Animal feed in Germany tainted with dioxin at 77 times permitted level


BBC News
Fri, 07 Jan 2011 14:16 UTC
Newly released test results have revealed much more of a toxic chemical in tainted animal feed than previously thought.

The tests at the plant in northern Germany where the contamination happened revealed levels of dioxin at 77 times the permitted level. The plant produces fats to be used in industrial processes like paper-making as well as to enrich feeds for animals.

The dioxin-laden industrial substance went into the animal feed ingredient.

Initially the scare was confined to Germany, but then it emerged that a batch of affected eggs had been exported to the Netherlands for processing and from there to Britain. The processed eggs were destined for use in the production of a variety of foodstuffs including mayonnaise, cakes and quiches.

Some 4,700 German farms have been banned from making deliveries after tests at the Harles und Jentzsch plant in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. The firm was found to have supplied 25 animal feed makers with 3,000 tonnes of contaminated fat. German officials say the farm measures are only a precaution.
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Attention

Parasites and the Gastrointestinal Tract

Dr. Leo Galland
Pill Advised
Fri, 07 Jan 2011 14:13 UTC
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Do Intestinal Parasites Explain Your Post-Vacation Slump?

After traveling, it's time to get your GI tract back on track, because you may have brought home a parasite on your vacation.

Your bowel disturbances may have already told you that parasites had arrived in your digestive tract.

Parasites Can Be Acquired Anywhere

You don't need to travel to get a parasitic infection. The gastrointestinal tract is vulnerable to getting parasites anywhere, as I will explain below.

Last year I saw a patient who had returned from her Christmas vacation complaining of persistent dizziness and fatigue that had not improved for over a year.

Before visiting my office she had consulted three other doctors but no cause for the dizziness was found.

When I questioned her about the vacation, which took place at a Caribbean resort, I discovered that she had experienced a transient episode of diarrhea there and since returning home had been unusually constipated and gassy.

She had never mentioned these intestinal symptoms to a doctor before, because it was dizziness and fatigue that bothered her the most.
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Gear

The USDA's Organic Deception

Barbara H. Peterson
Farm Wars
Thu, 06 Jan 2011 11:22 UTC
organic produce
© Treehugger
Organic is organic, or is it? It would seem that it is all a matter of perspective when one takes a stroll through the mountains of documents on the FDA and USDA websites.

The word "organic" is fast becoming a high-dollar money-maker for corporations smart enough to jump on the bandwagon and start marketing their products as "made with organic ingredients," or "certified organic." Even Monsanto is taking advantage of this burgeoning market, and people naïve enough to believe that what we have traditionally thought of as pure, organic food, is still that way, are being duped.

It makes perfect sense, however, in a Machiavellian sort of way. Flood the food supply with poisons, then lead people to believe that the only safe choice left is USDA Certified Organic. Then buy up the organic companies one by one, and start changing the "organic" rules from the inside out via the bought and paid for government agencies so that you can reap the profits from those trying to escape the poisons.

So let's take a closer look at just what the word "organic" refers to according to these government agencies. You might be surprised at what we find. The fact that the very agencies (FDA and USDA), which are supposed to be protecting our organic food supply, are intensely active in its adulteration will become apparent.
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Magnify

Fruit fly droppings give insight into human gut problems


University of Cambridge
Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:41 UTC
fruit fly research
© Dr Irene Miguel-Aliaga
Clues about how the human gut helps regulate our appetite have come from a most unusual source - fruit fly faeces.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge are using the fruit fly to help understand aspects of human metabolism, including why pregnant women suffer from bloating and constipation, and even the link between a low calorie diet and longevity.

Although scientists have known for some time that there are as many as 500 million nerve cells in our gut, the sheer complexity that this presents means that little is known about the different types of nerve cell and their functions.

Now, researchers led by Dr Irene Miguel-Aliaga, with funding from the Wellcome Trust and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, have used the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to investigate the function of these intestinal neurons. The fly has simpler versions of our nervous and digestive systems, which lend it to genetic manipulation. Their findings are published in the journal Cell Metabolism.
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Alarm Clock

Stress of 21st century life puts Britons at greater risk of stroke, study warns


DailyMail.co.uk
Wed, 05 Jan 2011 11:47 UTC
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© AlamyRising stress levels: British men and women could be more likely to suffer a stroke due to their fast-paced lives
Around one in seven Britons are feeling 'extremely stressed' as they start 2011 and are at a higher risk of suffering a stroke, new research out today suggests.

Almost one in five women and one in 10 men feel their stress levels are out of control, according to the poll of 2,000 people.

Experts warned that stress pushes up blood pressure, putting people at higher risk of stroke.

A poor diet and lack of exercise also contribute to the chances of suffering a stroke.

Stroke is the third commonest cause of death in England and Wales after heart disease and cancer, killing more than 67,000 people every year. An estimated 150,000 people annually suffer a stroke.
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Health

Antibiotic found to relieve IBS, and what might work better

Dr. John Briffa
drbriffa.com
Thu, 06 Jan 2011 09:21 UTC
I see that a study has been published today in the New England Journal of Medicine [1] that concerns the condition irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). You can read a summary of the study here. This study tested the effect of an antibiotic (rifaximin) on individuals with IBS. Compared to placebo, two weeks of this antibiotic helped to reduce IBS symptoms, and this benefit was sustained for some weeks after the antibiotic was taken.

How might this work? Well, the antibiotic's benefits here almost certainly had something to do with the fact that imbalance in the organisms within the gut is a potential underlying factor in IBS. I have seen in my time in practice many individuals with IBS symptoms and normal stool test results (from conventional testing) who turn out to have significant imbalance in the gut when more sophisticated stool analysis is performed. Not uncommonly we find one or more of the following:
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Syringe

Pharma Propaganda Alert: 'Fraud' Study Linked Autism to Vaccine


CBC News
Wed, 05 Jan 2011 21:22 UTC
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© Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated PressA new report says Dr. Andrew Wakefield and his colleagues altered facts about patients in their study linking autism to the MMR vaccine.
The first study to link a childhood vaccine to autism was based on doctored information about the children involved, according to a new report.

The 1998 paper by Dr. Andrew Wakefield and colleagues was renounced by 10 of its 13 authors and later retracted by the medical journal Lancet , where it was published. Still, the suggestion that the MMR vaccination shot was connected to autism spooked parents worldwide and immunization rates for measles, mumps and rubella have never fully recovered.

A new examination has found, by comparing the reported diagnoses in the paper to hospital records, that Wakefield and colleagues altered facts about patients in their study.

The analysis, by British journalist Brian Deer, found that despite the claim in Wakefield's paper that the 12 children studied were normal until they had the MMR shot, five had previously documented developmental problems.

Deer also found that all the cases were variously misrepresented when he compared data from medical records and the children's parents.

Comment: We're led to believe that the report was fraud, while there are other reports that confirm autism rates have gone down since the removal of thimerosal in vaccines.

For more insight into the vaccination/autism controversy see:

The Autism-Vaccine Debate: Anything But Over

Checking links between vaccines and autism

Autism Rates Double in Children as Vaccines Poison an Entire Generation

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Bug

Aspartame exposed - GM Bacteria used to create deadly sweetener

Anthony Gucciardi
Natural News
Wed, 05 Jan 2011 21:48 UTC
aspartame

The manufacturers of the most prevalent sweetener in the world have a secret, and it's not a sweet one. Aspartame, an artificial sweetener found in thousands of products worldwide, has been found to be created using genetically modified (GM) bacteria. What's even more shocking is how long this information has been known. A 1999 article by The Independent was the first to expose the abominable process in which aspartame was created. Ironically, the discovery was made around the same time as rich leaders around the globe met at the G8 Summit to discuss the safety of GM foods.

The 1999 investigation found that Monsanto, the largest biotech corporation in the world, often used GM bacteria to produce aspartame in their US production plants. The end result is a fusion between two of the largest health hazards to ever hit the food industry -- artificial sweeteners and an array of genetically altered organisms. Both have led to large-scale debate, with aspartame being the subject of multiple congressional hearings and scientific criticism. Scientists and health advocates are not the only ones to speak out against aspartame, however. The FDA received a flurry of complaints from consumers using NutraSweet, a product containing aspartame. Since 1992, the FDA has stopped documenting reports on the subject.

The process in which aspartame is created involves combining an amino acid known as phenylalanine with aspartic acid. First synthesized in 1965, aspartame requires bacteria for the sole purpose of producing phenylalanine. Monsanto discovered that through genetically altering this bacteria, phenylalanine could be created much more quickly. In the report by The Independent, Monsanto openly admitted that their mutated bacteria is a staple in the creation process of aspartame.
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