Health & WellnessS


People

UK: Why Are Britons So Gloomy in Middle Age?

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© BBC NewsDepressed and middle-aged - but he is not alone
Middle age can be a testing time. Mounting responsibilities, falling energy levels and the knowledge that youth is fast receding and old age is the next stage are the classic ingredients for a mid-life crisis.

The children are still at home, the career is not quite where it should be and the mortgage is a long way from being paid off.

In general terms, levels of anxiety and depression increase as people reach their 30s and 40s and tail off again when the pressure and stress lessens during our 50s and 60s. Unsurprisingly, happiness levels follow an entirely contrasting pattern.

But are the British particularly prone to despair and depression during their 40s and early 50s?

A recent survey of 13,000 people in 12 different countries found that 27% of the Britons in this age group said they suffered from depression, compared with just 17% internationally.

This is compounded by a gloomy outlook on life in which 45% of British 45-54-year-olds say they feel negative about their financial situation, 30% feel negative about their career and 21% feel negative about life in general.

These figures are all higher than the international average.

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Info

USDA To Ban 6 More Strains Of E. Coli In Ground Beef

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© iStockphoto.comGround beef will have to undergo more E. coli testing before sale under new USDA rule.
E. coli 0157:H7 isn't a lonely foodborne villain any more.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said today that six uncommon strains of E. coli will be banned from ground beef due to risks of illness. Consumer groups are hailing the move as the biggest advance in meat safety in years.

But meat processors warn it will cost consumers more money, and say the scientific evidence doesn't justify the new expense.

The new rule will require USDA meat inspectors to conduct new E.coli testing that the agency says will make it easier to prevent infected meat from reaching the market, and will make it easier for the agency to pull products from the market if they are found to be tainted.

Question

Can My Doctor Get Into Big Legal Trouble by Offering Natural Health Treatments?

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© istock
A reader asks an important question about the laws threatening integrative doctors. We lay it all out.

We recently received this question from David J. Getoff, CCN, CTN, FAAIM, vice president of the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation:
I continually hear physicians say (at conferences) that it is illegal for them to treat patients with natural means (diet and supplements), and that in California and other states, it is illegal to treat cancer other than with chemo, surgery, and radiation.

I have been unable to locate the regulations which prohibit this and if I am going to mention this in my lectures, I need to be able to cite the actual legal regulations.

Can you help me?

Dollar

FDA "Negotiating" to Get More Money from Big Pharma - Again!

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© istock
Increasingly Pharma is funding the FDA. No wonder the agency seems to dance to their tune.

The Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) authorizes the FDA to collect fees from companies, allegedly to fund and expedite the drug approval process, but really to pay the agency's bills. Under this authority, pharmaceutical companies pay fees for certain new human drug applications, biologics applications, and supplements submitted to the agency for review - and the FDA's review of an application cannot begin until the fee has been submitted.

The law was enacted in 1992, and Congress needs to renew it every ten years; the next deadline for renewal is September 2012. To make this happen, the FDA has been performing its usual ritual of begging and blustering at the same time.

Alarm Clock

FDA Set to Ban Your Supplements


The FDA has issued a proposed mandate that represents the greatest threat to dietary supplements since 1994. Back in the early 1990s, consumers were so alarmed by FDA bullying that they staged a massive revolt. The result was that Congress passed a law prohibiting the FDA from banning popular nutrients (as the agency had threatened to do).

There was, however, a loophole in the 1994 law. The FDA was given authority to regulate ingredients introduced after October 15, 1994.

It has been 17 years, but the FDA just issued draconian proposals as to how it intends to regulate what it now calls "new dietary ingredients". You can find the FDA Draft Guidance on New Dietary Ingredients (NDI's) here. If implemented, some of the most effective nutrients you are taking will be removed from the market. This includes many fish oil formulas and natural plant extracts. A detailed analysis of the FDA Draft Guidance is available here.

Magnify

Primary Schoolchildren That Sleep Less than 9 Hours Do Not Perform

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© SINCPrimary schoolchildren that sleep less than nine hours do not perform.
A study by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB in Spanish) and Ramón Llull University have researched the relationship between the sleeping habits, hours slept, and academic performance of children aged between six and seven years of age. Experts have found that sleeping less than nine hours, going to bed late and no bedtime routine generally affects children's academic skills.

"Most children sleep less than is recommended for their intellectual development, which is hindered because the lack of sleep cannot be recovered. This is the first Spanish study that proves that losing out on hours of sleep and bad habits affect schoolchildren's academic performance," stated Ramón Cladellas, researcher at the Faculty of Psychology at the UAB.

The study's authors, published in the journal Cultura y Educación, assessed a total of 142 primary schoolchildren (65 girls and 77 boys) from different schools and which did not have any sleep-related pathological changes. Parents were asked to fill out a questionnaire, concerning the children's habits and number of hours slept per night. The experts also assessed a series of academic skills: communicative, methodological, transversal and specific.

Magnify

Tinnitus Discovery Could Lead to New Ways to Stop the Ringing: Retraining the Brain Could Reanimate Areas That Have Lost Input from the Ear

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© Taffi / Fotolia
Neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, are offering hope to the 10 percent of the population who suffer from tinnitus -- a constant, often high-pitched ringing or buzzing in the ears that can be annoying and even maddening, and has no cure.

Their new findings, published online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest several new approaches to treatment, including retraining the brain, and new avenues for developing drugs to suppress the ringing.

"This work is the most clearheaded documentation to this point of what's actually happening in the brain's cortex in ways that account for the ongoing genesis of sound," said Michael Merzenich, professor emeritus of otolaryngology at UC San Francisco and inventor of the cochlear implant, who was not involved with the research. "As soon as I read the paper, I said, 'Of course!' It was immediately obvious that this is almost certainly the true way to think about it."

Merzenich is also chief scientific officer at Posit Science, which develops software to retrain the brain, primarily to improve learning and memory but more recently to address problems like schizophrenia, Alzheimer's Disease and tinnitus.

Bulb

'White' Light Suppresses the Body's Production of Melatonin

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© astrosociety.org
Exposure to the light of white LED bulbs, it turns out, suppresses melatonin 5 times more than exposure to the light of High Pressure Sodium bulbs that give off an orange-yellow light. "Just as there are regulations and standards for 'classic' pollutants, there should also be regulations and rules for the pollution stemming from artificial light at night," says Prof. Abraham Haim of the University of Haifa.

"White" light bulbs that emit light at shorter wavelengths are greater suppressors of the body's production of melatonin than bulbs emitting orange-yellow light, a new international study has revealed.

Melatonin is a compound that adjusts our biological clock and is known for its anti-oxidant and anti-cancerous properties.

The study investigated the influence of different types of bulbs on "light pollution" and the suppression of melatonin, with the researchers recommending several steps that should be taken to balance the need to save energy and protecting public health.

Beaker

Phthalates May Impact a Child's Development

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© kinderworld.us
The chemicals that make plastic and vinyl more flexible - phthalates - have long been linked to adverse health events and are part of a group of endocrine disruptors, which interfere with the body's hormone system. Phthalates can be found in nail polishes, cosmetics, perfumes, lotions, car interiors, floor tiles, raincoats, synthetic leathers, food packaging, and shampoos and are used to carry fragrance, increase product flexibility and durability, coat time-release medications or supplements, and are used as solvents.

A new study has found that the ubiquitous chemical might harm children's mental and behavioral development as well as their muscular coordination, said WebMD, citing a study published in the journal, Environmental Health Perspectives. How phthalates adversely affect development is unclear; however, emerging evidence suggests phthalates affect thyroid hormone levels, which are important to prenatal and newborn brain development.

Comment: For more information about Phthalates and their effects on children read the following:


Red Flag

Pesticide Exposure Linked to ADHD

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© unknown
Pesticide exposure has, again, been linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The pesticides are being seen in food nationwide as well as in the home, according to the journal, Pediatrics.

"It's mainly exposure through food. Diet is the driver," said pediatrician and public health expert Phil Landrigan, MD, professor and chair of the department of community and preventive medicine at Manhattan's Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "For most people, diet is the predominant source. It's been shown that people who switch to an organic diet knock down the levels of pesticide by-products in their urine by 85 to 90 percent," said Dr. Landrigan, wrote Rodale.

The Canadian team reviewed data from about 1,140 children participating in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The team also looked at pesticide by-products found in urine. The team revealed that 119 children met ADHD criteria, said Rodale.

Comment: To learn more about how Fruit and Vegetables Have 'Unacceptable' Levels of Pesticides and the effects of pesticides on children's mental and physical health read the following articles:

Organic Foods Offer Alternative to Foods Containing Food Dyes & Pesticides Linked to Raising Children's Risk of ADHD
From the Fields to Inner City, Pesticides Affect Children's IQ
Research Links Pesticides with ADHD in Children
U.S. Study: Pesticides Tied to ADHD in Children
Pesticide Susceptibility In Children Lasts Longer Than Expected
Exposure to Pesticides in Womb Linked to Learning Disabilities