Health & WellnessS


Cow

US: Tainted Beef Leads to Grocery Recalls

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© Flickr/benfrantzdaleThe USDA has called back more than 60,000 pounds of ground beef products believed to be contaminated with E. coli from the National Beef Packing Co. LLC.
At least three major grocery store chains have recalled some of their ground beef packages because they could be contaminated with E. coli bacteria.

Winn-Dixie Stores Inc., Publix Super Markets Inc. and Kroger Co. announced the recalls mainly in the southeastern U.S. and said they stem from problems at the National Beef Packaging Co. of Dodge City, Kan.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Friday that National Beef was recalling more than 60,000 pounds of beef after the Ohio Department of Agriculture found the bacteria during routine testing.

The recalls affect products sold mainly in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina and Tennessee, but the meat was sent to several distributors and could have been repackaged for consumers and sold nationwide.

The agriculture department says there have been no reports of illnesses. A spokesman for National Beef said the company has never had a problem with E. coli. It is checking processes and procedures in an effort to find the cause and prevent it from happening again, the spokesman said.

Light Saber

Challenging the Theory of Artificial Immunity

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© Alignlife.com
The control and eradication of childhood disease has been heralded as one of medicine's finest accomplishments. Yet there is a growing suspicion that intervening in infections may have an adverse effect on children, exemplified by the fact that as childhood infections have decreased, chronic afflictions have increased. This comes along with a swell of complaints from groups and individuals about the side effects of vaccines and the lack of long-term scientific studies and safety data. At a time when there are more than 200 vaccines in the pipeline, concern is mounting that high-profile vaccine advocates and the lobbies they represent are exerting inordinate influence on the setting of vaccine policy by the government.

It may seem incredulous to challenge the practice of vaccination, since it has claimed responsibility for the eradication of many diseases in the past 100 years including polio, smallpox, whooping cough and diphtheria. But these claims are largely based on epidemic studies rather than on clinical evidence of effectiveness. Europe for example, experienced the same rise and decline of polio cases as were seen in the U.S. yet never had the polio vaccine. In addition, many diseases that were once thought to be eradicated simply take on different forms and are given different names. Spinal meningitis and polio have almost identical symptoms and cases of spinal meningitis have increased since the decrease in polio cases.

Target

New Dietary Ingredient Draft Guidance is a Big, Fat Gift to Big Pharma

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© Alliance for Natural Health
Want to let the drug industry take your favorite supplements off the market, patent them, and sell them back to you - by doctor's prescription only - for 10 or 100 (or even more) times what you're paying now?

As Big Pharma becomes more desperate to boost flagging profits, the industry will likely use this tactic to find new sources of revenue - and shame on the FDA for so blatantly aiding and abetting it!

This coming year, seven of the world's twenty bestselling drugs will lose their patent protection and can be sold in generic forms. On this list are the top two money-makers ever created: cholesterol fighting (but overall health-threatening) Lipitor and blood thinning (but bone-destroying) Plavix. This wave of expiring drugs patents will have unprecedented and devastating effects on the industry bottom line. One drug recently made available in generic form - Protonix, a medication for severe heartburn (again, not a drug we would use, and especially dangerous when used with the blood-thinner mentioned above) - previously cost about $170 per month when it was still under patent; its generic version now costs $16. With seven of the top-selling drugs expected to see similarly drastic drops in prices, the drug industry is in a panic - especially considering the fact that there are no new "blockbuster" drugs in the pharmaceutical industry pipeline. Under these circumstances, why not try to turn some supplements into drugs?

Clock

The Importance of Melatonin

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© bewellbuzz.com
Melatonin is a natural hormone produced by the pineal gland. It is the hormone responsible for the regulation of our internal body clock which is also referred to as the "circadian rhythm". The production of melatonin is influenced by the amount of light in the external environment. Darkness stimulates the production of melatonin while brightness produces the opposite effect.

Aside from the regulation of our biological clock, melatonin also aids in the regulation of other body hormones. In females, it regulates the timing of the releases of reproductive hormones which helps set the pattern of the menstrual cycle.

Info

Going Organic Cuts Poultry Farms' "Superbug" Bacteria in Single Generation

Poultry Farms
© Amy Sapkota / University of Maryland

The government has come under fire this week for revelations that it knew about antibiotic resistant Salmonella in poultry products that has killed at least one person and sickened more than 100 across the country. Although this is one of the largest turkey recalls - affecting some 36 million pounds of ground turkey - the prevalence of bacteria that is immune to common drugs is on the rise on animal farms, which is where the bulk of U.S. antibiotics get used.

But by going organic, poultry farms can cut the amount of antibiotic resistant bacteria in a single generation by nearly five times, according to a new study published online this week in Environmental Health Perspectives.

"We were surprised to see that the differences were so significant across several different classes of antibiotics even in the very first flock that was produced after the transition to organic standards," Amy Sapkota, of the University of Maryland School of Public Health, and co-author of the new study, said in a prepared statement.

Arrow Up

Latest Research Debunks The Saturated Fat Diet Myths

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© jimmysmithtraining.comThe truth about saturated fat is that we need it for energy production.
I regularly lecture in front of groups, and I'm usually emphasizing the value of good nutrition and what this actually means. I believe in eating a natural, unprocessed diet comprised mainly of foods that have been in the human diet the longest including meat (yes, even red meat), fish, eggs, nuts, fruits and vegetables. We've become, generally, fat-phobic over the last 30 years, particularly with regards to saturated fat. The fact that I advocate a diet that is richer in saturated fat than is traditionally advised can look somewhat out of step with conventional 'wisdom'.

One thing that practically everyone seems to know about saturated fat is that is raises cholesterol levels. My reaction to this is, so what? This attitude may sound blasé, but it's actually based on a fundamental principle: the impact a foodstuff has on cholesterol is not the important thing, it's the impact it has on health that counts.

Our focus on cholesterol levels has allowed many drugs and food products to be marketed on the basis of their cholesterol-reducing properties, in the absence of any evidence that they actually, say, reduce the risk of heart disease or death. Classic examples of this include foods laced with cholesterol-reducing compounds known as 'sterols', and the drug ezetimibe. I've written about both of these things more than once on this site.

Comment: For a more in depth look at the benefits of saturated fat read the following articles:

Saturated Fat is Good for You
7 Reasons to Eat More Saturated Fat
Enjoy Saturated Fats, They're Good for You!
Wrongly Convicted? The Case for Saturated Fat
You've Been Living A Lie: The Story Of Saturated Fat And Cholesterol
A Big Fat Mistake
Higher saturated fat intakes found to be associated with a reduced risk of dying from cardiovascular disease


Cow

Are You a Fat Burner or a Sugar Burner?

evil sugar diabetes
© UnknownSugar is highly addictive drug that create cravings, tolerance and withdrawal symptoms.
One of the most common complaints one hears about from friends and family these days is not having enough energy. Energy drinks, bars and supplements, not to mention the ubiquitous presence of coffee shops on almost every corner in every city are a testament to these complaints and they are also BIG business. Of course, when it comes to so-called "energy drinks" and caffeine we're not talking about generating real lasting energy so much as we are talking about adding a jolt to the system in the form of a stimulant that provides the short-lived illusion of energy. That said, one thing virtually all these products has in common is that they can dramatically spike your blood sugar levels.

So...that's a good thing, right?

Wellllllll...

Anyone who takes a conventional course in nutrition, medical school, nursing school or any chiropractic or naturopathic school today will likely be taught that their brain, tissues and organs greatly depend upon sufficient blood sugar to fuel energy, maintain their day to day energy supply and fuel all their metabolic processes. We are taught that "blood sugar" is important - critical, even - and that it must be sustained and regularly managed for optimal health. Unfortunately, this is only a conditional truth at best and one that conceals a rather mammoth sin of omission that is overlooked by nearly everyone. The fact is that we are all one of two things: we are either a "sugar burner" or we are a "fat burner". Perhaps since fat is (erroneously) assumed to be inherently evil, nothing about its potentially vital role in all aspects of health or primary energy production is ever discussed. We are encouraged to avoid it at any cost and not ask any questions.

Blood sugar management is big business, too. VERY big business.

Stop

Washington, US: Mysterious shellfish biotoxin surfaces In Sequim

Washington State Health Department officials say they have the first case of a strain of shellfish poisoning making a people in the United States ill.


Samples in a small bay on the Strait of Juan de Fuca detected presence of Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning or DSP. The tests were conducted at Sequim Bay after members of a local family came down with symptoms of DSP after collecting and eating mussels from the bay.

Local health officials were ordered to post signs and close shellfish fish harvesting on the beach and state officials say they were able to recall all shellfish gathered commercially at the site.

Magic Wand

Scared of the wrong things: Lack of major enzyme causes poor threat-assessment in mice

Mice without enzyme were also less inquisitive.

Do you run when you should stay? Are you afraid of all the wrong things? An enzyme deficiency might be to blame, reveals new research in mice by scientists at the University of Southern California.

In a paper appearing in the October 2011 issue of the International Journal of Neuropharmacology, USC researchers show that mice lacking a certain enzyme due to genetic mutation are unable to properly assess threat. The mice exhibited defensive behaviors (such as biting or tail rattling) in the presence of neutral stimuli, such as plastic bottles.

Conversely, in the presence of true danger cues such as predator urine or an anesthetized rat, the mice with the enzyme mutation were less cautious and defensive than their littermates, even climbing on the unconscious rat.


Mice without the enzyme also took longer to leave an open chamber, indicating reduction in exploratory and escape tendencies.

"Taken together, our findings suggest that monoamine oxidase A deficiency leads to a general inability to appropriately assess contextual risk, as indicated by the inappropriateness of their defensive behaviors," said senior author Jean C. Shih, University Professor and Boyd and Elsie Welin Professor of pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences in the USC School of Pharmacy.

Sherlock

Intestinal protein may have role in ADHD, other neurological disorders

A biochemical pathway long associated with diarrhea and intestinal function may provide a new therapeutic target for treating ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) other neuropsychiatric disorders, according to a team of scientists from China and the United States reporting Aug. 11 in Science.

Scientists have for the last quarter century studied the intestinal membrane receptor protein, guanylyl cyclase-C (GC-C) for its role in diarrheal disease and other intestinal functions, according to Mitchell Cohen, M.D., U.S. author on the study and director of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. In fact, it had been thought that GC-C was found primarily in the intestine.

In the current study, scientists in China who collaborated with Dr. Cohen discovered that the receptor is also expressed in critical areas of the brain. The senior author on the study is Dr. Minmin Luo, a researcher at the National Institute of Biological Sciences and Tsinghua University in Beijing.