Health & WellnessS


Rose

Can certain herbs stave off Alzheimer's disease?

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© Susan Farr, Ph.D.
Enhanced extracts made from special antioxidants in spearmint and rosemary improve learning and memory, a study in an animal model at Saint Louis University found.

"We found that these proprietary compounds reduce deficits caused by mild cognitive impairment, which can be a precursor to Alzheimer's disease," said Susan Farr, Ph.D., research professor geriatrics at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

Farr added, "This probably means eating spearmint and rosemary is good for you. However, our experiments were in an animal model and I don't know how much -- or if any amount -- of these herbs people would have to consume for learning and memory to improve. In other words, I'm not suggesting that people chew more gum at this point."

Farr presented the early findings at Neuroscience 2013, a meeting of 32,000 on Monday, Nov. 11. She tested a novel antioxidant-based ingredient made from spearmint extract and two different doses of a similar antioxidant made from rosemary extract on mice that have age-related cognitive decline.

Ambulance

Gluten takes a beating from dieters and grain giants

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© Chris Ratcliffe/BloombergA baker prepares bread rolls for packing, in the bakery at a supermarket in Canvey Island, U.K.
Grain sellers want to have their gluten-free cake and eat it, too.

As the stretchy protein found in wheat and other grains has become the latest dietary bogeyman, sales at companies like General Mills Inc., Kellogg Co. and Britain's Warburtons Ltd. have come under pressure. Yet instead of fighting back against what many dietitians contend lacks scientific grounding, they're boosting output of pricier gluten-free foods while leaving industry groups to defend their traditional products.

Less than 1 percent of Americans have the disorder that requires a gluten-free diet, yet almost one in three now eschews gluten, according to trend watchers NPD Group, influenced by bestselling anti-gluten books and celebrity endorsements. The U.S. market for gluten-free foods will climb from $4.2 billion in 2012 to $6.6 billion by 2017, according to researcher Packaged Facts, as bread bakers, craft-beer makers and eateries from Hooters to Michelin-starred Hakkasan embrace the trend.

"Consumers, rightly or wrongly, have made a connection between gluten-free and healthy," said Nicholas Fereday, an analyst at Rabobank. "Grain companies are hoping this trend crashes and burns sooner rather than later. But any trend is a marketing opportunity."


Comment: There is no lack of scientific background when it comes to the dangers of gluten-containing foods and its role in our modern's age catastrophic health. There is however Big Agra's psychopathic greed when it comes to make a profit out of your suffering. Sott.net has published hundreds of articles on this topic. Since the introduction of agriculture, humanity's health has only deteriorated. We are now witnessing an unprecedented state of affairs and it is not only our health; it is practically our entire civilization as we now know it. We haven't known any other way of living for the longest time and look what it has brought to us: deteriorated health, wars, famine, slavery, and never-ending suffering. See Origins of Agriculture - Did Civilization Arise to Deliver a Fix?

The gluten-free industry is thriving by promoting foods that are worse than table sugar. We shouldn't be surprised. When it comes to Food Industry, everything is permitted and you don't matter to them. See Food Politics and Power: The Men Who Made Us Fat.


Comment: They are getting desperate as people wake up to the fact that gluten has been killing us slowly since day one. For more information see:

The Hidden Link Between Gluten Intolerance and PMS, Infertility and Miscarriage
Facts you might not know about gluten
Sensitivity To Gluten May Result In Neurological Dysfunction; Independent Of Symptoms

Gluten Intolerance Tied to Schizophrenia
Wheat gluten newly confirmed to promote weight gain
Three Hidden Ways Wheat Makes You Fat
Gluten: What You Don't Know Might Kill You
How Gluten Damages the Brain With Dr. Parker
Does eating gluten lead to less manly men?
The Many Heads of Gluten Sensitivity
Leaky Gut - Leaky Brain - Gluten is an Equal Opportunity Destroyer
Gluten Sensitivity Spectrum - Not Just a Celiac Issue
Six signs you're gluten intolerant - and don't even know it
Heart Disease and Gluten Sensitivity
Food Cravings, Obesity and Gluten Consumption
Sugar, Sugar - A Poison By Any Other Name Would Be As Toxic
A gluten for punishment: The whole grain assault on health
Hippies Weren't the Only Ones Tripping in the Sixties
Opening Pandora's Bread Box: The Critical Role of Wheat Lectin in Human Disease
Beyond Gluten-Free: The Critical Role of Chitin-Binding Lectins in Human Disease


Coffee

Late afternoon and early evening caffeine can disrupt sleep at night

A new study shows that caffeine consumption even six hours before bedtime can have significant, disruptive effects on sleep.

"Sleep specialists have always suspected that caffeine can disrupt sleep long after it is consumed," said American Academy of Sleep Medicine President M. Safwan Badr, MD. "This study provides objective evidence supporting the general recommendation that avoiding caffeine in the late afternoon and at night is beneficial for sleep."

Results show that 400 mg of caffeine (about 2-3 cups of coffee) taken at bedtime, three and even six hours prior to bedtime significantly disrupts sleep. Even when caffeine was consumed six hours before going to bed, objectively measured total sleep time was dramatically reduced (more than one hour). However, subjective reports suggest that participants were unaware of this sleep disturbance.

Red Flag

Connecting the Dots: GMOs and Vaccines

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I've never been very politically minded. I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I've never been arrested and I don't like to get in trouble. I do like, and always have, to think for myself. I'm a natural skeptic and pragmatist. These days, there are a couple of issues that are getting under my skin, and connecting the dots between them helps to establish a framework for a truth in science "sniff-test". Be warned, you may find that many arenas in which you have come to believe that you were being protected by your authority figures and government, in fact, you've been led down a blind path, and will be left there to fend for yourself when it all goes down. That's why I advocate for consumer empowerment and thoughtful decision-making about what we put in our bodies.

Humans suffer from hubris - we think we know better than nature, can fix it, manipulate it, and master it. There are (at least) two major transgressions that follow similar patterns, raise important red flags, and most certainly do not pass the sniff test: GMOs (genetically modified "foods") and vaccination.

Ambulance

Sharp rise in prescription drug deaths when studied by county

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Drug poisoning is now the leading cause of injury death in the U.S. and has increased by more than 300 percent over the last three decades. Almost 90 percent of poisoning deaths can be attributed to illicit or licit drugs, with prescription drugs accounting for the majority of drug overdose deaths. A startling trend seen last decade; there were more prescription drug deaths than heroin, cocaine or crack cocaine.

Mayo clinical research found this summer that 70% of Americans are on prescription drugs with 20% of those taking multiple prescriptions. Prescription drug-related deaths have sharply risen in the past decade alone, even overtaking car accidents as leading causes of U.S. injury deaths.

A new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine gives new insight into the geographic variation in drug poisoning mortality, with both urban and rural areas showing a large increase in death rates. While previous studies have looked at drug poisoning related deaths in broad strokes, this is the first study to examine them on the county level across the entire U.S.

Popcorn

Mainstream nutritional science still getting it wrong, but recognize some 'healthy' vegetable oils may actually increase risk of heart disease

vegetable oil
© Unknown
Some vegetable oils that claim to be healthy may actually increase the risk of heart disease, and Health Canada should reconsider cholesterol-lowering claims on food labelling, states an analysis in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Replacing saturated animal fats with polyunsaturated vegetable oils has become common practice because they can reduce serum cholesterol levels and help prevent heart disease. In 2009, Health Canada's Food Directorate, after reviewing published evidence, approved a request from the food industry to apply a heart disease risk reduction claim on vegetable oils and foods containing these oils. The label suggests "a reduced risk of heart disease by lowering blood cholesterol levels."

Comment: Despite recognizing that vegetable oils are, in fact, quite damaging to health, mainstream nutritional science seems completely unable to check their assumptions at the door and look at the problem with an open mind. Animal fats don't need to be replaced with anything as they are highly nutritious in and of themselves. As long as stable saturates are being replaced with delicate, and more often than not, over-processed polyunsaturates, it doesn't matter what ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 you have, the results will be disastrous.

See Probably More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Fat and Thought You Already Knew, But Didn't for more.


Bacon n Eggs

Make these three dietary changes before you start an anti-depressant

keto food
© Getty images/Joy Skipper
You feel at the end of your rope -- foggy, tired, irritable, flat, and constantly worried. About. Everything. It seems like the world is coming at you, every pixel of it, at 1 million miles per hour, and you just need to press pause, but you can't. Your internist recommends that you see a psychiatrist, you make an appointment, and after 45 minutes, you leave with a Lexapro prescription. Before you walk it over to CVS, try these three dietary changes for 2-4 weeks. See what happens:

1. Eliminate GMOs

Genetically-modified foods are chemical/biological products that are laced and saturated with complex toxic herbicides, and because they are largely unstudied by objective researchers, we are only now beginning to understand how they do their damage, and the relevance of the gut to mental health. We know that the modification of plant genes using animal, insect, and bacterial DNA is a highly unpredictable process that:

-- Disrupts that plant's natural development (lowers its nutritional content and raises its allergy content).

-- Introduces novel proteins, antibiotic resistance genes (built into "Bt corn!") and the potential for transfer of genes to our own gut bacteria.

-- These plants are modified, not for any reason that would ever benefit you or the planet, but so that they can better withstand more and more glyphosate-containing Roundup herbicide (produced by the same company that modifies and sells the patented seeds). This chemical has the following undesirable effects as reviewed in this seminal paper.
  • It kills beneficial bacteria through its interference with the "shikimate" pathway.
  • The interference with this bacteria promotes "dysbiosis" and the creation of inflammatory compounds from important amino acids like tryptophan.
  • When it is broken down by the gut, it produces ammonia.
  • It blocks an enzyme that converts testosterone to estrogen, aromatase.
  • It chelates/binds calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron, and cobalt.
  • It interferes with sulfate availability, critical to cholesterol metabolism and cellular function.
  • It interferes with liver enzymes responsible for breaking down other toxins, amplifying their effects.

Comment: Also see:

Research Suggests, Eating a Diet High in Processed Food Increases the Risk of Depression

And don't discount the benefits of a ketogenic diet (high fat, moderate protein, low/no carb) to your mental and physical health:

Solve Your Health Issues with a Ketogenic Diet

Is the Ketogenic Diet the cure for multiple diseases?


Donut

Feds get off their butts and come after trans fat

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Heart-clogging trans fats were once a staple of the American diet, plentiful in baked goods, microwave popcorn and fried foods. Now, mindful of the health risks, the Food and Drug Administration is getting rid of what's left of them for good.

Condemning artificial trans fats as a threat to public health, the FDA announced Thursday it will require the food industry to phase them out.

Manufacturers already have eliminated many trans fats, responding to criticism from the medical community and to local laws. Even so, the FDA said getting rid of the rest (the average American still eats around a gram of trans fat a day) could prevent 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths each year.


Comment: It's a good start, but trans fats are really just the tip of the iceberg. If one is serious about avoiding harmful chemicals in their foods, the only answer is to avoid processed foods altogether.


Attention

Scientists: Chemical in antibacterial hand soaps poses health risks

Washing Hands
© Leilani Hu / Sacramento Bee Staff Photo
The onset of flu season brings with it a rise in the use of antibacterial hand soaps. Many such soaps contain triclosan - a chemical that studies have shown affects the function of heart muscle and has been implicated in altering thyroid function in lab animal studies.

Scientists studying the chemical feel it is not necessary in keeping hands free from bacteria.

The chemical has been the focus of research at UC Davis for the last eight years. The most recent study was one of the first to find that mice exposed to high levels of the chemical showed impairment in the contraction and relaxation of heart and skeletal muscle.

Triclosan - introduced in 1969 as a pesticide - was first used as an antiseptic in 1972. Initially used in surgical scrub soap, it is now widely used in popular antibacterial soaps, such as Dial, and other consumer products, such as toothpaste and cosmetics.

Life Preserver

Health care system failing obese children - Here's a solution

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Here's an opinion piece in a Swedish morning paper, highlighting the fact that many hospitals have chosen not to offer any help to obese children:

DN Opinion: "Hospital Closes the Door on Obese Children" (Google translated from Swedish).

Prof. Claude Marcus and others are right that it's terrible that hospitals fail children with serious medical problems. This is not acceptable. But the problem is even greater: The outcome in hospitals treating childhood obesity is woefully bad. Very few children are treated successfully.

In hospitals that do treat obese children, the treatment is usually based on the outdated idea "eat less, run more". They seriously advise parents to limit their child's food intake, dismissing the kids from the table still hungry. They're then advised to try to make the kids run outside, despite not having had enough to eat.

At the same time they ignore study after study showing that children who eat their fill on a low-carb diet will lose more weight.

Because health care workers ignore inconvenient new knowledge, obese children and their parents are given advice that lead to worse outcomes and unnecessary suffering.

Today's treatment for childhood obesity isn't just child abuse. It's family abuse.

Comment: The dietary advice that's proven to be best in scientific studies is a low carb one. Ignoring this solution is medical negligence and downright irresponsible. For more information see:

Low Carb Living with Dr. Stephen Phinney
Tips & Tricks for Starting (or Restarting) Low- Carb Pt I

Tips & tricks for starting (or restarting) low-carb Pt II
5 most common low-carb mistakes (and how to avoid them)
23 Studies on Low-Carb and Low-Fat Diets - Time to retire the fad
Fat trims your waistline
Sweden becomes first Western nation to reject low-fat diet dogma in favor of low-carb high-fat nutrition
What's With The Antagonism About Low-Carb From The Paleo Community Lately?
Lower Carb Diet Trumps Higher Carb One in Women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
Sweden touts low-carb diet as key to weight loss
It's official - Time to drop hazardous low fat guideline
The Ketogenic Diet - An Overview
Swedish Expert Committee: A Low-Carb Diet most effective for weight loss
Saturated fat heart disease 'myth': UK cardiologist calls for change in public health advice on saturated fat
Everything you've been told about how to eat is wrong
Heart surgeon speaks out on what really causes heart disease
The Obesity Epidemic, Courtesy of the Agricultural Industry
Mass nervous breakdown: Millions of Americans on the brink as stress pandemic ravages society
Ate a High-Fat Diet - Lost 200 lbs
Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond the Paleo Diet for Total Health and a Longer Life