Health & WellnessS


Bacon

Best of the Web: The Vegetarian Myth

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© Unknown
Before I get into a discussion of the absolutely phenomenal book you see pictured at the right, I've got a few disclosures to make. First, I'm not much of a believer in the notion of man-made global warming or climate change (as they now call it since temperatures have been constantly falling instead of rising). I'm a denier, in the pejorative term used by those who are believers.

Second, I'm not particularly pro-feminist. And I certainly don't hang around with any self-proclaimed radical feminists. I have a wife who is smarter than I am, who is more talented than I am, and who, pound for pound, is probably a better athlete than I am, and I'm not bad. (In my defense, I can read much, much faster than she, but, she has better comprehension.) I long ago gave up the idea (if I ever really considered it seriously) that men are superior to women in any ways other than brute strength. Having said that, however, I do believe that men are better suited to certain endeavors than woman and vice verse, but that doesn't mean either men or women should be denied the opportunity to give whatever it is they want to do a whirl just because of their sex. I guess I consider myself an egalitarian. But from what I've seen of radical feminists, I'm not sure that I would count myself a big fan.

Given the above, you wouldn't think I would enjoy and recommend a book written by a self-proclaimed radical feminist who is obviously a believer in global warming and the impending end of the earth as we know it. I wouldn't think so, either. Not my cup of tea even when it is sort of preaching to the choir.

But I can tell you that Lierre Keith's book is beyond fantastic. It is easily the best book I've read since Mistakes Were Made, maybe even better. Everyone should read this book, vegetarian and non-vegetarian alike. If you're a radical feminist, you should read this book; if you're a male chauvinist, you should read this book; if you have children, especially female children, you should read this book; if you are a young woman (or man) you should read this book; if you love animals, you should read this book; if you hate vegetarians, you should read this book; if you are contemplating the vegetarian way of life, you should definitely read this book; if you have a vegetarian friend or family member, you should read this book and so should your friend. As MD said after she read it, "everyone who eats should read this book."

Beaker

Roundup Birth Defects: Regulators Knew World's Best-Selling Herbicide Causes Problems, New Report Finds

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Industry regulators have known for years that Roundup, the world's best-selling herbicide produced by U.S. company Monsanto, causes birth defects, according to a new report released Tuesday.

The report, "Roundup and birth defects: Is the public being kept in the dark?" found regulators knew as long ago as 1980 that glyphosate, the chemical on which Roundup is based, can cause birth defects in laboratory animals.

But despite such warnings, and although the European Commission has known that glyphosate causes malformations since at least 2002, the information was not made public.

Instead regulators misled the public about glyphosate's safety, according to the report, and as recently as last year, the German Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety, the German government body dealing with the glyphosate review, told the European Commission that there was no evidence glyphosate causes birth defects.

Syringe

American Diabetes Association's Guidelines Are Killing Diabetics!

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The CDC says 1 in 3 US adults will be diabetic by 2050. But the ADA - the supposed authority on diabetes - is providing seriously misguided information on how to manage and reverse the disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there will be nearly 140 million diabetics in this country within the next 40 years. But the true number of diabetics will be much higher, because the conventional test for diabetes does not detect the disease until it's in its advanced stages, and most doctors don't perform more sensitive diagnostic tests necessary for early diagnosis. According to research done by Bill Faloon at the Life Extension Foundation, more than 75% of people over the age of 40 suffer some degree of pre-diabetes.

The good news is that diabetes and pre-diabetes can be controlled and even reversed, preventing kidney failure, limb amputation, and blindness. The risk of cardiovascular diseases could also be greatly reduced by better management of diabetes. And of course, the earlier it's caught, the easier it is to get it under control.

The standard American diet tends to create insulin resistance, leaving higher levels of blood sugar to circulate in the system for longer and longer periods of time, wreaking havoc in the body and leading to organ damage. (Here is a brief animation showing how insulin regulates the amount of blood sugar is allowed in to our cells.)

Comment: You're always welcome to join discussions on Diet and Health on our forum, where the above and many of the following topics are discussed:




Attention

How Dole Got Away with Poisoning Banana Workers

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© Canadian Family/Flickr
This is how a former laborer for Dole Food Company described the campaign to get the company to take care of poisoned banana workers:

"They're just waiting for all of us to die off. Because they know once that happens, they won't have to fight anymore and they will have gotten away with it. We refuse to let that happen."

As the confident but somehow fragile-seeming man spoke in the warm accent characteristic of Nicaraguan Spanish, a spark of passionate anger coursed through me... How dare a company treat its former employees so horribly!

Dole Food Company first poisoned the workers on its banana plantations outside of Managua, Nicaragua in the 1970's, and then refused to provide them with adequate medical coverage. Fully aware of the health problems the use of the pesticide dibromochloropropane (DBCP) causes in humans (particularly sterility in males, which led to the chemical being banned in the US) Dole continued to require its application on banana plantations without providing proper training or handling equipment for its employees.

Magnify

Genetically Engineered Salmon's Fishy Promises

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© GristGenetically engineered salmon has consumers and environmentalists running the other way. So why is the FDA considering approving it?
For those who follow the theater of food politics, particularly the underwater portion of the drama, AquaBounty's AquAdvantage genetically engineered salmon has played something of leading role for two decades, dating back to the 1990s when the fish was first conceived. The AquAdvantage salmon, in case you haven't heard about it, is an Atlantic salmon with a (much larger) Chinook salmon growth gene inserted into its DNA. This is coupled with a promoter from a third fish, an ocean pout, that keeps that growth gene more or less permanently in the "on" position. This makes for a fish that grows faster than an unmodified salmon - something which its creators hail as a key to providing more fish for the world and easing the crisis in overfishing.

Comment: For more information about 'Genetically Engineered Salmon's Fishy Promises' read the following articles:

10 Freakiest Things About Frankenfish
Ten Reasons to Reject a Suspicious Fish
Genetically Modified Frankenfish!
Genetically Altered Salmon Get Closer to the Table
Genetically Modified Salmon Present a Number of Risks to Consumer Health and Environment
Genetically Altered Salmon? It Doesn't Stop There


Sun

Turn up the Heat to Look & Feel Younger

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In an ageless society, we will do whatever it takes to look and feel younger. It is no secret that anti-aging essentials include a healthy diet, exercise and some good R&R. But did you know there is a tool that can enhance any anti-aging program to yield better results? A tool that can help you lose weight, lower blood pressure, enhance detoxification, and relieve pain. New science is proving that a simple, ancient method of cleansing the body has widespread positive effects on health. I'm talking about infrared heat therapy--specifically, infrared saunas.

Attention

Suspected E.coli case recorded in Canada

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© Odd Andersen, AFP/Getty ImagesStaff of Berlin's Robert-Koch-institute wear protective gear as they investigate an organic farm that had been identified as a possible source of the deadly outbreak of E.Coli in the village of Bienenbuettel some 300 km north west of Berlin on June 6, 2011.
An Ontario man has come down with Canada's first suspected case of E. coli linked to the outbreak in Europe.

Ontario's Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care says the man is from Peel Region, and he travelled to Germany earlier this spring where he ate local salad products.

The outbreak has also spread to the U.S. where four people in Atlanta were apparently sickened by the bacteria while visiting northern Germany last month.

Sprouts from northern Germany were ruled out as the cause of the outbreak, as were contaminated cucumbers from Spain last week. Officials are focusing tests on tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce from the European Union to pinpoint the cause of the outbreak that has sickened thousands and left over 20 people dead.

Magic Wand

Fetal programming of disease risk to next generation depends on parental gender

Overexposure to stress hormones in the womb can program the potential for adverse health effects in those children and the next generation, but effects vary depending on whether the mother or father transmits them, a new animal study suggests. The results will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston.

"This research sheds light on how babies who are exposed in the womb to excessive levels of stress hormones, known as glucocorticoids, can pass on the health effects to their own children, and how the effects vary between mothers and fathers," said the study's principal investigator, Amanda Drake, MD, PhD, a senior clinical fellow at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Glucocorticoid levels may become raised during pregnancy if, for example, the mother experiences stress or illness or receives glucocorticoid drugs for treatment of illness or premature labor. Excess glucocorticoid exposure of the fetus can reduce birth weight and raise blood pressure later in life in animals and humans, and babies born with low birth weight are at increased risk of diabetes and heart disease in adulthood, Drake said.

Attention

German beansprouts 'behind E.coli outbreak' as hospitals face running out of beds

Half of the tests on German beansprouts blamed for the spread of the mutant E.coli bug have come back negative, officials said today.

But a spokesman for Lower Saxony's Agriculture Ministry added he did not expect the tests to be concluded in the short term.

The beanspouts came under suspicion after it was found restaurants linked to the outbreak took delivery of the vegetable from north-east Germany just before customers began falling ill.

The E.coli outbreak has killed 22 making it the deadliest in modern history.

At least 2,153 people have been struck down by the food poisoning bug, including 11 in Britain.

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© Associated PressSuspicion has fallen on beansprouts as the source of the bacterial outbreak which has killed 22 people across Europe
Officials in Germany said they were the 'most convincing' cause and had previously been linked to other outbreaks of E.coli and salmonella.

Beaker

New Study Finds Major Toxins in Many Cosmetics

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Lead and arsenic aren't listed among the ingredients of lip gloss and eyeliner. However, Environmental Defence, a Canadian environmental group tested dozens of common cosmetics products and found that virtually all of them were contaminated with heavy metals.

Researchers purchased cosmetics in Toronto, and sent them to an accredited laboratory to have them tested for the presence of arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, beryllium, selenium, thallium and nickel. The items tested included foundations, concealers, powders, blushes, bronzers, mascaras, eyeliners, eyeshadows, lipsticks and glosses.

According to the Montreal Gazette:
"None of the products tested contained mercury, but lead was detected in 96 percent of the products, arsenic in 20 percent and cadmium in 51 percent. Nickel was found in all the products tested, beryllium in 90 percent, thallium in 61 percent and selenium in 14 percent."
Sources

Montreal Gazette May 16, 2011

Environmental Defence, Heavy Metal Hazard: The Health Risks of Hidden Heavy Metals in Face Makeup (PDF)