Health & WellnessS


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FDA to Probe Risk of Weight Gain in Kids Using Antipsychotic Drugs

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© Eli Lilly
The FDA has begun an investigation into whether atypical antipsychotic drugs such as Zyprexa and Seroquel are more likely to produce abnormal weight gain and diabetes in children than in adults.

The announcement came after the agency approved both drugs for use in adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 for the treatment of severe conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and autism.

Atypical antipsychotics, also known as "second generation antipsychotics," are known to cause weight gain and metabolic changes that can lead to diabetes. Research suggests that children may be even more vulnerable to this effect.

A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that children and adolescents taking atypical antipsychotics added between 8 and 15 percent to their body mass in only 11 weeks, which was sufficient for many of them to become overweight or obese. The greatest weight gain -- an average of 19 pounds -- was seen with Zyprexa.

Attention

City of San Francisco Says Its Toxic Sludge is Good for You

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© Ruth RobertsonCommunity gardeners who were misled into accepting toxic sewage sludge from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) are giving the sludge back to the Mayor's office.
If someone were to begin marketing toxic sewer sludge as "high-quality, nutrient-rich, organic" compost, he or she would likely be considered a crook and possibly sued for false advertising. Unfortunately, this is what the city of San Francisco and Synagro, "the largest recycler of organic residuals in the United States," have begun doing to the people of San Francisco.

Most waste treatment facilities across the U.S. contract treatment and disposal responsibilities to Synagro. Because it is no longer permissible to dump toxic sewage directly in the ocean, most of it ends up being reused on farm fields as "fertilizer." However, San Francisco is the first city to have launched an aggressive public relations campaign to trick its citizens into thinking that the toxic sewage is an organic compost.

A 2008 issue of the magazine Organic Style named San Francisco's mayor, Gavin Newsom, the "World's Greenest Mayor." It lauded his many "green" initiatives which include expanded recycling programs, green building programs, and energy audits.

Monkey Wrench

Why antidepressants don't work for treating depression

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Here's some depressing recent medical news: Antidepressants don't work. What's even more depressing is that the pharmaceutical industry and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have deliberately deceived us into believing that they DO work. As a physician, this is frightening to me. Depression is among the most common problems seen in primary-care medicine and soon will be the second leading cause of disability in this country.

The study I'm talking about was published in The New England Journal of Medicine. It found that drug companies selectively publish studies on antidepressants. They have published nearly all the studies that show benefit - but almost none of the studies that show these drugs are ineffective. (1)

Red Flag

FCC Raises the Red Flag about Cell Phone Hazards

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On November 5, 2009, the FCC released their Consumer Facts on "Wireless Devices and Health Concerns." In this document, the FCC recommends precautions for the use of cell phones.

According to the FCC, "Recent reports by some health and safety interest groups have suggested that wireless device use can be linked to cancer and other illnesses. These questions have become more pressing as more and younger people are using the devices, and for longer periods of time."

They now recommend the following steps:
  • Use an earpiece or headset
  • If possible, keep wireless devices away from your body when they are on, mainly by not attaching them to belts or carrying them in pockets
  • Use the cell phone speaker to reduce exposure to your head
  • Consider texting rather than talking
  • Buy a wireless device with lower Specific Absorption Rate (SAR)
Sources:

FCC November 5, 2009

Comment: For additional information about the health risks of cell phones and microwave radiation read the following articles on SOTT:

The BioInitiative Report - The Dangerous Health Impacts of Microwave Radiation

Electromagnetic radiation and its effect on the brain: an insider speaks out


Ambulance

The Hidden Damage of Psychiatric Drugs

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© Salon/iStockphoto
An award-winning science reporter looks at the history of mental illness in America -- with disturbing results

In the past few months, the perennial controversy over psychiatric drug use has been growing considerably more heated. A January study showed a negligible difference between antidepressants and placebos in treating all but the severest cases of depression. The study became the subject of a Newsweek cover story, and the value of psychiatric drugs has recently been debated in the pages of the New Yorker, the New York Times and Salon. Many doctors and patients fiercely defend psychiatric drugs and their ability to improve lives. But others claim their popularity is a warning sign of a dangerously over-medicated culture.

The timing of Robert Whitaker's Anatomy of an Epidemic, a comprehensive and highly readable history of psychiatry in the United States, couldn't be better. An acclaimed mental health journalist and winner of a George Polk Award for his reporting on the psychiatric field, Whitaker draws on 50 years of literature and in-person interviews with patients to answer a simple question: If "wonder drugs" like Prozac are really helping people, why has the number of Americans on government disability due to mental illness skyrocketed from 1.25 million in 1987 to over 4 million today?

Anatomy of an Epidemic is the first book to investigate the long-term outcomes of patients treated with psychiatric drugs, and Whitaker finds that, overall, the drugs may be doing more harm than good. Adhering to studies published in prominent medical journals, he argues that, over time, patients with schizophrenia do better off medication than on it. Children who take stimulants for ADHD, he writes, are more likely to suffer from mania and bipolar disorder than those who go unmedicated. Intended to challenge the conventional wisdom about psychiatric drugs, Anatomy is sure to provoke a hot-tempered response, especially from those inside the psychiatric community.

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Best of the Web: They Have the Power to Switch Off Your Brain

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© Google Images
Certain parts of the brain - which control skepticism and vigilance - appear to deactivate in some people when they're in the presence of a speaker who they believe has divine healing powers, scientists in Denmark have found.

Researchers recruited 36 male and female participants; about half were devout Christians from the Pentecostal church, while the other half were non-religious.

The participants who considered themselves religious believed that some people could possess divine powers of healing. The non-religious participants did not believe this.

Each person listened to 18 different prayers performed by three different people - a Christian, a non-Christian and a Christian known for their ''healing'' powers - while undergoing a brain scan. (In reality, all three speakers were ''ordinary'' Christians, with no reported healing powers.) After the scan, participants were asked to rate each speaker's charisma.

The devout Christians in the study rated the speaker presented as a divine healer as the most charismatic, while they voted the non-Christian speaker as the least charismatic.

Arrow Up

Carbs Against Cardio: More Evidence that Refined Carbohydrates, Not Fats, Threaten the Heart

Whether the new thinking will be reflected in this year's revision of the federal dietary guidelines remains unclear

Eat less saturated fat: that has been the take-home message from the U.S. government for the past 30 years. But while Americans have dutifully reduced the percentage of daily calories from saturated fat since 1970, the obesity rate during that time has more than doubled, diabetes has tripled, and heart disease is still the country's biggest killer. Now a spate of new research, including a meta-analysis of nearly two dozen studies, suggests a reason why: investigators may have picked the wrong culprit. Processed carbohydrates, which many Americans eat today in place of fat, may increase the risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease more than fat does - a finding that has serious implications for new dietary guidelines expected this year.

In March the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a meta-analysis - which combines data from several studies - that compared the reported daily food intake of nearly 350,000 people against their risk of developing cardiovascular disease over a period of five to 23 years. The analysis, overseen by Ronald M. Krauss, director of atherosclerosis research at the Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, found no association between the amount of saturated fat consumed and the risk of heart disease.

Heart - Black

Evidence of First Virus That Infects Both Plants and Humans

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© James BoweTree Afflicted With Chestnut Blight Don't worry. Far as anyone knows, blight still isn't contagious for humans.
From rabies to bird flu to HIV, diseases passing from animals to humans is a well-known phenomenon. But a virus jumping from plants to humans? Never. At least, that's what doctors thought until Didier Raoult of the University of the Mediterranean in Marseilles, France, discovered that the mild mottle virus found in peppers may be causing fever, aches, and itching in humans. If validated, this would mark the first time a plant virus has been found to cause problems in people.

Plant viruses are routinely found in human feces, along with the digested plant matter they infected. Based on that presence, Raoult interviewed 304 people about how frequently they suffered from fever, abdominal pain, and skin irritation. Of the 304 patients, the 21 people with pepper mild mottle virus in their feces were more likely than the others to present those symptoms

Eye 2

Flashback Monsanto's GMO Corn Linked to Organ Failure

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© AP
In a study released by the International Journal of Biological Sciences, analyzing the effects of genetically modified foods on mammalian health, researchers found that agricultural giant Monsanto's GM corn is linked to organ damage in rats.

According to the study, which was summarized by Rady Ananda at Food Freedom, "Three varieties of Monsanto's GM corn - Mon 863, insecticide-producing Mon 810, and Roundup® herbicide-absorbing NK 603 - were approved for consumption by US, European and several other national food safety authorities."

Monsanto gathered its own crude statistical data after conducting a 90-day study, even though chronic problems can rarely be found after 90 days, and concluded that the corn was safe for consumption. The stamp of approval may have been premature, however.

In the conclusion of the IJBS study, researchers wrote:

Attention

Psychiatry's "Bible" Could List New Set of Disorders

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© Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesNearly 700,000 prescriptions for atypical antipsychotics were dispensed for kids under 13 last year.
Latest version of DSM may trigger 'epidemics' of mental illnesses

As Dr. Allen Frances read through the list of proposed changes to psychiatry's bible of mental sickness, alarms started ringing in his own mind.

"I was surprised," the renowned U.S. psychiatrist says, "that the proposals managed to be much worse than my most pessimistic expectations."

By the time he was finished reading, Frances had calculated that the recommendations contained within the first draft for the fifth and latest revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -- a hugely influential book used daily by doctors worldwide, psychiatry's official classification of all the ways humanity can go "mad"-- could unnecessarily trigger wholesale "epidemics" of mental illness and expose millions more adults and children to potentially harmful psychiatric drugs.

Dr. Frances, more than most, knows the kind of surprises that may be lurking. He chaired the task force that wrote the current edition of the manual -- referred to as DSM-IV -- which he says is a book that unintentionally contributed to vast and sudden increases in the diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism and childhood bipolar disorder (manic depression), after it made changes in those definitions.