Journalist Peggy Orenstein wrote Cinderella Ate My Daughter out of concern over what messages the "pink, princess" girl culture was doing to her daughter Daisy.

Surprisingly, taking a shuteye right after memorizing might be the best way to remember difficult lessons, as a new study by German researchers suggests that sleeping boosts memory retention and helps in learning faster.

Previous researches have established that fresh memories are stored temporarily in the hippocampal region of the brain, and reactivating these memories soon after learning helps in transferring the information permanently to brain's 'hard drive,' the neocortex.

The present study findings provide a completely different insight to the cognitive process by which we store and retrieve the acquired information, that is, learning.

According to the report, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the brain works better during sleep than in wakefulness to safeguard a recent memory and hence prevents it from getting fragile.

The Environmental Working Group analyzed the company websites and product labels of over 170 varieties of bottled water to see if the companies disclosed information on where water came from, how the water was treated, and whether the results of tests to ensure purity were revealed.

The researchers also called the bottled water companies to see if they would willingly give information to consumers.

More than half of the bottled water products failed the transparency test. Almost 20 percent didn't say where their water comes from, and an additional 32 percent did not disclose any information on treatment or purity of water.

According to Yahoo Green:

"Only three brands earned the highest possible ... Gerber Pure Purified Water, Nestle Pure Life Purified Water, and Penta Ultra-Purified Water ...

[S]ix brands got the worst marks in EWG's report ... Whole Foods Italian Still Mineral Water, Vintage Natural Spring Water, Sahara Premium Drinking Water, O Water Sport Electrolyte Enhanced Purified Drinking Water, Market Basket Natural Spring Water, and Cumby's Spring Water."

Sources:

Yahoo Green January 5, 2011

Environmental Working Group Report January 2011

New American research shows that there could be a link between the controversial MMR triple vaccine and autism and bowel disease in children.

The study appears to confirm the findings of British doctor Andrew Wakefield, who caused a storm in 1998 by suggesting a possible link.

Now a team from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina are examining 275 children with regressive autism and bowel disease - and of the 82 tested so far, 70 prove positive for the measles virus.

Last night the team's leader, Dr Stephen Walker, said: 'Of the handful of results we have in so far, all are vaccine strain and none are wild measles.

'This research proves that in the gastrointestinal tract of a number of children who have been diagnosed with regressive autism, there is evidence of measles virus.

'What it means is that the study done earlier by Dr Wakefield and published in 1998 is correct. That study didn't draw any conclusions about specifically what it means to find measles virus in the gut, but the implication is it may be coming from the MMR vaccine. If that's the case, and this live virus is residing in the gastrointestinal tract of some children, and then they have GI inflammation and other problems, it may be related to the MMR.'

Fears are growing over the safety of an anti-smoking "wonder drug", taken by nearly a quarter of a million Britons, after officials in America linked it to 37 suicides.

The Food and Drug Administration said it looks "increasingly likely" that there is a connection between the drug Champix and serious psychiatric problems.

The Mail on Sunday revealed in December that there were concerns over the drug after it emerged that seven deaths in Britain were thought to be linked to the pill.

But updated figures now suggest that 11 people taking Champix in the UK have died.

And reports of suspected adverse reactions to the drug to the Government's medicines watchdog, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, have risen by 35 per cent to 1,811 in just the past seven weeks.

The FDA began investigating Champix in November after a number of patients reported possible side-effects ranging from depression and agitation to headaches and nausea.

On top of the 37 suicides, it has recorded more than 400 cases of suicidal behaviour.

You've seen such lists before: 5 steps to prevent heart disease or some such thing. These lists usually say things like "cut your saturated fat," eat a "balanced diet" (whatever the heck that means), exercise, and don't smoke.

I would offer a different list. You already know that smoking is a supremely idiotic habit, so I won't repeat that. Here are the 5 most important strategies I know of that help you prevent heart disease and heart attack:


1) Eliminate wheat from the diet--Provided you don't do something stupid, like allow M&M's, Coca Cola, and corn chips to dominate your diet, elimination of wheat is an enormously effective means to reduce small LDL particles, reduce triglycerides, increase HDL, reduce inflammatory measures like c-reactive protein, lose weight (inflammation-driving visceral fat), reduce blood sugar, and reduce blood pressure. I know of no other single dietary strategy that packs as much punch. This has become even more true over the past 20 years, ever since the dwarf variant of modern wheat has come to dominate.

2) Achieve a desirable 25-hydroxy vitamin D level--Contrary to the inane comments of the Institute of Medicine, vitamin D supplementation increases HDL, reduces small LDL, normalizes insulin and reduces blood sugar, reduces blood pressure, and exerts potent anti-inflammatory effects on c-reactive protein, matrix metalloproteinase, and other inflammatory mediators. While we also have drugs that mimic some of these effects, vitamin D does so without side-effects.

Sausages, bacon, fried bread, black pudding, eggs - for generations it's been seen as the quintessentially British start to the day.

But our love of a 'full English' fry-up is in danger of sizzling out, according to a survey.

Just one in 100 is tucking in to bacon and eggs for breakfast each day, compared with more than half the population in 1950.

But with just over half of Britons estimated to be overweight, the dive in popularity could be partly explained by the battle to beat the bulge, according to the Good Food channel's Big Adventure Breakfast Report.

Ingredients of a 'Full Monty' fry-up, which averages 1,000 calories, are being replaced with less fattening options.

The first GM food crop containing human genes is set to be approved for commercial production.

The laboratory-created rice produces some of the human proteins found in breast milk and saliva.

Its U.S. developers say they could be used to treat children with diarrhoea, a major killer in the Third World.

The rice is a major step in so-called Frankenstein Foods, the first mingling of human-origin genes and those from plants. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture has already signalled it plans to allow commercial cultivation.

The rice's producers, California-based Ventria Bioscience, have been given preliminary approval to grow it on more than 3,000 acres in Kansas. The company plans to harvest the proteins and use them in drinks, desserts, yoghurts and muesli bars.

Though they seem to have more lives than a cat, it seems likely that Quackbusters will be down for the count.

Amidst the morass of fallacious attacks by mainstream medicine on honest alternative approaches to health, now and then there's a glitter of good news. It's a breath of fresh air to announce that the self-styled Quackbusters, headed by a self-styled psychiatrist who failed his exam and was never accepted into the profession, has fallen to one of its targeted victims.

On 25 June, the tables were turned on Stephen Barrett. The Doctor's Data Laboratory, which does laboratory testing on issues of heavy metal, nutritional deficiencies, liver toxification, metabolic abnormalities, and environmentally-caused diseases sued Barrett for what, after getting through the legaleze, amounts to defamation of character, libel, conspiracy, and intentionally attempting to destroy their business.

The suit asks for $5 million in damages and another $15 million in punitive damages, plus injunctions to prevent Barrett from ever attempting to destroy their business in the future. Barrett has initiated many frivolous lawsuits against alternative practitioners, causing enormous trauma and expense to his victims, is currently out of cash. The last time Barrett was sued for libel, he relied on his homeowners insurance to defend him. That source of legal defense money appears not to be available to him now.

Barrett had until 12 July to file a response to the Federal lawsuit filed by Doctor's Data Lab. He never responded.

The corporation Barrett presided over, Quackwatch, which seems to have been the recipient of mysterious funding through most of its history, is now unable provide a defense. Aside from its websites, Quackwatch now appears to be defunct.

Stephen Barrett, Lead Quackbuster

Stephen Barrett is a retired psychiatrist and hires himself out as an "expert" to testify against non-mainstream medical practitioners. He is a retired psychiatrist, though he was never certified because he didn't pass the board examinations. In America, once licensed as a physician, it's legal to practice any type of medicine desired. Simply take a look at the storefront self-styled plastic surgeons doing liposuction and other plastic surgery.

Barrett was terminated from a part time position by the Pennsylvania State Mental Hospital in 1993 and, in a profession that has supposedly been very short staffed for more than two decades, he was unable to find work. He turned his medical license in and retreated - some say to his basement.

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Please remove the post, "Lactose Intolerance Can Be A Symptom Of Gluten Intolerance" posted Saturday January 22nd. I am the author of this content and would like it removed from your site immediately.I don't mind if you put the first paragraph of my post with a link back to my site, but it is against the the international copyrighting law to take the whole post and post it on your site.

Shelly Stuart