Health & WellnessS


Bacon

Best of the Web: A Big Fat Mistake

New research has weakened the perceived link between saturated fat and heart disease. Today, many experts agree that refined carbs pose a much greater danger.
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© Unknown

Is it possible - even imaginable - that nearly everyone has been wrong about saturated fat and its connection to heart disease? Brace yourself. Based on a wave of new research, all the dietary admonitions about saturated fat could end up being little more than a huge mistake.

"The question is whether saturated fat is harmful or is just a bystander," says Ronald M. Krauss, MD, a lipid specialist and the director of atherosclerosis research at the Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute. "Saturated fat may have an effect on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, but the effect is so small that we just can't detect it. We shouldn't be demonizing saturated fat."

Krauss can back up his opinion with hard science. He and his colleagues recently analyzed 21 published studies involving almost 350,000 people who were tracked from five to 23 years. Their conclusion: People who consumed the most saturated fat did not have a higher risk of heart disease, stroke or any other form of CVD. They published their findings last year in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Magnify

Superbugs: Will Millions Die Needlessly Before We Act?

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© Alliance for Natural Health
Drug-resistant bacteria - "superbugs" - are becoming a global crisis. But the government not only thwarts the development of new antibiotic drugs. It also willfully ignores powerful natural therapies and cures.

Last August, the UN's World Health Organization issued a global alert on the dangers of drug-resistant bacteria: "Some bacteria have developed mechanisms which render them resistant to many of the antibiotics normally used for their treatment, so pose particular difficulties, as there may be few or no alternative options for therapy." Germs resistant to one or more drugs kill 100,000 US hospital patients a year and cost the healthcare system more than $34 billion, according to the Infectious Disease Society of America. This could easily rise to the millions worldwide as major bacterial pandemics emerge.

And as we reported in February, the world is also facing wave after wave of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in our food - a consequence of farmers' overuse of antibiotics for their animals, and doctors' routine prescribing of antibiotics to treat sore throats and other non-bacterial illnesses.

Comment: For more information about deadly Superbugs and MRSA read the following articles:

The Truth About Deadly 'Superbugs'
Widespread Antibiotic Use in 1960s sparked MRSA
Hospital Superbugs Kill 48,000 Patients a Year
Why are 48,000 Hospital-Stays per Year in the US Ending in Death?
New Superbugs Resist Most Powerful Antibiotics
As MRSA Gets Worse, the FDA Discovers Antibiotic Abuse on Factory Farms
FDA Report: Alarming Amounts of "Superbugs" in Supermarkets

The articles below provide helpful information about alternative healing methods for the fight against 'Superbugs':

Rare antibiotic found that fights superbugs
Honey Kills Bacteria: Natural Compound Works against Superbugs
Study: Healing Clays 'Exterminate' Superbugs
Pomegranate Lotion Offers New Hope in War on Superbugs


Cell Phone

Researchers Find Stunning Evidence of Cell Phone Dangers

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© Unknown
Researchers have reported evidence that cell phone radiation has a variety of alarming biological effects, which are sure to fuel concerns about whether or not phones impact human health.

Scientists reportedly found that GSM signals fragmented insect DNA in ovarian cells, that a brief "mild electromagnetic field" affects bone formation in fetuses, and that cell phone-frequency radiation increased the permeability of the blood-brain barrier in young adult male rats.

These findings were reported in a press release issued by the Environmental Health Trust, which notes that the rat brains can be "used to correspond to the brains of human teenagers."

"This work provides a warning signal to all of us," said Professor Wilhelm Mosgoeller from the Medical University of Vienna. "The evidence justifies precautionary measures to reduce the risks for everyone of us."

Health

HIV Patients Refused Care in China

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Chinese health experts and international labour advocates say that there is a severe lack of understanding of HIV/AIDS among Chinese healthcare workers.

Their findings were published by the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) in a recent report, which concludes that most Chinese medical personnel seem unable to treat HIV/AIDS patients.

It cited lack of understanding of the epidemic and fear of transmission as major barriers to effective care.

While officials say the main transmission route is primarily through sexual contact, dissident doctors like Wan Yanhai and Gao Yaojie have been harried into exile for their insistence on the importance of tainted blood-selling schemes in rural areas of the country.

The HIV epidemic exploded in rural Henan province in the 1990s, infecting hundreds of thousands of people, and leaving villages with large numbers of "AIDS orphans."

The researchers interviewed 103 Chinese people living with HIV and 23 healthcare workers.

Bug

New Zealand Casino Staff Forced To Wear Flea Collars to Keep Blood Suckers At Bay

Auckland, New Zealand - Workers at the casino in New Zealand's largest city have been forced to wear flea collars to work in a bid to ward off the blood-sucking critters, the New Zealand Herald reported Tuesday.

The alarming report follows news of similar infestations forcing nurses at some Auckland hospitals to adopt a similar course of action in December -- sparking a warning from health authorities against humans wearing the pet collars, which emit toxins.

Employees at SkyCity Casino were spraying themselves with insect repellent and wearing pet flea collars around their ankles to ward off fleas, according to Unite Union national director Mike Treen.

He said staff had been complaining about infestations on the casino floor "for years" and that although the business had been undertaking a cleaning process, "it doesn't seem to be working."

Nuke

Thousands of Nuclear plant workers suffer internal radiation exposure after visiting Fukushima

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© (Photo courtesy of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency)A photograph shows a whole-body counter.
The government has discovered thousands of cases of workers at nuclear power plants outside Fukushima Prefecture suffering from internal exposure to radiation after they visited the prefecture, the head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.

Most of the workers who had internal exposure to radiation visited Fukushima after the nuclear crisis broke out following the March 11 quake and tsunami, and apparently inhaled radioactive substances scattered by hydrogen explosions at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.

The revelation has prompted local municipalities in Fukushima to consider checking residents' internal exposure to radiation.

Roses

US: Connecticut, "Worst Year Yet" for Pollen

Pollen sneeze
© Paul Petrone
The spring of 2011 has been one of the worse in years for the amount of pollen in the air. That makes it a difficult season for the 35 million Americans who suffer from allergies.

Dr. Kenneth Backman of Allergy & Asthma Care of Fairfield County in Monroe said the spring's overabundance of pollen has worsened the condition for many.

"This year has definitely been very bad," Backman said. "When it warmed up, we had about two weeks where pollen was just off the wall. It was probably the worst I've ever seen. It was the kind of thing where medications weren't even working for people."

Nuke

Nuclear Fallout: You won't hear this on Mainstream News

Nuclear Facts A very clued in professional who will not be bought or intimidated into silence: Dr Helen Caldicott, true to style, tells it as it is. As she sees it, you wont usually hear the truth so listen up.


Comment: For information on how to reduce the risk of toxic exposure please see the following: Gabriela Segura, M.D.: Detoxing After the Gulf Oil Disaster, Detoxify or Die: Natural Radiation Protection Therapies for Coping With the Fallout of the Fukushima Nuclear Meltdown.

There is also the Podcast section here which under the topic of Detoxifying the body there are several Titles; Recommended: GMO Frankenfoods and What You Can Do to Improve Your Health & Toxic World, Toxic Bodies

Outside of Detoxing, there is this important article about Radiation: Fallout Around the Breakfast Table


Info

Carbohydrates and Colorectal Cancer Risk among Chinese in North America

Abstract

Previous studies have analyzed total carbohydrate as a dietary risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC) but obtained conflicting results, perhaps attributable in part to the embedded potential confounder, fiber. The aim of this study was to analyze the nonfiber ("effective") carbohydrate component (eCarb) separately and to test the hypothesis that effective carbohydrate consumption is directly related to CRC risk. The data (473 cases and 1192 controls) were from a large, multicenter, case-control study of Chinese residing in North America.

Multivariate logistic regression was used to perform a secondary analysis controlling for age; sex; consumption of fat, fiber, calcium, and total kilocalories; body mass (Quetelet's) index; family history; education; and years in North America. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to estimate risk among subgroups by sex and cancer site.

Health

Best of the Web: Are your Hormones Making you Miserable?

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Are your hormones out of balance?

Does your life feel like a song played badly out of tune?

If so, the problem may have to do with imbalances in your hormones, which are wreaking havoc on your body and mind.

There is one hormone in particular I am going to focus on today, and it could be at the root of your problems.

I will share with you 12 tips you can start using immediately to begin rebalancing your hormones and bring your life back into tune.