Health & WellnessS


Better Earth

New Study: Organic farms support 34 - 43% more species than GMO farms

Christina Sarich
Natural Society
Sun, 09 Mar 2014 16:36 UTC
Organic Farms
© Natural Society

A new study will make it hard for Monsanto, Dow, and DuPont to argue that they aren't simply desirous of eliminating all of nature, and then - us. A detailed analysis of species diversity - more plants, animals, and insects - is included in the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Oxford University's report published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, looking at data from 94 previous studies covering 184 farm sites dating back to 1989. It shows how organic farms support life on planet Earth, and how GMO farms do not.

That's no haphazard report. It covers lots of acreage and goes back 25 years. This very same report proves that this increase of biodiversity is stable over 30 years on organic farms, as compared to conventional ones. Is this really any surprise though, to anyone who has been paying attention to what neonicotinoids do to pollinators, and what Bt toxins do to farm animals and people?

Sean Tuck of Oxford University's Department of Plant Sciences, and lead author of the study said:
"Our study has shown that organic farming, as an alternative to conventional farming, can yield significant long-term benefits for biodiversity. Organic methods could go some way towards halting the continued loss of diversity in industrialized nations."
The study only looked at 'species richness' and in some cases pollinator colonies were a whole 50% higher on organic farms compared to GMO, pesticide-laden ones.
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Water

Harvard says fluoridated water is causing cognitive disorders

Christina Sarich
Natural Society
Sun, 09 Mar 2014 16:36 UTC
Fluoridated Water
© ButterBeliever.com.
A newly published study in Harvard's The Lancet weighs in on the toxins causing autism and ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder). Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) say that along with these numerous environmental toxins, fluoridated water is adding to the higher incident of both cognitive and behavioral disorders.

Harvard had already published a study in 2006 that pointed to fluoride as a 'developmental neurotoxicant', and this newer study looks to over 27 additional investigations into the matter via meta nalysis. In the previous study, it was already established that fluoride consumption lowered children's IQ scores.

The left-over from industry, passed off as 'medicine,' obstructs brain development, and can cause a full spectrum of serious health issues - from autism to dyslexia, ADHD, ADD, and more.

The study calls the effects from this chemical a 'silent epidemic' that mainstream media and many scientific papers have ignored.

Two of the main researchers involved in the study, Philippe Grandjean from HSPH and Philip Landrigan from ISMMS, say that incidences of chemical-related neurodevelopmental disorders have doubled over the past seven years from six to 12.

The study admits that there are numerous chemicals to blame - many of which are untested or ceremoniously approved by the FDA, USDA, and CDC without truly knowing their long term ramifications on human health - but that fluoride is a definite culprit.
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Beaker

Proof: They don't have to use harmful artificial color dyes

Aaron Dykes & Melissa Melton
Truthstream Media.com
Fri, 07 Mar 2014 15:04 UTC
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© Truthstream Media.com
If they can use real food for colors instead, why are so many U.S. products laced with risky ingredients banned around the world?

We were confronted with a neon-colored popsicle that seemed like a young kid's dream and a parent's nightmare - that is, until we realized that unlike most of its peers on the junk food market, this sugary treat DOES NOT use artificial color dyes - which have been banned in Europe and most of the world due to their proven links to hyperactivity and cancer.

Comment: Food Dyes: The Color of Controversy:

Food Dyes: The Toxic Situation
Do Synthetic Food Colors Cause Hyperactivity?
Is It Really Worth Using Food Dyes If They Cause Cancer?
The Rainbow Of Food Dyes In Our Grocery Aisles Has A Dark Side
Organic Foods Offer Alternative to Foods Containing Food Dyes & Pesticides Linked to Raising Children's Risk of ADHD

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Cookies

It doesn't take much sugar for it to wreak havoc on your body

Jill Richardson
Alternet
Sun, 23 Feb 2014 14:27 UTC
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At least a can of soda per day is safe, right? Nope, much much less, according to the World Health Organization.

Nicolette Hahn Niman, author of Righteous Porkchop, just coined a new catchphrase that ought to go viral: "Sugar is NOT just an empty calorie."

Her statement contradicts the notion we've had for years that the worst thing about sugar is its lack of nutrients. Either you're eating sugar in addition to all of the calories you need to stay healthy, or you're eating it instead of them. In the former case, you're getting too many calories; in the latter, you're getting too few nutrients. This idea is so dominant it was recently cited in an anti-sugar op-ed in the Guardian.

Even if that was the case, we're eating too much sugar. Or, more specifically, too much added sugar. Sugars that are naturally present in whole foods like fruit are okay; it's the sugar added to whole foods that we must worry about. Previously, the World Health Organization said we should limit consumption of added sugars to 10 percent of calories. Even then, more than seven in 10 Americans ate too much sugar. On average, about 15 percent of our calories came from added sugars.
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Syringe

Chemotherapy patients more likely to die in hospital ICU rather than peacefully at home as they would have preferred


CBS Local
Sat, 08 Mar 2014 12:56 UTC
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© Toni L. Sandys/Getty ImagesCancer patients who received chemo were more likely to die in a hospital intensive care unit rather than at home.
More than half of end-stage cancer patients receive chemotherapy during the last few months of their life, and those who received such treatment were more likely to die in a hospital intensive care unit, hooked to a ventilator, rather than at home as they would have preferred, says a new study.

Patients were also less likely to have discussed their end of life wishes with their oncologist compared to other end-stage cancer patients who opted not to continue chemotherapy.

Researchers say doctors have a hard time initiating conversations with their patients, especially those dying from metastatic cancer.

"There's a subtle dance that happens between oncologist and patient," Dr. Alexi Wright, an assistant professor of medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and the study's lead author, told the Boston Globe. "Where doctors don't want to broach the subject of dying, especially in younger patients, because it makes those patients think we're giving up on them."

Comment: Perhaps some doctors fail to give up on treatments because of pressure from BigPharma. Chemotherapy is a big business, has been shown to be toxic and in some cases to make cancers worse. There are far less toxic and more effective treatments for cancer, but as those provide no financial incentives they are portrayed as quack therapies or ignored. Patients who refuse barbarian chemotherapy protocols may live longer and have far more peaceful deaths when they do pass!
75% of physicians in the world refuse chemotherapy for themselves
Greed: Why an accepted "cure" for cancer won't be found
Study: Chemotherapy May Trigger Cancer Growth
Woops! Study Accidentally Finds Chemotherapy Makes Cancer Far Worse
Why is "Hot Chemo" an Acceptable Cancer Treatment - But IV Vitamin C is "Too Far Out There"?
Yet another cancer cure to put Big Pharma out of business? Korean scientists kill cancer with magnet field

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Alarm Clock

Daylight Savings Time can be a danger to your health!


CBS Local
Fri, 07 Mar 2014 23:40 UTC
Daylight Saving
© MinyanvilleSpring forward.
This weekend we move the clocks an hour forward, losing sleep but gaining an hour of evening sunlight.

But Daylight Saving Time may have serious health implications for some, making it a difficult, even potentially dangerous change, CBS 2′s Kristine Johnson reported.

"It affects my sleep, my whole life schedule. I get crazy," said Shayla Edwards.

"Our body has a natural circadian rhythm which is almost an internal clock that regulates our 24-hour cycle. It regulates our sleep-wake cycle and that can be disturbed fairly easily," said neuro-psychiatrist Dr. Julia Samton.

According to Samton, even moving the clocks just one hour may mean disrupted sleep patterns, and more, for some people.

"Most of our mental fog, that lack of mental clarity is from decreased of sleep," Samton explained.

Comment: Daylight-saving Time Leads To Less Sleep, More Injuries On The Job, Study Finds
Why do we have daylight savings time?
Daylight savings time disrupts humans' natural circadian rhythm

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Info

Kale bites back: Turns out the popular green has a potent self-defense system

Willy Blackmore
Takepart.com
Tue, 07 Oct 2014 17:23 UTC

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© Illustrated by Lauren Wade
Evolution has given this popular brassica, like most every other vegetable, an arsenal of anti-vegan defenses

A laundry list of healthful attributes has put kale in pole position to be the vegetable of the new decade, but the vogue green is also armed with an array of defenses geared at doing serious damage to any creature that tries to eat it. In addition to containing cyanide-like thiocyanate, kale also contains lectins associated with autoimmune disease, and antinutrients that keep your body from absorbing vitamins and minerals.


Comment: Antinutrients - Your key to bad health
Lectins are natural proteins that have a large variety of roles. They are amongst the most fascinating and stimulating of all biological compounds, and I have no doubt that they play a major role in many "unexplained " diseases. I think of them as "Hannibal Lectins" as they remind of the devious criminal mastermind in the shock horror movie "Silence of the Lambs.' Lectins are like master code-breakers. The cells of our bodies are studded with receptors which are like code pads to ensure stimulation only under the correct circumstances. Lectins have the ability to crack these codes and stimulate the receptors causing a variety of responses- covering basically the full repertoire of the cell and even tricking the cell into doing things it normally cannot do. They also have a knack for bypassing our defenses and "getting behind the lines", and then they can travel all over the body causing harm. They can, for example:
  • strip protective mucus off tissues,
  • damage the cells lining the small intestine- disrupting the microscopic fingers called villi and microvilli,
  • get swallowed whole by the small intestine cells ("pinocytosis")
  • bind to cells including blood cells causing a clot to form (hence they were initially called "haemagglutins")
  • make a cell act as if it has been stimulated by a hormone-
  • stimulate a cell to secrete a hormone
  • promote cell division at the wrong time
  • cause gowth or shrinkage of lymphatic tissue ("outposts" of white blood cells)
  • cause enlargement of the pancreas
  • cause cells to present codes (HLA's) that they normally should not use
  • cause cell death (apoptosis)
Lectins break down the surface of the small intestine, stripping it of mucus and causing the cells to become irregular and leaky. Some lectins make cells act as if they have been stimulated by insulin. Others cause the pancreas to release insulin. Others cause immune cells to divide in the wrong way, causing growth of some white blood cells and breaking down the control of the immune system. Others cause cells to present the wrong codes (HLA's) on their surface, tricking the immune system into thinking that intruders have been found and activating the immune system inappropriately- thus leading to "autoimmune disease" where the body's tissues are attacked by its own immune system.

Autoimmune diseases are incredibly common and increase every year that a person gets older. A disordered immune system also has a much harder job recognizing and attacking the real intruders- invading germs and cancer cells (you may have heard that scientists think that most people generate many cancer cells in a life time but that the immune system cleans most of them up).



Comment: Put Down That Kale Smoothie - Why You Should Cook Your Food

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Red Flag

USDA: 9 Million pounds of "Diseased and Unsound" meat may have reached 35 states

Melissa Melton
The Daily Sheeple
Fri, 07 Mar 2014 16:59 UTC
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Petaluma, California's Rancho Feeding Corporation recalled 8,742,700 pounds of meat products in February after the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) determined that the meat came from uninspected, "diseased and unsound" animals.

"Thus, the products are adulterated, because they are unsound, unwholesome or otherwise are unfit for human food and must be removed from commerce," FSIS concluded.

The massive recall resulted in Nestlé voluntarily recalling a bunch of it's Philly Steak & Cheese variety of Hot Pockets.

On February 8th, FSIS updated it's official statement "to reflect that beef products associated with recall 13 were shipped to distribution centers and retail establishments in California, Florida, Illinois, Oregon, Texas and Washington."

Now the USDA is saying this diseased and unsound meat may have reached as far as 35 states and Guam.
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Magnify

Overconsumption - A look at how unsustainable our eating habits have become

Dr. Mercola
Merocla.com
Sat, 01 Mar 2014 16:08 UTC
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© pewenvironment.org
The featured video, Overconsumption, is a segment of a longer, completely non-verbal documentary called SAMSARA, which was filmed over a period of five years, across 25 countries.
"By dispensing with dialogue and descriptive text, SAMSARA subverts our expectations of a traditional documentary, instead encouraging our own inner interpretations inspired by images and music that infuses the ancient with the modern."
Indeed, the effect is striking. This clip, which focuses on overconsumption, highlights just how unsustainable our eating habits have become. Modern food production also involves animal cruelty on a scale never seen before in the history of mankind.

Comment: Learn more about Why Factory Farms Threaten Your Health:

The Problem with Factory Farms
Factory Farms Make You Sick. Let Us Count the Ways
Farmacology: Antibiotics resistance generated at factory farms
The FDA Finally Reveals How Many Antibiotics Factory Farms Use
CDC reveals disturbing truth about factory farms and superbugs
How Factory Farms Are Pumping Americans Full of Deadly Bacteria and Pathogens
What the USDA Doesn't Want You to Know About Antibiotics and Factory Farms

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People

After years of improving, rates of youth suicide-related behaviors stopped declining

Geoff Koehler
St. Michael's Hospital
Fri, 07 Mar 2014 13:46 UTC
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A new study from St. Michael's Hospital found that, after four years of declining, the rates of teenagers coming into Ontario emergency departments with suicide-related behaviours stopped dropping between 2006 and 2010.

Suicide-related behaviours are incidents of self-inflicted injuries or self-poisonings.

Using data from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, the researchers found that from 2002 to 2006, the rates of teenagers coming into Ontario emergency departments with suicide-related behaviours declined by 30 per cent. However, from 2006 until the end of the study in 2010, rates did not continue to drop and about one-third more of these events resulted in a hospital admission, suggesting an increase in severity.

"Coming into hospital with a self-inflicted injuries or poisoning is a strong risk factor for suicide," said Dr. Anne Rhodes, lead author and research scientist in St. Michael's Hospital's Suicide Studies Research Unit. "Within a year of coming into a hospital with suicide-related behaviour, 16 per cent will repeat their behaviour and about two per cent will die by suicide."

Previous research from Dr. Rhodes has shown that more than 80 per cent of youth who die by suicide had some form of contact with the health care system in the year before their death. Compared to population-based peers, youth who have gone to an emergency department to hospital with suicide-related behaviours had three to four times higher risk of death.
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