Health & WellnessS


Beaker

7 Worst ingredients in food

Dr. Mercola
mercola.com
Tue, 30 Dec 2014 12:57 UTC
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More than 3,000 food additives -- preservatives, flavorings, colors and other ingredients -- are added to US foods, and this is one of the key reasons why I recommend avoiding most of the processed foods that contain them.

While many well-meaning nutritionists will teach you the importance of reading food labels, the easiest way to eat healthy is to stick with foods that need no food label at all... When was the last time you saw an ingredients list on a grass-fed steak or a bunch or broccoli?

There's a good chance, though, that you do eat some processed foods, and if this is the case reading the label is invaluable. There are literally thousands of 'red flags' to watch out for in the foods you eat, but a handful take the proverbial cake for worst of the worst.
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Gift 2

Now New York State is planning to let people smoke marijuana - what's going on?

Susanne Craig & Jesse McKinley
New York Times
Sat, 04 Jan 2014 18:15 UTC
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Government-approved weed...
Joining a growing group of states that have loosened restrictions on marijuana, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York plans this week to announce an executive action that would allow limited use of the drug by those with serious illnesses, state officials say.

The turnabout by Mr. Cuomo, who had long resisted legalizing medical marijuana, comes as other states are taking increasingly liberal positions on it - most notably Colorado, where thousands have flocked to buy the drug for recreational use since it became legal on Jan. 1.

Mr. Cuomo's plan will be far more restrictive than the laws in Colorado or California, where medical marijuana is available to people with conditions as mild as backaches. It will allow just 20 hospitals across the state to prescribe marijuana to patients with cancer, glaucoma or other diseases that meet standards to be set by the New York State Department of Health.

Comment: The main goal of tobacco smoking bans is "to change societal behavior" by stigmatizing smoking, making it less convenient and less socially acceptable. By raising the stakes, it helped transform a complaint into a right, so that people annoyed by tobacco smoke now felt justified in demanding that it be eliminated everywhere they might want to go, including other people's property.

In short, they have conditioned the majority of the people on the planet to behave like Nazis and think it is normal.

See also:

The devious plan of anti-smoking campaigns to control people and stop them from using their brain

Let's All Light Up!

5 Health Benefits of Smoking

Nicotine Lessens Symptoms Of Depression In Nonsmokers

Nicotine helps Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Patients

Brain Researchers: Smoking increases intelligence

Why then is the United States, the leading anti-smoking country - in respect to tobacco - suddenly liberalizing smoking marijuana?

Could it be that the one encourages a thinking populace, while the other dumbs it down?

Beware corrupt elites 'bearing gifts'...

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Health

Patients in vegetative state can respond emotionally to loved ones

Jeremy Dean
PsyBlog
Sat, 04 Jan 2014 00:00 UTC
water bed
© Anna Fischer
First study to demonstrate emotional awareness in patients in a persistent vegetative state.


It has long been thought that patients who are in a vegetative state - frequently due to a traumatic brain injury - have no awareness of their environment or themselves.

A new study using fMRI brain imaging, though, shows that some patients can display emotional reactions to pictures of loved ones (Sharon et al., 2013).

The study is surprising because patients in this condition show no signs of being aware of their surroundings. They breathe on their own, sleep and wake up, but otherwise appear utterly unresponsive to what's going on around them. Their families naturally wonder if they even realise they are there.
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Sun

Depression risk for workers starved of natural light

Ben Farmer
Telegraph, UK
Fri, 03 Jan 2014 13:45 UTC
A charity warns that the lack of natural light is affecting workers' mental health

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© ALAMYThe lack of sunlight means people are at risk of developing seasonal affective (SAD), or winter depression
One in ten people see no natural light at work, while 30 per cent get up before sunrise and return home after sunset during the winter months, a survey has found.

The lack of sunlight means people are at risk of developing seasonal affective (SAD), or winter depression, a mental health charity warned.

Going without daily sunlight can lead to feelings of lethargy and depression, which can develop further into SAD, Mental Health Research UK (MHRUK) said.

The charity's survey of 2,000 British adults found that three in 10 adults rise before sunrise during the winter months and return home from work after sunset.

It also found half were concerned that their workplace lacked natural light and ten per cent said they had no natural light whatsoever at all while at work.
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Arrow Down

Johnson & Johnson Risperdal linked to male breast development

Greg Jones Law
Digital Journal
Sat, 04 Jan 2014 07:12 UTC
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Johnson & Johnson, the pharmaceutical giant known worldwide as a maker of a variety of popular pharmaceutical products, has come under media scrutiny once again for manufacturing potential defective drugs. This time, however, the scrutiny surrounds the side effects associated with the manufacturing of a particular antipsychotic known as Risperdal. Specifically, the drug has been linked to causing Gynecomastia in males.

Prescription Risperdal

Risperdal is a drug prescribed for the treatment of mental disorders like bipolar, schizophrenia and autism. The FDA approved the drug for consumer use in the early 90s. Typical side effects of the medication include diabetes, weight gain, nausea, bone loss, and bowel discomfort, among others. However, many male patients have also reported experiencing Gynecomastia after taking the medication.
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Gingerbread

General Mills marketing ploy! Cheerios now made without GM ingredients


Reuters
Fri, 03 Jan 2014 05:19 UTC
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© Reuters/Jim YoungThe General Mills logo is seen on a box of Cheerios cereal in Evanston, Illinois, June 26, 2012.
General Mills Inc said it has stopped using genetically modified ingredients in the popular breakfast cereal Cheerios as the U.S. branded foods manufacturer hopes the move will firm up customer loyalty in the face of growing opposition to such additives.

Many activists and critics have cited studies showing that genetically modified (GM) crops are not safe for people and animals who consume them.

Some activist groups opposing GM food also say the crops create environmental problems by encouraging more use of certain agro chemicals, and consumers should have the right to know what they are buying.

However, General Mills, which also makes Betty Crocker dessert mixes and Yoplait yoghurt, said in a company blog post on Thursday that its decision on ingredients was not driven by safety concerns or pressure from critics.

"It's not about safety. Biotech seeds, also known as genetically modified seeds, have been approved by global food safety agencies and widely used by farmers in global food crops for almost 20 years," the General Mills blog said.

Comment: This is a pure marketing ploy. General Mills has no interest in the health and well-being of consumers but is responding to the worldwide disdain for genetically modified foods.
France Bans GMO Corn Amid Mass US Protests Against Monsanto
Peru bans genetically modified foods for ten years minimum
Opposition crops up to GMO foods in Hawaii
'Stop GMOs': Russian scientists urge 10-year ban on genetically modified products
GMO Scandal: The Long Term Effects of Genetically Modified Food in Humans

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Arrow Down

Drug companies accused of holding back complete information on clinical trials

Rajeev Syal
The Guardian, UK
Fri, 03 Jan 2014 17:22 UTC
Tamiflu
© The Guardian, UK

Clinical trial results are being routinely withheld from doctors, undermining their ability to make informed decisions about how to treat patients, an influential parliamentary committee has claimed.

MPs have expressed "extreme concern" that drug manufacturers appear to only publish around 50% of completed trial results and warned that the practice has "ramifications for the whole of medicine".

Their conclusions have emerged in a public accounts committee report which examined the Department of Health's decision to spend £424m on stockpiling the flu drug Tamiflu, before writing off £74m because of poor record keeping.

The MPs found that experts failed to agree on how well Tamiflu works, but discussions were hampered because important information was held back.

Richard Bacon, a senior member of the committee, said the practice of holding back results was undermining the ability of doctors, researchers and patients to make informed decisions about treatments. "Regulators and the industry have made proposals to open up access, but these do not cover the issue of access to the results of trials in the past which bear on the efficacy and safety of medicines in use today," he said. "Research suggests that the probability of completed trials being published is roughly 50%. And trials which gave a favourable verdict are about twice as likely to be published as trials giving unfavourable results.
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Life Preserver

'Primal Body' transforms metabolism with gluten-free high fat ketogenic diet

Joanne Eglash
Examiner
Fri, 03 Jan 2014 14:32 UTC
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You've probably heard about the Paleo diet. But health researcher Nora Gedgaudas believes that this approach can be improved by following what she calls the "Primal Body" plan. In an exclusive interview on Jan. 3, Nora explained to me how her guidelines can transform your metabolism and result in weight loss.

Nora chose the term "Primal" to reflect the fact that "we share common DNA with the earliest organisms on this planet." She notes that it expands the meaning of Paleo to focus on our body's need for unprocessed foods that are carefully chosen. Nora has authored a book expanding on this concept: "Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond the Paleo Diet for Total Health and a Longer Life" (click for details).

A key part of her Primal plan: Going gluten-free.

"According to extremely knowledgeable research scientists such as Dr. Alexio Fasano, gluten is a substance no human being can actually even digest," says Nora.

And with the wide range of adverse effects of gluten consumption (more than 200), gluten should not be considered a food, she contends. Instead, Nora believes that it is "a bona fide contaminant."

Comment: For more information on this research and how to do this diet, see

The Ketogenic Diet - An Overview
Is the Ketogenic Diet the cure for multiple diseases?
Ketogenic diet plan
Low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet fuels rapid weight loss
Opening Pandora's Bread Box: The Critical Role of Wheat Lectin in Human Disease

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Pills

Make a new year's resolution to give up psychiatry

Brian Daniels
The Bristol Post
Thu, 02 Jan 2014 11:00 UTC
adhd2
It's the time of year when excited children might, on a regular basis, demonstrate a "difficulty sustaining attention in tasks or play activities," or they might "lose things necessary for tasks or activities," they may be "easily distracted by extraneous stimuli," they may have "difficulty playing or engaging in leisure activities quietly," or they may talk "excessively."

This sounds like normal childhood behaviour that goes hand-in-hand with the excitement, anticipation and activity of the festive season. It is normal, but to a psychiatrist, it's part of a list used to diagnose and label a child with so-called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Add some arguments and some defiance in to the festive mix, eat too much, have difficulty walking away from the internet, become obsessive about the new phone, have anxieties over whether there's enough food to feed everyone, and you have even more normality. But according to psychiatrists, you have a compendium of 'disorders.'

Translated into psychobabble, you have labels like Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Internet Use Disorder, or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
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Map

Bama, Guangxi, China: The village with the secret to long life

Tania Branigan
The Guardian
Sat, 30 Dec 2000 10:58 UTC
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© Guardian/Tania BraniganHuang Puxin, who says he is 114, waits for visitors at his home in Longevity Village in Bama, Guangxi.
Her T-shirted charges trailing behind her, the young guide swept into Huang Puxin's home and flicked her tour flag towards the centenarian, who was waiting on the sofa beneath a giant bas-relief inscribed with the word "longevity". "The old man is 113," she mumbled into her headset, turning away.

The tourists stuffed cash into piled-up red envelopes and moved in beside Huang, patting his knee as they handed him the money and posed for a picture.

Huang has lived through wars, famines, the rise and fall of Maoism and much more. But his life's latest turn may be its unlikeliest: reinvention as a tourist attraction. Bama county, in southern Guangxi, used to be one of China's poorest places. Now, thanks to residents such as Huang, it is a travel hotspot.

Famed for centuries for its residents' unusual longevity, it now has 81 centenarians. Proportional to population, that is roughly five times China's average.

A decade ago the best-known settlement in the county rebranded itself as Longevity Village, and in the past few years coverage and word of mouth have prompted a surge in visits. More than 640,000 people came in the first five months of 2013, boosting the economy by 406m yuan (£41m), say officials.

An estimated 20,000 health tourists - many times the number of native residents - live in the surrounding district, staying for months at a time. Thousands more arrive on coach trips, to receive the benediction of the oldest residents.
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