Health & WellnessS


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Best of the Web: The Paleo Diet Cures PCOS

Peggy Emch
The Primal Toad
Wed, 24 Aug 2011 08:26 UTC
Peggy emch
© NAWhen you live a primal lifestyle there is a good chance a "little" beauty will stand out...

The choice to change our diets often happens when doctors have failed us, medicine isn't working, and there seems to be no hope of recovery from modern illness.

For many of us it's weight gain. For some it's joint pain or depression. For women it's usually some set of hormonally related symptoms.

Simply eliminating packaged foods and switching to a whole foods approach works for many, but a lot of us can't seem to achieve any semblance of health without taking an evolutionary approach to our diet and lifestyle.
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Heart

The problem with the Saturated Fat is Bad Message


Diet Heart Publishing
Wed, 24 Aug 2011 06:41 UTC
In the U.S. dietary kingdom, saturated fat is most feared - fingered as the cause of coronary heart disease and stroke. According to the American Heart Association (AHA) website, the AHA has been warning us away from saturated fat since 1957. At the urging of AHA board members Ancel Keys and Jeremiah Stamler in 1961, the AHA officially endorsed a low fat, high carbohydrate diet - recommending that we replace saturated fat with margarine, polyunsaturated vegetable oils, and hydrogenated vegetable shortenings like Crisco.

Since then, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have spent billions of dollars reinforcing the American Heart Association's saturated fat is bad message. For the last thirty years, USDA low fat Dietary Guidelines (1980 to 2010) have recommended that we limit saturated fat to less than 10 percent of calories and cholesterol to less than 300 milligrams a day - the exact numbers in the American Heart Association's 1961 anti-saturated-fat diet.
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Butterfly

The Natural Remedy for Superbugs? Scientists Say Coriander Oil Could Be Used to Cure Food Poisoning and MRSA

Tamara Cohen
The Daily Mail, UK
Tue, 23 Aug 2011 22:46 UTC
Image
© iStockphotoCoriander: The herb extract is resistant to a range of toxic bacteria
Coriander oil could be used to cure a host of infections including food poisoning and the superbug MRSA, say researchers.

The herb extract is resistant to a range of toxic bacteria which cause infections that are resistant to drugs, a study has found.

Portuguese scientists tested samples of the oil - taken from the seeds of a coriander plant - against 12 lethal bacteria.

All showed reduced growth and most were killed by a solution containing less than 1.6 per cent of the oil.

The team from the University of Beira Interior found the oil attacks and kills the outer membrane of bacteria cells, including salmonella, E.coli and MRSA.

Dr Fernanda Domingues, who co-authored the study, said coriander oil could help the millions who suffer from food-borne illnesses every year.

'It could become a natural alternative to common antibiotics,' she said

Comment: For more information on the health benefits of Coriander (cilantro) see:

Coriandrum sativum chelates with methyl mercury.

Cilantro oil (Coriandrum sativium) has anti-Listerial activity

Coriander oil has antimicrobial activity against Campylobacter jejuni.

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Butterfly

Study: Positive Association of Fish Oil Supplementation and Cognitive Function


Science Daily
Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
Researchers at Rhode Island Hospital's Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders Center have found positive associations between fish oil supplements and cognitive functioning as well as differences in brain structure between users and non-users of fish oil supplements. The findings suggest possible benefits of fish oil supplements on brain health and aging.

The results were reported at the recent International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease, in Paris, France.

Comment: For more information on the benefits of essential fatty acids from fish oil read:

Why Fish Oil is Good for Your Health
Fish oil can ward off psychosis
Why fish oil is good for you
Fish Oil and Fatty Fish Protect from Heart Failure
Researchers Find Fish Oil Reduces Inflammation

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Syringe

Vaccine Assault on Children by The World Government

Dr. Mark Sircus
Activist Post
Tue, 23 Aug 2011 17:06 UTC
Image
© Activist PostWhat doctor would vaccinate this child?
The medical charity, Doctors Without Borders (MSF - Medecins Sans Frontieres), launched a mass vaccination against measles on the 18th of August 2011 at a refugee camp in southern Ethiopia hosting Somalis. The vaccination program is targeting children under 15. Many if not all of the Somali refugees also suffer from malnutrition reported aid agencies. "Malnutrition is very high," said MSF emergency coordinator Guillem Perez. A drought in the Horn of Africa has left some 12 million people facing starvation.

What is wrong with this story? Seems like a normal enough thing to do - go into a refugee camp and vaccinate everyone. But there was a time, when doctors were doctors, that they would not vaccine children when their immune systems were compromised by the flu or even a bad cold. Certainly no doctor in his right mind would vaccinate if their patients had a high fever or any serious acute situation going on.

Now, why was it that prudent doctors used to take some precautions before vaccinating children? Any doctor worth his weight in salt knows that vaccines put stress on the body's physiology and that is why some children die quickly after being vaccinated. Usually side effects are not fatal but they do indeed damage the nervous and other systems.
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Question

Are Carbs More Addictive Than Cocaine?

Paul John Scott
Details Magazine
Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:14 UTC
Image
© Zachary Zavislak
Your body is virtually defenseless against a dependency on carbohydrates - the substances that really make you fat - and it's time for an intervention.

I'm sitting in a comfortable chair, in a tastefully lit, cheerfully decorated drug den, watching a steady line of people approach their dealer. After scoring, they shuffle off to their tables to quietly indulge in what for some could become (if it hasn't already) an addiction that screws up their lives. It's likely you have friends and family members who are suffering from this dependence - and you may be on the same path yourself. But this addiction is not usually apparent to the casual observer. It has no use for the drama and the carnage you associate with cocaine and alcohol. It's slower to show its hand, more socially acceptable - and way more insidious.

I'm in a Panera Bread outlet. The company is on Fortune's 2010 list of the 100 Fastest Growing Companies and earned more than $1.3 billion in 2009, mainly from selling flour and sugar by the railcar. Last year, Zagat named it the most popular large chain in the United States and ranked it second in the Healthy Options category. The company responded by touting its "wholesome" food. Sure, Panera sells a few salads. But why do the scones, pastries, baguettes, and bear claws get all the good lighting? Why are the grab-and-go packs of cookies and brownies next to the register? What need is fulfilled by serving soup bowls made of bread, with a mound of bread for dipping, and then offering more bread on the side? How come it's noon and the couple behind me are eating bagels while the guy to my right is sawing into a cinnamon roll with a fork and a knife like it's a steak?
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Beaker

Toxic chemicals found in top brand name clothes


Raw Story
Tue, 23 Aug 2011 16:40 UTC
poison
© NA

Traces of toxic chemicals harmful to the environment and to human health have been detected in products made by 14 top clothing manufacturers, Greenpeace said Tuesday.

Samples of clothing from top brands including Adidas, Uniqlo, Calvin Klein, H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, Lacoste, Converse and Ralph Lauren were found to be tainted with the chemicals, known as nonylphenol ethoxylates, the watchdog said at the launch of its report "Dirty Laundry 2".

Greenpeace campaigner Li Yifang said that nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs), commonly used as detergents in industries including the production of natural and synthetic textiles, were detected in two-thirds of the samples the group tested.
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Arrow Up

Saturated Fat: Not Guilty

Laura Dolson
lowcarbdiets.about.com
Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:25 UTC
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© amazon.com
What a great weekend I had in Phoenix at Nutrition and Metabolism Society Symposium which was part of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians 2008 Western Regional Obesity Course.

We heard Gary Taubes, author of the tour-de-force book Good Calories, Bad Calories speak both days. The first day was about obesity - how we've come to believe what we do about the causes of obesity and why they don't hold up to scrutiny. For example, we're told "just to cut calories". And yet, to maintain weight, which in general our bodies do very well unless something goes wrong, requires an accuracy of better than .4 percent, which amounts to about 10-12 calories per day. Our bodies have hormonal and other signaling systems to make sure weight is regulated. The idea that we can consciously intervene in this system for years on end is a fool's errand.

Comment: For more information about the benefits of saturated fats read the following articles:

Enjoy Saturated Fats, They're Good for You!
Saturated Fat is Good for You
7 Reasons to Eat More Saturated Fat
Latest Research Debunks The Saturated Fat Diet Myths
You've Been Living A Lie: The Story Of Saturated Fat And Cholesterol

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Magic Wand

Examining the Mystery of Skeleton, Sugar and Sex

Amanda Schaffer
The New York Times
Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:31 UTC
Image
© Lou Beach
The hypothesis: Bones help regulate fertility in men. The investigator Dr. Gerard Karsenty, Columbia University.

For years, scientists thought they understood the skeleton. It serves as structural support for the body. It stores calcium and phosphate. It contributes to blood cell development. And it serves, indispensably, as the creepy mascot of Halloween.

But as it turns out, there may be still more to bone.

A few years ago, researchers at Columbia University Medical Center discovered, to everyone's surprise, that the skeleton seems to help regulate blood sugar. Now the team, led by Dr. Gerard Karsenty, geneticist and endocrinologist at Columbia University, has found that bone may play an unexpected role in reproduction. If the work pans out, it may help to explain some cases of low fertility in men.

"It's definitely an attention-grabber," Dr. William Crowley of Harvard Medical School, who was not involved in the research, said of the new finding regarding fertility. "I think it will turn out to be a seminal observation." (No pun intended, presumably.)

It is well known that the hormones estrogen and testosterone, produced in the ovaries and testes, help to regulate bone growth. When women reach menopause, estrogen levels decrease along with bone mass, putting them at increased risk for osteoporosis. As men age, their testosterone and estrogen levels decline, as well. Men lose bone, but much more slowly than women do.
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Health

'Eco-Friendly' Chilean Sea Bass May Not Be So Green

Erik Stokstad
Science Now
Mon, 22 Aug 2011 18:24 UTC
SeaBass
© Jerry Deutsch / iStockphotoThe real thing? Some sea bass fillets turned out to be other kinds of fish.

Are environmentally conscious consumers getting what they pay for when they buy ecolabeled fish? Maybe not, according to a new study of Chilean sea bass bearing the label of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which gives seafood products its stamp of approval. Nearly one in five fillets sampled by the researchers may not have been sustainably caught.

"The high rate of mislabeling revealed in this study could potentially undermine MSC's reputation as the gold standard for environmentally friendly fishing," says Lars Gulbrandsen, a researcher at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Lysaker, Norway, who studies eco-certification. The sample size is quite small, however, so it is difficult to know the extent of the problem.

Chilean sea bass is popular for its white, oily flesh that is easy to cook. Also known as toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides), many of these fish are caught off Patagonia, where the stocks are threatened by overfishing. In 2004, companies that operate farther south, around South Georgia Island, received MSC certification as being environmentally friendly. The certification depends on a host of factors, such as not overfishing and reducing bycatch - the accidental killing of birds , turtles, and other animals. This seal of approval gives the industry access to more supermarkets and a premium price.
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