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Hormones Still Pushed, Still Dangerous

Martha Rosenberg
Huffington Post
Tue, 25 Jan 2011 14:29 UTC
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© Huffington Post
The medical press trumpeted again this month the shopworn pharmaceutical marketing message that menopausal hormones may be good for women, after all.

This is at least the eighth time researchers have tried to resuscitate the lucrative therapy, which sank in 2002 when a government study found it caused the cancer and heart disease it was marketed to prevent. Wyeth, now Pfizer, had to close a plant and phase out 1,200 employees when the highly advertised hormone therapy nosedived.

Recently, Dr. Joseph Ragaz, clinical professor at the University of British Columbia, presented at the yearly San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. In a re-analysis of the 2002 study, called the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), Ragaz found estrogen alone in some groups of women who have had a hysterectomy protected against breast cancer. The evidence that estrogen can protect against breast cancer has "been largely ignored" Ragaz says.

But anyone who follows medical literature knows that estrogen hasn't been ignored at all.
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Heart

Pauling's last legacy: a unified theory of cardiovascular disease

Jinnan Cai
Clinical Nature
Fri, 24 Dec 2010 05:43 UTC
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Linus Pauling at home in Big Sur, showing his Nobel Peace Prize certificate, 1987
Linus Carl Pauling (1901 - 1994) was an American chemist, peace activist, author and educator regarded as one of the most influential chemists in history. He was among the first scientists to work in the fields of quantum chemistry and molecular biology, and is the only individual to have won two unshared Nobel Prizes.
A paper submitted by Pauling to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and accepted for publication on June 11, 1991 was later revoked by the editor under questionable circumstances: "We are aware that this pullback was not the decision of an individual. It happened in the interest of those who are personally or economically dependent on the present dogma of human cardiovascular disease."
In the mid-1930s, Pauling shifted his interest towards biological molecules and protein structures, although it was his work on vitamin C which generated much controversy. Pauling popularised vitamin C as an effective therapy for terminal cancer patients and the common cold. However, the failure of randomised trials by the Mayo Clinic to demonstrate any benefit and the public debate that ensued resulted in the medical establishment eventually rejecting his claims as quackery.

In his last years, Pauling continued to research vitamin C and became especially interested in its possible role in preventing atherosclerosis and heart disease. It is this forgotten work by Pauling and Matthias Rath at the Linus Pauling Institute which presents a compelling case for re-examining atherosclerosis research, prevention and treatment.
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Family

What School Lunch in France Can Teach us Back Home in the U.S.

Andy Cook
Simple Good and Tasty
Sun, 30 Jan 2011 22:49 UTC
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© unk
Poached cod and potatoes with lemon butter, sautéed haricot verts, and fresh avocado -- sound like a meal from Heartland or Spoonriver? Well, that's what I had for lunch recently at College Simin de Palay, a junior high school in the town of Lescar, France. And as good as the meal sounds, the story behind it is equally appealing.

But first, like a good meal, we need a little appetizer. In Minnesota and across the nation, health care and education reform are topics of high importance. And from the First Lady to five-star generals, more and more people are making the connection between what our students eat in school and how it affects health, well-being, and academic performance. On the heels of Simple, Good, and Tasty's, exposition on Minneapolis school lunch, I wanted to share my recent visit to Lescar, where I experienced first-hand how the school prepares meals for its students and learned directly about their approach to school lunch.
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Beaker

Fluoride is a Poison - Says Top Researcher on Australian TV


Dr. Mercola
Fri, 28 Jan 2011 20:25 UTC
An expert speaking on an Australian TV news show reveals fluoride for what it is - a poison.

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Cookie

Kids Fed Unhealthy Foods Learn to Prefer Them


Health Day News
Thu, 27 Jan 2011 19:09 UTC
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© schriftman.wordpress.com
Most preschool children develop a taste for salt, sugar and fat at home, and quickly learn which types of brand-name fast foods and sodas meet these preferences, U.S. researchers say.

In one experiment, the mothers of 67 children, aged 3 to 5, were asked to list their youngsters' taste preferences and listed foods high in sugar, fat and salt. The researchers tested the children and found that the parents' answers were accurate.

In a second experiment, the researchers looked at the association between the taste preferences of 108 preschool children and their emerging awareness of brands of fast food and sugar-sweetened beverages.
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Fish

Fish safe to eat although UAPB researchers can't explain 83,000 fish kill

Anissa Ford
Examiner
Sun, 30 Jan 2011 19:09 UTC
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© UAPBDr. Andrew Goodwin of UAPB examines fish samples


Researchers at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff don't know what killed more than 83,000 fresh water drum fish on December 29.

They've tested the water for bacteria, viral infection, parasites, and toxins but they tests have eliminated each as a possibility. Consequently, UAPB researchers say that fish in the Arkansas River are safe to eat and that they have no concerns about eating fish.

Arkansas Game and Fish Commision Supervisor Bob Limbard said that fish kills are not that uncommon, "but kills of this magnitude in Arkansas are rare," he told the Arkansas News Bureau.
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Magic Wand

Neuroscience of nutrition: A deficiency of dietary omega-3 may explain depressive behaviors


INSERM
Sun, 30 Jan 2011 15:44 UTC
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© Unknown
How maternal essential fatty acid deficiency impact on its progeny is poorly understood. Dietary insufficiency in omega-3 fatty acid has been implicated in many disorders. Researchers from Inserm and INRA and their collaborators in Spain collaboration, have studied mice fed on a diet low in omega-3 fatty acid. They discovered that reduced levels of omega-3 had deleterious consequences on synaptic functions and emotional behaviours. Details of this work are available in the online version of the journal Nature neuroscience, which can be accessed here.

In industrialized nations, diets have been impoverished in essential fatty acids since the beginning of the 20th century. The dietary ratio between omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid omega-3 increased continuously over the course of the 20th century. These fatty acids are "essential" lipids because the body cannot synthesize them from new. They must therefore be provided through food and their dietary balance is essential to maintain optimal brain functions.

Olivier Manzoni (Head of Research Inserm Unit 862, "Neurocentre Magendie", in Bordeaux and Unit 901 "Institut de Neurobiologie de la Méditerranée" in Marseille), and Sophie Layé (Head of Research at INRA Unit 1286, "Nutrition et Neurobiologie Intégrative" in Bordeaux) and their co-workers hypothesized that chronic malnutrition during intra-uterine development, may later influence synaptic activity involved in emotional behaviour (e.g. depression, anxiety) in adulthood.
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Heart

Behavior: Another Good Reason to Sing a Lullaby

Nicholas Bakalar
The New York Times
Fri, 28 Jan 2011 00:00 UTC
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© W.A. BouguereauLullaby (1875)
Children who sleep less than their peers may be at greater risk for abnormal blood glucose levels and other metabolic problems.

Researchers studied the sleep patterns of 308 children ages 4 to 10, half of them overweight or obese. They used wrist monitors to measure their sleep time over seven days, and did blood tests for cardiovascular risk indicators like glucose, lipids, insulin and C-reactive protein.

The study, published in the February issue of Pediatrics, found that obesity and abnormal blood tests were four times as common in children who slept the least, and three times as common in those who used the weekend to catch up on sleep lost during school days.

"We can't rule out that obese children first became obese and then started sleeping less," said Dr. David Gozal, the senior author. "But it's unlikely."

Among all children, obese or not, shorter sleep and greater variability in sleep patterns were more likely to be associated with abnormal blood tests. The researchers conclude that irregular sleep by itself may be a risk factor for metabolic problems.
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House

How worn-out Britain finally woke up to its chronic sleep problem

Cherill Hicks
The Observer
Sun, 30 Jan 2011 07:09 UTC
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© Getty
As a new survey reveals two-thirds of us can't get a good night's sleep, we examine research on new drugs which could tackle insomnia by changing our body clocks

My first serious sleep problem was triggered by looming redundancy. Faced with the prospect of losing my job, worries over money just before Christmas and anxiety about the future, I lay awake for hours, my thoughts racing, or wandered around a freezing house, munching bowls of cereal.

I'd finally drop off about five, only to have to get up at seven. This led, in turn, to days spent in a haze of nervous exhaustion and fatigue, just at a time when I needed all my energy to stay positive about the future rather than sinking into a pit of misery.

Sleeping pills made life more tolerable at first, but turned out to add to my troubles in the long term. Advised by the GP to take the pills "as needed", it was easy to convince myself I couldn't get to sleep without them. Soon I was taking them every night and starting to panic that I'd become dependent. I finally stopped taking them on New Year's Eve - and, distressingly, found myself awake the whole night.

Comment: Sleep Deeply, Live Longer

Sleep - are you getting enough?

Study Says: Want to Score Better? Sleep Well

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Health

Good thyroid health depends on good gut health

Datis Kharrazian
Dr.KNews.com
Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:48 UTC
When you have hypothyroidism it's easy to get caught up in thyroid lab values and which thyroid meds and supplements work the best. While these are significant factors in improving thyroid health, it's important to remember gut health is foundational to thyroid health. As long as you struggle with a leaky gut, gut inflammation, gut infections or parasites, heartburn, poor digestion, or chronic constipation or diarrhea - conditions that are so popular they fuel a multi-billion-dollar industry of drugstore remedies - you'll never experience optimum thyroid health.
As I mention in the introduction to my book, poor thyroid function is like the engine light in your car turning on - it's an indication to open the hood, investigate the engine, and repair what's wrong. You don't want to just take a drug or a supplement that will make the engine light go off.
The gut-thyroid connection can be a vicious circle as hypothyroidism causes poor digestive health, and poor digestive health may cause hypothyroidism. This is why it's so important to appropriately manage Hashimoto's and hypothyroidism, which involves more than finding the right thyroid medication. For the most part however, America's addiction to processed foods, sweets, and stressed-out lifestyles leaves most people in need of some serious gut repair.

How poor gut health impacts the thyroid

For 90 percent of Americans, hypothyroidism is caused by Hashimoto's, an autoimmune thyroid disease. Since most of the immune system is situated in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, poor gut health is a significant factor in triggering and exacerbating autoimmune diseases such as Hashimoto's. An important step in taming Hashimoto's is to repair gut health.

Conversely, appropriately managing Hashimoto's and restoring thyroid function can help improve digestive function. Studies show both T4 and T3 protect the intestinal lining from ulcers. Studies also show hypothyroidism can cause intestinal permeability, or "leaky gut," which allows undigested food into the bloodstream and instigates an immune attack. These are examples of the thyroid-gut vicious cycle and how you may need to go after both fronts at once.

Comment: For more information on this topic, please visit our diet and health forum.

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