Health & WellnessS


Bulb

Scientists discover new mechanism for controlling blood sugar level

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© University of LeicesterThis hematoxylin- and eosin-stained pancreatic slice illustrates an islet of Langerhans adjacent to a capillary.
Advance in understanding of insulin secretion could impact on diabetes control.

Medical scientists at the University of Leicester have identified for the first time a new way in which our body controls the levels of sugar in our blood following a meal.

They have discovered the part played by a particular protein in helping to maintain correct blood sugar levels.

The breakthrough was made in the University of Leicester by a team led by Professor Andrew Tobin, Professor of Cell Biology, who is a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow. The research is published online ahead of print in the prestigious international scientific journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Professor Tobin said: "The work, which was done wholly at the University of Leicester, is focused on the mechanisms by which our bodies control the level of sugar in our blood following a meal.

Ambulance

Best of the Web: Is the Mainstream Media Helping or Hindering? MMS on The One Show

The One Show is a news magazine program that airs on the BBC network in England. They recently decided to spotlight MMS.


Comment: For more information about the current Humble situation, see this Sott article:

MMS: Miracle Mineral Solution or Trojan Horse? Your Body and DNA Decide


Sherlock

How Scientific Is Modern Medicine Really?

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© masternewmedia.org
Doctors today commonly assert that they practice "scientific medicine," and patients think that the medical treatments they receive are "scientifically proven." However, this ideal is a dream, not reality, and a clever and profitable marketing ruse, not fact.

The British Medical Journal's "Clinical Evidence" analyzed common medical treatments to evaluate which are supported by sufficient reliable evidence (BMJ, 2007). They reviewed approximately 2,500 treatments and found:
  • 13 percent were found to be beneficial
  • 23 percent were likely to be beneficial
  • Eight percent were as likely to be harmful as beneficial
  • Six percent were unlikely to be beneficial
  • Four percent were likely to be harmful or ineffective.
  • 46 percent were unknown whether they were efficacious or harmful
In the late 1970s, the US government conducted a similar evaluation and found a strikingly similar result. They found that only 10 percent to 20 percent of medical treatment had evidence of efficacy (Office of Technology Assessment, 1978).

Cheeseburger

Health Advisers Spend Millions Promoting Fast Food

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© afp/getty imagesCompanies pledge to improve marketing
A controversial government program which gives fast-food chains influence over healthy eating policies has come under severe criticism after US research revealed the extent of "relentless marketing" of unhealthy food and drinks to children.

A report by the authoritative Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity found companies such as McDonald's, Pizza Hut and Burger King spent more than $4bn advertising predominantly unhealthy fast foods in 2009.

Children and young people in the US are bombarded with increasing numbers and types of advertising through TV, radio, magazines, sophisticated websites and phone applications in spite of appeals from the White House to be more responsible, according to Fast Food F.a.c.t.s. Between 2007 and 2009, McDonald's and Burger King increased the number of TV adverts for children by 20 per cent and 10 per cent respectively despite pledging to improve food marketing to children. The report, which analyzed 20 of America's most popular fast-food outlets, found less than 1 per cent of kids' meal combinations met nutritional standards.

Health

Top 10 Food Additives to Avoid

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Food additives have been used for centuries to enhance the appearance and flavor of food and prolong shelf life. But do these food additives really “add” any value to your food?
Food additives find their way into our foods to help ease processing, packaging and storage. But how do we know what food additives is in that box of macaroni and cheese and why does it have such a long shelf life?

A typical American household spends about 90 percent of their food budget on processed foods, and are in doing so exposed to a plethora of artificial food additives, many of which can cause dire consequences to your health.

Some food additives are worse than others. Here's a list of the top food additives to avoid:

1. Artificial Sweeteners

Aspartame, (E951) more popularly known as Nutrasweet and Equal, is found in foods labeled "diet" or "sugar free". Aspartame is believed to be carcinogenic and accounts for more reports of adverse reactions than all other foods and food additives combined. It produces neurotoxic effects such as dizziness, headaches, mental confusion, migraines, and seizures. Avoid if you suffer from asthma, rhinitis (including hayfever), or urticaria (hives).Acesulfame-K, a relatively new artificial sweetener found in baking goods, gum and gelatin, has not been thoroughly tested and has been linked to kidney tumors.

Found in: diet or sugar free sodas, diet coke, coke zero, jello (and over gelatins), desserts, sugar free gum, drink mixes, baking goods, table top sweeteners, cereal, breathmints, pudding, kool-aid, ice tea, chewable vitamins, toothpaste

Beaker

Plastics: What's Dangerous, What's Not

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© Stephen Hutchings
You've been out - working, exercising, shopping. You open the car door and slip into the oven like interior. Throat dry, you reach for the water bottle that's been sitting in the cup holder all day. It's warm. But at least it's water, right? Water, yes, albeit water potentially spiked with chemicals that migrated out of the plastic - chemicals that aren't good for your health.

The latest scientific research has given us a lot of good reasons to think carefully about how we use plastics. The main concern with several types of plastic is that they contain endocrine disruptors - substances that, when taken into our bodies, alter normal hormonal function. Over the past several years, scientists and the media have struggled to find answers to mysteries such as precocious puberty, declining fertility rates in otherwise healthy adults, hyperactivity in kids, the fattening of America, and the persistent scourges of prostate cancer and breast cancer. Although multiple factors play a role in all of these conditions, one recurrent theme is the brew of endocrine disruptors infiltrating our lives.

Info

Europe Mulls Ban on Baby Bottles with Bisphenol-A

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© enviroblog.org
Europe could ban baby bottles containing the chemical Bisphenol-A under legislation to be proposed next year over fears that it may harm a child's health, the European Commission said Wednesday.

European Union health commissioner John Dalli wants to pull such bottles off shop shelves across the 27-nation bloc because of the "uncertainties" about its effects on infants, his spokesman Frederic Vincent told AFP.

Only two EU countries, France and Denmark, have imposed bans on baby bottles with Bisphenol-A. Danish authorities went a step further by extending the prohibition to all food products for children up to three years old.

Bans are also in place in Australia, Canada and a few US states. Canada became in October the first country in the world to classify Bisphenol-A as a toxic substance despite industry opposition.

Ambulance

Study: Harmful Errors Still Common in U.S. Hospitals

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© Reuters/Jessica RinaldiA patient waits in the hallway for a room to open up in the emergency room at Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston, July 27, 2009.
Harmful errors and accidents remain common in U.S. hospitals despite a decade of efforts to improve patient safety, a study found.

According to the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the number of patients experiencing hospital acquired infections, medication errors, complications from diagnostic techniques or treatments, and other such "harms" did not change between 2002 and 2007.

Medical complications, some of which are preventable, can prove costly. The U.S. Office of the Inspector General released a report recently estimating that complications contribute to 180,000 patient deaths per year and overall, cost Medicare up to $4.4 billion annually.

Sheeple

Best of the Web: The Naive Vegetarian

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© Unknown
There is . . . but one categorical imperative: Act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law.

~ Immanuel Kant (The Categorical Imperative)
Vegetarianism, as a way of life, has been around for millennia - with relatively few adherents. Recently, however, reports in the news media, have suggested that a vegetarian way of life is healthier. Not surprisingly The Vegetarian Society has capitalised on these reports using them to persuade members of the lay public that their way is better for the animals, the environment, and, not least, for human health - and numbers are growing.

Forms of vegetarianism

Vegetarianism has evolved several forms. Generally the person who calls himself a vegetarian does not believe in killing animals and so does not eat meat and, sometimes, fish. He does, however, eat eggs and dairy produce. This form of vegetarianism, known more correctly as lacto-ovo-vegetarianism, is the most common form. There are also more extreme and restricted diets: the vegan diet whose followers exclude all animal products, but otherwise eat anything from the plant world. More restricted again are the Zen macrobiotic diets which consist almost exclusively of cereals and there are several variations on raw food - vegetarian - diets.

Vegans do not eat or use animal products, animal by-products, or products tested on animals. The term vegan, formed from first three and last two letters of the word veg etari an , was coined in London in 1944 by seven vegetarians who founded the Vegan Society.

Health

The Hazardous Gas in Your Mouth: Is This the First Crack in the ADA's Corrupt Cover-up?

Costa Mesa, California is the first city in the United States to call for an immediate end to dental amalgam.

Dental amalgam is a filling material that is 50 percent mercury. The resolution calls on federal and state agencies to eliminate amalgam, and asks dentists in Costa Mesa to switch to non-toxic alternatives.

The resolution does not actually ban amalgam, but it is an important step toward ending a scourge of both health and the environment.


WellSphere reports:
"The watershed Monahan Resolution is the first success for Californians for Green Dentistry, a new project of Consumers for Dental Choice ... At the city council hearing ... dentists, health professionals, injured consumers, scientists, advocates, and even former Californian Dental Board member Dr. Chet Yokoyama... offered poignant testimony calling for a ban on dental mercury."