Health & WellnessS


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Why We Need Mandatory GMO Food Labels

Alexis Baden-Mayer
Organic Consumers Association
Fri, 08 Oct 2010 04:36 UTC
  • Only 26% of the U.S. public understands that most junk foods and animal products contain GMO ingredients.
  • The FDA is moving fast to approve a brave new world of GMO foods, including genetically engineered animals like Frankenfish, the eel-like-ocean-pout-chinook-Atlantic-salmon mix.
  • Genetically modified foods are less nutritious, more likely to trigger an allergy, and contain higher levels of growth hormones and pesticides. Yet GM foods aren't required to be rigorously tested for food safety before they end up in grocery stores and restaurants.
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Stop

Flashback Industry Study Shows Brain Tumour Link to Heavy Mobile Phone Usage

Adam Cresswell
The Australian
Mon, 17 May 2010 11:13 UTC
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© Unknown
A long-awaited international study of the health risks of mobile phones has linked extended mobile phone use to an increased risk of developing brain tumours.

The 10-year Interphone study, the world's biggest study of the health effects of mobile phones, found while there was no increased risk of cancer overall, those in the top 10 per cent of phone use are up to 40 per cent more likely to develop glioma, a common type of brain cancer.

Just 30 minutes of mobile talk time daily was enough to put participants into the top 10 per cent category in the study, carried out in 13 countries, including Australia, and involving more than 5000 brain cancer patients worldwide.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, which conducted the study and has repeatedly delayed its publication, summarised the findings by saying there were "suggestions of an increased risk of glioma, and much less so meningioma, in the highest decile (10 per cent) of cumulative call time, in subjects who reported phone use on the same side of the head as their tumour".
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Magnify

Garlic Oil Shows Protective Effect Against Heart Disease in Diabetes


PhysOrg
Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:00 UTC
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© Getty ImagesGarlic Oil
Garlic has "significant" potential for preventing cardiomyopathy, a form of heart disease that is a leading cause of death in people with diabetes, scientists have concluded in a new study. Their report, which also explains why people with diabetes are at high risk for diabetic cardiomyopathy, appears in ACS' bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Wei-Wen Kuo and colleagues note that people with diabetes have at least twice the risk of death from heart disease as others, with heart disease accounting for 80 percent of all diabetes-related deaths. They are especially vulnerable to a form of heart disease termed diabetic cardiomyopathy, which inflames and weakens the heart's muscle tissue. Kuo's group had hints from past studies that garlic might protect against heart disease in general and also help control the abnormally high blood sugar levels that occur in diabetes. But they realized that few studies had been done specifically on garlic's effects on diabetic cardiomyopathy.

The scientists fed either garlic oil or corn oil to laboratory rats with diabetes. Animals given garlic oil experienced beneficial changes associated with protection against heart damage. The changes appeared to be associated with the potent antioxidant properties of garlic oil, the scientists say, adding that they identified more than 20 substances in garlic oil that may contribute to the effect.
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Magnify

Taking Showers "Can Make You Sick"


BBC News
Tue, 14 Sep 2010 16:06 UTC
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© Getty ImagesShower water can contain harmful bacteria
Showering may be bad for your health, say US scientists, who have shown that dirty shower heads can deliver a face full of harmful bacteria.

Tests revealed nearly a third of devices harbor significant levels of a bug that causes lung disease. Levels of Mycobacterium avium were 100 times higher than those found in typical household water supplies.

M. avium forms a biofilm that clings to the inside of the shower head, reports the National Academy of Science.

In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, the study authors say their findings might explain why there have been more cases of these lung infections in recent years, linked with people tending to take more showers and fewer baths.

Water spurting from shower heads can distribute bacteria-filled droplets that suspend themselves in the air and can easily be inhaled into the deepest parts of the lungs, say the scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
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Info

Food Lectins in Health and Disease: An Introduction

Dr. Scot Lewey
The Food Doc Journal
Thu, 07 Oct 2010 06:51 UTC
In recent years it appears there is a rising epidemic of people suffering from chronic digestive and autoimmune conditions. Food intolerance or sensitivities may lie at the root of the problem. Most people, including doctors, have little clue how foods they eat may be contributing to their chronic illness, fatigue and digestive symptoms.

There are, however, a lot of clues in the medical literature and the lay public's experience about how foods are causing and/or contributing to the current epidemic of chronic illness and autoimmune disease. There are several diets being used by many people with varying success to improve their health despite a general lack of iron clad scientific proof for their effectiveness. One of the clues to the cause and relief of food induced illness may lie in proteins known as lectins that are present in all foods.
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Pills

To B or Not to B Vitamins?

Dr. Leo Galland
Pill Advised
Thu, 07 Oct 2010 06:43 UTC
With findings that surprised even its chief investigator, a study published in September of this year from Oxford University is receiving tremendous attention.

The researchers found that giving a combination of B vitamins to elderly men and women at high risk of Alzheimer's disease reduced the amount of brain shrinkage occurring over 2 years by about 50%. Decreased brain shrinkage was accompanied by preservation of brain function. (1)

This is a remarkable finding and an important study for several reasons:
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Health

Adequate sleep found to be important for healthy body composition

Dr. John Briffa
drbriffa.com
Thu, 07 Oct 2010 06:41 UTC
Many individuals contend that weight control is all about diet and exercise. Of these, the research suggests that dietary change is likely to bring the lion's share of benefits. However, body weight and fatness are not determined only by these lifestyle factors. Hormonal issues can play a part too. For example, if the thyroid gland is under-functioning, weight tends to go up. And my experience in practice is that if this issue remains untreated, practically no amount of eating less, eating well or increased exercise will put much of a dent in someone's weight.

One lifestyle factor which may influence hormone levels and also weight is sleep. In fact, there is already a body of evidence which suggests that sleep restriction can alter hormones that control food intake. In particular, sleep restriction has been shown to boost levels of hormones that stimulate appetite (e.g. ghrelin) and suppress levels of hormones that that temper appetite (e.g. leptin). The end result can be increased food intake. See here and here for posts about research which suggests that sleep restriction can indeed cause individuals to eat more.
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Evil Rays

Brain cancer tied to heavy cellphone use, says author

Nancy J. White
Toronto Star
Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:33 UTC
Evil Cell Phone
© unknownScientist Devra Davis, who wrote Disconnect, uses cellphones cautiously and only while using a headset.
Sickly sperm another side effect, says professor in new book that rounds up deadly data

When a reporter called scientist Devra Davis on her cellphone, the first thing the epidemiologist and toxicologist said was: Call back on my land line.

It's not that Davis, author of Disconnect, a new book about cellphone radiation, doesn't use her mobile device, she just uses it cautiously, limiting her talk time and wearing a headset - steps she advises everybody to take.
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Light Saber

FDA to Review Safety of Mercury Fillings


The Epoch Times
Tue, 28 Sep 2010 03:32 UTC
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© Tim Boyle/Getty ImagesMercury Protest: Mercury-free activists protest the continuing FDA approval of mercury in dental amalgam fillings.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed to review the safety of dental amalgam, which is 50 percent mercury, beginning with a public hearing on Dec. 14 and 15. A final ruling is expected by mid 2011.

The FDA's controversial 2009 Final Rule upholding the safety of dental amalgam sparked a public outcry and prompted several groups - dental professionals as well as citizens - to file legal petitions for reconsideration with the FDA.

According to FDA watchdog Jim Dickinson of Fdaweb.com, the FDA appears ready to reverse itself this time.

"They're laying the groundwork to make a reversal appear legally consistent," he said, referring to FDA's interest in considering information previously overlooked as well as a 2009 report on risk assessment by the National Academy of Sciences. "It appears the agency is aware that it's on the losing side, and as the scientific evidence grows, it's time to move."

On the other hand, "FDA hopes to defer to its dental products advisory panel, thus much depends on who gets named to the panel and whether they're up to the job," warned Jim Love, attorney for the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT), an anti-mercury dental association sponsoring two of the four legal petitions.
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Attention

Diabetes Risk Tied to Air Pollution


NewsInferno
Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:14 UTC
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© understandingplanetearth.in
Air pollution is, again, being linked to disease, this time diabetes, said WebMD, which noted that auto exhaust and industrial smoke were among the fine particulate pollutants involved.

It seems that residents in locations in which air quality levels were below, but close to, acceptable safety limits set forth by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), experienced a 20 percent increased incident of being diagnosed with diabetes versus those exposed to few pollutants, said WebMD. Even after factoring known diabetes risks -obesity, race, sedentary living - the strong link existed, wrote WebMD.
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