Health & WellnessS


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New Research Shows Grapes Reduce Risk for Heart Disease and Diabetes

S. L. Baker
NaturalNews
Thu, 06 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© iStockphoto
The millions of Americans with heart disease and type 2 diabetes didn't develop these diseases out of the blue. Their disorders are the result of a cascade of problems including high blood pressure, insulin resistance, abdominal fat and other symptoms of metabolic syndrome. Now University of Michigan (U-M) scientists say they've found something that could help put the brakes on this downward spiral of ill health. It's not a new drug but a delicious and easy lifestyle change: just eat grapes.

The U-M research findings, announced April 26th at the Experimental Biology convention held in Anaheim, California, showed grape consumption lowered blood pressure, improved heart function and reduced other risk factors for heart disease and metabolic syndrome, a condition affecting an estimated 50 million Americans that often leads to type 2 diabetes. The scientists stated the beneficial effects of grapes appear to be due to the rich supply of phytochemicals in the fruit.

The research team tested a mixture of green, red and black grapes on laboratory rats that are prone to being overweight. For three months, one group of the animals ate powdered grapes mixed into their regular feed, which was devised to imitate a typical high-fat, American style diet. A control group of similar rats received no grape powder in their food (which was supplemented so it had the same number of calories as the grape-added diet).
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Chocolate can Help Prevent Strokes

Ethan A. Huff
NaturalNews
Thu, 06 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© Getty Images
Researchers from the University of Toronto recently conducted a study in which they observed measurable health benefits in people who eat chocolate. The study involved roughly 50,000 participants and it revealed that those who eat a serving of chocolate a week are 22 percent less likely to suffer a stroke.

Sarah Sahib, author of the study, and her colleague Dr. Gustavo Saposnik also conducted a second study in which they found that those who ate 50 grams of chocolate per week were 46 percent less likely to die after having a stroke than those who ate no chocolate at all. All findings are set to be presented at the 62nd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Toronto.

Experts believe that the key components in chocolate that give it protective health benefits are its antioxidant flavanoids. Flavanoid-rich foods are known to reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, in part due to their anti-clotting characteristics that prevent blood platelets from clumping together and stopping healthy blood flow.
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Drug Side Effects "Neglected, Restricted, Distorted and Silenced" by Drug Companies

David Gutierrez
NaturalNews
Thu, 06 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© biojobblog
New research shows that information on potentially lethal side effects of the blockbuster painkiller Vioxx was "neglected, restricted, distorted and silenced" by pharmaceutical giant Merck, writes London-based physician and author John Briffa in The Epoch Times.

Vioxx was first approved for sale in 1999 and quickly became a top seller. Yet according to an analysis published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, clear evidence existed by 2001 that the drug increased the risk of cardiovascular thrombotic events, including heart attack, stroke and death. This evidence was contained in studies conducted by and for Merck.

"Most of the information we are using in this study was never published, or if it was published, they never included the key safety data," co-author Harlan Krumholz said.
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Canada Bans Nanotechnology in Organics


The Organic & Non-GMO Report
Wed, 05 May 2010 21:00 UTC
US National Organic Standards Board needs to define "nanotechnology"

Canada has banned nanotechnology in organic food production. An amendment was added to Canada's national organic rules banning nanotechnology as a "Prohibited Substance or Method." The section lists substances or techniques that are prohibited in organic food production, including genetic engineering, synthetic pesticides, irradiation, and cloned animals, among others.

Nanotechnology involves the creation and manipulation of materials at the scale of atoms and molecules. Scientists are applying nanotechnology to many industries, including food production. Critics say that too little is known about the impact of nanoparticles on human health and the environment.

Comment: For more information about 'nanotechnology' read the following articles carried on SOTT:

More Research Urged on Nanoparticle Risk

Australia - Regulate nanotechnology industry

Nanotechnology - the new threat to food

Food Industry 'Too Secretive' Over Nanotechnology

Alert over the march of the 'grey goo' in nanotechnology Frankenfoods

Scientists Scared as Nanotechnology and Nanoparticles Become Common in Consumer Products

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Nonsanto: A Month Without Monsanto

Sarah Newman
Civil Eats
Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:21 UTC
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When I first heard about April Davila's quest to live without Monsanto for a month, I thought she was doing something noble in a public setting. But, would it really be that hard? As a locavore, I pride myself on purchasing my produce from farmer's markets, so couldn't she just do the same? When we decided to meet, I soon realized that my arrogant assumptions had enough hot air to heat a compost bin.

After many attempts to find a place to meet, we settled on having organic herbal tea at a local coffee shop. She greeted me in her new wardrobe. No, she's isn't an Angeleno fashionista. Rather, Monsanto owns most cotton seeds so she had to purchase clothes and shoes made from other sources. April is plain and soft-spoken - I wouldn't pick her to stand with a bull-horn outside of a McDonald's protest. Despite her demeanor, her month without Monsanto was her own small but very impactful way of positively affecting our food system.
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Flashback The Truth About Tattoos: Health Risks, Toxicity and More

Julie Genser
NaturalNews
Fri, 28 Sep 2007 00:00 UTC
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© NaturalNews
A frighteningly growing number of teens and young adults around the world are injecting dangerous chemicals under their skin in the name of art and self-expression. A trend that started growing in America and Europe in the early '90s, tattooing soon became so popular that 36% of Americans aged 25-29 had at least one body tattoo by 2003.[1]

The numbers have undoubtedly risen in the four years since; tattoos are now well-entrenched in the mainstream.

Even the media regularly glorifies tattoo culture, as evidenced by reality TV shows like The Learning Channel's Miami Ink and LA Ink, and Inked on A&E, as well as frequent magazine sightings of tattoo-sporting celebrities like Paris Hilton, David Beckham, and Angelina Jolie, and print ads featuring tattooed models and athletes, like Calvin Klein Underwear's Fredrik Ljungberg (who, by the way, had a severe allergic reaction to his tattoos and had to have a lymph gland removed).[2]
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Confronting the Defining Affliction of Our Time: A Review of Diabetes Rising

Christina Livadiotis
Civil Eats
Thu, 22 Apr 2010 16:31 UTC
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"Once upon a time, diabetes was rare." So states Dan Hurley in his book, Diabetes Rising, an investigation into the rising, the reasons and the remedies for both types 1 and 2 diabetes. As early as the prologue, Hurley asserts his determination to belie what he calls the "misleading, mistaken, or outdated" conventional wisdom surrounding diabetes, specifically:
"Type 1 is rare and strikes out of the blue, due in part to a genetic risk, set off by perhaps a virus or some other kind of stress. To treat it, you take insulin, test your blood sugars, and carefully watch what you eat...Type 2 is far more widespread, and spreading fast along with America's waistline. It's caused by eating too much and exercising too little..."
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Why Himalayan Pink Crystal Salt is So Much Better for your Health than Processed Table Salt

Mike Adams
Natural News
Wed, 05 May 2010 16:08 UTC
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If you've been reading NaturalNews for long, you've heard me talk about the importance of switching from processed table salt to a "full spectrum" salt. Table salt - or "white salt" - is to real salt as table sugar is to dehydrated cane juice. Both white table salt and white sugar are devoid of the full spectrum of minerals and other nutrients that protect and enhance your health.

Here in Ecuador, I regularly drink jugo de caña, for example (fresh, raw sugar cane juice), but I would never think of eating refined white sugar. I don't use refined white table salt, either. Instead, I use Himalayan Pink Crystal Salt because it contains the full spectrum of 84 minerals and trace elements just like Mother Earth intended. It is an unrefined, unprocessed "raw" salt that's hand-mined from abundant salt caves that were formed 250 million years ago as ocean salt settled in certain geologic pockets around the earth.

Most of the western world thinks of salt as sodium chloride - a highly refined, processed white substance that's devoid of nutrients. Salt is so devoid of nutrients, in fact, that in the early 20th century, doctors noticed that people who ate white table salt started to suffer chronic degenerative diseases such as goiter. This was caused by the lack of iodine in the salt.
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One Sleepless Night can Induce Insulin Resistance in Healthy People


PhysOrg
Wed, 05 May 2010 09:20 UTC
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© Getty Images
According to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), just one night of short sleep duration can induce insulin resistance, a component of type 2 diabetes.

"Sleep duration has shortened considerably in western societies in the past decade and simultaneously, there has been an increase in the prevalence of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes," said Esther Donga, MD of the Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands and lead author of the study. "The co-occurring rises in shortened sleep and diabetes prevalence may not be a coincidence. Our findings show a short night of sleep has more profound effects on metabolic regulation than previously appreciated."

Previous studies have found that reductions in sleep duration over multiple nights result in impaired glucose tolerance, but this is the first study to examine the effects of only a single night of partial sleep restriction on insulin sensitivity.
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Kids with Hearing Loss in One Ear Fall Behind in Language Skills, Study Finds


ScienceDaily
Tue, 04 May 2010 20:00 UTC
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© Getty Images
By the time they reach school age, one in 20 children have hearing loss in one ear. That can raise significant hurdles for these children, say the results of a new study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, because loss of hearing in one ear hurts their ability to comprehend and use language.

"For many years, pediatricians and educators thought that as long as children have one normal hearing ear, their speech and language would develop normally," says lead author Judith E. C. Lieu, MD, a Washington University ear, nose and throat specialist at St. Louis Children's Hospital.

"But then a few studies began suggesting these children might have problems in school. Now our study has shown that on average, children with hearing loss in one ear have poorer oral language scores than children with hearing in both ears," Lieu says.
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