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The High Fructose Corn Syrup Monopoly is Finally Cracking


Dr. Mercola
Mon, 19 Apr 2010 22:11 UTC
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"The back-to-back, double whammy announcements that PepsiCo is ditching high fructose corn syrup in Gatorade along with the results of a scathing new study from researchers at Princeton make it official - allies of the controversial sweetener have lost the war," BNET writes.

For years, the Corn Refiners Association has been arguing that HFCS is a perfectly natural product that is equal to other forms of sugar.

Of course, the Corn Refiners Association is not going to go down easily. Currently, they appear to be pretending the problem simply doesn't exist.

On their Web site, "SweetSurprise.com", they are still trumpeting an episode of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric that ran a report basically parroting the industry line - "high fructose corn syrup is just sugar with an image problem."

However, a Princeton research team has again demonstrated that all sweeteners are NOT equal when it comes to weight gain -- rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.
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Syringe

The FDA Shuts Down Common Infant Vaccine After Startling Discovery

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Tue, 20 Apr 2010 12:21 UTC
Baby getting vaccine
© Getty Images/AFPAbout 1 million children in the United States and about 30 million worldwide have gotten Rotarix vaccine, the FDA says.
"U.S. federal health authorities recommended ... that doctors suspend using Rotarix, one of two vaccines licensed in the U.S. against rotavirus, saying the vaccine is contaminated with material from a pig virus," CNN reports.

The Rotarix vaccine, which is made by GlaxoSmithKline and was approved by the FDA in 2008, has already been given to about 1 million U.S. children along with 30 million worldwide. The vaccine was found to contain DNA from porcine circovirus 1.

"The FDA learned about the contamination after an academic research team using a novel technique to look for viruses in a range of vaccines found the material in GlaxoSmithKline's product and told the company," FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg told CNN.

Sources: CNN March 22, 2010
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Magnify

How Olive Oil Helps "Switch Off" Genes Which Lead to Conditions Including Heart Disease and Arthritis

Jenny Hope
The Daily Mail
Tue, 20 Apr 2010 03:33 UTC
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© Getty ImagesSpanish researchers have found a whole new use for olive oil, in particular extra virgin olive oil.
Olive oil's health-giving benefits stem from its ability to help 'switch off ' genes that inflame conditions ranging from heart disease to arthritis, claim researchers.

Their discovery shows how the much-praised Mediterranean diet can suppress chronic disorders.

Spanish researchers identified almost 100 genes whose inflammatory activity is dampened by consumption of olive oil, in particular extra virgin olive oil.

Greeks are the biggest consumers of olive oil in the world - eating 20 times more than Britons - while Italians eat ten times as much.

Eating healthy mono-unsaturated fats such as olive oil is known to lower the risk of heart disease.

In Britain, which has one of the highest heart attack rates in the world, much higher levels of animal or saturated fats are eaten.
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Pills

Who Says Drug Companies Are "Too Big to Nail," Even When Charged with Felonies?

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:00 UTC
Psychopath
© Unknown
Pfizer was charged with a crime -- but the company's "imaginary friend" took all the blame.

"Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical company, was caught illegally marketing Bextra, a painkiller that was taken off the market in 2005 because of safety concerns.

When the criminal case was announced last fall, federal officials touted their prosecution as a model for tough, effective enforcement," CNN reported.

In reality, however, a CNN Special Investigation found that Pfizer was actually "too big to nail."

Why? As CNN reported:
"Because any company convicted of a major health care fraud is automatically excluded from Medicare and Medicaid. Convicting Pfizer on Bextra would prevent the company from billing federal health programs for any of its products. It would be a corporate death sentence.

So Pfizer and the feds cut a deal. Instead of charging Pfizer with a crime, prosecutors would charge a Pfizer subsidiary, Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. Inc. ... [This] subsidiary is nothing more than a shell company whose only function is to plead guilty."
Source: CNN April 2, 2010
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Question

Migraine Gives Woman Foreign Accent


Sky News
Tue, 20 Apr 2010 07:00 UTC
Migraine foreign accent
A woman from Devon has begun speaking with a Chinese accent after suffering severe migraines.

Thirty-five-year-old Sarah Colwill puts the startling change down to an extremely rare medical condition known as Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS).

"I knew I sounded different but I didn't know how much and people said I sounded a bit Chinese.

"Then I had another attack and when the ambulance crew arrived they said I definitely sounded Chinese."

The rare disorder is thought to be caused by strokes and brain injuries and causes sufferers to lose the ability to talk in their native accent.

There have been an estimated 60 recorded cases of FAS since it was first identified in the 1940s.
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Accutane Acne Drug Dangerous for Your Health?

Ethan A. Huff
NaturalNews
Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:00 UTC
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© Roche
Accutane, an anti-acne drug manufactured by Roche, is in the spotlight once again for causing a New Jersey man to have to get his colon removed. Following a lawsuit filed against Roche, alleging that Accutane gave him a severe inflammatory bowel disorder, the man was awarded a $25 million verdict.

The man is not the first to have had his colon removed because of Accutane. Accutane, also known generically as isotretinoin, can cause a whole host of serious problems that are far worse than having acne. The drug label warns that women should not get pregnant while taking the drug because the baby may develop birth defects or die. Accutane may even kill its users.

A few of the other serious side effects caused by Accutane include miscarriages, psychosis and other serious mental problems, suicidal tendencies, acute pancreatitis, "unknown" cardiovascular consequences, hepatitis, night blindness and sight loss, and increased internal skull pressure, just to name a few.
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Magnify

Pistachios Cut Cancer Risk

David Gutierrez
NaturalNews
Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:00 UTC
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© Getty ImagesPistachios
Making pistachios a regular part of your diet could reduce your risk of cancer, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Texas and Texas Women' University, and presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference in Houston.

Pistachios are known to be high in a form of vitamin E known as gamma-tocopherol, which has been linked to a lower risk of some cancers.

"It is known that vitamin E provides a degree of protection against certain forms of cancer. Higher intakes of gamma-tocopherol ... may reduce the risk of lung cancer," researcher Ladia M. Hernandez said.

Researchers conducted the study on 36 participants who were either told to keep eating their normal diets or to eat their normal diets plus two ounces (about 117 kernels) of pistachios per day. After four weeks, participants who were eating pistachios daily had significantly higher levels of gamma-tocopherol in their blood than those who were not eating the nuts.
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Alarm Clock

Metal hip replacements could cause tumours, doctors warn

Heidi Blake
Telegraph
Mon, 19 Apr 2010 07:30 UTC
Metal hip replacements could cause an increased risk of tumours and tissue damage to patients, doctors have warned.

The 40,000 people with metal hips are to have their implants reviewed by the Medicines and Health care Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) over fears that debris from the metal is causing non-cancerous tumours, severe swelling and sinew damage.

An unknown number will have their metal hips taken out and replaced following the review.
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Cow

Cows on Drugs

Donald Kennedy
New York Times
Sat, 17 Apr 2010 22:02 UTC
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© Alain Pilon
Now that Congress has pushed through its complicated legislation to reform the health insurance system, it could take one more simple step to protect the health of all Americans. This one wouldn't raise any taxes or make any further changes to our health insurance system, so it could be quickly passed by Congress with an outpouring of bipartisan support. Or could it?

More than 30 years ago, when I was commissioner of the United States Food and Drug Administration, we proposed eliminating the use of penicillin and two other antibiotics to promote growth in animals raised for food. When agribusiness interests persuaded Congress not to approve that regulation, we saw firsthand how strong politics can trump wise policy and good science.

Even back then, this nontherapeutic use of antibiotics was being linked to the evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria that infect humans. To the leading microbiologists on the F.D.A.'s advisory committee, it was clearly a very bad idea to fatten animals with the same antibiotics used to treat people. But the American Meat Institute and its lobbyists in Washington blocked the F.D.A. proposal.
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Cheeseburger

Which Veggie Burgers Were Made With a Neurotoxin?

Kiera Butler
Alternet
Tue, 13 Apr 2010 21:33 UTC
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© Yasukawa for NewsMany brands of frozen soy veggie burgers that are not 100 percent organic may have been produced using a harmful substance, according to a report.
This is about the time of year when I start keeping packages of veggie burgers in the freezer, just in case of an impromptu barbecue. In the past, I haven't had much fake meat brand loyalty: I've found that once I smother my hunk of textured vegetable protein in barbeque sauce, all soy patties are pretty much created equal. But after reading a recent investigation by the Cornucopia Institute, I'm going to be a lot more picky: The food and agriculture nonprofit found that most non-organic veggie burgers currently on the market are made with the chemical hexane, an EPA-registered air pollutant and neurotoxin.

In order to meet the demands of health-conscious consumers, manufacturers of soy-based fake meat like to make their products have as little fat as possible. The cheapest way to do this is by submerging soybeans in a bath of hexane to separate the oil from the protein. Says Cornucopia Institute senior researcher Charlotte Vallaeys,
"If a non-organic product contains a soy protein isolate, soy protein concentrate, or texturized vegetable protein, you can be pretty sure it was made using soy beans that were made with hexane."
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