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You are what your father eats: Father's diet before conception plays crucial role in offspring's health, study suggests


Science Daily
Wed, 11 Dec 2013 15:14 UTC
Image
© michaeljung / Fotolia
Research shows for the first time that the father's folate levels may be just as important to the development and health of their offspring as are those of the mother. The study suggests that fathers should pay as much attention to their lifestyle and diet before they set out to conceive a child as mothers do.
Mothers get all the attention. But a study led by McGill researcher Sarah Kimmins suggests that the father's diet before conception may play an equally important role in the health of their offspring. It also raises concerns about the long-term effects of current Western diets and of food insecurity.

The research focused on vitamin B9, also called folate, which is found in a range of green leafy vegetables, cereals, fruit and meats. It is well known that in order to prevent miscarriages and birth defects mothers need to get adequate amounts of folate in their diet. But the way that a father's diet can influence the health and development of their offspring has received almost no attention. Now research from the Kimmins group shows for the first time that the father's folate levels may be just as important to the development and health of their offspring as are those of the mother. Indeed, the study suggests that fathers should pay as much attention to their lifestyle and diet before they set out to conceive a child as mothers do.

"Despite the fact that folic acid is now added to a variety of foods, fathers who are eating high-fat, fast food diets or who are obese may not be able to use or metabolize folate in the same way as those with adequate levels of the vitamin," says Kimmins. "People who live in the Canadian North or in other parts of the world where there is food insecurity may also be particularly at risk for folate deficiency. And we now know that this information will be passed on from the father to the embryo with consequences that may be quite serious."
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Book 2

Introducing Death by Food Pyramid

Mark Sisson
Mark's Daily Apple
Wed, 11 Dec 2013 14:57 UTC
death by food pyramid
Today marks the release of the book for which you've all been waiting patiently or impatiently (I've got the emails to prove it!), and with it a very special limited-time offer. But first, let me tell you how we got to this point.

About three years ago, Denise Minger - a statistics-savvy English major in her early 20s - set the nutrition world ablaze with her careful, methodical parsing of the data behind The China Study. As your probably know, The China Study is that "authoritative" tome that vegans and vegetarians carry around as an instant comeback to any omnivore who dares assert the healthfulness of consuming things with faces. I was very impressed with her ability to take otherwise overwhelming data sets and pull out conclusions that were equally - if not more - valid than what the research scientists were culling from their own studies. Her China Study takedown was the capper. We met for lunch and I pitched her this idea of a book that would inform and educate the general public as to how we have been misled by the "authorities" (public policy makers and researchers) and which would deconstruct the precise history and point out the failed logic, so that anyone could see what a disaster the pyramid was. I wanted it to appeal to everyone - not just Primal/Paleo - as an empowering tool. Death by Food Pyramid is the long-awaited result, and it more than succeeds in achieving its goals.
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Health

Low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet fuels rapid weight loss

Samantha Chang
Examiner
Wed, 09 Oct 2013 04:26 UTC
Image

Samantha Chang - authoritarian follower, DOJ wannabe - puts profit before people
The author of this article, and a few other articles hosted on Sott.net, Samantha Chang, recently demanded that Sott.net stop republishing her articles (all of which are on the Ketogenic diet), on pain of "bad things happening" to us (see email below).

Like a good authoritarian follower, Ms. Chang backed up her 'threat' with a symbol of the totalitarian state under which she exists - an image of a United States Dept. of Justice wallet (see below), which seems to suggest that she has perhaps internalized the fascistic ideology of the police state that is the US of A.

Many writers have published information on the benefits of a Ketogenic diet, including research conducted by Sott.net that was made freely available to all. Ms. Chang, however, obviously does not subscribe to the idea of the free flow of vitally important information in an age of massive information control and subversion.

Given that Ms. Chang is obviously more interested in personal profit rather than the dissemination of information that could help many people, we will no longer be carrying her articles. In chasing after self-aggrandizement at the expense of helping others, she has clearly aligned herself with the fundamentals of our pathologically narcissistic global society.

Comment: We've been saying it for years, the ketogenic diet is a path for transformation. See also:

The Ketogenic Diet - An Overview
Beyond weight loss: a review of the therapeutic uses of very-low-carbohydrate (ketogenic) diets
Ketogenic Diet (high-fat, low-carb) Has Neuroprotective and Disease-modifying Effects
Is the Ketogenic Diet the cure for multiple diseases?
Diet for cancer cure: Starving cancer ketogenic diet a key to recovery
Solve Your Health Issues with a Ketogenic Diet

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Pills

Many people won't be able to keep or even afford their medications under Obamacare

Fred Lucas
The Blaze
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 16:04 UTC
obamacare
First some consumers found they couldn't keep their existing health insurance plans. Then others learned they couldn't keep their doctors. Now it's possible that under Obamacare, some people won't be able to keep their medications, or at least not afford them, under the complex formulary structure of the plans on the health exchanges and because of the rising costs.

"If you like your medicines, you may not be able to keep them under Obamacare," health policy analyst Scott Gottlieb wrote in a Forbes column. "Health plans are cheapening their drug formularies - just like they cheapened their networks of doctors. That's how their paying for the benefits that President Obama promised, everything from free contraception to a leveling of premiums between older (and typically costlier) beneficiaries, and younger consumers."

The affordability of prescriptions could hinge on whether a consumer is enrolled in a platinum, gold, silver or bronze plan.

Comment: See also:
The Devastating Truth Behind Obamacare
What you're not being told about Obamacare
Healthcare nightmare: Doctors rebelling against Obamacare, hospitals and health insurance providers declining to join

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Magic Wand

Exercise can play a significant role in reducing dementia


BBC News
Tue, 10 Dec 2013 05:37 UTC
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Regular exercise was a factor which could reduce decline in dementia
Exercise throughout a person's life plays a significant role in reducing the risk of developing dementia, a study spanning 35 years has found.

The Cardiff University study which began with 2,235 men from Caerphilly in 1979 found factors including diet and not smoking had an impact on preventing illnesses developing in older age.

However exercise had the single biggest influence on dementia levels.

This week a G8 summit will hear dementia will affect 135m by 2050.

'Really amazed us'

The research by Cardiff University found the five factors that were integral to helping avoid disease were regular exercise, not smoking, low bodyweight, healthy diet and low alcohol intake.

People in the study who followed four of these had a 60% decline in dementia and cognitive decline rates, with exercise named as the strongest mitigating factor.

They also had 70% fewer instances of diabetes, heart disease and stroke, compared with people who followed none of the factors.

Professor Peter Elwood, who led the study on behalf of Cardiff School of Medicine, said healthy behaviour was far more beneficial than any medical treatment or preventative procedure.
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Health

Bacterium can reverse autism-like behaviour

Sara Reardon
Nature
Thu, 05 Dec 2013 09:28 UTC
Image
© Brandon Laufenberg/Getty
Mice displaying symptoms of autism are less social and more anxious than control animals.
Doses of a human gut microbe helped to reverse behavioural problems in mice with autism-like symptoms, researchers report today in Cell1. The treatment also reduced gastrointestinal problems in the animals that were similar to those that often accompany autism in humans.

The work builds on previous research by Paul Patterson, a neurobiologist at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena. In 2012, he and his team created mice with autism-like symptoms by injecting a chemical that mimics viral infection into pregnant mice; those animals then bore offspring that were less sociable and more anxious than wild-type animals2. The autistic mice also had 'leaky guts', in which the walls of the intestine break down and allow substances to leak through. Several studies have found that humans with autism are also more likely to have gastrointestinal disorders, suggesting that the two problems may be linked3.

To investigate what role the gut might play in the animals' symptoms, Patterson and his Caltech colleagues - microbiologist Sarkis Mazmanian and neuroscientist Elaine Hsiao - took a census of the bacteria living in the guts of the mice. They found that mice with symptoms of autism had lower levels of a bacterium called Bacteroides fragilis that is normally present in the mouse gut. When the researchers fed B. fragilis to these mice, the animals began behaving more normally and their gastrointestinal symptoms improved.

Comment: For more information on the gut and brain connection, see:

Vagus Nerve Controls Intestinal Inflammation
Brain, heart and gut minds
Link between gut bacteria and behavior: That anxiety may be in your gut, not in your head
From Autism to Anorexia, it's all about the gut
The Neuroscience of the Gut

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Syringe

Protest planned against last-minute Bloomberg push for mandatory flu vaccines

Colin Campbell and Jill Colvin
Politicker
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 18:45 UTC
flu vaccine
© Denis Charlet/Getty
A flu vaccine.

Autism advocates are set to protest tomorrow against a quiet effort by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration to require annual flu vaccinations for all New York City schoolchildren.

On Wednesday, with just three weeks to go until he leaves office, Mr. Bloomberg's controversial Board of Health is set to vote on new rules that would force children as young as six months old to be immunized each year before December 31 if they attend licensed day care or pre-school programs.

"Young children have a high risk of developing severe complications from influenza. One-third of children under five in New York City do not receive an annual influenza vaccination, even though the vaccine safely and effectively protects them against influenza illness," the Health Department said in a statement. "This mandate will help protect the health of young children, while reducing the spread of influenza in New York City."

The Board is stocked with mayoral appointees and controversial initiatives - from smoking bans to regulations on soda cup sizes - have sailed through with little opposition, angering a small, but passionate group of advocates who claim the vaccinations are potentially dangerous.

"The Bloomberg administration is wildly exaggerating the benefit of the flu shot and we think they are wildly underestimating the risks involved with it," said John Gilmore, the executive director of the Autism Action Network, speaking more broadly than the controversial claim that links vaccines to autism.
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Smoking

Despite containing no tobacco, French court rules e-cigs are part of the tobacco monopoly


Agence France-Presse
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 15:31 UTC
e-cig
© AFP
A French commercial court ruled on Monday that e-cigarettes qualify as tobacco products and should only be sold by registered tobacconists.

The ruling by the court in Toulouse is subject to appeal but could eventually see the distribution of e-cigarettes limited by a state-imposed monopoly on tobacco sales.

The decision comes amid a global boom in sales of e-cigarettes - battery-powered, vapour-releasing tubes that are promoted as a healthier alternative to traditional tobacco products.

The case stems from a complaint made by a local tobacconist against the Esmokeclean e-cigarette shop in the southern town of Plaisance-du-Touch.

The court in nearby Toulouse gave its verdict Monday, ordering Esmokeclean to stop selling and advertising e-cigarettes as it was violating the "state monopoly on the sale of tobacco" - a decision that could set a precedent.

Cigarettes and other tobacco products can only be sold in France at registered outlets and their advertising is banned.
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Syringe

Drugs used in newborns need better study, docs say

Rachael Rettner
LiveScience
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 15:35 UTC
flat-head syndrome
© Vanessa Van Rensburg | Dreamstime
Plagiocephaly, sometimes known as "flat-head syndrome," is easily treated in most cases.
Many medications commonly given to newborns still have not been officially approved for use in this very young population, despite recent law changes encouraging the study of drugs in children, a new study finds.

That means that drug labels often do not have information about the correct dose that should be used in newborns, and doctors instead must use their best guesses based on their experience and information from adults and older children, said study researcher Dr. Matthew Laughon, an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.

Drug studies in infants are challenging for a number of reasons - for example, a baby's small size prevents doctors from taking several samples of blood that would be needed to understand the effects of a drug.

But researchers must find a way around such obstacles, because such studies are critical to understanding how to most effectively use drugs in newborns, Laughon said. Children and babies have a unique physiology and will not necessarily respond to drugs the way adults do, Laughon said.

"As a society that cares about its premature babies and newborns, it's really incumbent on us to make these vulnerable children less vulnerable," by using effective drugs to treat birth complications, said Dr. Edward McCabe, chief medical officer of the March of Dimes, who was not involved in the study.
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Health

Seizure unconsciousness similar to slow wave sleep


Science Daily
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 16:54 UTC
Epilepsy patients with complex partial seizures have impaired consciousness during seizure episodes and typically have no memory of the event. However, the mechanisms of seizure unconsciousness are unclear. Research reported today at the American Epilepsy Society (AES) 67th Annual Meeting suggests that the mechanism underlying loss of awareness during complex partial seizures is likely the same as that involved in slow wave or deep sleep.

In earlier research the team of investigators from Yale Medical School revealed an association between slow wave oscillations in neocortex and loss of consciousness in complex partial seizures. They also developed a rodent model with similar seizure characteristics, including neocortical slow waves similar to those seen in sleep. With the use of this model, the team then sought to find whether the slow waves of seizures were closely related to decreased acetylcholine in a specific sleep-associated brain area, as occurs in slow wave sleep.

The synthesis and release of acetylcholine is followed by breakdown into the molecule choline. That molecule was thus used in this study as a proxy for acetylcholine and choline levels at the target site were recorded using an implanted choline-oxidase coated microelectrode.
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