Health & WellnessS


Pills

Calcium supplements: Why you should think twice

Chris Kresser
chriskresser.com
Fri, 08 Mar 2013 18:14 UTC
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I've made the argument before that some supplements may be necessary even within the context of a nutrient-dense, whole-foods diet. Some nutrients are challenging to get through food alone, especially if you're not digesting food optimally or you're struggling with a disease that increases your need for particular nutrients. I routinely recommend supplements to many of my patients, and have seen the benefits of proper supplementation in my own life as well.

That said, there are several supplements that are commonly recommended by conventional doctors and healthcare practitioners that are unnecessary at best, and potentially harmful at worst. Perhaps the best example of this is calcium.

Calcium has become extremely popular to supplement with, especially amongst older women, in the hope that it will prevent osteoporosis. We've all seen the products on the market aimed at the "worried-well", such as Viactiv and Caltrate, suggesting that supplementing with calcium can help maintain bone health and prevent osteoporosis, a serious condition affecting at least 10% of American women. (1) Yet the evidence that calcium supplementation strengthens the bones and teeth was never strong to begin with, and has grown weaker with new research published in the past few years. A 2012 analysis of NHANES data found that consuming a high intake of calcium beyond the recommended dietary allowance, typically from supplementation, provided no benefit for hip or lumbar vertebral bone mineral density in older adults. (2) And a 2007 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that calcium supplements don't reduce fracture rates in older women, and may even increase the rate of hip fractures. (3)
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Hotdog

Scientists officially link processed foods to Autoimmune Disease

April McCarthy
trueactivist.com
Fri, 08 Mar 2013 17:09 UTC
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The modern diet of processed foods, takeaways and microwave meals could be to blame for a sharp increase in autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, including alopecia, asthma and eczema.

A team of scientists from Yale University in the U.S and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, in Germany, say junk food diets could be partly to blame.

'This study is the first to indicate that excess refined and processed salt may be one of the environmental factors driving the increased incidence of autoimmune diseases,' they said.

Junk foods at fast food restaurants as well as processed foods at grocery retailers represent the largest sources of sodium intake from refined salts.

The Canadian Medical Association Journal sent out an international team of researchers to compare the salt content of 2,124 items from fast food establishments such as Burger King, Domino's Pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald's, Pizza Hut and Subway. They found that the average salt content varied between companies and between the same products sold in different countries.
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Arrow Up

Uganda: Breastfeeding boosts intelligence


All Africa
Fri, 08 Mar 2013 16:46 UTC
Researchers have found a connection between breastfeeding and the development of a child's brain. Researchers concluded, in a study of more than 17,000 infants from newborn to 6.5 years, that prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding improved brain development.

A similar study of nearly 4,000 children showed that babies who were breastfed had significantly higher scores on vocabulary testing at five years of age in comparison with children who were not breastfed. Higher levels were directly correlated with a longer duration of breastfeeding.

Pre-term infants with low-birth weight that received breast milk improved their brain development scores at 18 months when compared with pre-term infants who were not given breast milk. Follow-up research indicated that the scored held true even at 30 months.

Other findings confirmed that babies are less likely to be hospitalised, suffer adverse side-effects to vaccines and significantly reduced the risk of dying as well.
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Bulb

Even mild traumatic brain injuries can kill brain tissue

Toni Baker
Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University
Thu, 07 Mar 2013 09:07 UTC
Scientists have watched a mild traumatic brain injury play out in the
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© Phil JonesDr. Sergei Kirov is a neuroscientist and Director of the Human Brain Lab at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University.
living brain, prompting swelling that reduces blood flow and connections between neurons to die.

"Even with a mild trauma, we found we still have these ischemic blood vessels and, if blood flow is not returned to normal, synapses start to die," said Dr. Sergei Kirov, neuroscientist and Director of the Human Brain Lab at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University.

They also found that subsequent waves of depolarization - when brain cells lose their normal positive and negative charge - quickly and dramatically increase the losses.

Researchers hope the increased understanding of this secondary damage in the hours following an injury will point toward better therapy for the 1.7 million Americans annually experiencing traumatic brain injuries from falls, automobile accidents, sports, combat and the like. While strategies can minimize impact, no true neuroprotective drugs exist, likely because of inadequate understanding about how damage unfolds after the immediate impact.

Kirov is corresponding author of a study in the journal Brain describing the use of two-photon laser scanning microscopy to provide real-time viewing of submicroscopic neurons, their branches and more at the time of impact and in the following hours.
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Beaker

Common household chemicals linked to human disease

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Sat, 09 Mar 2013 13:56 UTC
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Sherlock

Buying local and organic? You're still eating plastic chemicals

Tom Philpott
Mother Jones
Mon, 04 Mar 2013 13:17 UTC
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© Creativa/Shuttershock
Bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates are what's known as "endocrine disruptors" - that is, at very small doses they interfere with our hormonal systems, giving rise to all manner of health trouble. In peer-reviewed research, BPA has been linked to asthma, anxiety, obesity, kidney and heart disease, and more. The rap sheet for phthalates, meanwhile, includes lower hormones in men, brain development problems, diabetes, asthma, obesity, and, possibly, breast cancer.

So, ingesting these industrial chemicals is a bad idea, especially if you're a kid or a pregnant woman. But avoiding them is very difficult, since they're widely used in plastics, and are ubiquitous in the food supply. The federal government has not seen fit to ban them generally - although the FDA did outlaw BPA from baby bottles last year (only after the industry had voluntarily removed them) and Congress pushed phthalates out of kids' toys back in 2008. Otherwise, consumers are on their own to figure out how to avoid ingesting them.

Unfortunately, that's a really hard task - and eating fresh, local, and organic might not be sufficient, as new research (abstract), published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, shows.

A team led by Sheela Sathyanarayana of University of Washington's Seattle Children's Research Institute performed a "dietary intervention" on two sets of five local families. After using urine tests to establish baseline BPA and phthalate levels for each group, they subjected one set of families to five days of eating meals from a catering company that avoids plastics and uses fresh and, when possible, local and organic ingredients. The other set was given "handouts describing best practice recommendations to reduce phthalate and BPA exposures" and asked to follow them as well as possible as they prepared their meals over the course of the five days. Levels of the chemicals were then again measured after the five-day period.
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Cheesecake

Study: Sugar availability linked to type 2 diabetes

Nanci Hellmich
USA Today
Sat, 09 Mar 2013 13:14 UTC
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© Photo: Spencer Platt, Getty ImagesA new study raises concerns about the availability of products with sugar, such as soda.
New study doesn't prove cause and effect but raises questions about sugar's role in diabetes.

Sugar is under the microscope again.

A recent study looked at sugar and type 2 diabetes rates in 175 countries including the USA over the past 10 years and found that increased sugar availability in the food supply was associated with higher rates of type 2 diabetes.

The research showed that for every additional 150 calories of sugar (the amount in a 12-ounce can of soda) available per person per day, the incidence of type 2 diabetes rose by 1%. Although the study doesn't directly prove cause and effect, it has raised new concerns about sugar.

Almost 26 million U.S. adults and children have diabetes. In diabetes, the body does not make enough of the hormone insulin, or it doesn't use it properly. Insulin helps glucose (sugar) get into cells, where it is used for energy. If there's an insulin problem, sugar builds up in the blood, damaging nerves and blood vessels.
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Health

Gluten goodbye: One-third of Americans say they're trying to shun it

Nancy Shute
NPR.org
Sat, 09 Mar 2013 12:50 UTC
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© NPR
Sure, we know that gluten-free is the Jennifer Lawrence of food trends. But we were still startled to hear that one-third of Americans say they're trying to avoid gluten. Really?

So we checked in with Harry Balzer, the food numbers king for consumer survey firm NPD Group. He said that not only is that number for real, but he thinks it's a little low.

"Around the beginning of 2012 this thing starts to rise, and it has yet to peak," Balzer says. "Right now 29 percent of the adult population says, 'I'd like to cut back or avoid gluten completely.' "

Comment: Further research into the many ill health effects of a gluten-based diet clearly demonstrates that people are beginning to realize that gluten is not the 'staff of life' or the basis of a healthy diet:

Gluten - The Hidden Killer
The Many Heads of Gluten Sensitivity
Is gluten from grains making you sick?
Do You Have Gluten Whiplash?
Gluten: What You Don't Know Might Kill You
Why is Wheat Gluten Disorder on the Rise
Wheat gluten newly confirmed to promote weight gain
How Long Does That Tiny Bit of Gluten Affect Your Body?
Leaky Gut - Leaky Brain - Gluten is an Equal Opportunity Destroyer
New England Journal of Medicine: Gluten Can Cause 55 Diseases
Headaches, Depression, Nerve Damage, and Seizures...Is Gluten to Blame?
Gluten & Your Nervous System - Depression, Brain Abnormalities, and Neuropathy
Sensitivity To Gluten May Result In Neurological Dysfunction; Independent Of Symptoms
The Hidden Link Between Gluten Intolerance and PMS, Infertility and Miscarriage

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Cow

If you liked Bovine Growth Hormone, you'll love Beta Agonists

Martha Rosenberg
Counter Punch
Fri, 01 Feb 2013 18:03 UTC
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© a4cgr.wordpress.com
While researchers and scientists investigate the cause of our diabetes, obesity, asthma and ADHD epidemics, they should ask why the FDA approved a livestock drug banned in 160 nations and responsible for hyperactivity, muscle breakdown and 10 percent mortality in pigs, according to angry farmers who phoned the manufacturer.

The beta agonist ractopamine, a repartitioning agent that increases protein synthesis, was recruited for livestock use when researchers found the drug, used in asthma, made mice more muscular says Beef magazine.

But unlike the growth promoting antibiotics and hormones used in livestock which are withdrawn as the animal nears slaughter, ractopamine is started as the animal nears slaughter.

As much as twenty percent of Paylean, given to pigs for their last 28 days, Optaflexx, given to cattle their last 28 to 42 days and Tomax, given to turkeys their last 7 to 14 days, remains in consumer meat says author and well known veterinarian Michael W. Fox.
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Beaker

How BPA may disrupt brain development

Alexandra Sifferlin
Healthland.time.com
Tue, 26 Feb 2013 17:53 UTC
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© Roel Smart / Getty Images
The chemical, found in many plastic products, can interfere with normal brain development.

In a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers report that bisphenol A (BPA) may suppress genes that are critical to early development of the central nervous system, which may predispose both animals and humans to neurodevelopmental disorders.

People can absorb BPA when it seeps from plastic bottles or the lining of metal cans into the food or drinks we consume. In previous studies, higher levels of BPA in people's urine have been linked to behavioral problems as well as reproductive disorders, heart disease and obesity, which prompted the Food and Drug Administration to ban the compound from baby bottles in 2012. In the current research, scientists from Duke Medicine in Durham, North Carolina tried to understand how BPA can harm health, and focused on its ability to interfere with developing nervous systems in both animals and humans.
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