Health & Wellness
There's a close-knit confederacy of three powerful conventional medical organizations in the United States. These groups work closely together and are allied with both federal and state government. One of their prime objectives appears to be to eliminate competition from natural health practitioners, especially integrative MDs and DOs, whom they seem to regard as traitors.
Decades ago, chiropractors sued the American Medical Association for similar assaults which they believed represented an illegal restraint of trade. The case went to the Supreme Court, which sided with the chiropractors. The present assault on integrative doctors seems to us to be just more of the same, motivated by the same crass business reasons - though it's even worse this time.
If this sounds like a conspiracy theory, it's not. Let's look more closely at the AMA and its allies.
Parkinson's disease results from the loss of neurons involved in processing the neurotransmitter dopamine. Researchers had previously found a gene that was involved in dopamine processing, and in animal experiments, they determined which pesticides inhibited this gene's pathway.
In the new study, they found that one variant of the gene, called ALDH2, may be even more susceptible to inhibition from pesticides. They then tested for this gene variant in Californians with Parkinson's disease whose exposure to various pesticides could be measured by comparing where they had lived with charts of pesticide use in the state.
Comment: Additional information about the growing concern that Pesticides Cause Parkinson's Disease:
Pesticides and Parkinson's
NIH Links Pesticides to Parkinson's
Study: Many pesticides in EU may damage human brain
Pesticides Shown to be Huge Parkinson's Disease Risk
Pesticide Exposure Boosts Parkinson's Risk by 60 Percent
Study: Roundup and other pesticides directly linked to Parkinson's and neurodegenerative disorders

Chefs Kiyoshiro Yamamoto and Susumu Ueda pleaded guilty to conspiracy and to selling the illegally imported meat of sei whales.
Two sushi chefs who worked at a Santa Monica, Calif., restaurant pleaded guilty Monday to buying and serving illegally imported whale parts in a stomach-turning case that began four years ago, when staff from the Oceanic Preservation Society and their boss, The Cove director Louie Psihoyos, launched a series of sting operations against the now-defunct establishment.
In a plea deal with federal officials, Kiyoshiro Yamamoto and Susumu Ueda each agreed to three misdemeanor charges in exchange for providing evidence against the owners of the restaurant, the Hump, which went out of business in 2010.
The chefs pleaded guilty to conspiracy and to selling illegally imported meat from sei whales caught off the coast of Japan, a violation of the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act. Sei whales are protected by the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
Comment: Truly Psychopathic behavior on the part of Typhoon Restaurant Inc.! As the author clearly states: "I hope all of them sustain the wrath reserved for such inhumane behavior. What I would like to see done to all of them would not be suitable for print." Hopefully there is a special place in hell for such sadistic deviants!
Brain atrophy
A recent study from the American Academy of Neurology argues that even within the upper levels of the normal range (approaching 110 mg/dL), blood sugar accounts for 6 to 10 percent of the brain shrinkage in the hippocampus and the amygdala. These two brain structures are part of the limbic system, also known as the emotional brain. They regulate autonomic and endocrine functions and affect associative learning, focus, memory, and fight or flight responses. Shrinkage in these areas leads to depression, mood swings, rage, aggression, Alzheimer's and other dementia and emotional diseases.
Comment: Do carbs kill your brain? Yes! Food for thought:
Eat your way to dementia - sugar and carbs cause Alzheimer's Disease
'Carbohydrates rot the brain': Neurologist slams grains as 'silent brain killers' - and says we should be eating a high-fat diet
The surprising truth about wheat, carbs, and sugar - Your brain's silent killers
The studies are clear on this... when people abandon their traditional foods in favor of modern processed foods high in sugar, refined flour and vegetable oils, they get sick (1, 2, 3). Of course, there are many things that can contribute to these health problems, but changes in the diet are the most important factor.
Here are 11 graphs that show everything that is wrong with the modern diet.
1. Total Sugar Intake Has Skyrocketed in The Past 160 Years
People in Western countries are consuming massive amounts of refined sugars, reaching about 150 lbs (67 kg) per year in some countries. This amounts to over 500 calories of sugar per day.
The sources vary on the exact figures, but it is very clear that we are consuming way more sugar than our bodies are equipped to handle (4). Controlled human studies show that large amounts of sugar can lead to severe metabolic problems, including insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, elevated cholesterol and triglycerides - to name a few (5, 6).
Added sugar is believed to be one of the main drivers of diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and even cancer (7, 8, 9, 10).
Comment: The lack of nutritional value isn't the only problem with wheat. Check out these articles for more information:
Gluten sensitivity & nerve damage
What's behind 'Grain Brain': Are gluten and carbs wrecking our brains and our health?
Gluten and the autoimmune disease spectrum
It's a question that veteran "As Seen on TV" marketer Scott Boilen asked when he was given the opportunity to introduce yet another bacon product to an already crowded marketplace. But Boilen couldn't resist the invention, a simple gizmo that turns a few strips of bacon into an edible shell. And so the Bacon Bowl was launched by Boilen's Allstar Products Group via a series of infomercials in late 2013.
In a brief period, Boilen's New York-based company has sold more than two million units of the $10.99 bacon cooker, making the Bowl a success story potentially on par with the Snuggie, to name Boilen's biggest "As Seen on TV" hit.
The lesson? Never underestimate the power of bacon, says Boilen: "It's almost become a cult-like food."
Comment: Perhaps another reason for this upward trend in bacon sales is the rising popularity of the paleo diet.
For more reading about the wonders of bacon, check out:
The Ketogenic Diet - An Overview
Their findings could lead to new therapies to reduce the risk of developing mental illness after stressful events.
Doctors know that people with stress-related illnesses, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), have abnormalities in the brain, including differences in the amount of gray matter versus white matter. Gray matter consists mostly of cells - neurons, which store and process information, and support cells called glia - while white matter is comprised of axons, which create a network of fibers that interconnect neurons. White matter gets its name from the white, fatty myelin sheath that surrounds the axons and speeds the flow of electrical signals from cell to cell.
How chronic stress creates these long-lasting changes in brain structure is a mystery that researchers are only now beginning to unravel.
They asked me if I would be interested in travelling to Chicago to attend a cancer conference where, they said, the company was about to make an exciting and important announcement.
Foolishly I accepted. The conference was fascinating, the hospitality generous - but the announcement which I was supposed to write about could not in any way be regarded as news.
I'm ashamed to say I still wrote about it - feeling some sense of misplaced obligation to my 'hosts'.
I should never have done so but in the process learnt an important lesson about the way in which the medical lobbying industry works.
Of several hundred doctors, nurse leaders and pharmacists from the UK who were in Chicago that year almost all were also there at the largesse of the drugs industry.
A hundred or so piglets are excitedly clambering over each other or snuffling around the muddy floor of the gated outdoor enclosure where they are waiting to be transported for slaughter. Inside the great barns, 500 sows lie side-by-side in pens while their offspring fight for space at their teats.The air hangs heavy with ammonia, so thick it stings the lungs.
This is the flagship operation of Midland Pig Producers, which runs nine farms across the country producing 80 tonnes of meat a week to supply leading supermarkets including Tesco, Marks and Spencer and Asda. It is big. But only a few miles away over the border into Derbyshire, something even bigger is planned.
A new study published in the Journal of Headache Pain reveals that a single intake of monosodium glutamate (MSG) produces headache in the majority of healthy subjects tested.[i]
The researchers conducted a double-blinded, placebo-controlled, crossover study to examine the effect of repeated MSG intake on the following:
- Spontaneous pain
- Mechanical sensitivity of masticatory muscles (the four muscles that move the jaw laterally)
- Side effects
- Blood pressure
Comment: Over the past several years SOTT.net has carried many articles detailing how monosodium glutamate (MSG) is proven to be highly toxic:
Monosodium Glutamate: What We All Should Know
MSG: Delicious Seasoning Or Drug And Poison?
MSG: Drug, Poison Or Flavor-Enhancer?
MSG: The Flavor Enhancer That Sickens In Two Ways
MSG Hidden in Variety of Foods and Contributing To Illness
The Shocking Dangers of MSG You Don't Know
MSG Lurks As A Slow Poison In Common Food Items Without Your Knowledge
Hold the MSG: Food Triggers for Epilepsy and Other Neurological Illnesses















Comment: The AMA's attempt to demonize intergrative medicine may have to do with the following fact: Many Americans turning to alternative medicine. Read more about this ongoing battle:
Brutal Attacks on Integrative Medicine Practitioners: Is the Federation of State Medical Boards Behind This?
Woman Warned: Alternative Health Techniques are Illegal Practice of Medicine
Can My Doctor Get Into Big Legal Trouble by Offering Natural Health Treatments?
Doctors Use Natural Remedies (But Don't Prescribe Them)
Homeopathy: Modern Medicine's First Target:
The Swiss Government's Exceedingly Positive Report on Homeopathic Medicine
What Science And History May Owe To Homeopathic Medicine