Health & WellnessS


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The 'Holy Grail' of primal health: Benefits of a fat-based caloric intake for body and brain


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Organic food conclusions don't tell the whole story

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© pakalertpress.comSo how is the mainstream media lying about this? By fudging the facts, of course. For starters, the “study” isn’t even a study. It was just a review of other studies. No new laboratory analysis was done whatsoever!
A widely reported Stanford University study1 concluding there is little difference in the healthfulness and safety of conventional and organic foods has been criticized by experts in the environmental health sciences for overlooking the growing body of evidence on the adverse effects of pesticides. Critics take to task the authors' omission of relevant studies and overinterpretation of the data.

The meta-analysis of 237 studies, published in the September 2012 Annals of Internal Medicine, largely focused on nutrient content and viral/bacterial/fungal contamination of organic versus conventionally grown foods. Nine studies reporting pesticide residues, including three of residues exceeding federal limits, were included in summary analyses.

The authors concluded that the studies reviewed do not support what they call the "widespread perception" that organic foods overall are nutritionally superior to conventional ones, although eating an organic diet may reduce exposures to pesticides and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.1 A Stanford press release quoted senior author Dena Bravata as saying, "There isn't much difference between organic and conventional foods, if you're an adult and making a decision based solely on your health."2 (According to the Stanford Medical Center press office, Bravata is no longer doing interviews about the study.)

Comment: To learn the whole story behind the controversial Standford Organic Food Study read the follwoing articles:

Controversy Erupts Over Study
Corruption of Science: 5 Ways the Stanford Study Sells Organics Short
New York Times admits Stanford organic food study flaws, apologizes
Stanford Scientists Shockingly Reckless on Health Risk and Organics
Cargill and others behind anti organic "Stanford Study
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Whoa, Is Organic Food No Healthier Than Non-Organic?


Attention

Tamoxifen: Praised as "life saving" but still causing cancer

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Many of the drugs used to treat breast cancer today are probable or known cancer-causing agents. Tamoxifen, for instance, is classified by the World Health Organization as a "human carcinogen," but recent news headlines praised extended use of this drug for "saving lives." It is obvious that the mainstream media has swallowed the tamoxifen-flavored Kool-Aid ... will you?

Last week, mainstream media headlines lit up like Christmas lights with exuberant news that the chemotherapy drug tamoxifen, "Cuts Breast Cancer Deaths," "Saves Lives," "Dramatically Lowers Risk of Death," ad nauseam, when extended from 5 years of use to 10 in breast cancer patients.

These mostly uncritical pronouncements followed from a newly published study in Lancet, funded by a long list of contributors, including the US Army, EU-Biomed, UK Medical Research Council, and the UK division of AstraZeneca, the company that formed after the now defunct Imperial Chemical Industry, the drug's original patent holder and manufacturer, de-merged its pharmaceutical division Zeneca Group in 1993, merging with Astra AB in 1999 to assume its present incarnation as one of the world's most powerful pharmaceutical companies.

Attention

Flesh-eating fungal infection following natural disasters

After a natural disaster, doctors should be on the lookout for outbreaks of a rare but deadly "flesh-eating" fungal infection, researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday.

That's the lesson, the agency said, from 13 cases of mucormycosis skin infections that struck victims of the Joplin, Mo., tornado last year.

The May 2011 tornado was one of the deadliest in U.S. history, killing almost 160 people and injuring more than 1,000. In the aftermath, doctors found that some victims with serious injuries were developing severe infections that ate away at the skin and underlying soft tissue.

It turned out to be mucormycosis, a fungal infection caused by a group of molds found in soil and decaying matter, such as fallen leaves and rotting wood. The fungus can attack various parts of the body, but skin infections occur when the fungus contaminates a wound.

The cluster of 13 cases in Joplin was a very large one, the CDC reported in the Dec. 6 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Evil Rays

Reports that backscatter machines are being removed from airports false

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And even worse scanners may be coming.

As we reported earlier this year, the full-body x-ray scanners used in airports are so dangerous that the European Union has banned them. The backscatter machines being used by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) emit "low" levels of ionizing radiation with an impact that is 10 to 20 times higher than the manufacturer's calculations. They are a cancer risk.

There have been press reports about these dangerous machines being removed. But you have to read the fine print. The backscatter machines are being taken out of the busier airports not because of documented safety concerns, but because they are slowing down the line! Many people opt out of a scan from the backscatter machines because of privacy concerns (the scanners display a nude image of each person scanned to TSA officers in a nearby room), choosing instead to undergo the physical screening instead. And this is causing long waits at some airports.

The machines aren't going away, however: they're merely being moved to smaller, less-busy airports. So the health risks (not to mention the invasion of privacy) will be just as great as before - but perhaps harder to avoid.

Attention

Cholesterol lowering treatment increases the risk of death

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This study was published in Circulation 1990 Dec;82(6):1916-24 Study title and authors: An analysis of randomized trials evaluating the effect of cholesterol reduction on total mortality and coronary heart disease incidence. Holme I. Life Insurance Companies' Institute for Medical Statistics, Ullevaal Hospital, Oslo, Norway. This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2242517

The study investigated the relationship between cholesterol reduction and death rates by analysing the results of 19 randomized clinical cholesterol reduction intervention trials (by drugs and diet). The 19 trials included 103,598 subjects and lasted between two and ten years.

The study found that those who had the cholesterol lowering treatment had a 3.7% increased risk of death compared to those who had no cholesterol lowering treatment.

Comment: A person with low cholesterol levels is at an increased risk for infection, autoimmune diseases and the much dreaded chronic inflammation which has a role in every single disease. In fact, you'll likely die if you go through a septic blood poisoning event with low cholesterol levels.

Cholesterol drugs have the biggest drug profits in the history of the world. Profits buy a lot of propaganda (such as lobbyists), advertising and marketing to doctors, including free continual medical education. And instead of investing all the billions they earn in public education of the importance of fats, they are only seeking to demonize fats and see in what other conditions they can push cholesterol-lowering drugs too to perpetuate their top sales rankings AND the debilitation of people in general. A healthy diet is rich animal fat, but God forbid the masses would switch to their ancestral diet which made them thrive for millions of years.

There is hardly a better way to dumb down, appease the masses, and most especially profit and depopulate the world than through what we eat. As Gary Taubes, author of Why We Get Fat and Good Calories, Bad Calories has pointed out,
Indeed, the history of the national conviction that dietary fat is deadly, and its evolution from hypothesis to dogma, is one in which politicians, bureaucrats, the media, and the public have played as large a role as the scientists and the science. It's a story of what can happen when the demands of public health policy--and the demands of the public for simple advice--run up against the confusing ambiguity of real science.
Saturated animal fat and its protein are the cure to many of mankind's modern diseases that stares us in the face. For more information read Life Without Bread and Ketogenic Diet: Path to Transformation?


Gold Coins

The truth about sleeping pills: Big Pharma's goldmine

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© Jon Han
Pharmaceutical industry ads convey unrealistic expectations for fall-to-sleep time. The pills they shill do not always even work.

Many first heard of the uber sleeping pill, Ambien, in 2006 when former Rhode Island representative Patrick Kennedy drove to Capitol Hill under its influence to "vote" at 2:45 a.m., crashing his car. He had also been taking Phenergan, a gastroenteritis drug that can cause drowsiness, said published reports.

Soon Ambien-induced blackouts were so common, they captured the attention of public health agencies. The FDA issued warnings in 2007 about the potential of "complex sleep-related behaviors" with Ambien and 12 other sleeping pills that included "sleep-driving, making phone calls and preparing and eating food (while asleep)." Meanwhile, law enforcement officials reported traffic accidents increasing under Ambien's popularity with some drivers not even recognizing police officers there to arrest them. Dude! Help me get my car out of this ditch.

Then, horror stories began to circulate about blackout eating. Skinny dieters were waking up horrified amid mountains of pizza, Krispy Kreme donuts, and Häagen-Dazs cartons consumed by their evil twins when they took Ambien. Blackout eating became such a lifestyle problem - hours on the treadmill shot to hell - Sanofi-Aventis, Ambien's manufacturer, was forced to publish full page newspaper ads telling people if they were going to take Ambien, to get in bed and stay there. No calling for pizza delivery either.

Clipboard

Study finds 'widespread seafood fraud' at restaurants

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© Matthew Kenrick
Dead fish don't lie - except for a lot of the ones served in restaurants.

A new study from conservation group Oceana found that 39 percent of New York restaurant fish DNA-tested by the group was mislabeled. That, combined with past studies of Los Angeles (55 percent), Boston (48 percent), and Miami (31 percent), paints a sad and even scary picture of what diners can expect when they sit down at American seafood restaurants.

Magic Wand

Health benefits of thyme: Medicinal uses of a favorite herb

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The aromatic thyme (Thymus Vulgaris) plant is a perennial and woody shrub harnessing square stems and attractive flowers. A member of the mint family, thyme is an herb that originates in the Mediterranean basin and has a number of varieties, each with its own distinctive oil composition. Thyme is a powerful herb, popular in aromatherapy - so it must be used with caution and care. Do know, though, that the health benefits of thyme are very real.

Thymus vularis ct. linalol is recommended by herbalists as an effective and safe beginner herb for children and the elderly. Other varieties are more potent, and their use should be reserved for qualified herbalists with experience in using them. The volatile essential oils in thyme are packed with anti-septic, anti-viral, anti-rheumatic, anti-parasitic and anti-fungal properties, which explains why thyme-based formulas are used as an expectorant, diuretic, fungicide and antibiotic.

Thyme is also a powerful detoxifying agent, making it one of many liver detox foods. What's more, the herb is a great immune system booster that encourages white blood cell formation while increasing resistance to foreign organisms. With cold and flu season upon us, considering adding thyme-based formulas to the medicine cabinet is a great idea. There is a reason the health benefits of thyme has been experienced for all of time.

2 + 2 = 4

Placebos, nocebos, and the symptoms of healing

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The placebo effect is one of the most misunderstood, misrepresented, misused and maligned effects of health and medical products.

Placebo is an interesting word, the definition of which helps to create a false image of the placebo effect. Placebo, according to Webster, is "a usually pharmacologically inert preparation prescribed more for the mental relief of the patient than for its actual effect on a disorder". Written as if placebos do not provide physical relief. But they do.

Many doctors prescribe 'placebos' because they recognize that mental relief is an important aspect of physical relief. Even if they don't understand the details. These doctors are not 'deceiving', they are acting in the best interests of the patient. They often prescribe 'patent medicines' that, in theory, will have no effect on the condition, rather than an alternative medicine - because paying more, and going to a pharmacy, increases the placebo effect.

Some doctors recognize that drugs with an actual effect - not specifically related to the patients (untreatable by medicine) condition have a stronger placebo effect. In those cases, the most effective placebo is not an inert pill, but one that the patient can 'feel working'.