Welcome to Sott.net
Wed, 27 Oct 2021
The World for People who Think

Health & Wellness
Map

Cupcake Pink

Food additive linked to celiac disease: Transglutaminase

Rosie McCall
IFL Science!
Fri, 04 Jan 2019 16:47 UTC
meat glue transglutaminase
If you have a severe intolerance to gluten, a chemical in your diet may (at least partly) be to blame.

We are not talking about gluten allergies or sensitivities here, but celiac disease - a lifelong autoimmune disorder affecting roughly one in 100 people where the ingestion of gluten provokes an immune system attack on the gut. Experts aren't sure of the exact cause. However, a paper recently published in Frontiers in Pediatrics has linked a common food additive to the disease: Microbial transglutaminase.

Transglutaminase is a bacterial enzyme often added to food during manufacturing. You can find it in a lot of processed food, from dairy and meat to baked goods.

Comment: What isn't mentioned in the above article is that microbial transglutaminase is otherwise known as "meat glue", an additive used to fuse proteins together. It's been known for awhile within the celiac community that this additive can cause a reaction in people with celiac (see Dr. Peter Osborne's piece about it here; written 2 years ago), but it's good that they're actually doing some scientific studies on it.

See also:

      Read More...
Brain

Number of people with dementia doubled in just 26 years

Cheryl Critchley-Melbourne
Futurity
Thu, 20 Dec 2018 00:01 UTC
old couple holding hands
© Getty Images
The number of people living with dementia globally more than doubled between 1990 and 2016 from 20.2 million to 43.8 million, report researchers.

The researchers also found that 22.3 percent of healthy years lost due to dementia in 2016 were due to modifiable risk factors. Their study looks at the global, regional, and national burden of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias from 1990-2016.

The systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016 found dementia was more common at older ages, with the prevalence doubling every five years over age 50. There was also significant potential for prevention.

Comment: The unstoppable tide of chronic disease continues to climb yet everyone still seems to have their hearts set on looking in the wrong directions for answers. The above article is correct in its addressing of lifestyle factors, but what is really needed is for researchers to start asking difficult questions, throwing away everything that is currently being taken for granted (like assumptions about diet) and stop looking for solutions in pharmaceutical interventions.

See also:

      Read More...
Cow

New Canada food guide to encourage Canadians to malnourish themselves by eating more plant-based protein


Global News
Fri, 04 Jan 2019 15:53 UTC
canada food guide
An overhaul of the Canada Food Guide is set to be released soon, a highly-anticipated makeover that will do away with the rainbow visual many Canadians associate with the dietary guide commonly used in hospitals and daycares.

One of the major changes expected in the new guide is a focus on plant-based sources of proteins - a move that has sparked concern among industry players, including the Dairy Farmers of Canada.

In a statement released Friday afternoon, the national policy and lobby organization representing Canada's farmers warned the decision could have a detrimental impact on future generations and harm a sector that continues to be "negatively impacted by the concessions granted in recent trade agreements."

Comment: Canada's Food Guide has always bee a complete farce, only ever conferring advice on how Canadians can make themselves fat and sick, so it isn't any wonder it's newest iteration is more of the same. This politically correct emphasis on encouraging the replacing of animal foods with vegetables and grains is doing no one any good. The only thing the Canada Food Guide should be used for is lighting fires and emergency toilet paper.

See also:

      Read More...
Cupcake Choco

Diabetes and obesity still on the rise - Billions spent promoting dietary guidelines hasn't made a dent


Nutrition Coalition
Wed, 28 Nov 2018 00:01 UTC
Prevalence of Diabetes by State, 2016–2017

Prevalence of Diabetes by State, 2016–2017
A new report on the continued alarming rise of diabetes in the U.S. illustrates how decades of government dietary guidance has thus far failed to contain this costly and debilitating disease.

As part of their State of American Well-Being series, Gallup and Sharecare found that 11.5% of the U.S. adult population was diagnosed with type 1 or type 2 diabetes in 2016-2017, up from 10.8% in 2008-2009.

The survey, released this month, saw diabetes rates vary widely by state, from a low of 8.4% in Alaska to a startling 17.9% in West Virginia. Worse, obesity in the United States climbed 2.3 percentage points to 28.3% nationally.

Comment: Any sensible person should be able to look at the strategy of the government nutritional guidelines have been using for the past decades and see that they clearly are not working. But rather than look at the emerging science and adjust accordingly, the researchers continue to double down on the same old advice. Either people are going to wake up to the mess that are the dietary guidelines, or they're going to die. It's basically Darwinism.

See also:

      Read More...
Cloud Precipitation

Seasonal affective disorder: Your eye color might be why you have the 'winter blues'

Lance Workman
The Conversation
Wed, 02 Jan 2019 16:42 UTC
eyes
© Hanna Kuprevich/ Shutterstock
The amount of light your eyes can process might be one of the reasons why some people are more likely to experience SAD.
You're not alone if colder weather and longer nights make you feel down. This well-known phenomenon, called seasonal affective disorder (SAD), might explain why people feel low, irritable, and lethargic in the winter months. For some, the condition can be serious and debilitating.

Although SAD is a recognised form of clinical depression, experts are still divided on what causes the condition, with some even arguing it doesn't exist. But my own research has found that your eye colour might actually be one factor determining whether or not you develop SAD.

A survey I conducted in 2014 found that around 8% of UK people self-reported changes with the seasons that can be classified as SAD. Another 21% reported symptoms of sub-syndromal SAD, which is a less severe form, often called the "winter blues".

Comment: Read more about Healing the body with light:

      Read More...
Microscope 1

Natural Autoimmunity: Friend or Foe?

Ali Le Vere
Greenmedinfo.com
Tue, 15 Aug 2017 20:00 UTC
immunity
Rather than signifying an immune system gone haywire, pioneering research reveals that autoantibodies are a biological prerequisite, and that natural autoimmunity is the master orchestrator of physiological homeostasis.

When examining a lab report for autoantibodies, why is there a normal reference range? Classical immunology, adhering to the principle of "Horror autotoxicus," argues that any level of antibody against self represents loss of self-tolerance and compromised immunoregulatory mechanisms. Although clonal deletion and anergy have previously been conceived as processes by which self-tolerance develops, these concepts fail to explain the prevalence of natural autoimmunity among healthy individuals (1). Novel research is elucidating that autoimmunity is a natural, common phenomenon, and that autoimmune disease occurs as a secondary response to tissue or organ injury.
      Read More...
Info

Water fluoridation: Facts & fallacies

Huw Griffiths
New Dawn Magazine
Tue, 01 Jan 2019 15:50 UTC
water
Water fluoridation has been around for just over 60 years and whilst the practice has become widespread, particularly in Western nations, it's always been a controversial and often passionately argued one.

My formative moment in the fluoride 'debate', one that cathartically shunted me into the anti-fluoride lobby's arms, came many years ago when I was sitting in a dentist's chair in Cambridge, UK.

I knew very little about fluoride at the time, so it was with an open mind and calm disposition that I opened my mouth in order for my dentist to pour in some fluoride solution which he said would give my teeth a strong protective coating. The problems started immediately after having dispensed the liquid into my mouth when he stammered, "...but don't whatever you do swallow it!" "Why?" I gurgled, "Because it's poisonous and could kill you," came his reply.

Comment: More benefits of Iodine: Protection against fluoride toxicity

      Read More...
Shoe

Are your super-cushioned running shoes doing more harm than good?

Karen Foster
Prevent Disease
Fri, 14 Dec 2018 18:04 UTC
running shoe
Highly-cushioned running shoes are meant to protect against injuries, but they may actually do the opposite by changing the way we run, research suggests.

Humans have been running for hundreds of thousands of years, and of course for most of that time we ran barefoot. Modern running shoes were actually only invented in the 1970s. Since that time, back, hip, knee and ankle overuse injuries, including tendonitis, and muscle disorders have only increased. So health experts came up with what they thought was a novel approach--namely that "we need more support from our footwear." Nothing could be further from the truth.

Every year, it's estimated that at least one-third of runners get stress fractures, shin splints or muscle or joint injuries caused by repeated pounding of the pavement. Many shoe manufacturers have added extra padding to try to soften the impact on the legs, but injury rates have not decreased as a result.

A new study suggests this is because the extra cushioning changes the spring-like mechanics of the legs as they run, which actually means we experience more tissue damage with every stride.

Comment: More on barefoot running:

      Read More...
Blue Planet

Scottish doctors are now issuing prescriptions to go hiking

Justin Housman
adventure-journal.com
Mon, 22 Oct 2018 15:35 UTC
hiking
Scotland's Shetland Islands are windswept and rugged, full of wide-open vistas, thousands of squawking migratory birds, awesome rock formations, and winding trails. An epic place for long, lingering walks and time spent decompressing in the joys of raw nature.

It just so happens that doctors are increasingly starting to realize time spent outdoors can be an excellent treatment for chronic health issues. So doctors in the Shetlands are now issuing "nature prescriptions" as part of an initiative to address health issues without drugs if you can imagine that.

For everything from high blood pressure to diabetes, anxiety, and depression, the medical community is learning (though lots of us have always known) that many ailments and diseases can be treated with activities like birdwatching, maybe a little kayaking, perhaps combing a beach for shells, even skipping pebbles across a slow-moving stream. Even just sitting silently in a forest, meditating (see: Japan, forest bathing).

Comment: Raising awareness for 'forest therapy'

      Read More...
Alarm Clock

Childhood arthritis is becoming the 'new normal'

Children's Health Defense
Collective Evolution
Thu, 03 Jan 2019 12:47 UTC
arthritis
For people who think of arthritis as a disease of the elderly, learning that children also suffer from arthritic conditions may come as a shock. Across age groups, various forms of arthritis are a growing public health problem in the United States. New cases of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and other types of autoimmune arthritis in young Americans are two to three times higher than in Canada, with cases occurring within the wider context of proliferating pediatric autoimmune disorders. Over one four-year period (2001-2004), the number of ambulatory care visits for pediatric arthritis and other rheumatologic conditions increased by 50%.
Currently, one child in 1,000 develops some form of chronic arthritis - about twice the estimated prevalence of the early 1980s.
The medical community lumps childhood arthritic disorders under the broader umbrella of "juvenile rheumatoid arthritis" or "juvenile idiopathic arthritis" (JIA). "Idiopathic" means "no identifiable cause." There has been a predictable rush to pinpoint predisposing genetic factors, even though most of the genetic variations identified in JIA "are shared across other autoimmune disorders." Of more practical relevance, an emerging consensus points to environmental factors as major contributors to JIA, with childhood infections attracting particular attention.

Comment: The Mosaic of Autoimmunity: Top doctors reveal vaccines turn our immune system against us

      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts