You can't walk into a convenience store, grocery store or restaurant without being offered a dose of aspartame. You can't buy a stick of gum or a box of mints without having to read the label like a hawk, because it's not always obvious that a product contains aspartame. Restaurant condiment caddies are filled with white packets of sugar, which is unhealthy in its own right, alongside pink and blue packets of NutraSweet and Equal, both of which contain known excitotoxins. Would you like some excitotoxin with your coffee?
Do you know what excitotoxins even are? Most people don't. They're chemical substances, such as aspartame, that cause neurons to fire spasmodically. This eventually burns out, or damages, the neurons. Decades of research studies support the increasingly held belief that aspartame causes these painful, often debilitating headaches.
Health & Wellness
The prevalence of brain diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and motor neuron disease has soared in the last 20 years, as has the occurrence of depression and anxiety disorders. This rise has been correlated with increased use of pesticides, car exhaust, fragrances, and particulate matter pollution which target the brain in oxidative stress and leads to neurodegeneration.
Whether neurotransmitter balance is altered by drug abuse or chemical exposures, the brain attempts to compensate for this change and create homeostasis again. This leads to impaired cognitive function.
Unexplained outbursts of anger, despair, or anxiety are common in the general populace. Most people know someone who has such outbursts. The scientific community, frequently guided by industry interests, works to convince the medical community and society at large that these mood swings are "mental health problems" for which expensive prescriptions and time consuming cognitive behavioral therapy should be prescribed.
Whether neurotransmitter balance is altered by drug abuse or chemical exposures, the brain attempts to compensate for this change and create homeostasis again. This leads to impaired cognitive function.
Unexplained outbursts of anger, despair, or anxiety are common in the general populace. Most people know someone who has such outbursts. The scientific community, frequently guided by industry interests, works to convince the medical community and society at large that these mood swings are "mental health problems" for which expensive prescriptions and time consuming cognitive behavioral therapy should be prescribed.
Washington - Two drugmakers spent hundreds of millions of dollars last year to raise awareness of a murky illness, helping boost sales of pills recently approved as treatments and drowning out unresolved questions - including whether it's a real disease at all.
Key components of the industry-funded buzz over the pain-and-fatigue ailment fibromyalgia are grants - more than $6 million donated by drugmakers Eli Lilly and Pfizer in the first three quarters of 2008 - to nonprofit groups for medical conferences and educational campaigns, an Associated Press analysis found.
That's more than they gave for more accepted ailments such as diabetes and Alzheimer's. Among grants tied to specific diseases, fibromyalgia ranked third for each company, behind only cancer and AIDS for Pfizer and cancer and depression for Lilly.
Key components of the industry-funded buzz over the pain-and-fatigue ailment fibromyalgia are grants - more than $6 million donated by drugmakers Eli Lilly and Pfizer in the first three quarters of 2008 - to nonprofit groups for medical conferences and educational campaigns, an Associated Press analysis found.
That's more than they gave for more accepted ailments such as diabetes and Alzheimer's. Among grants tied to specific diseases, fibromyalgia ranked third for each company, behind only cancer and AIDS for Pfizer and cancer and depression for Lilly.
The damaging drug may have been developed as an antidote to nerve gas.
The morning sickness drug thalidomide, which caused pregnant women to give birth to babies without arms and legs, was first developed by the Nazis, probably as part of their chemical weapons programme, according to new research. Two separate academics have revealed the discovery of documents indicating that the drug did not originate with Chemie Grünenthal, the postwar German chemical firm, as has always been claimed.
If, as their research suggests, thalidomide was first developed by scientists working in wartime Germany, it could have implications for the liability of the German government. So far it has given compensation only to German victims, although the drug was distributed in at least 46 countries.
Thousands of the drug's victims are still battling for increased financial aid to help them cope with its legacy. There are 457 thalidomiders remaining in the UK; 2,700 in Germany; and a total of up to 6,000 worldwide.
The morning sickness drug thalidomide, which caused pregnant women to give birth to babies without arms and legs, was first developed by the Nazis, probably as part of their chemical weapons programme, according to new research. Two separate academics have revealed the discovery of documents indicating that the drug did not originate with Chemie Grünenthal, the postwar German chemical firm, as has always been claimed.
If, as their research suggests, thalidomide was first developed by scientists working in wartime Germany, it could have implications for the liability of the German government. So far it has given compensation only to German victims, although the drug was distributed in at least 46 countries.
Thousands of the drug's victims are still battling for increased financial aid to help them cope with its legacy. There are 457 thalidomiders remaining in the UK; 2,700 in Germany; and a total of up to 6,000 worldwide.
For the first time, scientists have evidence that perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), long thought to be inactive in the human body, can disrupt fertility in women. This is particularly troublesome because PFCs are widely used in industrial nations -- they are in everything from pesticides and clothing to carpets, upholstery, food packages, Teflon-coated cookware and personal care products. And they persist in the environment as well as the human body for decades.
You know the feeling. You make a decision you're certain is merely a "lucky guess."
A new study from Northwestern University offers precise electrophysiological evidence that such decisions may sometimes not be guesswork after all.
The research utilizes the latest brain-reading technology to point to the surprising accuracy of memories that can't be consciously accessed.
During a special recognition test, guesses turned out to be as accurate or more accurate than when study participants thought they consciously remembered.
A new study from Northwestern University offers precise electrophysiological evidence that such decisions may sometimes not be guesswork after all.
The research utilizes the latest brain-reading technology to point to the surprising accuracy of memories that can't be consciously accessed.
During a special recognition test, guesses turned out to be as accurate or more accurate than when study participants thought they consciously remembered.
"What Do Women Want?," an article about new research into female arousal, published in the NYT magazine, has been the most read story for five straight days, lit up the blogosphere and sparked a lightning storm of comments at the NYT and in blogs. Many sites have had to close their comments early, unable to keep up. The deepening financial crisis has been pushed aside.
Injections of a natural growth factor into the brains of mice, rats and monkeys offers hope of preventing or reversing the earliest impacts of Alzheimer's disease on memory. The benefits arose even in animals whose brains contained the hallmark plaques that clog up the brains of patients.
By delivering brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) directly into the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus, the parts of the brain where memories are formed then consolidated, the researchers successfully tackled damage exactly where Alzheimer's strikes first.
"We're administering BDNF directly to the degenerating neurons in memory systems of the cortex, and preventing their death," says Mark Tuszynski of the University of California at San Diego. The substance, which naturally supports brain cells throughout life, also amplified the numbers of connections, or synapses, between neurons.
By delivering brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) directly into the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus, the parts of the brain where memories are formed then consolidated, the researchers successfully tackled damage exactly where Alzheimer's strikes first.
"We're administering BDNF directly to the degenerating neurons in memory systems of the cortex, and preventing their death," says Mark Tuszynski of the University of California at San Diego. The substance, which naturally supports brain cells throughout life, also amplified the numbers of connections, or synapses, between neurons.
Calgary, Alberta - Health officials in Alberta confirmed on Friday that there are more cases of cancer than expected in a small aboriginal village downstream from the Canadian province's massive oil sands plants, but they said there was no cause for residents to be alarmed.
Residents of the village of Fort Chipewyan, a one-time trading post on the northeast shore of Lake Athabasca, say oil sands developments may be responsible for rare bile-duct cancers first spotted by a doctor in the community in 2006.
Those complaints sparked a study by Alberta health authorities, which released the results on Friday.
Residents of the village of Fort Chipewyan, a one-time trading post on the northeast shore of Lake Athabasca, say oil sands developments may be responsible for rare bile-duct cancers first spotted by a doctor in the community in 2006.
Those complaints sparked a study by Alberta health authorities, which released the results on Friday.
Take Ritalin for fun and you run the risk of addiction. That's if the drug causes the same chemical and structural changes in human brains as it does in mice.
Ritalin is prescribed to children with hyperactivity disorders, but many American teenagers also take it without a prescription to boost academic performance, or for pleasure.
When Yonk Kim and his colleagues at the Rockefeller University in New York gave mice the drug for a fortnight, a greater number of spiny neurons formed in the nucleus accumbens, a brain region stimulated by all addictive drugs (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: link). "These changes in neuronal structure and brain chemistry are known to be associated with the process of drug addiction," warns Kim.
Ritalin is prescribed to children with hyperactivity disorders, but many American teenagers also take it without a prescription to boost academic performance, or for pleasure.
When Yonk Kim and his colleagues at the Rockefeller University in New York gave mice the drug for a fortnight, a greater number of spiny neurons formed in the nucleus accumbens, a brain region stimulated by all addictive drugs (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: link). "These changes in neuronal structure and brain chemistry are known to be associated with the process of drug addiction," warns Kim.
Comment: For a more in depth read about Toxic chemicals and their negative effects on the human body, read Sherry A. Rogers, M.D Detoxify or Die