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Produced for the Attorney General's Office, we learn about the effects of domestic violence on young children. A MUST WATCH! Repeated Exposure to Violence Impacts Brain Development.
© GreenMedInfo
Worry not, because Nature has the solution. There are two proven ways to satisfy your sweet tooth without the adverse caloric consequences and without worrying about poisoning yourself (e.g. sucralose, aspartame, saccharin) in the process.
Xylitol
Sweet like sugar, but with 40% the calories, xylitol is fast becoming the preferred sweetener of a variety of health-conscious consumers.
Those on low-carb diets can appreciate the low effective carb rating of xylitol (it has 75% less carbohydrate than sugar), as well as the fact that xylitol, unlike most other sugar replacements, is 100% natural. Not only is it found throughout nature in fruits (raspberries), vegetables (corn),* and trees (birch), but each day our body produces between 5-15 grams of it as part of normal metabolic processes.
© GreenMedInfo
Don't blame the chef: Whether you love it or hate pork may depend entirely on what variant of gene you were born with
For genetics appears to play a big role in how you perceive the taste of meat - specifically pig meat.
And those of us with a gene called OR7D4 perceive a distinct scent - and describe it as resembling urine, onions or faeces.
Researchers, at Duke University in North Caroline, tested to see how the gene specifically helps perceive the taste of androstenone.
They were curious to test 'odorant receptors', found in our noses and mouth.
These capture odor molecules and transmit messages to the brain which translates into our sensations of smell and taste.
However genetic variation in our species means that some people can detect compounds that remains tasteless to other people - and one of these is a compound called androstenone, found in high quantities within pig meat.
© unknown'Cuddle drug' oxytocin could be the new Viagra
But oxytocin, the so-called 'cuddle hormone', can dramatically improve male sexual performance, researchers have found - producing results on a par with Viagra.
One of the scientists behind the discovery and development of Viagra was so impressed that he described an oxytocin-based treatment as having 'blockbuster potential'.
Oxytocin is a hormone naturally made in the body in both men and women, and is involved in sex, sexual attraction, trust and confidence.
Extra doses of the 'cuddle chemical' are released into a mother's blood during labour - triggering the production of breast milk - and flood the brain during breastfeeding, helping mother and baby bond.
It has recently been shown to make men more sensitive and in tune with others' feelings, but its effects on the male physique were unknown until now.
© GreenMedInfo
These "food opiates" are heavily concentrated in wheat and dairy products, especially cow's milk. Wheat contains the following opioid peptides, known as gluten exorphins, alongside which are listed their amino acid structure:
- Gluten exorphin A5: H-Gly-Tyr-Tyr-Pro-Thr-OH
- Gluten exorphin B4: H-Tyr-Gly-Gly-Trp-OH
- Gluten exorphin B5: H-Tyr-Gly-Gly-Trp-Leu-OH
- Gluten exorphin C: H-Tyr-Pro-Ile-Ser-Leu-OH
- Gliadorphin: Tyr-Pro-Gln-Pro-Gln-Pro-Phe
- β-casomorphin 1-3: H-Tyr-Pro-Phe-OH
- Bovine β-casomorphin 1-4: H-Tyr-Pro-Phe-Pro-OH
- Bovine β-casomorphin 1-4, amide: H-Tyr-Pro-Phe-Pro-NH2
- Bovine β-casomorphin 5: H-Tyr-Pro-Phe-Pro-Gly-OH
- Bovine β-casomorphin 7: H-Tyr-Pro-Phe-Pro-Gly-Pro-Ile-OH
- Bovine β-casomorphin 8: H-Tyr-Pro-Phe-Pro-Gly-Pro-Ile-Pro-OH
Food opiates are widely distributed throughout our diet, and are found in many unsuspecting places. Fructose, which is fast becoming the primary source of calories in the American diet, while not itself an opioid peptide, is known to increase brain levels of endogenous morphine following ingestion,[1][2]and may produce metabolic products in the brain very similar to those produced by morphine.[3] In fact, it has been identified to stimulate a "hedonic pathway" in the brain, not unlike alcohol, which incidentally is metabolized along the same liver pathways.[4] Fructose, in isolated or concentrated form, is highly toxic and have been linked to over 70 health conditions.
© The Associated Press
Could low cholesterol kill you? A study by the Honolulu Heart Program found that elderly people with a "low cholesterol concentration" had a "significant association with mortality." In addition, a 2009 review published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that while vegetarians have an overall lower rate of cancer compared with meat eaters, vegetarians do have a 39 percent higher rate of colorectal cancer.
Other health concerns associated with vegetarianism cited by MNN included lower bone mineral density and lower levels of vitamin B12. However, the publishers of the bone density study said the "magnitude of the association is clinically insignificant," at just around 5 percent.
© Glutenfreesociety.org
A recent research study published in the journal, Biological Psychiatry identified that schizophrenic patients have elevated antibody reactions to gliadin (a gluten protein found in wheat, barley, and rye).
Individuals with recent-onset psychosis had increased levels of IgG and IgA antibodies to gliadin compared with control subjects. Individuals with multi-episode schizophrenia also had significantly increased levels of IgG antibodies to gliadin...
© zazzle.com
A widely used herbicide acts as a female hormone and feminizes male animals in the wild. Thus male frogs can have female organs, and some male fish actually produce eggs. In a Florida lake contaminated by these chemicals, male alligators have tiny penises.
Comment: To learn more about the seriously negative effects of the widely used herbicide, atrazine, read the following article: The Frog of War
These days there is also growing evidence linking this class of chemicals to problems in humans. These include breast cancer, infertility, low sperm counts, genital deformities, early menstruation and even diabetes and obesity.
Comment: Our government should be vigilant and concerned about the threats in our grocery stores in addition to the industrial agricultural and pharmaceutical industries, it has been proven time and again by a wide range of scientists that Endocrine Disruptors Really Do Suck!
U.S. manufacturers and agribusiness are addicted to endocrine disruptors - dangerous chemicals that alter the natural function of the body's hormones. They are frequently used in plastics, in pesticides, and in personal care products and act in the human body as a "false" version of estrogen. They appear to be linked to a variety of diseases, including sexual dysfunction, heart disease, metabolic disorders, and cancer. New York Times columnist Nick Kristof wrote a frightening summary of the health and environmental risks of this class of chemicals about a year ago that's still timely.New York Times columnist Nick Kristof's 'frightening summary' was written back in May 2010 when the 'official' President's Cancer Panel document was released. It would appear that not much has changed regarding the regulation of toxic chemicals. Read the following articles for more insight:
New Alarm Bells About Chemicals and Cancer
The President's Cancer Panel is the Mount Everest of the medical mainstream, so it is astonishing to learn that it is poised to join ranks with the organic food movement and declare: chemicals threaten our bodies.New Research Revealed: Environmentally Caused Cancers Are 'Grossly Underestimated'
The cancer panel is releasing a landmark 200-page report on Thursday, warning that our lackadaisical approach to regulation may have far-reaching consequences for our health.
The report blames weak laws, lax enforcement and fragmented authority, as well as the existing regulatory presumption that chemicals are safe unless strong evidence emerges to the contrary.
"Only a few hundred of the more than 80,000 chemicals in use in the United States have been tested for safety," the report says. It adds: "Many known or suspected carcinogens are completely unregulated."
Industry may howl. The food industry has already been fighting legislation in the Senate backed by Dianne Feinstein of California that would ban bisphenol-A, commonly found in plastics and better known as BPA, from food and beverage containers.
Studies of BPA have raised alarm bells for decades, and the evidence is still complex and open to debate. That's life: In the real world, regulatory decisions usually must be made with ambiguous and conflicting data. The panel's point is that we should be prudent in such situations, rather than recklessly approving chemicals of uncertain effect.
Cancer is the No. 2 killer of Americans, after heart disease. Kripke and Leffall, both appointed by President George W. Bush, decided in 2008 to focus a report on potential environmental links to cancer.
"The American people - even before they are born - are bombarded continually with myriad combinations of these dangerous exposures," they wrote in a letter to President Barack Obama at top of the report.
"The panel urges you most strongly to use the power of your office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water, and air that needlessly increase healthcare costs, cripple our nation's productivity, and devastate American lives."
© firstthings.com
- Yes, I'm a full-on vegan
- I used to, but it didn't last
- I have some vegan meals
- Never. I like my meat
Cue the controversy: Critics have been swift to say the book, aimed at children 6 and up, isn't appropriate for young kids - and question whether a vegan diet, which shuns all animal products, including meat, dairy and eggs, is ideal for kids' health. Some have said the extreme imagery amounts to brainwashing, and that the book equates love with an adherence to a certain lifestyle.
Comment: Recently vegan parents in France were charged with neglect in the death by malnourishment of their baby. An autopsy showed that the child was suffering from a vitamin A and B12 deficiency which experts say increases a child's sensitivity to infection and can be due to an unbalanced diet.
For more information on the dangers of Vegan / Vegetarian diets, read:
How Mom's Vegan Diet Unintentionally Killed Her Innocent Child
The Raw Truth About Raw Vegan Diets: A Primal Perspective
The Vegetarian Myth
The Myth of the Ethical 'Vegan'
Garlic: A powerful natural anti-bacterial
Tests discovered that the compound, diallyl sulphide, can easily breach a slimy protective biofilm employed by the bug to make it harder to destroy.
Not only is it a lot more powerful than antibiotics erythromycin and ciprofloxacin, it also takes a fraction of the time to work.
Comment: Please read The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith for more information on vegetarianism.
Also read:
The Naive Vegetarian
Burying The Vegetarian Hypothesis