Health & Wellness
© Will Fuller via Flickr.com.
"If the driver feels the need to protect himself with a face mask, surely he should reconsider spraying right outside our front door?"
"If the driver feels the need to protect himself with a face mask, surely he should reconsider spraying right outside our front door?"
Question: "How many government officials does it take to make sensible decisions about pesticide regulation?"
Answer: "Nobody knows, because it's never been done."
Anybody who follows the pesticide news trail will be aware of the recent report from the US that traces of glyphosate - which since the introduction of GMO crops has become the world's most widely used herbicide - have been found in samples of breastmilk.
This was not a scientific study but a small survey by a group called Mom's Across America, intended to galvanise a full scientific study based on a large sample of women.
After a week with the sun and a campfire as the only lights of exposure, people ‘synchronise’ their sleeping cycle with the setting and rising of the sun.
Short sleep and sleep deprivation have been linked with a variety of mental deficits (including problems with decision-making and memory) and physiological changes too including an increase in levels of inflammation in the body [1]. Inflammation in the body may participate in the poor functioning of hormones such as insulin (insulin resistance) and leptin (leptin resistance) - both of which are implicated in obesity. In one study, just one night of about 4 hours sleep was enough to impair insulin functioning [2]. Short sleep also has been found to lower levels of the hormone leptin [3] and increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol [4] (excess cortisol can cause fat deposition, usually around the midriff).
Sleep deprivation may impair the rate at which we burn fat. In one study, disrupting men's sleep with an alarm clock and allowing them only an average 6½ hours sleep, compared to no alarm clock and 8 hours sleep, caused their metabolism of fat of to fall by two-thirds [5]. Perhaps not surprisingly, lack of sleep can also bring about unhealthy changes in body composition. In one study, shortened sleep was found to reduce fat loss but increase muscle loss [6]. This effect may have something to do with the ability of sleep deprivation to increase levels of cortisol, as this hormone predisposes to muscle loss as well as fat gain.
© Getty Images
Pepsi removed BVO from Gatorade last year, and Coca-Cola initiated the push to remove the ingredient from all products by the end of this year (Pepsi apparently jumped on the BVO-free train after Coca-Cola's announcement). The companies aren't framing the change as a health concern; a Coca-Cola spokesperson says "All of our beverages, including those with BVO, are safe and always have been - and comply with all regulations in the countries where they are sold." Pepsi similarly dodged the question of BVO removal by acknowledging it had been "hearing rumblings" about the additive last year.
Comment: Soda isn't necessarily toxic? Soda does have detrimental health effects! Read the following articles to learn more about the evils of soda:
Cola, depression, and addiction
Not Aging Fast Enough? Drink a Soda!
The Hidden Cancer Threat in Soda
Soda Consumption Increases Overall Stroke Risk
The Facts, Statistics and Dangers of Soda Pop
The Real Dangers of Soda to You and Your Children
Over 130,000 cases of diabetes now linked to soda consumption, HFCS
A can of soda a day can increase the risk of cancer for men by 40 percent?
© Unknown
Running marathons can cause serious heart problems later in life
Running marathons can cause serious heart problems later in life
- Running marathons can lead to serious cardiac problems later in life
- People who are super-fit are more likely to need pacemakers in old age
- This is because exercise causes changes in the body that can disrupt electrical pulses in the heart causing abnormal heart rhythms
Those who enjoy a lean look from taking part in marathons, triathlons and iron man challenges are more likely to need pacemakers in old age, a new study says.
Tests on mice, funded by the British Heart Foundation, show microscopic changes take place in the body due to exercise training.
This can disrupt the electrical pulse of the heart, causing the super-fit to suffer abnormal heart rhythms.
The number of people taking part in marathons is going up every year.
Elderly athletes with a lifelong history of endurance training and competing are prone to heart rhythm disturbances, known as arrhythmias.
This is due to molecular changes in the heart's pacemaker from the exercise training, according to scientists from the University of Manchester.
Normal adults have a resting heart beat of between 60 and 100 per minute.
But the hearts of athletes beat as slow as 30 times a minute - or even lower at night when there can be long pauses between beats.
Many healthy foods contain high levels of estrogen.
It is no secret that our bodies and our environment are swimming in estrogen. Puberty is occurring as early as eight years old in children and recently babies in China have developed breasts. Frogs and fish are becoming "intersex" and losing their male characteristics from excreted estrogens in the environment and waterways. In England, the Daily Mail ran a feature on the phenomenon of women's bra cup sizes increasing independent of their weights, likely because of environmental and livestock chemicals. The website Green Prophet speculated that women in the Middle East are not yet experiencing cup inflation because their environments have not become similarly estrogenized.
While many people are fans of big boobs, the larger issue of feminized women, men and wildlife should be a wakeup call. Estrogen is blamed for everything from breast and prostate cancer and other hormone-linked conditions to obesity, sexual dysfunction, dropping sperm counts and depression and mood disorders. In studies of women given prescribed hormone drugs, estrogen was linked to lung cancer, ovarian cancer, skin cancer, gall bladder cancer, cataracts urinary incontinence and joint degeneration.
© livescience.com
While many people are fans of big boobs, the larger issue of feminized women, men and wildlife should be a wakeup call. Estrogen is blamed for everything from breast and prostate cancer and other hormone-linked conditions to obesity, sexual dysfunction, dropping sperm counts and depression and mood disorders. In studies of women given prescribed hormone drugs, estrogen was linked to lung cancer, ovarian cancer, skin cancer, gall bladder cancer, cataracts urinary incontinence and joint degeneration.
© Photo by Lee Morley / flickr.com
Titled 'Health for the World's Adolescents: A second chance in the second decade,' the report is based on a review of health policies from 109 countries. The authors not only studied a variety of published evidence, but also focused on consultations with children and adolescents from across the globe, ranging from 10 to 19 years of age.
A new definition of pathogenicity that includes wheat
Obviously, wheat proteins are not capable of self-replication within a susceptible host, as is the case for viruses or bacteria, which makes the new definition different from the conventional view that a pathogen must be a self-replicating infectious organism. With the recent discovery of the pathogenicity of prions, that is, misfolded proteins capable of transferring their pathogenic shape to other proteins they are in contact with, in conditions like mad cow disease, there is already a clear precedent for redefining our concept of both what a pathogen is and the definition of pathogenicity as a whole.
The study offers the following revised definition:
"In the broadest sense, a pathogen can be defined as any substance capable of causing disease [21]. Under this definition, pathogens need not be replicative, and could include toxins, food allergens, and dietary antigens responsible for chronic inflammation, such as gluten peptides in the context of celiac sprue."Before we delve deeper into their definition and explanation, it is interesting that we came to a similar conclusion in a previous article titled, "Opening Pandora's Box: The Critical Role of Wheat Lectin In Human Disease," where the wheat lectin, known as wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), was identified as exhibiting pathogenic characteristics similar to viruses like influenza.
© The Spice Lab
Yet, as with the cholesterol myth, the dogma that we should all reduce salt intake has become impervious to facts. I find that the 'salt hypothesis' is rather like a monster from a 1950s B movie.
Every time you attack it with evidence it simply shrugs it off and grows even stronger.
Very recently, a study was done in Australia looking at salt intake. Actually it looked at sodium intake, not salt intake.
I find this interesting, as no-one that I know eats sodium. In fact, it would be interesting to see someone try. To quote from Wikipedia
'Sodium is generally less reactive than potassium and more reactive than lithium. Like all the alkali metals, it reacts exothermically with water, to the point that sufficiently large pieces melt to a sphere and may explode; this reaction produces caustic sodium hydroxide and flammable hydrogen gas.'
Consuming two grams sodium would likely cause you to explode, splattering sodium hydroxide over the walls. Along with various organs and other body parts.
So why do people talk about sodium consumption? I have never really worked this one out. But it does make things rather confusing. The latest guidelines suggest we should consume less than 2300mg of sodium a day, even as low as 1500mg. Go on, try it. Any idea how much salt (NaCl) that would be? Any idea how much salt you consume every day? No, thought not.
Yes, we have been given guidelines that are totally meaningless, and impossible to follow. In fact 2300mg of sodium is roughly 6000mg of salt (NaCl). So why are we not advise to eat six grams of salt a day? I have no idea. Perhaps someone can tell me. What is this sodium nonsense? [Not that anyone has any idea what six grams of salt even looks like poured out of a salt shaker - I know, I have tried this several times.]
Comment: Learn more about the 'toxicological truth' of Glyphosate:
Glyphosate: A trajectory of human misery US: Glyphosate Pollutes Air, Rain and Rivers
Glyphosate: What you don't know might be killing you
Death by Multiple Poisoning, Glyphosate and Roundup
Gut-Wrenching: New studies reveal the insidious effects of Glyphosate
Any doubts about GMOs? Dr. Don Huber: GMOs and Glyphosate and their threat to humanity
The Chemical Toxin - Glyphosate drives breast cancer proliferation, study warns, as urine tests show europeans have this weed killer in their bodies