Health & WellnessS


Evil Rays

Genetically Modified Crops Reach 9 Percent of Global Primary Crop Production


Worldwatch Institute
Sun, 07 Dec 2008 22:40 UTC
Washington, D.C. - Genetically modified crops reached 9 percent of global primary crop production in 2007, bringing the total GM land area up to 114.3 million hectares, according to Worldwatch Institute estimates published in the latest Vital Signs Update. The United States continues to be the global leader in production, accounting for half of all GM crop area.

GM production has been on the rise since the crops were first introduced more than a decade ago, and it now includes 23 countries. But controversy over the benefits of genetic modification continues, including questions about the technology's ability to deliver on promises of enhanced yields and nutrition.

"GM crops are definitely not a silver bullet," said Alice McKeown, a researcher for the Worldwatch Institute. "They sound good on paper, but we have yet to see glowing results."
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Pills

Who Is Killing Us?

Joni Greever
OpEd News
Sat, 29 Nov 2008 18:05 UTC
Health options, whether allopathic or alternative, should absolutely be at our discretion. However, we're up against a fierce, formidable, greedy monster: the pharmaceutical industry. They're fighting tooth and nail to outlaw natural alternatives and keep this nation sick with their un-natural drugs. They have the FDA, AMA, and NIH firmly in their pockets and have an army of lobbyists (almost 7 per legislator!) swarming D.C. Big Pharma declared $758 million spent on lobbying last year!

Our government, unfortunately, is more concerned with coddling these corporations than our right to manage our health as we see fit. Despite overwhelming public support for health freedom, they have repeatedly caved in to the demands of these giants. They now stand poised to outlaw Natural and Nutritional Medicine-eliminating amino acids, therapeutic-grade vitamins and minerals via the WTO's Codex Alimentarius.

In a USDA study of 21,500 people, not one got 100% the RDA from food they ate. Thanks to the repeated use of insecticides, pesticides, and man-made chemical fertilizer, soil is devoid of nutrients. It's impossible to obtain the nutrition we need unless we eat all organically-grown food. Supplementation is vital.
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Bulb

Intelligent men 'have better sperm'


BBC News
Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:32 UTC
Men of higher intelligence tend to produce better quality sperm, UK research suggests. A team from the Institute of Psychiatry analysed data from former US soldiers who served during the Vietnam war era.

They found that those who performed better on intelligence tests tended to have more - and more mobile - sperm. The study, which appears in the journal Intelligence, appears to support the idea that genes underlying intelligence may have other biological effects too.
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Sun

Happiness 'rubs off on others'


BBC News
Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:29 UTC
Happy Couple
Happiness spreads within couples, the research found

Happiness is infectious and can "ripple" through social groups, according to US researchers. A study of 5,000 adults suggests a person's happiness is dependent on the happiness of those around them. A friend who becomes happy and lives less than a mile away increases your likelihood of happiness by 25%, the British Medical Journal reported.
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Family

UK: Relationship counselling soars as money worries grow


Reuters
Sat, 06 Dec 2008 02:23 UTC
Couples are struggling to stay together as they face money worries and the threat of redundancy in the economic downturn, said counselling service Relate, which has seen its workload soar. Relate on Saturday reported a rise of almost 60 percent in the number of couples seeking help with their relationships in October and November this year as compared with last year.
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Health

South African dies of mystery disease in Rio


Agence France-Presse
Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:17 UTC
Rio de Janeiro
© UnknownPanoramic view of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rio de Janeiro - Brazilian authorities were Wednesday working to identify a mystery illness that killed a 53-year-old South African man visiting Rio de Janeiro.

Rio's state health ministry said the man, whose name was not given, succumbed to a hemorrhagic disease on Tuesday after falling ill on November 25, two days after arriving in Brazil to attend conferences.

He was taken to hospital with fever, vomiting, blood in his urine and rashes.

Doctors suspected he had contracted an arenavirus, a highly contagious group of viruses that includes Lassa fever, an infection endemic to west Africa that typically spreads to humans from proximity to rodents or from infected people's secretions.

Dengue, malaria and ebola had all been ruled out, the ministry said.
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Sherlock

New discovery: lethal fungus reproduces sexually


Cordis News
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 20:14 UTC
Fungus
© Shutterstock
Researchers in Ireland and the UK have found that a lethal fungus, Aspergillus fumigatus, reproduces sexually. The findings represent a major breakthrough in the understanding of this pathogen, which causes death in 50% of infected immune-deficient patients. The study was funded in part by a Marie Curie grant from the EU and is published in the journal Nature.

A. fumigatus spores are widespread in the atmosphere. Although everyone inhales some of these spores on a regular basis, a healthy immune system will normally eliminate them. However, a weakened immune system is easily overcome by this opportunistic airborne fungus; A. fumigatus is the leading cause of death by infection in leukaemia and bone-marrow-transplant patients.

The spores are also associated with severe asthma and allergic sinusitis in humans, and with stonebrood (mummification) in honey-bee colonies.
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Ambulance

Headache and Indigestion -- Is Your Bra to Blame?

Rosie Johnston
The Independent UK
Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:02 UTC
Bras aren't just about looks; a poor fit can cause health problems.
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Wine

France abuzz over alcoholic 'cure'

Hugh Schofield
BBC News
Sat, 06 Dec 2008 17:26 UTC
An eminent French cardiologist has triggered an impassioned debate in the medical world over his claim to have discovered a cure for alcoholism.

Dr Olivier Ameisen, 55, one of France's top heart specialists, says he overcame his own addiction to alcohol by self-administering doses of a muscle-relaxant called baclofen.

He has now written a book about his experience - Le Dernier Verre (The Last Glass) - in which he calls for clinical trials to test his theory that baclofen suppresses the craving for drink.
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Frog

Male infertility 'is increasing'

Michelle Roberts
BBC News
Sat, 06 Dec 2008 17:00 UTC
Infertility may be becoming more of a man's than a woman's problem, new figures suggest.

Until now, both were level pegging - 40% of cases linked to men, 40% to women and 20% to joint problems.

However, the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology found rates of an IVF treatment typically used to help male infertility have risen.
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