Health & WellnessS


Bomb

Measles: A rash of misinformation

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With the recent release of a provocative children's book entitled Melanie's Marvelous Measles, a debate has ensued regarding the effectiveness and wisdom surrounding measles vaccinations. When I first heard about the book, I went to Amazon to order a copy for myself. The amount of negative reviews was staggering. People were claiming that the information was "dangerous", "harmful" and "ill-informed". Some were even calling for the book to be banned. It took me a few minutes to read it from cover to cover. Rather than critique the book, which has already been done quite eloquently by others, I would like to talk about the widespread fear surrounding measles and the misinformation regarding the vaccine.

References to measles can be found as far back as the 7th century.[1] Measles is an RNA virus that was first isolated in 1954. A typical infection produces a characteristic skin rash starting at the head and progressing down the trunk and extremities. The rash is typically preceded by a high fever. Around this time, blue-white spots (Koplik spots) can be found on the mucous membranes. These are considered pathognomonic for measles. Other symptoms may include cough, runny nose, conjunctivitis, diarrhea, anorexia and lymphadenopathy.

According to the CDC, prior to the introduction of the vaccine, measles was a nearly universal infection occurring most commonly in 5-9 year olds with 90% of U.S. children immune by age 15. Most kids recovered fully within a few weeks with life-long immunity. Reported complications from data collected between 1985-1992 included pneumonia (6%), encephalitis (.1%), seizures (.6-.7%), and death (.2%). These occurred most frequently in children under 5 and adults over 20. These complications may, in fact, have been exacerbated by allopathic interventions to treat common symptoms such as fever reduction using antipyretics.[15,16]

Magic Wand

Neurophysiological framework proposed to explain benefits of mindfulness meditation

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© Mike Cohea/Brown UniversityMeasuring the difference . Studies show that people who have been trained in mindfulness have quicker and larger changes in alpha wave amplitude when they shift focus.
Mindfulness meditation training in awareness of present moment experience, such as body and breath sensations, prevents depression and reduces distress in chronic pain. In a new paper, Brown University scientists propose a neurophysiological framework to explain these clinical benefits.

A matter of sensory cortical alpha rhythms

Repeated local sensory focus -- on a hand, say -- develops control over underlying neurophysiological mechanisms that may help manage chronic pain or other problems. Why does training in mindfulness meditation help patients manage chronic pain and depression? In a newly published neurophysiological review, Brown University scientists propose that mindfulness practitioners gain enhanced control over sensory cortical alpha rhythms that help regulate how the brain processes and filters sensations, including pain, and memories such as depressive cognitions.

The proposal, based on published experimental results and a validated computer simulation of neural networks, derives its mechanistic framework from the intimate connection in mindfulness between mind and body, since standardized mindfulness meditation training begins with a highly localized focus on body and breath sensations. This repeated localized sensory focus, the scientists write, enhances control over localized alpha rhythms in the primary somatosensory cortex where sensations from different body are "mapped" by the brain.

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Smoking

Nicotine can boost blood vessel growth

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Nicotine may not be all bad: A study found it stimulated new blood vessel growth in mice by actively signaling their bone marrow to release vessel-forming adult stem cells.

The finding might translate to the use someday of nicotine as a means of helping wound healing and other conditions where new blood vessel growth is key, experts say. It also gives insight into unwanted vessel growth, such as that which happens during tumor formation.

The findings don't mean doctors will ever recommend smoking, however.


"I don't want people to think that smoking is good for you," cautioned co-author Dr. John P. Cooke, a professor of medicine at Stanford University's School of Medicine in California. "Tobacco smoke contains 4,000 compounds, and nicotine is just one of them. And what we've discovered is that nicotine alone can cause blood vessel growth."

"Blood vessel growth is like fire," Cooke added. "It's neither good nor bad. So, certainly nicotine-associated blood vessel formation can cause problems, in the context of enhancing tumor growth, causing macular degeneration and blindness, or promoting coronary plaque. But, on the other hand, knowing that this phenomenon occurs, we can potentially manipulate it in a way that can be therapeutic -- such as to enhance insufficient wound healing where part of the problem is related to poor blood vessel growth."

Bacon n Eggs

The saturated fat myth

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Heart Disease was considered a very rare disease in the early 20th century. The lipid hypothesis theory that saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease changed the shape of the nation in the 1950s. Society began to run away from saturated fat and cholesterol and turned to man-made processed fats as a replacement. As corporate food processing machines began to become more popular so did the occurrence of heart disease. Today, the lipid hypothesis can be considered one of the greatest scientific myths to date.

The Lipid Hypothesis

The lipid hypothesis was developed by Ancel Keys in the 1950s. This theory states that there is a direct relationship between the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet and the incidence of coronary heart disease. With questionable evidence, Keys went about writing articles and promoting this hypothesis throughout the medical world. Meanwhile, hundreds of subsequent studies testing this hypothesis have found differing conclusions. Despite the lack of evidence this notion took off throughout the healthcare world and was fueled by the vegetable oil and food processing industries that sought to benefit from this key finding.

Close to 90% of all well-planned, properly documented studies investigating the lipid hypothesis do not support the claim that "artery-clogging" saturated fats and dietary cholesterol cause heart disease. Scientists examining a clogged artery will only find that about 26% of the fat in the plaque is saturated. More than half of the fat is polyunsaturated.

According to Dr. Mary Enig, PhD saturated fats & cholesterol are necessary for the following reasons:

Red Flag

Why most medical research cannot be trusted

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© chrisyellowjohnny.wordpress.com
It's old news that drug companies essentially "bribe" doctors into prescribing their drugs by lavishing them with gifts - branded pens and coffee mugs, free lunches, golf outings, "educational" trips to the Caribbean ... all have been regarded as fair game in the past, although now such free goodies are heavily discouraged.

Just how much influence such gifts had on doctors has long been debated (although the research suggests it did have a significant impact ... why else would the drug companies put so much money into it?). But regardless, sound medical research published in a reputable medical journal should have much more influence ...

A pen with a drugmaker's name emblazoned on the side couldn't possibly persuade a physician to prescribe a drug more than clinical data published in a medical journal.

Yet, what many people do not understand is that much of the scientific research published in journals is bought-and-paid-for by the drug industry as well.

A far more covert - and far more influential - practice than showing up at a physician's office with a free pizza and a duffel bag full of coffee mugs, by controlling medical research itself the drug industry can make it virtually impossible for a well-meaning physician to decipher the truth about the medications he or she is prescribing to you.

Attention

The meat industry now consumes four-fifths of all antibiotics

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© shutterstock
Last year, the Food and Drug Administration proposed a set of voluntary "guidelines" designed to nudge the meat industry to curb its antibiotics habit. Ever since, the agency has been mulling whether and how to implement the new program. Meanwhile, the meat industry has been merrily gorging away on antibiotics - and churning out meat rife with antibiotic-resistant pathogens - if the latest data from the FDA itself is any indication.

The Pew Charitable Trusts crunched the agency's numbers on antibiotic use on livestock farms and compared them to data on human use of antibiotics to treat illness, and mashed it all into an infographic, which I've excerpted below. Note that that while human antibiotic use has leveled off at below 8 billion pounds annually, livestock farms have been sucking in more and more of the drugs each year - and consumption reached a record nearly 29.9 billion pounds in 2011. To put it another way, the livestock industry is now consuming nearly four-fifths of the antibiotics used in the US, and its appetite for them is growing.

Donut

Study finds: Food, drink industries undermine health policy

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© thinkprogress.org
Multinational food, drink and alcohol companies are using strategies similar to those employed by the tobacco industry to undermine public health policies, health experts said on Tuesday.

In an international analysis of involvement by so-called "unhealthy commodity" companies in health policy-making, researchers from Australia, Britain, Brazil and elsewhere said self-regulation was failing and it was time the industry was regulated more stringently from outside.

The researchers said that through the aggressive marketing of ultra-processed food and drink, multinational companies were now major drivers of the world's growing epidemic of chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

Beaker

Top 9 scary food additives

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© Custom Medical Stock Photo/Newscom
I always tell my daughters they can make a difference in the world, even at their tender ages of 10 and 7. To them, I probably sound like the teacher from Peanuts -- they're more interested in soccer and American Girl right now -- but I hope the lesson eventually sinks in.

My latest example of a kid heroics for them: 15-year-old Sarah Kavanagh from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, who gathered more than 200,000 signatures in her online petition asking Gatorade to remove a controversial flame-retardant chemical. Last week, Gatorade announced that they would be removing the ingredient, brominated vegetable oil (BVO), within the next couple of months. That's great news - especially for me personally, because I love the stuff! Actually, so do my daughters.

While Gatorade spokeswoman Molly Carter said the decision wasn't in response to Sarah's petition, the teen is claiming victory. Either way, we all win.

Truth is, chemicals that are used as weed killer, flame retardant, and sunscreen are startlingly common in your supermarket. But you won't find "carcinogens," "paint chemicals," or "beaver anal gland juice" on the back panel. They'll be hidden under names like "Butylated HydroxyAnisole" or "natural flavoring." Break through the science experiment to find out what you're really eating.

Whistle

The GMO labeling scam

To Fed or not to Fed. That is the question. To leave GMO labeling to the states or attempt to pressure the Feds to do it... or both? Or just maybe... none of the above?

GMO Labeling Bills

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Some say that a federal GMO labeling bill is potentially bad because it will trump state labeling, which "has teeth." Really? Teeth? Let's just take a look at some of these "teeth:"

1. Hawaii just passed a labeling bill, but it only applies to imported GM food.
"...the amendment "only covers incoming raw agricultural products, which means that it basically covers very little, except a little crookneck squash, any Monsanto sweet corn brought fresh into the state, or if a non-browning GMO apple is approved." So maybe it is not time to get too excited."

Link

"Despite the hoopla, Carol Okada, manager for the Plant Quarantine Branch of Hawaii's Department of Agriculture, says the [biotech] business is here to stay and will still be booming in Hawaii 10 years down the road. "Even though it's controversial here," she says, "the [GM] seed industry is now the No. 1 industry for us and it is very important in terms of the economy, dealing with invasive species, and giving farmers choices."

The bottom line: Hawaii may be the GM crop test capital of the world, but the debate over biotech foods is far from over."

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Book 2

Codex Alimentarius and GM food guidelines

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© Activist Post
Over the last two years, I have written extensively about the Codex Alimentarius guidelines and how they relate specifically to vitamin and mineral supplements, food irradiation, and the use of Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH).

I have also detailed the history and workings of the international organization as well as many of the current day to day manifestations of Codex guidelines as they appear in domestic policy.

However, there is yet another area in which Codex guidelines will play a major role in the development of food policy - namely, the proliferation of Genetically Modified Food.

The Codex committee that serves as the main battleground for the consideration of GM food is the Codex Committee on Food Labeling. This committee is extremely relevant due to the fact that it can effectively reduce the power of the consumer to virtually nothing if it decides not to force companies or countries to label their GM food, thus removing the ability of the consumer to boycott and/or avoid those products. While it is well-known that public sentiment is unimportant to those at the top, governments and corporations tend to pay more attention when votes and sales reflect that sentiment. However, if Codex continues on its' way to allowing unlabelled GM food onto the international market, the repercussions of consumer reaction will be entirely neutralized.

A brief discussion of the history of Codex in terms of GM food is necessary here to understand the direction that the organization is moving towards in regards to it.