Health & WellnessS


Health

Climate change increases risk of severe flu epidemics: study

Eric W. Dolan
Raw Story
Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:10 UTC
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© Shutterstock
Warmer than average winters could result in more severe flu epidemics, according to research published Monday in PLOS Currents: Influenza.

The study mathematically analyzed climate patterns and cases of influenza in the U.S. from 1997 to the present. Though mild winters tended to reduce the spread of influenza, the following year often brought an early and severe outbreak because of lessened immunity.

"It appears that fewer people contract influenza during warm winters, and this causes a major portion of the population to remain vulnerable into the next season, causing an early and strong emergence," said Sherry Towers of Arizona State University, the lead author of the study.
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Attention

'Off-the-scale' smog envelops Beijing and northern China


Raw Story
Tue, 29 Jan 2013 09:45 UTC
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© AFP Photo
Pollution levels in Beijing soared above index limits, the US embassy said, as a dense cloud of haze shrouded large swathes of northern China.

People in the capital, some wearing masks, Tuesday battled through a second consecutive day of pollution at hazardous levels. Beijing municipal authorities warned those with respiratory difficulties to stay indoors.

It is at least the fourth time a dense cloud of haze has descended on northern China this winter, reducing visibility and causing flight delays, with even state media repeatedly expressing anger over the issue.

"The current environmental problems are worrisome," Wang Anshun, who took over as mayor of the Chinese capital this week, was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.
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Muffin

High-fibre supplement (psyllium) linked to colon cancer risk

David Evans
Healthy Diets and Science
Mon, 28 Jan 2013 00:00 UTC
This study was published in the Lancet 2000 Oct 14;356(9238):1300-6

Study title and authors:
Calcium and fibre supplementation in prevention of colorectal adenoma recurrence: a randomised intervention trial. European Cancer Prevention Organisation Study Group.
Bonithon-Kopp C, Kronborg O, Giacosa A, Räth U, Faivre J.
Registre Bourguignon des Tumeurs Digestives, Faculté de Médecine de Dijon, France.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11073017

Ispaghula husk is a soluble fibre that comes from a shrub-like herb, Plantago psyllium. Ispaghula husk is also known as psyllium, psyllium seed, psyllium husk, ispaghula or ispaghula seed.

Comment: Learn more about the dangers of supplemental fiber:

Dietary fiber: the bull's sh*t in the china shop

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Life Preserver

Oregon family uses medical marijuana to manage son's autistic rage

Nicole Doll
Q13fox.com
Mon, 28 Jan 2013 16:22 UTC
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Alex Echols, left, is severely autistic and is given medical marijuana to control his rage.
An Oregon family has turned to medical marijuana to manage their son's severe autistic rage.

"It was indescribable, it was horrifying," said Jeremy Echols, father of 11-year-old Alex. "When you've got no other options, are you honestly gonna say no?"

Alex Echols is severely autistic, and his doctor said Alex's self-destructive behavior is brought on by Tuberous Sclerosis, a rare, genetic disorder that affects about 50,000 people in the United States. The disorder causes unregulated growth of non-malignant tissue in organs. In Alex's case, his neurologist said growths in Alex's brain have led to seizures and autism.
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Beaker

Soybean Oil: One of the most harmful ingredients in processed foods

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Sun, 27 Jan 2013 14:37 UTC
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© drmercola.com
Processed food is perhaps the most damaging aspect of most people's diet, contributing to poor health and chronic disease. One of the primary culprits is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), the dangers of which I touch on in virtually every article on diet I write.

The second culprit is partially hydrogenated soybean oil.

These two ingredients, either alone or in combination, can be found in virtually all processed foods and one can make a compelling argument that the reliance on these two foods is a primary contributing factor for most of the degenerative diseases attacking Americans today.

Part of the problem with partially hydrogenated soybean oil is the trans fat it contains. The other part relates to the health hazards of soy itself. And an added hazard factor is the fact that the majority of both corn and soybeans are genetically engineered.

As the negative health effects from trans fats have been identified and recognized, the agricultural- and food industry have scrambled to come up with new alternatives.

Partially hydrogenated soybean oil has been identified as the main culprit, and for good reason. Unfortunately, saturated fats are still mistakenly considered unhealthy by many health "experts," so rather than embracing truly healthful tropical fats like coconut oil, which is mostly grown outside the US. The food industry has instead turned to domestic US alternatives offered by companies like Monsanto, which has developed modified soybeans that don't require hydrogenation.

Comment: More articles on the ugly Truth about Soy:

The Dangers of Soy Are Real - and Much Worse Than You Might Think
95% of Soy Products May be Damaging Your Health
Soy, the 'miracle health food' with proven health risks
Confused About Soy?: Soy Dangers Summarized
Soy Lecithin and the GMO Secret
Soy: Dark Side of a "Health Food"
Not Soy Fast
Food Myths: Bamboozled By The Soy Hype
GMO soy repeatedly linked to sterility, infant mortality, birth defects

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Health

Best friends influence when teenagers have first drink


ScienceDaily
Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:09 UTC
Chances are the only thing you remember about your first swig of alcohol is how bad the stuff tasted. What you didn't know is the person who gave you that first drink and when you had it says a lot about your predisposition to imbibe later in life.

A national study by a University of Iowa-led team has found that adolescents who get their first drink from a friend are more likely to drink sooner in life, which past studies show makes them more prone to abusing alcohol when they get older. The finding is intended to help specialists predict when adolescents are likely to first consume alcohol, with the aim of heading off problem drinking at the pass.

"When you start drinking, even with kids who come from alcoholic families, they don't get their first drinks from their family," says Samuel Kuperman, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the UI. "They get their first drinks from their friends. They have to be able to get it. If they have friends who have alcohol, then it's easier for them to have that first drink."

The basis for the study, published this month in the journal Pediatrics, is compelling: One-third of eighth graders in the United States report they've tried alcohol, according to a 2011 study of 20,000 teenagers conducted by the University of Michigan and funded by the National Institutes of Health. By 10th grade, more than half say they've had a first drink, and that percentage shoots to 70 percent by their senior year.
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Bulb

Poor sleep in old age prevents the brain from storing memories

Yasmin Anwar
University of California - Berkeley
Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:54 UTC
Findings suggest boosting 'slow wave' sleep could restore memory as we age

The connection between poor sleep, memory loss and brain deterioration as we grow older has been elusive. But for the first time, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have found a link between these hallmark maladies of old age. Their discovery opens the door to boosting the quality of sleep in elderly people to improve memory.

UC Berkeley neuroscientists have found that the slow brain waves generated during the deep, restorative sleep we typically experience in youth play a key role in transporting memories from the hippocampus - which provides short-term storage for memories - to the prefrontal cortex's longer term "hard drive."

However, in older adults, memories may be getting stuck in the hippocampus due to the poor quality of deep 'slow wave' sleep, and are then overwritten by new memories, the findings suggest.

"What we have discovered is a dysfunctional pathway that helps explain the relationship between brain deterioration, sleep disruption and memory loss as we get older - and with that, a potentially new treatment avenue," said UC Berkeley sleep researcher Matthew Walker, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at UC Berkeley and senior author of the study to be published this Sunday, Jan. 27, in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

The findings shed new light on some of the forgetfulness common to the elderly that includes difficulty remembering people's names.

"When we are young, we have deep sleep that helps the brain store and retain new facts and information," Walker said. "But as we get older, the quality of our sleep deteriorates and prevents those memories from being saved by the brain at night."
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Attention

Today's seafood special: Pig manure, antibiotics, and diarrhea bugs

Tom Philpott
Mother Jones Magazine
Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:09 UTC
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© Illustration: Gary Taxali
Imported seafood is full of dirt and chemicals. So why is the FDA inspecting practically none of it?

Next time you tuck into a Red Lobster "Endless Shrimp" special or score some $7-per-pound salmon at a supermarket, consider this: You're very likely eating imported seafood raised on a factory-style farm in Asia - and it almost certainly was never inspected by the Food and Drug Administration on its way into the country and onto your plate.

Is that...safe? Big retailers like Walmart and restaurant chains like Darden (owner of Red Lobster) say yes, in part because some of the seafood they buy bears the Best Aquaculture Practices label. Who issues that label? The Global Aquaculture Alliance, an industry endeavor - its board consists of representatives from (you guessed it) Darden, as well as Cargill, the Chilean salmon industry, and a large farmed-shrimp importer called Eastern Fish Company. Not surprisingly, BAP standards for farmed fish placed near the bottom (16 of 20) in a 2012 ranking of aquaculture labels by the University of Victoria's Seafood Ecology Research Group. (Darden says it independently tests its shrimp for contaminants but declined to share its results; Walmart did not answer our questions about inspections.)
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Info

PepsiCo will halt use of additive in Gatorade

Stephanie Trom
New York Times
Fri, 25 Jan 2013 13:01 UTC
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© James Edward Bates for The New York TimesSarah Kavanagh, a high school student in Mississippi, started a petition to get PepsiCo to stop using brominated vegetable oil.
PepsiCo announced on Friday that it would no longer use an ingredient in Gatorade after consumers complained.

The ingredient, brominated vegetable oil, which was used in citrus versions of the sports drink to prevent the flavorings from separating, was the object of a petition started on Change.org by Sarah Kavanagh, a 15-year-old from Hattiesburg, Miss., who became concerned about the ingredient after reading about it online. Studies have suggested there are possible side effects, including neurological disorders and altered thyroid hormones.

The petition attracted more than 200,000 signatures, and this week, Ms. Kavanagh was in New York City to tape a segment for The Dr. Oz Show. She visited The New York Times on Wednesday and while there said, "I just don't understand why they can't use something else instead of B.V.O."
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Health

Women, vaccines & bodily integrity

Barbara Loe Fisher
National Vaccine Information Center
Thu, 24 Jan 2013 12:51 UTC

2013 was only a few days old when I saw a photo of 61-year old Ethel Hoover, a veteran hospital nurse, who had only missed 4 or 5 days of work in 22 years, she was fired from her job for declining to get a flu shot.

Defending Freedom of Conscience

On her last day of work, she wore black. In the photo, she was standing straight, looking directly into the camera, unafraid, signaling strong ownership of the principled choice she made in defense of autonomy, [1] freedom of conscience [2] [3] and protection of bodily integrity. [4]

"This is my body," she said. "I have a right to refuse the flu vaccine." [5]
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