Health & WellnessS


Health

Chiropractors and Exercise Are Better than Drugs Says New Study

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:00 UTC
chiropractor
© iStockphoto / Thinkstock
Chronic pain is an exceedingly common condition impacting an estimated 76.5 million Americans, one-third of whom describe their pain as severe and "disabling".

Among them, many suffer from neck pain, which is the third most common type of pain according to the American Pain Foundation.

It is estimated that 70 percent of people will experience neck pain at some point in their lives but research into effective treatments is surprisingly limited.

If you visit a conventional physician for pain, there's a very good chance you'll leave with a prescription for a medication,as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), acetaminophen (Tylenol) and even opioids (OxyContin, Vicodin, etc.) are the go-to treatment for pain in the modern medical world.

However, there are better options than drugs for neck pain, not only in terms of pain relief, but also in helping to treat the underlying cause of the pain so that healing can truly occur.

New Study Shows Exercises and Chiropractic Care Beat Drugs for Neck Pain

According to a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine and funded by the National Institutes of Health, medication is not the best option for treating neck pain.

After following 272 neck-pain patients for 12 weeks, those who used a chiropractor or exercise were more than twice as likely to be pain free compared to those who took medication.

Specifically:
  • 32 percent who received chiropractic care became pain free
  • 30 percent of those who exercised became pain free
  • 13 percent of those treated with medication became pain free

Researchers concluded:
"For participants with acute and subacute neck pain, SMT [spinal manipulation therapy] was more effective than medication in both the short and long term. However, a few instructional sessions of HEA [home exercise with advice] resulted in similar outcomes at most time points."
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Beaker

New Study Links Relaxers To Fibroids

Charlotte Evans
Blackdoctor.org
Fri, 24 Feb 2012 09:15 UTC
Image
© Unknown
A new study in the American Journal of Epidemiology has linked hair relaxers to uterine fibroids, as well as early puberty in young girls.

Scientists followed more than 23,000 pre-menopausal Black American women from 1997 to 2009 and found that the two- to three-times higher rate of fibroids among black women may be linked to chemical exposure through scalp lesions and burns resulting from relaxers.
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Bizarro Earth

Air Pollution Linked to Cognitive Decline


The Epoch Times
Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:49 UTC
air pollution
© Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images
A new research paper links a specific kind of pollution to faster rates of cognitive decline.

Several years ago a massive survey of women called the Nurses' Health Study began collecting data on memory, thinking skills, and other cognitive measures.

Jennifer Weuve of the Rush Institute of Healthy Aging in Chicago combined that data with information about air quality where the women lived.

In particular, she compared the level of particulate matter in the air with the change in cognitive scores over several years.

"The most important finding of our study is that women who were exposed to higher levels of ambient particulate matter over the long term experienced more decline in their cognitive scores over the four-year period that we followed them up."

If cognitive decline was more rapid where air quality was worse, how could the pollution be causing the loss of mental skills and function?
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Heart

How Not All LDL Cholesterol Is 'Bad' For Your Heart

Dr. John Briffa
The Cholesterol Truth
Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© topnews.in
Cholesterol is transported in the bloodstream in the form of what are known as 'lipoproteins'. Basically, these are tiny packages of cholesterol and fat, encased in a mix of fats (known as phospholipids) and protein. Lipoproteins come in two different forms: 'low-density' and 'high density'. High-density lipoprotein (HDL) has links with a reduced risk of heart disease, while low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is linked with heightened heart disease risk. This is basically why HDL and LDL are often referred to as 'good' and 'bad' cholesterol respectively.

While LDL-cholesterol has been painted as a villain where heart disease is concerned, increasing evidence shows that not all LDL-cholesterol is bad. LDL-cholesterol varies in size, ranging from small, dense particles up to much larger, less-dense ('fluffy') particles. It has been known for a long time that the size and density of LDL particles has an important bearing on apparent risk of heart disease. What the evidence shows is this: small, dense LDL particles are associated with an increased risk of heart disease, while large, 'fluffy' LDL particles are not [1].

A useful analogy to think of the potential damage wreaked by different types of LDL is to think of large, 'fluffy' LDL as a tennis ball, and small, dense LDL as a golf ball. If we were to throw each of these at a window, it's fair to say that the golf ball is quite likely to break the window, while the tennis ball is likely just to bounce off.
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Info

Shark Fin Soup Comes With Side of Toxins

Stephanie Pappas
Live Science
Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:28 UTC
Shark Fins
© Shawn Heinrichs for the Pew Environment GroupShark fins drying in the sun in Kaohsiung before processing. 30 percent of the world’s shark species are threatened or near threatened with extinction.

The destruction of sharks for shark fin soup has helped put many wild species of the fish on the road to extinction. Now, new research suggests this costly meal may harm humans, too.

An analysis of shark fins from Florida waters found high concentrations of β-N-methylamino-L-alanine, or BMAA, a neurotoxin that has been linked to Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig's disease. The find raises concerns that consuming shark meat and cartilage may put consumers at risk.

"The concentrations of BMAA in the samples are a cause for concern, not only in shark fin soup, but also in dietary supplements and other forms ingested by humans," study co-author Deborah Mash, who directs the University of Miami Brain Endowment Bank, said in a statement.

The researchers tested seven species of shark for the study: blacknose, blacktip, bonnethead, bull, great hammerhead, lemon and nurse sharks. The scientists clipped tiny fin samples off of living animals so as not to harm their subjects.
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Cow

How Standard Dietary Advice To Avoid Cholesterol-Rich Foods Is Misguided

Dr. John Briffa
The Cholesterol Truth
Mon, 20 Feb 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© bacon.wikia.com
Recently, a lady sent me some blood test results that she'd scanned into her computer. The test results showed 'elevated' LDL-cholesterol levels. Accompanying the test results was a diet sheet from her doctor, telling her to avoid cholesterol-rich foods such as eggs and shellfish. The idea that people with 'raised' cholesterol should avoid eating cholesterol-rich foods has been around for decades. The question is, is there any evidence to support this advice?

Firstly, does eating cholesterol-rich foods cause cholesterol levels to go up? The evidence is a little mixed in this area but, on balance, the answer to this question appears to be 'no'. For example, there are studies which show that adding significant quantities of eggs to the diet has no impact on total blood cholesterol levels.
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Health

Damn your low fat diet: How a reformed vegan gorges on all the foods his granny enjoyed... and has never felt better

John Nicholson
DailyMail.co.uk
Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:52 UTC
Image
© Getty ImagesIn 2010, John Nicholson decided to give up my supposedly healthy lifestyle and embrace good old-fashioned meat
As the kitchen filled with the smell of caramelised meat, my mouth watered in anticipation of the coming feast: a thick cut of tender steak, fried in butter and olive oil. This was not a regular treat. In fact, for the previous 26 years I'd been a vegan, eschewing not just meat but all animal products.

My diet was an extreme version of the NHS Eat Well regime, which recommends lots of starchy foods and smaller quantities of saturated fats, cholesterol, sugar and red meat. According to government advice, I was doing everything right - and yet my health had never been worse. My weight had crept up over the years, until in 2008 I was 14½ stone - which is a lot of blubber for someone who is 5ft 10in - and was classified as clinically obese.

I waddled around, sweating and short of breath, battling extremely high cholesterol and suffering from chronic indigestion. I was always tired and needed to take naps every afternoon. I had constant headaches and swallowed paracetamol and sucked Rennies like they were sweets.

Worst of all, I had irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which left me feeling as if I had lead weights in my gut. My belly was bloated and distended after every meal. I was, to use a technical term, knackered.
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Info

Heavy Metals Found in Many Cosmetics: Not Listed on Labels

Sarah B. Weir
Shine from Yahoo!
Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© unknown
In light of recent news that the FDA found lead in 400 brands of lipstick, Yahoo! Shine took a look at other products containing potentially hazardous ingredients. Historically, women have risked their health for beauty by using cosmetics laden with poisons. It's reported that Queen Elizabeth's face became so disfigured from lead-contaminated makeup, she had all the mirrors in her palace removed. In 18th century France, courtesans applied vermilion rouge, which contained sulfur and mercury, and suffered damage to their teeth, livers, and nervous systems as a result. While the levels are much lower, according to a 2011 report by Environmental Defense, an Ontario-based research group, dangerous heavy metals still lurk in lip gloss, mascara, foundation, blush, eye shadow, and eyeliner.

The researchers tested a total of 49 common products selected from the cosmetic bags of six average Canadian women. They found that every product contained at least one of seven heavy metals including arsenic, cadmium, lead, nickel, beryllium, thallium, and selenium. Lead, a known neurotoxin, showed up in 96% of the items. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that lead exposure is not safe at any level. Heavy metals are considered a by-product of manufacturing and it's worth noting that none were listed in the ingredients lists on the cosmetics' labels.

There is scientific debate about safe levels of heavy metals in the body. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, which pushed for the FDA's recent scrutiny of lipstick, points out that, "Individual exposures to these metals in small amounts are unlikely to cause harm, but heavy metals can build up in the body over time and may increase risk for a variety of health problems." The U.S. Department of Labor links arsenic to stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and cancer of the bladder, lungs, skin, kidney, nasal passages, liver, and prostate.
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Whistle

White House Refuses to Reveal Ties with Monsanto


RT.com
Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:09 UTC
Despite requests made under the Freedom of Information Act for correspondence out of the White House, the Obama administration is refusing to comply with calls to disclose discussions with Monsanto-linked lobbyists.

Image
© AFP Photo / Remy GabaldaVolunteer reapers ("Faucheurs volontaires"), beekeepers and anti-GMO activists put a placard in front of the Regional Direction of Agriculture on February 21, 2012 in Toulouse
The US-based non-profit group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is demanding that the White House comply with a FOIA request for information that might link the Obama administration with lobbyists tied to the Monsanto corporation. Monsanto, an agricultural biotech company that rakes in billions each year, has become the enemy of independent farmers in recent years after the corporation has sued hundreds of small-time growers and, in many cases, purchased farms that are unable to compete in a court of law. As Monsanto's profits grow and the group comes close to monopolizing the market for American agriculture, the company has at the same time thrived due its use of controversial genetically-engineered seeds.

Three-hundred thousands organic farmers across America are currently trying to take Monsanto to court to keep the corporation from continuing its war on independent growers. As a case is composed, the PEER group suspects that the White House's refusal to comply with the FOIA request could be because Monsanto has some powerful friends on Pennsylvania Avenue.
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Coffee

Sitting in Starbucks, Eating GMOs

Robert McCollough
foodfreedom.wordpress.com
Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:45 UTC
Image
© eco-chick.com
Across the country rage is growing about GMOs and their being unleashed one after another on the country. While Europe, despite immense pressure from the Clinton administration, initially banned them, the FDA hid 40,000 documents indicating their extreme toxicity, to get them introduced in the US.

Ten years after Monsanto's Bt corn was first planted in 1996, diabetes had increased 90% with the highest incidence among Hispanics for whom corn is a sacred and central part if their diet.

Those GMOs are being kept unlabeled. A Monsanto official once said to label them would be like putting a skull and cross bones on them.

The vast majority of the country believe people have a right to know what is in their food and that GMOs must be labeled.

Meanwhile students and professionals, most of whom agree that GMOs should be labeled, are complacently eating unlabeled GMOs daily at Starbucks.
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