Health & WellnessS


Attention

Arsenic and Old Rice: Should We Worry About a Toxic Chemical in a Popular Food?

Bryan Walsh
Time Healthland
Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:52 UTC
Image
© wellnessuncovered.com
Arsenic is nasty stuff. Concentrated doses of the chemical can be fatal - one reason it's long been a popular poison for assassins and unhappy widows. And chronic high exposure has been linked to skin lesions, certain cancers and cardiovascular disease. But scientists are increasingly concerned about even low-dose exposures [PDF], especially for pregnant women, finding that prenatal arsenic exposure is linked to infant mortality and low-birth weight.

The most common route of exposure to arsenic is through drinking water, in part because groundwater can be contaminated with the naturally occurring chemical. But in a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers have found that eating rice can also lead to arsenic exposure, raising questions about how much of the chemical may be making its way into the food supply - posing special risks to pregnant women and their children.
Read More...
Health

Lower Carb Diet Trumps Higher Carb One in Women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome


drbriffa.com
Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:30 UTC
Image
© pcos-tryingtoconceive.blogspot.comFreedom From PCOS: The Paleo Diet

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a condition characterized by the presence of cysts in the ovaries. It can lead to problems with infertility as well as higher-than-normal levels of 'male' hormones called 'androgens' including testosterone. One other common feature in individuals with PCOS is 'insulin resistance' - impaired ability for insulin to do its job which can lead to, among other things, raised levels of sugar (glucose) in the bloodstream.

There has been some interest in nutritional circles in the value of a low-carbohydrate diet or a low glycaemic index diet (a diet based on food that release sugar relatively slowly into the bloodstream) in the management of PCOS. As I wrote about here, my preference in practice is for a low-carbohydrate diet. Less carbohydrate will generally mean less insulin which can help insulin functioning in time. Also, by and large, I do find low-carb diets most effective for weight loss, and excess weight is a feature in many (though not all) women with PCOS.

I was therefore interested to read a study published on-line this week which pitted two diets - one high in protein and low in carbohydrate, and the other containing less protein and more carbohydrate - in women with PCOS [1].

Comment: To learn more about how diet can help cure PCOS read the following article:

The Paleo Diet Cures PCOS
Simply eliminating packaged foods and switching to a whole foods approach works for many, but a lot of us can't seem to achieve any semblance of health without taking an evolutionary approach to our diet and lifestyle.

We are finding that the silver bullet for most modern afflictions is the Paleo/Primal diet. The Primal eating strategy and lifestyle almost miraculously brings us back into balance and restores health and happiness.

This is what happened to me. All of my life I suffered from a condition called polycystic ovarian syndrome, or PCOS, and I cured it with diet.

This hormonal condition affects about 4 million women in the US alone. While there are synthetic drugs meant to control it, they often don't thoroughly eliminate symptoms and many of us end up looking to diet and herbs for the cure that our doctors never offered.


Read More...
Health

US: Top 10 Worst Children's Cereals on the Market

Mike Barrett
Natural Society
Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:18 UTC
Sugar
© Natural Society

The over-consumption of sugar has long been one of the top problems our society faces on a health and wellness level. Excessive sugar consumption is known to play a part in most of the health complications people in developed countries face today. This is especially true when the most carcinogenic sugars like high fructose corn syrup are used. While high fructose corn syrup and other sugars are largely present in sweets and soda, a new report has found that cereals - particularly marketed towards kids - are often tainted with large amounts of sugar as well. In fact, sugar is so rampant in cereals that the Environmental Working Group has created a list of the 10 worst children's cereals.

Children's Cereals with the Most Sugar

Kellogg's Honey Smacks -- 55.6%

Post Golden Crisp -- 51.9%

Kellogg's Froot Loops Marshmallow -- 48.3%

Quaker Oats Cap'n Crunch OOPS! All Berries -- 46.9%

Quaker Oats Cap'n Crunch original -- 44.4%

Quaker Oats Oh!s -- 44.4%

Hellogg's Smorz -- 43.3%

Kellogg's Apple Jacks -- 42.9%

Quaker Oats Cap'n Cunch's Crunch Berries -- 42.3%

Kellogg's Froot Loops original -- 41.4%
Read More...
Popcorn

France Takes Stand Against GMOs, Monsanto Despite End of Ban

Anthony Gucciardi
Natural Society
Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:09 UTC
maize
© file
France is the latest nation to voice opposition against genetically modified crops, with GM maize unlikely to hit French fields next year despite the end of a ban Monsanto maize. The news comes as evidence compiles that French legislatures will launch new restrictions regarding the use of Monsanto's 810 maize on French soil.

It all began when France's State Council overturned the ban on Monsanto's GMO maize stating that it was not sufficiently justified. The organization then attempted to justify its decision by saying that the government did not give enough evidence to justify a ban. Under law, an EU country can only unilaterally ban a genetically modified strain if it can scientifically prove it is a risk to the health of humans, animals, or the integrity of the environment. Interestingly the ban was lifted under these circumstances after numerous reports have surfaced highlighting the many ways in which GMO crops and biopesticides are thoroughly damaging the environment.
Read More...
Ambulance

Evidence-Based Medicine: Neither Good Evidence nor Good Medicine

Steve Hickey, PhD and Hilary Roberts, PhD
Orthomolecular.org
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© theamericanscholar.org
Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is the practice of treating individual patients based on the outcomes of huge medical trials. It is, currently the self-proclaimed gold standard for medical decision-making, and yet it is increasingly unpopular with clinicians. Their reservations reflect an intuitive understanding that something is wrong with its methodology. They are right to think this, for EBM breaks the laws of so many disciplines that it should not even be considered scientific. Indeed, from the viewpoint of a rational patient, the whole edifice is crumbling.

The assumption that EBM is good science is unsound from the start. Decision science and cybernetics (the science of communication and control) highlight the disturbing consequences. EBM fosters marginally effective treatments, based on population averages rather than individual need. Its mega-trials are incapable of finding the causes of disease, even for the most diligent medical researchers, yet they swallow up research funds. Worse, EBM cannot avoid exposing patients to health risks. It is time for medical practitioners to discard EBM's tarnished gold standard, reclaim their clinical autonomy, and provide individualized treatments to patients.
Read More...
Syringe

Gardasil HPV Vaccines Found Contaminated with Recombinant DNA

Eddie Sage
majortrend.tv
Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:25 UTC
Image
In seeking answers to why adolescent girls are suffering devastating health damage after being injected with HPV vaccines, SANE Vax, Inc decided to have vials of Gardasil tested in a laboratory. There, they found over a dozen Gardasil vaccine vials to be contaminated with rDNA of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). The vials were purchased in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Poland and France, indicating Gardasil contamination is a global phenomenon.

This means that adolescents who are injected with these vials are being contaminated with a biohazard - the rDNA of HPV. In conducting the tests, Dr. Sin Hang Lee found rDNA from both HPV-11 and HPV-18, which were described as "firmly attached to the aluminum adjuvant."

That aluminum is also found in vaccines should be frightening all by itself, given that aluminum should never be injected into the human body (it's toxic when ingested, and it specifically damages the nervous system). With the added discovery that the aluminum adjuvant also carries rDNA fragments of two different strains of Human Papillomavirus, this now reaches the level of a dangerous biohazard - something more like a biological weapon rather than anything resembling medicine.

As SANE Vax explains in its announcement, these tests were conducted after an adolescent girl experienced "acute onset Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis within 24 hours" of being injected with an HPV vaccine.

Comment: For more information about the numerous concerns regarding "Gardasil Safety" read the following articles:

Study Reveals Serious HPV Vaccine Problems: Fainting, Blood Clots, Death Among Risks
Deaths Associated with HPV Vaccine Start Rolling In, Over 3500 Adverse Affects Reported
Uncovered FDA Documents Reveal 26 More Gardasil Deaths
8 more deaths connected to HPV vaccine: Adverse reactions from Gardasil number in thousands

Read More...
Health

Why Is Pesticide Used As An Ingredient In Infant Formula?

Sayer Ji
GreenMedInfo.com
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:55 UTC
Pesticide
© GreenMedInfo.com

Why is cupric sulfate -- a known herbicide, fungicide and pesticide -- being used in infant formula? And why is it displayed proudly on product labels as a presumably nutritious ingredient?

Used to kill fungus, aquatic plants and roots of plants, parasitic infections in aquarium fish and snails, as well as algae and bacteria such as Escherichia coli, cupric sulfate hardly sounds fit for human consumption, much less by infants.

Indeed, infants are all too often looked at as "miniature adults" from the perspective of toxicological risk assessments where reducing or eliminating infant chemical exposures (the precautionary principle) isn't even on the table; rather, the chemical industry-friendly focus is always on determining "an acceptable level of harm" - as if there were such at thing!

It boggles the imagination how cupric sulfate ended up in infant formula, as well as scores of other consumer health products, such as Centrum and One-A-Day vitamins?
Read More...
Pills

Seven Diseases Big Pharma Hopes You Get in 2012

Martha Rosenberg
AlterNet
Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:07 UTC
money & pills
© n/a
Supply-driven marketing not only turns the nation into pill-popping hypochondriacs, it distracts from Pharma's drought of real drugs for real medical problems.

It used to be joked that a consultant is someone who borrows your watch to tell you what time it is. These days, the opportunist is Big Pharma, which raises your insurance premiums and taxes while providing you "low-priced" drugs that you paid for.

How did Pharma get a good third of the United States taking antidepressants, statins, and Purple Pills, albeit at low prices? By selling the diseases of depression, high cholesterol, and gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD. Supply-driven marketing, also known as "Have Drug - Need Disease and Patients," not only turns the nation into pill-popping hypochondriacs, it distracts from Pharma's drought of real drugs for real medical problems.

Of course, not all diseases are Wall Street pleasers. To be a true blockbuster disease, a condition must (1) really exist but have huge diagnostic "wiggle room" and no clear-cut test, (2) be potentially serious with "silent symptoms" said to "only get worse" if untreated, (3) be "underrecognized," "underreported" with "barriers" to treatment, (4) explain hitherto vague health problems a patient has had, (5) have a catchy name - ED, ADHD, RLS, Low T or IBS - and instant medical identity, and (6) need an expensive new drug that has no generic equivalent.

Here are some potential blockbuster diseases Pharma hopes you get in 2012.
Read More...
Attention

Best of the Web: Dark Ages: French Psychoanalysts Take Legal Action to Ban Film 'The Wall' About Autism

Chantal Sicile-Kira
The Huffington Post
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:54 UTC
Image
© Huffington Post
On Dec. 8, a French judge in the Lille Regional Court in France must decide whether or not to ban a documentary by Sophie Robert, The Wall: Psychoanalysis Put to the Test for Autism, that highlights the treatment -- psychoanalysis -- that families are offered in France when seeking help for their child with autism.

The documentary consists of interviews of 30 French psychoanalysts (many of them lead psychiatrists at treatment centers and department heads of notable French hospitals) who place the blame for autism on mothers who are either too cold or too incestuous towards their children.

The psychoanalysts in the film quote Bruno Bettelheim (a proponent of the "refrigerator mother" theory of autism), Sigmund Freud (father of the Oedipus complex and penis envy), and Jacques Lacan when discussing the causes and treatment of autism. In the 1960s, Lacan described psychotic and autistic children as victims of the alienation of a psychogenic mother who is unable to separate from a child who is a substitute for the penis she was born without.

The 50-minute film has been available online for about two months and can be seen in the original French version, with English subtitles, or with Spanish subtitles.
Read More...
Handcuffs

Merck - Too Big to Prosecute?


Alliance for Natural Health
Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:07 UTC
Image
© Alliance for Natural Health
There is a surprising reason why the government won't go after drug companies for serious crimes.

It is because government programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and the Veterans Administration would then be barred from doing business with them!

In 1999 the FDA approved Vioxx, a drug created by Merck and Co. to treat arthritis. Vioxx was pulled off the market in 2004 because evidence showed it greatly increased the risk of heart attack in the 25 million Americans who had taken the drug. Some 50,000 patients sued, and 27,000 of the plaintiffs received $4.85 billion in settlement of their claims.

Last week the Department of Justice announced that Merck has agreed to pay a $321 million criminal fines and plead guilty to one misdemeanor count of illegally introducing a drug into interstate commerce. Merck also is paying $426 million to the federal government and $202 million to state Medicaid agencies. Those payments will settle civil claims that its marketing caused doctors to prescribe and bill the government for Vioxx they otherwise would not have prescribed.
Read More...