Health & WellnessS


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Are You Using This Popular But Cancer-Causing Shampoo?

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:16 UTC
Image
© istockphoto
If you buy special shampoo for your baby, the last thing you'd expect it to contain would be known or suspected carcinogens...

But if you live in the U.S., this may in fact be the case.

For the past two years, health and environmental groups have been urging Johnson & Johnson to remove two potentially cancer-causing chemicals from its baby shampoo.

One of these ingredients is quaternium-15, which releases formaldehyde; a skin, eye, and respiratory irritant, and a known carcinogen (formaldehyde exposure has been associated with leukemia specifically).

According to SafeCosmetics.org:
"The North American Contact Dermatitis Group considers quaternium-15 to be among the most clinically significant contact allergens in children."
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Cell Phone

How the Telecom Industry Seeks to Confuse About the Dangers of Cell Phones

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:22 UTC
cell phone illus
© socialvibe.com
A new report published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) claims to have found no association between long-term use of cell phones and brain or central nervous system tumors.

But like the Interphone study, which also initially reported no link between cell phones and brain cancer, this finding is seriously flawed and only adding to the false shroud of safety that the telecom industry is seeking to create.

As Devra Davis, PhD, cancer epidemiologist and president of the Environmental Health Trust, stated, the BMJ study results are "unsurprising, biased and misleading," and:
"From the way it was set up originally, this deeply flawed study was designed to fail to find an increased risk of brain tumors tied with cellphone use."
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2 + 2 = 4

3 p.m. slump? Why a sugar rush may not be the answer


Medical Xpress
Wed, 16 Nov 2011 12:22 UTC
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© Unknown
A new study has found that protein and not sugar activates the cells responsible for keeping us awake and burning calories. The research, published in the 17 November issue of the scientific journal Neuron, has implications for understanding obesity and sleep disorders.

Wakefulness and energy expenditure rely on "orexin cells", which secrete a stimulant called orexin/hypocretin in the brain. Reduced activity in these unique cells results in narcolepsy and has been linked to weight gain.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge compared actions of different nutrients on orexin cells. They found that amino acids - nutrients found in proteins such as egg whites - stimulate orexin neurons much more than other nutrients.
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Target

New mouthwash may render cavities a thing of the past


Medical Xpress
Wed, 16 Nov 2011 10:31 UTC
Image
© WebMD
A new mouthwash developed by a microbiologist at the UCLA School of Dentistry is highly successful in targeting the harmful Streptococcus mutans bacteria that is the principal cause tooth decay and cavities.

In a recent clinical study, 12 subjects who rinsed just one time with the experimental mouthwash experienced a nearly complete elimination of the S. mutans bacteria over the entire four-day testing period. The findings from the small-scale study are published in the current edition of the international dental journal Caries Research.

Dental caries, commonly known as tooth decay or cavities, is one of the most common and costly infectious diseases in the United States, affecting more than 50 percent of children and the vast majority of adults aged 18 and older. Americans spend more than $70 billion each year on dental services, with the majority of that amount going toward the treatment of dental caries.

Comment: Given the multiple reasons the 'powers that be' insist on poisoning our drinking water with fluoride, it is unlikely this mouthwash (even if it does what the researchers claim) will ever replace fluoride.

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Roses

Milk thistle stops lung cancer in mice

Garth Sundem
Colorado Cancer Blogs
Wed, 16 Nov 2011 08:40 UTC
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© Flickr user Eran Finckle, cc licenseMilk thistle, parent of the compound silibinin
Tissue with wound-like conditions allows tumors to grow and spread. In mouse lung cancer cells, treatment with silibinin, a major component of milk thistle, removed the molecular billboards that signal these wound-like conditions and so stopped the spread of these lung cancers, according to a recent study published in the journal Molecular Carcinogenesis.

Though the natural extract has been used for more than 2,000 years, mostly to treat disorders of the liver and gallbladder, this is one of the first carefully controlled and reported studies to find benefit.

Here is how it works:

Basically, in a cell there can be a chain of signals, one leading to the next, to the next, and eventually to an end product. And so if you would like to eliminate an end product, you may look to break a link in the signaling chain that leads to it. The end products COX2 and iNOS are enzymes involved with the inflammatory response to perceived wounds - both can aid tumor growth. Far upstream in the signaling chain that leads to these unwanted enzymes are STAT1 and STAT3. These transcription factors allow the blueprint of DNA to bind with proteins that continue the signal cascade, eventually leading to the production of harmful COX2 and iNOS.
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Question

India: Doctors baffled by 7-year-old who weeps stones


Straits Times
Wed, 16 Nov 2011 08:19 UTC
A seven-year-old girl who weeps stones is baffling doctors who are unable to say what is causing the phenomenon.

Tamil Nesan reported that stones had been discharging from Kura Nitya's right eye for the past 15 days. Nitya, from a village near Hyderabad, has been weeping about 12 to 25 stones a day.

Her parents have approached several ophthalmologists who were unable to diagnose what was causing the problem. According to her grandfather Gopal Reddy, the stones began popping out on Oct 26. 'Initially, we thought it was some divine power and prayed to God for this phenomenon to stop,' he said, adding that they were keeping the stones for medical tests, if required.
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Nuke

Land in parts of Japan 'too radioactive to farm'


The Telegraph
Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:23 UTC
fukushima
© David Guttenfelder/BloombergA deserted field and buildings inside the contaminated exclusion zone
Farmland in parts of Japan is no longer safe because of high levels of radiation in the soil, scientists have warned, as the country struggles to recover from the Fukushima atomic disaster.

A team of international researchers said food production would likely be "severely impaired" by the elevated levels of caesium found in soil samples across eastern Fukushima in the wake of meltdowns at the tsunami-hit plant.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, suggests farming in neighbouring areas may also suffer because of radiation, although levels discovered there were within legal limits.

"Fukushima prefecture as a whole is highly contaminated," especially to the northwest of the nuclear power plant, the researchers said.

The study looked at caesium-137, which has a half-life of 30 years and therefore affects the environment for decades.
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Megaphone

New Campaign Seeks to Make Big Changes at the American Dietetic Association - Registered Dietitians Speak Out!


Alliance for Natural Health
Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:50 UTC
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© Alliance for Natural Health
Registered Dietitians are tired of their organization being financed by the junk food industry and Big Pharma. Now they're starting to speak out.

EatRight.org is the American Dietetic Association's website. It claims to offer "food and nutrition information you can trust." But can we really trust nutrition information from an organization that says sugar, fluoride, and artificial colors are safe for children?

We believe the ADA's partnership with the junk food industry helps fuel the diabetes epidemic. If the ADA succeeds in its attempt to monopolize nutrition services, we will be left with nothing but a deep-fried and genetically modified junk-food-influenced nutrition profession.
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Bulb

Nature and Nurture Work Together to Shape the Brain


Society for Neuroscience
Sun, 13 Nov 2011 09:58 UTC
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© Matthew Forsythe
New animal research finds life experiences influence brain development, behavior.

Scientists presented new research today demonstrating the impact life experiences can have on genes and behavior. The studies examine how such environmental information can be transmitted from one generation to the next - a phenomenon known as epigenetics. This new knowledge could ultimately improve understanding of brain plasticity, the cognitive benefits of motherhood, and how a parent's exposure to drugs, alcohol, and stress can alter brain development and behavior in their offspring.

The findings were presented at Neuroscience 2011, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world's largest source of emerging news about brain science and health.
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Info

US: Arsenic Pollutes Iowa's Water Supplies

Perry Beeman
DesMoinesRegister.com
Sun, 13 Nov 2011 23:29 UTC
Poisonous Water
© Flickr

Hundreds of Iowans across the state are drinking tap water polluted with poisonous arsenic as health workers move to rein in the problem.

The problem is so widespread that health officials statewide gathered last week in Des Moines to discuss remedies. Large public water supplies routinely test for arsenic. But health officials are now stepping up efforts to encourage private well owners to pay for their own tests, which cost about $20.

The element occurs naturally in Iowa's soil. It leaches into ground water, which is the source of tap water for 55 percent of Iowans.

Drinking large amounts of arsenic over decades could lead to cancer of the skin, bladder, lungs, liver and prostate, as well as cardiovascular and respiratory problems. Short-term exposure to very high levels can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and skin problems, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Five public water systems currently violate arsenic standards, and 15 others have had violations over the past decade, Iowa Department of Natural Resources records show. The five now in violation are the towns of Lanesboro, Mallard and Scranton, and two rural subdivisions, Gallery Acres West near Solon and South Park near Iowa Falls.
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