Countries where the highest numbers of women use oral contraceptives have the highest rates of death from prostate cancer, a new study finds.

Birth control pills contain the female hormone estrogen, and in recent years, some experts have raised concerns about the presence of estrogen and similar compounds in foods and the water supply. The new study may raise those concerns further, though the authors said the findings are preliminary.

"Several studies now have found an association between estrogen exposure and prostate cancer," said study researcher Dr. David Margel, a uro-oncology fellow at the University of Toronto. In this case, he said, "We think this is environmental - [estrogen] goes into the water, into our food chain."

At the same time, Margel said, "We can't establish a cause-and-effect relationship. We definitely don't think the take-home message is women should stop taking the pill."

In September of 2010, a new genetically modified animal hybrid sparked mass concern as well as nationwide controversy. The possibility of having genetically modified salmon for dinner did not sit well with many independent scientists, consumer groups, environmental organizations, and especially the healthy consumer. Although the genetically modified salmon, commonly referred to as "frankenfish", has not yet been approved for consumption, it seems that certain US organizations are determined to place the fish on your plate.

Frankenfish Funded by the USDA

It wasn't until 2010, when the House of Representatives got involved with the approval of genetically modified salmon, was Aquabounty hit with severe critical opposition. When Aquabounty's genetically modified salmon was in effect struck down by the House, the company was unable to receive funds from the Food and Drug Administration in order to move forward with the approval. Despite the decision made by the House, the United States Department of Agriculture recently decided to help Aquabounty's quest for the approval of genetically modified salmon by generously funding their cause with nearly $500,000.

I've been spending long weekends glued to the LCD fishing for clinical pearls, as it were, for the GreenMedInfo.com project. My eyes have been getting a bit fried over the past year, so I've been crossing my fingers to find a study which demonstrates that a natural substance can reduce the adverse effects on the retina of the photons and electromagnetic radiation coming off of a computer monitor. I'm happy to report I have finally found one!

Abstract Title:
A 12-week lutein supplementation improves visual function in Chinese people with long-term computer display light exposure.

Abstract Source:
Br J Nutr. 2009 Jul;102(2):186-90. Greenmedinfo

Antibiotics, recently linked to skyrocketing mental illness rates, are now being identified as a player in the soaring obesity rates around the globe.

Previously, it was revealed that excessive antibiotic usage may also be responsible for spawning drug-resistant superbugs that continue to emerge worldwide.

The reason that antibiotics are potentially making you fat, mentally unhealthy, and suffer from gut problems has to do with the way it affects bacteria within your gut. While antibiotics do kill harmful 'bad' bacteria as intended, they also destroy 'good' bacteria in the gut which help to regulate more than just gut health. In fact, studies are finding that gut bacteria may be responsible for regulating overall health, including mental health and stability.

The Berlin Study

In the early 1990s, a trio of psychologists descended on the Universität der Künste, a historic arts academy in the heart of West Berlin. They came to study the violinists.

As described in their subsequent publication in Psychological Review, the researchers asked the academy's music professors to help them identify a set of stand out violin players - the students who the professors believed would go onto careers as professional performers.

We'll call this group the elite players.

For a point of comparison, they also selected a group of students from the school's education department. These were students who were on track to become music teachers. They were serious about violin, but as their professors explained, their ability was not in the same league as the first group.

We'll call this group the average players.

The three researchers subjected their subjects to a series of in-depth interviews. They then gave them diaries which divided each 24-hour period into 50 minute chunks, and sent them home to keep a careful log of how they spent their time.

Flush with data, the researchers went to work trying to answer a fundamental question: Why are the elite players better than the average players?

Vagus Nerve Stimulation Blocks Cytokine Storm of Swine Flu

Nicotine has an anti-inflammatory effect via the vagus nerve, which is useful against many diseases, and perhaps may block the cytokine storm of the H1N1 swine flu.

Nicotine stimulates the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway. At the end of this pathway are immune cells that produce anti-inflammatory cytokines that block inflammation. Thus, nicotine, although one of the most addictive chemicals, can have beneficial effects on inflammatory diseases, such as arthritis, asthma, cancer, inflammatory bowel diseases and perhaps, H1N1.

Tobacco Smoke Is Toxic but also Anti-Inflammatory

Paradoxically tobacco smoke contains hundreds of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals that produce inflammatory reactions and numerous degenerative diseases, but it also contains nicotine that is anti-inflammatory. Smokers assault their bodies, but moderate and obscure the inflammatory degeneration and disease, until they stop the nicotine exposure.

Nicotine Withdrawal Is Inflammatory

The anti-inflammatory benefits of nicotine reveal the inflammatory basis of many unexpected diseases. Nicotine withdrawal is severe, partly because it leads to rebound release of inflammatory cytokines, inflammation and inflammatory disease symptoms that include depression and obesity. Smoking cessation may contribute to more severe symptoms of H1N1 infections.

Put away the Halloween costume. This is not a vampire joke. Chinese scientists at Wuhan University have been working on a genetically modified rice that can yield a human blood protein called human serum albumin (HSA).

Normally HSA protein is manufactured by the liver and harvested the same way any other blood ingredients are, through donations. In heavy demand for both medicinal (severe burns, cirrhosis of the liver, hemorrhagic shock) and laboratory (vaccines, drugs, cell cultures) uses, HSA is in perennially short supply.

China has experienced both chronic shortages of HSA and problems with tainted blood supplies. So Professor Daichang Yang, a plant biotechnologist, and his colleagues set to work to develop a rice that could carry the albumin gene.

Baxter Healthcare Corp. has announced it is recalling around 300,000 doses of its Preflucel flu vaccine due to an 'excessive' amount of adverse reactions. Recalled from thousands of pharmacies and surgeries across Europe, the 300,000 units are to be immediately withdrawn. With seasonal flu vaccines already linked to nerve disease Guillain-Barre Syndrome and narcolepsy and still being given out liberally to citizens worldwide, the adverse reactions must be quite serious in order to prompt a recall.

Even more concerning is the fact that vaccine makers actually have been given legal immunity thanks to a law signed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.

Of course Baxter representatives are urging the public to stay calm, while also downplaying the risks associated with the shot. In the past NaturalSociety has revealed how Merck uses similar tactics to downplay the true side effects of the Gardasil vaccine, listing only minor side effects and ignoring the death link completely.

To be in good health is a true blessing, and without proper nutrition a foundation for health cannot be built. I found this out the hard way. For several years I experienced severe fatigue daily, along with muscle spasms, weak teeth, shortness of breath, anxiety and generally not feeling well. I started to conduct research on the unpleasant assortment of symptoms that I was experiencing, and I repeatedly came across information on the essential element called magnesium. It turns out that the majority of Americans (80% or more) are magnesium deficient due to poor diet and soil depletion. Every symptom that I had was a sign of magnesium deficiency. Upon further research I discovered magnesium oil, which is easily absorbed - more so than pill form - through the skin via Transdermal Magnesium Therapy. After using the oil for several months, all of the symptoms have disappeared.

If i had gone to a doctor, instead of doing my own research, I likely would have been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome or some other illness that would be "treated" with drugs dispensed from the Medical-Industrial Complex, masking the underlying nutritional deficiency. In my research I have found that nearly every symptom of magnesium deficiency has a specific corresponding pharmaceutical drug to "treat" it. The monetary impact to drug companies - in the event that widespread attention was given to Transdermal Magnesium Therapy - would be monumental.

Other than myself, I have family who have personally experienced the healing power of magnesium. Among other things, chronic indigestion and heart palpitations have been eliminated. Prescription drugs have been thrown out. Magnesium oil has been nothing short of a miracle for me, and I hope that this information will be helpful for those who read this report. I urge everyone who reads on to do their own research and take whatever course of action you feel necessary for your personal needs.

The question of whether newborns should sleep alone or with their mothers - where skin-to-skin contact can be maintained - continues to raise controversy, with a small new South African study contradicting American guidelines that recommend against co-sleeping, because of its link to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Scientists from the University of Cape Town found that separating new babies from their mothers proved physiologically stressful for infants, causing significantly more "anxious arousal" and less "quiet sleep."

The researchers measured heart rate variability in 16 2-day-old sleeping babies for one hour, during both skin-to-skin contact with their mothers - where they were placed prone on their mother's bare chest - and alone in a cot next to their mother's bed. Heart rate variability measures how irregular the intervals between heartbeats are, and is considered an effective, non-invasive way to measure stress levels.

"What is desirable for newborns is to have 'sleep cycling,' which means an even distribution between active sleep and quiet sleep, in periods of about one hour," said Dr. Nils Bergman, a co-author of the study. "In our study, sleep cycling in separated babies was mostly absent, and in six of 16 babies that did show some quiet sleep when separated, it was shorter and shallower."