Health & WellnessS


Heart

Laughter Improves Vascular Health

Rick Nauert
PsychCentral
Mon, 29 Aug 2011 00:00 UTC
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© lorriepaige.wordpress.com
Laughter really is good medicine, according to a new study of the physiological effects of positive emotions.

Researchers discovered watching a movie that produces laughter improves vascular function, the opposite of that observed after watching a movie that causes mental stress.

"The idea to study positive emotions such as laughter came about after studies had shown that mental stress caused blood vessels to constrict," said Dr. Michael Miller, the lead investigator.

In their initial study more than 10 years ago, University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers surveyed 300 men and women with or without heart disease on situational humor.
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Radar

Best of the Web: Monsanto's Roundup May End Bananas - Canaries In The Mine

Heidi Stevenson
Gaia-Health
Mon, 29 Aug 2011 19:14 UTC
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© Unknown
Bananas are dying. They're killed by a fungus, one known to be caused by glyphosate, which is used on bananas. But the loss of bananas may be only the tip of the disaster.

The bananas we eat today are not the same ones that were eaten in the first half of the 20th century. Those were tastier and creamier. They were lost to monoculture. A fungal infection, Fusarium, couldn't be overcome because nearly all bananas were clones, and therefore susceptible to the same disease.

The bananas we eat today, a different variety that had been secure from Fusarium are now falling to the same fungal infection. Agribusiness responds simply by closing up shop where the disease has taken over and starting up in a new area. In true earth scorching approach, they walk away from their disasters and do exactly the same thing elsewhere, thus recreating the same disaster again and again.
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Attention

US: Glyphosate Pollutes Air, Rain and Rivers

Rady Ananda
foodfreedom.wordpress.com
Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:14 UTC
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© foodfreedom.wordpress.com
A new study by the U.S. Geological Survey reveals the pervasive spread of the biocide, glyphosate, mostly used as a weedkiller for crops genetically engineered to resist the herbicide.

Used in formulations by Monsanto, Bayer, Dow and others, glyphosate has been linked to spontaneous abortions in livestock, birth defects in humans, insect resistance, and weed resistance.

Worse, regulators have known for years of these links, Earth Open Source reported.

In early August, Dr. Mercola reported:
"The first report was recently issued on ambient levels of glyphosate and its major degradation product, aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA), in air and rain. Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the U.S.

"Weekly air particle and rain samples were collected during two growing seasons in agricultural areas in Mississippi and Iowa. Rain was also collected in Indiana. The frequency of glyphosate detection ranged from 60 to 100 percent in both air and rain."

Comment: For more information about the negative health and environmental impacts of Glyphosate or Roundup as the chemical is commonly known read the following articles:

Death by Multiple Poisoning, Glyphosate and Roundup
Roundup Kills More Than Weeds
Monsanto's Roundup Triggers Over 40 Plant Diseases and Endangers Human and Animal Health
Roundup Birth Defects: Regulators Knew World's Best-Selling Herbicide Causes Problems, New Report Finds
Scientist Finding Many Negative Impacts of Roundup Ready GM Crops

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Beaker

Food Dyes: The Color of Controversy

Laura Beil
Science News
Sat, 27 Aug 2011 15:33 UTC
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© Suzanne Tucker/ShutterStock
When it comes to the safety of dyeing food, the one true shade is gray.

Artificial colorings have been around for decades, and for just about as long, people have questioned whether tinted food is a good idea. In the 1800s, when merchants colored their products with outright poisons, critics had a pretty good case. Today's safety questions, though, aren't nearly so black and white - and neither are the answers.

Take the conclusions reached by a recent government inquiry: Depending on your point of view, an official food advisory panel either affirmed that food dyes were safe, questioned whether they were safe enough or offered a conclusion that somehow merged the two. It was a glass of cherry Kool-Aid half full or half empty.

Comment: To learn more about the controversy of food dyes read the following articles:

Food Dyes: The Toxic Situation
Is It Really Worth Using Food Dyes If They Cause Cancer?
The Rainbow Of Food Dyes In Our Grocery Aisles Has A Dark Side
Organic Foods Offer Alternative to Foods Containing Food Dyes & Pesticides Linked to Raising Children's Risk of ADHD
Do Synthetic Food Colors Cause Hyperactivity?


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Beaker

Bird Flu Fear as Mutant Strain Hits China and Vietnam


BBC News
Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:54 UTC
Chickens
© APOfficials fear the virus could spread from Vietnam
Avian flu shows signs of a resurgence, while a mutant strain - able to sidestep vaccines - could be spreading in Asia, the United Nations has warned.

The variant appeared in Vietnam and China and its risk to humans cannot be predicted, veterinary officials said.

Virus circulation in Vietnam threatens Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia, where eight people have died after becoming infected this year, they warned.

The World Health Organization says bird flu has killed 331 people since 2003.
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Key

World's Oldest Person Celebrates 115th Birthday and Says the Key to Long Life is 'Avoiding Junk Food'


The Daily Mail, UK
Sat, 27 Aug 2011 09:13 UTC
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© AP Photo/David GoldmanAgeing gracefully: Besse Cooper says avoiding junk food has held her have a long life.
Besse Cooper's secret to a long life has been never to eat junk food.

Mrs Cooper who has been officially crowned the oldest person in the world celebrated her 115th year when staff at the nursing home in in Monroe, Georgia in which she lives threw her a party.

Her 76-year-old-son, Sidney Cooper said that his mother was in good health and still had an agile mind.

'She still remembers things and thinks clearly and talks. She never worried,' he told the Telegraph.

'But she has her good days and her bad days. I'd say she sleeps about 80 per cent of the time.'

A researcher from the Guinness Book of World Records also attended the birthday party to deliver her a second plaque that certifies her as the oldest person on the planet.
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Sun

Vitamin D - Why You are Probably Not Getting Enough

Dr. Mark Hyman
drhyman.com
Sat, 27 Aug 2011 15:23 UTC
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© drhyman.com
What vitamin do we need in amounts up to 25 times higher than the government recommends for us to be healthy?

What vitamin deficiency affects over half of the population, is almost never diagnosed, and has been linked to many cancers, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, depression, fibromyalgia, chronic muscle pain, bone loss, and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis?

What vitamin is almost totally absent from our food supply?

What vitamin is the hidden cause of so much suffering that is so easy to treat?

The answer to all of these questions is vitamin D.
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Pills

The FDA Comes to the Rescue of Big Pharma

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:54 UTC
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© unknown
It appears that Big Pharma has an unlimited number of tricks up its sleeve. From millions and millions of dollars poured into the pockets of regulators and politicians to the subsidization of medical schools and the doctors they churn out, Big Pharma is a force to be reckoned with. However, recently Big Pharma has engaged in a battle plan that few would have expected - an attack on Little Pharma.

In an article published by Techdirt, Dave Fuchs points out that more and more patents held by Big Pharma are beginning to run out. What this means is that Little Pharma may now make generic versions of the same drug and place them on the market at a much lower price. Aside from the fact that the vast majority (if not all) of these drugs are toxic and harmful, the good news is that for those people who consume them the price will go down.

At least, the price is supposed to go down.
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Pills

US: Half of hospitals buy back-door drugs, new survey shows

JoNel Aleccia
MSNBC News
Fri, 26 Aug 2011 08:26 UTC
Desperation fueled by growing shortages creates demand for 'gray-market' suppliers

Amid growing reports of price-gouging for life-saving drugs, half of hospital officials said they've bought medications from back-door suppliers during recent drug shortages, a new survey shows.

Fifty-two percent of hospital purchasing agents and pharmacists reported they'd bought drugs from so-called "gray market" vendors during the previous two years, according to a just-released survey of 549 hospitals by the Institute for Safe Medication practices, an advocacy group.

Gray-market suppliers are those that operate outside official channels, often buying drugs from uncertain sources and reselling them at a steep profit. A report issued last week by a one hospital association found their average mark-up was 650 percent.

Pressures from demanding doctors and desperate patients helped fuel the transactions, making hospital staffers feel like they had no choice but to buy drugs in short supply at steep prices.
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Pills

Being the Ghost in the Machine: A Medical Ghostwriter's Personal View

Linda Logdberg
PLOS Medicine
Tue, 09 Aug 2011 00:00 UTC
Ethical concerns about medical ghostwriting have been directed primarily at "guest" authors and the pharmaceutical companies that pay them. One voice that is largely missing is that of the ghostwriters themselves who, after all, create the documents that are in the ethical and legal crosshairs. Without them, one could argue, there can be no fraud, because it is they who create the fraudulent product.

For almost 11 years, I worked as a medical writer, creating a variety of pieces including the occasional ghostwritten article. For the most part, I never saw the finished paper, nor did I care to. This article describes what I did, why I did it, why I stopped doing it, and what I think might be done about the problem of fraud in authorship.
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