Health & WellnessS


Red Flag

Strawberry Show Down: No Methyl Iodide with My Shortcake, Please

Naomi Starkman
Civil Eats
Thu, 20 May 2010 22:26 UTC
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Commercially grown strawberries and tomatoes in California could start getting an unhealthy dose of the highly toxic fumigant methyl iodide, a known carcinogen, neurotoxin, and thyroid disruptor. Among scientists' greatest concerns is the pesticide's ability to cause spontaneous abortion late in pregnancy. So you might be surprised to hear that the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) recently issued a proposed decision to approve methyl iodide for use just months after a state-commissioned study warned that any agricultural use "would result in exposures to a large number of the public and thus would have a significant adverse impact on the public health" adding that, "adequate control of human exposure would be difficult, if not impossible."

Strawberries are already near the top of the Environmental Working Group's Dirty Dozen (13 pesticides were detected on a single sample) and recently, a high-level Presidential Cancer Panel recommended reducing chemical exposure by choosing fruits and vegetables grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers (i.e., organic).
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Arrow Up

Beetroot Juice Found to Boost Stamina

Jon von Radowitz
The Independent
Thu, 20 May 2010 18:01 UTC
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Beetroot juice boosts stamina by making muscles more fuel-efficient, scientists have found.

Last year the same researchers reported that the juice can increase physical endurance. The study focused on men aged 19 to 38 cycling on exercise bikes. Drinking 500ml of beetroot juice a day for a week enabled them to cycle 16 per cent longer before getting tired out. Now the scientists believe they understand how the beetroot boost works.
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Question

Will Workers in the Gulf Be the Next Victims of Environmentally Induced Cancer?

Eveline Shen & Jose T. Bravo
Alternet
Fri, 21 May 2010 17:04 UTC
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© a.drian via Flickr
There are many lessons to draw from the disaster in the gulf. Let one be this: quick, decisive action in the name of prevention is a lot easier than massive clean up.

As we all watch the oil continue to gush into the Gulf of Mexico, many of us are also watching the stories of the workers unfold: those who were aboard the Deepwater Horizon, those who are helping in the cleanup, and the thousands of people whose livelihood is being wiped out along with the ecosystem of the gulf.

The story of the workers on the oil rig illustrates the life and times of many workers in the US today. Told to buck up, take responsibility and to be happy for the jobs they have, workers are often lacking basic training and protections from the materials and in many cases, especially for low wage workers, they can be fired at any time. We all keep working, despite the hazards, to feed our families and keep a roof over our heads.
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Health

How Stress Can Break Your Heart - Literally

Amanda Gardner
Health.com
Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:44 UTC
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Dr. Ilan Wittstein, MD, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital, in Baltimore, once had a middle-aged patient who discovered that her husband was cheating on her. Shortly after a heated argument over the infidelity, the woman began to experience shortness of breath and a crushing chest pain. Although it felt like a heart attack, it wasn't. Quite literally, the woman was suffering from a broken heart.

Officially known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy, broken heart syndrome is a rare heart condition with symptoms that can mimic those of a heart attack.

"A lot of people experiencing the death of a loved one have this condition," says Dr. Wittstein. "That's why we nicknamed this broken heart syndrome."

First described in Japanese medical literature in 1990, takotsubo cardiomyopathy takes its name from a vase-shaped pot, used to trap octopus in Japan, "that has a thin neck and balloons out where the body of the octopus gets stuck," explains cardiologist Richard Stein, MD, a professor at the New York University School of Medicine, in New York City.
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Arrow Up

Amazingly, this Country Actually Bans the Flu Vaccine


Dr. Mercola
Sat, 15 May 2010 16:09 UTC
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Seasonal flu vaccinations have been suspended in Australia for all children under the age of five. The suspension comes after 23 children in Western Australia were admitted to hospitals with convulsions after receiving flu injections.

More than 250 children may have had adverse reactions to the vaccine, with symptoms including fever, vomiting and convulsions.

WA Today reports that:
"Another 40 convulsion cases had been detected in the past month in children at other metropolitan hospitals ... Doctors are now working to determine how many of those children received the flu vaccine."
Sources:

WA Today April 23, 2010

News.com.au April 27, 2010
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Palette

Art Therapy Reduces Anxiety in Kids with Asthma

Rachael Myers Lowe
Reuters
Fri, 21 May 2010 15:54 UTC
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Draw your own conclusions: Researchers suggest in a small new study that art therapy makes kids less anxious about their condition.

The results provide "encouraging initial data" that art therapy can help improve the emotional health of chronically ill children, the authors write in the May issue of the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 7 million American children, or nearly one in 10, have asthma. The breathing disorder is a leading cause of school absences.
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Heart

Study: Yoga Improves Sleep, Quality of Life for Cancer Survivors


Health Canal
Fri, 21 May 2010 03:25 UTC
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© University of Rochester
Cancer survivors who perform gentle yoga report they sleep better, feel less fatigued and enjoy better quality of life, according to the University of Rochester Medical Center, which is presenting the largest study of this kind at the upcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in June.

"This is great news for cancer survivors who deal with persistent and debilitating side effects from their cancer and its treatments long after their primary therapy ends. There are few treatments for the sleep problems and fatigue survivors experience that work for very long, if at all," said Karen Mustian, Ph.D., M.P.H., the study's lead investigator and assistant professor of Radiation Oncology and Community and Preventive Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center's James P. Wilmot Cancer Center. "Yoga is a safe and simple technique that can have multiple benefits for survivors who are looking for solutions."

People being treated for cancer often report sleep problems and fatigue. Yet, they, along with many doctors and nurses, expect the problems to end when surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy is complete. However, studies show that as many as two-thirds of survivors experience them for months after, sometimes years, and they also report sleep aids aren't effective, said Mustian, one of a handful of scientifically trained exercise psychologists and physiologists specializing in cancer in the United States.
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Magnify

Vitamin D Deficiencies at Epidemic Levels, Says New Study

Ethan A. Huff
NaturalNews
Fri, 21 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© Google Images
Vitamin D is an amazing nutrient that protect the body from all sorts of diseases and problems. Researchers continually uncover new links between lack of vitamin D and disease, illustrating the fact that it is vital to good health. However recent studies have also found that most people are deficient in vitamin D.

A team of doctors from the McGill University Health Centre in Canada was surprised to find that about 59 percent of people evaluated were deficient in vitamin D and about 25 percent were severely deficient. Published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, the study is allegedly the first to illustrate a definitive link between vitamin D deficiency and an accumulation of fat in muscle tissue.

"Because it [vitamin D deficiency] is linked to increased body fat, it may affect many different parts of the body. Abnormal levels of vitamin D are associated with a whole spectrum of diseases, including cancer, osteoporosis, and diabetes, as well as cardiovascular and autoimmune disorders," explained Dr. Richard Kremer, lead investigator of the study.
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Magnify

Food Industry Too Secretive Over Nanoparticles

David Gutierrez
NaturalNews
Fri, 21 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© Getty ImagesNanotechnology
The food industry is being too secretive about the extent to which it has adopted nanotechnology, according to a report by the United Kingdom's House of Lords Science and Technology Committee.

The industry is "very reluctant to put its head above the parapet and be open about research on nanotechnology," said study chairperson Lord John Krebs.

"They got their fingers burnt over the use of GM crops and so they want to keep a low profile on this issue. We believe that they should adopt exactly the opposite approach. If you want to build confidence you should be open rather than secretive."

Nanotechnology refers to the practice of manipulating particles on the scale of one-billionth of a meter. Particles of this size behave in a fundamentally different fashion than they do on the more familiar scale, producing a wide variety of novel applications.

Because nanoparticles are not currently regulated any differently than larger particles, they are already making their way into consumer products, from sunscreens and cosmetics to clothing and sporting goods. Their industrial and medical uses are also being explored.
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Health

Two-Year-Old Toddlers Being Dosed Up with Antipsychotic Drugs

David Gutierrez
Natural News
Fri, 21 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© Getty Images
Children between the ages of two and five are being treated with antipsychotics at twice the rate they were ten years ago, according to a study conducted by researchers from Columbia University and published in the journal Health Affairs.

"It is a worrisome trend, partly because very little is known about the short-term, let alone the long-term, safety of these drugs in this age group," researchers Mark Olfson said.

Although a handful of antipsychotics have been approved by the FDA for use in children, they are intended for older children because few if any studies have been conducted into the effectiveness or safety of the drugs in younger children.

Researchers examined prescription data on more than one million children between the ages of two and five. They found that from 1999-2001, approximately one out of every 1,300 children in this age group was being treated with an antipsychotic drug. By 2007, the rate was one in every 630. Among the oldest children (five-year-olds), the rate has always been higher. In 1999-2001, one in every 650 children was receiving an antipsychotic, while in 2007 one in every 329 was.
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