Health & WellnessS


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Chocolate Formula: Baby Doesn't Know Best

Kelly Brownell
The Atlantic
Wed, 19 May 2010 17:55 UTC
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© cambodia4kidsorg/flickr
The Mead Johnson company, makers of a leading line of infant formulas (Enfamil), has reached a new low point in the nation's nutrition history by introducing a product called Enfagrow Premium Chocolate. This is a chocolate-flavored version (it also comes in vanilla) of formula designed for toddlers - ages 12 to 36 months, according to the company - as they transition from infancy to early childhood. The can says "Toddler Formula," which is odd since there is no way children 12 months to 36 months even need formula.

Touting its health benefits, the company sells this as follows:
As your child grows from an infant to a toddler, he's probably becoming pickier about what he eats. Now more than ever, ensuring that he gets complete nutrition can be a challenge. That's why we created new Enfagrow PREMIUM Chocolate with Triple Health Guard™. With over 25 nutrients, Omega-3 DHA, prebiotics, and a great tasting chocolate flavor he'll love, you can help be sure he's getting the nutrition he still needs even after he outgrows infant formula.
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Which Household Cleaners Contain Secret Toxic Ingredients?

Kiera Butler
Mother Jones
Mon, 17 May 2010 17:22 UTC
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© Wikimedia Commons
The label on my shower spray cleaner claims it's supposed to smell like ylang ylang. To me it smells like, well, chemicals. I was curious to see whether any real ylang ylang actually made its way into my cleaner, so I looked up the ingredients online. No ylang ylang (or any other plant for that matter) in sight. Near the end of a long list of ingredients were the words "fragrance oil." Mysterious. Is my shower spray hiding something?
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Attention

UK: Stress causes workers to lie about sick days finds new study

William Hobson
The Therapy Lounge
Tue, 18 May 2010 16:10 UTC
stressed man
© unknown
A new report has revealed that the recession has caused a "stress epidemic" across the UK, with thousands of workers beset by stress and worries from the workplace even on their days off.

Mind, the mental health charity, released figures last weekend that along with existing statistics and estimates paint a bleak picture of the daily experiences of the UK's workforce. Overcoming anxiety and stress appears to be a daily challenge for many, with over a quarter of people saying that they felt dread and apprehension before returning to work.

According to Mind's survey of over 2,050 workers, nearly 20% of workers have phoned in sick because of anxiety and stress caused at work. However, nearly all of these workers would rather lie about the true cause of their problems rather than admit that stress from their levels of work, poor management or personal difficulties with colleagues were causing them poor health.
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Family

The "Not Now, Maybe Later:" Parents Don't Devote Enough Time to Their Children


The Daily Mail
Thu, 20 May 2010 01:04 UTC
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© AlamyParents who have hectic work schedules are creating a generation of 'Maybe Later' children to whom they don't devote enough time.
Hectic work schedules are creating a generation of 'Maybe Later' children whose parents never have enough time to spend with them.

The phrase comes from the response dished out when Mummy or Daddy are asked to play a game or read a story or simply run around the garden. Despite children being parents' 'absolute highest priority in life', 80 percent admit they don't devote enough time to them, researchers found.

In fact, according to their study, working parents spend less than an hour a day giving their children one-to-one attention, notching up a mere 36 minutes. Children's responses to the survey painted a similar picture, claiming parents are too preoccupied with working, tidying or checking emails to address their needs.

Almost eight out of ten said they resented being parked in front of the television instead of being entertained and 60 percent said they wished their parents worked less. Two thirds said they would like it if their parents had more time to play with them.
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Bad Guys

Pig Virus Contaminates Rotavirus Vaccines, But FDA Says "No Problem"

Mike Adams
NaturalNews
Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© NaturalNews
Rotavirus vaccines are commonly given to children, and this year's batch of vaccines made by GlaxoSmithKline and Merck are contaminated with a pig virus, the FDA recently discovered. So the FDA called a meeting to determine whether injecting a pig virus into the bodies of young children might be some sort of problem requiring a recall of the vaccines.

Can you guess what conclusion the agency reached? As reported by Reuters, the FDA concluded "...it was safe for doctors to resume giving patients Glaxo's Rotarix and continue using Merck's Rotateq. The agency said there was no evidence the contamination caused any harm..."

In other words, as long as they can bury the evidence and deny any link between vaccines and health problems -- which has been the standard excuse of the FDA for decades -- they can continue to claim the vaccines are safe enough to inject into little children.

Never mind the fact that the pig virus found in the vaccines actually causes a wasting disease in baby pigs, giving them intense diarrhea and causing them to rapidly lose weight. DNA from these viruses was detected in the "master cells" used to make the vaccines.
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People

Shyness Negatively Affects Marital Quality


ScienceDaily
Tue, 18 May 2010 15:00 UTC
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© Christian Godefroy
Shyness can influence the quality of an ongoing relationship -- even one as important as marriage -- according to a study in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

A key question in psychology, and everyday life is the extent to which a person's personality determines the shape and quality of his or her social relationships. In two studies, the research explored the specific impact of shyness on marital quality.

In one of the studies, researchers Levi Baker and James K. McNulty found that shyness was linked both to more severe marital problems among newlyweds and to overall lower marital quality. Shyer people reported more problems with issues like trust, jealousy, money, and household management. In the second study, the researchers explicitly showed that it was prior shyness that was linked to marital difficulties later -- even declines in marital satisfaction -- and not early marital difficulties that were linked to later shyness.
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Research Shows Eating Nuts Lowers Cholesterol

S. L. Baker
NaturalNews
Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© Getty ImagesWalnuts
NaturalNews has covered how eating pistachios lowers the risk of lung cancer and how a diet rich in nuts may help prevent age-related blindness. Walnuts appear to have breast cancer-fighting properties, too. And now there's even more reason to be nuts about nuts -- scientists have found new evidence that nuts are heart healthy because they dramatically improve blood cholesterol levels, without drugs.

"Dietary interventions to lower blood cholesterol concentrations and to modify blood lipoprotein levels are the cornerstone of prevention and treatment plans for coronary heart disease," Joan Sabate, M.D., of Loma Linda University and colleagues stated in their report, which was just published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. "Recently, consumption of nuts has been the focus of intense research because of their potential to reduce coronary heart disease risk and to lower blood lipid (fat and cholesterol) levels based on their unique nutritional attributes."

The Loma Linda University researchers investigated data from 25 international nut consumption trials involving 583 women and men with high cholesterol or normal cholesterol levels. Each study compared a control group of research subjects to a group assigned to specifically eat nuts regularly. None of the study participants took cholesterol lowering drugs such as Big Pharma's widely prescribed statins.
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Pomegranates Reduce the Risk of Breast Cancer

David Gutierrez
NaturalNews
Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© iStockphotoPomegranate Fruit
Regular consumption of pomegranate may help prevent breast cancer, according to a study conducted by researchers from the City of Hope and published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.

Researchers tested 10 different naturally occurring pomegranate compounds, all of them in the ellagitannin family of chemicals. They found that some of the ellagitannins significantly reduced the activity of the enzyme aromatase in the laboratory.

In the body, aromatase transforms the hormone androgen into the hormone estrogen. Because 75 percent of breast tumors contain estrogen receptors and use the hormone to fuel their growth, aromatase inhibitors are a popular form of treatment for slowing the growth of breast tumors in post-menopausal women.

Pharmaceutical aromatase inhibitors include the AstraZeneca drug Armidex, the Pfizer drug Aromasin and the Novartis drug Femara.
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Natural Ways to Eliminate and Prevent Painful Kidney Stones

Tony Isaacs
NaturalNews
Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00 UTC
Kidney stones are mineral deposits which are made up of calcium, uric acid or the amino acid cysteine. There are many different theories as to how these "stones" form, but no one seems to know for sure. Regardless of how they form, kidney stones can often be avoided and eliminated naturally without resorting to mainstream drugs or treatments.

Experts agree that diet is a major factor. They note that kidney stones only develop about half as often in vegetarians and other people who eat plenty of fresh vegetables as is the case with people whose diets do not include plenty of vegetables. Other risk factors include obesity and repeated kidney infections.

One effective way to dissolve kidney stones is to consume large quantities of watermelon and nothing else for an entire day. Watermelon fasts help cleanse your kidneys and the rest of your system as well. Regular consumption of watermelon helps keep kidney stones at bay.
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Cow

Spicing the Meat Also Cuts the Cancer Risk


Physorg
Wed, 19 May 2010 18:54 UTC
Spices will do more than just enhance the taste of ground beef. They'll also cut down on the risk of compounds that can cause cancer.

J. Scott Smith, a Kansas State University food chemistry professor, has pursued different projects in recent years seeking ways to reduce heterocyclic amines (HCAs). HCAs are the carcinogenic compounds that are produced when muscle foods, such as ground beef patties, are barbecued, grilled, boiled or fried. Consuming HCAs through meat increases risk factors for colorectal, stomach, lung, pancreatic, mammary and prostate cancers.

Smith, in research supported by the Food Safety Consortium, found that certain spices containing natural antioxidants would reduce HCA levels by 40 percent when applied to beef patties during cooking.
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