Health & WellnessS


Red Flag

Urban Pollution 'Raises Blood Pressure'


BBC News
Tue, 18 May 2010 18:25 UTC
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Pollution has been linked to poor respiratory health
City pollution, previously linked to poor respiratory health, has now been linked to raised blood pressure.

German researchers looked at 5,000 people and found long-term exposure increased blood pressure, even when other key factors were considered.

The team, which has presented its work to the American Thoracic Society, says efforts should be made to reduce exposure to pollution.

UK experts said the paper offered an "interesting theory".
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Link Between Farming and Breast Cancer in Women Studied

Paul Morden
Ifpress.com
Fri, 14 May 2010 18:14 UTC
Sarina - A startling link between farming and breast cancer in women is being studied by two former local researchers.

Jim Brophy and Margaret Keith, adjunct assistant professors at the University of Windsor, will speak about their research at a May 18 forum in Point Edward offered by Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

Brophy said they looked for groups in Windsor with elevated cancer risks connected to their jobs, expecting to find it in male industrial workers.

"To our surprise, the biggest group we had were women with breast cancer who had a history of farming," Brophy said.
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Cell Phone

Study Shows: Long Conversations on Mobile Phones Can Increase Risk of Cancer

Daniel Martin
Daily Mail
Sun, 16 May 2010 16:53 UTC
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At risk: A decade-long study has found a link between prolonged mobile phone use - more than 30 minutes a day - and the risk of brain cancer.
Prolonged use of mobile phones over many years could increase the risk of cancer, scientists have found.

However, a landmark study by the World Health Organisation into the safety of mobiles is expected to stop short of concluding that they definitely cause cancer - because the evidence is not conclusive enough.

And, despite spending £15million investigating handsets over the past decade, the authors will admit there is a need for further research into their health effects before definitive advice can be given.

The WHO's report will not be released until later this week, but two national newspapers reported yesterday that it will quote evidence saying people who use mobile phones for at least 30 minutes a day for 10 years have a greater risk - perhaps as much as a third higher - of developing brain cancer.
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Family

To Kids, Facebook is More Important than Family

Jane Hamilton
The Sun
Tue, 18 May 2010 10:00 UTC
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© Facebook
More than a quarter of kids think Facebook is more important than their parents.

A shocking new study for National Family Week found while two thirds of parents believe the family is the biggest factor in their kids lives, just 49 per cent of children agree.

A huge 28 per cent of youngsters rated Facebook as having more influence over them than money, health, sport, pets and school.

Worryingly less than a quarter of parents thought technology impacted on their children's lives.

Kids living in single parent homes with just a mum found Facebook most important with 62 per cent ranking it their main influence. Just one in ten living with their dad and seven per cent living with both parents though the social networking site important.
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Bad Guys

Diet Soda Now Promoted as Medicine to Stop Kidney Stones

Mike Adams
NaturalNews
Tue, 18 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© NaturalNews
The "most retarded science journal of the year" award goes to the Journal of Urology which has published an article suggesting that diet soda is actually an effective type of medicine for preventing kidney stones (April 19, 2010 issue). The research was led by Dr Brian H. Eisner, a urologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who is apparently completely clueless about human nutrition and the toxicity of aspartame.

According to Dr Eisner, diet sodas are not only good medicine for preventing kidney stones; they're also a good source of water hydration. Noting that patients need to consume 2-3 liters of water each day, Dr Eisner said in a Reuters article, "If drinking these sodas helps people reach that goal, then that may be a good thing."

If you're thinking this is some sort of April Fools joke, it isn't. Dr Eisner and the Journal of Urology are somehow convinced this is good research and that diet sodas may actually have a positive medicinal effect on the human body. Instances of such "scientific" stupidity appear to be increasing in western medicine where doctors remain wildly ignorant of the effects on the human body caused by processed ingredients or toxic chemical additives.
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Lemon Grass Halts Headaches Much Like Aspirin

Ethan A. Huff
NaturalNews
Tue, 18 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© Aiden BrooksLemon Grass Plant
Popping an aspirin or an ibuprofen to relieve a headache has become commonplace in the industrialized world, but there are actually natural plants and herbs that are capable of helping to relieve pain as well. Lemon grass is a great example of this, as researchers from Griffith University recently released the results of a five-year study on the plant showing that it is capable of relieving headaches and migraines.

Indigenous Australians have long used lemon grass as a traditional medicine, and modern medicine is finally catching on to its therapeutic power. And in the recent study published in the journal, Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, lemon grass was found in tests to inhibit the clumping of human blood platelets in a similar fashion to the way aspirin does.

Professor Lyn Griffiths, Dr. Darren Grice and Dr. Kelly Rogers worked on the study which found that a specific extract in lemon grass, called eugenol, exhibited an effect similar to aspirin in preventing clots.
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Clear Up the Misconceptions About Omega 6 Fatty Acids

Andrew Kim
NaturalNews
Tue, 18 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© Asia.ruSunflower oil is rich in Omega 6
Popular opinion says that we need more omega 3, and that too much omega 6 and too little omega 3 will cause cancer and inflammation. Omega 6 fats have been so vilified and misunderstood in the health community that they have become the new saturated fat or cholesterol.

Most of us are getting too much omega 6. However, there is no insight in that statement because most of the omega 6 in our diets is highly processed and therefore, poisonous.

We must avoid ALL supermarket oils and add in COLD PROCESSED, ORGANIC OMEGA 6 RICH OILS. Omega 6 fatty acids, or linoleic acid, are essential to health. The body cannot make them, so they must be replenished in the diet regularly.
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New Research: Olive Oil Can Prevent Ulcerative Colitis

S. L. Baker
NaturalNews
Tue, 18 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© Getty Images
Ulcerative colitis is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that brings untold pain and misery to about 120,000 people of all ages in the UK and over a million in the US. It produces inflammation and sores in the lining of the rectum and colon that bleed, produce pus and cause frequent diarrhea. This is a serious disease that often causes hospitalization. In fact, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), 25 to 40 percent of people suffering from ulcerative colitis eventually have their colons removed because of massive bleeding, severe illness, rupture of the colon, or risk of cancer.

Powerful side effect-laden drugs like steroids are used to dampen down symptoms but there's no cure. However, scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have discovered there could be a way to stop ulcerative colitis from developing in the first place. The preventative treatment is simple, healthy, inexpensive and easy to find -- olive oil.

UEA researchers announced this news recently at the Digestive Disease Week conference held in New Orleans. Their findings revealed that people with a diet rich in oleic acid are far less likely to develop ulcerative colitis. Oleic acid is a monounsaturated fatty acid found in abundance in olive oil. It is also a component of peanut oil, grapeseed oil and butter.
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Prostate Cancer Screenings have Huge Rate of False Positives

David Gutierrez
NaturalNews
Tue, 18 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© iStockphoto
One in eight men screened for prostate cancer will be falsely diagnosed with the disease, according to a study reported in the British Journal of Cancer.

Routing screening for levels of the prostate specific antigen (PSA), a marker of prostate inflammation and a presumed prostate cancer risk factor, is not yet recommended in the European Union. The European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer, currently underway in seven countries, is intended to gather research into whether the practice should be adopted.

Recent data from the study suggested that regular screening could reduce the disease's death rate by 20 percent. The most recent data from the Finnish part of the study is now raising questions as to the wider cost of that improved survival rate.
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Info

Cochlear Implants Slightly Less Helpful in the Elderly

Rachael Myers Lowe
Reuters
Mon, 17 May 2010 16:29 UTC
Cochlear Implant
© REUTERS/STR NewA view of the cochlear implant near Santiago, December 4, 2004.
New York - People over age 65 are likely to see significant although less pronounced improvement in hearing from cochlear implants than their younger adult counterparts, a new study released today suggests.

Researchers from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee compared the post-implant hearing scores of 28 people who received cochlear implants when they were aged 65 or older, with that of 28 people who received cochlear implants at ages 18 to 64. All of the study subjects had similar levels of hearing impairment before they received the hearing device.

When tested one year after the implant, hearing scores indicated that both the younger adults and the elderly benefited significantly from the implants, but the elderly patients benefited less.

On a standard hearing test that measures the ability to distinguish words in sentences, the average pre-implant score for the 65 and older crowd was 22. Their score jumped to 70 one year after the implant. For the younger group, the average pre-implant score was 23 and their score jumped to 83 at one year.
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