Health & WellnessS


Health

Childhood Malnutrition Could Weaken Brain Function in Elderly


Science Daily
Sun, 04 Jul 2010 12:54 UTC
Malnutrition early in life appears to diminish brain function in older adulthood, according to a study led by a Michigan State University researcher that has implications for many poor, developing nations.

The study of more than 15,000 elderly people in China suggests that fighting hunger throughout childhood not only saves lives and improves health but also may enhance cognitive well-being in late life. The study appears in the journal Social Science & Medicine.

Across the world, 178 million children under age 5 are stunted or short in stature due to hunger, infection or both, said Zhenmei Zhang, MSU assistant professor of sociology and lead researcher on the project.

"It's important for policymakers to know that investing in children really has long-term benefits, not only for those individuals but for society as a whole," Zhang said. "For example, fighting childhood hunger can reduce future medical expenditures. It's very expensive for families and society to take care of people who suffer from dementia or cognitive impairment."
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Health

Memory Problems Not the Only Predictor of Later Mild Cognitive Impairment


Science Daily
Sun, 04 Jul 2010 12:48 UTC
Mild cognitive impairment is often seen as a transition stage between the cognitive decline of normal aging and the more serious problems of Alzheimer's disease. But what leads to mild cognitive impairment?

Researchers at Rush University Medical Center have found that lower, though not necessarily impaired, performance on tests measuring story learning or retention and processing speed in motor tasks dependent on visual control, as well as symptoms of depression, predicted subsequent cognitive decline in a normal population.

None of the factors alone predicted the onset of mild cognitive impairment a year later. Rather, poor learning had to be accompanied by either slower visuomotor processing speed or depressive symptoms to be significantly related to later problems in cognition.

Using an advanced statistical methodology that analyzed multiple variables at once, the researchers also found that neither gender nor the apolipoprotein E genotype -- long believed to be risk factors for mild cognitive impairment -- had any substantial influence on later impairment.
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Brick Wall

US: Health Overhaul May Mean Longer ER Waits, Crowding

Carla K. Johnson
The Associated Press
Fri, 02 Jul 2010 10:00 UTC
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© Kiichiro Sato/AP PhotoA patient is transferred to Hope Children's Hospital from Advocate Trinity Hospital's emergency room in Chicago.
Emergency rooms, the only choice for patients who can't find care elsewhere, may grow even more crowded with longer wait times under the nation's new health law.

That might come as a surprise to those who thought getting 32 million more people covered by health insurance would ease ER crowding.

It would seem these patients would be able to get routine health care by visiting a doctor's office, as most of the insured do.

But it's not that simple.
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Butterfly

Gardening 'Can Boost Literacy and Numeracy'

Graeme Paton
Telegraph.co.uk
Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:28 UTC
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Gardening should be added to the curriculum because it can improve children's literacy, numeracy and problem-solving skills, it is claimed.

Pupils should be encouraged to grow vegetables and tend flowerbeds because gardening boosts a child's development and improve standards in other subjects.

Academics from the National Foundation for Educational Research surveyed 1,300 teachers and studied 10 schools to examine the impact of gardening on pupils.
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Info

Study Finds: High Fructose Diet May Contribute to High Blood Pressure


Science Alert
Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:17 UTC
People who eat a diet high in fructose, in the form of added sugar, are at increased risk of developing high blood pressure, or hypertension, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The results suggest that cutting back on foods and beverages containing a lot of fructose (sugar) might decrease one's risk of developing hypertension.
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Syringe

Seventy Million Expired Flu Vaccines About to be Incinerated as Waste

Mike Adams
NaturalNews
Fri, 02 Jul 2010 06:00 UTC
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© NaturalNews
Forty million doses of H1N1 swine flu vaccine are about to go up in flames, and another 30 million will soon meet the same fate. They've expired, you see, and despite the CDC's best efforts to push flu vaccines on the American people, the industry still couldn't find a way to offload seventy million doses of a vaccine that doesn't even work. So crank up the incinerators! When it comes to flu vaccines in the USA, it turns out we all got burned.

I could have told you this was coming. Actually, myself and a long list of other natural health authors, doctors and independent journalists did tell you this was coming. We warned over a year ago that the swine flu pandemic was a hoax, and that the CDC and WHO were fanning the flames of a this false pandemic in order to increase demand for H1N1 vaccines that would inflate the profits of their corporate masters (the drug companies).

What we didn't know at the time was how deep the corruption at the CDC and WHO really goes. It turns out that key advisors in both organizations were on the take from Big Pharma, collecting cash payments even as they pushed for a global declaration of a pandemic that never appeared. This was more than a mere statistical error or "guessing on the safe side" -- this was a planned conspiracy to create demand for vaccines by scaring the public into taking a drug that the industry already knows doesn't even work. The WHO still won't release the names of the discredit scientists who urged it to declare a stage six pandemic.
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Stop

They kill 7,000 people a year, but trans fats won't be banned

Sean Poulter
Mail Online
Fri, 02 Jul 2010 18:21 UTC
Trans fats
© Unknown
A ban on dangerous trans fats in food has been ruled out by the Government, despite evidence that they are responsible for as many as 7,000 premature deaths a year.

Official health watchdog NICE has called for a veto on the killer fats, which are blamed for high cholesterol in the blood, clogged arteries and heart attacks.

However Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has decided to reject the advice and sided with the food industry - which argues a ban is unnecessary.

In a separate announcement, he told the British Medical Association the Government was likely to opt out of legislating on health and diet.

Mr Lansley said it was wrong to lecture people on what they should eat and argued the efforts of Jamie Oliver to tackle child obesity and ill-health had failed.

NICE, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, insists banning trans fats is key to combating as many as 40,000 early deaths a year linked to junk food high in fat, salt and sugar.

It said: 'Industrially-produced trans fatty acids constitute a significant health hazard.'
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Arrow Up

Flashback Study Finds Blueberries Beat Cholesterol Drug

Lee Bowman
Seattlepi.com
Tue, 24 Aug 2004 17:56 UTC
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A compound in blueberries appears to be as effective at lowering cholesterol as a commercial drug, with fewer side effects, according to a new study using cells from rat livers.

The compound, called pterostilbene, has the potential to be developed into a natural medicine for lowering cholesterol, particularly for people who don't respond well to conventional lipid-lowering drugs, said Agnes Rimando, a research chemist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She described the findings yesterday before the American Chemical Society's annual meeting in Philadelphia.
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Attention

Dursban Lawsuits Allege Neurological Injuries, Birth Defects from Banned Pesticide


NewsInferno
Fri, 02 Jul 2010 17:41 UTC
Dursban (chlorpyrifos), a pesticide made by the Dow Chemical Company, is the subject of numerous lawsuits. The pesticide is known to be particularly dangerous to children, and has been tied to birth defects and neurological problems. Dursban is so dangerous that many of its uses were banned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2000. However, its use has not been entirely eliminated.

Plaintiffs in Dursban lawsuits allege that exposure to the pesticide poisoned their children, thus causing nerve damage, including paralysis, as well as birth defects. Other maladies alleged in Dursban lawsuits include cancer, infertility, hepatitis, pancreatitis, paralysis and mental retardation.

Dursban is an organophosphate pesticide that kills by attacking the nervous system. Such chemicals were first developed in the 1930s by the Nazi regime as chemical weapons. Prior to the EPA ban, Dursban was the most popular household pesticide in the U.S., and could be found in over 800 products. In one sampling of American children, more than 90 percent of the study group had chlorpyrifos present in their urine.
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Health

Pot Smoking Can Worsen Schizophrenia

Shadra Bruce
Mental Health News
Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:28 UTC
marijuana
© Unknown
Smoking pot is illegal in several countries, but that doesn't slow down the use of marijuana for both health and recreational reasons. However, it has always been assumed that mental health patients have been using pot as a self-medication to help alleviate the symptoms of their mental disorder.

A recent study by researchers at Maastricht University in the Netherlands has discovered that schizophrenic patients who use marijuana may see an initial benefit from smoking pot, but their symptoms become worse with pot use.
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