Scientists at the University of Copenhagen have discovered that Vitamin D is crucial to activating our immune defenses and that without sufficient intake of the vitamin, the killer cells of the immune system -- T cells -- will not be able to react to and fight off serious infections in the body.

For T cells to detect and kill foreign pathogens such as clumps of bacteria or viruses, the cells must first be 'triggered' into action and 'transform' from inactive and harmless immune cells into killer cells that are primed to seek out and destroy all traces of a foreign pathogen.

The researchers found that the T cells rely on vitamin D in order to activate and they would remain dormant, naïve to the possibility of threat if vitamin D is lacking in the blood.

Chemical Reaction that Enables Activation

In order for the specialized immune cells (T cells) to protect the body from dangerous viruses or bacteria, the T cells must first be exposed to traces of the foreign pathogen. This occurs when they are presented by other immune cells in the body (known as macrophages) with suspicious 'cell fragments' or 'traces' of the pathogen. The T cells then bind to the fragment and divide and multiply into hundreds of identical cells that are all focused on the same pathogen type. The sequence of chemical changes that the T cells undergo enables them to both be 'sensitized to' and able to deliver a targeted immune response.

Professor Carsten Geisler from the Department of International Health, Immunology and Microbiology explains that "when a T cell is exposed to a foreign pathogen, it extends a signaling device or 'antenna' known as a vitamin D receptor, with which it searches for vitamin D. This means that the T cell must have vitamin D or activation of the cell will cease. If the T cells cannot find enough vitamin D in the blood, they won't even begin to mobilize."

Before you chug down another regular soda, or spoon sugar into your tea or coffee, consider this: There's a heated debate going on over the health risks of consuming too much sugar, high-fructose corn syrup and other caloric sweeteners.

On one side: Leading nutrition experts who believe that these sweeteners, including those used in soft drinks, tea, coffee and countless other foods and beverages, add empty calories to people's diets and promote weight gain. And they say emerging scientific research indicates that consuming too much of these sweeteners may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and other health problems.

On the other side: industry groups representing sugar and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) that say their products are natural and don't cause weight gain or health problems. They have launched advertising and marketing campaigns.

How to get genetically-modified food out of your diet

An Activist's Toolkit

How would you react if you discovered that most of the foods you ate every day contained hidden ingredients that could be slowly poisoning you?

Disbelief? Sadness? Fear? Anger? Retribution? All of the above? Well, surely the first thing you should do is: STOP EATING THEM! Genetically modified crops such as corn, canola and soy are being used in over 70% of the processed foods available in your local grocery store. So you might be forgiven for thinking that if genetically modified ingredients are so widespread, they must be safe to eat, right? Wrong. It's just a shame the FDA and the corporate-controlled North American mainstream media persist in turning a blind eye. (See The Big GMO Cover-Up [1] by Jeffrey M. Smith.)

Of course, the last thing that the pro-GM food companies want is for consumers to get informed and use their immense power to force change in the marketplace. This has already happened in Europe where genetically modified ingredients have to be labeled by law. As a result, food companies don't use genetically modified ingredients! However, in the absence of equivalent labeling requirements in the US or Canada, North American consumers have been left in the dark for over 13 years and are unwittingly taking place in a huge human feeding experiment.

We asked Jeffrey M. Smith, international bestselling author of Seeds of Deception and Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods, to give us some practical steps on how to get GMOs out of our diet and off the face of the Earth, forever.

Grapefruits have been around since the 18th century when they were discovered in Barbados. Botanists think the grapefruit is the result of natural cross breading between the orange and the pomelo. While their origin may not be fully understood one thing is certain: grapefruits are one of the healthiest foods on the planet. They contain high amounts of vitamins and minerals and researchers are continuously adding to grapefruit's long list of health benefits.

Grapefruits are an excellent source of vitamin C. Vitamin C helps to support the immune system and can help reduce cold symptoms or the severity of the cold symptoms. Vitamin C may also reduce the severity of asthma, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Researchers have shown that eating fruits and vegetables high in vitamin C can reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer.

Grapefruits not only contain high amounts of vitamin C, but they also contain large amounts of potassium, vitamin A, and Fiber. Grapefruit contains pectin which is a soluble fiber that has been shown to lower cholesterol and slow the buildup of plaque on the inside walls of blood vessels. Ruby red grapefruit juice also contains lycopene which helps prevent LDL (bad cholesterol) from damaging artery walls. Drinking the juice will give you all of the vitamins and minerals that the actual fruit does but it doesn't contain the fiber.

There's been a sharp drop in the percentage of America's children being bullied or beaten up by their peers, according to a new national survey by experts who believe anti-bullying programs are having an impact.

The study, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, found that the percentage of children who reported being physically bullied over the previous year declined from nearly 22 percent in 2003 to less than 15 percent in 2008. The percentage reporting they'd been assaulted by other youths, including their siblings, dropped from 45 percent to 38.4 percent.

The lead author of the study, David Finkelhor, said he was "very encouraged."

"Bullying is the foundation on which a lot of subsequent aggressive behavior gets built," said Finkelhor, director of the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center. "If it's going down, we will reap benefits in the future in the form of lower rates of violent crime and spousal assault."

New policies that eliminate sugary beverages and junk foods from schools may help slow childhood obesity, according to a San Francisco State University study published in the March issue of the journal Health Affairs.

"This is one of the very first comprehensive investigations that examined whether childhood obesity trends changed after new statewide policies were enacted in California," said the study's first author Emma Sanchez-Vaznaugh, assistant professor of health education at SF State. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Healthy Eating Research, New Connections Program funded the $100,000 project.

Childhood obesity is increasingly prevalent in the United States, with obesity rates more than tripling during the last 30 years. Today, one in three children is either overweight or obese. Last year, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers reported the first leveling of these child obesity rates. However, there were no reasons given as to why trends might have stalled.

More than 1,000 people in New Jersey and New York have been sickened with mumps since August.

Almost all of those infected with the virus are of the Orthodox or Hasidic Jewish population. The mumps outbreak began at a summer camp for Orthodox Jewish boys in Sullivan County, New York. Health officials have linked the outbreak to an 11-year-old boy at the camp. He had recently returned from the United Kingdom, where a mumps outbreak had spread to 4,000 people.

The boy had been fully vaccinated against the mumps, as had 77 percent of the patients in New Jersey. The vaccine is not 100 percent effective, according to the CDC.

As many as 90 percent of all black children may be deficient in vitamin D, according to a new analysis conducted by researchers from Harvard Medical School, the University of Colorado-Denver and Massachusetts General Hospital, and published in the journal Pediatrics.

The American Academy of Pediatrics defines an adequate vitamin D blood level in children as 50 nanomoles per liter (nmol/L), but many researchers have begun to argue that 75 nmol/L are actually necessary for good health.

"There are a lot of studies demonstrating associations between low levels of vitamin D and a laundry list of poor health outcomes," lead researcher Jonathan Mansbach said.

Vitamin D plays a critical role in bone health and development, and guidelines for safe levels were originally set with those effects in mind. Yet new research suggests that higher levels may be necessary for the vitamin to help regulate the immune system and protect against cancer, heart disease, autoimmune disorders and infection.

Washington -- Germs in the gut may help drive appetite, says new research into the link between obesity and bacteria.

Previous studies have shown that overweight people and normal-weight people harbor different types and amounts of microbes that naturally live in the intestine. To determine why, scientists are peering into mice.

Emory University researchers noticed that mice with an altered immune system were fatter than regular mice, and had a collection of disorders - high blood pressure, and cholesterol and insulin problems - called metabolic syndrome, often a precursor of heart disease and diabetes.

Everyone is born with a sterile digestive tract that within days is flooded with bacteria from first foods and the environment. Altered immunity in these mice meant somewhat different bacteria grew in their intestines than in normal rodents - driving bigger appetites, metabolic syndrome and a low-grade inflammation believed key to obesity's illnesses, Emory associate pathology professor Andrew Gewirtz reported Thursday in the journal Science.

Bu Gu Zhi (botanical name Psoralea corylifolia) is an annual plant in the "Pea family" native to Asia where it often grows as a common weed. It is known as the "Scruffy Pea". The plant reaches a height of about 2 feet producing yellow clover-like flowers from spring to the summer followed by short black pods containing yellow-black seeds.

Bu Gu Zhi is cultivated in China for its medicinal use. The tiny seeds (with pods) of the plant are used in Chinese medicine as a kidney yang tonic to improve general vitality and treat conditions such as urinary complaints and impotence. The seeds have also been used with very good success to treat alopecia (hair loss).

Modern research has shown that the seed can encourage the production of new skin pigment and that it is of value in the treatment of various skin disorders, including vitiligo and psoriasis. Both internal and external use causes the skin to produce new pigment, especially after exposure to sunlight or ultraviolet light. When applied externally, it can cause some temporary photosensitivity.