Health & WellnessS


Cheeseburger

Antibiotic-Resistant Salmonella Burgers, with a Side of Flame Retardants

Tom Philpott
Grist
Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:11 UTC
Image
Sometimes I think I write a little too much about the meat industry. But the news it generates is so consistently grave, and so generally under-reported, that I can't resist.
Moreover, outbreaks of E. coli and MRSA are really ecological markers - feedback that our way of producing meat is deeply unsustainable and really quite dangerous. We ignore these news flashes from our ecosystem at our peril. So I scribble on.

Here's the latest: In Colorado, 14 people have fallen ill from hamburger meat tainted with antibiotic-resistant salmonella, the Boulder newspaper Daily Camera reports. (Note that antibiotic-resistant salmonella is distinct from MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant staph infection, increasingly associated with industrial meat production, that kills 20,000 Americans each year - more than AIDS.)
Read More...
Red Flag

Science Shows: Crops Absorb Livestock Antibiotics

Matthew Cimitile
Environmental Health News
Fri, 09 Jan 2009 20:16 UTC
Consumers have long been exposed to antibiotics in meat and milk. Now, new research shows that they also may be ingesting them from vegetables, even ones grown on organic farms.

For half a century, meat producers have fed antibiotics to farm animals to increase their growth and stave off infections. Now scientists have discovered that those drugs are sprouting up in unexpected places.

Vegetables such as corn, potatoes and lettuce absorb antibiotics when grown in soil fertilized with livestock manure, according to tests conducted at the University of Minnesota.
Read More...
Health

Tamiflu causes sickness and nightmares in children, study finds

David Rose
The Times Online
Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:14 UTC
Tamiflu
© TimesChildren report a range of side-effects, but the official advice is that Tamiflu is safe
More than half of children taking the swine flu drug Tamiflu experience side-effects such as nausea and nightmares, research suggests.

An estimated 150,000 people with flu symptoms were prescribed the drug through a new hotline and website last week, according to figures revealed yesterday.

Studies of children attending three schools in London and one in the South West showed that 51-53 per cent had one or more side-effects from the medication, which is offered to everyone in England with swine flu symptoms.

The research by the Health Protection Agency emerged as Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer for England, said that swine flu infections "may have reached a plateau".
Read More...
Magnify

Depression Increases the Risk of Major Diseases and Illnesses

Therese J. Borchard
Psych Central
Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:06 UTC
It's fairly known that depression can occur after a heart attack and can increase the likelihood of a second heart attack. But did you know that the flip side is also true? That depression itself can increase a person's risk for cardiovascular disease. A recent Johns Hopkins Health Alert reports:
Prospective studies show that people who had no CHD [coronary heart disease] but were depressed when the studies began were more likely to develop or die of heart disease. Depression also aggravates chronic illnesses such as diabetes, arthritis, back problems, and asthma, leading to more work absences, disability, and doctor visits.

Now results from a large Norwegian study suggests that depression increases the risk of death from most other major diseases, including stroke, respiratory illnesses, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease. It is also associated with accidental deaths.

Researchers gathered baseline information on physical and mental health for 61,349 Norwegian men and women, average age 48, and then noted the number of deaths and their causes during an average follow-up of nearly 4.5 years. Participants who had significant depression (2,866) had a higher risk of dying of most major causes of death, even after adjusting for age, medical conditions, and physical complaints at the study's outset.

The researchers theorize that depression may increase the risk of death by directly affecting the cardiovascular and nervous systems. In addition, depression may lead to poor health habits, such as smoking, alcohol abuse, and a sedentary lifestyle, and may affect people's ability to follow treatment regimens. Results reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine (volume 69, page 323).
Read More...
Magnify

The Mothers Act Disease Mongering Campaign - Part II

Evelyn Pringle
NaturalNews
Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:44 UTC
This is part two of an investigative series on The Mothers Act by Evelyn Pringle. Read part one here.

The Mothers Act legislation specifically defines the term "postpartum conditions" as "postpartum depression" or "postpartum psychosis." Use of the Act as an 8-year disease mongering campaign to further promote the new cottage industry of "reproductive psychiatry," or "reproductive mental health," comes from websites often run by people who will financially benefit from passage of the Act.
Read More...
Health

Breast Cancer Discovery: Vitamin A Derivative Normalizes Cell Growth

S. L. Baker
NaturalNews
Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:36 UTC
What if a substance was found that normalizes out-of-control cell growth? The result could be a way to treat and prevent cancer. And a new study offers hope that discovery may have already been made. Scientists from the University of Chicago have just published groundbreaking research in the journal Cell which concludes a powerful compound exists that can restore a healthy balance to cell processes. It's not a new chemotherapy agent or drug but one derived from nature -- retinoic acid, a derivative of vitamin A.

According to the American Cancer Society, estrogen fuels the growth of two out of three breast cancers. The female hormone can spur on cancer by altering the expression of certain genes, resulting in breast cells that become malignant and proliferate. The University of Chicago study found that retinoic acid can also alter these same estrogen-sensitive genes. But instead of causing cells to grow without restraint, a hallmark of cancer, retinoic acid restored normal balance to the cells and inhibited their growth.
Read More...
Syringe

Ten Things You're Not Supposed to Know about the Swine Flu Vaccine

Mike Adams
NaturalNews
Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:27 UTC
She was deathly afraid of the flu.
So she asked her doc what she should do.
He jabbed her unseen
With a swine flu vaccine
Blurting, "Darling, I haven't a clue."
- by the Health Ranger
Let's not beat around the bush on this issue: The swine flu vaccines now being prepared for mass injection into infants, children, teens and adults have never been tested and won't be tested before the injections begin. In Europe, where flu vaccines are typically tested on hundreds (or thousands) of people before being unleashed on the masses, the European Medicines Agency is allowing companies to skip the testing process entirely.
Read More...
Heart - Black

Meth Contamination: Illnesses Afflict Homes With a Criminal Past

Shaila Dewan and Robbie Brown
New York Times
Fri, 31 Jul 2009 05:54 UTC
The spacious home where the newly wed Rhonda and Jason Holt began their family in 2005 was plagued by mysterious illnesses. The Holts' three babies were ghostlike and listless, with breathing problems that called for respirators, repeated trips to the emergency room and, for the middle child, Anna, the heaviest dose of steroids a toddler can take.

Ms. Holt, a nurse, developed migraines. She and her husband, a factory worker, had kidney ailments.

It was not until February, more than five years after they moved in, that the couple discovered the root of their troubles: their house, across the road from a cornfield in this town some 70 miles south of Nashville, was contaminated with high levels of methamphetamine left by the previous occupant, who had been dragged from the attic by the police.
Read More...
Calculator

Americans Spend $34 Billion on Alternative Medicine

Salynn Boyles
WebMD Health News
Fri, 31 Jul 2009 04:13 UTC
11% of Out-of-Pocket Health Care Spending Goes to CAM

Americans spend almost a third as much money out-of pocket on herbal supplements and other alternative medicines as they do on prescription drugs, a new government report shows.

Out-of-pocket spending on herbal supplements, chiropractic visits, meditation, and other forms of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) was estimated at $34 billion in a single year.

The estimate was based on responses to a national health survey conducted in 2007 by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
Read More...
Health

Food allergies get curiouser and curiouser

Andrew Watson
New Scientist
Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:26 UTC
Image
© Gregor Schuster/GettyWhere you live may affect the allergies you are prone to.
We were just settling down for our flight when the captain's voice came over the PA system. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am sorry to disturb you, but we have a passenger on board who has a severe nut allergy. Could I ask you please not to open or eat any food that contains nuts for the duration of the flight? I am sorry for any inconvenience. We hope you enjoy your flight."

It was no coincidence that at the time I was on my way to a conference on food allergy in Vienna, Austria. Hazel Gowland, food adviser to the The Anaphylaxis Campaign in the UK, was travelling for the same reason, and it was for her benefit that the captain made his request.

While such an announcement may not be an everyday occurrence, most of us are familiar with the idea that peanuts can trigger a life-threatening allergic reaction. But peanuts aren't the biggest concern in every country. Passengers from Greece, where peanut allergy is rather rare, might have been more concerned about the melon in the fruit salad. A passenger from the south of Italy might have pushed the in-flight apple juice to one side for fear that it might trigger a skin rash and stomach pains, a reaction that would puzzle a compatriot from northern Italy.
Read More...