Health & WellnessS


Attention

'Gender-bending' fear over plastic drinks bottles

Jenny Hope
DailyMailOnline
Sun, 24 May 2009 23:05 UTC
Drink from plastic bottles can raise the body's levels of a controversial 'gender-bending' chemical by more than two thirds, according to tests.

Experts have been concerned about the possible health effects of bisphenol A (BPA) - an everyday chemical used in many plastic food and drink containers and tins as well as clear baby bottles - which is officially classified as toxic in some countries.

A study found that participants who drank for a week from polycarbonate bottles showed a 69 per cent increase in their urine of BPA, which mimics the female sex hormone oestrogen.

Researchers did not say how much liquid was drunk per day.

Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health studied 77 students, who had first undergone a seven-day 'washout' phase in which they drank all cold beverages from stainless steel bottles in order to minimise BPA exposure.

They were then given two polycarbonate bottles and asked to drink all cold beverages from them during the next week.

Previous studies have suggested that high levels of BPA consumption are linked to birth defects, growth problems and an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes.
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Eye 1

Flashback Campaign of Censorship Against Nutritional Supplements Continues

Mike Adams
Natural News
Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:31 UTC
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, continuing its campaign of censorship against truthfully-described herbal supplements, seized $71,000 worth of Charantea herbal supplements last week in a raid involving U.S. Marshals. The company, Fulllife Natural Options, was accused by the FDA of marketing an "unapproved drug" due to the truthful marketing claims that accurately describe the blood sugar lowering effects of the product's main ingredient: Bitter Melon fruits.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, there is no such thing as an herb, food or supplement that has any biological activity whatsoever on the human body (other than simply providing calories), and any person who dares to make such a claim is immediately considered to be in violation of the FDA's authority. Any substance that has any therapeutic effect whatsoever on the human body is considered by the FDA to be a "drug" and must be approved as such -- a lengthy process costing about $800 million and requiring the favor of an agency that practically works for Big Pharma.
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Magic Wand

How Taking Ginger Can Help Ease Nausea After Chemotherapy

Caroline Bellamy
Mail Online
Sun, 24 May 2009 20:27 UTC
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Benefit: Ginger is thought to block the chemicals that cause vomiting colds
Long hailed as a remedy for motion and morning sickness, ginger has now been proven to reduce nausea in patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Nausea is a common side effect of chemotherapy, affecting about 70 per cent of patients, and many are given anti-nausea drugs to combat it. However, a study by a New York university found that small doses of ginger alongside these drugs can reduce queasiness by up to 40 per cent.

Although researchers cannot pinpoint why ginger - the stem of the plant Zingiber officinale - reduces nausea, one theory is that its compounds inhibit the release of a chemical that causes vomiting.
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Magic Wand

Princess pedestal: How many girls are on one?

Martha Irvine
Associated Press
Sun, 24 May 2009 19:53 UTC
All the pink, frilly and sparkly - from the princess dresses to the four-foot-high pink castle in the playroom - isn't necessarily what Caroline Morris would choose for her eldest daughter.

She doesn't want to stop her 6-year-old from being who she is. But as princess fever has reached a new high with this generation of girls, she and other parents are feeling the urge to rein in the would-be reigning ones, just a little.

That's especially true in tough economic times, when more parents are focusing on messages of frugality and humility that, they say, just don't fit with the princess mentality that has become a rite of passage for many girls.

Morris knows, of course, that some parents think such worries are ridiculous. "But what happens when our daughters get to adulthood and they realize that the world isn't a fairy tale?" asks Morris, who lives in suburban Atlanta and insists she doesn't mind imaginative play. She just wants her girls to strive for something beyond being "pretty and glamorous."
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Heart

People by Nature Are Universally Optimistic, Study Says


Eureka Alert
Sun, 24 May 2009 14:00 UTC
Despite calamities from economic recessions, wars and famine to a flu epidemic afflicting the Earth, a new study from the University of Kansas and Gallup indicates that humans are by nature optimistic.

The study, to be presented Sunday, May 24, 2009, at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science in San Francisco, found optimism to be universal and borderless.

Data from the Gallup World Poll drove the findings, with adults in more than 140 countries providing a representative sample of 95 percent of the world's population. The sample included more than 150,000 adults.

Eighty-nine percent of individuals worldwide expect the next five years to be as good or better than their current life, and 95 percent of individuals expected their life in five years to be as good or better than their life was five years ago.
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Cow

Organic Vs. Conventional: Have You Been Robbed?

Makenna Goodman
Huffington Post
Wed, 13 May 2009 01:28 UTC
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It's Saturday afternoon and you're checking out at your local co-op. You're behind another member of your community, lining up your organic eggs, organic pork chops, organic milk, organic lamb shank, and organic cheese. You feel pretty content. You're eating right, in a world full of chaos. Your body loves you.

And probably best of all, your act of buying organic is part of a political movement; you're supporting a population of small farmers, the precious few who have decided that animals are more than merely walking meat slabs, and that vegetables should be birthed from sunshine and good soil, not created in a lab.
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Syringe

Children Who Get Flu Vaccine Have Three Times Risk Of Hospitalization For Flu, Study Suggests


Science Daily
Sat, 23 May 2009 18:21 UTC
The inactivated flu vaccine does not appear to be effective in preventing influenza-related hospitalizations in children, especially the ones with asthma. In fact, children who get the flu vaccine are more at risk for hospitalization than their peers who do not get the vaccine, according to new research that will be presented on May 19, at the 105th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego.

Flu vaccine (trivalent inactivated flu vaccine - TIV) has unknown effects on asthmatics.

"The concerns that vaccination maybe associated with asthma exacerbations have been disproved with multiple studies in the past, but the vaccine's effectiveness has not been well-established," said Avni Joshi, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. "This study was aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the TIV in children overall, as well as the children with asthma, to prevent influenza-related hospitalization."
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Info

Should You Detox to Get Rid of Chemicals?

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Sat, 23 May 2009 17:04 UTC
Detoxification is growing increasingly popular. The basic premise is that your body accumulates more toxins in the modern world than its natural detoxification system (your liver, kidneys and lungs) can get rid of. Proponents say that chemicals from pesticides, chlorine, bleach and ammonia, and carbon monoxide build up over time and cause disease.

Dr. Tanya Edwards, director of the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Integrative Medicine, often starts patients out with a change in diet. Because Americans tend to have diets that lead to constipation, a change in diet can accomplish the same thing as many herbal detoxification products that are really just laxatives.
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Smiley

Laugh Your Way to Health

Cindie Leonard
Natural News
Fri, 22 May 2009 22:23 UTC
In Jimmy Buffett's famous song, "Changes in Latitudes," a key line in the chorus is: "If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane." This verse in this fun and somewhat philosophical song is supported by scientific research. Our mental health is positively enhanced by laughter.

Using laughter as medicine is not a new concept. As early as the 14th Century, French surgeon Henri de Mondeville used humor therapy to aid recovery from surgery. He wrote:
"Let the surgeon take care to regulate the whole regimen of the patient's life for joy and happiness, allowing his relatives and special friends to cheer him and by having someone tell him jokes."
In the 1930s U.S. hospitals began to bring in clowns to cheer children hospitalized with polio. In 1972, the Gesundheit Institute (of Patch Adams fame) was founded to bring "fun, friendship, and the joy of service back into health care."
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Attention

Best of the Web: Doctors Warn: Avoid Genetically Modified Food

Jeffrey M. Smith
ResponsibleTechnology.org
Tue, 19 May 2009 02:06 UTC
monsanto
© Unknown
On May 19th, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) called on "Physicians to educate their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM (genetically modified) foods when possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks."[1] They called for a moratorium on GM foods, long-term independent studies, and labeling. AAEM's position paper stated, "Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food," including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. They conclude, "There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation," as defined by recognized scientific criteria. "The strength of association and consistency between GM foods and disease is confirmed in several animal studies."

More and more doctors are already prescribing GM-free diets. Dr. Amy Dean, a Michigan internal medicine specialist, and board member of AAEM says, "I strongly recommend patients eat strictly non-genetically modified foods." Ohio allergist Dr. John Boyles says "I used to test for soy allergies all the time, but now that soy is genetically engineered, it is so dangerous that I tell people never to eat it."
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