Health & WellnessS


Pills

Hormone-mimics In Plastic Water Bottles Act As Functional Estrogens


ScienceDaily
Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:23 UTC
Plastic packaging is not without its downsides, and if you thought mineral water was 'clean', it may be time to think again. According to Martin Wagner and Jörg Oehlmann from the Department of Aquatic Ecotoxicology at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, plastic mineral water bottles contaminate drinking water with estrogenic chemicals.

In an analysis of commercially available mineral waters, the researchers found evidence of estrogenic compounds leaching out of the plastic packaging into the water. What's more, these chemicals are potent in vivo and result in an increased development of embryos in the New Zealand mud snail. These findings, which show for the first time that substances leaching out of plastic food packaging materials act as functional estrogens, are published in Springer's journal Environmental Science and Pollution Research.

Wagner and Oehlmann looked at whether the migration of substances from packaging material into foodstuffs contributes to human exposure to man-made hormones. They analyzed 20 brands of mineral water available in Germany - nine bottled in glass, nine bottled in plastic and two bottled in composite packaging (paperboard boxes coated with an inner plastic film). The researchers took water samples from the bottles and tested them for the presence of estrogenic chemicals in vitro. They then carried out a reproduction test with the New Zealand mud snail to determine the source and potency of the xenoestrogens.
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Health

US: Mystery illness sickens 200 Coolbaugh Elementary students

Dan Berrett
Pocono Record
Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:12 UTC
Coolbaugh Elementary takes precautions as 1 in 3 kids falls ill

Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania - About 200 sick students stayed home or left Coolbaugh Elementary Center on Friday complaining of vomiting.

It is not yet clear what the cause of the widespread illness was, but it afflicted one out of three students at the 603-pupil school. About half of the sick stayed home, and the other half were sent home after getting sick in school.

"We're doing everything we can," said Wendy Frable, Pocono Mountain School District's director of public information.
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Magnify

Vitamin B and Folic Acid Supplements Prevent Migraines

David Gutierrez
Natural News
Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:00 UTC
Increased intake of folic acid and other B vitamins may reduce the frequency and severity of migraine attacks, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Genomics Research Center at Australia's Griffith University.

Migraine attacks are characterized by severe headaches, often accompanied by sensitivity to lights, sounds or smells; nausea; vomiting; and pins and needles sensations. Eighty percent of migraine patients suffer from at least one attack per month. Attacks can last up to 72 hours, and may be so debilitating that patients become unable to function.

Currently, migraines are treated with potent painkillers or anti-nausea drugs, with mixed results. Other treatments include antidepressants and beta-blockers, both of which carry the potential for severe and even dangerous side effects.
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Arrow Down

Fear Is a Hungry Monster

Erika Krull
Psych Central
Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:10 UTC
Monster Rock
© Unknown
What did President Roosevelt mean when he famously said, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself"? Actually, Roosevelt's been referenced a lot lately regarding the bad economy. What would he have known about how fear interacts with itself?

The current global economy and the Great Depression have more in common than just bad stock markets. They also had a healthy dose of daily fear. I do not profess to be any sort of economist or historian. But I can see how this works judging from my personal perspective on this calamity.

Investing money takes confidence; confidence that your money will generally do well if you choose wisely. Those willing to be especially bold might opt for investments with higher risks but higher potential payoffs. Others might rather keep their money growing slowly and steadily until they need it way down the road.
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Heart

Dispel the Myths: Why You Should Eat Cholesterol

Elizabeth Walling
Natural News
Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:00 UTC
Having discussed cholesterol's function in the body and alleviated the fear that high cholesterol will guarantee you a heart attack, one of the most common assumptions is, "The body can make all the cholesterol it requires, so there is no need to eat foods containing cholesterol." This statement sounds convincing and even logical. But as a matter of fact it's completely false.

If you haven't read about it yet, this article explains why your body needs cholesterol, and you can review the connections between heart disease and cholesterol here.

While it is true that the body manufactures cholesterol in the liver, this does not mean you can cut all cholesterol out of your diet and expect to be healthy. In fact, if you are on a diet extremely low in cholesterol, you can expect quite the opposite to happen.
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Family

Common Fragrance Ingredients In Shampoos And Conditioners Are Frequent Causes Of Eczema


Science Daily
Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:59 UTC
Considerably more people than previously believed are allergic to the most common fragrance ingredient used in shampoos, conditioners and soap. A thesis presented at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden found that over 5% of those who underwent patch testing were allergic to the air oxidized form of the fragrance ingredient linalool.

"I would suspect that about 2% of the complete population of Sweden are allergic to air oxidized linalool. That may not sound very much, but it is serious since linalool is so widely used as a fragrance ingredient. Linalool is found in 60-80 percent of the perfumed hygiene products, washing up liquids and household cleaning agents that can be bought in the nearest supermarket, and it can be difficult for people who are allergic to avoid these products", says dermatologist Johanna Bråred Christensson, author of the thesis.

Around one person in five in Sweden has some form of contact allergy. Nickel is by far the most common substance that causes eczema, but the thesis shows that oxidized linalool occupies third place in the list, after nickel and cobalt.
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Evil Rays

Cell Phone Scare: What Do We Really Know About the Health Risks?

Elisa Batista
Alternet
Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:15 UTC
Given the confusing studies and the fact that cell phones are a part of modern life, what is a concerned person to do?

Last July, renowned cancer expert Dr. Ronald Herberman sent off a rather alarming note to the 3,000 faculty and staff members at the University of Pittsburgh warning that children should limit their use of cell phones to decrease their risk of cancer. "Although the evidence is still controversial, I am convinced that there are sufficient data to warrant issuing an advisory to share some precautionary advice on cell phone use," wrote Herberman, who heads the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. He also advised adults to choose texting, Bluetooth headsets, or speakerphone options instead of holding a cell phone to the ear.

A few months later, Herberman was standing before the House Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, explaining why he'd sent up this warning flare. After all, pinning down whether mobile phones -- or the many antenna towers that relay their calls via radiofrequency (RF) signals -- actually cause cancer or other health problems has been a notoriously tricky scientific endeavor. Studies investigating their risks have often been ambiguous and confusing, partly because cell phone technologies are still relatively new, and partly because many cancers take years to develop. Phones' long-term impact on children, whose brains absorb more RF radiation than those of adults, also remains unclear.

For Herberman, some early study results are troubling enough to warrant caution: "Despite the lack of consistency in outcomes in all the cell phone publications, there are several well-designed studies that suggest that long-term (ten years or more) use of wireless phone devices is associated with a significant increase in risk for glioblastoma (glioma), a very aggressive and fatal brain tumor, and acoustic neuroma, a benign tumor of the auditory nerve that is responsible for our hearing," he testified.
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Red Flag

Mercury in High-Fructose Corn Syrup?

Reuben Chow
Natural News
Fri, 27 Mar 2009 19:40 UTC
High-fructose corn syrup has taken our food shelves by storm. It is present in many different types of bread, cereals, breakfast bars, yogurts, soups and sugary beverages. It is estimated that, on a typical day, an American consumes an average of 12 teaspoons of such syrup. Further, teenagers and others with high consumption may even be taking in up to 80% more than average. Recently, two separate studies, one published in the journal Environmental Health and the other conducted by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), have revealed a further danger of high-fructose corn syrup, having found that it may contain mercury.
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Family

Actually, opposites don't attract, study finds

Sally Law
LiveScience
Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:18 UTC
Do opposites really attract? A new study finds that when it comes to personality, people seek partners with their same qualities - but claim to want someone who is different.

The study, recently published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology, asked 760 members of an online dating site to answer questionnaires regarding their personality traits, as well as the traits they would want in an ideal long-term partner. They then were asked if they most wanted a partner that complemented them, or resembled them.

The answers showed a preference for someone with the same sort of personality; the traits, which included neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, all had positive participant-to-partner correlations, ranging from .51 to .62.
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Attention

US: Mentally ill a threat in nursing homes

Carla K. Johnson
Associated Press
Sun, 22 Mar 2009 01:23 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/M. Spencer GreenRussell Smith holds a photo of his stepfather, Ivory Jackson, and half-sister, Anita Jackson, outside the All Faith Pavilion nursing home.
Ivory Jackson had Alzheimer's, but that wasn't what killed him. At 77, he was smashed in the face with a clock radio as he lay in his nursing home bed.

Jackson's roommate - a mentally ill man nearly 30 years younger - was arrested and charged with the killing. Police found him sitting next to the nurse's station, blood on his hands, clothes and shoes. Inside their room, the ceiling was spattered with blood.

"Why didn't they do what they needed to do to protect my dad?" wondered Jackson's stepson, Russell Smith.
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