Health & WellnessS


Water

'The children can not concentrate' Dutch Pediatricians call for ban on sale of energy drinks to kids

Janene Pieters
NL Times
Mon, 15 Jan 2018 12:34 UTC
energy drinks
© AlienFood / Wikimedia CommonsEnergy drinks in a supermarket.
Pediatricians in the Netherlands are calling for a ban on the sale of energy drinks to children under the age of 18. According to the doctors, many children and teenagers suffer complaints like restlessness, fatigue and cardiac arrhythmia due to energy drinks.

"This is not an innocent soft drink. We are seeing more and more children with symptoms that are ultimately caused by energy drinks", pediatrician Brita de Jong-Van Kempen said to NOS. "It is also increasingly noticed at schools. With the result that in many schools the energy drinks have already been removed from the vending machines, because the children can not concentrate."
Read More...
Cow Skull

Surprise! Research shows little Calcium in bone broth

Dr. Kaayla T. Daniel
The Healthy Home Economist
Sat, 08 Jul 2017 18:12 UTC
cup of bone broth
Is there as much calcium in a cup of bone broth as in a cup of milk? Many people in the Real Food community seem to think so.

The hard truth is that the calcium content of homemade bone broth doesn't even come close. The good news is that broth still lives up to its bone-building reputation, just not for the reason most people have assumed.

It makes logical sense that bone broth would be an excellent source of calcium. After all, about fifty percent of bones consist of minerals, with the largest store by far being calcium phosphate, a combination of calcium and phosphorous arranged in a formation called hydroxyapatite. Bone also contains small amounts of magnesium, sodium, potassium, sulfur and other trace minerals.

Even so, only small amounts of these minerals end up in the broth, even when properly made with vinegar or wine to help pull them from the bones.

Comment: So bone broth is great, but doesn't contain a lot of Calcium. What's a paleo eater to do? According to Paleo Leap:
In some ways, calcium is a very misunderstood nutrient. A lot of people assume they only need it for their bones when in fact it does all kinds of other useful things. Athletes, for example, need their calcium because it's an essential nutrient for muscle contraction. A healthy calcium intake is also crucial for nerve function (if you like feeling things when you touch them, thank calcium for it!), blood pressure, and wound healing.

Calcium is also important for maintaining body pH - even though the acid/alkaline foods hypothesis is a complete myth, it's still important to get enough calcium to keep your body in pH balance.

On top of the shortsighted focus on bones, calcium is also misunderstood in another way: the idea that more is always better. Inadequate calcium is bad, no doubt about it, but the dangers of calcium overload are just as real. If you eat more calcium than your body can use, you run the risk of depositing it in places where it really shouldn't be, including your kidneys (as kidney stones), and your arteries (as plaque). Like most nutrients, too little is bad, enough is good, but more is not always better! Luckily, too much calcium is very difficult to achieve from whole foods. To get these effects, you'd need to eat over 2500mg of calcium, over twice the RDA. Realistically, it's only going to happen if you're taking a high-dose supplement.

...

Calcium Math, Part 1: Food Sources of Calcium

First up, the easy question: how much calcium is actually in all of these calcium-containing foods? Check out some Paleo-friendly non-dairy calcium sources below, ranked from best to worst (with milk included for comparison).

Food Serving Size Calcium per serving
Bones 3 grams (weight of a penny, or the nibbled-off end of a chicken drumstick) Roughly 1,000mg
Dried seaweed 1 tbsp. (14 grams) 560-980mg (depending on species)
Canned salmon (with bones) 1 6-ounce serving 424mg
Sardines (with bones) 1 can (3.75oz) 351mg
Most dairy products 1 cup (8oz) 300mg (approximately)
Collard greens 1 cup cooked 266mg
Spinach 1 cup cooked 245mg
Turnip greens 1 cup cooked 197mg
Scallops 6 ounces 193mg
Fresh seaweed 3.5 ounces (100g) Approx. 170mg
Bok choi 1 cup cooked 158mg
Mineral water (e.g. San Pellegrino) 20oz (the size of a vending-machine bottle) Varies; the average for the US and Canada is 122mg.
Mustard greens 1 cup cooked 104mg
Swiss chard 1 cup cooked 101mg
Broccoli 1 cup cooked 94mg
Kale 1 cup cooked 94mg
Tap water (note: this doesn't include bottled water: purified bottled water like Dasani has almost none) 8oz (1 cup) Varies; the US national average is 12mg*
Bone broth 8oz (1 cup) Unknown, and varies from batch to batch.

...

Calcium Math, Part 2: Absorption Rates

Take a look at the absorption rate of calcium from some common food sources, sorted from best (most absorbable) to worst (least absorbable):

Source Percent of Calcium Absorbed (source for everything not otherwise cited)
Collard greens 65% (source)
Broccoli 61%
Bok choy 54%
Carrots 53%
Turnip greens 52%
Kale 49%
Mustard greens 40%
Mineral water 34-37% (source)
Most milk and dairy products 32%
Sardines in oil 27%
Canned salmon 27%
Bone meal 27% (source)
Spinach 5%
Seaweed Unknown

...

Calcium Math, Part 3: The Big Picture

Now comes the really useful part. To get an accurate idea of what foods are good sources of absorbable calcium (the calcium that matters), you can put the first two tables together. Then you get:

Food Serving Size Calcium absorbed per serving
Bones 3 grams (weight of a penny, or the nibbled-off end of a chicken drumstick) 270mg
Collard greens 1 cup cooked 173mg
Canned salmon (with bones) 1 6-ounce serving 114mg
Turnip greens 1 cup cooked 102mg
Milk 1 cup 96mg
Sardines (with bones) 1 can (3.75oz) 95mg
Bok choi 1 cup cooked 69mg
Broccoli 1 cup cooked 57mg
Kale 1 cup cooked 46mg
Mineral water (e.g. San Pellegrino) 20oz (the size of a vending-machine bottle) 41-45mg
Mustard greens 1 cup cooked 42mg
Spinach 1 cup cooked 12mg
Tap water (note: this doesn't include bottled water: purified bottled water like Dasani has almost none) 8oz 4mg
Dried seaweed 1 tbsp. Unknown
Fresh seaweed 3.5oz Unknown
Scallops 6 ounces Unknown
Swiss chard 1 cup cooked Unknown
Bone broth 1 cup (8oz) Unknown

...

Conclusion

If you made it through all that math, congratulations! Your bones - not to mention your muscles and your heart - thank you. It's a lot of arithmetic, but hopefully it should lay to rest any doubts about Paleo and calcium: you can get all the calcium you need from a diet rich in bone-in fish and leafy green vegetables, and there's no need to either take supplements or eat dairy if you don't like it. You shouldn't even have to count your calcium regularly: Paleo is about enjoying your food, not tallying up grams and micrograms! Chew on the ends of your chicken drumsticks, make bone broth regularly, enjoy plenty of leafy green vegetables, and get some bone-in fish once in a while: you'll be all set for calcium without any milk or dairy at all.


Read More...
Health

Proper exercise can reverse damage from heart aging


Science Daily
Mon, 08 Jan 2018 00:00 UTC
Old age excercise
© PictureArt / FotoliaProper exercise can reverse damage in the aging heart.
Exercise can reverse damage to sedentary, aging hearts and help prevent risk of future heart failure -- if it's enough exercise, and if it's begun in time, according to a new study by cardiologists at UT Southwestern and Texas Health Resources.

To reap the most benefit, the exercise regimen should begin by late middle age (before age 65), when the heart apparently retains some plasticity and ability to remodel itself, according to the findings by researchers at the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine (IEEM), which is a collaboration between UT Southwestern Medical Center and Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas.

And the exercise needs to be performed four to five times a week. Two to three times a week was not enough, the researchers found in an earlier study.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Alarm Clock

The FDA's current position on the regulation of homeopathic drugs? Illegal


Alliance for Natural Health
Thu, 11 Jan 2018 17:59 UTC
homeopathy
© Forbes
The policy comes in the form of a guidance document, which lays out the FDA's current position on the regulation of homeopathic drugs.

In the guidance, the FDA says:
  1. Any homeopathic drug that has not been considered "generally recognized as safe and effective" (GRAS/E) is considered a new drug;
  2. FDA has not determined that any homeopathic drugs are GRAS/E;
  3. A new drug cannot be marketed unless it goes through the FDA's approval process;
  4. No homeopathic drugs have gone through FDA approval nor can any producer afford to take them through the approval process.

Comment: The FDA'a war against Homeopathy in the US has been ongoing since 2015: Alternative medicine crackdown: FDA pushing to regulate Homeopathy out of existence
The FDA has published two documents recently, which suggest that WAR is being declared on the profession of homeopathic medicine - or at least on the manufacture of homeopathic remedies, which comes to the same thing in the end. What is a homeopath without homeopathic remedies?

What's the rush? Homeopathic remedies have been in use since they were first introduced to the United States in 1925 by Dr. Hans Burch Gram. Textbooks by the founder of Homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann, were available, but only in German until 1835. The practice of homeopathy spread throughout the USA because doctors found it to be so much more effective in their complex and unresolved medical cases. Homeopathic medicines have been accepted in the Homeopathic Pharmacopeia of the United States (HPUS) and regulated under a document called CPG Sec. 400.400, Conditions Under Which Homeopathic Drugs May be Marketed. These conditions have been unchanged for the last 40 years.

Why, suddenly now, are we wanting to change the manufacture of these remedies? Why such a push to label homeopathic remedies dangerous, when they have been around for over 200 years without any problems?
Could it be that Big Pharma is trying to eliminate competition?

Read More...
Attention

The pernicious dark side of toxic 'Forever Chemicals'

Joseph G. Allen
The Washington Post
Sun, 14 Jan 2018 17:18 UTC
chemicals
They say nothing lasts forever. Nothing, that is, except a group of toxic chemicals that may be associated with testicular cancer, kidney cancer, high cholesterol and suppression of vaccine effectiveness in children. They are now in nearly all of our bodies, are found in the air and water around the globe, and they never go away. They are "Forever Chemicals."

These are stain-repellent chemicals that we use in products throughout our homes, offices, schools, hospitals, cars and airplanes. They are characterized by a fluorine-carbon backbone. And the F-C bond, the Forever-Chemical bond, is quite amazing, representing one of the strongest bonds in all of organic chemistry.

When several F-C bonds are strung together, some really useful industry properties appear, including allowing air to pass through while blocking things such as grease, oil and dirt. This ability to act as a stain repellent is why we apply them to all sorts of products we like to keep clean, from carpets and furniture to camping gear. It's also why we apply it to nonstick cookware - almost nothing can stick to the pan when we have a layer of these chemicals on the surface.

Comment: Environmental chemical toxicity: Identifying the ongoing assault of environmental pollutants
Emerging scientific studies have identified that certain chemicals are able to alter the expression of genetics several generations after exposure. This is now referred to as transgenerational inheritance. Many researchers speculate that the increased rate of neurological diseases may be partially a result of transgenerational inheritance due to chemical toxicity generations earlier. What is less understood is the combined effect of multiple chemicals through continuous, daily exposure. For example, it is speculated that women's cosmetic products contribute to a very high body burden of chemicals.

It is clear that there are a very wide assortment of potentially-toxic chemicals that humans are continuously being exposed to. More than 50 years ago, Rachel Carson wrote in her book Silent Spring: "For the first time in the history of the world, every human being is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the moment of conception until death." The increase in chemical production has dramatically risen over the past 50 years, and it is very difficult to fathom the depth of her words today.


Read More...
Beaker

Beauty may be only skin deep but mercury toxicity is systemic - the health dangers of skin bleaching products


World Mercury Project
Tue, 09 Jan 2018 15:29 UTC
skin deep
The use of skin bleaching products to eliminate blemishes and achieve a lighter skin tone is increasingly popular in many parts of the world. Complex sociocultural and commercial forces prompt consumers (predominantly but not exclusively women) to believe that altering their skin tone with these products is not only desirable but fashionable. According to market researchers, the global market for skin-lightening products will reach US$23 billion by 2020, which would represent almost 17% of that year's total projected cosmetics sales.

Regardless of prevailing national and international health regulations, many skin-lightening products contain inorganic mercury compounds. Cosmetics manufacturers include mercury because it inhibits production of the enzyme responsible for making melanin. Product labels may list compounds such as mercurous chloride, ammoniated mercury and others, or manufacturers may add mercury without listing it as an ingredient at all. Regular use of mercury-containing skin-lightening creams carries a very real risk of mercury poisoning.

Comment: Many cosmetics are loaded with toxic chemicals and often they are not disclosed on the packaging - learn more about hidden toxic ingredients in beauty products:

Read More...
Pills

Public health emergency - more people killed from opioids than leading diseases

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Tue, 09 Jan 2018 15:06 UTC
opioid epidemic
© The New York Times
Since 1999, the rate of drug overdose deaths has tripled in the U.S., rising to 63,600 deaths in 2016. This represents a 21 percent increase in deaths from 2015 alone, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) report.1 The majority of the overdose deaths - 66 percent - involved opioids, a class of drugs so addictive and dangerous that the opioid epidemic was declared a public health emergency in 2017.

To put this in perspective, drug overdose deaths from opioids totaled 42,249 in 2016, which is over 1,000 more deaths than were caused by breast cancer that same year.2 To say it again, more Americans are now dying from overdosing on opioids than from breast cancer. Such deaths have also surpassed deaths from AIDs during the peak of its epidemic.
Read More...
Life Preserver

Restricting Eating Times Boosts Quality of Life in Neurodegenerative Disease


Chronobiology
Sun, 14 Jan 2018 08:16 UTC
empty plate clock intermittent fasting
Neurodegenerative diseases affect millions of Americans, especially those who are elderly or approaching old age. These diseases can cause rapid decline and loss of both one's well-being and one's ability to care for oneself. Although there are several treatments that can improve or extend the lives of people living with neurodegenerative disease, there currently are no cures. As a result, most treatments are focused on slowing disease progression and improving quality of life in the meantime. New studies have found that restricting eating times may be an effective way to improve quality of life for women with these diseases.

Living With Neurodegenerative Disease

Neurodegenerative diseases are, by definition, diseases that include a progressive loss of brain function. This group of disease includes diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Although the pathophysiology of these diseases can differ, they all share a few core characteristics. People with these diseases gradually lose cognition, memory, and the ability to care for themselves, causing a sharp decline in quality of life. Many people are left unable to work, perform hobbies, perform personal activities of daily living and keep a healthy social life.

Comment: See also: The health program for Alzheimer's disease that mainstream treatment fails to surpass

Read More...
Health

The "Deadly Breast Cancer Gene" Is A Myth, Lancet Study Confirms

Sayer Ji
GreenMedInfo LLC
Fri, 12 Jan 2018 08:11 UTC
A powerful new Lancet study reveals that the so-called breast cancer susceptibility genes -- BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 -- do not, in fact, cause breast cancer. Jolie's prophylactic mastectomy, for instance, was for naught.
DNA ADN
A new Lancet Oncology study, reported widely in the mainstream media, confirms that the so-called "breast cancer genes," i.e. BRCA1/2, do not have the power to determine breast cancer survival outcomes, as widely believed by the medical profession.

The study titled, "Germline BRCA mutation and outcome in young-onset breast cancer (POSH): a prospective cohort study," found,
"[There is] no significant difference in overall survival or distant disease-free survival between patients carrying a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation and patients without these mutations after a diagnosis of breast cancer."
Read More...
Nuke

Bitter pill to swallow: Why iodine tablets won't save you from nuclear fallout


RT
Sat, 13 Jan 2018 00:00 UTC
Nuclear fall out shelter
© David W Cerny / ReutersWorkers wearing protective suits and masks exit a fallout shelter during a nuclear accident simulation at Nuclear Power Plant Dukovany March 26, 2013
As Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un battle it out over the size of their nuclear buttons, attention is again turning to a common myth - that swallowing a simple pill will guard against radioactive fallout.

Iodine tablets, widely considered to offer the antidote to nuclear apocalypse, are reportedly the subject of a surge of interest in the wake of the world leaders' recent saber-rattling.

The substance - officially called potassium iodide, with the chemical name KI - is often marketed as a 'radiation blocking' solution that can protect against poisoning and thyroid cancer. In reality, however, the tablets have a much more limited scope and are not even recommended as an essential part of FEMA's emergency kit in the event of nuclear disaster.

Comment: Interestingly enough, CDC begins preparing for the nuclear detonation. Does US government knows about this nuclear possibility more than silly twitter trash talk?. Also see:

The N. Korea nuclear missile crisis was created by Cheney and his cronies

Read More...