Health & WellnessS


Health

New research finds capsaicin destroys diseased cells, which could help fight cancer

Antonia Paget
The Daily Mirror
Mon, 02 Jan 2017 17:20 UTC
red chillies
© GettyRed chillies could be better for you than you might think
The active ingredient that gives chillies their kick can surround cancer cells and kill them off, scientists say, which could help develop a cure for cancer.

Chillies could help fight breast cancer after scientists revealed the spicy ingredient causes diseased cells to self destruct.

Capsaicin, the active component that gives chillies their trademark kick, can switch on specialized channels surrounding cancer cells causing them to die.

Other cancers including colon, bone and pancreatic could also be killed off by the compound.

However, capsaicin isn't effective if it's eaten, inhaled or injected, and researchers think it will only be effective as a pill attached to another drug that targets cancer cells.

Scientists from Ruhr-University in Bochum, Germany, treated human samples of breast cancer cells with the hot ingredient to find out more about its ability to destroy them.

Dr Lea Weber, writing in the journal Breast Cancer - Targets and Therapy, said: "Capsaicin is capable of inducing apoptosis (cell death) and inhibiting cancer cell growth in many different types of cancer, for example, osteosarcoma, colon, and pancreatic cancer cells, while normal cells remained unharmed."

Comment: Scientists cure cancer, but no one takes notice

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Health

The mysterious virus that could cause obesity

Sylvia Tara
Wired
Tue, 27 Dec 2016 09:40 UTC
sylvia tara
Randy is 62 years old and stands tall at six foot one. He grew up on a farm in Glasford, Illinois, in the 1950s. Randy was raised with the strong discipline of a farming family. From the time he was five, he would get out of bed at dawn, and before breakfast he'd put on his boots and jeans to milk cows, lift hay, and clean the chicken coops. Day in and out, no matter the weather or how he felt, Randy did his physically demanding chores. Only when his work was complete would he come into the kitchen for breakfast.

Tending to the chickens was hard work—it involved getting into the pen, clearing birds out of their dirty cages, and shooing them into a holding enclosure. This process was always a little scary because the animals could be quite aggressive after being cooped up all night. On one of these occasions, when Randy was 11, a particularly large and perturbed rooster swung its claw and gave him a good spurring on his leg. Randy felt the piercing of his skin and squealed in pain. He said it felt like being gored by a thick fishhook. The rooster left a long gash, and blood streamed down Randy's leg to his ankle. He ran back to the house to clean the wound, as chickens are filthy after a night in their cages.

Comment: For more information, see: The obesity epidemic:
Thus, the Obesity Epidemic might be just that, an infectious epidemic.


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Arrow Down

4 children killed after pesticide sprayed under home, 6 more hospitalized

Erin Elizabeth
Health Nut News
Mon, 02 Jan 2017 03:46 UTC
hazmat deaths
It's a sad day in a Texas where four children were killed and six others hospitalized, some in critical condition.

Phosphine gas was likely released when the pesticide Alumnium Phosphide was used as a fumigant to treat mice in the Amarillo, Texas home.

A visitor to the house today arrived to find everyone sick and called 911.

The toxic gas caused the deaths of four children aged seven to 17.

Siblings Felipe Balderas, seven; Johnnie Balderas, nine; Josue Balderas, 11 and Yasmeen Balderas, 17, all died, WJLA reported (see links at bottom)

Yasmeen Balderas, 17, was the oldest of the four children who died in the poisonous gas incident at a home in Amarillo, Texas, in which phosphine gas was likely released when someone tried to wash away Aluminum Phosphide.
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Alarm Clock

The overdose death toll keeps rising

Phillip Smith
Alternet
Thu, 21 Dec 2017 00:39 UTC
National Overdose Deaths—Number of Deaths from Prescription Drugs.
National Overdose Deaths—Number of Deaths from Prescription Drugs.
As the wave of heroin and prescription opioid use sweeps across the US, leaving an ever-growing pile of bodies behind, the folks at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are digging into the data. In a new report on the 2014 numbers, they rank the drugs most often reported in overdose fatalities.

That report put the number of drug overdose deaths that year at 47,055, jumping 23% in four years. Heroin and prescription opioids accounted for 61%, but the use of the stimulants cocaine and methamphetamine also killed thousands, and a few thousand more died from benzodiazepines such as Xanax (alprazolam) and Valium (diazepam).
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Health

Euthanasia is not the last stop for mental illness

Kelly Brogan, MD
kellybroganmd.com
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 18:33 UTC
woman's eye
If you felt like you were being aggressively and relentlessly chased by a menacing stranger, then as you approach the edge, jumping off of a cliff might seem like your only option. But what if the person chasing you was trying to tell you something you needed to know?

What if you completely misunderstood the circumstances leading to your fear and act of self-sacrifice. What if there was another version of the story that, had you known it, could have shifted you immediately into a space of relief, gratitude, and clarity.

The Story of Mental Illness: Dependency, Struggle, and Hopelessness

Millions of people, the world over have bought into a story of mental illness. That it is an inherited disease, a chemical imbalance, that they will struggle with for life, requiring active pharmaceutical management as the only legitimate treatment option.

As these people bump up against the glass ceiling of conventional treatment, they may learn, first hand, that there is no magic pill, as they encounter the bind of limited efficacy coupled with an inability to easily discontinue medication. Patients are labeled "treatment resistant" when medication after medication inexplicably fails sending them, repeatedly, through the revolving door of the hospital system. They are stripped of their civil liberties, mandated treatment, and even injected against their will like my patient Robin.

Is this just the nature of mental illness?

Comment: Psychiatric drugs are no cure for mental illness. Evidence shows that they can make symptoms worse, cause debilitating side effects and brain damage. It is no wonder that many patients lose hope and consider euthanasia after years of improper treatment. For more on a nutritional approach to treating and curing mental illness see: Primal mind: A talk on nutrition and mental health by Nora Gedgaudas

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Health

'Lazy Monkeys': Codex Committee condemns 90% of world to poor health

Scott C. Tips
National Health Federation
Thu, 22 Dec 2016 18:03 UTC
resting chimps
At the beginning of this week December 5-9, 2016, the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) became the very thing that Codex Secretariat Tom Heilandt warned against in his opening speech there - "lazy monkeys." For those unfamiliar with that term, it is loosely translated as "being lazy for no reason and not functioning properly." On the debate over the daily Nutrient Reference Values (NRVs) for Vitamin D and Vitamin E, the bulk of the Committee weakly argued and agreed amongst themselves that the World's population does not need adequate blood levels of either Vitamin D or Vitamin E. In particular, the CCNFSDU decided that 5-15 micrograms (200-600 IUs) /day of Vitamin D and 9 milligrams (13.5 IUs)/day of Vitamin E are all that humanity needs. Lazy monkeys.

As anyone with even a smidgen of nutritional knowledge knows, both Vitamin D and Vitamin E are critical for human health, and at far greater amounts than first thought. Long gone are the days when rational nutritionists and researchers thought that 400 IUs per day (10 mcg/day) of Vitamin D would sustain optimal health. And for those who live in that fairy-tale land where 13.5 IUs per day (9 mg/day) of Vitamin E will support normal fertility and childbirth, or health at any level, a very special place in Hell is reserved. Or else on a delegation at a Codex committee.

Comment: Follow Codex guidelines at your own peril.For more on these 'lazy monkeys' see:

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Life Preserver

Vitamin K: An often overlooked nutrient critical for the health of your heart, bones and metabolism

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Mon, 02 Jan 2017 16:15 UTC
vitamin K
There's been a lot of discussion about certain essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids. But lately, researchers are beginning to recognize that one often-misunderstood vitamin goes unnoticed.

In fact, a large percentage of the population is deficient in this essential nutrient. What is it? Vitamin K. Rather than being a single nutrient, vitamin K is a group of vitamins of similar composition; principally vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) and K2 (menaquinone).

One of the world's leading authorities on vitamin K, Cees Vermeer, Ph.D., a renowned vitamin K2 scientist in the Netherlands, says inadequacy in this vitamin is the rule rather than the exception, especially one form, called menaquinone-7 (MK-7), a form of vitamin K2.

A number of studies in recent months have determined that vitamin K, a rather complex nutrient because it comes in so many parts, is responsible for some very important jobs in your body, especially your bones and your heart.

Comment: More about Vitamin K:

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Life Preserver

A simple technique to correct your posture and improve your health and mood

Amanda Froelich
Natural Blaze
Sat, 31 Dec 2016 00:00 UTC
bad posture
Modern life doesn't support ideal posture, but a bit of focus and intention can help lengthen the spine and, in effect, one's life.

Believe it or not, posture matters. Just ask chiropractor and speaker Dr. Paula Moore. The health expert specializes in fixing peoples' posture and relays in the video below how a spine out of alignment can contribute to disastrous health problems down the road.

In fact, Dr. Moore suggests that by remedying poor posture, one can experience anti-aging benefits as well as a longer life. An additional benefit is that proper posture is known to improve one's physical appearance.

Comment: See also:

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Shoe

Unmotivated to exercise? Dopamine could be to blame

Ana Sandoiu
Medical News Today
Mon, 02 Jan 2017 05:54 UTC
woman on exercise bike
© unknownNew research links a deficit in dopamine to the lack of physical activity in mice.
Perhaps you have told yourself many times that, as of next week, you will start exercising more. Perhaps next month. Maybe even next year. For many of us, however, sticking to a disciplined program of physical exercise is one of the hardest New Year's resolutions. New research offers clues as to why finding the motivation to exercise can be so difficult.

The benefits of physical activity are well known. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that regular physical activity can reduce the risk of severe illnesses, such as type 2 diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.

Exercise can also improve one's overall physical and mental health, as well as increase longevity.

If you are looking to control your weight, the advantages of exercise are numerous. Not only has physical activity been shown to reduce metabolic syndrome - which means that it is good for regulating one's metabolism - but it also burns calories, and in combination with a healthful diet, exercise can help to maintain weight over a long period of time.

Comment: See also:

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Display

Experts call for official guidelines on child screen use

Sally Weale
The Guardian
Mon, 25 Dec 2017 16:00 UTC
Educationalists, psychologists and authors also call for a minister for children to try to address 'toxic' nature of childhood

Screen use
© AlamyMany parents worry about the effect of screen-based technology on their children.
A group of leading authors, educationalists and child-development experts is calling on the government to introduce national guidelines on the use of screens, amid concern about the impact on children's physical and mental health.

It is one of a series of measures outlined in a letter to the Guardian, highlighting what it describes as the increasingly "toxic" nature of childhood, and signed by 40 senior figures, including the author Philip Pullman, the former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the psychotherapist Susie Orbach and the childcare expert Penelope Leach.

The letter urges the government to create a cabinet-level minister for children, with specific responsibility for auditing all government policies in order to assess their impact on children's health and wellbeing.

Comment: See also:

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