Health & WellnessS


Bacon

Fat is better: Study finds people who drink full-fat dairy have lower risk of diabetes and obesity

Alice Park
TIME
Mon, 04 Apr 2016 15:58 UTC
milk
If you're still drinking skim, read this

For years you've been told to go for skim over full-fat dairy. Even the latest dietary guidelines for Americans urge people to avoid the full fat, and following this lead, school lunch programs provide only low-fat milk and no whole milk at all, even though they do allow chocolate skim milk with its added sugars. But large population studies that look at possible links between full-fat dairy consumption, weight and disease risk are starting to call that advice into question. And some research suggests people who consume full-fat dairy weigh less and are less likely to develop diabetes, too.

In a new study published in the journal Circulation, Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian and his colleagues analyzed the blood of 3,333 adults enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study of Health Professionals Follow-up Study taken over about 15 years. They found that people who had higher levels of three different byproducts of full-fat dairy had, on average, a 46% lower risk of getting diabetes during the study period than those with lower levels. "I think these findings together with those from other studies do call for a change in the policy of recommending only low-fat dairy products," says Mozaffarian. "There is no prospective human evidence that people who eat low-fat dairy do better than people who eat whole-fat dairy."

Comment: It should be remembered that there are many health concerns about consuming dairy products, but if one does choose to eat or drink dairy, they should definitely be going for high-fat dairy products:

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Sun

Daily dose of vitamin D can improve the blood-pumping performance of damaged hearts


The Telegraph
Tue, 05 Apr 2016 10:28 UTC
Novo istraživanje sugerira da vitamin D može popraviti oštećenja živaca kod multiple skleroze
A daily dose of vitamin D can improve the blood-pumping performance of damaged hearts, a study has found.

Researchers studied 160 patients being treated for heart failure using a variety of proven drug treatments and pacemakers.

Participants who took a vitamin D3 supplement daily for one year experienced an improvement in heart function not seen in those given a dummy pill.

Lead scientist Dr Klaus Witte, from the School of Medicine at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "This is a significant breakthrough for patients.

"It is the first evidence that vitamin D3 can improve heart function of people with heart muscle weakness, known as heart failure. These findings could make a significant difference to the care of heart failure patients."

Comment: Other studies have confirmed that low levels of Vitamin D have been linked to many diseases including cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, depression, fibromyalgia, chronic muscle pain, bone loss, and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis. Due its absence in our food supply and the phobia against sun exposure, most people are deficient. It is also important to know that if your levels remain low despite taking vitamin D supplements, a magnesium deficiency may be one of the reasons you can't correct it. Supplementing with magnesium may be necessary because it is quite difficult to obtain enough from food sources as our soils have been deficient in magnesium for decades, and like Vitamin D it is essential for our health.

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Syringe

Vaccines and the violation of informed consent

Catherine J. Frompovich
Activist Post
Tue, 05 Apr 2016 14:01 UTC
Doctor
© Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
In the opinion statement of the American Medical Association's Opinion on Informed Consent, we read this rather defining statement:
The patient's right of self-decision can be effectively exercised only if the patient possesses enough information to enable an informed choice. The patient should make his _ or her own determination about treatment. The physician's obligation is to present the medical facts accurately to the patient or to the individual responsible for the patient's care and to make recommendations for management in accordance with good medical practice. [1] [CJF emphasis added]
That obviously does NOT happen regarding vaccines!

Comment: See also: Western medicine and the death of informed consent

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Dollars

Cost of insulin tripled over a 10-year period in the US


RT
Wed, 06 Apr 2016 03:18 UTC
Insulin jabs
© Fabian Bimmer/Reuters Insulin jabs.
The cost of insulin, an essential hormone used in the treatment of diabetes, rose from $4.34 to $12.92 per milliliter, increasing almost threefold from 2002 to 2013, a new study says.

In a study published in the Journal of American Medical Association on Tuesday, researchers from Australia's University of Melbourne and the University of Michigan found that, while the costs of other diabetes drugs have either stabilized or gone down, insulin costs have skyrocketed.

"Insulin is a life-saving medication," said Dr. William Herman, a Michigan coauthor of the study, according to PBS. "There are people with type 1 diabetes who will die without insulin. And while there have been incremental benefits in insulin products, prices have been rising. So there are people who can't afford them. It's a real problem."

Researchers drew data from 27,878 diabetic people whose average age was 60, examining their medical spending from 2002 to 2013.

The average price of insulin almost tripled over this period, jumping from $4.34 to $12.92 per milliliter. At the same time, the average amount used per patient each year increased from 171 milliliters to 206 milliliters.

This means the annual per-patient cost of insulin has increased from $231 to $736 on average in just a decade. Meanwhile, the total cost of all other diabetes drugs fell from an annual per-patient average of $600 to only $502.

"The large increase in costs can largely be explained (by) much greater use of newer types of insulin known as analog insulins," said Dr. Philip Clarke, senior author of the study and a professor at the University of Melbourne in Australia, according to Reuters. "While these drugs can be better for some patients, they are much more costly than the human insulin they replaced."

Insulin is a naturally occurring hormone that the body needs to turn sugars into energy. The bodies of people who have type 1 diabetes don't produce enough insulin to function, meaning they require insulin injections to survive.

Type 2 diabetes is the more common version of the disease, which is often associated with obesity, lack of physical activity, and poor diet. It occurs when the body's cells become resistant to insulin

Nearly 10 percent of Americans, amounting to more than 29 million people, have some form of diabetes, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Bulb

'Antibiotics' our ancestors used instead of pharmaceutical pills

Alexa Erickson
Collective Evolution
Wed, 30 Mar 2016 18:31 UTC
natural antibiotics
© abacuschinesemed.com
In a day and age where we are given a pill for every conceivable ill, it may seem strange to hear someone reject swallowing one down. We have come to believe here in the West that medications are our only option and remedies found in nature mere snake oil. But with big pharmaceutical companies shamelessly trying to make a buck at every turn, it's important we remember that, long before these pills came to be, people were surviving naturally, utilizing hundreds of years of collected knowledge.

The overuse of antibiotics has reached an all-time high, and the results of this uncontrolled experiment are, quite frankly, alarming. Drug-resistant bacteria and "superbugs" are evolving faster than scientists can keep up with, casting doubt on our future ability to fight off these bacteria.
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Megaphone

Surprise! Monsanto CEO lying through his teeth: "Roundup is not a carcinogen"

Tami Canal
march-against-monsanto.com
Sat, 02 Apr 2016 17:40 UTC
Monsanto
© geneticliteracyproject.org
In news that should surprise no one, Monsanto's CEO, Hugh Grant, proved once again what a liar he is.

Grant sat down recently with Here and Now's Jeremy Hobson to address global concerns of Monsanto's best selling herbicide, Roundup. The herbicide has become increasingly controversial, as many countries across the globe are banning the weed killer because of it's carcinogenicity. Unfortunately for U.S. citizens, Monsanto has former executives in positions of power within regulating agencies, including the EPA. Because of this, American citizens are largely unaware that a requisite carcinogen is used to grow much of the food lining grocery store shelves.

Comment: Food Fascists - GMO and Pesticide Manufacturers - the down and dirty
In conclusion, the good news is that GMO propaganda is increasingly being exposed as fallacious. As time passes, more and more research will inevitably emerge to further damn Monsanto and the GM experiment. It is only a matter of time before the false promises of GMOs will be exposed as orchestrated by Big Ag and the US government to control the world's food supply.


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Syringe

Should Robert DeNiro be hailed as a hero in the VAXXED documentary controversy?


Global Freedom Movement
Tue, 05 Apr 2016 16:05 UTC
Robert DeNiro Vaxxed
© Vaxxed
"It's not that the movie is anti-science; it's that the science is anti-CDC." - Liam Scheff
It was never going to be easy for a documentary film which shares the confession of Senior Scientist Dr. William Thompson that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) omitted crucial data from a 2004 study on the Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine to gain mainstream publicity. Especially a film which illustrates that the information omitted revealed a causal relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism. It's certainly not the first case of censorship around this issue, nor will it be the last.

Vaxxed: From Cover Up To Catastrophe interviews pharmaceutical insiders, doctors, politicians, and parents of vaccine-injured children, to reveal an alarming deception that has contributed to the skyrocketing increase of autism and potentially the most catastrophic epidemic of our lifetime. Given that this documentary is also directed by renowned gastroenterologist Dr. Andrew Wakefield, there was always—from the very outset—going to be a smear campaign and attempts at censoring this film. One would have to be deluded to think otherwise.

Comment: Whether or not this was a calculated move on Deniro's may never come to light. At any rate, the chatter generated by this controversy may wake some people up to the dangers of vaccines.

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Health

Arthritis drugs shown to be useless -- exercise is best

Madlen Davies
Prevent Disease
Mon, 04 Apr 2016 15:50 UTC
woman stretching
Those plagued with the most common form of arthritis are told to take Acetominophen and other anti-inflammatory medications to relieve their pain. But a major study published found it does little to ease agony caused by osteoarthritis - as many sufferers can no doubt attest.

The research, published in The Lancet, warned no matter how high the dose, acetaminophen based drugs such as paracetamol are ineffective against this form of the condition.

Osteoarthritis affects up to 10 percent of men and 18 percent of women worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

Paracetamol has traditionally been the main treatment for the condition, because although stronger drugs are more effective, paracetamol has fewer side effects.

Comment: For more on arthritis treatments see: Also, don't discount the benefits of a proper diet as it relates to joint function:
  • Food Allergy and Joint Pain - Is There a Connection?


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Igloo

Keeping your home cooler could result in a smaller waistline


Science Daily
Fri, 01 Apr 2016 00:00 UTC
cold therapy
Elderly adults are bigger around the middle when they turn up the heat inside their homes during the cold season and have smaller waistlines when their homes stay cool, new research finds. Investigators from Japan will present their study results Friday at the Endocrine Society's 98th annual meeting in Boston.

"Although cold exposure may be a trigger of cardiovascular disease, our data suggest that safe and appropriate cold exposure may be an effective preventive measure against obesity," said the study's lead investigator, Keigo Saeki, MD, PhD, of Nara Medical University School of Medicine Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Nara, Japan.

Cold exposure activates thermogenesis, to generate body heat, in brown fat. This type of fat is the good calorie-burning fat that prior research found most humans have. However, Saeki said the association between the amount of cold exposure and obesity in real life remains unclear.

Comment: For more information on the many ways that adapting to cold can improve health, listen to: The Health & Wellness Show: The benefits of cold adaptation

Further reading:

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Bacon n Eggs

The science of hunger and how to control cravings

Sara G. Miller
Live Science
Fri, 01 Apr 2016 07:27 UTC
Hunger collage
© Clockwise from top left: Stokkete/Shutterstock.com, Johan Swanepoel/Shutterstock.com, tuomas lehtien/Shutterstock.com, Marie C Fields/Shutterstock.com
Whether you're trying to lose weight, maintain weight loss or just stay healthy, at some point, you're going to get hungry. But simply eating whenever the urge strikes isn't always the healthiest response — and that's because hunger isn't as straightforward as you may think.

A complex web of signals throughout the brain and body drives how and when we feel hungry. And even the question of why we feel hungry is not always simple to answer. The drive to eat comes not only from the body's need for energy, but also a variety of cues in our environment and a pursuit of pleasure.

To help you better understand and control your hunger, Live Science talked to the researchers who have looked at hunger every which way, from the molecular signals that drive it to the psychology of cravings. Indeed, we dug into the studies that have poked and prodded hungry people to find out exactly what's going on within their bodies. We found that fighting off that hungry feeling goes beyond eating filling foods (though those certainly help!). It also involves understanding your cravings and how to fight them, and how other lifestyle choices — such as sleep, exercise and stress — play a role in how the body experiences hunger.
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