Health & WellnessS


Eye 1

Time spent outdoors reduces risk of childhood myopia

Joshua Krause
Ready Nutrition
Sun, 23 Aug 2015 18:46 UTC
glasses
When I was growing up, I was always led to believe that needing glasses was just something that happened to people. You were simply born to be nearsighted or farsighted, and that was all there was to it. To some extent this idea is true. Scientists have found genes that can be linked to these visual ailments, which are widely known to be passed down in certain families; but does that tell the whole story?

When you really think about it, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Conditions like myopia are incredibly common. Everybody knows somebody who needs glasses or corrective surgery. So you have to ask yourself, if vision problems are mostly genetic, and they're so common in children all over the world, why didn't natural selection weed this trait out of the gene pool?

You have to imagine that not being able to see properly would be so much more hazardous for our ancestors than it is for us. How could hundreds of millions of people be suffering from a genetic disease that just a few centuries ago, would have nearly been a death sentence? Honestly, this totally defies our notions of evolution.

Comment: See also: The Modern Assault on Eyesight
As is so often the case, living as close as we can to our genetic expectations goes a long way toward countering the strains of modern patterns and supporting our inherent functioning. Eating Primal, getting sunlight, staying active, and enjoying a visual life of distant, outdoor scope all become part of a more natural, Primal kind of prescription for maintaining the best eye health we can.


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Hearts

The connection between your mental-emotional health & physical illness

Rajie Kabli
Collective Evolution
Sat, 22 Aug 2015 15:32 UTC
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© crowonthewire.com
How often is it that we get to understand our bodies on a deeper level? A lot of the time we ignore the messages our bodies are sending us, or dampen them with drugs (both prescription and illicit) rather than addressing the underlying problem. But when sickness comes knocking, we usually find ourselves forced to listen.

That's what happened to Olivia Omitrano, better known as Organic Olivia. She says her poor and negative thoughts about herself helped bring on a long list of body issues, from IBS and liver deficiency to depression, eating disorders, and eventually parasites.
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Pills

Study demonstrates anti-aging effects of dietary supplement alpha lipoic acid


Science Daily
Fri, 21 Aug 2015 00:00 UTC
alpha lipoic acid
In human cells, shortened telomeres, the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes, are both a sign of aging and contribute to it. Scientists at Emory University School of Medicine have found that the dietary supplement alpha lipoic acid (ALA) can stimulate telomerase, the enzyme that lengthens telomeres, with positive effects in a mouse model of atherosclerosis.

The discovery highlights a potential avenue for the treatment for chronic diseases.

The results were published in Cell Reports.

"Alpha-lipoic acid has an essential role in mitochondria, the energy-generating elements of the cell," says senior author Wayne Alexander, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. "It is widely available and has been called a 'natural antioxidant'. Yet ALA's effects in human clinical studies have been a mixed bag."

Comment: Alpha lipoic acid (ALA) has many functions, but it's one of the most effective free radical scavengers, and the only one known to easily get into the brain. It also has the ability to regenerate other antioxidants such as vitamins C, E, and glutathione. Alpha lipoic acid is a great modifier of gene expression to reduce inflammation, it's a very potent heavy metal chelator and enhances insulin sensitivity.

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Pills

FDA: Killer of freedom and destroyer of health

Aaron Dykes
Truthstream Media
Fri, 21 Aug 2015 21:05 UTC
FDA drug
Waking up to the cynical truth about the corrupt, backscratching, revolving door relationships between the FDA (and other agencies) and the Big Pharma and Big Agra industries has been difficult to face, as the problem is so pervasive as to affect the lives of nearly everyone in this country, and beyond throughout the world.

As such, I felt the need to respond to Jon Rappoport's article, "A Message to Libertarians About the FDA," because it is an issue I have also thought about quite often.

Is it in the interest of a free society who desires limited government and maximum rights to have a tough watchdog who can protect people? After all, even the average citizen is likely familiar with the deadly mistakes and misdeeds of the food and drug industries...

People don't want dangerous pharmaceuticals being prescribed to them because proper testing wasn't done; people don't want their food contaminated with salmonella or e. Coli; many people don't want GMOs to be allowed at all, and damn sure want a label on food packages in order to know which foods contain them.
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Health

Depressed? We've got an app for that. Researchers monitor behavioral patterns with smartphone data and biomarkers

Nicholas West
Activist Post
Fri, 21 Aug 2015 20:47 UTC
stethescope
© Stanford School of MedicineUpdated research into predictive medicine combined with apps to achieve “mental health intervention.”
Predictive technology is exploding. The arrival of Big Data initiatives by government, as well as a massive industry of data brokers is not only putting privacy at risk, but is offering those with access to the information unprecedented ways to micromanage our lives.

Most people now seem resigned to the surveillance of our communications devices, which have become so intertwined with modern efficiency, economics and knowledge that there are real tradeoffs when choosing a fully opt-out lifestyle. Wearable gadgets add a new layer still, and are being bought into at record pace, thus donating the information that isn't already being stolen.

However, it might be our health information that is the most tempting, offering up potentially the most intrusive window yet into our everyday lives.

In July of last year I covered a development by researchers at Tel Aviv University with the announcement that a "Smartphone App May Revolutionize Mental Health Treatment." The following excerpts from the press release were highlighted as some very stark writing on the wall.

Comment: A new gadget in the war on free-roaming humans.

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Health

Leaves of European chestnut tree can disarm staph bacteria without boosting drug resistance


Science Daily
Fri, 21 Aug 2015 00:00 UTC
ethnobotany, folk remedies
© Marco CaputoEmory University's Cassandra Quave researches the interactions of people and plants -- a specialty known as ethnobotany.
Leaves of the European chestnut tree contain ingredients with the power to disarm dangerous staph bacteria without boosting its drug resistance, scientists have found.

PLOS ONE is publishing the study of a chestnut leaf extract, rich in ursene and oleanene derivatives, that blocks Staphlococcus aureus virulence and pathogenesis without detectable resistance.

The use of chestnut leaves in traditional folk remedies inspired the research, led by Cassandra Quave, an ethnobotanist at Emory University.

"We've identified a family of compounds from this plant that have an interesting medicinal mechanism," Quave says. "Rather than killing staph, this botanical extract works by taking away staph's weapons, essentially shutting off the ability of the bacteria to create toxins that cause tissue damage. In other words, it takes the teeth out of the bacteria's bite."

Comment: Because the pharmaceutical industry is more intent on finding patent-able medicines that can enhance their revenues, they tend to dismiss folk remedies. Fortunately there are some researchers, who are rediscovering this ancient wisdom and finding that herbs and essential oils often work just as well and are sometimes even more efficient at combating infections.

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Monkey Wrench

Psychiatry: Erase the unique individual

Jon Rappoport
The Mind Unleashed
Thu, 20 Aug 2015 13:46 UTC
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Nature is busy creating absolutely unique individuals, whereas culture has invented a single mold to which all must conform. It is grotesque. "- U.G. Krishnamurti
"There are cultural myths that are easy to overturn. People see through them quickly. But the prevailing core myths are tougher. Much tougher. Most people resist even discussing them. In the old days, the Church tortured and burned people who discussed them. Now, it's social ostracism. Now, in some cases, it's the State kidnapping children to send a message."(The Underground, Jon Rappoport)
Since none of the 300 official mental disorders has any defining physical test for diagnosis, there is no proof they exist. Period.

Comment: The "institutional corruption" of Psychiatry: A discussion with the authors of 'Psychiatry Under the Influence'

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Info

Correlation and causation

Catherine J. Frompovich
Activist Post
Fri, 21 Aug 2015 21:15 UTC
Image
Correlation and causation are two terms research scientists exploit to drive consensus science—either way: pro or con—for whatever pharmaceutical product de jour they happen to be paid to promote favorably and thereby 'endorse' to enhance a manufacturer's financial bottom line, plus 'scientific' point-of-view.

Recently, a study [1] out of Harvard hinted on "correlation and causation" regarding one alcoholic beverage a day and female breast cancer!
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Health

Magnesium—The missing link to better health

Dr. Mercola
eatlocalgrown.com
Sun, 08 Dec 2013 20:39 UTC
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Magnesium is perhaps one of the most overlooked minerals. This is especially important because, an estimated 80 percent of Americans are deficient in it. The health consequences of deficiency can be quite significant, and can be aggravated by many, if not most, drug treatments.

In the following featured video, Carolyn Dean, a medical and naturopathic doctor, discusses the importance of this mineral.

Dr. Dean was the lead author on the seminal paper "Death by Medicine" back in 2003, showing that modern medicine is in fact one of the leading causes of death in the United States. She also authored the book Death by Modern Medicine.

Comment: Magnesium deficiency: The many signs & what to do

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Syringe

Man paralyzed after receiving vaccine recommended by then-physician, now-senator behind California vaccination bill, tells of senator's corruption

J. D. Heyes
Natural News
Thu, 20 Aug 2015 20:08 UTC
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John Berchielli, who was perfectly healthy before receiving a doctor-recommended vaccine
As Natural News readers are well aware, Americans who dare to oppose mandatory vaccination for any reason, including that they don't believe that all vaccines are safe, are often ridiculed, marginalized and minimized by Big Pharma vaccine pushers and the mainstream medical community. One of the things that they most often insist on is that "vaccines are safe" and that there is no reason to fear being vaccinated.

And yet, when vaccine injuries occur - which is often enough that the federal government maintains a vaccine injury fund - they are brushed under the rug by the mainstream media as "rare" and "unusual," if such incidents are covered at all.

But one man who was recently injured by vaccines has as compelling a case to make against mandatory vaccination as anyone: Ironically, he once worked for California Sen. Richard Pan - the pediatrician/lawmaker behind SB277, the state's recently enacted mandatory vaccination law. He explains in a new video what he believes is motivating his former boss.

The man, John Berchielli, says he "was a perfectly healthy person" before he received "a vaccination recommended by my doctor."

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