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What are the Health Consequences of the Tax Season Burden on American taxpayers?

Mike Adams
NaturalNews
Thu, 15 Apr 2010 00:00 UTC
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© NaturalNews
It's tax season in the U.S. again, and when it comes to discussions about the financial burden on the economy from the complexity of the current U.S. tax code, most of the criticisms focus on the number of dollars (or hours) spent in compliance. According to a study from the Tax Foundation, U.S. taxpayers spend over 6 billion hours and over $256 billion working to comply with the current tax code. That's a lot of dollars and hours, but it may pale in comparison to yet another cost: The health consequences of the stress caused by the U.S. tax code.

Preparing your taxes is stressful for lots of reasons. First, there's just the time and frustration in trying to track down receipts, fill out the forms and even translate IRS instructions into plain English. Nobody in their right mind enjoys this job, and it takes a toll on human physiology. Stress causes immune suppression, for one thing. Adrenal depletion can result in hormonal disorders, sleep disorders and even an increased risk of heart attacks.

But that's just the beginning of the story. The greater cost in tax code compliance may come from the fear factor.
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Happiness Prevents Heart Disease

Ethan A. Huff
NaturalNews
Thu, 15 Apr 2010 00:00 UTC
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© iStockphoto
Sometimes it is the simple things in life that make all the difference in maintaining good health. A recent study published in the European Heart Journal revealed that people who are happy and have a positive outlook on life are less likely to develop heart disease than those who tend to be anxious and depressed.

Researchers evaluated 1,700 people over the course of ten years for the study. Each participant's emotions were rated categorically on a scale from one to five; these included feelings like hostility, joy, anxiety, enthusiasm, and contentment. At the completion of the study, less than one in ten participants developed heart disease, but for each increase on the "happiness scale", participants were 22 percent less likely to develop heart disease.

Though unable to explain precisely why happier people are less likely to become ill, researchers arrived at a few notable hypotheses. Because happier people tend to sleep better and have better sleeping patterns, their bodies are subject to less stress and, thus, less physical strain. Happier people are also better able to move on after a negative experience than unhappy people who tend to dwell longer on bad experiences.
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Coconut Water: Nature Provides Its Own Sports Drink

Heidi Fagley
NaturalNews
Thu, 15 Apr 2010 00:00 UTC
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© Getty Images
Coconut water has been a staple for tropical regions around the world for centuries. Recently it has been grabbing the attention of athletes, sports enthusiasts, and health-conscious individuals as a natural and healthy alternative to sports drinks.

Not to be confused with thick, white coconut milk that comes from mature coconuts, coconut water is the clear juice of a young green coconut. Refreshing and naturally sweet, this powerful antioxidant can be considered Nature's isotonic beverage.

The desire to replenish lost electrolytes and essential minerals after a heavy workout has sent many sectors of the Western world's soft drink industries on a frenzy to satisfy this demand. There has been enormous growth in experiments to find the perfect beverage that has sent new product development into the millions. Yet with the sugar and food coloring added to most of these energy drinks, lost minerals and electrolytes may not be the only thing being put into the body.
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Scientists Find Walnuts Fight Prostate Cancer

S. L. Baker
NaturalNews
Thu, 15 Apr 2010 00:00 UTC
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© NaturalNews
Walnuts are a rich plant source of omega-3s, the fatty acids also found in cold water fish like salmon. Omega-3s are known to lower the risk of a host of health problems from depression to heart disease. Walnuts are also loaded with gamma tocopherol (a form of vitamin E), phytochemicals known as polyphenols, and antioxidants. Now, for the first time, scientists have reported that these nutrient-rich nuts have the ability to reduce the size and growth of prostate cancer.

Scientists from the University of California-Davis just reported their discovery at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), being held in San Francisco this week. "Walnuts should be part of a prostate-healthy diet," Paul Davis, Ph.D., who headed the study, said in a statement to the media. "They should be part of a balanced diet that includes lots of fruits and vegetables."

Approximately 190,000 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year. According to the University of California-Davis scientists, research suggests that diet is among the most important factors in influencing a man's risk for developing prostate cancer. For example, there's evidence that eating tomatoes and drinking pomegranate juice may reduce the chance of ever having prostate cancer.
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Poor Children More Likely To Be Put On Antipsychotic Drugs

David Gutierrez
NaturalNews
Thu, 15 Apr 2010 00:00 UTC
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© Getty Images
Poor children are vastly more likely to be given antipsychotic drugs than middle class children, and often for less serious conditions, according to a study conducted by researchers from Rutgers and Columbia Universities and released ahead of publication.

Researchers analyzed millions of Medicaid and private insurance claims from seven big states in 2001 and 2004, designing the sample to be representative of the overall U.S. population. They found that while 4 percent of Medicaid patients between the ages of six and 17 were being prescribed antipsychotics, fewer than 1 percent of children with private insurance were being given the drugs.

Previous research suggests that the rate of illness may be up to twice as high in children from poorer families, but even that fails to explain the fourfold difference in prescription rates seen in the current study.
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Bad Guys

Bayer Admits GMO Contamination Out of Control

David Gutierrez
NaturalNews
Thu, 15 Apr 2010 00:00 UTC
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© Bayer AG
Bayer AG
Drug and chemical giant Bayer AG has admitted that there is no way to stop the uncontrolled spread of its genetically modified crops.

"Even the best practices can't guarantee perfection," said Mark Ferguson, the company's defense lawyer in a recent trial.

Two Missouri farmers sued Bayer for contaminating their crop with modified genes from an experimental strain of rice engineered to be resistant to the company's Liberty-brand herbicide. The contamination occurred in 2006, during an open field test of the new rice, which was not approved for human consumption. According to the plaintiffs' lawyer, Don Downing, genetic material from the unapproved rice contaminated more than 30 percent of all rice cropland in the United States.

Comment: For more information, read: Harvard professor says it's crucial population is reduced through GMO foods and The Big GMO Cover-Up.

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USA

Report Says Contaminated Meat is in Supermarkets

Ron Claiborne, Dan Childs, and Hanna Siegel
ABC News
Wed, 14 Apr 2010 10:00 UTC
Bad Beef
© ABC News
Beef contaminated with toxic heavy metals, pesticides and antibiotics is making its way into the nation's supermarkets, according to a new report.
It is a frightening picture: beef contaminated with toxic heavy metals, pesticides and antibiotics making its way into the nation's supermarkets.

Phyllis K. Fong, the Agriculture Department's inspector general, looked at how beef is tested for harmful substances.

According to her new report, inspectors charged with checking cattle for disease and meat for contaminants were, "unable to determine if meat has unacceptable levels of... potentially hazardous substances [and do] not test for pesticides... determined to be of high risk."

The inspectors also failed to test beef for 23 pesticides, the report says.

The study -- entitled the "National Residue Program for Cattle Audit Report" -- says there are no standards for how much of certain dangerous substances, such as copper and highly toxic dioxin, is too much for someone to eat. As a result, meat containing these substances has gotten into the nation's food supply, it finds.
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ANH-USA Victory! Supplements Are Exempted From Codex Language in Food Safety Bill


Alliance for Natural Health
Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:29 UTC
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The FDA Food Modernization Act (S. 510), also referred to as the "Food Safety" bill, has been modified to exempt dietary supplements from language that otherwise creates a slippery slope toward U.S. harmonization with Codex Alimentarius. ANH-USA worked to protect the natural health community from this dangerous provision that threatened access to high quality, therapeutic supplement doses by working with key senators to modify the language, now for the second time.

The most worrisome provision of the bill initially required the Food and Drug Agency (FDA) to recommend that U.S. foreign Herbal supplements trading partners harmonize with Codex. This odd language was no doubt very intentional. How could we recommend harmonization to other countries if we rejected it for the U.S.? So in effect we were committing ourselves to a much more restrictive regulatory regime for supplements.

As the Senate moved forward with the Food Safety bill, Senator Harkin (D-IA), committee chair, working closely with Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), promised to see what could be done to make absolutely clear this legislation was not intended to impact our access to dietary supplements. At that time, Senator Harkin modified the Codex provision, asking the FDA to consider "whether and how" to recommend U.S. foreign trading partners harmonize. This was a very important change and a tremendous show of support from both Senators, but we were still concerned that the inclusion of Codex language in the bill could be used to support future U.S. harmonization with Codex standards on dietary supplements.
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Pills

Towards Treating Female Sexual Dysfunction: Research Reveals Secrets of Female Sexual Arousal


PhysOrg
Wed, 14 Apr 2010 13:00 UTC
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© Gaea Times Image Gallery
By using a novel prototype drug, researchers have discovered more about the mechanisms underlying female sexual arousal. These findings are published today in the British Journal of Pharmacology.

A team of researchers based at Pfizer's labs in Sandwich, Kent, found that electrically stimulating the pelvic nerve increases blood flow to the genitalia, and that this effect was enhanced if they also gave a prototype drug (UK-414,495). They believe that the drug acts by blocking the breakdown of an internal chemical messenger that plays a key role in increasing blood flow during sexual arousal.

When women become aroused, blood flow increases to the vagina, labia and clitoris. This causes the organs to swell, and the vagina to relax, as well as increasing vaginal lubrication and the sensitivity of the genitalia.

Female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD) affects up to 40% of women irrespective of age. These women find that their genital organs do not respond to sexual stimulation, they find arousal difficult and this causes them to become distressed.
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Antidepressant Use Increases Risk of Stroke

David Gutierrez
NaturalNews
Wed, 14 Apr 2010 00:00 UTC
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© iStockphoto
Taking antidepressants may significantly increase the risk of stroke in post-menopausal women, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Bridget O'Connell of Mind, who was not involved in the study, noted that antidepressants are already known to carry a wide range of side effects that vary highly from individual to individual.

The study relied on data from the Women's Health Initiative study, which was responsible for proving that hormone replacement therapy significantly increased the risk of heart attack, stroke, cancer and death in postmenopausal women.

The researchers studied 136,293 women between the ages of 50 and 79 for an average of six years each. They found that those taking antidepressants were 45 percent more likely to suffer from a stroke in that time than women not taking the drugs, and 32 percent more likely to die from any cause.
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