Health & Wellness
In Western societies, the consumption of refined sugar is a daily addiction. From pouring syrup or sugar over pancakes and cereals at breakfast, to heaping it into coffee and tea, the habit continues during the day, resulting in obesity and health problems. Sugar content is often hidden from the unwary consumer and this raises questions such as: Is sugar really so bad? What exactly does it do to the human body? Can the definition of poison really be applied to sugar?
A popular online age quiz, RealAge, has gained notoriety among many Americans for its claims to pinpoint a person's true biological age and make corresponding recommendations for staying healthy and young. Research into the company reveals, however, that while the site itself promotes non-medical solutions to staying young, the company generates revenue by marketing drugs to its members via email.
The quiz is designed to assign a biological age to a person through a series of questions that assess lifestyle preferences, eating habits, and family history. Once compiled, the survey will offer advice on which vitamins to take, what to eat for meals, and how to improve youthfulness. Over 27 million people have taken the quiz and roughly nine million have signed up to become members.
Once a member, a person receives custom-tailored emails that use that person's quiz answers to make drug recommendations based on current symptoms and potential disease propensities. Drug companies pay RealAge to send marketing emails directly to members without any formal diagnosis from the members' doctors.
The quiz is designed to assign a biological age to a person through a series of questions that assess lifestyle preferences, eating habits, and family history. Once compiled, the survey will offer advice on which vitamins to take, what to eat for meals, and how to improve youthfulness. Over 27 million people have taken the quiz and roughly nine million have signed up to become members.
Once a member, a person receives custom-tailored emails that use that person's quiz answers to make drug recommendations based on current symptoms and potential disease propensities. Drug companies pay RealAge to send marketing emails directly to members without any formal diagnosis from the members' doctors.
A Galway eye surgeon has described as "unprecedented" the rise in the number of cases of an eye condition which he says can be directly attributed to people staring at the sun during recent events at the Knock shrine.
Dr Eamonn O'Donoghue, a consultant ophthalmologist surgeon in University Hospital Galway, says the hospital would usually see one case of solar retinopathy "at most" per year.
However, this year there have been five such cases, all of which have been linked to events at Knock.
Dr O'Donoghue said people needed to be warned of the condition as it was "potentially very, very dangerous" and could cause long-term damage to the most vulnerable part of the eye.
Dr Eamonn O'Donoghue, a consultant ophthalmologist surgeon in University Hospital Galway, says the hospital would usually see one case of solar retinopathy "at most" per year.
However, this year there have been five such cases, all of which have been linked to events at Knock.
Dr O'Donoghue said people needed to be warned of the condition as it was "potentially very, very dangerous" and could cause long-term damage to the most vulnerable part of the eye.
Laboratory tests commissioned by Environmental Working Group (EWG) and Rachel's Network have detected bisphenol A (BPA) for the first time in the umbilical cord blood of U.S. newborns. The tests identified the plastics chemical in 9 of 10 cord blood samples from babies of African American, Asian and Hispanic descent.
The findings provide hard evidence that U.S. infants are contaminated with BPA beginning in the womb.
Additional tests conducted by five laboratories in the U.S., Canada and Europe found up to 232 toxic chemicals in the 10 cord blood samples. Besides BPA, substances detected for the first time in U.S. newborns included a toxic flame retardant chemical called tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) that permeates computer circuit boards, synthetic fragrances (Galaxolide and Tonalide) used in common cosmetics and detergents, and perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA, or C4), a member of the notorious Teflon chemical family used to make non-stick and grease-, stain- and water-resistant coatings for cookware, textiles, food packaging and other consumer products.
The EWG study is the first to find perchlorate contamination in cord blood samples from multiple states. (A study by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently found perchlorate in cord blood samples from infants born in New Jersey.) Nine of the 10 samples in the EWG study were contaminated with perchlorate, a solid rocket fuel component and potent thyroid toxin that can disrupt production of hormones essential for normal brain development.
The findings provide hard evidence that U.S. infants are contaminated with BPA beginning in the womb.
Additional tests conducted by five laboratories in the U.S., Canada and Europe found up to 232 toxic chemicals in the 10 cord blood samples. Besides BPA, substances detected for the first time in U.S. newborns included a toxic flame retardant chemical called tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) that permeates computer circuit boards, synthetic fragrances (Galaxolide and Tonalide) used in common cosmetics and detergents, and perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA, or C4), a member of the notorious Teflon chemical family used to make non-stick and grease-, stain- and water-resistant coatings for cookware, textiles, food packaging and other consumer products.
The EWG study is the first to find perchlorate contamination in cord blood samples from multiple states. (A study by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently found perchlorate in cord blood samples from infants born in New Jersey.) Nine of the 10 samples in the EWG study were contaminated with perchlorate, a solid rocket fuel component and potent thyroid toxin that can disrupt production of hormones essential for normal brain development.
The problem of pharmaceutical residue turning up in water supplies is one we've written about before. It's a serious and growing problem, and right now, no one really knows what health risks the public might face from exposure to drugs in drinking water.
In 2008, the Associated Press published the results of its own five-month long investigation into drug residues in public water supplies. The probe revealed that 46 million Americans were being exposed to pharmaceutical ingredients via drinking water. The Associated Press also found that many y communities do not test for drugs in drinking water and those that do often fail to tell customers they have found medications, including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers, and sex hormones.
In 2008, the Associated Press published the results of its own five-month long investigation into drug residues in public water supplies. The probe revealed that 46 million Americans were being exposed to pharmaceutical ingredients via drinking water. The Associated Press also found that many y communities do not test for drugs in drinking water and those that do often fail to tell customers they have found medications, including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers, and sex hormones.
A new study has revealed that childhood exposure to lead can lead to permanent brain damage, US News and World Report writes.
"What we have found is that no region of the brain is spared from lead exposure. Distinct areas of the brain are affected differently," study author Kim Cecil, quoted US News. Cecil is an imaging scientist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and a professor of radiology, pediatrics and neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, said US News, citing a news release.
We have long written that exposure to lead in children can cause brain and nervous system damage, behavioral and learning problems, slowed growth, hearing problems, headaches, mental and physical retardation, and behavioral and other health problems. Lead is also known to cause cancer and reproductive harm. We have also long stressed that, once poisoned by lead, no organ system is immune, particularly the developing brain because negative influences can have long-lasting effects and can continue well into puberty and beyond.
"What we have found is that no region of the brain is spared from lead exposure. Distinct areas of the brain are affected differently," study author Kim Cecil, quoted US News. Cecil is an imaging scientist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and a professor of radiology, pediatrics and neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, said US News, citing a news release.
We have long written that exposure to lead in children can cause brain and nervous system damage, behavioral and learning problems, slowed growth, hearing problems, headaches, mental and physical retardation, and behavioral and other health problems. Lead is also known to cause cancer and reproductive harm. We have also long stressed that, once poisoned by lead, no organ system is immune, particularly the developing brain because negative influences can have long-lasting effects and can continue well into puberty and beyond.
AIDS, Inc. is a film about the multi-billion dollar AIDS industry, and how it profits from continuing fears and misconceptions about the disease. While AIDS grabs the headlines and raises billions of dollars with celebrity endorsements and billionaire endowments, we are no closer to finding a cure than when the scourge first appeared 30 years ago. Could it be that after so many years of research, and so much money being spent, that the entire orthodox medical establishment has been wrong about AIDS, or even worse, has sought to profit on a system that it knew was flawed from the beginning?
Doctor Robert Gallo who discovered the HIV virus said that there is no legitimate dissent when it comes to AIDS. But there are more than 5,000 physicians, microbiologists, journalists and activists who disagree and say that we have been misled about the real causes of AIDS and the nature of its treatment. The mainstream media has chosen not to provide an outlet for their opinions. In this important film, documentary filmmaker and health expert Gary Null, traveled to more than 30 countries over an eight year period to seek them out and get their interviews.
This is the first film on AIDS that brings the most compelling of their arguments together in one place. Dr. Null blows the lid off the wealthy AIDS industry and shows how greed and corruption have prevented any real progress in fighting the epidemic or its underlying causes. The film challenges the entrenched notion that AIDS or HIV is an African monkey virus that is spread sexually and can be "treated" with harmful drugs. Instead, the film considers the common underlying conditions of the epidemic, such as malnutrition, unclean water, poverty, illness, and poor lifestyle choices. The evidence is damning, and a clarion call to the public that the AIDS Industrial Complex is on the wrong track and has become a spending juggernaut completely out of control. For more information, visit www.garynull.com, where you can also purchase DVD copies.
Doctor Robert Gallo who discovered the HIV virus said that there is no legitimate dissent when it comes to AIDS. But there are more than 5,000 physicians, microbiologists, journalists and activists who disagree and say that we have been misled about the real causes of AIDS and the nature of its treatment. The mainstream media has chosen not to provide an outlet for their opinions. In this important film, documentary filmmaker and health expert Gary Null, traveled to more than 30 countries over an eight year period to seek them out and get their interviews.
This is the first film on AIDS that brings the most compelling of their arguments together in one place. Dr. Null blows the lid off the wealthy AIDS industry and shows how greed and corruption have prevented any real progress in fighting the epidemic or its underlying causes. The film challenges the entrenched notion that AIDS or HIV is an African monkey virus that is spread sexually and can be "treated" with harmful drugs. Instead, the film considers the common underlying conditions of the epidemic, such as malnutrition, unclean water, poverty, illness, and poor lifestyle choices. The evidence is damning, and a clarion call to the public that the AIDS Industrial Complex is on the wrong track and has become a spending juggernaut completely out of control. For more information, visit www.garynull.com, where you can also purchase DVD copies.
Ever since the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force took a look, finally, at the scientific evidence and announced new recommendations earlier this month for routine mammograms -- specifically that women under 50 should avoid them and women over 50 should only get them every other year -- the reactions from many women, doctors and the mainstream media have reached the point of near hysteria. Not getting annual mammograms, some say, means countless women will receive a virtual death sentence because their breast tumors won't be discovered. But what is rarely discussed about mammograms is this: the tests could actually be causing many cases of breast cancer.
In fact, a new study just presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), concludes the low-dose radiation from annual mammography screening significantly increases breast cancer risk in women with a genetic or familial predisposition to breast cancer. This is particularly worrisome because women who are at high risk for breast cancer are regularly pushed to start mammograms at a younger age -- as early as 25 -- and that means they are exposed to more radiation from mammography earlier and for more years than women who don't have breast cancer in their family trees.
In fact, a new study just presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), concludes the low-dose radiation from annual mammography screening significantly increases breast cancer risk in women with a genetic or familial predisposition to breast cancer. This is particularly worrisome because women who are at high risk for breast cancer are regularly pushed to start mammograms at a younger age -- as early as 25 -- and that means they are exposed to more radiation from mammography earlier and for more years than women who don't have breast cancer in their family trees.
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Some genes are only passed down by the sperm
Some genes are only passed down by the sperm
Scientists working on mice have highlighted a specific gene that, although carried by both sexes, appears to be active only in males.
They believe it allows males to grow bigger bodies - but at the expense of their longevity.
The study, by Tokyo University of Agriculture, appears in the journal Human Reproduction.
Although the study was conducted on mice, the researchers believe it could apply to all mammals - including humans.
They studied mice created with genetic material from two mothers, but no father.
This was achieved by manipulating DNA in mouse eggs so the genes behaved like those in sperm.
Younger people, those with children and less-educated individuals are more likely to experience anger, according to new UofT research that examines one of the most common negative emotions in society.
Drawing upon national survey data of more than 1,000 Americans aged 18 and older, Professor Scott Schieman from the Sociology Department at the University of Toronto has published new findings about the experience of anger.
In a chapter in the forthcoming International Handbook of Anger, to be released in January 2010, Schieman documents the basic social patterns and contexts of anger.
Drawing upon national survey data of more than 1,000 Americans aged 18 and older, Professor Scott Schieman from the Sociology Department at the University of Toronto has published new findings about the experience of anger.
In a chapter in the forthcoming International Handbook of Anger, to be released in January 2010, Schieman documents the basic social patterns and contexts of anger.
