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Mind-Gut Connection: Why Intestinal Bacteria May Have Important Effects on Your Brain

Ari LeVaux
Alternet
Fri, 29 Apr 2011 17:36 UTC
Image
© unknown
Anybody who's ever "listened to their gut" when making important decisions might be satisfied to learn of the biochemical evidence for the mind/belly connection.

Most children seem determined to eat dirt. It may be a coincidence, but what those little mud pie makers appear to intuit is now being supported by a growing body of scientific evidence that early exposure to diverse microorganisms results in healthier immune systems. Now there's reason to think that intestinal bacteria have important effects on brain development as well.

A study published in the March issue of Neurogastroenterology & Motility examined germ-free mice - i.e. mice deprived of contact with bacteria at a formative age. The researchers observed changes in brain activity based on varying microbe levels. They also found germ-free mice more likely to engage in risky behavior - measured as time spent in areas where they could be seen - than mice with normal levels of intestinal flora.

The study concludes that this constitutes evidence of bacteria in the loop between belly and brain, and influencing behavioral development.
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Bacon

Have you heard about the Paleo diet?

Gautam Raja
Gulf News
Tue, 03 May 2011 15:51 UTC
lascaux cave painting hunters
Have you heard about the Paleo diet? I know, another diet right - something faddy with a kernel of scientific truth taken to absurd levels that'll just crash and burn in a few years? Probably not this one though, considering its basis in sound science and focus on long-term health, not weight loss.

So what's the idea? Foraging in your garden for insects and worms? Eating only once during winter? Clubbing the neighbour's dog for dinner? Well not quite, but harking back to ancient habits is the general idea. It was in the Paleolithic age that we evolved into modern humans. Millions of years of evolution shaped the way our bodies process food. Agriculture, however, dates back only a few thousand years - not enough time, the argument being, for us to adapt to our modern calorie-dense grain-based diet.

Settling down was a good thing for the species certainly, but research suggests it wasn't that great for individual health. The Paleo diet, as propounded by Loren Cordain, sets to explain this. The average lifespan was low for our cavemen ancestors, but also, their lives involved getting clobbered on the head, gored by boars and starving. The ones who did survive, enjoyed good health all their lives - something seen even in contemporary hunter-gatherer societies.
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Attention

Genetically Modified Soy: The Invisible Ingredient 'Poisoning' Children

Louise Gray
Telegraph.co.uk
Mon, 02 May 2011 15:57 UTC
Image
© Friends Of The Earth
Petrona Villasboa, with a picture of her son Silvino Talavera, who she claims died of 'intoxication' after being sprayed by pesticides.
The home of Petrona Villasboa is surrounded by genetically modified (GM) soy fields. The golden crop looks like a bumper harvest but for her it is a symbol of death.

"Soy destroys people's lives," she says. "It is a poison. It is no way to live. Soy is deadly to us".

Sitting outside her painted green shack in rural Paraguay, the mother of eight describes the day in January 2003 when her 11-year-old son Silvino Talavera came home from cycling to the shops.

"I was washing clothes down by the river and he came to tell me he had been sprayed by one of the mosquitoes (the spraying machines behind a tractor)," she says.

"He smelt so bad that he took his clothes off and jumped straight in the water."

The busy mum did not think much more about it. For people living around GM soy fields spraying with chemicals is a common occurrence.
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Health

Complementary Treatments for Cancer: The Role Reiki And Massage Can Play in Treatment

Joseph Nowinski, Ph.D.
Huffington Post
Mon, 02 May 2011 15:31 UTC
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© alohamassageschool
Modern medicine has transformed death and dying. Whereas a "terminal" diagnosis once meant that death was more or less imminent, increasingly "terminal" illness refers to a chronic and potentially fatal disease. It begins with a diagnosis. That can lead to a protracted process that includes treatment, remission, possible relapse, treatment again and so on. In this way, death has become a process for millions of us, as opposed to the sudden event it once typically was.

In the course of writing Saying Goodbye: How Families Can Find Renewal through Loss, we interviewed a great many patients, caregivers and family members. We were looking for common themes and experiences in an effort to draw a rudimentary "road map" of what families can expect - and what they can do to make this process more manageable. One of the themes that emerged was the increasing use of alternative and complementary treatments (ACT's) conjointly with treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery, all of which can have pernicious side effects.
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Arrow Up

Higher overall levels of sugar in the bloodstream appears to be a good predictor of death


Dr Briffa
Wed, 27 Apr 2011 08:21 UTC
One key factor in health, I believe, is the general level of sugar in the bloodstream. We don't want blood sugar levels too low (this starves the cells of energy in certain circumstances and can even be fatal). We don't want them too high either. Glucose can bind to proteins in the body and damage them. This process, known as 'glycation', is believed to be a major cause of the complications of diabetes including retinal disease (disease at the back of the eye that can lead to visual problems and blindness), kidney disease and nerve damage.

In addition, 'spikes' in blood sugar, can lead to other processes linked with disease including increased inflammation, increased 'oxidative stress' (free radical damage), and increased coagulation (making the blood 'stickier' and more likely to clot). You can read more about these issues here.

One standard test of assessing blood sugar levels is a 'serum glucose', which can be measured in the fasting or non-fasting state. The fundamental problem with this test, as I see it, is that it really provides only a snapshot of blood sugar levels. It doesn't, therefore, tell us much about the medium and long-term blood sugar levels in an individual.
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Cheeseburger

Real men don't eat carbs

Dr. William Davis
The Heart Scan Blog
Wed, 27 Apr 2011 03:16 UTC
Real men don't eat carbs. At least they don't eat them without eventually paying the price.

How do carbohydrates, especially those contained in "healthy whole grains," impair maleness? Several ways:
  • Consume carbohydrates, especially the exceptional glucose-increasing amylopectin A from wheat, and visceral fat grows. Visceral fat increases estrogen levels; estrogen, in effect, opposes the masculinizing effects of testosterone. Overweight males typically have low testosterone and high estrogen, a cause for depression, emotionality, weight gain, and low libido.
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Syringe

The Dangers of the Medical Industrial Complex

Dr. Mark Hyman
DrHyman.com
Sat, 30 Apr 2011 11:20 UTC
stethoscope
© Unknown
Your doctors think they make decisions based on medical evidence.

But they don't!

In fact, half of medical evidence is hidden from your doctors. And the half that's hidden is the half that shows drugs don't work.

The bad news is that drug companies are not policed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the way they should be. A drug should be proven both effective and safe BEFORE it is prescribed to millions of people.

Sadly, that often isn't the case.

Let me share with you two recent examples that highlight the dangerous collusion between drug companies and our government agency. They show why the FDA should really stand for "Federal Drug Aid."

First, we now know that the cholesterol-lowering drug Zetia actually causes harm and leads to faster progression of heart disease DESPITE lowering cholesterol 58 percent when combined with Zocor.

This challenges the belief that high cholesterol causes heart attacks and shakes the $40 billion dollar cholesterol drug industry at its foundation.

Second, it's come to light that nearly all the negative studies on antidepressants - that's more than half of all studies on these drugs - were never published, giving a false sense of effectiveness of antidepressants to treat depression.

Don't get me wrong.

I'm not telling you to blame your doctor.

Instead, blame deceptive scientific practices and industry-protective government polices. Let's talk a closer look at these findings and their implications.
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Beaker

Are You Enjoying Your Daily Chemical Cocktail?

Kristin Wartman
Grist
Wed, 27 Apr 2011 17:31 UTC
Image
© Grist
You're probably ingesting a wicked chemical cocktail every day before tea time.
Chemicals and additives found in the food supply and other consumer products are making headlines regularly as more and more groups raise concern over the safety of these substances. In a statement released this week, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) asked for reform to the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. The group is particularly concerned about the effects these substances have on children and babies.

Last month, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) held hearings on the safety of food dyes but failed to make a definitive ruling. The most recent study on Bisphenol-A (BPA) added to growing doubts about its safety; but the FDA's stance on it remains ambiguous. Meanwhile, in 2010, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported [PDF] that the FDA is not ensuring the safety of many chemicals.

Yet while the FDA stalls and hedges on the safety of these substances, Americans are exposed to untested combinations of food additives, dyes, preservatives, and chemicals on a daily basis. Indeed, for the vast majority of Americans consuming industrial foods, a veritable chemical cocktail enters their bodies every day and according to the GAO report, "FDA is not systematically ensuring the continued safety of current GRAS substances."

Comment: For a more in depth look at the issue of 'Daily Chemical Cocktails' and their effects on human health read the following articles carried on SOTT:

New Alarm Bells About Chemicals and Cancer
The cancer panel is releasing a landmark 200-page report on Thursday, warning that our lackadaisical approach to regulation may have far-reaching consequences for our health.

The report blames weak laws, lax enforcement and fragmented authority, as well as the existing regulatory presumption that chemicals are safe unless strong evidence emerges to the contrary.

"Only a few hundred of the more than 80,000 chemicals in use in the United States have been tested for safety," the report says. It adds: "Many known or suspected carcinogens are completely unregulated."

One reason for concern is that some cancers are becoming more common, particularly in children. We don't know why that is, but the proliferation of chemicals in water, foods, air and household products is widely suspected as a factor.
New Research Revealed: Environmentally Caused Cancers Are 'Grossly Underestimated'

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Question

So How's the Food Patriot Act Working Out So Far?

Rady Ananda
foodfreedom.wordpress.com
Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:49 UTC
Image
© foodfreedom.wordpress.com
Another armed food raid - this time on a company that provides nutritional supplements primarily for autism spectrum disorders and Alzheimer's disease - another day under the Food Safety Modernization Act. As predicted, the FSMA is turning out to be a deliberate plan to wipe out small (under a million dollars a year in sales) and medium-sized (under $10 million a year) producers of natural, wholesome food and supplements. This is what happens when corporations run governments.

The concept of "food safety" in corpogov-speak is really just food fascism, according to Vandana Shiva:
"Risk Assessment in the hands of centralized corruptible agencies is no protection for consumers as the disease and health epidemic in the U.S. linked to over processed, industrial foods show. Even while the U.S. is at the epicenter of the food related public health crises, the U.S. government is trying to export its Food laws which deregulate the industry and over regulate ordinary citizens and small enterprise. This deregulation of the big and toxic and over regulation of the small and ecological is at the core of Food Fascism." [emphasis added]
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Attention

Armadillos Give Leprosy to Humans in Southern U.S.: Study

Serena Gordon
US News. Health
Fri, 29 Apr 2011 04:15 UTC
The prehistoric-looking armadillo, already the state animal of Texas, now has a new claim to fame: leprosy.

A new study finds that armadillos carry the bacterium that causes leprosy, and have somehow passed the disease to several dozen humans in the southern United States.

"We've confirmed a long-suspected link between leprosy in humans and armadillos," said the study's lead author, Richard Truman, from the Bureau of Primary Health Care at the Health Resources and Services Administration's National Hansen's Disease Program at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

Truman said it's important to realize that the risk of contracting leprosy (also known as Hansen's disease) from armadillos "is still infinitesimally small."
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