Health & Wellness
In the middle of a nationwide outbreak of salmonella illness linked to black and red pepper -- and after 16 U.S. recalls since 2001 of tainted spices -- federal regulators met last week with the spice industry to figure out ways to make the supply safer.
Jeff Farrar, the FDA's associate commissioner for food safety, said the government wants the spice industry to do more to prevent contamination. That would include using one of three methods to rid spices of bacteria: irradiation, steam heating or fumigation with ethylene oxide, a pesticide.
This is the largest nationally representative study of the toll taken by sepsis and pneumonia, two conditions often caused by deadly microbes, including the antibiotic-resistant bacteria MRSA.
Such infections can lead to longer hospital stays, serious complications and even death.
Researchers analyzed 69 million discharge records from hospitals in 40 states and identified two conditions caused by health care-associated infections: sepsis, a potentially lethal systemic response to infection and pneumonia, an infection of the lungs and respiratory tract.

Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, who is serving 24 years in jail for his role in the energy giant's 2001 bankruptcy in one of the biggest corporate scandals in U.S. history, has appealed his conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court. His lawyers are challenging a 1988 federal law that makes corporate bosses liable to prosecution for depriving shareholders of "honest services."
New York Gov. David Paterson is embroiled in a scandal over whether he used his power and influence to intimidate a woman pursuing a domestic violence case against one of his top aides. As a result, the governor said last month that he would not seek a second term, and his communications director quit earlier this month citing "integrity" issues.
Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, who went to prison after the spectacular collapse of the company, is appealing to the Supreme Court his 2006 conviction on 19 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying.
His lawyers argue that he didn't get a fair trial and that Skilling's conduct, "even if wrongful in some way," was not illegal because he was not looking out for his personal interests "apart from his normal compensation incentives."
The issue of integrity is at the heart of the predicaments these powerful men find themselves in. An organization's health often hinges on the trustworthiness of its leaders, ethics experts say.
Two new reports from a major nationwide trial called ACCORD released yesterday show that lowering either blood pressure or cholesterol below current guidelines does not provide additional benefit and, in fact, increases the risk of side effects. A third arm of the study, released two years ago, showed that lowering blood sugars excessively actually increases the risk of heart disease.
The results are disappointing, researchers say, because they suggest that clinicians might have reached the limit of what they can do for diabetic patients.
The good news is that the findings "reduce the cost and potential side effects of drug therapy," and patients will not have to work as hard at reducing blood sugars, lipids and blood pressure, said Dr. Denise Simons-Morton of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which funded the trial.
Diabetes has become a tremendous problem in the United States: At least 21 million people are afflicted with Type 2 diabetes, and millions more are at risk because of obesity. Most diabetics also have high blood pressure and a high cholesterol level; those factors raise their risk of heart attack and stroke to the same level as that of people who have had a heart attack.
But the good news is I will provide you with a clear, three-step plan to help your body detoxify from mercury and other heavy metals and recover your health. I have used this same plan successfully and safely with hundreds and hundreds of patients over the last 10 years - and it's the same process I used myself to overcome mercury toxicity!
But first, let's look at the data presented at "The Impact of Mercury on Human Health and the Environment" conference.
WalMart pulled a major bonehead move this week when it sacked a cancer patient -- a former Associate of the Year -- for following his doctor's advice and using medical marijuana, which is perfectly legal in Michigan. As a direct result, medical marijuana advocates are now organizing a nationwide boycott of the retail giant.
The wave of revulsion and outrage over WalMart's treatment of Casias is growing exponentially as more people learn what was done -- and with 80 percent of the American public supporting medical marijuana, the results of a boycott could be substantial.
As The Guardian reports, "As part of the deal, which the company says is the first of its kind in the world, McDonald's will use the Weight Watchers logo on its menu boards and Weight Watchers will promote McDonald's to dieters."
Nutritionists, not surprisingly, were shocked at the announcement. The idea of eating at McDonald's to lose weight seems a bit ridiculous, and anyone who believes that eating Chicken McNuggets will cause you to lose weight is arguably one nugget short of a Happy Meal. Sometimes you just have to point out the stupidity of these things, even at the risk of offending someone who has convinced themselves that eating more Chicken McNuggets is their ticket to a slim, fit and sexy body.
"America's healthcare system is indeed hemorrhaging billions of dollars," the report says.
According to the report, unnecessary medical procedures and treatments -- including antibiotic overuse and superfluous tests -- account for 37 percent of all wasted spending, $200 to $300 billion per year. Fraud -- including false Medicare claims and kickbacks for referrals or prescriptions -- accounts for another 22 percent, as much as $200 billion a year. Medical errors are responsible for 11 percent of excess spending, or $50 to $100 billion yearly. Preventable health problems, such as diabetes, cost the healthcare system $30 to $50 billion per year.
Apitherapy, a traditional folk remedy that has been used in many other countries for centuries, takes advantage of the healing power contained in honeybee venom which helps to alleviate serious conditions like multiple sclerosis, arthritis, and lupus. According to 51-year-old Reyah Carlson of Vermont, a proponent of apitherapy, bee venom helped to treat her Lyme Disease.
Carlson recently spoke at the North American Beekeepers Conference in Orlando where she spoke of the benefits of apitherapy. She regularly travels around the world telling people about the alternative treatment and informing them about how it works to treat disease.
In fact, according to a new report, most of our favorite cosmetics are cocktails of industrially produced and potentially dangerous chemicals that could damage our health and, in some cases, rather than delivering on their potent 'anti-aging' promise, are causing us to age faster.
Research by Bionsen, a natural deodorant company, found that the average woman's daily grooming and make-up routine means she 'hosts' a staggering 515 different synthetic chemicals on her body every single day.







Comment: To learn more about Detoxing read the following forum threads:
Detoxification: Heavy Metals, Mercury and how to get rid of them
Anti-Candida, Inflammation, Heavy Metals Detox and Diet