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Wed, 27 Oct 2021
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Brain

Schizophrenia and the gut: New study strengthens the link between microbiota and mental health

Samoon Ahmad M.D.
Psychology Today
Tue, 05 Mar 2019 00:01 UTC
brain gut connection
© Madison Jaber
The ENS is in constant contact with the CNS.
The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is one of the most intricate and complicated systems found in the body. More than just being the network of organs that break down the food we eat, the GI tract also contains around 100 million nerve cells that run from the esophagus to the anus. It is also home to constellations of neurotransmitters, viruses, and as many as 40,000 different species of bacteria. Taken together, this complex network is known as the enteric nervous system (ENS).

The ENS does not operate in isolation. It is in constant contact with the central nervous system (CNS). The two-way communication system connecting the ENS and the CNS is known as the gut-brain axis. When there is a disruption in the ENS, there may be a corresponding problem in the CNS. The converse is also true: When a patient exhibits symptoms suggestive of a mental disorder or disease, one tends to find anomalies in the ENS and even in the patient's gut biome.

Comment: These results are quite amazing, and also quite encouraging. It would be very interesting to see if fecal transplant therapy would be helpful in treating schizophrenia. Imagine the amount of suffering that could be alleviated by a simple and essentially free process.

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Marijuana

Emergency room visits for marijuana edibles much more severe compared to inhalation

Dr. Leila Haghighat
ABC News
Wed, 27 Mar 2019 02:01 UTC
marijuana edibles
The risks with edible marijuana products are high - and not just in the trippy sense of the word.

A new study has found that patients' reasons for visiting emergency rooms are different for edible marijuana than they are for the inhaled form and that the visits are disproportionately high for the number of edible products that are sold.

"That type of discrepancy is not something that we would tolerate in any of our food or any other type of medication, so I don't think we should tolerate it in a drug that has killed people," Dr. Andrew Monte, a toxicologist and emergency medicine physician at the University of Colorado who led the study, told ABC News.

Marijuana use is widespread in the U.S., with about 7.5 percent of Americans over the age of 12 using it at any given time. Colorado legalized marijuana in 2014 and is one of 10 states - plus the District of Columbia - to do so.

Edible and inhaled marijuana share the same active ingredient: tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC for short. The inhaled form is more commonly used and has been associated with long-term lung damage. Edibles bypass the lungs entirely as the drug is mixed into various foods, such as brownies, gummies, drinks, cookies, granola and even popcorn. The downsides to edible marijuana have not been well studied.

Comment: See also:

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Health

US researchers explore link between sugar, insulin, keto, and cancer

Anne Mullens
Diet Doctor
Tue, 26 Mar 2019 11:29 UTC
cell division illustration
The groundbreaking work of US cancer researcher Lewis Cantley, PhD, linking the ketogenic diet to an anti-cancer drug, is receiving prominent coverage in the medical media.

Dr. Cantley, who is based at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, is leading a research program in which a powerful anti-cancer drug is paired with the ketogenic diet in effort to starve cancer cells of the glucose and insulin they need to grow and spread. His work, now in clinical trials with women with endometrial cancer, was detailed in a new feature in The Medical Express this week.

Medical Express: Increasing evidence of a strong connection between sugar and cancer

Comment: It's actually rather amazing that this research is getting any mainstream attention at all, considering how historically the media has done nothing but disparage the ketogenic diet. We hope Dr. Cantley's research continues to explore this promising new frontier and that the new knowledge gained will help people to heal.

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SOTT Logo Radio

Objective:Health: The Shit Show - Fiber, Fecal Transplants and the Microbiome


Sott.net
Wed, 27 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
O:H header
Welcome to the Shit Show! We start off with a discussion of fiber - is it the essential part of the diet the "experts" tell us it is? Fiber appears to have benefits, but there are a number of examples of people doing fine, even thriving, eschewing it completely. Some health issues even seem to be markedly improved by eliminating fiber, while increasing it worsens conditions. Maybe fiber isn't the amazing non-nutrient it's assumed to be!

Dr. Gaby brings us a health alert with important new information about fluoroquinalones.

We then move into other poopy areas, discussing the emerging research on fecal transplants among other poop-related topics.

Finally, Zoya's Pet Health Segment brings us some fascinating information about animal poop - why do some animals eat their own poop and why do dogs prefer to poop along the north-south axis of the earth?

Join us for our poopy parley - everything you didn't know you wanted to know about poop!

Time stamps: For more health-related news and more, you can find us on:
♥Twitter: https://twitter.com/objecthealth
♥Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/objecthealth/


Running Time: 01:07:05

Download: MP3 - 61 MB

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Cell Phone

Expert warns children who spend too much time on their phone are at serious risk of hip fractures in their 40s

Maggie Ritchie
Daily Mail
Sun, 24 Mar 2019 18:39 UTC
child cellphone
Children who spend too much time on their phones are at serious risk of hip fractures in their 40s and 50s, an expert has warned.

Dawn Skelton, a professor of ageing and health, said today's children are far more sedentary than previous generations as they play less sport, are given too many lifts, and look at screens for hours on end.

Because of this, their bones may weaken and fracture earlier than usual - and their parents could end up as their carers, she said.

Professor Skelton, an adviser to the Royal Osteoporosis Society, added: 'Young people need to move and jump about for their bones to grow properly because they build the vast majority of their bones by the time they reach puberty. After the age of 15 it's not as easy to lay down bone, and growth slows significantly.'

She has urged parents to enforce hourly screen breaks and to encourage children to be more active through walking and sport.
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Biohazard

The impact glyphosate can have on your health

Chris Kresser
chriskresser.com
Fri, 22 Mar 2019 00:01 UTC
wheat field

Can wheat treated with glyphosate herbicides damage your health?
In 2014, American farmers dumped 240 million pounds of glyphosate-based herbicides on crops like corn, wheat, and soy. (1)

Because glyphosate targets an enzyme found in plants but not in animals, it was long considered safe for use on foods consumed by humans. But is it really harmless? Read on to learn how glyphosate can be damaging to our health, how glyphosate impacts the environment, and if gluten intolerance could instead be a symptom of glyphosate exposure.

Comment: Glyphosate may be one of the most toxic substances ever created by man (although that's up for debate). The fact that copius amounts of it are still dumped into our environment on a daily basis is, quite simply, criminal.

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Heart

More trees please! Want to enjoy a long, happy life? Live near trees

Carolanne Wright
Wake-up World
Sun, 24 Mar 2019 11:14 UTC
trees
If you're anything like me, hiking through a forest, camping in the woods or savoring a natural space is a sure-fire way to boost mood, energy and vitality. The Japanese even have a name for it, Shinrin Yoku - otherwise known as forest bathing. And they have science to back-up the physiological benefits - stress markers like cortisol, pulse rate, blood pressure, parasympathetic and sympathetic nerve activity all improve with spending time in the woods. It's not only the Japanese who have discovered the perks of spending time among the trees, Western researchers have now established that if you want a healthy brain and more resiliency to stress, living near a forest is one of the best moves you can make.

Comment: Why a walk in the woods really does help your body and your soul
The forest air

The Japanese researchers suggested that we are taking in beneficial substances when we breathe forest air.

Research has identified three major inhaled factors that can make us feel healthier. These factors are beneficial bacteria, plant-derived essential oils and negatively-charged ions.

From birth to the grave, beneficial bacteria surround us; they live in the environment and, importantly, in the air we breathe. We also share almost our entire body with them. The more interaction we have with them, the happier and healthier we are.

This is in part due to our gut-dwelling bacteria, which break down the food we cannot digest and produce substances that benefit us both physically and mentally.

Plants and the bacteria living on them can produce essential oils to fight off harmful microorganisms. These are referred to collectively as phytoncides, literally, "plant-derived exterminators".

Research on the health benefits of plant essential oils is in its infancy. But one recent study found that a phytoncide from Korean pine trees improved the health and bacterial make-up of pigs.

Notwithstanding some of the pseudoscience that gets wrapped around negative ion generating machines, there is evidence that negative air ions may influence mental outlook in beneficial ways. There are relatively higher levels of negative air ions in forested areas and close to bodies of water. This may factor into the benefits of walking in a forest or near the ocean.


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Marijuana

Cannabinoid synergy: Whole-plant cannabis preparations are quantifiably superior to single compounds

David Bienenstock‌
Leafy
Tue, 19 Feb 2019 11:20 UTC
Cannabis Culture
© Cannabis Culture
Medical Cannabis and the 'Entourage Effect'
Way back in 2014, I wrote an article called Desperately Seeking CBD that profiled several families who either broke the law or moved clear across the country to access cannabidiol (CBD) a non-intoxicating compound found in the cannabis plant that's proven effective in treating pediatric seizure disorders that don't respond to more conventional therapies. At the time, the father of a two-year old epilepsy patient explained that they'd uprooted their entire existence and moved to Colorado just to try the treatment.

Five years later, you can buy CBD ice cream in Texas. Cannabidiol is officially "trendy." Capsules, tinctures, ointments, and oils containing the compound can be readily purchased online (as well as at gas stations and hair salons nationwide), and the legalization of hemp farming this December via the most recent US Farm Bill means that this rapidly growing market segment will likely expand exponentially over the next five years.

Comment: The Health & Wellness Show: The Highs and Lows of Cannabis as Medicine

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Marijuana

GMO brewer's yeast used to produce THC and CBD

Keith Mansur
Oregon Cannabis Connection
Tue, 26 Mar 2019 10:56 UTC
Saccharomyces cervisiae
The UC Berkeley researchers, led by synthetic biologist Jay Keasling, developed a genetically modified yeast from Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD) molecules. The research was published in the scientific journal Nature February 27th, 2019. The yeast is commonly used in beer and wine making.

The production of cannabinoids from yeast could be a cheaper and easier way of producing the valuable molecules which are currently widely used for treatment of medical conditions and, in the case of THC, consumed for the psychoactive effects. Cannabis high in THC, usually referred to as marijuana, is legal for recreational adult - use in 10 states and 13 others have decriminalized its use. Cannabis high in CBD, typically obtained from very low THC Industrial hemp, and the CBD molecule itself, are legal in most states. Both molecules are shown to be effective in treating many conditions and diseases, including pain, cancer, glaucoma, seizures, and many others.

Comment: This is hardly surprising - GMO technology has been used in the synthesizing of pharmaceutical medications for the last 40 years. It was only a matter of time (and working out of that pesky decriminalization thing) before the pharmaceutical industry found a way to dominate the medical marijuana industry. Marijuana and hemp activists, after fighting their fight for legalization, will be left in the cold as a result.

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Beaker

Why do you want to poison me? Iowa town bans fluoride as chemical's danger becomes increasingly apparent

Aaron Kesel
Activist Post
Mon, 25 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
flouride dangers
A small town in northwestern Iowa called Ida Grove has voted to end treating its city's drinking water with fluoride.

The Ida Grove City Council voted to halt fluoride treatment in the city's water supply, the Sioux City Journal reported. The move comes after city leaders and residents challenged whether the fluoride was effective at preventing tooth decay or presented health risks

A recent survey distributed through utility bills found that most citizens of the 2,000 population city didn't support fluoridation, according to the clerk's office.

Fluoridating water has long been debated across the country, and some opponents have argued that its health effects aren't completely understood.

Comment: See also:

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