June 24, 2009

Canadian cardiovascular deaths down 30 percent in a decade

Life Extension, June 23, 2009

In just ten years, hospital admissions and deaths from cardiovascular
disease dropped by 30 percent among Canadians, according to researchers
at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto. The study
is the first of its kind in Canada.

The Canadian Cardiovascular Outcomes Research Team reported their
analysis in the June 23, 2009 issue of the Canadian Medical Association
Journal <http://www.cmaj.ca/> . The team utilized information obtained
from Statistic Canada’s Canadian Mortality Database combined with
admission data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information’s
Hospital Morbidity Database for 1994 to 2004 to determine hospital
admissions and rates of death for heart attack, heart failure and stroke
<http://www.lef.org/protocols/heart_circulatory/stroke_cerebrovascular_d
isease_01.htm>  per 100,000 individuals aged 20 and older.

They found that deaths from cardiovascular disease declined from 360.6
per 100,000 in 1994 to 252.5 per 100,000 in 2004: a 30 percent
reduction. The rate of heart attack declined by 38.1 percent, and heart
failure and stroke declined by 23.5 percent and 28.2 percent, with
improvements in most age groups. While hospital admissions for heart
attack decreased by 9.2 percent, the reduction in heart attack
in-hospital fatalities was 33.1 percent.

For the first time, more women than men were found to have died from
cardiovascular disease, although women were likelier than men to be
admitted to the hospital for heart attack, heart failure and stroke at a
later age.

The reduction in cardiovascular deaths could reflect a decline in
smoking and greater use of statin drugs. In an accompanying commentary,
Simon Capewell, DSc, and Martin O'Flaherty, MD of the University of
Liverpool in England note that “Over 80% of premature cardiovascular
disease is avoidable. Medications to reduce lipids and blood pressure
will help. But the promotion of population-wide control of tobacco,
cessation of smoking, a healthier diet and increased physical activity
is crucial.”

Increased thyroid stimulating hormone associated with extreme longevity

Life Extension, June 17, 2009

In the April, 2009 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and
Metabolism <http://jcem.endojournals.org/> , researchers from Albert
Einstein College of Medicine in New York report the discovery of a
significant correlation between exceptional longevity and elevated
levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH, which increases production
of hormones by the thyroid gland). According to the authors of the
study, “subclinical hypothyroidism is diagnosed when serum TSH
concentration is above the upper reference limit and free T4 remains
within the reference range.” Hypothyroidism has been associated with
extreme longevity in some animals as well as in some human studies,
however, it is unknown whether it contributes to healthy aging.

The current study analyzed serum TSH and free T4 (thyroid hormone)
levels in 232 Ashkenazi Jews with a median age of 97, 188 Ashkenazi Jews
whose median age was 72, and 605 subjects aged 60 to 79 without thyroid
disease
<http://www.lef.org/protocols/metabolic_health/thyroid_regulation_01.htm
>  who had participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey (NHANES) 1998-2002. Thyroid stimulating hormone was significantly
higher in the older Ashkenazi Jews compared with both control groups,
although T4 levels were similar in both Ashkenazi groups.

“Serum TSH concentrations and distribution gradually increase with age,
suggesting either a decline in thyroid function or a reset in the TSH
set point, which may occur with aging,” the authors write. “Although it
remains unclear from numerous clinical studies whether altered
negative-feedback between free T4 and TSH or subtle hypothyroidism
raises the risk of adverse health outcomes, this, a priori, does not
seem likely for individuals who have achieved exceptional longevity.”

They add that until the issue is settled, it may not be prudent for
elderly patients who exhibit minimally increased TSH to be routinely
treated with the thyroid hormone levothyroxine.

Skin cancer strikes younger people

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 06-23-09

Fun-in-the-sun season is troubling dermatologists again.

"Our (skin cancer) patients are getting younger," said Dr. Mary Noel
George, a dermatologist with DePaul Health Center in Bridgeton, Mo.

The American Society of Dermatologic Surgeons reports that melanoma, the
deadliest form of skin cancer, is the second most common cancer in women
ages 20 to 29 and is increasing among all people younger than 30. The
doctors say the cause is people spending too much time in the sun
without taking precautions, as well as the use of tanning beds.

The medical community says all forms of skin cancers result primarily
from too much sun.

Still, Consumer Reports found that 31 percent of Americans in a recent
poll never use sunscreen or sun protection. Another 27 percent said they
never or rarely use it on their children, even when they're in the sun
for more than two to four hours.

The options for protection haven't changed much, the doctors said: use
sunblocks, sunscreens and wear protective clothing.

All of the products reduce the amount of harmful ultraviolet A and B
rays from reaching your skin. UVA and UVB rays both cause cancer, except
UVA doesn't cause sunburn, but may cause wrinkling and aging of the
skin.

THE BEST DEFENSES

Sunblocks - These contain zinc oxide or titanium dioxide powders and are
the most effective rub-on protection, says Dr. Scott Fosko, head of
dermatology with St. Louis University Hospital. "That's the white
blocker that you see on the noses of lifeguards," Fosko said.

Sunscreens - Chemicals rather than metals block or absorb harmful sun
rays.

Clothing - Sun protective clothing generally is made from tight-woven
fabrics. That type is more popular than chemically treated clothing
because it stands up to washing. Special clothing often uses UPF rating,
ultraviolet protection factor. UPF 50 means 1/50th of the suns rays
penetrate the fabric.

Drs. Mary Noel George and Scott Fosko offered some suggestions for a
sun-safe summer.

-Apply at least an ounce - the equivalent of a shot glass - of sunscreen
over your body, even under clothing.

-Apply 30 minutes before getting into the sun so your skin can soak up
your sunscreen.

-Reapply sunscreen generously about every two hours regardless of the
labels and claims, even with water resistant sunscreen, because it can
rub off.

-Use sunscreen all the time; much of the sun you get comes through car
and house windows and from being outdoors for short periods.

-African-Americans need sunscreen, too. Melanoma kills a higher
percentage of black people than whites - a 45 percent survival rate
compared to 69 percent for whites, says the American Cancer Society.

Antioxidant supplement shows potential against AMD

Nutraingredients.com, 24-Jun-2009

A combination of antioxidant pigments and vitamins may slow down sight
loss in elderly people, according to researchers from Queen’s
University, Belfast.

The study used a commercial supplement containing lutein, zeaxanthin,
vitamins C and E, and zinc. The supplement is available from Bausch and
Lomb, the company that holds the patent for the AREDS supplement.

The AREDS formula, the patent for which is held by Bausch and Lomb,
comprises vitamins C and E, beta carotene, zinc and copper. AREDS2 will
include the antioxidant carotenoids lutein
<http://www.nutraingredients.com/content/search?SearchText=lutein>  and
zeaxanthin, and the omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA.

Professor Chakravarthy told NutraIngredients that the new supplement
differed from the AREDS supplements by not containing vitamin A, while
the concentrations of vitamins C and E, and zinc are different.

According to findings presented at ARVO 2009, in Florida, the
combination supplement slowed down the progression of early age-related
macular degeneration (AMD) to late AMD.

AMD is a degenerative retinal disease that causes central vision loss
and leaves only peripheral vision, and the leading cause of legal
blindness for people over 55 years of age in the Western world,
according to AMD
<http://www.nutraingredients.com/content/search?SearchText=AMD>
Alliance International.

Results of the Carotenoids in Age-Related Maculopathy (CARMA) study
indicated that intake of high levels of lutein and zeaxanthin preserved
the macular pigments. On the other hand, the macular pigments of
participants in a placebo group declined steadily.

"These findings are important because this is the first randomised
controlled clinical trial to document a beneficial effect through
improved function and maintained macular pigments,” said the study’s
coordinator, Professor Usha Chakravarthy, from Queen's Centre of Vision
and Vascular Science (CVVS).

“Further research is needed to confirm these findings and to identify
the numbers needed to treat to prevent 1 case from progressing from
early to late AMD," she added.

According to the study protocol, published last year in Ophthalmic
Epidemiology(Vol. 15, pp. 389-401), the Carotenoids in Age-Related
Maculopathy (CARMA) study is a randomized, placebo-controlled,
double-blind clinical trial involving 433 participants with early AMD
features in at least one eye or any level of AMD in one eye with late
AMD in the other eye.

“The aim of the CARMA Study is to investigate whether lutein and
zeaxanthin, in combination with co-antioxidants (vitamin C, E, and
zinc), has a beneficial effect on visual function and/or prevention of
progression from early to late stages of disease,” state the researchers
in Ophthalmic Epidemiology.

Study is ongoing, but it appears the combination of nutrients does
indeed show potential against AMD.

"Late AMD causes severe sight loss and has a huge economic impact both
in terms of the effects of sight loss itself and in terms of the
expensive treatments that are needed to deal with the condition,” added
Prof Chakravarthy.

"We wanted to carry out the study as prevention of progression to late
AMD can result in a reduced financial and societal burden."

The study was funded by Dr Mann Pharma and Bausch and Lomb and sponsored
by the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust.

Honey extract may ease heat stress for cyclists: Study

Nutraingredients.com, 24-Jun-2009

An extract from propolis, the waxy resin collected by honeybees, may
reduce the detrimental effects prolonged exercising in hot climates,
according to a new study.

Heat stress leads to increased free radical production, and endurance
impairment, according to the Taiwanese researchers behind the new study.
Caffeic acid phenethyl ester, a phenolic compound from propolis, may
protect against these detrimental effects.

Findings published in the Journal of Food Science indicate that
pre-treatment with the extract prior to cycling led to significant
reductions in the detrimental effects of excessive exercise.

Jasson Chiang from the Graduate Institute of Sport Coaching Science at
the Chinese Culture University in Taipei recruited 30 competitive
cyclists. The researchers isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells
(MNC) from the participants in order to test whether a pre-treatment
with the propolis
<http://www.nutraingredients.com/content/search?SearchText=propolis>
extract (0, 1, 2, 4 micrograms per millilitre) affected the response to
hyperthermia.

According to their findings, hyperthermia increased both the production
of superoxide and decreased the cellular levels of the antioxidant
glutathione. On incubation with the propolis extract the researchers
noted a reversal or reduced hyperthermia-induced effects, including
reduced cell death (necrosis), inhibition of the over-production of
superoxide, and an attenuation of the depletion of glutathione. All of
these effects were in a dose-dependent manner, added the researchers.

“By the ex vivo model system, it shows that caffeic acid phenethyl ester
may enhance the hyperthermal tolerance of mononuclear cells in
competitive cyclists via antioxidative effect,” wrote the researchers.

“The protective effect of caffeic acid phenethyl ester against
hyperthermal stress in the other normal cells and tissues, such as
skeletal muscle and myocardium needs to be further investigated,” they
concluded.

It is reported that propolis contains about 180 different compounds and
the waxy resin has previously been linked to improvements of general
health, skin health, and oral health.

Source: Journal of Food Science Published online ahead of print, doi:
10.1111/j.1750-3841.2009.01199.x “Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Ester, an
Antioxidant from Propolis, Protects Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells
of Competitive Cyclists against Hyperthermal Stress”
Authors: Y.-J. Chen, A.-C. Huang, H.-H. Chang, H.-F. Liao, C.-M. Jiang,
L.-Y. Lai, J.-T. Chan, Y.-Y. Chen, J. Chiang

Depression linked with mental decline in older men

Last Updated: 2009-06-23 13:11:54 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Symptoms of depression increase older
people's likelihood of becoming cognitively impaired, and this risk is
especially high for men, a new study in the Journal of the American
Geriatrics Society shows.

The findings support the theory that depression might result from the
effects of blood vessel disease on the brain, and represent the early
stages of declining mental function, Dr. Tze Pin Ng of the National
University of Singapore and colleagues point out.

There has been some research suggesting a link between depression and
worse cognitive function in older people, and a couple of studies have
found the link in men, but not women, the researchers say. The gender
difference could be due to men's greater likelihood of having disease of
their blood vessels (vascular disease), they add.

To investigate, the researchers followed 1,497 Chinese men and women who
were 55 years of age or older, all of whom had strong mental
functioning. At the study's outset, 10.6 percent were depressed. Within
2 years, 44 people, or 3 percent, had developed cognitive impairment.
All of these individuals had high blood pressure or risk factors for
vascular disease such as diabetes or stroke.

While 2.6 percent of people who weren't depressed developed cognitive
impairment, 5.7 percent of those who were depressed did. After the
researchers accounted for factors that could influence both depression
and cognitive function, including gender, education, baseline mental
function, and blood vessel disease risk factors, they found that
depressed people were 2.29 times more likely to have lost cognitive
function than people who weren't depressed.

The increased risk was only statistically significant among men, who
were 4.74 times more likely to become cognitively impaired if they were
depressed.

The findings suggest that underlying blood vessel disease may account
for some of the increased cognitive impairment risk seen in depressed
men, the researchers say. "Depressive symptomology in women may reflect
a greater diversity of underlying psychosocial pathology or other
physical illness," they add, "which might mask the cognitive effect of
vascular depression even if it were present."

SOURCE: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, June 2009.

Drug deals cost US consumers $3.5 bln a year: FTC

Last Updated: 2009-06-23 13:38:54 -0400 (Reuters Health)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumers, insurance companies and the federal
government spend an extra $3.5 billion for prescription drugs every year
because brand-name companies pay generic producers to stay out of the
market, the head of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday.

FTC chief Jon Leibowitz urged Congress to pass legislation, now pending
in the U.S. Congress that would ban deals in which brand-name drug
makers pay generic companies to delay production of cheaper versions of
popular drugs.

"Eliminating these deals is one of the Federal Trade Commission's
highest priorities," Leibowitz said at the Center for American Progress,
a think tank.

While a member of the U.S. Senate, President Barack Obama co-sponsored
an earlier version of the legislation.

The FTC estimated that the federal government pays about one third of
all prescription drug costs, so eliminating "pay for delay" settlements
would save the government $1.2 billion annually.

The FTC has challenged the deals in court, saying patent settlements
were sometimes used to disguise payoffs that kept generic versions of
drugs off the market. The agency has had mixed results in the courts.

The first known "pay for delay" was in 1994 when Bristol-Myers Squibb Co
paid $290 million to Schein Pharmaceutical to delay the sale of a
generic version of Bristol's anxiety drug Buspar.

The FTC has calculated that consumers could save even more if generic
companies were allowed to make copies of expensive biotechnology drugs,
something the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not now allow.

Music, cardiovascular rhythms fall in sync

Last Updated: 2009-06-23 12:19:24 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Music may indeed soothe the savage breast,
according to a study showing that people's cardiovascular rhythms tend
to fall in step with musical ones.

In a study published Monday in the journal Circulation, Italian
researchers found that healthy adults' heart rate, blood pressure and
blood flow changed in response to musical crescendos and decrescendos.

Using several classical music selections, the investigators found that
musical crescendos -- a gradual increase in volume and intensity --
generally led to increases in blood vessel constriction, blood pressure,
heart rate and breathing rate. The opposite was true with decrescendos,
a gradual decrease in the music's volume.

The findings, say the researchers, bolster the case for using music as a
form of therapy for high blood pressure and other cardiovascular ills.

"The profile of music (crescendo or decrescendo) is continuously tracked
by the cardiovascular and respiratory systems," lead researcher Dr.
Luciano Bernardi, a professor of internal medicine at Pavia University,
said in a news release from the American Heart Association.

"This is particularly evident when music is rich in emphasis, like in
operatic music," Bernardi explained. "These findings increase our
understanding of how music could be used in rehabilitative medicine."

The study included 24 young adults, half were trained singers and half
had no musical background. Each participant listened to various
classical and operatic music selections while attached to monitors that
tracked heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and dilation in the
blood vessels just below the skin.

The researchers found that along with the responses to crescendos and
decrescendos, certain rhythmic musical phrases seemed to synchronize
participants' "inherent cardiovascular rhythms."

The phrases, from two pieces by Verdi, were about 10 seconds long,
Bernardi's team notes, which is similar to the standard oscillations in
blood pressure.

In contrast, a more "intellectual" solo singing piece by Bach had
relatively little effect on cardiovascular rhythms.

The researchers point out that the cardiovascular responses were seen
even in the absence of emotional responses to the music and altered
breathing was not necessary to see cardiovascular effects.

The findings, the researchers say, suggest that music somehow directly
affects nervous system control of cardiovascular rhythms.

"Music induces a continuous, dynamic -- and to some extent predictable

-- change in the cardiovascular system," Bernardi said. "It is not only
the emotion that creates the cardiovascular changes, but this study
suggests that also the opposite might be possible, that cardiovascular
changes may be the substrate for emotions, likely in a bi-directional
way."

SOURCE: Circulation: Journal of the American Medical Association, June
30, 2009.

Let's Stop Kidding Ourselves: Ten "Big Duh" Realizations about Our World
That Need to be Stated

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews.com June 24, 2009

(NaturalNews) Forget the excuses, the spin and the propaganda. America's
proposed health reforms won't work. The economy won't be saved with more
bailouts, and technology isn't going to rescue us from carbon emissions.
You want to know what's real in our world? Here are ten "Big Duh"
realizations that need to be flatly stated.

Big Duh #1 - Pharmaceuticals don't work

Big Pharma's drugs simply don't work. They don't cure any disease. Ask a
cancer doctor about the number of patients he's ever cured with
chemotherapy: That number is zero. Ask a heart doctor how many patients
have been cured with heart drugs <http://www.naturalnews.com/drugs.html>
: The answer is zero. How many diabetes
<http://www.naturalnews.com/diabetes.html> patients have been cured with
diabetes drugs? Also zero.

Big Pharma's drugs don't work. And the only reason people think they do
work is because doctors and consumers alike are easily fooled by
commercial advertising. Virtually all the so-called "science" backing
drugs is utterly fraudulent (and the FDA continues to outlaw anything
that might compete with drugs).

Big Duh #2 - You can't raise healthy children on garbage food

America <http://www.naturalnews.com/America.html>  continues to feed its
children junk processed food
<http://www.naturalnews.com/processed_food.html>  laced with chemical
contaminants (food <http://www.naturalnews.com/food.html>  coloring,
artificial sweeteners, MSG, etc.). And yet we somehow expect the next
generation to grow up healthy and intelligent. This expectation is
simply incompatible with the diets we are currently feeding our
children.

Any society that hopes to have a future MUST base that future on a
serious investment in the health
<http://www.naturalnews.com/health.html>  of each successive generation.
That means eliminating the junk foods
<http://www.naturalnews.com/foods.html> , chemicals, processed foods,
sodas and toxic pharmaceuticals
<http://www.naturalnews.com/pharmaceuticals.html>  that are poisoning
our children today.

Big Duh #3 - Modern society is not sustainable

Let's stop kidding ourselves on this one. The structure of modern urban
living is simply not sustainable. From the importation of food, the
dwindling supplies of water, the dependence on oil, the depletion of
natural resources and the destruction of nature, human cities flat out
cannot continue for very much longer as currently configured. We must
either radically reduce our eco-footprint (and learn to live more
locally) or we will not live much longer at current population levels.
It's as simple as that.

Another glaring issue with modern society
<http://www.naturalnews.com/modern_society.html>  is the population
problem. We keep creating more people who consume more resources and
ultimately destroy more of our natural environment. It's time we
realized we are in a population bubble that will soon burst, resulting
in a sharp reduction in population in one way or another (a pandemic,
crop failures, etc.).

Big Duh #4 - the American Empire
<http://www.naturalnews.com/American_Empire.html>  is bankrupt

Do the math: The American Empire has no escape from outright financial
destitution. The nation is so broke that even the big lenders who have
been subsidizing America's way of life for at least four decades are
about to bail. Massive hyperinflation is on the way, and the gargantuan
financial bailouts of the last nine months are just a sign of the
financial idiocy that now seems to dominate the minds of those in
Washington. Read about today's horrifying debt
<http://www.naturalnews.com/debt.html>  spending under "Obamanomics"
here: http://www.heritage.org/research/fe...
<http://www.heritage.org/research/features/BudgetChartBook/Obama-Budget-
Increase-Debt-26-Percent-GDP.aspx>

The era of "free money" is history, and with it goes the United States
of America (at least as we know it today). Our brand of democracy
combined with unlimited spending was a fascinating experiment. That
experiment has now failed, and we'd better start thinking about the next
revision of how a free society might work. My suggestion? Instant Runoff
Voting (www.InstantRunoff.com <http://www.InstantRunoff.com> ) combined
with an honest money system (gold standard).

Big Duh #5 - The health care crisis
<http://www.naturalnews.com/health_care_crisis.html>  cannot be solved
unless we focus on health

Everybody's talking about the health care
<http://www.naturalnews.com/health_care.html>  crisis, but nobody in
Washington has a real plan to solve it. Instead of solving the problems,
all the current discussion is about appeasing powerful lobby groups that
represent corporations and institutions. The whole thing is a cruel
joke.

Here's a REAL solution to the health care problem: The Health Revolution
Petition: www.HealthRevolutionPetition.org
<http://www.HealthRevolutionPetition.org>

Big Duh #6 - You cannot "screen" your way to good health

Big Pharma loves the idea of offering "free screening" for everything:
Breast cancer <http://www.naturalnews.com/cancer.html> , prostate
cancer, depression <http://www.naturalnews.com/depression.html> ,
ADHD... you name it. The whole scam is a big recruiting ploy, of course,
because screening for disease <http://www.naturalnews.com/disease.html>
does nothing to prevent disease!

The conventional health industry cleverly liked to call screening
"prevention." But it isn't. It's just detection, not prevention. Real
prevention is done with foods, sunlight, exercise and nutrition, not
with a mammogram or a multiple-choice questionnaire.

Big Duh #7 - Carbon emissions do impact the environment
<http://www.naturalnews.com/the_environment.html>

Sure, politicians around the world are hopping on the global warming
<http://www.naturalnews.com/global_warming.html>  bandwagon with devious
plans to seize power and limit freedom based on this global emergency,
but that doesn't mean carbon emissions
<http://www.naturalnews.com/carbon_emissions.html>  have no effect on
the environment. The truth is: The stuff we put into the air affects the
environment just as much as the stuff we put into our bodies affects our
health.

Global warming may or may not be overblown, but only a fool would
suppose that human beings can dump unlimited pollutants into the
atmosphere without suffering any negative effects whatsoever. Virtually
every destructive impact on our planet today is caused by man (including
so-called "natural disasters" which are often accelerated by global
warming).

Big Duh #8 - Animals have consciousness
<http://www.naturalnews.com/consciousness.html>

It's time consumers (and food industry profiteers) stopped pretending
that cows <http://www.naturalnews.com/cows.html> , pigs, chickens and
other animals have no consciousness or experience of pain. Cows and pigs
in particular are highly intelligent, social mammals with real memories
and real experiences. Growing them in factory farms as a food source is
cruel and inhumane. Eating meat products (and drinking milk) from such
animals is, itself, an endorsement of that cruelty.

Big Duh #9 - All the medicine <http://www.naturalnews.com/medicine.html>
we need already exists in plants

The "search for the cure" is a marketing gimmick. We already know how to
cure cancer! ... and diabetes, heart disease, kidney stones, depression,
ADHD and a thousand other conditions. All the medicines we need to be
healthy exist right now! They're found in medicinal plants
<http://www.naturalnews.com/medicinal_plants.html>  from around the
world.

Big Pharma could be completely shut down tomorrow with absolutely no net
loss of life across the world. The entire world could shift to medicinal
plants (and foods) and live happier, safer and more abundantly based
entirely on the natural medicines found in plants. There is no need for
Big Pharma on our planet. It is an industry that could disappear without
a trace to the great benefit of humankind.

Big Duh #10 - Humankind has learned nothing from the "advancement" of
technology

Computers, combustion engines, nanotechnology and biochemistry...
Compared to a hundred years ago, we seem smarter now because we have
more gadgets. But in reality we've learned nothing from all this
technology. Instead of ending all wars, we just fight them with more
advanced weaponry. Instead of seeking real happiness, we just seek more
high-tech stuff that fills our empty lives with convenient distractions.
Instead of prioritizing quality of life, we focus on medicalizing
people's lives so that they become dependent on biochemical technologies
instead of independently free and healthy based on natural medicine
<http://www.naturalnews.com/natural_medicine.html> .

As a whole, the human population is no safer today than it was a hundred
years ago, nor is it happier, wiser or more resourceful. If anything,
technology has allowed us to be more wasteful, exploitive and isolated
from the world in which we live.

Technology has given us no answers, but it has allowed us the leverage
to create far larger problems that we have yet to resolve.

http://www.naturalnews.com/z026497_health_food_America.html

Sign the Universal Declaration of Resistance to Mandatory Vaccination

Barbara Minton, NaturalNews.com June 24, 2009

(NaturalNews) Vaccine against the "swine flu" will be ready in July. It
has been developed in half the time it used to take to develop flu
vaccines due to Baxter International's patented technology. This means
about 13 weeks from drawing board to injection instead of the usual 26.
Never mind time for testing to see if it is safe. You remember Baxter,
don't you? It is the company that in February delivered seasonal flu
vaccine to 18 countries that was laced with live "bird flu" virus.

With the declaration earlier this month by the World Health Organization
<http://www.naturalnews.com/World_Health_Organization.html>  (WHO) that
the "swine flu" has reached pandemic
<http://www.naturalnews.com/pandemic.html>  Level 6 (they had to change
the definition of level 6 to make this determination work), a whole
series of bureaucratic prerogatives have been triggered, and local,
state, national, and international agencies have been further empowered.
In the U.S., all laws and conditions are now in place to see to it that
you are forced to be injected with the new "swine flu" vaccine, whether
you want to be or not. In the U.S., the government is now able to
mandate universal mass vaccinations
<http://www.naturalnews.com/vaccinations.html>  at gunpoint.

According to the Centers for Disease Control
<http://www.naturalnews.com/Centers_for_Disease_Control.html> , there
will be no exemptions. "A certain amount of human wastage" is expected.

The new vaccine is made with squalene oil as an adjuvant. According to
Dr. Viera Scheibner, micropaleontologist and world renowned researcher
in the field of vaccine effectiveness and danger, squalene "contributed
to the cascade reactions known as Gulf War Syndrome. GIs developed
arthritis, fibromyalgia, lymphadenopathy, photosensitive rashes, malar
rashes, chronic fatigue, chronic headaches, abnormal body hair loss,
non-healing skin lesions, aphthous ulcers, dizziness, weakness, memory
loss, seizures, mood changes, neuropsychiatric problems, anti-thyroid
effects, anemia, elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, systemic lupus
arythmatosus, multiple sclerosis, deadly Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
(ALS), Raynaud's Syndrome with paroxysms of lack of blood in fingers and
toes, Sjogren's Syndrome with blurred vision, chronic diarrhea, night
sweats, and low grade fever."

In 2002, a U.S. federal judge ruled that there was good cause to believe
squalene to be harmful. He ordered the Pentagon to stop endorsing its
use.

In 1976, during another flu scare and government insistence on flu
shots, only one person died from the actual flu, while hundreds of
Americans died for the vaccine, according to information chronicled by
Paul Mickle of the Trentonian.

So far, the deaths of 87 people in the U.S. have been attributed to
"swine flu". However, most or all of these deaths are likely the result
of pre-existing conditions or compromised immune systems, according to
journalist Jane Burgermeister in her charges against the WHO
<http://www.naturalnews.com/the_WHO.html> , United Nations, and Baxter
International. Yet in the face of this almost non-existent risk, the WHO
has just declared the first full fledged flu pandemic of the century,
urging countries to shore up defenses against the virus they
characterize as "not stoppable". Each year, the usual seasonal flu kills
up to 500,000 people and infects up to five million people worldwide,
according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Is all this hype for the purpose of making Baxter shareholders rich by
turning the population of the U.S. into lab rats? Or is it something
more sinister? Could the vaccine mandated for the U.S. population also
contain live flu virus? Whatever the answer to these questions is, there
is a way to avoid being herded into nearby schools that are standing by
to be turned into shot clinics.

Here is the link to the Universal Declaration of Resistance to Mandatory
Vaccination website:

<http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/a-universal-declaration-of-resistance-
to-mandatory-vaccinations>

There you can sign a petition targeted for the World Health Organization
stating you do not recognize the authority of the WHO to mandate general
forced vaccinations. With this petition you are able to stake a claim to
the sovereignty of your body and stand up for exclusive
self-determination. The petition holds elected governments accountable
in this defense by issuing a notice of preemptive Class Action Lawsuit
to be served in the event the inalienable rights of the people are
forsaken. The petition is sponsored by the Vaccine Resistance Movement.

http://www.naturalnews.com/z026496_NaturalNews_vaccination_the_WHO.html

Eating Mushrooms Slashes Risk of Breast Cancer by Two-Thirds

David Gutierrez, NaturalNews.com June 24, 2009

(NaturalNews) Regular mushroom consumption can decrease a woman's risk
of breast cancer by two thirds, researchers have found.

Scientists from the University of Western Australia in Perth conducted a
study on 2,018 Chinese women, half of whom had been diagnosed with
breast cancer. After adjusting for known cancer risk factors such as
obesity, smoking, lack of exercise and lower education level, the
researchers found that women who ate at least 10 grams of button
mushrooms per day were 64 percent less likely to develop the disease
<http://www.naturalnews.com/disease.html> . Women who ate dried
mushrooms <http://www.naturalnews.com/mushrooms.html> regularly also
significantly reduced their cancer risk
<http://www.naturalnews.com/cancer_risk.html> , although not by as much.

The study was published in the International Journal of Cancer.

This is not the first time scientists have found evidence of mushrooms'
cancer-fighting properties. Laboratory studies have found that mushrooms
may suppress the body's production of the sex hormone estrogen, much
like the breast cancer <http://www.naturalnews.com/breast_cancer.html>
drugs known as aromatose inhibitors. High estrogen
<http://www.naturalnews.com/estrogen.html>  levels are a well-known risk
factor for breast cancer <http://www.naturalnews.com/cancer.html> .

Mushrooms have also been found to strengthen the body's immune function
and block tumor development. Mushroom extract has been shown to stop the
growth of breast cancer cells
<http://www.naturalnews.com/cancer_cells.html> , sparking an ongoing
study into whether taking mushroom extract twice per month can prevent a
recurrence of the disease.

While the Chinese study focused on the culinary mushrooms Agaricus
bisporus (button mushrooms), the study on extracts is focusing on the
traditional medicinal mushroom Phellinus linteus. In Eastern medicine,
this mushroom is used to help refresh the body and lengthen lifespan.

Researchers believe that P. linteus acts by blocking the action of an
enzyme known as AKT, which plays a role in controlling cell growth.
Prior studies have suggested that the mushroom hampers the activity of
skin, lung and prostate cancer cells. It reduces uncontrollable cell
growth and blocks the development of blood vessels that keep tumors
alive.

http://www.naturalnews.com/z026495_cancer_mushrooms_breast_cancer.html

Licorice Prevents Sore Throats after Operations

Sherry Baker, NaturalNews.com June 24, 2009

(NaturalNews) Imagine a tube is stuck down your throat and left there
for up to a couple of hours. It would be no surprise that you'd end up
with a raw feeling throat. That's just what happens to countless people
who undergo surgery under general anesthesia. The endotracheal tube,
also referred to as a breathing tube, that's used to keep airways open
during an operation can result in an excruciatingly sore throat
post-surgery -- a condition known as postoperative sore throat (POST).

When throat lozenges aren't enough to alleviate symptoms, some doctors
prescribe heavy duty, side effect loaded pain relievers. Incredibly, one
of the drugs sometimes used is ketamine, the same powerful,
mind-altering medication known as the "date rape" drug. But a new study
just published inAnesthesia and Analgesia, the official journal of the
International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS), shows there's a safer,
natural alternative -- gargling with a licorice
<http://www.naturalnews.com/licorice.html>  solution.

The study, conducted by Dr. Anil Agarwal and colleagues at the Sanjay
Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow, India,
included 40 patients who were undergoing spinal surgery. Five minutes
before they were given general anesthesia
<http://www.naturalnews.com/anesthesia.html>  with a breathing tube, the
patients simply gargled with either a diluted licorice solution or plain
water <http://www.naturalnews.com/water.html> .

After their operations, the patients who received the licorice gargle
had a lower rate of postoperative sore throat, including pain on
swallowing. Two hours after surgery, 75 percent of the study
participants who gargled with only water suffered from POST while only
about a fourth of the research subjects who used the licorice gargle had
a sore throat at all. The ones in the licorice group who did have sore
throats <http://www.naturalnews.com/sore_throats.html>  had less severe
symptoms than the patients who only gargled with water, too.

There was even more good news for those who used the licorice gargle:
they were far less likely to develop a postoperative cough than the
surgery patients who only gargled with water. This is important because
coughing after surgery can lead to potentially serious complications.

In a statement to the media, the researchers noted the diluted licorice
solution used in the study is easy to make and only costs a few pennies
per patient. There were no side effects reported from the licorice
gargle, either. Bottom line: for many patients undergoing surgery,
licorice gargle appears to be a sweet, simple, inexpensive and effective
way to prevent a common and uncomfortable medical problem.

"Licorice, derived from the root of Glycyrrhiza glabra, has been used
for many millennia as an alternative medicine
<http://www.naturalnews.com/alternative_medicine.html>  for treatment of
inflammation, allergies, and gastric and duodenal ulcers
<http://www.naturalnews.com/ulcers.html> ," Dr. Agarwal and co-authors
stated in their Anesthesia and Analgesia report.

In fact, according to the National Center for Complementary and
Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), licorice root has anti-inflammatory
effects and has been used to treat stomach ulcers, bronchitis, sore
throats, and infections caused by viruses. The NCCAM web site points out
that several clinical trials found that a component of licorice,
glycyrrhizin, also might reduce complications from hepatitis C in some
patients.

Naturally sweet, licorice is commonly used as a sugar substitute in
foods and to make candy. It's also used as flavoring agent in some
medicines. In the recent study, the licorice gargle's sweet taste made
it quickly acceptable to patients.

http://www.naturalnews.com/z026492_licorice_sore_throats_anesthesia.html

Large 2009 Gulf Of Mexico 'Dead Zone' Predicted

ScienceDaily (June 24, 2009) — University of Michigan aquatic ecologist
Donald Scavia and his colleagues say this year's Gulf of Mexico "dead
zone" could be one of the largest on record, continuing a decades-long
trend that threatens the health of a half-billion-dollar fishery.

The scientists' latest forecast, released June 18, calls for a Gulf dead
zone of between 7,450 and 8,456 square miles—an area about the size of
New Jersey.

Most likely, this summer's Gulf dead zone will blanket about 7,980
square miles, roughly the same size as last year's zone, Scavia said.
That would put the years 2009, 2008 and 2001 in a virtual tie for second
place on the list of the largest Gulf dead zones.

It would also mean that the five largest Gulf dead zones on record have
occurred since 2001. The biggest of these oxygen-starved, or hypoxic,
regions developed in 2002 and measured 8,484 square miles.

"The growth of these dead zones is an ecological time bomb," said
Scavia, a professor at the U-M School of Natural Resources and
Environment and director of the U-M Graham Environmental Sustainability
Institute.

"Without determined local, regional and national efforts to control
them, we are putting major fisheries at risk," said Scavia, who also
produces annual dead-zone forecasts for the Chesapeake Bay.

The Gulf dead zone forms each spring and summer off the Louisiana and
Texas coast when oxygen levels drop too low to support most life in
bottom and near-bottom waters.

The Gulf hypoxia research team is supported by the U.S. National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration's Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean
Research and includes scientists from Louisiana State University and the
Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium.

The forecast for a large 2009 Gulf hypoxic zone is based on above-normal
flows in the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers this spring, which
delivered large amounts of the nutrient nitrogen. In April and May,
flows in the two rivers were 11 percent above average.

Additional flooding of the Mississippi since May could result in a dead
zone that exceeds the upper limit of the forecast, the scientists said.

"The high water-volume flows, coupled with nearly triple the nitrogen
concentrations in these rivers over the past 50 years from human
activities, has led to a dramatic increase in the size of the dead
zone," said Gene Turner, a lead forecast modeler at Louisiana State
University.

Northeast of the Gulf, low water flows into the Chesapeake Bay shaped
Scavia's 2009 forecast for that hypoxia zone.

The Bay's oxygen-starved zone is expected to shrink to between 0.7 and
1.8 cubic miles, with a "most likely" volume of 1.2 cubic miles—the
lowest level since 2001 and third-lowest on record. The drop is largely
due to a regional dry spell that lasted from January through April,
Scavia said. Continued high flows in June, beyond the period used for
the forecasts, suggest the actual size may be near the higher end of the
forecast range.

"While it's encouraging to see that this year's Chesapeake Bay forecast
calls for a significant drop in the extent of the dead zone, we must
keep in mind that the anticipated reduction is due mainly to decreased
precipitation and water runoff into the Bay," he said.

"The predicted 2009 dead-zone decline does not result from cutbacks in
the use of nitrogen, which remains one of the key drivers of hypoxia in
the Bay."

Farmland runoff containing fertilizers and livestock waste—some of it
from as far away as the Corn Belt—is the main source of the nitrogen and
phosphorus that cause the Gulf of Mexico dead zone.

Each year in late spring and summer, these nutrients make their way down
the Mississippi River and into the Gulf, fueling explosive algae blooms
there. When the algae die and sink, bottom-dwelling bacteria decompose
the organic matter, consuming oxygen in the process. The result is an
oxygen-starved region in bottom and near-bottom waters: the dead zone.

The same process occurs in the Chesapeake Bay, where nutrients in the
Susquehanna River trigger the event. In both the Gulf and the Bay, fish,
shrimp and crabs are forced to leave the hypoxic zone. Animals that
cannot move perish.

The annual hypoxia forecasts helps coastal managers, policy makers, and
the public better understand what causes dead zones. The models that
generate the forecasts have been used to determine the
nutrient-reduction targets required to reduce the size of the dead zone.

"As with weather forecasts, the Gulf forecast uses multiple models to
predict the range of the expected size of the dead zone. The strong
track record of these models reinforces our confidence in the link
between excess nutrients from the Mississippi River and the dead zone,"
said Robert Magnien, director of NOAA's Center for Sponsored Coastal
Ocean Research.

U.S. Geological Survey data on spring river flow and nutrient
concentrations inform the computer models that produce the hypoxia
forecasts.

The official size of the 2009 hypoxic zone will be announced following a
NOAA-supported monitoring survey led by the Louisiana Universities
Marine Consortium on July 18-26. In addition, NOAA's Southeast Area
Monitoring and Assessment Program's (SEAMAP) is currently providing near
real-time data on the hypoxic zone during a five-week summer fish survey
in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090618124956.htm

Morning People And Night Owls Show Different Brain Function

ScienceDaily (June 24, 2009) — Are you a "morning person" or a "night
owl?"

Scientists at the University of Alberta have found that there are
significant differences in the way our brains function depending on
whether we're early risers or night owls.

Neuroscientists in the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation
looked at two groups of people: those who wake up early and feel most
productive in the morning, and those who were identified as evening
people, those who typically felt livelier at night. Study participants
were initially grouped after completing a standardized questionnaire
about their habits.

Using magnetic resonance imaging-guided brain stimulation, scientists
tested muscle torque and the excitability of pathways through the spinal
cord and brain. They found that morning people's brains were most
excitable at 9 a.m. This slowly decreased through the day. It was the
polar opposite for evening people, whose brains were most excitable at 9
p.m.

Other major findings:

*     Evening people became physically stronger throughout the day,
but the maximum amount of force morning people could produce remained
the same.
*     The excitability of reflex pathways that travel through the
spinal cord increased over the day for both groups.
*     These findings show that nervous-system functions are different
and have implications for maximizing human performance.

Their findings were published in the June edition of the Journal of
Biological Rhythms.

The research team included students Alex Tamm, Olle Lagerquist,
technician Alex Ley and neuroscientist Dave Collins

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090623150621.htm

Pesticide Susceptibility In Children Lasts Longer Than Expected

ScienceDaily (June 23, 2009) — Although it is known that infants are
more susceptible than adults to the toxic effects of pesticides, this
increased vulnerability may extend much longer into childhood than
expected, according to a new study by researchers at the University of
California, Berkeley.

Among newborns, levels of paraoxonase 1 (PON1), an enzyme critical to
the detoxification of organophosphate pesticides, average one-third or
less than those of the babies' mothers. It was thought that PON1 enzyme
activity in children approached adult levels by age 2, but instead, the
UC Berkeley researchers found that the enzyme level remained low in some
individuals through age 7.

Based upon the findings, reported this month in the journal
Environmental Health Perspectives, the study authors recommend that the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) re-evaluate the current
standards for acceptable levels of pesticide exposure.

"Current EPA standards of exposure for some pesticides assume children
are 3 to 5 times more susceptible than adults, and for other pesticides
the standards assume no difference," said Nina Holland, UC Berkeley
adjunct professor of environmental health sciences and senior author of
the paper. "Our study is the first to show quantitatively that young
children may be more susceptible to certain organophosphate pesticides
up to age 7. Our results suggest that the EPA standards need to be
re-examined to determine if they are adequately protecting the most
vulnerable members of the population."

In 2001, the EPA began restricting organophosphate pesticides in
products sold for use in homes, mainly because of risks to children.
However, organophosphate pesticides, such as chlorpyrifos and diazinon,
are still used in agriculture in the United States and elsewhere.

The study, conducted by UC Berkeley's Center for the Health Assessment
of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS), involves 458 children
from an agricultural region who were followed from birth through age 7.
Cord blood samples were collected from all children to determine their
PON1 genotype and to obtain baseline measures of the enzyme's activity
level.

For more than 100 of the children in the study, researchers were able to
obtain at least four additional measurements - at ages 1, 2, 5 and 7 -
of PON1 activity. Almost all the children in the study had 2 to 3 time
points assessed, for a total of 1,143 measurements of three types of
PON1 enzyme activity.

One's PON1 genotypic profile determines how effectively the enzyme can
metabolize toxins. For example, people with two copies of the Q form of
the gene - known as a QQ genotype - produce a PON1 enzyme that is less
efficient at detoxifying chlorpyrifos oxon, a metabolite of
chlorpyrifos, than the enzyme produced by people with two R forms of the
gene. Similarly, individuals with two T forms of the PON1 gene on a
different part of the chromosome generally have a lower quantity of the
enzyme than do those with two C forms of the gene.

Previous research led by Holland found that some of the QQ newborns may
be 50 times more susceptible to chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos oxon than
RR newborns with high PON1 levels, and 130 to 164 times more susceptible
than some of the RR adults.

Of the children in this latest study, 24 percent had the QQ genotype,
and 18 percent had the TT genotype, both of which are associated with
lower activity of the PON1 enzyme. Moreover, 7.5 percent of the children
had both QQ and TT genotypes, which is considered an even more
vulnerable profile.

On average, the quantity of enzyme quadrupled between birth and age 7.
The greatest rise in enzyme activity was among children with the RR and
CC variants of the PON1 gene, which quickly outpaced the increase in
children with the QQ and TT genotypes.

The fact that enzyme activity remained low for certain kids with
vulnerable genotypes well past age 2 was surprising for the study
authors. The researchers are continuing to collect data for these
children as they grow older to see if the pesticide susceptibility
continues.

"In addition to its involvement in the metabolism of pesticides, many
studies are now finding that PON1 may play an important role in
protecting against oxidative stress, which is linked to diseases from
asthma to obesity and cardiovascular disease," said study lead author
Karen Huen, a UC Berkeley Ph.D. student in environmental health
sciences. "The children in our study whose genotypes are related to
lower PON1 activity may not only be more susceptible to pesticides
throughout much of their childhood, they may also be more vulnerable to
other common diseases related to oxidative stress."

Notably, other studies have found that PON1 genotypes vary by race and
ethnicity, with the Q variants more common among Caucasians, less common
among Latinos, and least common among African Americans. The majority of
the subjects in this study were Mexican-American.

"What's important about this study is that it shows that young children
are potentially susceptible to certain organophosphates for a longer
period of time than previously thought," said Brenda Eskenazi, UC
Berkeley professor of epidemiology and director of CHAMACOS and the
Center for Children's Environmental Health Research. "Policymakers need
to consider these vulnerable populations when establishing acceptable
levels of exposure to different pesticides."

Funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and
the EPA helped support this research.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090623091131.htm

Many Floors In U.S. Homes Have 'Measurable' Levels Of Pesticides

ScienceDaily (June 23, 2009) — Insecticides used in and around homes —
including products voluntarily removed from the market years ago — were
measured on the floors of U.S. residences, according to the first study
large enough to generate national data on pesticide residues in homes.

Scientists at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) collected samples
with surface wipes from U.S. kitchen floors. Additionally, occupants
were surveyed regarding pesticide use and housing factors.

The most frequently detected pesticides, after permethrin (89 percent),
were chlorpyrifos (78 percent); chlordane (74 percent); piperonyl
butoxide (52 percent); cypermethrin (46 percent); and fipronil (40
percent). While in most cases, the pesticide concentrations measured
were low, the insecticides may serve as a potential source of exposure
to occupants.

Scientists launched the study to understand the frequency and
concentration of pesticide residues that might be found in U.S. homes.
EPA and HUD scientists plan to further investigate these findings and
the study's questionnaire results to explore the relationships between
pesticide concentrations found in homes and housing factors (age of
home, housing type, occupancy, etc.), geographical location, pet
treatments, and recent home pesticide applications.

Stout II et al. American Healthy Homes Survey: A National Study of
Residential Pesticides Measured from Floor Wipes. Environmental Science
& Technology, 2009; 43 (12): 4294 DOI: 10.1021/es8030243
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es8030243>

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090622165737.htm

Longer life linked to specific foods in Mediterranean diet

BMJ-British Medical Journal <http://www.bma.org>  June, 23, 2009

Some food groups in the Mediterranean diet are more important than
others in promoting health and longer life according to new research
published on bmj.com <http://www.bmj.com>  today.

Eating more vegetables, fruits, nuts, pulses and olive oil, and drinking
moderate amounts of alcohol, while not consuming a lot of meat or
excessive amounts of alcohol is linked to people living longer.

However, the study also claims, that following a Mediterranean diet high
in fish, seafood and cereals and low in dairy products were not
indicators of longevity.

While several studies have concluded that the Mediterranean diet
improves chances of living longer, this is the first to investigate the
importance of individual components of the diet.

Professor Dimitrios Trichopoulos at the Harvard School of Public Health
explains that they have surveyed over 23,000 men and women who were
participants in the Greek segment of the European Prospective
Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC).

Participants were given dietary and lifestyle questionnaires when they
enrolled onto the study and they were subsequently followed up for
around 8.5 years with interviews. Their diets were rated from 0 to 10
based on the level of conformity to a traditional Mediterranean diet.

As part of the interview process, participants were also asked about
their smoking status, levels of physical activity and whether they had
ever been diagnosed with cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

The authors maintain that when high intake of vegetables, low intake of
meat or moderate alcohol intake were excluded from the rating system,
the benefits of following a Mediterranean diet were substantially
reduced. They also note that there are clear benefits in combining
several of the key components, for example high consumption of
vegetables and olive oil.

Professor Trichopoulou, lead author of the study, concludes that the
main reasons why the Mediterranean diet can lead to living longer are
moderate consumption of ethanol (mostly in the form of wine during
meals, as traditionally done in the Mediterranean countries), low
consumption of meat and meat products, and high consumption of
vegetables, fruits and nuts, olive oil and legumes.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/bmj-lll062309.php

Monitoring bone density in older women is unnecessary and potentially
misleading

BMJ-British Medical Journal <http://www.bma.org>    June 23, 2009

Monitoring bone mineral density in postmenopausal women taking
osteoporosis drugs (bisphosphonates) is unnecessary and potentially
misleading, concludes a study published on bmj.com <http://www.bmj.com>
today.

Osteoporosis is a major public health problem, particularly in older
women because bone density falls after the menopause as oestrogen levels
dwindle. Low bone mineral density is an important risk factor for
fractures.

Some guidelines recommend regular monitoring of bone mineral density in
postmenopausal women, but it is costly and some experts question whether
it is able to show how a patient is responding to treatment.

So researchers based in Australia and the USA assessed the need for
monitoring by estimating how much the effects of the drug alendronate (a
widely used bisphosphonate) differ between individuals.

They analysed data from the Fracture Intervention Trial (FIT), a large
randomised trial that compared the effects of alendronate with placebo
in over 6,000 postmenopausal women with low bone mineral density. Bone
density of the hip and spine was measured at the start of the study and
then again one, two and three years later.

After three years of therapy, almost all (97.5%) women treated with
alendronate showed at least a modest increase in hip bone mineral
density. Moreover, this treatment effect did not vary substantially
between individuals. This, say the authors, makes monitoring
individuals' response to treatment unnecessary.

Another reason often given for monitoring is to improve adherence to
treatment. However, most problems occur within three months of starting
treatment - much earlier than the first measurement at one year, explain
the authors. Evidence also shows that discussing problems with a
healthcare professional a few months after starting treatment improves
adherence.

Monitoring bone mineral density in postmenopausal women in the first
three years after starting treatment with a bisphosphonate is
unnecessary and, because of the potential to mislead, is best avoided,
they conclude.

These findings strengthen the case against routine monitoring of bone
mineral density during the first few years of treatment, writes Juliet
Compston, Professor of Bone Medicine at the University of Cambridge, in
an accompanying editorial. The clear implication for clinical practice
is that patients may be given inappropriate advice if changes in bone
mineral density are used to monitor treatment.

She concludes: "Routine monitoring of bone mineral density during the
first few years of antiresorptive treatment cannot be justified because
it may mislead patients, lead to inappropriate management decisions, and
waste scarce healthcare resources."

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/bmj-mbd062309.php

Right ear is 'best for hearing'

If you want to get someone to do something, ask them in their right ear,
say scientists.

Italian researchers found people were better at processing information
when requests were made on that side in three separate tests.

They believe this is because the left side of the brain, which is known
to be better at processing requests, deals with information from the
right ear.

The findings are reported online in the journal Naturwissenschaffen.

“ We can also see this tendency when people use the phone, most will
naturally hold it to their right ear ”
Professor Sophie Scott, of University College London

In the first study, 286 clubbers were observed while they were talking
with loud music in the background.

In total, 72% of interactions occurred on the right side of the
listener.

In the second study, researchers approached 160 clubbers and mumbled an
inaudible, meaningless utterance and waited for the subjects to turn
their head and offer either their left or their right ear.

They then asked them for a cigarette.

Overall, 58% offered their right ear for listening and 42% their left.

In the third study, the researchers intentionally addressed 176 clubbers
in either their right or their left ear when asking for a cigarette.

The researchers obtained significantly more cigarettes when they spoke
to the clubbers' right ear compared with their left.

Brain

In conclusion, the researchers said: "Talk into the right ear you send
your words into a slightly more amenable part of the brain.

"These results seem to be consistent with the hypothesised
specialisation of right and left hemispheres."

Professor Sophie Scott, of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at
University College London, agreed.

"Most people process speech and language on the left-hand side of the
brain and while it is not cut-and-dry a lot of what goes in our right
ear will be dealt with by the left-side of the brain.

"The other side of the brain is more involved in things such as
interpreting emotion and that is why we have these kind of findings.

"We can also see this tendency when people use the phone, most will
naturally hold it to their right ear."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8116321.stm

Apples, avocados and a glass of red wine 'can ease arthritis'

 TIMES OF INDIA 21 Jun 2009, 1213 hrs IST, PTI

   
LONDON: Suffering from arthritis? Make sure you eat apples, avocados,
oily fish and drink a goblet of red wine everyday, for a new study has revealed that these could ease the painful joint condition.

Researchers have carried out the study and found a definite link between
the food <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Apples-avocad
os-and-a-glass-of-red-wine-can-ease-arthritis/articleshow/4683198.cms>
people eat and the severity of the symptoms -- in fact, apples, avocados
and red wine contain anti-oxidants which reduce the rate at which
cartilage breaks down, helping to slow the process of osteoarthritis.

Likewise, oily fish like salmon are a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids that oil the joints and thereby
damp down inflammation. Omega-3 could also reduce the long-term need for painkillers in those with joint problems.

The study has also suggested that drinking plenty of fluids, two to three litres a day, to maintain good hydration and a steady flow of nutrients to your joints, leading British newspaper the 'Daily Mail'
reported.

And, the foods most commonly found to worsen arthritis are wheat, corn, rye, sugar, caffeine, yeast, dairy products, oranges , grapefruit, lemons and tomatoes. Meats most likely to provoke symptoms
are bacon, pork, beef and lamb.

According to researchers, these foods trigger joint pain in those with arthritis. But when these are avoided about 70 per cent of sufferers have been seen to be reporting less pain and improved mobility.

The researchers have based their findings on an analysis of 82 people with osteoarthritis. The study also found that pain intensity reduced during the six-week period they had weekly Reiki sessions.

Flower helps treat prostate cancer

TIMES OF INDIA  18 Jun 2009, 1519 hrs IST, ANI

 JOHANNESBURG: A substance from the root of a flower may help treat prostatecancer
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Flower-helps-
treat-prostate-cancer/articleshow/4671309.cms> , according to Germany's
cancer-science council.

 Experts at the University of Goettingen said that in laboratory tests,
tectorigenin, obtained from roots of Belamcanda chinensis, stopped
cancer cells growing and in animal tests it had slowed the spread of the
cancer.

The lily-like flowers of Belamcanda chinensis are grown in
temperate-region gardens as a perennial. In China, it grows wild.

The plant
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Flower-helps-
treat-prostate-cancer/articleshow/4671309.cms>  is used in Korean and
Chinese medicine, reports 24.com.

Scientists Peter Burfeind and Paul Thelen will conduct further studies.

They say it might also be possible to use the substance as preventive
medicine to stop men developing the cancer in the first place.

 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Flower-helps-t
reat-prostate-cancer/articleshow/4671309.cms
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Flower-helps-
treat-prostate-cancer/articleshow/4671309.cms>

Black tea prevents heart disease

 TIMES OF INDIA   18 Jun 2009, 1215 hrs IST, PTI

  DUBAI: Drinking just one cup of black tea everyday might protect against
cardiovascular disease, a new research has found.

 According to the study conducted at University of L'Aquila in Italy and
supported by the Lipton Institute of Tea, black tea consumption improves
blood vessel reactivity and reduces blood pressure and arterial
stiffness, indicating a notably better cardiovascular health
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Black-tea-pre
vents-heart-disease/articleshow/4670475.cms>  profile.

Using a group of 19 healthy men (mean age 33), the researchers assigned
the participants to one of five prescribed intakes of the tea over five
periods lasting one week each.

The caffeine level of each dose was standardised but the dose of tea
flavonoids was controlled at the levels of 0 (the control dose), 100,
200, 400 and 800 mg per day.

A standard cup of black tea contains approximately 100-200 mg of
flavonoids, depending on the individual preference of tea making.

During the course of the research, participants avoided naturally
flavonoid-rich food and drinks like red wine and chocolate
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Black-tea-pre
vents-heart-disease/articleshow/4670475.cms>  to ensure that the results
become a true reflection of flavonoid-rich black tea consumption only.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Black-tea-prev
ents-heart-disease/articleshow/4670475.cms
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Black-tea-pre
vents-heart-disease/articleshow/4670475.cms>

Saffron in food can help fend off blindness

 TIMES OF INDIA   15 Jun 2009, 0632 hrs IST, ANI

 LONDON: Saffron, the spice which is commonly used in Indian, Spanish and
Italian cuisine, could hold the secret to preventing eye sight
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Saffron-in-fo
od-can-help-fend-off-blindness/articleshow/4656901.cms>  loss in old age, says a new study.

Scientists based at the University of L'Aquila, in Italy, and Sydney
University, in Australia, have discovered that saffron, often used in
pilaf, can protect against some of the most common forms of blindness
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Saffron-in-fo
od-can-help-fend-off-blindness/articleshow/4656901.cms> . Through the
study, researchers revealed that eating saffron on daily basis helped to
make the delicate cells in the eye needed for vision more resilient
against disease, reports The Telegraph.

Animal studies further confirmed that a diet
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Saffron-in-fo
od-can-help-fend-off-blindness/articleshow/4656901.cms>  containing
saffron can protect the eye from damage caused by bright sunlight and
slow the progress of genetic diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa. The
researchers also found saffron had a beneficial effect in humans
suffering from age-related macular degeneration, the most common form of
blindness in old age.

The scientists are now conducting a clinical trial on human patients
with age-related macular degeneration.

Professor Silvia Bisti, who led the research from the University of
L'Aquila, said: "Saffron seems to possess a number of properties that
are protective to vision. We are now trying to understand the mechanism,
but it appears to block cell death. Saffron components have strong
antioxidant properties.

"It also appears to affect genes which regulate the fatty acid content
of the cell membrane and this makes the vision cells tougher and more
resilient."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Saffron-in-foo
d-can-help-fend-off-blindness/articleshow/4656901.cms
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Saffron-in-fo
od-can-help-fend-off-blindness/articleshow/4656901.cms>

Testosterone replacement improves men's liver function

 TIMES OF INDIA  13 Jun 2009, 2142 hrs IST, ANI

 WASHINGTON: A new study suggests that testosterone replacement for men
with low levels of the hormone greatly improves their fatty liver
disease as well as their risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

"Physicians <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Testosterone-
replacement-improves-mens-liver-function/articleshow/4653119.cms>  often
are reluctant to prescribe testosterone for conditions not related to
sexual function. However, our study shows that testosterone has a much
wider therapeutic role than just for improving sexual desire and
erectile function," said the study's co-author, Dr Farid Saad, of
Berlin-headquartered Bayer Schering Pharma.

During a presentation at The Endocrine Society's 91st Annual Meeting in
Washington, DC, it was revealed that the study included 122
testosterone-deficient men, aged 36 to 69 years.

The researchers found that restoring testosterone to normal levels led
to major and progressive improvements in many features of the metabolic
syndrome over the 2 years of treatment. They said that, particularly,
the men's weight, waist line and body mass index continued to decline
over the full study period.

According to them, the other metabolic risk factors also significantly
improved during the first year of testosterone treatment. Of the 47 men
who met the criteria for a diagnosis of the metabolic syndrome at the
beginning of the study, 36 no longer had the diagnosis after 2 years of
treatment, the authors reported.

Furthermore, liver function significantly improved during the first 12 to 18 months of therapy and stabilized for the remainder of the study period.

The researchers said that the treatment also greatly decreased blood
levels of C-reactive protein, a measure of inflammation that is linked
to increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

"We conclude that testosterone therapy in men with testosterone
deficiency can largely improve or even remedy the metabolic syndrome,
which will most likely decrease their risk of diabetes
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Testosterone-
replacement-improves-mens-liver-function/articleshow/4653119.cms>  and
cardiovascular disease," Saad said.

Pesticide exposure ups blood disorder risk

 TIMES OF INDIA   13 Jun 2009, 1526 hrs IST, ANI

 WASHINGTON: An American study has shown that exposure to certain
pesticides <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Pesticide-exp
osure-ups-blood-disorder-risk-/articleshow/4652426.cms> doubles a
person's risk of developing an abnormal blood condition

called monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), a
condition that can lead to a painful cancer of the plasma cells in the
bone marrow, called myeloma.

The study involved 678 individuals who apply pesticides, culled from a
US Agricultural Health Study
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Pesticide-exp
osure-ups-blood-disorder-risk-/articleshow/4652426.cms>  of over 50,000
farmers.

"Previously, inconclusive evidence has linked agricultural work to an
increased multiple myeloma risk. Our study is the first to show an
association between pesticide exposure and an excess prevalence of
MGUS," said lead author Dr Ola Landgren, of the National Cancer
Institute (NCI), which is part of the National Institutes of Health
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Pesticide-exp
osure-ups-blood-disorder-risk-/articleshow/4652426.cms> , US Department
of Health and Human Services.

"This finding is particularly important given that we recently found in
a large prospective cancer screening study that virtually all multiple
myeloma patients experienced a MGUS state prior to developing myeloma,"
Dr Landgren said.

"As several million Americans use pesticides, it's important that the
risks of developing MGUS from the use of pesticides is known, " senior
study author and NCI investigator Michael Alavanja said.

The blood of the participants, aged 30-94, was assessed for MGUS
prevalence. They also completed questionnaires providing comprehensive
occupational exposure information for a wide range of pesticides,
including information such as the average number of days of pesticide
use per year, years of use, use of protective gear while applying
pesticides, and pesticide application methods.

Individuals with prior histories of lymphoproliferative malignancies,
such as multiple myeloma or lymphoma
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Pesticide-exp
osure-ups-blood-disorder-risk-/articleshow/4652426.cms> , were excluded.
The researchers monitored cancer incidence and mortality annually, and,
after five years, conducted follow-up interviews to update the
information about participants' occupational exposures, medical
histories, and lifestyle factors.

The team compared the results from the pesticide-exposed group with the
assessments of 9,469 men from the general population of Olmsted County,
Minnesota.

In the pesticide-exposed group, no MGUS cases were observed among those
who were less than 50 years of age, but the prevalence of the disorder
in those older than 50 was 6.8 percent, which was 1.9 times higher than
the general population study group of men in Minnesota.

The researchers also evaluated the potential association between MGUS
prevalence and 50 specific pesticides for which usage data were known,
and observed a significantly increased risk among users of dieldrin (an
insecticide), carbon-tetrachloride/carbon disulfide (a fumigant
mixture), and chlorothalonil (a fungicide).

Several other insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides were also
associated with MGUS, but not significantly.

"Our findings are intriguing. If replicated in a larger sample from our
study and other large studies, further work should focus on gaining a
better understanding of the molecular basis of MGUS and multiple myeloma
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Pesticide-exp
osure-ups-blood-disorder-risk-/articleshow/4652426.cms> . Ultimately,
this will result in the identification of novel molecular targets
involved in the progression from MGUS to multiple myeloma and in the
development of targeted therapies," said Dr Landgren.

The study will appear in the June 18 issue of the journal Blood.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Pesticide-expo
sure-ups-blood-disorder-risk-/articleshow/4652426.cms
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Pesticide-exp
osure-ups-blood-disorder-risk-/articleshow/4652426.cms>

     

Tibetan medicine cures cancer

 TIMES OF INDIA  12 Jun 2009, 1114 hrs IST, IANS

 NEW DELHI: Tibetan medical science, a 2,000-year-old legacy of herbal
and spiritual healing   born in the Buddhist monasteries of high-altitude Tibet, offers cures for diseases like cancer and thalassaemia but is yet to be recognised by the Indian government, says one of its leading woman practitioners here.

"This system can contribute a lot to ease suffering. If it is recognised by the Indian government, students can carry on research because we have no country of our own," Tsewang Dolkar Khongkar, a Tibetan doctor said.

Khongkar, who has been practising Tibetan medicine in the capital since 1981, is
a cancer specialist with patients from across the country and from Europe and the US. She was awarded the Bharat Nirman Affiliation Certiticate for her work.

The Tibetan system of medicine, says the doctor, evolved as an assimilation of healing methods from India, China, Greece and even Persia, which were codified in sacred texts or "pharmacopia" and
interpreted with the Buddhist understanding of herbal cures into a separate branch of knowledge.

The knowledge system is presided over by the "Medicine Buddha", a blue incarnation of Siddhartha, which represents cure. "The system works on similar principles as the Indian ayurvedic system
of medicine that seeks to maintain the balance between air, bile and phlegm and one's karma," said the 50-year-old petite doctor who also has clinics in Mumbai.

The treatment is a complicated mix of pulse analysis, urine analysis, dietary modifications, astrology, herbal therapies and physical procedures like acupuncture.

Tibetan medicine is Dolkar Khongkar's family profession.

She is the daughter of Tibet's first lady doctor, Lobsang Dolma Khongkar, who practised the indigenous Tibetan medicine at Dalhousie in Himachal Pradesh and later in Dharamsala, the Indian town where the
Tibetan-government-in-exile is headquartered.

"My mother and father were both healers," said Dolkar.

"I learnt most of my therapies from my mother and went up the slopes to Chamba in Himachal Pradesh every year with her to identify and collect herbs for medicines that we made at home," the doctor said.

While her mother learnt astrology and medicine at the age of 22, along with her husband, from the rinpoches in the Tibetan monasteries, Dolkar Khongkar went to the Tibetan Medical School at Dharamsala after learning the basic herbs at home.

"Modern Tibetan doctors do not have to know astrology. But it is important because the movement of planets changes the beat of the pulse," she said.

The doctor is known for her "successful" cancer therapy .

Patients from places like Punjab, Ahmedabad, Uttarakhand and even Mumbai
flock to her clinic in south Delhi every morning. "I don't encourage my
foreign patients to come to India. They just send me the reports and
speak to me on telephone. I send them the medicines," said Khongkar, who
makes medicines both at home and in Dharamsala, where her sister, also a
doctor, looks after her mother's clinic.

"Sixty percent of my patients suffer from cancer
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Tibetan-medic
ine-cures-cancer/articleshow/4647903.cms> . Tibetan medicines offer
hope. I consider a patient of organ cancer, undergoing Tibetan
treatment, cured if the cancer does not resurface for three years and I
give a bigger margin of 10 years to breast cancer patients," Khongkar
said.

According to the doctor, each organ requires different herbs because the
element of every human organ differs.

"Making the medicines is difficult. The herbs are available only in
Himachal Pradesh and some medicines require as many as 18 herbs. Every
herb has to be pure and of the right shade. A slight change can alter
the quality of medicine. The changing climate is taking a toll on the
quality of herbs," she complained.

"Moreover, there is very little facility for research and scant
resources. I wish our medicine would get the same status as ayurveda,"
she said.

Obesity ups heart disease risk in 7-yr-olds

 TIMES OF INDIA   12 Jun 2009, 1616 hrs IST, ANI

WASHINGTON: A new study has revealed that childhood obesity increases
the risk of heart disease and stroke in kids as young as 7 years of age,
even without the presence of other cardiovascular risk factors, such as
high blood pressure.

Principal investigator and senior author Dr. Nelly Mauras, Chief of
Pediatric Endocrinology at Nemours Children's Clinic
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Obesity-ups-h
eart-disease-risk-in-7-yr-olds/articleshow/4649141.cms>  in
Jacksonville, Florida, said that the study showed that the unhealthy
consequences of excess body fat start very early.

The study demonstrated that obesity alone is linked to certain
abnormalities in the blood that can predispose individuals to developing
cardiovascular disease early in adulthood.

"Our study finding suggests that we need more aggressive interventions
for weight control in obese children
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Obesity-ups-h
eart-disease-risk-in-7-yr-olds/articleshow/4649141.cms> , even those who
do not have the co-morbidities of the metabolic syndrome," said Mauras.

The metabolic syndrome is a cluster of risk factors that raise the risk
of developingheart disease
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Obesity-ups-h
eart-disease-risk-in-7-yr-olds/articleshow/4649141.cms> , stroke and
diabetes and is increasingly being diagnosed in children, as obesity
becomes a greater problem.

Metabolic syndrome is usually diagnosed by increased waist circumference
(abdominal fat) or low HDL ("good") cholesterol or high triglycerides
(fats in the blood), high blood pressure and high blood glucose (blood
sugar).

The researchers wanted to know whether simple obesity could raise
cardiovascular disease risk before the metabolic syndrome develops, and
thus screened over 300 individuals ages 7 to 18 years.

The study included just those without features of the metabolic
syndrome.

All study participants underwent blood testing for known markers for
predicting the development of cardiovascular disease, which included
elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation,
and abnormally high fibrinogen, a clotting factor, among others.

It was found that obese children had a 10 fold higher CRP and
significantly higher fibrinogen concentrations, compared with age- and
sex-matched lean children.

Such abnormalities occurred in obese children as young as 7-year-olds,
long before the onset of puberty.

Mauras said that the results were striking, as the children were
entirely healthy
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Obesity-ups-h
eart-disease-risk-in-7-yr-olds/articleshow/4649141.cms> otherwise.

"Doctors often do not treat obesity in children now unless they have
other features of the metabolic syndrome. This practice should be
reconsidered. Further studies by the growup will offer further insight
into the effects of therapeutic interventions in these children," she
said.

The results were presented at The Endocrine Society's 91st Annual
Meeting in Washington, D.C.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Obesity-ups-he
art-disease-risk-in-7-yr-olds/articleshow/4649141.cms
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Health/Obesity-ups-h
eart-disease-risk-in-7-yr-olds/articleshow/4649141.cms>

Most type 2 diabetes can be stopped at childhood

USA TODAY 06-22-09
When you're 8 years old, it can be darn hard not eating a cupcake when everyone else is having one. But that's the way life is for Nyla Wright, a Philadelphia-area second-grader who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes last year. She still gets treats now and then, but overall has to watch what she pops into her mouth.
An increasing number of children are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, a condition medical experts blame on a culture steeped in junk food and inactivity that has led to more obese kids. Aggressive early treatment and lifestyle changes can help, and even snuff out disease symptoms, but more sweeping health care system changes, including better health insurance for older teens and people in their 20s, are required for young diabetics to age into healthy older adults, experts say.
"It's really stunning how the percentages for type 2 diabetes are going up in younger and younger Americans. Clearly, diabetes is following obesity, and both have huge ramifications on long-term health," says Siri Atma Greeley, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
About 150,000 children in the USA have been diagnosed with diabetes, most with type 1, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the number of children with type 2 diabetes has been rising steadily in the past decade, says Ann Albright with the CDC. About 3,700 youth were newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes from 2002 to 2003 -- that's about five in every 100,000 children, according to the CDC. Type 2 is especially affecting Hispanic, African American and American Indian youth.
Possible 'genetic mutations' in children
In type 1 diabetes, the body's pancreas does not make any or enough of the special cells that produce insulin. Insulin helps the body turn food into energy. In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas makes insulin, but the cells in the body aren't able to use it properly. Over time, the disease can cause serious health problems.
There are various theories about why type 2 diabetes is appearing in greater numbers in the young now, says Melinda Sothern, professor of public health at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans.
"We have a new generation of children who are metabolically different. We think there's been a series of genetic mutations -- linked to environmental and lifestyle changes -- over the last few generations that have led to this," says Sothern, who presented research earlier this month on the topic at the American Diabetes Association's annual meeting in New Orleans.
Why a child's body stops using insulin properly -- called insulin sensitivity -- isn't clear, but Sothern says her government-funded study suggests a child's current body fat is the strongest predictor of poor insulin sensitivity.
While the majority of chubby kids don't get diabetes, if a child has a family history, or a mother who had gestational diabetes was obese while pregnant or did not breast-feed, they can be at risk, Sothern says.
You top that with high-calorie, high-fat eating habits and a lack of exercise, and you can push an at-risk individual over the edge and into diabetes earlier in life, says Rebecca Lipton, associate professor in pediatric endocrinology at the University of Chicago.
In Nyla's case, her father has diabetes, and Nyla is 25 pounds overweight, says Martha Zeger, Nyla's pediatric endocrinologist at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.
Nyla takes metformin to lower blood sugar, and the family's health habits have been upgraded, says mom Stephanie. Macaroni and cheese has been replaced by whole grains, veggies and proteins. Nyla swims competitively, too.
Ongoing support from a team of health experts, including a nutritionist, helps, but parents make the biggest difference, Zeger says.
A chilling prognosis for type 2 kids
Still, larger efforts, such as large-scale government programs at the preschool level, are needed to reverse the habits of a junk-food nation and curb the disease, Sothern says.
Anxiety runs high for what aging children with diabetes will be up against in the years ahead.
"The health insurance system is just horrible for these kids as they age. They get kicked out of their cozy pediatric health care systems, knocked off their parents' health plans, then stop care and suffer the consequences," Lipton says.
Long-term complications of untreated diabetes that previously affected adults in their 60s -- blindness, kidney failure, amputations and cardiovascular disease -- will appear sooner.
"We are already seeing some 20- and 25-year-old kids now on dialysis for kidney failure. It's chilling," Lipton says.
"We're still on the front wave of this epidemic," says Larry Deeb, a Tallahassee pediatric endocrinologist and past president of the American Diabetes Association. "It's a long ways from 17 to 80."
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=8418&Section=Disease

Fiber bulking up in popularity

Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.  06-23-09
Jun. 22--Six months ago, Don Stahlhut of Oakland went on a high-fiber diet per the suggestion of his nutritional coach. Stahlhut, 65, had a family history of heart failure and was taking three medications for high cholesterol. He began scanning labels for fiber content. He switched from sugary cereal to corn bran, and sprinkled it with ground flax. And, when he woke up each day, he stirred two tablespoons of psyllium, a plant-derived form of soluble fiber found in bulk laxatives, into a glass of unsweetened juice.
"Breakfast is sort of a production," says Stahlhut, who, joking aside, has lowered his cholesterol 30 points and cut out two of the three cholesterol medications since switching his diet.
Roughage, it seems, is in. Doctors have long recommended 25 to 35 milligrams of daily fiber for bowel regularity and to prevent diverticulosis, a colon disease that affects nearly half of Americans over 60. But fiber is now center-stage as a means of losing weight and curbing high cholesterol, diabetes and other chronic diseases.
In fact, the number of consumers who check fiber content on nutrition panels grew to 52 percent last year from 42 percent in 2006, according to the International Food Information Council. As a result, fiber in the form of cellulose gel and chicory root are popping up on packaged foods, including ice cream bars, toaster pastries and high-sugar cereals marketed to children.
While there are some
dietary supplements and packaged foods that health care professionals recommend, an apple a day is the still the best way to go, they say.
"If you're choosing a food that otherwise is full of sugar or artificial ingredients, you're missing the boat because the whole point of fiber is the phytonutrients, the vitamins and minerals found in fruits and vegetables," says Laura Brainin-Rodriguez, an El Cerrito registered dietitian and coordinator of the Feeling Good Project, a USDA-funded nutritional services program of the San Francisco Department of Public Health that promotes fruit and vegetable consumption. "You're basically failing to give yourself the added benefits when you're choosing to eat a form of fiber that's been sprinkled on by someone."
How does fiber work? It is actually undigested by the body, Brainin-Rodriguez says. Instead of flowing into the bloodstream, the insoluble fiber found in leafy greens, seeds and nuts moves bulk through the intestines, preventing constipation and balancing the PH in the intestines. Soluble fiber, which is found in fruits, oats, and beans, binds with fatty acids and prolongs stomach emptying so that sugar is released and absorbed more slowly -- a plus for diabetics. This is also the kind of fiber that lowers total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol, thereby reducing the risk of heart disease, she adds.
Those are both concerns in the Reed household. Cam Reed has high cholesterol, and her husband and daughter are diabetics. Reed is also overweight, she says. Add to that years of bowel irregularity and Reed, who is 64, grew frustrated and asked her doctor about fiber.
Still figuring it out
"I'm just trying to figure out how to take care of my family," she says. "I've heard about it (fiber) for the last few years but it's nothing anyone told me about 30 years ago. We have fruit trees all around us and we live on vegetables, but if I eat more broccoli I'm going to scream."
Last fall, Reed got a colonoscopy, which revealed that her colon is longer than normal and bent, which may contribute to her bowel irregularities. In addition to fruits and vegetables, her doctor recommended a half-cup of high-fiber cereal once a day. Reed eats one that gives her 14 grams, half of her daily intake, per serving. She also drinks three bottles of water a day and bakes fiber-rich sweet potatoes instead of russets. She feels much better now, she says.
"It (the cereal) solves a problem and is less calories than a 100-calorie snack pack that has a bunch of garbage in it," she says.
Not all packaged foods are garbage, but consumers should be wary. New products such as popcorn and ice cream that promote high fiber are hitting shelves at lightning speed this year. According to the research group Datamonitor, 6.5 percent of new foods released through May made such claims. Earlier this month, Kellogg announced that by 2010 a majority of its cereals will have at least three grams of fiber per serving. It's important to note that most of the fiber added to foods is insoluble, Brainin-Rodriguez says.
Less is more
"The idea is that if you eat a more fibrous diet, you absorb less calories and you feel full with less," she explains, adding that this is why diet programs such as Weight Watchers reward those who eat fiber. Joyce Selkow, an Oakland registered dietitian and health coach, recommends psyllium, a plant-based source of soluble fiber, with a glass of water before dinner to help weight-conscious clients feel sated so they eat less. High-fiber snacks, such as bean soup or raw vegetables before dinner, are also healthful, she says.
Chicory root, or inulin, is also popping up in granola bars, cookies and yogurt. While no health professional interviewed in this article had a problem with the natural fiber source -- Selkow says it may be beneficial as a prebiotic to promote the growth of good bacteria in your gut -- they did report that it can cause discomfort and gas much like other sources of fiber. Another man-made fiber additive you might find in processed foods is cellulose gel, an emulsifier that is high in insoluble fiber.
"It won't harm you but it seems really bizarre to rationalize getting your fiber this way," Brainin-Rodriguez says. "And people who don't know a lot about fiber can be easily misled."
If you are new to fiber, you'll want to introduce it slowly into your diet, experts say. For instance, start with one piece of fruit a day, adding another serving every four to five days, Brainin-Rodriguez says. And remember, high-fiber diets are not for everyone. If you bloat easily or have digestive issues such as irritable bowel syndrome, fiber can exacerbate your problems, says David H. Lin, a Walnut Creek gastroenterologist.
"You have to do what's reasonable for you," Lin says. "I tell people to eat fiber but I also tell them to be careful. There's a lot of snake oil out there."
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=8420&Section=Nutrition

Obesity, early menopause tied to uterine cancer
Last Updated: 2009-06-22 15:29:47 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who are very obese and go through early menopause may have a substantially elevated risk of endometrial cancer, a new study suggests.
Endometrial cancer arises in the endometrium, the lining of the uterus, and various factors related to women's hormone production -- such as timing of menopause, number of pregnancies and body weight -- have been linked to the risk of developing the disease.
These latest findings, from a study of 3,600 U.S. women ages 20 to 54, confirm the relationship between obesity and higher endometrial cancer risk.
But they also suggest that the timing of menopause is key in that relationship, according to the researchers, led by Cheryll C. Thomas of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
They found that among women who had had their last menstrual period before age 45 and a body mass index (BMI) of at least 35 (obese=30) were nearly 22 times more likely to develop endometrial cancer than normal-weight women.
Of women who reached menopause later, very obese women had a roughly four-fold greater risk of the cancer.
Women who were less severely overweight also had a higher endometrial cancer risk than normal-weight women, regardless of when they entered menopause, Thomas and her colleagues report in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology
The reasons for the interplay between high BMI and earlier menopause are not clear. While obesity has often been tied to a higher risk of endometrial cancer, earlier menopause has typically been linked to a lower risk.
Both factors are thought to affect endometrial cancer risk via estrogen; earlier menopause limits a woman's lifetime exposure to estrogen, possibly lowering her risk of the cancer. Obesity, in contrast, may increase a woman's risk because excess fat tissue can raise estrogen levels.
It's possible, according to Thomas and her colleagues, that obese women with an earlier menopause were more likely to have irregularities in their menstrual cycles throughout life. And that, they note, could indicate hormonal irregularities that may affect endometrial cancer risk.
Whatever the reasons for the findings, the high cancer risk linked to obesity "underscores the need for clinicians to counsel young women on the benefits of maintaining or achieving a normal weight throughout childbearing years and before entering menopause," the researchers conclude.
SOURCE: Obstetrics & Gynecology, July 2009.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/06/22/eline/links/20090622elin002.html

Being social may ward off physical decline
Last Updated: 2009-06-22 16:02:17 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - All of us will see some decline in our ability to get around as we age, but for people who are more socially active, this decline may happen more slowly, new research shows.
"Being more active in a wider array of activities looks like it might be good for you," Dr. Aron S. Buchman of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago told Reuters Health. Loss of motor function is a major public health problem, Buchman noted, and the nation's aging population is growing. "If it turns out to be true, it's something that we can intervene with on a large scale without costing society a lot of money."
Several studies have shown that being physically active helps stave off motor decline in older people, Buchman and his team note in the Archives of Internal Medicine, and there's growing evidence that social activities and other pursuits keep people's minds sharp and extend their lives. But to date, no one has looked at whether social activity might have physical benefits.
To investigate, Buchman and his colleagues looked at 906 people participating in a long-term study of aging. At the study's outset, all were quizzed on how frequently they engaged in six different types of social activity, from going out to restaurants to playing bingo and visiting friends. They also underwent a battery of tests of motor function.
People with higher levels of social activity had better physical function, the researchers found. A one-point lower score on the scale the researchers used to gauge social activity was equivalent to a person having the motor function of a person 5 years older.
And over 5 years of follow-up, people with lower social activity scores had a faster physical decline. People with lower levels of physical activity were also more likely to become disabled and more likely to die.
While it's possible that people who were more physically able were more likely to engage in social activity, Buchman and his team analyzed the results in a number of different ways to test whether the social activity-motor function link was causal. They controlled for a host of factors including disability, joint pain and depressive symptoms, and found the relationship remained. The link also persisted when they removed disabled people or people with Parkinson's disease from their analysis.
Research on mirror neurons, which are cells in the brain that activate when a person performs a certain movement - and also when someone watches another person do the same movement - suggests that a possible mechanism by which the social and the physical could be linked, the researcher noted.
SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, June 22, 2009.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/06/22/eline/links/20090622elin003.html

Americans struggle to pay for healthcare: study
Last Updated: 2009-06-22 9:56:15 -0400 (Reuters Health)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans are struggling to pay for healthcare in the ongoing economic recession, with a quarter saying they have had trouble in the past 12 months, according to a survey released on Monday.
Baby boomers -- the generation born between 1946 and 1964 -- had the most trouble and were the most likely to put off medical treatments or services, said researchers at Center for Healthcare Improvement, part of the Healthcare business of Thomson Reuters.
The study, available here, found that 17.4 percent of households reported postponing or delaying healthcare over the past year.
The U.S. Congress is working on a way to cover more of the 46 million people who lack health insurance, lower costs and coordinate care better. President Barack Obama has made it one of his administration's top priorities.
Americans pay more per capita for healthcare than people in any other country, yet have high rates of infant mortality, diabetes, untreated heart disease and other conditions. Americans are often dissatisfied with their access to care.
Thomson Reuters -- the parent company of Reuters news agency -- used its annual Pulse survey that queries 100,000 households to get information about health behavior.
Gary Pickens, George Popa and colleagues at the Michigan-based center interviewed more than 6,000 people in March and April about job losses, what healthcare they had used and their plans for future treatment.

UNEMPLOYMENT FACTOR
"April numbers showed a significant increase in the percentage of households in which a member had lost a job in the last three months (13.5 percent)," the researchers wrote. In March, 11 percent said they had lost jobs.
"The percentage of households that had difficulty in paying for care in the last year was statistically unchanged between March and April (about 25 percent)."
They found 40 percent of all households planned to postpone care in the coming three months, with about 15 percent planning to put off routine doctor visits.
People born before 1946 were the least likely to delay care, probably because most can take part in Medicare, the federal health insurance plan for the elderly, the researchers found.
Baby Boomers were four times more likely than seniors to have trouble paying for healthcare, according to the report.
People born after 1984 were also unlikely to put off care, probably because they are too young to need much medical attention, the researchers said.
Income was also a big factor -- homes where people made less than $50,000 a year were three times as likely to say they had trouble paying for medical bills as homes with combined incomes of $100,000 or more.
"It is important for healthcare providers, employers and policymakers to consider how the economy and healthcare policies affect demographic segments differently," Pickens said in a statement.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/06/22/eline/links/20090622elin006.html

Diet reduces insulin need in gestational diabetes
Last Updated: 2009-06-22 14:04:16 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A low-glycemic index diet can significantly reduce the need for insulin in women with gestational diabetes, without compromising maternal or fetal outcomes, according to a new study.
Researchers have known that women with gestational diabetes can reduce postprandial glycemia, a spike in blood sugar that can occur just after a meal, by eating mixed meals based on low-glycemic index foods. This diet is "commonly advised as treatment for women with gestational diabetes mellitus," Dr. Robert G. Moses and co-investigators write journal Diabetes Care. "However, the efficacy of this advice and associated pregnancy outcomes have not been systematically examined."
A low-glycemic diet includes starchy foods such as potatoes, bread, and grain products, the investigators maintain. Also, the more processed a food is, the more glycemic it will be.
To further investigate, Moses, at the South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Area Health Service in Wollongong, New South Wales, and his team studied 62 women with gestational diabetes who were about 30 weeks pregnant. Gestation diabetes is diabetes that develops during pregnancy and often disappears after delivery, but tends to signal an increased risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease later in life. The condition may also increase complications of pregnancy.
Thirty-one women were randomly assigned to the low-glycemic index diet and 32 were assigned a high-fiber/low-sugar diet (the high-glycemic index diet). Both diets recommended a minimum carbohydrate intake of 175 grams per day, with only the choice of the type of carbohydrate foods varying.
Women on the low-glycemic index diet were counseled on the energy and nutrient balance of various foods, and were asked to avoid certain foods including white bread and processed commercial breakfast cereals. Women in the high-glycemic index diet group were just advice to avoid sugar and increase high-fiber, with "no specific mention of the glycemic index."
At an average of 32 weeks, 9 women in the low-glycemic diet (29 percent) and 19 (59 percent) in the high-glycemic diet required insulin, a statiscally significant difference.
However, instead of receiving insulin, the women on the high-glycemic index diet were switched to the low-glycemic index diet instead. The 9 patients no longer met the criteria for needing insulin. Both groups on the modified diet achieved a similar glycemic index value by the final visit at 35 to 37 weeks of gestation.
"Overall," the authors report, "there were no significant differences in obstetric and fetal outcomes between the two groups."
SOURCE: Diabetes Care, June 2009.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/06/22/eline/links/20090622elin020.html

Could probiotics affect behaviour?

Nutraingredients.com, 23-Jun-2009

Increasing knowledge of how the gut and brain is opening up the possibilities for probiotics. At the 5th International Yakult Symposium in Amsterdam, Stephen Daniells met Professor John Bienenstock from McMaster University to find out where the current thinking is with probiotics and brain health.

Links between the gut and the brain, the so-called gut-brain axis, are opening up possibilities for probiotic bacteria to play a role in brain health, be it behaviour or irritable bowel syndrome.
Professor John Bienenstock, director of the Brain-Body Institute at McMaster University in Canada told Stephen Daniells in Amsterdam that research in this area is at a relatively early stage.
"As for human applications at the moment, it is really just the beginning," said Prof Bienenstock.
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Could-probiotics-affect-behaviour

EPA Conspired with DuPont to Allow Teflon Chemicals in Drinking Water

David Gutierrez, NaturalNews.com  June 23, 2009 

(NaturalNews) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has signed an agreement with the DuPont corporation, imposing a new maximum level of a toxic Teflon chemical in drinking water near a factory in Parkersburg, West Virginia. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), however, the agreement does not go nearly far enough.

"EPA's arrangement with DuPont would likely give a false sense of security to thousands of West Virginians and Ohioans whose drinking water has been polluted by toxic discharges from the Parkersburg facility," wrote EWG President Richard Wiles, in an open letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

At issue is the toxic chemical perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), an ingredient of nonstick cookware that has been shown to build up in the body and disrupt the human hormonal and reproductive systems at blood levels as low as four parts per billion (ppb). With the consent of DuPont, the EPA has required that water near the Parkersburg plant contain no more than 0.4 ppb of the chemical, instead of the prior threshold of 0.5 ppb. This level was based on a health advisory issued in January, setting 0.5 ppb as a maximum safe level for short-term exposure.

"The fact is that there is no such thing as short-term drinking water exposure," Wiles wrote. "People drink tap water every day. PFOA persists in the environment, and thus in water supplies, for hundreds of years. ... Applying this short-term health advisory to long-term exposure to contaminated water directly contradicts both sound science and EPA's own principles of risk assessment and risk management."

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that drinking tap water containing 0 versus 0.4 ppb of PFOA could produce human blood levels of 40 ppb, or ten times the EPA's maximum safe threshold. 

This figure presumes that people's only source of PFOA exposure is tap water, but most people are also exposed to the chemical from a variety of consumer sources as well.
http://www.naturalnews.com/z026489_EPA_water_DuPont.html

Research Reveals Which Conventional Produce Can be Safely Eaten

Barbara Minton, NaturalNews.com  June 23, 2009

(NaturalNews) The evidence is in. Eating a plant based diet is the key to health and longevity. The only question left is how to get the best value for each dollar you have to spend on fruits and vegetables. The Environmental Working Group, a non-profit organization devoted to human and environmental health, has come up with some guidelines that may help you decide. In a recently published listing, they pointed out those fruits and vegetables with the highest levels of pesticides that should be avoided unless they are available from known local growers, grown at home, or labeled as organic. They also identified which conventionally grown fruits and vegetables have low levels of pesticides and can be bought without too much compromise.

EWG, as the group is often known, analyzed results from 87,000 tests on 47 fruits and vegetables conducted by the USDA and FDA between 2000 and 2007. Nearly all the studies used to create their list tested produce after it had been rinsed or peeled. Contamination was measured in six different ways and crops were ranked based on a composite score from all categories.

Their Dirty Dozen showed the highest levels of contamination. Fruits topped this list, taking 7 of the 12 top slots in this dubious distinction. Nectarines had the highest percentage of samples testing positively for pesticides (97.3 percent), followed by peaches (96.7 percent) and apples (94.1 percent).

Peaches had the highest likelihood of multiple pesticides on a single sample, with 87.0 percent tested having two or more pesticide residues. They were followed by nectarines (85.3 percent) and apples (82.3 percent). Peaches and apples had the most pesticides detected on a single sample, with nine residues, followed by strawberries and imported grapes in which eight pesticides were found on a single sample of each. Peaches had the most pesticides overall, with some combination of up to 53 pesticides found on the samples tested, followed by apples with 50 pesticides and strawberries with 38.

Among the dishonored vegetables, sweet bell peppers, celery, kale, lettuce, and carrots topped the list for exposing consumers to pesticides. Celery had the highest percentage of samples test positively for pesticides (94.1 percent), followed by sweet bell peppers (81.5 percent) and carrots (82.3 percent). Celery was also the most likely to have multiple pesticides on a single sample (79.8 percent), followed by sweet bell peppers (62.2 percent) and kale (53.1 percent).

Sweet bell peppers had the most pesticides detected on a single sample (11 detected), followed by kale (10 detected), and lettuce and celery which both had nine detected. Sweet bell peppers had the most pesticides overall (a jaw dropping 64), followed by lettuce (57) and carrots (40).

Although they escaped classification in the Dirty Dozen, note should also be given to spinach, potatoes, and domestic grapes because of their popularity in certain segments of the population. Spinach, which ranked number 14 in highest pesticide load, is thought of as a healthy food. Health minded shoppers have loaded their carts and salad bar servings with spinach thinking they were getting a vegetable that would support their health. Yet spinach was found to have a pesticide load of 58 (with 100 being the worst). Potatoes, one of the favorites of men and children, had a pesticide load of 56 and was ranked right behind spinach at number 15. Children love to eat their way through the summer with a fist full of grapes. But domestic grapes had a pesticide load of 44. By comparison, the pesticide loads for onion, avocado and sweet corn were numbered 2 or less.

EWG also identified the Clean 15, a list of produce least likely to have pesticide residues. Vegetables on this list were onions, sweet corn, asparagus, sweet peas, cabbage, eggplant, broccoli, tomatoes and sweet potatoes.

Over half of the tomatoes (53.1 percent), broccoli (65.2 percent), eggplant (75.4 percent), sweet pea (77.1 percent), and cabbage (82.1 percent) had no detectable pesticides in the samples. Among onions, sweet corn and asparagus, there were no detectable residues on 90 percent or more of the samples.

Multiple pesticide residues were extremely rare on any of these Clean 15 vegetables. Tomatoes had the highest likelihood of having multiple pesticide residues, with a 13.5 percent chance of having more than one pesticide. None of the samples of onions or sweet corn contained more than one pesticide.

The greatest number of pesticides detected on a single sample of any of the Clean 15 was five, compared to 11 found on sweet bell peppers, the vegetable with the most residues on a single sample.

Fruits making the Clean 15 list were avocados, pineapples, mangoes, kiwi, papayas, watermelon and grapefruit. Fewer than 10 percent of pineapple, mango, and avocado samples had detectable pesticides, and fewer than one percent of samples had more than one pesticide residue. Although 54.5 percent of grapefruit had detectable pesticides, multiple residues were less common, with only 17.5 percent of samples containing more than one residue. Watermelon had residues on 28.1 percent of samples, and just 9.6 percent had multiple residues.

Pesticides are designed to kill

There is an endless parade of research demonstrating the toxicity of pesticides to human health and to the environment, even at doses considered "safe" by the industry and government. This research has linked pesticides to many toxic effects including nervous system disorders, cancer, hormone disruption, liver and thyroid dysfunction, and skin, eye and lung irritation.

According to EWG, "Even in the face of a growing body of evidence, pesticide manufacturers continue to defend their products, claiming that the amounts of pesticides on produce are not sufficient to elicit safety concerns. Yet, such statements are often made in the absence of actual data, since most safety tests done for regulatory agencies are not designed to discover whether low dose exposures to mixtures of pesticides and othertoxic chemicals are safe, particularly during critical periods of development." Most studies are done using high doses and are designed to find only the gross, obvious toxic effects. In the absence of low dose studies, pesticide and chemical manufacturers claim safety where none has been demonstrated or proven.

Children bear the highest risk

Pesticides pose a risk to vital organ systems from conception to maturity. Exposure to pesticides during critical periods of development often has lasting negative effects that manifest throughout the lifetime. Because the metabolism, physiology and biochemistry of a child differ from those of adults, a child is often less able to metabolize and inactivate toxic chemicals and can be particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects. Pesticides that may have no harmful effect on the mother can damage the nervous system, brain, reproductive organs, and endocrine system of a fetus.

Without public outcry, the government will continue to cave to big agribusiness

The fact that the government is allowing the use of pesticides on produce does not mean it is safe to eat that produce. A look back in history shows that the government once approved the use of such damaging and deadly pesticides as DDT, chordane, dursban and others. Without public outcry these chemicals might still be in use. Despite this threat to the population, the government moves very slowly, and only when the mountain of evidence against a pesticide can no longer be ignored. Pesticide manufacturers and agribusiness groups are some of the most powerful people. They have fought the government every step of the way to overrule the pesticide laws now in place.

However, the U.S. has stringent governance of pesticides and their use compared to many other countries likely to export produce. Produce from other countries often contains higher levels of pesticides, and these pesticides are more deadly. The EWG study tested only grapes from both domestic and foreign sources. Yet, the results of that testing revealed the glaring difference in magnitude. Grapes from foreign countries carried a pesticide load of 66, compared with grapes grown in the U.S. with a pesticide load of 44. This difference exists across the range of fruits and vegetables grown in foreign countries compared to those grown domestically. Included in this difference is produce that is canned and frozen as well as produce sold fresh. It also includes produce used in processed or prepared foods from foreign countries.

Pesticide is systemic

Many people are still operating under the myth that pesticide can be washed off. It is a myth that even health oriented grocers like to exploit by selling special vegetable washes for the uninformed. This research is a clear revelation that is not the case, as the studies were done after the produce was washed and in many cases peeled.

Pesticide is taken into the plant as it photosynthesizes, and it becomes contained in every cell of the plant. No amount of soaking, scrubbing, or washing with special compounds can get it out. Once pesticide is applied, the plant and the pesticide become one.

Corporate farming methods have increased the need for pesticides

Pesticide is expensive. Growers only use pesticide when they absolutely must. The need for pesticide is so great because crops produced by the large corporate farms are grown with very little regard for soil conditions, although it is the quality of the soil that determines the quality of the plant. Poor quality plants are weak and unable to fend off pests. When one pest has attacked a crop, it is weakened even further and is less able to fight off the next pest assault. This snowball effect is why some crops have so many different pesticides used on them.

A weakened plant riddled with pests is only able to produce a poor quality fruit or vegetable. This is why most conventionally grown produce is so lacking in taste and appeal compared to organically grown produce. The hidden factor is that most conventionally grown produce is lacking in nutritional quality as well.

The best choice: Say "no" to conventionally grown produce

There is much value in this research. People on budgets can look at it and tell instantly what conventional produce can be bought without taking a big chance with their health, and they can also see which produce should be bought only when it has been grown organically, by a local grower who can be trusted or grown in one's own garden. It also underscores the need to buy only domestically grown produce or to grow your own. And it is a reminder that the consumer is ultimately king, because produce will only be grown conventionally as long as people are willing to buy it.

Yet this research is also a sad commentary on the state of the food supply. All that conventionally grown produce sitting in the stores will be eaten by someone. Out of all the produce tested, only onions and avocado showed to be truly safe. Buying any of the others when grown conventionally involves some kind of trade off between money and health, a trade off that should not have to be made.
http://www.naturalnews.com/z026484_pesticides_health_vegetables.html

Melatonin: The Fountain Of Youth?

ScienceDaily (June 23, 2009) — Melatonin can slow down the effects of aging. A team at laboratoire Arago in Banyuls sur Mer (CNRS / Université Pierre et Marie Curie) has found that a treatment based on melatonin can delay the first signs of aging in a small mammal.
Better known as the ‘time-keeping' hormone, melatonin is naturally secreted by the body during the night. It is therefore a kind of biological signal for nightfall, allowing an organism to synchronize itself with the day/night rhythm.
At Laboratoire Arago, Elodie Magnanou and her co-workers studied the long-term effects of melatonin on the Greater White-toothed shrew, a small nocturnal insectivorous mammal. Under normal conditions, this animal shows the first signs of aging after reaching 12 months, mainly through the loss of circadian rhythm in its activities. By continuously administering melatonin, starting a little before 12 months, the appearance of these first signs was delayed by at least 3 months, which is a considerable period in relation to the lifespan of this shrew*.
Melatonin is now known to play several beneficial roles. These include being an antioxidant, an anti-depressant, and helping to remediate sleep problems. The next step will be to understand the mode of action of the hormone on aging, so we can perhaps envisage its use on humans.
These results appeared in the journal PLoS One on 15 June 2009.
*The Greater White-toothed shrew has a lifespan of 12 to 18 months in the wild and up to 30 months in captivity. Captivity does not change the time at which signs of aging appear, it simply lengthens life.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090622064807.htm

Physicians Frequently Fail To Inform Patients About Abnormal Test Results, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (June 23, 2009) — New research shows that physicians failed to report clinically significant abnormal test results to patients -- or to document that they had informed them -- in one out of every 14 cases of abnormal results. In some medical groups, the failure rate is close to zero; in others it is as high as one in four abnormal results.
The analysis of 5,434 patient records from 23 physician practices across the country was led by Dr. Lawrence P. Casalino, chief of the Division of Outcomes and Effectiveness Research in the Department of Public Health of Weill Cornell Medical College, and published June 22 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Dr. Casalino and his co-investigators revealed that groups using simple processes to manage test results had lower failures rates. Groups that did not consistently use these processes had both higher failure rates and physicians who were dissatisfied with their group's processes for managing test results. The study also found that having an electronic medical record did not reduce failure-to-inform rates -- and even increased them -- if the practice did not have good processes in place for managing test results.
"Failure to report abnormal test results can lead to serious, even lethal consequences for the patient," says Dr. Casalino. "The good news is that physicians who use a simple set of systematic processes to deal with test results can greatly lessen their error rates."
The study suggests that five simple, common-sense processes are useful for dealing with test results:

1. all test results are routed to the responsible physician;
2. the physician signs off on all results;
3. the practice informs patients of all results, normal and abnormal, at least in general terms;
4. the practice documents that the patient has been informed; and
5. patients are told to call after a certain time interval if they have not been notified.

"We found that very few physician practices had explicit rules for managing test results," says Dr. Casalino, who is also associate professor of public health at Weill Cornell Medical College. "In many practices, each physician devised his or her own method. And in many cases, physicians and their staff told patients that 'no news is good news' -- meaning they should assume that their tests are normal unless they are contacted. This is a dangerous assumption."
"With the recent enactment of federal stimulus legislation to support greater adoption of health information technology, this study demonstrates why health IT hardware alone will not improve care," says Dr. Mark Smith, president & CEO of the California HealthCare Foundation, which funded the research. "Ensuring that processes are in place to efficiently notify patients of their lab results should be part of the meaningful use of electronic health records."
"Dr. Casalino's research provides concrete and immediately useful steps that can and should be put into place to improve the delivery of medical care," says Dr. Alvin I. Mushlin, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Public Health at Weill Cornell Medical College. "With good processes, we can ensure that patients with abnormal lab results get proper follow-up."
Study co-authors include Drs. Daniel Dunham of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; Marshall H. Chin, David O. Meltzer, Emily O. Kistner, and Theodore G. Karrison, all of the University of Chicago; Rebecca Bielang of Mount Sinai School of Medicine; Michael K. Ong and Urmimala Sarkar of the University of California, Los Angeles; and Margaret A. McLaughlin of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
Lawrence P. Casalino, MD, PhD; Daniel Dunham, MD, MPH; Marshall H. Chin, MD, MPH; Rebecca Bielang, MD; Emily O. Kistner, PhD; Theodore G. Karrison, PhD; Michael K. Ong, MD, PhD; Urmimala Sarkar, MD, MPH; Margaret A. McLaughlin, MD; David O. Meltzer, MD, PhD. Frequency of Failure to Inform Patients of Clinically Significant Outpatient Test Results. Archives of Internal Medicine, 2009;169(12):1123-1129 [link]
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090622163031.htm

Is Nanotechnology Safe? Interactions Between Nanomaterials And Biological Systems Explored

ScienceDaily (June 20, 2009) — The recent explosion in the development of nanomaterials with enhanced performance characteristics for use in commercial and medical applications has increased the likelihood of people coming into direct contact with these materials.
There are currently more than 800 products on the market — including clothes, skin lotions and cleaning products — claiming to have at least one nanocomponent, and therapeutic nanocarriers have been designed for targeted drug delivery inside the human body. Human exposure to nanomaterials, which are smaller than one one-thousandth the diameter of a human hair, raises some important questions, including whether these "nano-bio" interactions could have adverse health effects.
Now, researchers at UCLA and the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI), along with colleagues in academia and industry, have taken a proactive role in examining the current understanding of the nano-bio interface to identify the potential risks of engineered nanomaterials and to explore design methods that will lead to safer and more effective nanoparticles for use in a variety of treatments and products.
In a research review published in the July issue of the journal Nature Materials (and currently available online), the team provides a comprehensive overview of current knowledge on the physical and chemical properties of nanomaterials that allow them to undergo interactions with biological molecules and bioprocesses.
"What we have established here is a blueprint that will serve to educate the first generation of nanobiologists," said Dr. Andre Nel, leader of the team and chief of the division of nanomedicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the California NanoSystems Institute.
Despite remarkable advances in nanoscience, relatively little is known about the intracellular activity and function of engineered nanomaterials, an area of study particularly important for the development of effective and safe nanoparticle drug-delivery systems. Much of the current knowledge derives from the study of tagged or labeled nanoparticles and their effects on cells after cellular uptake — without any detailed understanding of what these interactions may lead to, good or bad.
The review article examines the variety of ways in which nanomaterials interface with biological systems and presents a roadmap of the physical and chemical properties of the materials that could lead to potentially hazardous or advantageous interactions at the nano-bio interface. A better understanding of the biological impact, combined with appropriate stewardship, will allow for more informed decisions about design features for the safe use of nanotechnology.
In addition to Nel, the team included Tian Xia, a researcher in UCLA's nanomedicine division, UCLA associate professor of civil and environmental engineering Eric Hoek, Lutz Mädler of the University of Bremen, Darrell Velegol of Penn State University, Ponisseril Somasundaran of Columbia University, Fred Klessig of Pennsylvania Bio Systems, Vince Castranova of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and Mike Thompson of FEI Co.
"We are committed to ensuring that nanotechnology is introduced and implemented in a responsible and safe manner," said Nel, who also directs the Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology, which is funded by the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency and is headquartered at the CNSI.
"Based on our rapidly improving understanding of nano-bio interactions, we have done a thorough examination of the literature and our own research progress to identify measures that could be taken for safe design of nanomaterials," he said. "Not only will this improve the implementation and acceptance of this technology, but it will also provide the cornerstone of developing new and improved nanoscale therapeutic devices, such as drug-delivering nanoparticles."
The review article spotlighted several important research advancements:

• A classification of the interactions when nanomaterials contact and bind to biological systems will help scientists understand how man-made materials may react when exposed to cells, tissues and various life forms in different natural environmental contexts.
• When nanomaterials enter a biological fluid — for example, blood, plasma or interstitial fluid — the materials' surface may be coated with proteins. Understanding how these protein layers change the properties of the nanomaterials and the ways in which they interact in the body can provide valuable information on how to alter the protein coatings to allow for targeted delivery of nanomaterials to specific tissues, such as in cancer treatments.
• Physicochemical properties such as size, charge, shape and other characteristics could greatly affect the ability of nanomaterials to enter a cell; this could determine whether a material can be useful in nanomedicine applications or could cause harm if taken in by life forms in an ecosystem or food chain.
• Nanoparticles can elicit a wide range of intracellular responses, depending on their properties, concentrations and interactions with biological molecules. These properties and their relationships to cellular function can induce cellular damage or induce advantageous cellular responses, such as increased energy production and growth.

Based on the link between certain nanomaterial properties and potential toxic effects, the team asserts that scientists can reengineer specific nanomaterial properties that are hazardous while maintaining catalytically useful function for industrial use.
As an example of a safe design feature, some nanoparticles now receive a surface coating designed to improve safety by preventing bioreactivity. Nanoparticles in cosmetic formulations such as suntan lotions, for instance, may be coated with a water-repelling polymer to reduce direct contact with human skin. An extension of this principle uses polymers and detergents to decrease cellular uptake. However, there is the potential that when the coating wears off, the material may become hazardous. It is therefore important to consider improving the stability of coating substances. Coating nanoparticles with protective shells is also an effective means of preventing the breakup of materials that could release toxic substances upon dissolution.
"Instead of waiting for knowledge to unfold randomly, we can already begin to view the events at nano-bio interface as a discoverable scientific platform that can be used for setting up a deliberate inorganic-organic roadmap to new, better and safer products," Nel said. "What we can identify by understanding the rules that shape the nano-bio interface will have a massive impact on the ability to develop safe nanomaterials in the future."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090619152134.htm

Ability to literally imagine oneself in another's shoes may be tied to empathy

Vanderbilt University,  23-Jun-2009
New research from Vanderbilt University indicates the way our brain handles how we move through space—including being able to imagine literally stepping into someone else's shoes—may be related to how and why we experience empathy toward others.
The research was recently published in the online scientific journal PLoS ONE. The full article is available at:http://tinyurl.com/lw6qmv.
Empathy involves, in part, the ability to simulate the internal states of others. The authors hypothesized that our ability to manipulate, rotate and simulate mental representations of the physical world, including our own bodies, would contribute significantly to our ability to empathize.
"Our language is full of spatial metaphors, particularly when we attempt to explain or understand how other people think or feel. We often talk about putting ourselves in others' shoes, seeing something from someone else's point of view, or figuratively looking over someone's shoulder," Sohee Park, report co-author and professor of psychology, said. "Although future work is needed to elucidate the nature of the relationship between empathy, spatial abilities and their potentially overlapping neural underpinnings, this work provides initial evidence that empathy might be, in part, spatially represented."
"We use spatial manipulations of mental representations all the time as we move through the physical world. As a result, we have readily available cognitive resources to deploy in our attempts to understand what we see. This may extend to our understanding of others' mental states," Katharine N. Thakkar, a psychology graduate student at Vanderbilt and the report's lead author, said. "Separate lines of neuroimaging research have noted involvement of the same brain area, the parietal cortex, during tasks involving visuo-spatial processes and empathy."
To test their hypothesis that empathy and spatial processes are linked, the researchers designed an experiment in which subjects had to imagine themselves in the position of another person and make a judgment about where this other person's arm was pointing. The task required the subject to mentally transform their body position to that of the other person.
"We expected that the efficiency with which people could imagine these transformations would be associated with empathy," Thakkar said. "Because we were interested in linking spatial ability with empathy, we also included a very simple task of spatial attention called the line bisection task. This test involves looking at a horizontal line and marking the midpoint. Although this task is very simple, it appears to be a powerful way to assess subtle biases in spatial attention."
The researchers compared performance on the test with how empathetic the subjects reported themselves to be. They found that higher self-reported empathy was associated with paying more attention to the right side of space. Previous research has found that the left side of the face is more emotionally expressive than the right side. Since the left side of the face would be on the right side of the observer, it is possible that attending more to the expressive side of people's faces would allow one to better understand and respond to their mental state. These findings could also point to a role of the left hemisphere in empathy.
The researchers also found that in the female subjects only, the more empathetic people rated themselves, the longer they took to imagine themselves in the position of the person on the screen. Previous work has shown that women generally report more empathy than men and perform worse on tests of visuo-spatial abilities.
"Although it is somewhat counterintuitive that taking more time to imagine another's physical perspective was associated with more reported empathy, people who were slower at the task might have been engaging more resources to imagine another's mental state, or may be using a slower and less automatic strategy on the task," Park said.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/vu-atl062309.php

You May Never Look at a Banana in the Same Way Again
OrganicJar.com May 31, 2009
(OrganicJar) Warning! After reading this, you may never look at a banana in the same way again. Bananas contain three natural sugars – sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world’s leading athletes.
But energy isn’t the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a MUST to add to your daily diet.
Depression: Among people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.
Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.
Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit’s ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.
PMS: Forget the pills – eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.
Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.
Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.
Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.
Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.
Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness
Mosquito Bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.
Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.
Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over- chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.
Temperature Control: Many other cultures see bananas as a “cooling” fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.
Smoking & Tobacco Use: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.
Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body’s water balance When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.
Strokes: According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%.
Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape.
So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around So maybe it’s time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, “A banana a day keeps the doctor away!”
http://organicjar.com/2009/1240/