Avoiding Radiation Exposure...Maybe By Running For Our Lives

Mark Sircus, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

Avoiding exposure and radiation-induced diseases might come down to, I am terribly sorry to say, running for our very lives. Anyone who cannot accept that this is the reality millions of Japanese face is probably not worth saving, so let them consume all the milk and unwashed leafy vegetables they can.

Dr. Michio Kaku, answering the question about the size of the evacuation zone, said:

It’s pathetic. The United States government has already stated 50 miles for evacuating U.S. personnel. The French government has stated that all French people should consider leaving the entire islands. And here we are with a government talking about six miles, 10 miles, 12 miles. And the people there are wondering, “What’s going on with the government? I mean, why aren’t they telling us the truth?” Radiation levels are now rising 25 miles from the site, far beyond the evacuation zone. And remember that we could see an increase in leukemia. We could see an increase in thyroid cancers. That’s the inevitable consequence of releasing enormous quantities of iodine into the environment.

So Dr. Kaku agrees with me about the need for millions to run. Lucky for many Japanese is the fact that so far the winds have blown most of the danger out to sea and onto the northern American continent. If the winds turn and blow to the south for any length of time it could mean curtains for Tokyo.

In today’s post I will begin to answer what Arnie Gundersen is not quite ready to say but will say next week when he has more data. And that is to answer the question of what to do for oneself and one’s family during this nuclear crisis that the world’s governments don’t want you to know. They are, in reality controlled by one-world institutions like the UN, the World Health Organization and others, and that is why we see a lockstep response heard around the world that says—don’t worry!

Life goes on as before and if you want evidence for that just look at your newspaper, Yahoo news summaries or your television to see. But sorry, that is not the truth—not true at all as a tragedy on a civilization-size scale silently falls down on us in the form of nuclear mists of fine very dangerous particles. Most are ignoring this while believing the propaganda of deception that still sounds the loud bells about nuclear safety.

Part of the world ended a month ago in terms of the total destruction of parts of northern Japan and it is true of energy production and industrial capacity, which are collapsing in Japan and around the world like dominoes. After the financial crisis of 2008-2009, the world system has been a drowning giant that is recently coming up from beneath the waters for some air—and now Fukushima is smashing the entire world system back down underwater at a crucial moment.

Filatova Elena Vladimirovna writes, “Let’s face it; with the lack of information coming from Japanese authorities, and so much going on behind the scenes, we are like prisoners in proverbial Plato’s cave who only see shadows of things from real life that is above the ground. When I saw the videos of explosions on the atomic power station in Japan I knew immediately it was a great catastrophe, and that information is being withheld on an unimaginable scale.”

Dr. Michio Kaku said, “The tragedy is, this accident has released enormous quantities of iodine, radioactive iodine-131 into the atmosphere, like what happened at Chernobyl, about 10 percent the level of Chernobyl. Iodine is water-soluble. When it rains, it gets into the soil. Cows then eat the vegetation, create milk, and then it winds up in the milk. Farmers are now dumping milk right on their farms, because it’s too radioactive. Foods have to be impounded in the area. And let’s be blunt about this: would you buy food that says “Made in Chernobyl”? And the Japanese people are also saying, “Should I buy food that says ‘Made in Fukushima’?” We’re talking about the collapse of the local economy. And the government lowballing all the numbers and downplaying the severity of the accident is making it much worse.

I will probably mention in almost every article I write these days about the need to start taking strong dosages of iodine as one’s first line of defense. Not even for one day should you delay as the exposure to radioactive iodine is already an event in progress. For iodine-sensitive people with preexisting thyroid conditions and for children and babies and pregnant women I continue to recommend Nascent iodine because of its atomic I¹ form. And I will continue to say that you should load up on any and all forms of iodine because you will need to keep your thyroid topped off constantly with iodine for the duration of this nuclear disaster—which could be the rest of our lives.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan “warned consumers on Wednesday the 13th of April against eating leaf vegetables such as spinach harvested in Fukushima Prefecture in the first measure involving food consumption to be taken since radioactive materials far exceeding legal limits were found in vegetables there, though in good form top Japanese government spokesman Yukio Edano denied the radiation levels could pose an immediate risk to human health.” Well, perhaps he was thinking about the fact that the Japanese people are iodine sufficient eating as much as 12 mgs of it every day of their lives where as those downwind on the northern American continent consume hundreds of times less.

Avoiding Exposure

If one cannot leave the planet or the northern hemisphere, then doctors Alexey V. Yablokov, Vassily B. Nesterenko, and Alexey V. Nesterenko have some answers from their experience in Russia. “The most direct way of decreasing radionuclide intake is to avoid foods that are potentially heavily contaminated and to consume foodstuffs with lower levels. However, this is not easy to do because the average level of radionuclide bio-accumulation differs in each region owing to differences in soils, agricultural techniques, etc.”

“The Chernobyl experience tells us that soaking in water, boiling, salting and pickling foods such as vegetables can decrease the amount of radio nuclides in some foods several-fold. Milk always contains high levels of radiation; processed products that reduce contamination levels, such as butter and ghee butter, are safer.”

When it comes to pesticide exposure the easiest way to avoid exposure is to consume organic foods. In a recent U.S. EPA-funded study, 23 Seattle-area youngsters were switched to an all-organic diet, and the levels of pesticides in their bodies declined to essentially zero after only five days. When the kids started eating conventionally grown food again, their pesticide levels shot back up. The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives clearly shows that pesticide-free food leads to pesticide-free kids.[1]

Dr. Joseph Mercola sums it up well when it comes to the usual array of suggestions of things we can do in our daily life to avoid as much toxic exposure as possible. He says to eat as much organic produce and free-range, organic foods as possible. Avoid processed foods—remember that they’re processed with chemicals. Only use natural cleaning products in your home. Switch over to natural brands of toiletries, including shampoo, toothpaste, antiperspirants and cosmetics. Remove any metal fillings as they’re a major source of mercury. Be sure to have this done by a qualified biological dentist. Avoid using artificial air fresheners, dryer sheets, fabric softeners or other synthetic fragrances as they can pollute the air you are breathing. Avoid artificial food additives of all kinds, including artificial sweeteners and MSG. Get plenty of safe sun exposure to boost your vitamin D levels and your immune system (you’ll be better able to fight disease). Have your tap water tested and, if contaminants are found, install an appropriate water filter on all your faucets (even those in your shower or bath). Add to this list the avoidance of pharmaceutical drugs.

Nuclear Elimination Protocol

Fortunately for us and our children, there are natural and semi-natural forms of treatment that can reverse much of the damage of mercury, lead, arsenic and other chemical poisoning. Even uranium can be eliminated with the proper protocol. It’s an approach to medicine that is radically different, for instead of adding to the already heavy chemical burden of the body (which almost all allopathic medicines do, including synthetic chelators), this approach diminishes chemical accumulations and cleans and detoxifies our bodies.

Detoxification and chelation are medical approaches that are definitely closer to the spirit of the Hippocratic Oath that each doctor swears to but betrays in clinical practice. It is impossible to honor the Hippocratic Oath and practice modern pharmaceutical medicine at the same time because each and every pharmaceutical drug is poisonous to one degree or another. In reality there are so many problems with allopathic medicines it is a wonder that we use them at all.

It has long been known that pesticide exposure presents a health risk to infants and children. Food is one of the main sources of exposure. Understanding dietary exposure to these chemicals is particularly important. High levels of pesticide exposure among fetuses and children have been linked to negative health effects ranging from increased rates of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to increased blood pressure. In addition, recent research[2] finds evidence of pesticide byproducts in nearly 94 percent of children studied.

Stop in the Name of Love

As this nuclear nightmare continues to unfold it is more urgent than ever that we stop poisoning ourselves. For instance it’s a good time to stop drinking diet soda as well as regular soda that makes us more acid and loads us with white sugar. For sure it’s time to stop putting fluoride in the public water supplies. Time to stop injecting our babies and everyone else with mercury because all of these things suppress our ability to resist the toxicity of radiation exposure. Good time to stop smoking cigarettes as well for they are loaded with thousands of chemicals and are slightly radioactive as well.

The newest study about thimerosal from the University of Brazil warns that while vaccines are essential to the wellbeing of children around the world, the use of thimerosal should be reconsidered. The author, Dr. José Dórea, reviews the published science that demonstrates that infant exposure to the amount of thimerosal in vaccines is toxic to human brain cells. A number of recent studies have further suggested that the mercury used in everyday medical products, such as flu shots and amalgam, or “silver” dental fillings, contributes to causing a wide variety of illnesses, including autism and other developmental diseases in children and Alzheimer’s disease in adults.

Vera Hassner Sharav writes: “Public health officials on both sides of the Atlantic have lost the public trust because they have been in alliance with vaccine manufacturers in denying that safety problems exist. If vaccines posed no safety problems, why has the U.S. Vaccine Court awarded more than $2 billion dollars to settle 2,500 cases involving vaccine-related debilitating injuries in children?” It’s these same officials we are now saying that the radiation spreading around the globe also poses no safety problems, so how can anyone believe medical officials who have no respect for people and their children whatsoever?

The New York Times reports that NY state inspectors have found that “long after a major Brooklyn hospital said it had stopped over-radiating premature babies, inappropriate X-rays were still being administered as recently as January.” The inspectors found 27 instances of infants having been subjected multiple times to over-radiation.

The most important point to remember is the more the body is weakened and stressed out from other chemical toxins or other sources of radiation, the more difficult it will be to deal with rising radiation levels sourced from Japan.

Diet

And it is time to stop eating all the white foods or what I call the white menaces, white rice, white bread, white sugar, white pasta and white salt. All of these foods are white because they have had all the minerals we will be desperately needing in the age of toxicity removed. With the rising tide of radiation we now face, we need these lost minerals now more than ever.

Doctors Yablokov, Nesterenko, and Nesterenko continue saying:

There are several simple cooking techniques that decrease radionuclides: boil foods several times and discard the water, wash food thoroughly, soak some foods and discard the water, avoid the peels of fruits and vegetables, salt and pickle some foods but throw away the pickling juice! Avoid eating strong broths, use butter, etc.

Remember that another way of boosting your body’s detox capabilities and overall antioxidant levels is through the foods we eat, which then become key to survival in these stressful times. Being on a detox diet is crucial to regaining health in a toxic environment. Our extensive experience and research shows that those on a no-grain/low-carb (no-gluten) and non-dairy diet fare MUCH better.

Chronic ailments often arise from an imbalanced immune/defense system in which food sensitivities are involved even if they are not the cause of the problem, leading in turn to chronic inflammation—which translates into disease. This is why it is important to undergo an elimination diet in order to balance the body’s immune system. Some of our immune cells take six months to regenerate, so it can take that much time to see results if you are very sick. But often you can see positive results in the first two weeks on an appropriate diet, even when you can’t afford any other detox therapies.

Garlic and onions, being sulfur containing foods, help bind and deactivate both the radioactive isotopes and toxic metals such as cadmium, lead and mercury. The sulfur will help the kidneys and liver detoxify the body. It is very important to avoid radionuclides in food; if they are consumed, take steps to eliminate them from the body as quickly as possible.

I read this summary of diet on the net:

With radioactive isotopes detected in rainwater in Minnesota and other states, some people are looking into iodine supplements and other ways to protect the long-term health of their families.

None of the foods (listed below) except perhaps seaweed and kelp will do much of anything to protect the thyroid from radioactive iodine. Thyroid protection involves full repletion of any deficiencies in iodine and that can only be accomplished with strong iodine supplementation. Otherwise this is a good list though they did leave out chlorella, which is a super food that the Russians use along with spirulina.

Here are 19 of the best:

1. Brown rice
2. Seaweed
3. Kelp
4. Miso
5. Pumpkin
6. Spirulina
7. Bee pollen
8. Wheat grass
9. Rosemary
10. Blue-green algae
11. Beets
12. Garlic
13. Ginger
14. Alfalfa sprouts
15. Broccoli
16. Onions
17. Olive oil
18. Leafy greens
19. Apples and other sources of pectin

These foods protect the body from radiation in different ways. For instance, brown rice is high in fiber and phosphorous, which help remove harmful toxins from the body. Sea vegetables contain a polysaccharide that binds to radioactive strontium to help eliminate it from the body, as well as being high in natural iodine. Pectin has also been shown to bind to radioactive residues, and cysteine (in onions) binds with and deactivates radioactive isotopes. Alfalfa sprouts and greens are high in chlorophyll, which has been shown to help protect against radiation damage, as well.

Keep in mind that you should aim for organic and be aware of the sources. For example, fresh sprouted alfalfa sprouts from your windowsill are preferable to those shipped from thousands of miles away (and possibly doused with isotopes).

Also keep in mind that with time many of the foods we might consume to reduce radiation levels in the body might themselves be increasingly contaminated and this is the tragedy of the nuclear nightmare that many of us have feared for decades.

[1] United Press International, Christine Dell’Amore, 22 Feb 2006

[2]http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/125/6/e1270

Car Pollution Causes Alzheimer's-Like Brain Damage in Mice

Being exposed to highway pollution can cause brain damage in mice akin to memory loss and Alzheimer's disease, researchers said Thursday.

Scientists recreated the airborne pollutants that come from the burning of fossil fuels and the weathering of car parts and pavement, and exposed mice to the harsh air for 15 hours per week over 10 weeks.

The tiny air particles were "roughly one-thousandth the width of a human hair, and too small for car filtration systems to trap," but exerted massive damage on the brains of the exposed mice, said the study.

Read more: Car Pollution Causes Alzheimer's-Like Brain Damage in Mice

FDA Orders Prescription Cold, Allergy Medicines Off the Market

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered more than 500 prescription cough, cold and allergy products off the market Wednesday, saying its office had not evaluated the medication for safety, effectiveness and quality.

"Removing these unapproved products from the market will reduce potential risks to consumers," said Deborah Autor, director of the Office of Compliance in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in a news release from the agency.

The FDA said removing the products from the market poses no harm to consumers, but taking the unapproved drugs may put the health of people at risk.

"There are many FDA-approved prescription products, as well as appropriately marketed over-the-counter products, available to treat cough, cold, and allergy symptoms; so, we expect little or no negative impact on consumers from the removal of these unapproved products," Autor added.

Among the drugs listed by the FDA is Pediahist, a cold formula labeled for patients as young as 1 month old. FDA regulations do not recommend cold medicines for any children under age 2. Other drugs involved in the recall include Cardec, Lodrane and Organidin.

Many health-care providers are unaware that the drugs are unapproved and have continued to prescribe them to patients, the FDA said. Consumers who are taking an unapproved prescription cough, cold, or allergy product should contact their health-care provider to discuss alternatives.

The FDA said no serious side effects from the drugs have been reported, but some users have complained of drowsiness, sedation and irritability after taking them.

Companies that manufacture these medications must stop making them within 90 days and stop shipping the products within 180 days, the FDA said.

A complete list of the unapproved cough, cold or allergy products can be found here.

Highly Contagious AIDS-Like Disease Spreading in China

In a small hotel across from the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, a reporter from New Express Daily, dressed in an isolation suit, interviewed a dozen “unusual” patients from different areas of China. Their symptoms are painful and debilitating, and AIDS-like, but repeated tests for HIV have come up negative.

Lin Jun, one of the patients interviewed in the March 24 New Express Daily report, said he used to be chubby, but now he is skin and bones, and his joints have become all deformed.

Lin is referred to in the group as “big brother” for his kindness and giving fellow patients hope when they feel hopeless, with some having considered suicide.

In 2008 Lin’s mother received a blood transfusion at a hospital. Afterwards, she experienced frequent night sweats, numb limbs, aches all over, creaking joints, rashes on her hands, and weight loss.

In May of that year, Lin accidentally became infected through contact with his mother’s blood. Fourteen days later, he fell ill with swollen lymph nodes on his neck, sore knees that made clicking sounds, and pain all over his body. He also started vomiting after every meal, and the left side of his face swelled up. In half a year, his weight dropped from 82 kilograms (181 lbs) to 52 kilograms (115 lbs).

MORE>>

Broccoli helps clear damaged lungs

Here's another reason to eat your greens. As well as helping to prevent cancer, broccoli may also help the immune system to clean harmful bacteria from the lungs. A compound found in the vegetable is now being trialled as a treatment for people with lung disease.

To ensure that the lungs function correctly, white blood cells called macrophages remove debris and bacteria that can build up in the lungs and cause infection.

This cleaning system is defective in smokers and people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – a combination of emphysema and bronchitis – who suffer from frequent infections.

Now, researchers have figured out that a chemical pathway in the lungs called NRF2, involved in macrophage activation, is wiped out by smoking. They also found that sulphoraphane, a plant chemical that is made by broccoli, cauliflower and other cruciferous vegetables when damaged, such as when chewed, can restore this pathway.

MORE

Study finds routine periodic fasting is good for your health, and your heart

Fasting found to reduce cardiac risk factors, such as triglycerides, weight, and blood sugar levels

Murray, UT (4/03/11) – Fasting has long been associated with religious rituals, diets, and political protests. Now new evidence from cardiac researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute demonstrates that routine periodic fasting is also good for your health, and your heart.

Today, research cardiologists at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute are reporting that fasting not only lowers one's risk of coronary artery disease and diabetes, but also causes significant changes in a person's blood cholesterol levels. Both diabetes and elevated cholesterol are known risk factors for coronary heart disease.

The discovery expands upon a 2007 Intermountain Healthcare study that revealed an association between fasting and reduced risk of coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death among men and women in America. In the new research, fasting was also found to reduce other cardiac risk factors, such as triglycerides, weight, and blood sugar levels.

The findings were presented Sunday, April 3, at the annual scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology in New Orleans.

"These new findings demonstrate that our original discovery was not a chance event," says Dr. Benjamin D. Horne, PhD, MPH, director of cardiovascular and genetic epidemiology at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute, and the study's principal investigator. "The confirmation among a new set of patients that fasting is associated with lower risk of these common diseases raises new questions about how fasting itself reduces risk or if it simply indicates a healthy lifestyle."

Unlike the earlier research by the team, this new research recorded reactions in the body's biological mechanisms during the fasting period. The participants' low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C, the "bad" cholesterol) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C, the "good" cholesterol) both increased (by 14 percent and 6 percent, respectively) raising their total cholesterol – and catching the researchers by surprise.

"Fasting causes hunger or stress. In response, the body releases more cholesterol, allowing it to utilize fat as a source of fuel, instead of glucose. This decreases the number of fat cells in the body," says Dr. Horne. "This is important because the fewer fat cells a body has, the less likely it will experience insulin resistance, or diabetes."

This recent study also confirmed earlier findings about the effects of fasting on human growth hormone (HGH), a metabolic protein. HGH works to protect lean muscle and metabolic balance, a response triggered and accelerated by fasting. During the 24-hour fasting periods, HGH increased an average of 1,300 percent in women, and nearly 2,000 percent in men.

In this most recent trial, researchers conducted two fasting studies of over 200 individuals — both patients and healthy volunteers — who were recruited at Intermountain Medical Center. A second 2011 clinical trial followed another 30 patients who drank only water and ate nothing else for 24 hours. They were also monitored while eating a normal diet during an additional 24-hour period. Blood tests and physical measurements were taken from all to evaluate cardiac risk factors, markers of metabolic risk, and other general health parameters.

While the results were surprising to researchers, it's not time to start a fasting diet just yet. It will take more studies like these to fully determine the body's reaction to fasting and its effect on human health. Dr. Horne believes that fasting could one day be prescribed as a treatment for preventing diabetes and coronary heart disease.

To help achieve the goal of expanded research, the Deseret Foundation (which funded the previous fasting studies) recently approved a new grant to evaluate many more metabolic factors in the blood using stored samples from the recent fasting clinical trial. The researchers will also include an additional clinical trial of fasting among patients who have been diagnosed with coronary heart disease.

"We are very grateful for the financial support from the Deseret Foundation. The organization and its donors have made these groundbreaking studies of fasting possible," added Dr. Horne.

###

Members of the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute research team included Dr. Horne, Jeffrey L. Anderson, MD, John F. Carlquist, PhD, J. Brent Muhlestein, MD, Donald L. Lappé, MD, Heidi T. May, PhD, MSPH, Boudi Kfoury, MD, Oxana Galenko, PhD, Amy R. Butler, Dylan P. Nelson, Kimberly D. Brunisholz, Tami L. Bair, and Samin Panahi.

Surgeons raise alarm over waiting

Surgeons say patients in some parts of England have spent months waiting in pain because of delayed operations or new restrictions on who qualifies for treatment.

In several areas routine surgery was put on hold for months, while in many others new thresholds for hip and knee replacements have been introduced.

The moves are part of the NHS drive to find £20bn efficiency savings by 2015.

The government said performance should be measured by outcomes not numbers.

Surgeons have described the delays faced by patients as "devastating and cruel". Peter Kay, the president of the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA), says they've become increasingly frustrated that hip and knee replacements are being targeted as a way of finding savings.

"We've started to get reports over the last nine months that access to these services are being restricted.

MORE>>

Highly Contagious AIDS-Like Disease Spreading in China

In a small hotel across from the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, a reporter from New Express Daily, dressed in an isolation suit, interviewed a dozen “unusual” patients from different areas of China. Their symptoms are painful and debilitating, and AIDS-like, but repeated tests for HIV have come up negative.

Lin Jun, one of the patients interviewed in the March 24 New Express Daily report, said he used to be chubby, but now he is skin and bones, and his joints have become all deformed.

Lin is referred to in the group as “big brother” for his kindness and giving fellow patients hope when they feel hopeless, with some having considered suicide.

In 2008 Lin’s mother received a blood transfusion at a hospital. Afterwards, she experienced frequent night sweats, numb limbs, aches all over, creaking joints, rashes on her hands, and weight loss.

In May of that year, Lin accidentally became infected through contact with his mother’s blood. Fourteen days later, he fell ill with swollen lymph nodes on his neck, sore knees that made clicking sounds, and pain all over his body. He also started vomiting after every meal, and the left side of his face swelled up. In half a year, his weight dropped from 82 kilograms (181 lbs) to 52 kilograms (115 lbs).

Three months later, his wife and child developed the same symptoms.

Lin said he went to every major hospital in Shanghai, but could not get a definite diagnosis. He has taken the HIV test eight times, and each time the test turned out negative.

Then he found an Internet blog called “The Negative Group,” which he learned stands for “HIV negative.” He realized that writing on this blog were all people like himself, with the same kinds of symptoms, desperate to find a cure.

Several Chinese media have recently reported that the Department of Health of Guangdong Province has confirmed that people in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong have fallen ill after being infected with an unknown virus. The patients think they have AIDS, but they test negative for HIV.

Guangdong has organized clinical experts, epidemiologists and psychologists to work together on these cases. The Health Ministry has also selected six provinces with more patients, including Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Hunan, Jiangsu and Guangdong, to conduct epidemiological studies, but there are no results yet, the reports said.

In most of the 30 cases investigated by New Express Daily for its March 24 report, people said their relatives and friends are also infected. Most of the 30 patients were infected through sexual contact. Some experts diagnosed them as having AIDS phobia.

However, the disease seems to be highly contagious and can spread by contact via any bodily fluid—through kissing, shared utensils, sweat, and even protected sex. Once infected, the immune system appears to be attacked, which results in a decrease of white blood cells and the body’s ability to defend against infectious disease and foreign materials.

In the past, official health agencies have only conducted HIV tests on these patients and have not checked for other, similarly pathological viruses. With HIV results coming up negative, many patients then stopped taking protective measures with their relatives. Subsequently, all their relatives and friends were infected, many have said.

Related Articles

• ‘Leather Milk’ Surfaces in China
• New AIDS-Like Disease Appears in China

One infected man told The Epoch Times that the disease is highly infectious and hard to prevent. His wife and two-year-old child both appear to have it. The child has lip and skin blood spots, he said.

A retired officer in his 40’s told The Epoch Times for a previous June 16, 2010 report that he had been infected with a disease with similar symptoms in 2009, at a get-together at a friend’s house. “I thought it was just a cold at the time, so I still participated in all kind of gatherings. Consequently, over 100 of my comrades in the army, relatives and friends were infected by me,” he said.

chinareports@epochtimes.com

Read the original Chinese article.

Chemicals Linked to Earlier Menopause

Women exposed to high levels of certain household-product chemicals may go through menopause at a younger age than other women, a new study finds.

The chemicals in question are called perfluorocarbons, or PFCs, and they have historically been widely used in products ranging from furniture and carpeting to non-stick pans, plastic food containers, and clothing. Their use in the U.S. is set to be phased out by 2015.

But PFCs persist in the environment, and the chemicals are found in water, soil, plants, animals, and people. A 2004 U.S. government study detected PFCs in 98 percent of blood samples taken from a large pool of Americans.

Read more: Chemicals Linked to Earlier Menopause

FDA Orders Prescription Cold, Allergy Medicines Off the Market small text medium text large text

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered more than 500 prescription cough, cold and allergy products off the market Wednesday, saying its office had not evaluated the medication for safety, effectiveness and quality.

"Removing these unapproved products from the market will reduce potential risks to consumers," said Deborah Autor, director of the Office of Compliance in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in a news release from the agency.

The FDA said removing the products from the market poses no harm to consumers, but taking the unapproved drugs may put the health of people at risk.

"There are many FDA-approved prescription products, as well as appropriately marketed over-the-counter products, available to treat cough, cold, and allergy symptoms; so, we expect little or no negative impact on consumers from the removal of these unapproved products," Autor added.

Among the drugs listed by the FDA is Pediahist, a cold formula labeled for patients as young as 1 month old. FDA regulations do not recommend cold medicines for any children under age 2. Other drugs involved in the recall include Cardec, Lodrane and Organidin.

Many health-care providers are unaware that the drugs are unapproved and have continued to prescribe them to patients, the FDA said. Consumers who are taking an unapproved prescription cough, cold, or allergy product should contact their health-care provider to discuss alternatives.

The FDA said no serious side effects from the drugs have been reported, but some users have complained of drowsiness, sedation and irritability after taking them.

Companies that manufacture these medications must stop making them within 90 days and stop shipping the products within 180 days, the FDA said.

A complete list of the unapproved cough, cold or allergy products can be found here.

Half of Experts Have Conflicts of Interest

Half of the experts involved in writing recent treatment guidelines for heart patients reported a conflict of interest, U.S. researchers said on Monday, raising worries about whose interests are being served.

Even though the experts are disclosing their ties to companies that produce heart drugs and devices, the phenomenon is important because the guidelines they produce are used to help train new doctors, thus can have long-lasting impact on the way patients are treated.

"Because they (guidelines) are so important, the process for producing them is also important. They need to be above suspicion," said Dr. James Kirkpatrick of the University of Pennsylvania, who worked on the study in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Read more: Half of Experts Have Conflicts of Interest

Supplementing With THIS Hormone Can Lead to Tumors and Insomnia

By Dr. Mercola

Before I begin this article I want to state very clearly that hormones are not my primary specialty. I have used them clinically but I found the science quite controversial, so this is a summary as I best understand it.

If you are a clinician with considerable experience in this area I invite you to present your views to update the information on DHEA.

DHEA is a hormone produced by your adrenal glands and in your brain, which was first discovered by scientists in the 1930's.

Your body's natural production of DHEA varies widely with age, with very low levels produced before puberty, peak production in your late 20's or early 30's, followed by a steady decline in production with advancing age.

This age-related pattern of production has lead many to believe that DHEA production may actually be linked to the aging process itself. DHEA supplementation (if you're deficient) may help turn back the clock, as it were, as it can help:

• Lower fat storage through improved thyroid response
• Stimulate bone deposition
• Increase muscle tone
• Improve mood (including fighting depression)
• Fight cancer

Sub-optimal levels of DHEA have also been associated with many age-related degenerative conditions, including:

Chronic inflammation	Low libido
Immune dysfunction	Cognitive decline
Rheumatoid arthritis	Osteoporosis
Increased risk for certain cancers	Some complications of type II diabetes.[i]

Can supplementing DHEA really help you with these conditions?

What We Know About DHEA

DHEA, or more precisely DHEA sulfate (your body naturally converts DHEA-S to the DHEA that it uses) is the most abundant precursor hormone in the human body, meaning that it is the largest raw material your body uses to produce other vital hormones, including testosterone in men and estrogen in women.

One thing we know for certain about human adrenals -- besides making DHEA -- they also manufacture cortisol, which is in direct competition with DHEA for production. In other words, when cortisol production is high, especially for prolonged periods of time, your adrenals can actually wear out, and DHEA production will necessarily suffer.

So a natural question follows: what is cortisol and what causes an increase in its production?

The Stress Connection

Cortisol is the hormone your body produces in response to stress, real or imagined, which is why it's commonly referred to as "the stress hormone".

Adrenal exhaustion from coping with chronic stress means your adrenal glands are overworked from manufacturing cortisol, and they simply can't produce enough DHEA to support a healthy hormonal balance.

The result?

You feel exhausted, often depressed, and your muscle tone decreases while body fat increases (cortisol tells your body to store fat).

Symptoms of chronically elevated cortisol levels include:

Increased abdominal fat	Stomach ulcers
Suppressed immune response	Mild memory loss (words, names and numbers)
Accelerated aging	Suppressed thyroid function
Inflammation

You hear all the time about how bad stress is for your body. Well now you're looking at the actual hormone responsible for much of the damage. Clearly it pays healthy dividends to reduce stress in your life, not only to reduce cortisol production, but also to ensure that your body has adequate adrenal strength to keep your DHEA levels optimal.

When DHEA Supplementation Makes Sense

First, let me start by saying that bioidentical DHEA should ideally ONLY be supplemented under the guidance of a holistic doctor who can test your body's DHEA levels to ensure you need supplementation. I prefer to test levels using a 24-hour urine test.

Hormonal testing is a controversial area as you can also do blood and saliva test. I tend to follow Dr. Jonathon Wright's recommendation, as he's really the person who introduced bioidentical hormone therapy into the United Sates. You can review his book Stay Young and Sexy for further details.

Properly testing your levels is very important, because people who have normal hormone levels in their bodies who supplement DHEA are likely to experience side effects, such as:

• Acne
• Tumor formation
• Hair loss
• Heart rhythm problems
• Insomnia

If you've been living long stretches of your life on a poor diet, not getting adequate sleep, and overwhelmed by the daily grind -- chances are you're a good candidate for DHEA supplementation.

However, please understand that only a test will tell you for certain what your body's DHEA levels are, but if you're feeling tired and overwhelmed, have low libido, and find your mood suffering or even experience depression regularly, there is a strong chance that your body is not producing enough DHEA.

Maintaining optimal DHEA levels may also be useful for:

Athletes looking to improve performance	Increasing sex drive
Improving recovery time from stress and physical training	Increasing sense of well being
Weight loss	Improving sleep
Muscle gain	Improving mood

Too Much DHEA is NOT a Good Thing

The conventional thinking is that if a little is good, then a lot must be better. Not so with DHEA.

Like most good things in life, too much DHEA can lead to problems.

Supplementing hormones over a long period of time can trick your body into suspending its own DHEA production, and possibly even shut down your adrenal glands, which can lead to disastrous health consequences.

Many doctors strongly advise taking "hormone holidays", meaning practice a supplementation schedule that features a few weeks on DHEA followed by a few weeks off.

Also, DHEA supplements come in doses ranging from 5 mg to 200 mg. The scientific jury is still out on the subject, but it appears normal daily DHEA production for an average person in their 20's is between 10-25 mg.

Supplementing beyond the normal peak production range of DHEA might be advisable for short periods of time to restore the effects of a badly depleted adrenal system, but maintaining mega doses of DHEA for any sustained period of time will probably lead to unwanted side effects.

Remember your body's hormone balance is a delicate mechanism that should only be supplemented after consulting a holistic doctor and testing your body's natural DHEA level to determine the appropriate level of supplementation you might need. I would advise against supplementing with this hormone without some professional guidance.

Another important co-factor when considering DHEA supplementation is that your body naturally produces DHEA in the morning and then either uses the hormone or excretes it by the end of the day. So if supplementation is undertaken, it appears that an early morning dose of DHEA is the way to go.

Why You Should AVOID All Oral Hormone Preparations

There are many ways to "naturally" address bioidentical hormone replacement but one of the most common mistakes is to use oral hormones.

But if you swallow steroid hormones you seriously distort their natural metabolism. Swallowed hormones encounter potent stomach acids, and the hormones that survive this assault then move to your liver where they will be further broken down. Your liver screens all molecules that enter your blood stream, passing some onward, modifying or detoxifying others, and rejecting a few.

This routing of orally swallowed hormones is in sharp contrast to the way nature intended them to be distributed to your tissues.

If you swallow hormones, only 10-15 percent will eventually reach the target tissues and you will need to take an oral dose that is 500 percent higher than you need.

Many different metabolites are created in your liver when you swallow a DHEA supplement and any of these can produce unwanted side effects.

So if you or anyone you know currently use an oral DHEA supplement or any other oral hormone, I encourage you to strongly consider phasing them out and instead using a DHEA cream preparation that you administer trans mucosally.

Best Way to Use DHEA Cream

The key mistake that many well-intentioned and knowledgeable doctors -- including myself -- have made is to advise using DHEA cream on your skin. While this certainly provides better results than swallowing the hormones, the method of delivery can still be improved.

The primary problem with topical skin application of the cream is that it's very difficult to determine the dose. Hormones also accumulate in fat tissue, so you may end up with far more than you need.

There is a relatively minor tweak you can make using the cream that avoids nearly all of the side effects of applying the cream on your skin.

If you apply the cream to your mucous epithelial membranes that line your vagina, you are able to obtain a virtually ideal administration system. Not only is absorption through these membranes more complete than through your skin, but hormones absorbed through your vaginal membranes also eliminate the production of unwanted metabolites of DHEA.

Men also require hormones and I myself take DHEA. Obviously men don't have a vagina to administer the cream, but we do have a rectum that has a similar mucosal epithelial surface. So for men, the ideal delivery system for DHEA is in cream form, through the rectum.

Final Thoughts on DHEA

Is DHEA the "fountain of youth" it was touted to be in the 1990's?

Perhaps it is, but with an asterisk.

Your body is designed to maintain a delicate hormonal balance that usually self-regulates naturally according to your age and the stresses you face in life. The fact is, most people do just fine with DHEA production in the prime of their life.

Progressively increasing number of people today complain of a lack of energy, unexplained weight gain, poor mood, depression and insomnia. Some of the contributing factors can be a poor diet, lack of exercise, stress that goes unchecked and adrenal glands functioning sub-optimally.

Prolonged adrenal imbalance can actually be the cause of many of the symptoms associated with a lack of optimal health -- weight gain, depression and a lack of energy that you just can't seem to shake no matter what other healthy changes you make to your lifestyle. And if you're not getting enough quality sleep (another symptom of DHEA imbalance) all of the other healthy changes you make to your lifestyle will not produce dividends you can feel.

So if you are under constant stress, or constantly feel tired, weak, depressed or have a low sex drive, please find yourself a holistic doctor and have him/her perform a 24-hour urine test to determine your DHEA levels.

Too many people suffer unnecessarily from high stress and low DHEA production, so make sure you are not one of these people.

http://articles.mercola.com

The Agribusiness Juggernaut: Assault on Nature, Threat to Human Survival

"Burning Orchids" by Richard William Posne

Richard William Posner

Activist Post

Organic food has become one of the fastest growing segments of U.S. agriculture. In all probability, however, it will be virtually impossible to obtain any real organic food in the not-too-distant future.

Monsanto, a giant in agricultural biogenetics and holder of patents on several genetically modified organisms (GMOs), is working to corner the global market on Life. Their genetically modified (GM) crops -- some complete with suicide genes which render their seeds infertile and others genetically resistant to herbicides -- are intended to ultimately overrun all natural crops, making Monsanto quite literally the sole owner of all food crops on Earth.

These GM crops will ultimately be the only game in town and, therefore, every vegetable, fruit or grain you eat will be a genetically modified organism (GMO). The same will apply to every form of feed used for livestock, poultry and any creature whatsoever that is raised as a source of food for humans. It's even quite certain that food animals themselves will be subjected to the same sort of genetic manipulation that is now being used on crops. In fact, genetically modified salmon could be available at a supermarket near you sooner than you think.

Read more »

Report: Drug Prices Hit 10-Year High

Drug prices rose 6.9 percent on average in 2010, according to Barclays Capital, the largest increase since it began compiling data in 2000, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The previous high was 6.8 percent in 2008. The study surveys list prices for the 130 top-selling drugs.

Blood-pressure medicine Benicar topped the list, with its price soaring 29.3 percent. Leukemia therapy drug Gleevec registered a 20.9 percent increase, and attention-deficit-disorder drug Concerta 19.7 percent.

Read more: Report: Drug Prices Hit 10-Year High

3 Ways To Protect Yourself From Radiation NATURALLY

3 Ways To Protect Yourself From Radiation NATURALLY

Wikimedia Commons image

Mary Hickcox, R.N.
Activist Post

Radiation is something that we all come into contact with on a daily basis. It generally comes in two forms: terrestrial and cosmic.

Terrestrial radiation elements are found all over; in soil, water, air, and even in the food that we eat, particularly if it is grown in the ground. The largest contributor to radiation in the natural world, though, is radon which is a decaying product of Uranium, released from rocks and soil. This gets into our air, as well as our water supply, and we are usually completely unaware of its presence. Cosmic rays of radiation are another source that we get everyday. Most of it is blocked by our atmosphere, but not completely.

Then of course there are the ways in which humans are creating more radiation.

Read more »

Potassium Iodide Works: Rare Agreement Between Alternative Health and the FDA

Brandon Turbeville

Activist Post

With the tragedy in Japan continuing to unfold as we speak, most news coverage has focused on the death toll resulting from the earthquake and tsunami. Some coverage has also been given to the meltdown of the Japanese nuclear reactors. However, there has been very little discussion in the mainstream media of the attempted cover-up of problems at seventeen reactors that malfunctioned in 2003, or that the radioactive particles from the latest full-blown catastrophe could soon be reaching the western United States as early as March 25th.

Much of the independent media, on the other hand, has been covering the wider issues and, as a result, a discussion has been generated about the means by which we can protect ourselves against such radiation. In this regard, there has been much conjecture as to whether KI (Potassium Iodide) can protect against radiation poisoning, as well as whether or not KI poses enough significant health risks as to preclude its usage.

Read more »

Expert Warns of Health Risks Associated With New Light Bulb Technology

(CNSNews.com) – A lighting expert who has overseen lighting projects including the Statue of Liberty and the Petronas Towers, expressed concerns on Capitol Hill Thursday about the safety of certain types of new light bulbs.

Appearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Howard M. Branston spoke in favor of the "Better Use of Light Bulbs Act" – a measure which would overturn elements of a 2007 law mandating that traditional incandescent light bulbs be phased out over the next few years.

In his testimony, Branston claimed that parts of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act serve as a “de-facto ban on traditional incandescent light bulbs” and that compact florescent light bulbs, or CFLs -- the most popular alternative to incandescent bulbs (ordinary light bulbs) -- pose a risk to public health and safety.

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Gates Foundation and Monsanto

Many have long suspected that U.S. policy on genetically modified (GM) organisms was being influenced by the multinational corporations that profit from genetic engineering and the export-oriented agribusiness. However, recently released Wikileaks cables document just how close that relationship has become.

The U.S. Department of State has virtually become an agency for promoting the private interests of the Monsanto Corporation.

As European social movements pressure their governments for an ongoing moratorium on GM seeds and foods, Monsanto and other biotech corporations have been pushing to find new market footholds, using hybrids even in impoverished Haiti following the January 12, 2010 earthquake. They have been pursuing such goals in collaboration with USAID, the U.S. State Department and the Gates Foundation Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

According to Netline:

"The collusion of the Gates Foundation with Monsanto corporation is no accident, as high level officials leading AGRA are former Monsanto executives. The recent purchase by AGRA of $500,000 worth in Monsanto stocks was vivid proof of that close relationship. Despite many words by Gates officials since the inception of the AGRA agenda denying that GMO seeds would be used as part of AGRA, their close relationship with Monsanto has now been revealed to be a key element in their agronomic 'new green revolution' strategy."

Read More>>

Mediterranean Diet Cuts Heart Risk

Eating a Mediterranean diet may prevent or even reverse metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors for heart disease and diabetes, according to a new study.

The Mediterranean diet includes an abundance of fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, olive oil, poultry, and fish, with very little red meat. Scientists believe that eating this way has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects on the body.

"This study reinforces guidelines over the past 10 years, stressing the need to reduce consumption of refined carbohydrates and saturated fats" from meat and dairy products, Dr. Robert S. Rosenson of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York told Reuters Health. He was not involved in the work.

Read more: Mediterranean Diet Cuts Heart Risk

7-YEAR ITCH CUT TO 3 AS LOVE FADES EVER FASTER

FORGET the seven-year itch – most couples feel the romance has gone out of their relationship after just three years.

The pressures of modern life means more than ever we take each other for granted, argue and lose our sexual appetite.

And many couples are increasingly giving each other a “pass” to pursue their own ­interests or take solo holidays.

Relationship expert Judi James said: “Traits and habits that are often endearing when we first start to see someone can often blow up into major irritations around the three-year mark. How you deal with these niggles will play a key part in whether a relationship ­survives.”

Judi, who oversaw the research to publicise new film Hall Pass opening on Friday, added: “Often something that may appear ­trivial such as snoring can become a major stress point but if you can get past these niggles and communicate openly then there is no reason why a couple should not go the distance.”

Read more: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/233212/7-year-itch-cut-to-3-as-love-fades-ever-faster7-year-itch-cut-to-3-as-love-fades-ever-faster#ixzz1G9LDMBZD

Once a Villain, Coconut Oil Charms the Health Food World

A FEW years ago I noticed something odd at the health food store. There, rubbing elbows with the extra-virgin olive oil and cold-pressed canola oil was virtually the last fat I expected to see in such esteemed company: coconut oil.

The last time I checked, coconut oil was supposed to be the devil himself in liquid form, with more poisonous artery-clogging, cholesterol-raising, heart-attack-causing saturated fat than butter, lard or beef tallow.

Its bad reputation caused a panic at the concession stands back in 1994, when the Center for Science in the Public Interest put out a study claiming that a large movie-theater popcorn, hold the butter, delivered as much saturated fat as six Big Macs. “Theater popcorn ought to be the Snow White of snack foods, but it’s been turned into Godzilla by being popped in highly saturated coconut oil,” Michael Jacobson, the executive director of the center, a consumer group that focuses on food and nutrition, said at the time.

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10 Reasons Japanese Women Don’t Get Old or Fat

1. The ingredients simmering in a Japanese kitchen are a simple variety of foods eaten on a consistent and daily basis:
Fish
Sea Vegetables
Land Vegetables
Soy
Rice
Fruit
Green Tea

2. The Japanese enjoy home cooked meals on a daily basis. A traditional meal consists of grilled fish, a bowl of rice, simmered vegetables, miso soup, sliced fruit for dessert and green tea. The Japanese consume almost 10 percent of the world’s fish, although they make up about 2 percent of the world’s population. That’s 150 pounds per year, per person compared to the world average of 35 pounds. And this daily dose of omega-3 fatty acids may well explain why they live long and healthy lives. That, and the fact they consume 5 times the amount of cruciferous vegetables, broccoli, cabbage, kale, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, that Americans do.

3. The emphasis of Japanese cooking is to use what is fresh and in season. According to author Moriyama, “Japanese supermarkets are cathedrals of freshness. Food is not only dated, it’s timed—Japanese women buy fish, meat, vegetables, or prepared meals that are timed by the half hour they were packed that day.”

4. The Japanese eat small portions of a variety of courses at a meal. According to Moriyama, from childhood they are taught to eat slowly, savoring every bite. And the food is served on plates at least a third the size of American tableware. Moriyama includes the basic foundations of Japanese home-cooked food presentation:

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Many Grocery Carts Infected With E-coli

A University of Arizona researcher says you may want to grab one of those disinfectant wipes right before you grab a grocery cart.

Professor Charles Gerba, the lead researcher, swabbed the handles of 85 carts in four states for bacterial contamination.

Gerba says 72 percent of the carts had a positive marker for fecal bacteria. When they examined some of the samples, they found Escherichia coli, also known as E. coli, on half of them.

Researchers say they actually found more fecal bacteria on grocery cart handles than you would typically find in a bathroom, mainly because bathrooms are disinfected more often than shopping carts.

Read more: Many Grocery Carts Infected With E-coli

Genital Measurement Tied to Fertility

When it comes to male fertility, it turns out that size does matter.

The dimension in question is not penis or testicle size, but a measurement known as anogenital distance, or AGD.

Men whose AGD is shorter than the median length - around 2 inches (52 mm) - have seven times the chance of being sub-fertile as those with a longer AGD, according to a study published on Friday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Read more: Genital Measurement Tied to Fertility

Was Henry VIII to blame for his wives’ miscarriages? Monarch had rare blood disease that also sent him mad

A rare blood disorder could be the reason why King Henry VIII had so few children, despite marrying six times.

The condition could also be behind the King’s transformation from a witty and athletic youth to an overweight and unstable tyrant by the time he was in his forties.

Henry, King of England from 1509 until his death in 1547, was desperate for a male heir to continue the Tudor line.

He did in fact produce three children, one from each of his first three wives – but many others were stillborn or lost through miscarriages.

Researchers say there is compelling evidence that he was ‘Kell positive’, a rare blood type which can cause serious health and fertility problems.

Those with Kell positive blood can pass it down to future generations.

If a man with the disorder conceives a child with a Kell negative partner, each child has a 50-50 chance of inheriting the condition. When a baby is conceived with the same rare blood group as its father, then the mother will have difficulties with further pregnancies.

The antibodies she produces during that first pregnancy will attack future Kell positive babies she carries – triggering miscarriages.

Dr Catrina Banks Whitley and Kyra Kramer, of the Southern Methodist University, Dallas, believe that Henry’s first two wives Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn suffered this fate.

Catherine apparently had six pregnancies. All but the fifth child, Mary, were stillborn or died shortly after birth. Anne also produced just one child, Elizabeth, and also had at least two miscarriages. Henry’s third wife Jane Seymour provided a male heir, Edward, but died soon after a difficult labour. None of his other wives are known to have had children by him.

More...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1363108/Researchers-suggest-rare-blood-disorder-responsible-Henry-VIIIs-rapid-decline-failure-father-children.html#ixzz1FppqqcKs

Regulatory Protein Lowers Blood Sugar

Researchers at the Children's Hospital in Boston, led by Umut Ozcan, MD, have found a regulatory protein that lowers blood sugar when it is high due to either lack of insulin or a decreased sensitivity to insulin.

The functioning of the regulatory protein, called XBP-1s, is impaired in the presence of obesity and insulin resistance. When it was artificially activated in the livers of obese mice with type 2 diabetes, their blood sugar came down sharply.

XBP-1s also regulates blood sugar in another way, by causing the degradation of FoxO1. FoxO1 increases glucose output from the liver and stimulates feeding behavior in the brain. Therefore, degrading FoxO1 reduces blood glucose levels and increases glucose tolerance (faster clearance of glucose from the blood).

"Activating XBP-1s could be another approach to type 2 diabetes and could be very beneficial for type 1 diabetes, too," said Ozcan in a press release. "Even in mice with no insulin, increased expression of XBP-1s lowered the blood glucose level significantly. This suggests that approaches that activate XBP-1s in the liver of type 1 diabetics could control blood glucose levels, with potentially much less requirement for insulin."

Ozcan is now looking for ways to activate XBP-1s that might lead to development of a medicine for diabetes.

***

Source:

Children's Hospital Boston press release

FDA Approves Edarbi to Treat High Blood Pressure

(PharmPro.com.com) — The FDA has approved Edarbi tablets (azilsartan medoxomil) to treat high blood pressure (hypertension) in adults.

Data from clinical studies showed Edarbi to be more effective in lowering 24-hour blood pressure compared with two other FDA-approved hypertension drugs, Diovan (valsartan) and Benicar (olmesartan).

“High blood pressure is often called the ‘silent killer’ because it usually has no symptoms until it causes damage to the body,” said Norman Stockbridge, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Division of Cardiovascular and Renal Drug Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “High blood pressure remains inadequately controlled in many people diagnosed with the condition, so having a variety of treatment options is important.”

Edarbi will be available in 80 milligram and 40 mg doses, with the recommended dose set at 80 mg once daily. The 40 mg dose will be available for patients who are treated with high-dose diuretics taken to reduce salt in the body.

Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the walls of the arteries as the heart pumps. If blood pressure rises and stays high over time, it can damage the body in many ways. Nearly 1 in 3 adults in the United States has high blood pressure, which increases the risks of stroke, heart failure, heart attack, kidney failure, and death.

Read More >>

Gastric Bypass or Lap Band Surgery?

If you're one of the millions of overweight Americans and has been considering weight-loss surgery, the results of a new study comparing the safety and effectiveness of gastric bypass surgery and lap-band surgery may interest you. The study, titled "Better Weight Loss, Resolution of Diabetes, and Quality of Life for Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass vs. Banding," written by Guilherme M. Campos, M.D., et al. appeared in the February publication "Archives of Surgery."

The study's design was to match 100 pairs of people, one of whom had undergone the laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and the other the laparoscopic gastric banding surgery. The pairs were carefully matched so various criteria such as age, weight, sex, presence of Type 2 diabetes and body mass index were close to identical for the two people chosen for each pair.

This study measured outcomes during and after the surgical procedure, including a one-year period post-surgery. The measured outcomes included weight loss, quality of life and Type 2 diabetes resolution. Although many experts expected the outcomes to be more positive for those people who had had the gastric bandings performed, this study's conclusions demonstrated that the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass had a similar rate of overall complications as did the gastric banding, but fewer re-operations were needed with the gastric bypass.

Those people who had undergone gastric bypass surgery lost more weight in the year following surgery and showed a 76 percent resolution rate of Type 2 diabetes versus a 50 percent resolution rate in those who had gastric banding.

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Breast-Feeding May Cut Obesity Risk in Kids of Diabetic Moms

Infants whose mothers had diabetes during pregnancy are at increased risk for childhood obesity, but breast-feeding lowers that risk, a new study suggests.

Among babies exposed to diabetes in utero, those who were breast-fed for six months or more were no more likely to put on extra weight when they were 6 to 13 years old than children whose mothers did not have diabetes during pregnancy, the investigators found.

The findings were the same across all ethnicities. However, this protective effect was not seen in babies who were breast-fed for less than six months.

The study is published in the February issue of the journal Diabetes Care.

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Oral sex now main cause of oral cancer: Who faces biggest risk?

CBS) What's the leading cause of oral cancer? Smoking? Heavy drinking?

Actually, it's oral sex.

Scientists say that 64 percent of cancers of the oral cavity, head, and neck in the U.S. are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV), which is commonly spread via oral sex, NPR reported. The more oral sex you have - and the more oral sex partners you have - the greater the risk of developing these potentially deadly cancers.

"An individual who has six or more lifetime partners - on whom they've performed oral sex - has an eightfold increase in risk compared to someone who has never performed oral sex, Ohio University's Dr. Maura Gillison, said at a recent scientific meeting, according to NPR.

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The Threatening Scent of Fertile Women

The 21-year-old woman was carefully trained not to flirt with anyone who came into the laboratory over the course of several months. She kept eye contact and conversation to a minimum. She never used makeup or perfume, kept her hair in a simple ponytail, and always wore jeans and a plain T-shirt. Each of the young men thought she was simply a fellow student at Florida State University participating in the experiment, which ostensibly consisted of her and the man assembling a puzzle of Lego blocks. But the real experiment came later, when each man rated her attractiveness. Previous research had shown that a woman at the fertile stage of her menstrual cycle seems more attractive, and that same effect was observed here — but only when this woman was rated by a man who wasn’t already involved with someone else.

The other guys, the ones in romantic relationships, rated her as significantly less attractive when she was at the peak stage of fertility, presumably because at some level they sensed she then posed the greatest threat to their long-term relationships. To avoid being enticed to stray, they apparently told themselves she wasn’t all that hot anyway.

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Prescription for Longevity: Eat More Fiber

Eat more fiber and you just may live longer.

That's the message from the largest study of its kind to find a link between high-fiber diets and lower risks of death not only from heart disease, but from infectious and respiratory illnesses as well.

The government study also ties fiber with a lower risk of cancer deaths in men, but not women, possibly because men are more likely to die from cancers related to diet, like cancers of the esophagus. And it finds the overall benefit to be strongest for diets high in fiber from grains.

Most Americans aren't getting enough roughage in their diets. The average American eats only about 15 grams of fiber each day, much less than the current daily recommendation of 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men, or 14 grams per 1,000 calories. For example, a slice of whole wheat bread contains 2 to 4 grams of fiber.

Read more: Prescription for Longevity: Eat More Fiber

The Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto: What Now?

Ronnie Cummins

The following originally appeared on Organicconsumers.org.

"The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well. True coexistence is a must." -- Whole Foods Market, Jan. 21, 2011

In the wake of a 12-year battle to keep Monsanto's Genetically Engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation's 25,000 organic farms and ranches, America's organic consumers and producers are facing betrayal. A self-appointed cabal of the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm, has decided it's time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops, such as Monsanto's controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for "coexistence" with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack.

In a cleverly worded, but profoundly misleading email sent to its customers last week, Whole Foods Market, while proclaiming their support for organics and "seed purity," gave the green light to USDA bureaucrats to approve the "conditional deregulation" of Monsanto's genetically engineered, herbicide-resistant alfalfa. Beyond the regulatory euphemism of "conditional deregulation," this means that WFM and their colleagues are willing to go along with the massive planting of a chemical and energy-intensive GE perennial crop, alfalfa; guaranteed to spread its mutant genes and seeds across the nation; guaranteed to contaminate the alfalfa fed to organic animals; guaranteed to lead to massive poisoning of farm workers and destruction of the essential soil food web by the toxic herbicide, Roundup; and guaranteed to produce Roundup-resistant superweeds that will require even more deadly herbicides such as 2,4 D to be sprayed on millions of acres of alfalfa across the U.S.

In exchange for allowing Monsanto's premeditated pollution of the alfalfa gene pool, WFM wants "compensation." In exchange for a new assault on farmworkers and rural communities (a recent large-scale Swedish study found that spraying Roundup doubles farm workers' and rural residents' risk of getting cancer), WFM expects the pro-biotech USDA to begin to regulate rather than cheerlead for Monsanto. In payment for a new broad spectrum attack on the soil's crucial ability to provide nutrition for food crops and to sequester dangerous greenhouse gases (recent studies show that Roundup devastates essential soil microorganisms that provide plant nutrition and sequester climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases), WFM wants the Biotech Bully of St. Louis to agree to pay "compensation" (i.e. hush money) to farmers "for any losses related to the contamination of his crop."

In its email of Jan. 21, 2011 WFM calls for "public oversight by the USDA rather than reliance on the biotechnology industry," even though WFM knows full well that federal regulations on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) do not require pre-market safety testing, nor labeling; and that even federal judges have repeatedly ruled that so-called government "oversight" of Frankencrops such as Monsanto's sugar beets and alfalfa is basically a farce. At the end of its email, WFM admits that its surrender to Monsanto is permanent: "The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well True coexistence is a must."

Why Is Organic Inc. Surrendering?

According to informed sources, the CEOs of WFM and Stonyfield are personal friends of former Iowa governor, now USDA Secretary, Tom Vilsack, and in fact made financial contributions to Vilsack's previous electoral campaigns. Vilsack was hailed as "Governor of the Year" in 2001 by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and traveled in a Monsanto corporate jet on the campaign trail. Perhaps even more fundamental to Organic Inc.'s abject surrender is the fact that the organic elite has become more and more isolated from the concerns and passions of organic consumers and locavores. The Organic Inc. CEOs are tired of activist pressure, boycotts, and petitions. Several of them have told me this to my face. They apparently believe that the battle against GMOs has been lost, and that it's time to reach for the consolation prize. The consolation prize they seek is a so-called "coexistence" between the biotech Behemoth and the organic community that will lull the public to sleep and greenwash the unpleasant fact that Monsanto's unlabeled and unregulated genetically engineered crops are now spreading their toxic genes on 1/3 of U.S. (and 1/10 of global) crop land.

WFM and most of the largest organic companies have deliberately separated themselves from anti-GMO efforts and cut off all funding to campaigns working to label or ban GMOs. The so-called Non-GMO Project, funded by Whole Foods and giant wholesaler United Natural Foods (UNFI) is basically a greenwashing effort (although the 100% organic companies involved in this project seem to be operating in good faith) to show that certified organic foods are basically free from GMOs (we already know this since GMOs are banned in organic production), while failing to focus on so-called "natural" foods, which constitute most of WFM and UNFI's sales and are routinely contaminated with GMOs.

From their "business as usual" perspective, successful lawsuits against GMOs filed by public interest groups such as the Center for Food Safety; or noisy attacks on Monsanto by groups like the Organic Consumers Association, create bad publicity, rattle their big customers such as Wal-Mart, Target, Kroger, Costco, Supervalu, Publix and Safeway; and remind consumers that organic crops and foods such as corn, soybeans, and canola are slowly but surely becoming contaminated by Monsanto's GMOs.

Whole Food's Dirty Little Secret: Most of the So-Called "Natural" Processed Foods and Animal Products They Sell Are Contaminated with GMOs