Don't Get the Flu Shot — It Promotes Alzheimer's Read more: Dr. Russell Blaylock Warns: Don't Get the Flu Shot — It Promotes Alzheimer's Important: A

The government is ratcheting up its efforts to convince Americans to get flu shots. "You can't walk into a pharmacy without seeing lines, and the government is now telling preachers to tell their congregations to get flu shots," says Dr. Russell Blaylock, renowned neurosurgeon and editor of the Blaylock Wellness Report. "I've never seen anything like it.

"The incidence of flu across the United States is extremely low — there are virtually no outbreaks — and not a single child has died. Yet, the flu vaccine is being pushed as if it's the greatest health advance ever discovered.

"The vaccine is completely worthless, and the government knows it," says Dr. Blaylock. "There are three reasons the government tells the elderly why they should get flu shots: secondary pneumonia, hospitalization, and death. Yet a study by the Cochrane group studied hundreds of thousands of people and found it offered zero protection for those three things in the general community. It offered people in nursing homes some immunity against the flu — at best one-third — but that was only if they picked the right vaccine.

Read more: Dr. Russell Blaylock Warns: Don't Get the Flu Shot — It Promotes Alzheimer's
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Beef Can Help Lower Cholesterol

Despite commonly held beliefs, beef can play a role in lowering bad cholesterol, according to a new study conducted at Pennsylvania State College.

The study published in the January issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that diets including daily consumption of lean beef “are as effective in lowering total and LDL ‘bad’ cholesterol as the ‘gold standard’ of heart-healthy diets” known as DASH, or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.

“This research sheds new light on evidence supporting lean beef’s role in a heart-healthy diet. Study participants ate lean beef every day and still met targets for saturated fat intake,” nutrition professor Penny Kris-Etherton, the study’s chief investigator, said in a statement about the findings. “This study shows that nutrient-rich lean beef can be included as part of a heart-healthy diet that improves risk factors for cardiovascular disease.”

The study focused on 36 participants ranging in ages from 30 to 65 with moderately elevated cholesterol. All consumed a total of four diets for five weeks each, with the optimal beef diets consisting of 4 to 5.4 ounce daily servings. At the end of the study, the participants showed a 10 percent decrease in LDL cholesterol on the beef diets.

The researchers said the improvements in heart health risk factors seen from optimal beef diets “were as effective” as those from the DASH and other diets, some which emphasize plant proteins.

The study’s conclusions were welcomed by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which issued a statement saying, “Americans now have more scientific evidence for including lean beef in a heart-healthy diet.”

Read more: Study: Beef Can Help Lower Cholesterol
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A glass of water has DNA traces of EVERY living thing in a whole lake - and it could change the way we monitor animals forever

• Lets biologists 'count' animals - not just number of species
• Works on anything from an otter to a dragonfly
• Biologists still currently use 'manual' head counts
• DNA method is as reliable as manual
• In future, could even be used for fish quotas

By Rob Waugh

The DNA traces in a single shot glass are enough to identify not only the species living around a lake - but how many of each animal there are. It works for anything from otters to dragonflies

Up until now, 'monitoring' animals has relied on fairly low-tech methods - finding the creatures and counting them.

It's a method that's changed little in the last hundred years, even if biologists have added GPS tagging and computer monitoring once they've found the beasts.

But a Danish research team has found an incredible short-cut – a lake water sample the size of a shot-glass can contain evidence of an entire lake fauna.

It's so effective in counting not only which creatures are present, but how many, that the researchers think that in future it may even be used to count fishing quotas.

Researchers at the Natural History Museum of Denmark found that rare and threatened animal species could be monitored simply by taking note of the DNA traces in fresh water environments.

'In the water samples we found DNA from animals as different as an otter and a dragonfly,' says Philip Francis Thomsen.

'We have shown that the DNA detection method works on a wide range of different rare species living in fresh water - they all leave DNA traces in their environment which can be detected in even very small water samples from their habitat.

'In the water samples we found DNA from animals as different as an otter and a dragonfly,' says Philip Francis Thomsen

By studying the fauna of one hundred different lakes and streams in Europe with both conventional methods - counting individuals - and the new DNA-based method the research team documents that DNA detection is effective even in populations where the animals are extremely rare.

The study also shows that there is a clear correlation between the amount of DNA in the environment and the density of individuals meaning that the DNA detection method can even be used to estimate population sizes.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2073170/A-glass-water-traces-EVERY-living-thing-lake--change-way-monitor-animals-forever.html#ixzz1gva9xqr3

Pregnant women and new mothers are 70 times more likely to get tuberculosis

Pregnant women are at much higher risk of tuberculosis, researchers claim.

A major study has found that expectant mothers or those who have given birth within the past six months are 69 per cent more likely to get the illness.

The researchers from the Health Protection Agency warned midwives and GPs to look out for the symptoms of TB because it can be fatal if not treated.

Their study – published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine – examined the medical records of more than 190,000 women over 12 years.

They found the rate of TB among pregnant women or those who had given birth within the past six months was 15.4 per 100,000 compared with 9.1 per 100,000 among the general population.

They believe pregnancy may weaken a woman’s immune system, making her more susceptible to respiratory illnesses.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2071839/Pregnant-women-new-mothers-70-times-likely-tuberculosis.html#ixzz1gFKN8E8H

Cutting carbs for two days 'better than calorie counting all week'

Following a strict diet for just two days of the week is a far more effective way to lose weight than trying to calorie count all the time, researchers claim.

They found that women who stuck to fruit, vegetables and lean meat for two days a week while being allowed to eat as much as they liked on the other days lost nearly twice as much weight than those who were dieting constantly.

Researchers at the University Hospital in South Manchester put 115 women volunteers on one of three diets.

The first involved sticking to just 650 calories a day for two days of the week, including cutting out carbohydrates such as pasta, bread and potatoes and all fatty foods.

For the other five days they could eat as much as they liked, although they were encouraged to stick to healthy foods.

Women on the second diet were also banned from carbohydrates for two days of the week but they did not have a specific calorie limit.

They could also eat as much as they wanted the rest of the week.

The third group followed a standard weight-loss diet which involved sticking to about 1,500 calories every day and avoiding high-fat foods and alcohol.

After three months the women on either of the two-day diets had lost an average of nine pounds (four kilos) – nearly twice as much as those on the full-time diet, who lost just five pounds (2.4 kilos).

Dr Michelle Harvie, of the Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention Centre at the hospital, said there seemed to be a ‘carry over effect’ on the two-day diet, meaning the benefits continued on the days when the women ate normally.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2071903/Strict-diet-days-better-calorie-counting-week.html#ixzz1gFK453TS

Organic Gardening 101 -- How to Start an Organic Garden

Anthony Gucciardi
Activist Post

One great way to avoid the threat of genetically modified foods, pesticides, and toxic additives is to start your own organic garden.

While the garden can be as large or small as you’d like, the benefit of knowing exactly how your food was prepared, and therefore what is in it, is worth the time and effort.

As you will soon find, it is actually relatively simple to begin your first organic garden.

Read more »

Breast Cancer Screening May Do More Harm than Good

Screening for breast cancer may cause more harm than good because it leads to unnecessary surgery, British researchers said.

Screening may lead to abnormal results that turn out to be normal and treatment of harmless cancers that would never have caused symptoms or death, according to research led by James Raftery, a professor of health-technology assessment at the University of Southampton. The study, published in the British Medical Journal, analyzed 100,000 women ages 50 and over and found that the inclusion of false positives and unnecessary surgery reduced the benefits of screening by half.

The study follows the Forrest report of 1986, which measured costs and benefits from screening in quality-adjusted life years. That study omitted harmful effects from screening, the researchers said.

“Harms largely offset the gains up to 10 years, after which the gains accumulate at an increasing rate,” Raftery wrote in the published paper. “The meaning and implications of overdiagnosis and overtreatment need to be much better explained and communicated to any woman considering screening.”

More research is required on the extent of unnecessary treatment and the impact on quality of life, the researchers said.

Copyright Bloomberg News

Read more: Breast Cancer Screening May Do More Harm than Good
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Big Differences in How Men and Women Cope with Type 2 Diabetes

Women are better at coping with problems than men, right? Not when it comes to being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. According to a new survey, that diagnosis had a greater negative impact on women's emotional outlook and adherence to diet and exercise than the same diagnosis given to men. The survey was conducted in September 2011, and included 831 completed responses from 458 women and 373 men.

"These findings make sense," says Dr. Carolyn Daitch, Director of the Center for the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Dr. Daitch is a psychologist with 30 years of experience treating anxiety in patients with chronic medical conditions such as diabetes. "So many women are caretakers, and this makes it harder for them to carve out time to care for themselves."

Half of the women surveyed said they felt "overwhelmed" when it comes to living with diabetes, while less than one third of men reported similar feelings. And just over half of the women respondents admitted to feeling in control of their diabetes, compared to more than two thirds of men.

"Feeling ‘overwhelmed' may be because diabetes impacts so many body systems and so many behaviors at home and at the workplace," adds Sarah Matunis, RPh, a pharmacist and corporate clinical coordinator for Rite-Aid who collaborated on the study with WebMD.

According to the survey, gender also plays a role in maintaining healthy lifestyle behaviors. Just over one third of women respondents said they exercise 30 minutes or more daily, while nearly half of the men reported that they do. Women also are less likely to say they eat well, with just 45 percent avoiding sweet and salty snacks, compared to 56 percent of men.

"Anecdotally, women overeat when they are under stress, while men tend to overeat because food tastes good," points out Dr. Daitch. "Learning you have diabetes is certainly an added stressor. Women tend to put themselves last, so it's harder for them to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Furthermore, women are more prone to anxiety and depression, which leads to pessimism."

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Patients Get More Unnecessary Medical Scans from Doctors Who Own Equipment, Study Finds

By Katherine Harmon
(Click here for the original article)

More and more physicians are investing in their own imaging equipment. But when a doctor stands to make money on each MRI he or she orders, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that they might be inclined to order too many scans.

Patients with back problems whose orthopedic surgeons referred them for an MRI were much more likely to have their spinal lumbar scan come back clean—indicating that the test might not have been necessary—if their doc had a financial stake in the equipment being used, than if he or she didn’t, according to new findings that were presented this week at the Radiological Society of North America’s annual meeting in Chicago.

“It is important for patients to be aware of the problem of self-referral and to understand the conflict of interest that exists when their doctor orders an imaging exam and then collects money on that imaging exam,” said Ben Paxton, a radiology resident who led the study at Duke University Medical Center in a prepared statement.

Of 250 spine lumbar MRIs ordered by orthopedic surgeons who had financial interest in the imaging equipment, 106 scans came back negative—that is, without serious abnormalities. Of the 250 lumbar MRIs ordered by orthopedic surgeons in the same area who would not see an extra penny from the scans, 57 came back negative.

Video Games Alter Brain Function

Playing violent video games for only one week can change the brain in regions associated with cognitive function and emotional control.

The topic of whether or not violent video games are potentially harmful for users has been debated for years, but there was little scientific evidence that the games had a long-term effect on the brain. But a new study, which was conducted at Indiana University School of Medicine, found the first hard evidence of the effects of video games using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Read more: Video Games Alter Brain Function
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Eating Eggs, Chicken May Boost Memory

A new long-term study announced last week found that eggs and chicken may sharpen your memory.

Senior researcher Rhoda Au and her team from Boston University School of Medicine performed the long-term health study on 1,400 adults, spanning 10 years. Those participants who ate diets packed with plenty of choline performed better in memory tests and were less likely to acquire brain changes associated with dementia than those who consumed less choline in their diets.

Read more: Eating Eggs, Chicken May Boost Memory
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Seniors in Danger from Common Drugs

Older people run twice the risk of being treated in emergency rooms for adverse reactions to drugs than those under the age of 65. One reason is that older bodies don’t eliminate drugs as easily as younger ones do, and seniors also take many more medications than younger people. Multiple medications multiply the risk of side effects, say experts.

“If you take three medications that have sedation as a possible side effect, then the compounding effect may not be 1+1+1=3, but 3x3x3=27,” Todd Semla, an expert on drug treatment for older adults, told “Consumer Reports on Health.”

Check out the medical conditions listed below and the drugs commonly prescribed to treat them. If you’re a senior citizen and your doctor prescribes any of them for you, ask if there’s a safer alternative.

Read more: Seniors in Danger from Common Drugs
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Study: Vitamin D Prevents Heart Deaths

In people with low blood levels of vitamin D, boosting them with supplements more than halved a person's risk of dying from any cause compared to someone who remained deficient, in a large new study.

Analyzing data on more than 10,000 patients, University of Kansas researchers found that 70 percent were deficient in vitamin D and they were at significantly higher risk for a variety of heart diseases.

D-deficiency also nearly doubled a person's likelihood of dying, whereas correcting the deficiency with supplements lowered their risk of death by 60 percent.

"We expected to see that there was a relationship between heart disease and vitamin D deficiency; we were surprised at how strong it was," Dr. James L. Vacek, a professor of cardiology at the University of Kansas Hospital and Medical Center, told Reuters Health.

"It was so much more profound than we expected."

Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to a range of illnesses, but few studies have demonstrated the reverse -- that supplements could prevent those outcomes.

Read more: Study: Vitamin D Prevents Heart Deaths
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Canned Soup Sends BPA Levels Soaring

People who ate canned soup for five days straight saw their urinary levels of the chemical bisphenol A spike 1,200 percent compared to those who ate fresh soup, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

The randomized study, described as "one of the first to quantify BPA levels in humans after ingestion of canned foods," was done by Harvard University researchers and appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association's November 23 issue.

"We've known for a while that drinking beverages that have been stored in certain hard plastics can increase the amount of BPA in your body," said lead author Jenny Carwile, a doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health.

Read more: Canned Soup Sends BPA Levels Soaring
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Blame the CDC for Slow Progress Against Hospital Infections

In the emergency room with my injured daughter, I watched as rules to protect patients from infection were disregarded: a nurse wearing bangle bracelets (carrying bacteria from patient to patient); doctors touching contaminated privacy curtains and then their patients; the uncleaned stethoscope pressed on one bare back after another, caregivers pulling on gloves without cleaning their hands first, which contaminates the outside of the gloves and offers patients no protection.

On October 19, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced “impressive progress” in reducing hospital infections. That statement is as misleading as the gloves. Some hospitals are aggressively preventing infections, but the CDC’s shockingly timid goals give other hospitals a pass to do too little.

Read more on Newsmax.com: Blame the CDC for Slow Progress Against Hospital Infections
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Energy Drinks Send Thousands to the ER Each Year

ER Visits From Drinking Energy Drinks Jump Tenfold Since 2005, Report Says

By Brenda Goodman, MA
WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Hansa D. Bhargava, MD, FAAP

Nov. 22, 2011 -- There's been a big spike in the number of people who need emergency medical attention after they guzzle popular caffeinated energy drinks, according to a new government report.

The report shows a more than a tenfold increase in the number of emergency room visits tied to the use of these drinks between 2005 and 2009.

In 2005, 1,128 ER visits were associated with the use of energy drinks compared to 13,114 in 2009. That number peaked in 2008 with more than 16,000 ER visits linked to energy drinks.

Beverage manufacturers fired back at the statistics, charging that they are misleading since they are being taken out of context.

"Of the more than 123 million visits made to emergency room facilities each year, less than one one-hundredth of one percent involved people who consumed energy drinks according to this report," says the American Beverage Association in a statement.

"Even so, this report shares no information about the overall health of those who allegedly consumed energy drinks, or even what symptoms brought them to the ER in the first place," the statement says.

Energy Drinks and the ER---MORE>>>>>>>>>>>

Pomegranate helps fight heart disease, relieves stress and improves sex life - now it's nature's elixir of youth, claims study

It can help to prevent heart disease, relieve stress and has even been shown to improve your sex life.

And if that was not enough to convince you to try pomegranate, the fruit is now being hailed as the elixir of youth.

A £2million study has found a daily dose could slow the ageing process of DNA.

An extract of the whole fruit – including pith, peel and seeds – was given to 60 volunteers every day for a month in the form of a capsule.

Researchers monitored the activity of chemicals in their bodies compared with those who took a placebo.

They found a significant decrease in a marker associated with cell damage, which can cause impaired brain, muscle, liver and kidney function as well as ageing effects on the skin.

This decrease – a hitherto unknown benefit of consuming pomegranate – is thought to slow down the oxidation, or ‘rusting’, of the DNA in cells which naturally occurs over time, according to researchers at the private ProbelteBio laboratory in Murcia, Spain.

They are found in small quantities in the juice but mainly in the inedible rind, husk and white pith which has been harnessed into a pill and a drink.

More...

• It's a fair crop, guv: Police put on ID parade for these VEGETABLES after allotment thefts

Dr Sergio Streitenberger, who led the study, funded by Pomegreat PurePlus, said: ‘We are very excited about this study which we believe demonstrates that regular consumption of this pomegranate extract can slow down the process of DNA oxidation

'One way to look at ageing is to think of it as rusting, or oxidising, a damaging process. Being able to guard against this process would be a significant breakthrough.’

Pomegranate has been renowned as a superfood for centuries, and has been found to contain vitamins A, C and E as well as iron and antioxidants

Dr Streitenberger’s team – whose study will be published later this month – found a decrease in levels of a chemical marker called 8-Oxo-DG in the participants’ urine tests.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060163/Pomegranate-prevents-heart-disease-improves-sex-life-elixir-youth.html#ixzz1eFhNh9oy

5 Nutrients to Cut Blood Pressure

High blood pressure (or hypertension) increases risk of stroke, kidney failure, and heart attack, and affects 30 percent of U.S. adults, says the Centers for Disease Control.

Since high blood pressure is symptomless, regular checks are important. A normal reading is 120/80. Anything over 140/90 is considered high.

Many factors, including weight, salt intake, stress, age, and family history, can increase the odds of developing high blood pressure.

For a natural, drug-free approach to keeping blood pressure in check, try these nutrients, which you can find in supplements or foods:

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). A study at the University of Western Australia found those taking 100 mg of CoQ10 twice a day reduced systolic and diastolic pressure when compared to those not taking CoQ10.

Foods rich in CoQ10 include beef, fish, eggs, whole grains, and vegetables like broccoli and spinach.

Garlic. A team of researchers at University of Adelaide in South Australia reviewed 11 studies examining the link between garlic and high blood pressure and found significant decreases in blood pressure levels of the patients who consumed garlic.

However, garlic can thin the blood, so be sure to consult with a physician before taking garlic supplements.

Folic acid (folate). A type of B vitamin, folic acid helps lower blood levels of the amino acid homocysteine. One study of more than 9,000 Americans found that those who had the highest daily intake of folic acid (400 mcg) lowered their risk of stroke 79 percent when compared to those people who consumed the least (100 mcg) amount of folic acid. Whole wheat pasta and breads are good sources.

Fish oil. Omega-3 fish oil contains both DHA (docosahexanoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), but DHA may be more beneficial than EPA in lowering blood pressure.

The American Heart Association recommends eating fatty fish, such as tuna, mackerel, or salmon, at least twice a week.

Quercetin. This plant-based flavonoid not only lowers blood pressure better than a commonly used antihypertensive drug, but it also prevents enlargement of the heart, which is a major complication of high blood pressure. The typical amount for adults is 100 to 250 mg three times per day. Food sources include citrus fruits, apples, onions, parsley, and tea.

Read more: 5 Nutrients to Cut Blood Pressure
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Does the Pill Cause Prostate Cancer?

Are birth control pills to blame for the high rates of prostate cancer? There's no proof, but a provocative new study showed a link between use of the Pill and the number of new cases as well as deaths from prostate cancer.

Researchers at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto compared rates of prostate cancer cases and deaths in 87 countries with rates of contraceptive use including intrauterine devices, condoms, and vaginal barrier contraceptives. But apart from the Pill, a correlation "was not found among other contraceptive methods," said lead author Dr. David Margel.

Why the connection?

Read more: Does the Pill Cause Prostate Cancer?
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