Environmentally yours

As I've said much too often, it's a dangerous world we've created for ourselves.

• The USDA has issued a massive recall of domestic beef — 143 million pounds of it. That's enough meat to make two hamburgers for every man, woman and child in the United States. The meat was produced by a company who was allegedly using sick and dying cattle as a meat source. The company has also been accused of inhumane treatment of the animals.


• An Israeli study published recently in The American Journal of Epidemiology indicates that long-term, heavy users of cell phones increase their risk of cancer dramatically.


• A recent study presented to the American Association for the Advancement of Science shows that once the genetic structure of sperm is damaged by environmental toxins, the effects can be passed down for generations. The study used rats who were injected with a known toxin which causes damage and overgrowth of the prostate, infertility and kidney problems. The negative effects were still present in the fourth generation.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Genetics | Environmental Toxins | Nutritional Supplements | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Women's breast size correlated with diabetes risk

A recent Canadian study has led a researcher to believe that the size of a woman's breasts is predictive of her risk of developing Type-2 diabetes.

The study, published in the Jan. 29 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, found that the larger a woman's bra size at age 20, the higher her risk of developing diabetes later in life.

The risk of developing diabetes was two times higher for a B cup, four times higher for a C cup and five times higher for a D cup or larger than for women who wore A cup sizes.

Some doctors believe that the breast size and diabetes risk is simply reflective of the fact that, in general, the larger the breast size, the more likely it is that a woman is overweight.

But researchers involved in the study believe that the correlation is predictive due to the fact that breast tissue, which is primarily made up of fat, is especially hormone-sensitive, and that the hormone insulin plays a factor.



Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Diabetes | Breast Size | Nutritional Supplements | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

FDA warns of ciguatera poisoning in Gulf fish

It's getting harder and harder to eat well, or to even eat safely.

Recently we've had to deal with spinach recalls, salad bar contaminations, meat recalls, and today, the FDA is warning us not to eat fish from certain parts of the Gulf of Mexico.

Several outbreaks of ciguatera fish poisoning have been reported around the U.S., and it seems to be coming from grouper, snapper, amberjack and barracuda caught near the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, an area of 56 square miles in the northwestern Gulf.

The Sanctuary is one of 14 federally designated underwater areas protected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Marine Sanctuary Program. It is located 70 to 115 miles off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana.

Symptoms of ciguatera poisoning include nausea, vomiting, vertigo and joint pain. In more serious cases, patients suffer neurological problems that can last several months or even years.


Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Ciguatera Poisoning | Fish Contamination | Nutritional Supplements | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Plastic bottles, toys, beauty products may damage 'maleness'

A chemical found in many commercial products and in the plastic bottles that the products come in could be "destroying your maleness," researchers warn.

Phthalates are chemicals used in perfumes and plastics, are can be found in shampoos, baby powder, baby bottles and the plastic bottles your water comes in. These chemicals are known to cause reproductive problems in animals, it has been reported.

Environmental researcher Rick Stahlhut, MD, MPH said, "It might be having a negative effect on 'maleness,' you might say. And that might have other repercussions down the line, such as sperm counts and so on."

A study published in this month's Pediatrics shows a link between baby product use and phthalate urine content in infants.

Phthalates are known as "plasticizers." The chemicals are added to polyvinyl chloride to change it from a hard plastic to a flexible one. IT is used in bottles, in consumer goods (the iPod phone has been reported to have "toxic levels" of phthlates, for example, according to Wikipedia), and, curiously, in "fragrance" added to many beauty products.

Certain phthalates have been banned in Europe, and a ban on their use in children's toys takes effect in California in 2009.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Environmental Toxins | Phthalates | Nutritional Supplements | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Miss. lawmakers seek to outlaw restaurants from serving fat people

Though it has a big fat goose-egg's chance of passing, three members of the Mississippi legislature have submitted a bill that would make it a crime in the state of Mississippi for a restaurant to serve a person who is obese.

Embarrassed by the fact that their state is ranked number one in obesity (tied with neighboring Alabama) in the U.S., Republicans W. T. Mayhall, Jr. and John Read, along with Democrat Bobby Shows, introduced House Bill No. 282, outlawing restaurant food sales to fat people.

Can't you just imagine it?

"I'd like two Big Macs, a jumbo fry, and a super-size strawberry milk shake."

"Certainly, ma'am. If you'd just step on these scales, please."

"Oh, and add a hot apple pie to that order."

"Sorry, ma'am. You're too fat to eat here. Next!"

29.4 percent of the population in Mississippi is obese. The average for the United States is 23.1 percent of the population, up from 22.8 percent of the population in 2004 and almost double the rate of 11.6 percent of the population in 1990.

These percentages do not include that part of the population that is overweight, but not considered obese. The measures are based on Body Mass Index, a formula that compares height to weight.

Being overweight or obese increases risk of many diseases and conditions, including:

• Hypertension
• Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides)
• Type 2 diabetes
• Coronary heart disease
• Stroke
• Gallbladder disease
• Osteoarthritis
• Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
• Some cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon)

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Neil E. Levin | Ephedra | Nutritional Supplements | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Chantix users should be monitored for suicidal behavior, depressed mood, says FDA

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday said of Pfizer's smoking-cessation drug Chantix that "it appears increasingly likely that there may be an association between Chantix and serious neuropsychiatric symptoms," the Wall Street Journal reports.

In its public health advisory, the FDA said Chantix users should be monitored for suicidal behavior, depressed mood and other changes in behavior.

Sales of the drug totaled $280 million for the fourth quarter of 2007. The drug was approved by the FDA in May, 2006.

For information on smoking-cessation group seminars in your area, contact Dr. David Ross, ND.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Stop Smoking | Smoking Cessation Program | Nutritional Supplements | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Probiotics and pancreatitis: A rational analysis

Last week's headlines screamed out that 24 people had died during a study of probiotics (acidophilus, bifidus, etc.). Unless you read the entire story, the headlines would have you believe that the probiotics were the cause of the deaths.

The Dutch study, conducted from 2004 to 2007, used a population of 296 hospitalized patients suffering from pancreatitis, a disease with a high mortality rate. That 10% of those in the study died during the three years is not surprising.

Probiotics did not in this case seem to help these severely ill pancreatitis patients. I wonder, in a way, why anyone expected them to be helpful, considering they were administered in such an unnatural way — directly into the intestines via a tube!

Read more at NutraIngredients.com.

Image: Lactobacillus bacteria

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Sugar-free gum can lead to severe weight loss and diarrhea

Sugar-free gums and other foods that contain sorbitol may be dangerous for consumers, an article in this month's British Medical Journal says.

Though sorbitol is "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS), its use may lead to diarrhea, stomach pain and quick, severe weight loss.

Doctors may not realize that sorbitol may be the source of patients' complaints. In one case cited in the report, a 21-year old woman complained of diarrhea and stomach pain for eight months before her doctor discovered sorbitol to be the cause. The woman lost 25 pounds during that time.

When patients stopped using sorbitol, their symptoms went away and they regained the weight they had lost.

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