Eating fruits and vegetables can starve cancer

According to Dr. William Li, a regular diet of red grapes, strawberries, soy beans, parsley, garlic, cooked tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables can starve cancer of blood supply. Watching this 20-minute video might change your life or the life of someone you love.

Dr. Li also cites research by the Harvard School of Public Health by Dr. Lorelei Mucci of 79,000 men: "Men who consume 2-3 servings of cooked tomatoes per week have a reduced risk for developing prostrate cancer by 40-50%."

Eat your fruits and veggies!



Complementary Medicine | Natural Health | Nutrition | Herbal Supplements | Nutritional Supplements | Dr. David Ross, ND, CNHP | DrDavidRoss.com

Obesity as dangerous as smoking, study shows

Being obese can be as dangerous to your health as a lifetime of cigarette smoking, a recent Oxford University study has shown.

As much as a decade of your life can be lost as a result of being severely obese, and even being "only" moderately obese can cut your lifespan by more than three years.

The label "severely obese" refers to anyone with a body mass index over 40. Moderately obese is defined as someone who has a BMI of 30 to 40.

To find your own body mass number, you can use this chart.

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

Talking dirty

A recent study indicated that 95% of cellphones belonging to hospital staff were contaminated with at least one type of dangerous bacteria. Over 12% of them carried the deadly methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Almost 35 percent carried two types of bugs, and more than 11 percent carried three or more different species of bacteria, the study found.

"These mobile phones could act as a reservoir of infection which may facilitate patient-to-patient transmission of bacteria in a hospital setting," the authors of the study warned.

In 2005, MRSA infected 94,000 people and killed 19,000 in the United States alone.

Hospital workers (supposedly) wash their hands a lot, and yet still their phones are crawling with nasties. Just imagine what kind of creepy crud your phone might be harboring.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Bacteria | Ephedra | Nutritional Supplements | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

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

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Probiotics | Designs for Health | Nutritional Supplements | AltHealthNews.com

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.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Sorbitol | Sugar-free Gum | Nutritional Supplements | AltHealthNews.com

Double-mastectomy patient learns she never had breast cancer

A New York City mother is glad to find out she didn't have breast cancer.

But it's a little late. She underwent a double-mastectomy before the lab caught its error and amended its report.

Darrie Eason's initial cancer diagnosis was a mistake. A lab technician who handled her biopsy at CBLPath in Rye Brook, NY mixed up two specimens. Not only was Eason told she had breast cancer; another woman who did have cancer was told she was fine.

Eason is suing CBLPath, according to NBC News.

CBLPath CEO William Curtis said neither the doctor who signed off on Eason's diagnosis nor the lab technician who mixed up the biopsies now work for the company.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Breast Cancer | Darrie Eason | Nutritional Supplements | Malpractice | AltHealthNews.com

94% of medical doctors accept gifts from drug companies

A study released yesterday shows that 94% of U.S. medical doctors "have a relationship" with drug manufacturers, meeting with a drug company representative on average four times a month.

Meals for the office staff, drug samples, tickets to sporting and cultural events, cash for attending seminars or "consulting"....

You think all those perks don't contribute to your doctor's choice of what drug to prescribe?

A May 15, 2002 New York Times article reported that some physicians, in exchange for money, have allowed pharmaceutical sales representatives into their examining rooms to meet with patients, review medical charts and recommend what medicines to prescribe.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Pharmaceutical Companies | Nutritional Supplements | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

FDA reveals plan to regulate as drugs vitamins, supplements, herbs, vegetable juices and massage oils

From Foodconsumer.org:

A new FDA document reveals new plan to classify almost all vitamins, supplements, herbs, and vegetable juices as regulatable drugs. In addition, massage oils and rocks will be categorized as medical devices. Docket No. 2006D-0480, Draft Guidance For Industry on Complementary an Alternative Medicine Products an Their Regulation by the FDA, is accepting comments until April 30.

Under this new set of guidelines, the FDA will determine whether herbs, supplements, vitamins, or massage stones will be regulated as drugs/medical devices.

The purpose of this change would be to regulate things like juices that are market as "cures" for various ailments. In the docket, it elaborates saying, "if a person decides to produce and sell raw vegetable juice for use in juice therapy to promote optimal health... [and] if the juice therapy is intended for use as part of a disease treatment regimen instead of for the general wellness, the vegetable juice would also be subject to regulation as a drug under the Act."

While the new Act may serve to regulate supplements in a beneficial way, critics are saying that the FDA is simply trying to regulate natural supplements off of the market.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | FDA | Nutritional Supplements | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Nuts! Man sues VA hospital for removal of wrong testicle

A man has brought suit against doctors and a Veterans Administration hospital for removing the wrong testicle, the AP reported.

He seeks $200,000 for future health care and unspecified damages for the June 14, 2006 error which took his right testicle instead of his potentially cancerous, atrophied and painful left one.

The chief of staff for the Greater Los Angeles VA system, Dr. Dean Norman, has said he's sorry about the mix-up.

“We are making every attempt that we can to care for Mr. Houghton, but it’s in litigation, and that’s all we can tell you,” he said.

The hospital has changed its practices since then, he said.

Like, maybe, they now supply patients with black markers so they can write "My left, dummy! Not yours!"

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | surgery | Hospital Errors | Nutritional Supplements | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Brazil's obese too embarrassed to use horse x-ray machines

There's an epidemic out there... of obesity. Over one billion people are overweight; 300 million are classified as obese. The developed world's kids and adults are just plain too fat and too unfit. Too many people eat too much, and eat too much of the wrong foods.

Some people can't stop. Is that an illness in itself? Perhaps, and yes, fat people should have access to health care that will help them stop eating too much.

But to demand and expect hospitals to buy expensive equipment just for them... that's going too far. I just can't feel any sympathy here.

A organization called the Group for Salvaging Self-Esteem and Citizenship of the Obese (GRACO) is staging protests outside the legislature in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, trying to twist arms to get the government to require that hospitals puchase larger, stronger equipment.

Currently, obese people are being sent by hospitals to the Jockey Club when they need a tomography, or multiple X-raying of body sections, which is normally carried out inside a chamber. A tomography is required before stomach reduction surgery can be performed.

Why the Jockey Club? Because the club has medical equipment designed to be used on horses.

Rosimere Lima da Silva, head of GRACO, said many patients feel embarrassed to go there.

"The obese patients already suffer from a lot of prejudice and having to be treated where animals are is not helping their self-esteem. Many simply refuse to go," she said.

Boo hoo! To refuse to accept medical attention that you want and need, and that has become necessary because of your own actions (of eating too much), because you're embarrassed to go....

Look in the mirror. Revel in your embarrassment.

Then use that feeling to propel yourself towards a positive change in your lifestyle.

Get up and do something about your situation. Stop sitting in front of the TV expecting your government or private hospitals to buy you things to quell your embarrassment.

Change things now, before they have to use a boat hoist to bury you.

Source: Reuters, in the Sydney Morning Herald

Related: $500 million pledged to fight childhood obesity

Related: 700-pound woman rescued from bathroom

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

Salad bar restaurant probable source of E. coli that sickened seven

Sometimes even when you're trying to eat healthy, you can't.

Seven people who ate at a Souplantation restaurant in Lake Forest, California, recently contracted E. coli, a potentially dangerous bacterium, MSNBC reported.

Six of the seven were children; the other was in his 70s.

"Usually very young children or older adults with ongoing medical conditions already are more susceptible to developing a more severe form of this infection if it's not treated early," a spokesperson for the Orange County Health Care Agency said.

Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp. operates restaurants under the names Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes. Ken Keane, the company's president, said in a statement that the company was working with health officials to investigate the contamination source and "remain committed to the highest level of quality, cleanliness and service.... The health and welfare of our guests and employees is always our top priority."

Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes are serve-yourself salad-buffet restaurants.

My family and I have enjoyed dining at Sweet Tomatoes in the Atlanta area for years. I hope that the company and the health department can locate the source of this contamination and see that it doesn't recur.

Update, Friday, April 6: Three more people, two children and a man in his 50s, have been reported to be infected with the rare strain of E. coli bacteria traced to the Souplanation restaurant, People's Daily Online reported. None had to be hospitalized.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | E. Coli | Restaurant Contamination | Nutritional Supplements | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

3 percent of hospital stays result in 'patient safety incidents'

Yet another study has shown how dangerous it is to go to the hospital.

The study, released Tuesday by the independent health care ratings company HealthGrades, found in a three-year study that nearly three percent of all hospital admissions lead to a "patient safety incident."

ABC News reports that because of these incidences, 247,662 patients died from potentially preventable problems.

Just one (or 1.16 million) more reason to take care of yourself using natural products and by getting more sunshine, eating right, getting more exercise and making other positive lifestyle changes. Consider consulting alternative health care providers, such as chiropractors, naturopaths, massage therapists, yoga teachers, acupuncturists, etc. I haven't heard of too many people dying from taking care of themselves.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Hospitals | Naturopathy | Nutritional Supplements | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Britain's pollution more dangerous to health than Chernobyl's radiation, study suggests

A study published today by Britain's Centre for Ecology and Hydrology suggests that pollution in England's cities is more dangerous than an atomic bomb.

The study concludes that high levels of urban air pollution cut life expectancy by more than the radiation exposure of emergency workers sent into the 19-mile exclusion zone around the Chernobyl disaster, according to an article by UK writer Thair Shaikh.

Comparing health risks among modern-day Londoners, Japanese survivors of the atomic bombs, and people who have lived near the Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant which spewed nuclear radiation across the countryside in 1988, researchers found "that moving from Inverness to London could have a worse effect on your health than moving to Chernobyl."

Last month The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution released a report saying air pollution was responsible for 24,000 premature deaths in Britain every year.

Other findings showed that women living in areas of higher pollution were at greater risk of heart disease and death, while children living within 500 metres of motorways suffered more permanent lung damage and lower life expectancy, probably because of their greater exposure to pollutants in vehicle fumes.

Writing in the journal BMC Public Health, Dr [Jim] Smith [of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology] said: "It is well known that radiation can potentially cause fatal cancers in people, even at relatively low doses. But our understandable fear of radiation needs to be placed in the context of other risks.

"The immediate effects of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs led to approximately 210,000 deaths. However, radiation exposures experienced by the most exposed group of survivors led to an average loss of life expectancy significantly lower than that caused by severe obesity or active smoking."

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Radiation | Air Pollution | Nutritional Supplements | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

FDA proposes to allow irradiated foods labeled as 'pasteurized'

The U.S. government's Food and Drug Administration today announced it may relax its rules on labeling of irradiated foods and suggested it may allow some irradiated products to be called "pasteurized."

In our post-1984 world, words mean little anymore.

Pasteurization is a method of treating foods with high heat to kill microbes, then cooling it rapidly. It has long been used on milk.

The proposed FDA rule would also allow food processing companies to tell consumers via labels that foods have been irradiated at all only when radiation treatment causes a material change to the product, such as changes to the taste, texture, smell or shelf life of a food.

The consumer group Food & Water Watch immediately urged the FDA to drop the idea.

"This move by FDA would deny consumers clear information about whether they are buying food that has been exposed to high doses of ionizing radiation," Wenonah Hauter, executive director of the group, said in a statement.

Source: CNN Health

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Food | Irradiation | Nutritional Supplements | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

'Vegemite' toast spread banned from U.S.?

According to New Zealand website Scoop, Vegemite, the popular New Zealand-based toast spread, is being confiscated and denied entry into the U.S, supposedly because the vitamin-packed food contains the B-vitamin folate.

Folate, or folic acid, helps prevent spina bifida, a birth defect.

The article is actually a press release from the New Zealand Trust, a consumer group campaigning against the proposal to regulate natural health products in Australia. It reads:

Government proposal linked to US ‘Vegemite Police’

Reports of ‘Vegemite police’ confiscating the popular toast spread at United States borders proves the Government’s proposed new rules for natural health products would cause ridiculous problems for completely safe products.

The New Zealand Health Trust, a consumer group campaigning against the proposal to regulate natural health products under an Australian regime, says that the rules already in place in the US and Europe show how crazy the regulators have become under the new system.

“We have had arrests in France for selling Vitamin C tablets, and now American authorities are searching travelers for Vegemite because it contains a vitamin B supplement Folate – currently being considered for addition into New Zealand breads as a preventative for spina bifida in children,” said Amy Adams, spokesperson for the Trust.

“If New Zealand were to adopt Annette King’s proposal we would be in the same boat and could see totally harmless products banned or regulated off the shelves,” Ms Adams said. “The regulators are behaving like Vegemite is a risk to people’s health.”

“This is actually a very serious problems for people in the US and Europe. And if we’re not careful we could end up facing the Police Anti-Garlic Squads or risking Illegal Ginger raids.”

The Government is still trying to introduce legislation enabling the new regime, despite all political parties except Labour having indicated they will not support it.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Vegemite | Folate | Nutritional Supplements | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Four dead after receiving flu shots; Alzheimer's caused by the common cold?

Though four people died just after receiving flut shots, Israeli officials are quick to say there is "no direct link." Of course. Yeah, right. How many times will people fall for this one? "Vaccinations will start (again) this evening," Health Minister Yaacov Ben-Yizri said, before himself receiving an inoculation live on television to demonstrate its safety." The program was re-started less than five days after the fourth man dropped dead two hours after receiving his shot.

A new theory is making the rounds that viruses related to the common cold are the real culprit for the memory loss of Alzheimer's disease.

Drink up! A drink or two a day keeps the heart surgeon away. The statistics in this study are staggering (if you'll pardon both the alliteration and the pun) — From 1986 to 2002, 106 of the 9,000 men followed had heart attacks. Of these men, eight were among the 1,282 who drank about two drinks a day, nine were among the 714 who had over two drinks a day, and 28 were among the 1,889 men who did not drink at all.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Vaccines | Heart Attack | Flu Shots | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Lawmakers distrust CDC on vaccine studies

Finally, it seems, lawmakers are listening to parents concerned over the safety, or lack of safety, in vaccines routinely given to children.

For years, parents and concerned members of the medical establishment have been concerned that vaccines, many of which contain or contained mercury, a toxin even in tiny amounts, may have contributed to the rapid rise in autism in the U.S. and U.K. in the past 15 years.

Fox News reports that Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., a medical doctor, has said he will reintroduce his bill — the Vaccine Safety and Public Confidence Assurance Act of 2006 — when the 110th Congress convenes next year.

"It's an important issue. As a physician, I've been surprised and frankly embarrassed about the overall lack of good research into vaccine safety," Weldon told FOXNews.com.

The legislation would create a separate agency outside of the CDC to oversee vaccine safety issues, including research. Other legislation introduced by other House and Senate sponsors addresses linkages between vaccines and autism-related disorders.

While the CDC says recent studies indicate no link between autism and childhood vaccinations, even one that contained mercury, the opposite position is supported by many in the medical establishment, including the American Academy of Pediatrics.

With such conflict, the debate is raging over how limited current research really is and whether the government is doing enough to fund better studies.

In 2005, Dr. Frank DeStefano, acting chief of immunization safety for the CDC told FOXNews.com, "Autism is a serious developmental disability and has a great effect on the individual and their families, and there is great impetus of need among families and society and the government to find out what is causing autism and what can be done to prevent it."

However, he said, the current body of evidence on the safety of vaccinations is strong.

“Our judgment is that vaccines are safe and the evidence today indicates that vaccines are not linked to autism," said DeStefano.

Still, Weldon questions whether the CDC's conclusions are based on enough sound, objective research, particularly in the area of mercury. Up until 2000, mercury-based thimerosal was used in all childhood vaccines as a preservative. Many blamed it for an increase in emerging autism cases.

Pharmaceutical companies stopped using thimerosal six years ago upon the recommendation of the federal government, even though the government never gave official acknowledgement that mercury levels in vaccines could cause developmental problems in children.

Government officials said that infants had not been exposed to high enough levels of mercury through the thimerosal, but its removal was done as "a precaution."

I applaud Rep. Weldon and others in calling for legislation protecting children from unsafe and untested vaccines.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Vaccines | Children's Health | Dave Weldon | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

NYC proposal to ban trans fats stuns restaurant industry

The city of New York's health department has unveiled a proposal to ban from use in the city's 24,600 food service establishments any ingredients that contain artificial trans fats — partially hydogenated oils.

Once found in almost every processed food, trans fats are still commonly found in some shortenings, margarine and frying oils, and is heavily used in foods from pie crusts to french fries to doughnuts.

Their danger is not questioned, but the NYC restaurant industry is against a ban, the AP reported.

"Labeling is one thing, but when they totally ban a product, it goes well beyond what we think is prudent and acceptable," said Chuck Hunt, executive vice president of the city's chapter of the New York State Restaurant Association.

Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard University School of Public Health, praised New York health officials for considering a ban, which he said could save lives.

"Artificial trans fats are very toxic, and they almost surely causes tens of thousands of premature deaths each year," Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard University School of Public Health said. "The federal government should have done this long ago."

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Trans Fats | Partially Hydrogenated Oils | New York City | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Woman 'psychologically rejects' husband's penis transplant

A Chinese man became the first penis transplant recipient recently, but after two weeks, doctors removed the organ after his wife suffered "psychological problems."

Surgeons led by Dr. Hu Weilie at Guangzhou General Hospital performed the transplant in September, 2005. The penis was donated by the parents of a 22-year-old brain-dead man.

The microsurgery was a success, doctors said. The man was able to urinate with the penis, and sexual function was expected to be restored after further healing.

His wife, however, "psychologically" rejected it, and after fourteen days the penis was removed.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Penis Transplant | Microsurgery | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Fresh spinach contaminated with E. Coli

Several U.S. restaurant chains announced on Monday they had removed spinach from their menus, after it was recently linked to more than 100 cases of E. coli.

The National Restaurant Association, an industry trade group, said last week it recommended that restaurants remove "fresh and fresh-processed spinach and other fresh produce items that include spinach" from their menus.

That statement came a day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers not to eat fresh spinach until further notice. The vegetable was linked to 109 cases of E. coli infection in 19 states, including the death of one adult in Wisconsin.

Some restaurants have completely stopped serving any leafy-green salads.

The outbreak of E. Coli has been tracked to a single supply source, Natural Selection Foods. The problem is, according to Jim Prevor's Perishable Pundit blog, is that Natural Selection Foods packages spinach and other vegetables for other companies and brands, including Dole, Natural Selection Foods, Pride of San Juan, Earthbound Farm, Bellissima, Rave Spinach, Emeril, Sysco, O Organic, Fresh Point, River Ranch, Superior, Nature’s Basket, Pro-Mark, Compliments, Trader Joe’s, Ready Pac, Jansal Valley, Cheney Brothers, Coastline, D’Arrigo Brothers, Green Harvest, Mann, Mills Family Farm, Premium Fresh, Snoboy, The Farmer’s Market, Tanimura & Antle, President’s Choice, Cross Valley and Riverside Farms.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Spinach | E. Coli | Food Safety | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Carnival food: Fried Coca-Cola on a Stick!

It's not like Americans don't already have the most unhealthy diet in the world.

Now comes... Fried Coca-Cola on a stick!

Vendor Abel Gonzales, Jr. deep-fries Coca-Cola-flavored batter. He then drizzles Coke fountain syrup on it. The fried Coke is topped with whipped cream, cinnamon sugar and a cherry, IBS reports.

He plans to peddle his concoction at the State Fair of Texas, which opens Sept. 29 in Dallas.

Gonzales last year sold 25,000 fried peanut butter, banana, and jelly sandwiches.

The State Fair of Texas was also the birthplace, in 1942, of the corn dog.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Obesity | Fried Coke | Coca-Cola | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Over one billion Earthlings are overweight, 300 million obese

The International Congress on Obesity meeting this weekend in Sydney, Australia warns that an obesity pandemic threatens to overwhelm health systems around the globe with illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.

Paul Zimmet, chairman of the meeting of more than 2,500 experts and health officials, said in a speech, "This insidious, creeping pandemic of obesity is now engulfing the entire world. It's as big a threat as global warming and bird flu."

More than 1 billion adults are overweight and 300 million of them are obese, putting them at much higher risk of diabetes, heart problems, high blood pressure, stroke and some forms of cancer, according to the World Health Organizagtion.

Overweight people now outnumber the undernourished in the world, Zimmet said. I understand the point he is trying to make, but "overweight" does not equal "well nourished." People become overweight not by eating nourishing foods, but from eating too much of the wrong foods, and from lack of exercise.

People in poorer nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America are quickly learning the bad habits of those in the wealthier nations. Thailand's Public Health Ministry, for instance, announced Sunday that nearly one in three Thais over age 35 is at risk of obesity-related diseases.

"We are not dealing with a scientific or medical problem. We're dealing with an enormous economic problem that, it is already accepted, is going to overwhelm every medical system in the world," said Dr. Philip James, the British chairman of the International Obesity Task Force.

Read the story.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Obesity | Heart Disease | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

9-year old dies after mosquito bite

A 9-year-old Middleboro, Mass., boy died from Eastern equine encephalitis Thursday, IBS reported.

On August 18, John Fontaine developed a fever. He was hospitalized two days later. He died two weeks later, on August 31.

A spraying program that began on August 8 reduced the mosquito population by at least 60 percent, officials said. Officials said they believe Fontaine was infected after the spraying.

Only two other confirmed EEE cases have been seen in Massachusetts this year, a 52-year-old woman from Lakeville, Mass., and a 23-year-old man from Acushnet, Mass.

Symptoms of EEE infection in humans include high fever, mental confusion, headache, stiff neck and lack of energy. The symptoms usually appear five to seven days after infection.

Inflammation and swelling of the brain, called encephalitis, is the most dangerous complication. Encephalitis can worsen quickly and patients may go into a coma within a week. According to state health officials, about three of every 10 human cases is fatal.

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Childhood obesity linked to below normal I.Q.

Children who are very obese by age four have a higher likelihood of having lower I.Q. scores, a new study shows.

Daniel J. Driscoll, M.D., Ph.D, says the study indicates "a sense of urgency to really address the obesity problem — the younger the better.

"It’s right to worry about heart disease in 20-30 years, or hypertension in 20 years, and diabetes in 10 years," Driscoll says. "But there could be consequences now."

Driscoll’s team studied 18 people who had been morbidly obese (more than 150% of the ideal weight for their height) by age four.

"We’re not talking about a little baby fat," Driscoll says. "We’re talking about a very select group."

Those who were obese at age four had an average IQ of 77, which classifies them by the "archaic" method as "moron." Tests of their siblings who were not obese at age four showed an average IQ of 106. A score of 100 is average.

Read more about the study.

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South metro Atlanta poisoned by toxic chemical

South metro Atlanta stinks. The birds and wild animals have fled, and pets are getting sick and refusing to go outside.

That's the story told by The Citizen of Fayette County, Georgia.

Though Phillips Service Corp. and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division deny it, over 600 residents claim that since Memorial Day a sickening, onion-like small has surrounded the Phillips factory. Residents and those traveling through north Fayette and south Fulton still report the smell, which is believed by many to be the chemical odorant and restricted use pesticide MOCAP. The stink is apparent in a 40 square mile zone around the plant.

MOCAP is extremely toxic to birds and aquatic life, and is a strong dermal irritant. Lifestock and humans should not come into physical contact with the substance.

Pets and humans are experiencing vomiting, diarrhea, skin irritation and problems breathing. Many small pets have died. Reports of usually healthy commercial beehives say entire colonies of bees have died or fled.

This story is getting little local and no national exposure. Why not?

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Poison | Cancer | Safe Drinking Water | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

One day's headlines tell us how toxic, dangerous, and deadly our world is

A quick look at today's headlines reminds us how toxic and deadly our world really is:

• Human body parts used for transplants are being recalled after the FDA shut down a "body harvester" who couldn't be bothered to work in a sterile environment while carving up corpses. Body parts from people who died of cancer are showing up as transplant organs, too.
• Recently withdrawn from the worldwide market, Bausch & Lomb's contact lens solution increased the risk 20-fold of developing the Fusarium keratitis, a serious bacterial infection that can in certain cases lead to permanent vision loss.
• Nearly a quarter of all American women have genital herpes, as do 11 percent of American men
• West Nile virus is back with a vengeance this year, especially in Texas, where the cure — massive spraying of toxic chemicals — may be worse than the disease.
• Canada today confirmed its fifth case of Mad Cow Disease this year. Of course, the cow's carcass didn't make it into the food chain. Of course not.
• One and a half million people in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province have the parasite-caused disease clonorchiasis. Also, last week, 70 people in Beijing became sick after eating contaminated snails.

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Overweight Baby Boomers may die prematurely

A new study contradicts a previous one that said that being "a little bit" overweight might be a good thing. A study of a half million AARP members (age 50+) conducted by the National Cancer Institute indicates that "those who were somewhat overweight had a mild, 20 percent to 40 percent increased risk of dying prematurely compared with people of normal weight."

This contradicts a recent study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control which said that showed that while being grossly overweight can be deadly, being moderately overweight was no indicator of premature death.

The new study was based on a larger population, and corrected sampling errors critics of the CDC study said were inherent in the government study. The CDC refuses to comment on non-CDC studies.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Obesity | Cancer | AARP | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Tasty! FDA approves virus as food additive

Your bologna has a second name, spelled V-I-R-U-S.

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved as a safe food additive the spraying of bacteria-kililng viruses on cold cuts, hot dogs and sausages to combat common microbes that kill hundreds of people a year, CNN reported.

Manufactured by Intralytix, Inc., the combination of six viruses is designed to be sprayed on ready-to-eat meat and poultry products, including sliced ham and turkey, said John Vazzana, president and chief executive officer.

The FDA says the special viruses, called bacteriophages, are meant to kill strains of the Listeria monocytogenes bacterium.

The company also plans to seek FDA approval for another bacteriophage product to kill E. coli bacteria on beef before it is ground, Vazzana said.

Read more about bacteriophages at Wikipedia.


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Cancer-causing water; Morning-after pill to go OTC; Anti-obesity vaccine on the way

One of the most common industrial pollutants in drinking water has been declared a carcinogen. TCE is found in about 60% of the Superfund sites still needing cleanup in the United States.

In a surprise move, the FDA is considering allowing the "morning after" birth control pill to be sold over-the-counter. Religious "pro-lifers" are already complaining.

Can't lose weight 'cause you can't push away from the table? Fear not... there's a vaccine coming just for you.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Obesity | Cancer | Safe Drinking Water | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Schools fail nutrition report card; 23 states get an F

Almost half of all states received a failing grade in a school foods report card issued Tuesday by a nonprofit group that evaluated school nutrition policies.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, based in Washington, D.C., gave an F to 23 states and a D to eight others after evaluating school policies regarding foods and beverages sold in campus vending machines, school stores and school fundraisers.

Only one state, Kentucky, scored an A, or actually, an A-.

Five states got a B+ — Nevada, Arkansas, New Mexico, Alabama and California. New Jersey, Arizona and Tennessee each got a B, and four others — Louisiana, West Virginia, Connecticut and Florida — earned a B-.

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Diabetes rate doubles in U.S.; Americans not even in top 25 of "healthy" countries

Today's headlines screamed out: "Diabetes rate doubles over last 30 years: Higher incidence of type 2 blamed on obesity, lifestyle changes."

Blamed on obesity? Like that tells us anything....


How about:

• In 1967, Americans ate 114 pounds of raw or refined sugar and a trifling amount of other sweeteners per year, per person. In 2003, the amount of sugar eaten per person jumped to 142 pounds, plus an additional 61 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup, a sugar product now used to sweeten everything from ketchup and soda pop to ranch dressing.
• Since 1950, soft-drink consumption per capita has quadrupled, from about 11 gallons per year to about 46 gallons in 2003 — nearly a gallon a week per person.
• The calories from those soft drinks alone account for 16% of the calories an adult consumes, and over 20% of the average teenager's calories come from soft drinks.
• Per person, in 2003 Americans consumed about 8.3 pounds of broccoli and barely 25 pounds of dark lettuces (not that iceburg crap we've been conditioned to think of as "lettuce").

In the 1970s, the incidence of diabetes was the lowest, at 2.0 percent among women and 2.7 percent among men. By the 1990s, the corresponding rates had climbed to their highest points: 3.7 percent and 5.8 percent.

Are we burning off those calories? According to the A.C. Nielsen Co. in 1998, the average American was watching 3 hours and 46 minutes of TV each day (more than 52 days of nonstop TV-watching per year). In 2001, average daily TV watching exceeded four hours. By age 65 the average American will have spent over nine years glued to the tube.

But we exercise more, right?

• Over 60% of American adults are not regularly active
• 25% of adults are not active at all
• Only 19% of high school students are active for 20 minutes or more per day

But surely, we're the healthiest country in the world, right?

• On average, the citizens of 29 countries are less overweight than those of the United States, including New Zealand, Mexico, Finland, Israel, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Peru, Sweden, Belgium and Brazil
• Infant mortality rates in several countries are substantially less than the rate in the United States, including Hong Kong (2.3 deaths per 1,000 live births), Japan (3.0 deaths), Sweden (2.8 deaths), France (4.1 deaths), Germany (4.3 deaths), Spain (3.4 deaths), Czech Republic (4.2 deaths), Italy (4.7 deaths), Canada (5.4 deaths), Australia (5.0 deaths), the United Kingdom (5.2 deaths) and Cuba (6.5 deaths)
• Today, 28 countries have healthy life expectancies that exceed the United States, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Germany and Japan. The highest, Japan, exceeds the United States by more than five years, meaning that the average newborn child in Japan can expect to have more than five additional years in which to enjoy a healthy, active life.

But hey... We're Number One! in number of McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, Dairy Queen, Pizza Hut, Domino's, Taco Bell, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, ad nauseum.

Sources:
MSNBC; U.S. News & World Report; TV Free America; Sourcebook for Teaching Science; Surgeon General's Report on Exercise, 1996, as discussed at Mahoning County District (Ohio) Department of Health; United Health Federation, quoting March of Dimes and World Health Organization statistics

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Medical system called "in crisis," "in shambles"

Like you need another one more reason to stay healthy?

The American emergency medical system is in crisis, says the Insitute of Medicine, as reported in today's Medical News Today.

[I]t is seriously short of resources, fragmented and splitting at the seams. Ambulances are commonly turned away from emergency departments, it is not unusual for patients to have to wait for hours and/or days for a bed. The whole system would fall apart if it had to deal with disasters or outbreaks.

"We were at capacity at 9 a.m. this morning, and we'll stay that way probably until 3 a.m. tomorrow," Dr. Robert Fuller, clinical chief of emergency medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, said Wednesday.

Emergency rooms are overwhelmed.

"We're like a series of pans of water, all connected and all nearly full," Fuller said. "Throw a bucket of water into one, and we'd all overflow."

The IOM report said among the problems are:

• Emegency rooms are seriously overcrowded
• Patients have to wait for a long time to be admitted
• Ambulances are often turned away from emergency departments
• A chronic shortage of specialists to provide care many emergency rooms
• Ambulance transport to emergency medical services is generally fragmented, chaotic and inconsistent

To see the original press release and the IOM's original reports, visit the National Academies website.

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