Egg intake linked to diabetes risk
Last Updated: 2009-02-02 15:32:47 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who sit down to a daily breakfast of eggs may have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, new research suggests.
In a long-term study of 57,000 U.S. adults, researchers found that those who ate an egg a day were 58 percent to 77 percent more likely than non-egg-eaters to develop type 2 diabetes.
The findings, published in the journal Diabetes Care, do not necessarily mean that eggs themselves put people on a path to diabetes, according to the researchers. But they do suggest it is wise to limit your egg intake.
"Based on the current data, our recommendations would be to consume eggs in moderation and not to exceed six eggs per week," lead researcher Dr. Luc Djousse, of Harvard Medical School in Boston, told Reuters Health.
The study does not explain exactly why eggs are linked to diabetes, but cholesterol may play a role. The study participants' daily cholesterol intake was also related to diabetes risk, and when the researchers factored this in, the relationship between egg intake and diabetes weakened.
In animal studies, high-fat diets have been shown to raise levels of blood sugar and the sugar-regulating hormone insulin -- suggesting a way that a cholesterol-heavy diet might promote diabetes.
According to Djousse, it's important for people at risk of type 2 diabetes -- due to factors like family history and obesity -- to pay attention to their overall cholesterol intake, and not just cholesterol from eggs.
Even more important, he noted, is a focus on overall health -- maintaining a normal weight, exercising regularly and eating a well-balanced diet -- rather than any one food or nutrient.
He pointed out that eggs also contain important nutrients like protein, vitamins and minerals, and "good" unsaturated fats.
SOURCE: Diabetes Care, February 2009.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/02/02/eline/links/20090202elin001.html
Apple juice slows buildup of Alzheimer's protein
Last Updated: 2009-02-02 15:49:17 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Drinking apple juice helps slow the accumulation of the protein fragments that damage the brain in Alzheimer's disease, new research in mice shows.
The protein fragments, known as beta-amyloid, are the building blocks of the plaques that form in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.
The findings don't suggest that Alzheimer's disease can be treated by gulping gallons of apple juice, but they do point to the importance of long-term nutrition in preventing aging-related changes like those seen in Alzheimer's disease, Thomas B. Shea of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, the co-author of the current study, said in an interview with Reuters Health.
He and his colleagues previously demonstrated that giving mice apple juice improved their performance in maze tests, while also preventing the decline in performance that typically accompanies aging; the juice also lowered the animals' beta amyloid production.
In the current study, Shea and his colleague Amy Chan looked at the production of amyloid-beta in normal mice as well as mice bred to lack the gene for apolipoprotein E, which normally helps protect cells from damage by harmful by-products of oxygen metabolism, as process known as oxidative stress. Humans with a variant of the gene, apolipoprotein E4, have an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease.
Shea and Chan fed some of the mice a diet deficient in folic acid and vitamin E, with a slight excess amount of iron, to induce oxidative stress. After a month on the diet, the formation of amyloid beta in the normal mice had roughly doubled, while it had also increased in the apolipoprotein-negative mice. But giving the rodents apple juice prevented levels of the protein fragment from increasing when both types of mice were on the deficient diet.
The researchers had previously shown that mice given apple juice produced less of a protein called presenilin 1, overexpression of which promotes the production of amyloid beta, so the juice could be working through this mechanism, the researchers say.
Oxidative stress plays a key role in the progression of Alzheimer's disease disease, and both genetic and nutritional factors influence the degree of oxidative stress a person experiences, Shea said. Aging increases oxidative stress, he added, while eating a healthy diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables decreases it.
"This is the kind of thing that may make Alzheimer's disease manifest and why it's so tricky to predict whether it's going to happen or not," he said.
The U.S. Apple Association and the Apple Products Research and Education Council fund Shea's apple juice research.
Shea agreed that his findings are an endorsement of the benefits of apple juice, but said that they were not influenced by his funding source, he said.
People who don't like apple juice can try grapefruit or other juices, he noted. "It's what you'll stay with that's important."
SOURCE: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, January 2009.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/02/02/eline/links/20090202elin003.html
Weed killer poses health threat to Asian workers
Last Updated: 2009-02-02 10:37:15 -0400 (Reuters Health)
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Malaysian plantation worker Rajam Murugasu became blind in one eye after she slipped and accidentally sprayed the weed killer paraquat in her face.
"It was raining. I fell down and the chemical shot straight into my eye," said Murugasu, a 40-year-old mother of four. "I was in and out of hospital for a whole year," she told Reuters at Teluk Intan town in northwestern Malaysia.
Paraquat, an herbicide that protects crop yields by killing weeds that compete for water, nutrients, and light, is banned in the European Union and restricted to licensed users in the United States, New Zealand and parts of Latin America.
Yet it is widely used in China, India, the Philippines as well as Malaysia, where the government reversed a ban in 2006 after growers demanded they be allowed to use the cheap herbicide.
"Paraquat has serious implications for one's health and there is no antidote. It is not right for a human to be handling it," said Irene Fernandez of Tenaganita, a rights group in Malaysia.
Paraquat, which contains quaternary ammonium compound, is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as moderately hazardous for acute toxicity. Other herbicides are less toxic. It accounts for up to 70 percent of the chemicals used to fight weeds at plantations in Malaysia, activists say.
"There are less harmful weed killers around and we should get rid of such toxic pesticides," said Fernandez.
"It is banned in all of the EU, so why are people in Asia putting up with this? Why such double standards? Are our lives of less value than theirs?"
Swiss paraquat manufacturer Syngenta insists the herbicide is safe and that eye protectors are required only when the weed killer is being mixed and loaded into sprayers.
In an email reply to questions from Reuters, Syngenta said it had comprehensive data showing paraquat was safe to use.
On plantations in Malaysia, workers carry canisters of paraquat on their backs, spraying up to four gallons a day.
The wind blows the chemical into the workers' faces and leaky canisters mean their feet and clothes get soaked with the chemical, human rights activists say.
Paraquat is absorbed through the skin and rights groups say workers who are exposed to it suffer from illnesses that range from rashes and nail loss to respiratory and kidney diseases.
There were 256 pesticide and herbicide poisoning cases in Malaysia in 1997; 183 cases in 1998; 266 cases in 1999 and 339 cases in 2000, according to a 1997-2000 study by the ministry of health. It found that the most common pesticide poisoning cases were due to paraquat.
Paraquat is widely used across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Rights groups say poisonings and fatalities regularly occur, although they have no detailed figures.
The WHO says it can be fatal if consumed or spread on the skin in a concentrated form.
LESS VALUABLE LIVES?
The chemical comes with instructions on how it can be safely used, such as the need to stop spraying when the wind picks up, and requirements for users to wear safety gear.
"But they are not told about its harms ... and again it's too hot to use things like goggles, aprons, boots, gloves," said Pushpa Arumugam, an activist who helps workers in Malaysia. "They can only use these for a few minutes before the goggles fog up and it's too hot to wear them," she said, explaining that wearing goggles in tropical climates was often not practical.
"The World Health Organization has described paraquat as being the only highly toxic herbicide of the post-war years," said Sarojeni V. Rengam of the concern group Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific, based in Penang, Malaysia.
Malaysia's government says it is fully aware of the health hazards associated with paraquat but added that it reinstated its registration due to an appeal from the industry and users.
"(The reinstatement) is only an interim regulatory action," said Halimi Mahmud of the Department of Agriculture's Pesticides Board, adding that the government is still conducting a final review to determine whether it can be used in Malaysia.
"Although paraquat is currently allowed, its uses are subject to strict control ... both employers and employees are required under these regulations to ensure that paraquat is handled, used and stored properly to avoid any health hazards to man."
Syngenta said paraquat was safe to use.
"Face shields are only required for the short moments when the concentrate is being mixed and loaded, but not during application of the diluted product. Therefore the argument of fogging up goggles is not relevant during application," it said.
"The claim of nail damage was made many years ago in situations where the most basic measures of hygiene were ignored ... (for example) failure to wash hands after exposure to the product. Recommended use guidelines and the most basic measures of hygiene, for all crop protection products, not just paraquat, ensure that such damage does not occur," Syngenta added.
That is sometimes easier said than done for laborers in Asia and other developing regions where lax safety standards are widespread and workers, dependent on their meager salaries to support families, have little say over work conditions.
"I knew it was dangerous because the grass would die. But it is the only work available and my kids were too small then and I had to work ... My husband is a drunk and spends all his money on drinking and the family depends on me entirely," said Murugasu.
Cluster headache may respond to kudzu products
Last Updated: 2009-02-02 15:25:47 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A survey of patients who take over-the-counter products containing kudzu extract or kudzu root, suggests that components of the vine may be of use in managing cluster headache.
"Cluster headache patients, through trial and error, may have discovered a new cure for their horrible disorder," Dr. R. Andrew Sewell told Reuters Health.
In the medical journal Headache, Sewell points out that kudzu root was described in a Chinese medical texts some 1800 years ago and its rhizome continues to be used as an ingredient in a variety of traditional medicines. Among its effects is an increase in cerebral blood flow in the brain.
Sewell of Yale University School of Medicine, West Haven, Connecticut and colleagues surveyed 235 cluster headache patients by email regarding their use of complementary and alternative remedies. Kudzu was mentioned in such a way as to limit its appearance as a subject of particular interest.
In all, 159 patients responded and 22 (14 percent) endorsed self-treatment with kudzu. Sixteen of this group -- 11 with episodic cluster headache and 5 with chronic cluster headache -- agreed to further evaluation.
With kudzu treatment, 73 percent of the episodic group reported a decrease in attack frequency and 36 percent had a decrease in attack length. Among those with chronic cluster headaches, 60 percent reported a decrease in frequency and 40 percent reported a decline in headache length.
"Should these results be confirmed with a randomized clinical trial of standardized extracts," Sewell concludes, "kudzu may prove to have a role in the management of cluster headache."
Kudzu, also known as Pueraria montana, is native to Asia and was introduced in the U.S. in the late 1800s to control erosion. Since then, it has spread throughout the southeast and in other areas, crowding out many native plants.
The plant's roots and extracts are currently sold commercially as an alternative medicine. It is promoted as supplement or treatment for a variety of ailments including alcoholism, headaches, diarrhea, intestinal obstruction, and stomach flu, hypertension and angina pectoris.
SOURCE: Headache January 2009.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/02/02/eline/links/20090202elin027.html
Big Pharma's Drugs to be Weaponized to Fight "Mind Wars" on Future Battlefields
by David Gutierrez, NaturalNews.com
(NaturalNews) Pharmaceutical products could be employed to boost the performance of one army's soldiers while undermining the minds of those on the other, according to a National Research Council report drafted for the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.
The report, "Emerging Cognitive Neuroscience and Related Technologies," addresses the question of how emerging neuroscience technologies and an increased understanding of the mind's functioning will affect police and the military.
"It's way too early to know which - if any - of these technologies is going to be practical," study co-author Jonathan Moreno said. "But it's important for us to get ahead of the curve."
The use of drugs to enhance or undermine battlefield performance features prominently in the report. While the narcolepsy drug modafinil and the attention deficit disorder drug Ritalin are already thought to be widely used by U.S. soldiers trying to stave off combat fatigue, the report says that more powerful and precisely targeted alertness drugs developed in the coming years will be even more effective. Drugs could also be used to enhance physical performance, such as by increasing physical strength or decreasing the perception of pain.
On the flip side, drugs might be used to attack the minds of opposing troops. "Drugs can be utilized to achieve abnormal, diseased, or disordered psychology," the report says.
"How can we disrupt the enemy's motivation to fight? Is there a way to make the enemy obey our commands?"
One method for utilizing such drugs, the authors suggested, might be through the use of "pharmacological landmines," which deploy weaponized drugs when disturbed.
It's not only on the battlefield that the military is thinking about deploying drugs. Pharmaceutical products could be used to fool advanced surveillance techniques, the report suggests, such as by using Botox injections to relax the facial muscles of agents who might be monitored by advanced lie-detecting or motivation-reading computers.
Such computer and robotic technologies are themselves of great interest to the report. The authors express optimism about the development of new neuroimaging techniques that can actually scan the motivations, plans and memories of enemy soldiers or even civilians at security checkpoints. Such technologies might also produce a new generation of more accurate lie detectors.
Expressing hope for a way to force information out of interrogated detainees without the stigma of torture, the report says, "It is possible that some day there could be a technique developed to extract information from a prisoner that does not have any lasting side effects."
One such method might involve transcranial direct current stimulation, which is the firing of electrical pulses into a detainee's brain to disrupt their neurons and make it hard for them to lie.
Direct human-machine interfaces, or machines controlled directly by a human mind, could allow the deployment of weapons from a distance or even give a soldier entirely new ways of perceiving and processing information.
Blogging for wired.com, Brandon Keim raises questions about the ethics of such technologies.
"What happens when a soldier leaves the service?" he writes. "How might their brains be reshaped by their experience?"
Regarding the scanning of civilians with mind-reading technology, he asks, "Does this mean, for example, that travelers placed on the bloated, mistake-laden watchlist would have their minds scanned, just as their computers will be?"
Hugh Gusterson of George Mason University, a noted critic of military-sponsored social science research, said that ethical concerns will not hold the government back
"I think most reasonable people, if they imagine a world in which all sides have figured out how to control brains, they'd rather not go there," he said "Most rational human beings would believe that if we could have a world where nobody does military neuroscience, we'll all be better off. But for some people in the Pentagon, it's too delicious to ignore."
http://www.naturalnews.com/025506.html
Elderly Starving to Death in Hospitals
David Gutierrez, NaturalNews.com
(NaturalNews) The charity Age Concern has sounded a warning that elderly people in British health-care facilities are not getting the special attention needed to make sure that they get enough food.
"Our evidence shows unacceptable inconsistencies across the country," said Patrick South, head of public affairs for the charity. "It's shocking that many older people still find themselves trapped within a 'postcode lottery of commitment' to improve nutritional standards on hospital wards. For older people, missed meals in the hospital can be as big a risk to safety as missing medication."
The Age Concern investigation found that 43 percent of the National Health Service (NHS) trusts studied failed to maintain "protected mealtimes," in which all non-critical care is halted to make sure that everyone gets a chance to eat. Investigators found facilities that conducted routine examinations or took patients to the bathroom during meals, causing those patients to go hungry.
The investigation also found that 33 percent of the trusts studied had not yet implemented a "red tray system," with meal trays color-coded so that staff can easily see which patients need extra assistance during mealtime.
More than 29,000 reports of poor patient nutrition incidents were reported to the British National Patients Safety Agency in 2007, including improper care of patients who had trouble swallowing or were too weak to eat properly, poorly fitted feeding tubes, and deaths due to malnutrition.
"Tackling malnutrition should be a top priority for all NHS trusts," South said.
Alison McCree, national secretary of the Health Estates & Facilities Management Association, said that she was "very disappointed" that the nutritional issues had yet to be addressed in a systemic fashion, and called upon the government to take action.
"Although it is primarily a nursing responsibility, the situation can only be improved with a multidisciplinary approach," she advised. "Education is also important - the message about malnutrition needs to get out there."
http://www.naturalnews.com/025498.html
Vitamin D Halts Growth of Breast Cancer Tumors
by Mike Adams, NaturalNews Editor
(NaturalNews) For the past 18 months, I've been working on building a new research library consisting of over 1200 books on natural health topics. Through some rather advanced technologies that took me far longer to build than I originally anticipated, I'm now able to locate and collect, within minutes, paragraphs on any combination of topics from among these 1200 books.
For example, today I wanted to research "Vitamin D" and "Breast Cancer." This produced a collection of well over 650 quotations on the subject from the various sources in my private library. A small sampling of those results are shown below.
The information you'll find in here is fascinating! You'll learn that vitamin D cream can be rubbed directly on tumors to make them vanish. You'll also learn how resveratrol can be used to amplify the results of vitamin D. There are also explanations on how vitamin D can be used to greatly reduce breast cancer cases in America, Canada, the UK and elsewhere.
I'll be using this tool in a big way here on NaturalNews from now on, bringing you research on herbs, nutrients, natural cures and many other topics. Each article here saves you the equivalent of hundreds of hours of time you might normally have to spend searching through books to find answers on the health topics that concern you.
To protect the authors and publishers of these books, we do several things: 1) All books are fully referenced and cited with the author's name. 2) Each book links to an Amazon.com link where readers can buy the book (so this citation of the book actually helps increase sales of the book, which benefits the author and publisher). 3) We LIMIT the quotes from any one book so that the amount of information cited from each book falls under Fair Use provisions. 4) We provide a second book analysis page that shows the keyword concepts used throughout the book, along with another link for purchasing the book.
In this way, we help NaturalNews readers get a hint of all the great information in these books while protecting the copyrights and promoting the interests of the authors. Please support these authors by purchasing the books mentioned below.
Here's the research we found on vitamin D and breast cancer:
The Experts Speak: Vitamin D and Breast Cancer
This activated form of vitamin D causes "cellular differentiation" — essentially the opposite of cancer. The following evidence indicates that vitamin D might have a protective role against breast cancer:
• Synthetic vitamin D-like molecules have prevented the equivalent of breast cancer in animals.
• Activated vitamin D appears to have antiestrogenic activity. J
• Both sunlight and dietary exposure to vitamin D have correlated with a reduced risk of breast cancer.
- The Natural Pharmacy: Complete A-Z Reference to Natural Treatments for Common Health Conditions by Alan R. Gaby, M.D., Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., Forrest Batz, Pharm.D. Rick Chester, RPh., N.D., DipLAc. George Constantine, R.Ph., Ph.D. Linnea D. Thompson, Pharm.D., N.D.
Results of one small study suggested that body stores of vitamin D may be associated with survival chances in women with advanced breast cancer. "Thirteen women with normal or high levels of active vitamin D survived the 6-month test period but, sadly, in those with low levels, 5 out of 13 died within 6 months," said Professor Barbara Mawer of the Manchester Royal Infirmary in central England.
- The Natural Pharmacist: Your Complete Guide to Reducing Cancer Risk by Richard Harkness
A study comparing the health habits of 133 breast cancer patients with women who did not have the disease found that exposure to sunlight lowered the risk of breast cancer by 30 to 40% or more.
- The Natural Pharmacist: Your Complete Guide to Reducing Cancer Risk by Richard Harkness
...when the same researchers looked at actual vitamin D levels, they found a 43 percent reduction in risk of breast cancer among women younger than 60 when comparing the highest levels of vitamin D (greater than 40) to lowest (less than 20). These findings are consistent with findings that cite a lower risk of breast cancer with increased ultraviolet light exposure, which means higher vitamin D levels are protective. Furthermore, researchers find higher activated vitamin D levels in women with less invasive and/or less advanced breast cancer.
- The Vitamin D Cure by James Dowd and Diane Stafford
Two equally effective sources of vitamin D in humans are derived from plant ergosterol, which is converted to ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) and cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) by the action of sunlight on the skin. The body uses vitamin D3 for normal immune system function, to control cellular growth, and to absorb calcium from the digestive tract. Vitamin D3 can inhibit the growth of malignant melanoma, breast cancer, leukemia, and mammary tumors in laboratory animals. Vitamin D3 can also inhibit angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels that permit the spread of cancer cells through the body.
- Permanent Remissions by Robert Hass, M.S.
Sun-starved females are at great risk for breast cancer, particularly women living in northern latitudes where wintertime sun exposure produces little vitamin D because of a decline in UV radiation in solar light. Dietary supplements are strongly recommended. Warnings that adults can overdose on vitamin D with daily oral doses exceeding 2,000 units are ill founded. Vitamin D's ability to inhibit breast cancer cell growth is enhanced by resveratrol, a red wine molecule. Resveratrol increases the vitamin D receptor sites on cells which sensitize the cells to vitamin D.
- You Don't Have to be Afraid of Cancer Anymore by Bill Sardi
George's Hospital Medical School in London finds local production of vitamin D in breast tissue reduces the risk for breast cancer. For women with low breast tissue levels of vitamin D the risk for breast cancer rose by 354%! [Anticancer Research 26: 2573-80, 2006] This study suggests women sunbathe with breast tissue exposed to the sun to enhance local vitamin D production. The provision of 400 IU of vitamin D per day has been found to reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer by 43%.
- You Don't Have to be Afraid of Cancer Anymore by Bill Sardi
Laboratory experiments show that vitamin D can inhibit the growth of human prostate cancer and breast cancer cells. Lung cancer and pancreatic cancer cells may also be susceptible to the effects of vitamin D. Sunlight also seems to be protective against several types of cancer, including ovarian and breast cancers, and this effect may be mediated by vitamin D levels.
- The New Encyclopedia of Vitamins, Minerals, Supplements and Herbs by Nicola Reavley
In animals fed a high fat diet, which normally would produce a higher incidence of colon cancer, supplements of calcium and vitamin D blocked this carcinogenic effect of the diet. Vitamin D inhibits the growth of breast cancer in culture, and also seems to subdue human breast cancer. Cells from human prostate cancer were put into a "...permanent nonproliferative state.", or shut down the cancer process, by the addition of vitamin D. Human cancer cells have been shown to have receptor sites, or stereo specific "parking spaces" for vitamin D.
- Beating Cancer with Nutrition by Patrick Quillin, PhD,RD,CNS
These findings are consistent with findings that cite a lower risk of breast cancer with increased ultraviolet light exposure, which means higher vitamin D levels are protective. Furthermore, researchers find higher activated vitamin D levels in women with less invasive and/or less advanced breast cancer.
- The Vitamin D Cure by James Dowd and Diane Stafford
When Japanese women move to the United States, their vitamin D intake sinks and their breast cancer rates skyrocket. Further, vitamin D slows the rate of growth of cancer cells in lab studies and cuts the rate of cancer in animals in half. All American women should eat foods with at least 400 IU of vitamin D per day, says Dr. Garland. The best sources of vitamin D are fatty fish, such as salmon, sardines, mackerel, herring and tuna as well as vitamin-D-fortified milk (make it skim). But the richest source of vitamin D in the world is eel, popular in Japanese sushi bars.
- Food Your Miracle Medicine by Jean Carper
But how does vitamin D actually work? For many years that was a mystery. The "revolution of information" on vitamin D began in 1968, when J.W. Blunt and colleagues discovered the form of vitamin D that actually circulates in the blood (25-OH-D3). This hormonal form of the vitamin, created in the kidneys, is ultimately responsible for the classical action of the vitamin. At the molecular level, some cancer cells appear to have receptors on their surfaces that are capable of receiving the vitamin D molecule.
- Cancer Therapy: The Independent Consumer's Guide To Non-Toxic Treatment & Prevention by Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.
This could explain the incidence of breast cancer being higher in cold climates than in warm. Vitamin D lack in cold climates is also a possible explanation. To the hazards which clearly contribute towards breast cancer, hormones (estrogen), high- fat diet, abortion and family history there is one more problem. That is organochlorines. There are more than 10,000 different organochlorines, including chlordane, DDT, dioxin, vinyl chloride, atrazine, and CFCs. Studies routinely show that women with breast cancer have high tissue levels of organochlorines .
- A Physician's Guide To Natural Health Products That Work by James A. Howenstine, MD
Most of 63 recently reviewed studies found a protective effect between vitamin D status and cancer risk. A study presented at the 2006 American Association for Cancer Research meeting suggested that an increase in vitamin D lowered the risk of developing breast cancer by up to 50 percent. How might vitamin D help? It's the body's most potent regulator of cell growth, preventing cells from becoming malignant, explains Michael Holick, MD, PhD, head of the Vitamin D, Skin, and Bone Research Laboratory at Boston University School of Medicine.
- Food Synergy: Unleash Hundreds of Powerful Healing Food Combinations to Fight Disease and Live Well by Elaine Magee
Those whose cancers had such vitamin D receptors "had significantly longer disease-free survival" periods than those whose tumors did not. Vitamin D also stopped the growth of several kind of human breast cancer cells in the test tube. Treatment of mice with breast cancer "produced significant inhibition of tumor progression," according to pathologists at St George's Hospital Medical School in London, UK. Taken together, these studies suggest vitamin D may inhibit the growth of cancers that have receptors for the vitamin.
- Cancer Therapy: The Independent Consumer's Guide To Non-Toxic Treatment & Prevention by Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.
Sunlight exposure, which leads to an increased level of vitamin D, correlates with a reduced risk of breast cancer. I usually recommend small amounts of vitamin D (400 to 1,000 IU) for those people without sunlight exposure, especially during the winter. I also occasionally recommend cod liver oil during the winter months as a source of vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids. Vitamin D deficiency is very common in the elderly and in people who live in parts of the world with little sunlight; it is also one of the major contributing factors to osteoporosis.
- Herbal Medicine, Healing and Cancer: A Comprehensive Program for Prevention and Treatment by Donald R. Yance, j r.,C.N., M.H., A.H.G., with Arlene Valentine
With the discovery of breast cancer-associated gene mutations (BRCA1 and BRCA2), which dramatically increase the risk for getting breast cancer, many women thought a cure might be just around the corner. However, researchers detect these mutations in only about one in three hundred to five hundred people — and they account for only about 2 percent of breast cancers.
- The Vitamin D Cure by James Dowd and Diane Stafford
Sunscreen is promoted for preventing skin cancer, but it also prevents the formation of vitamin D, an antioxidant which inhibits the initiation phase of breast cancer. Habitual sunscreen users have unusually low levels of vitamin D. Mineral oil, found in many skincare products, also blocks production and absorption of vitamin D.
- Breast Cancer? Breath Health! The Wise Woman Way by Susun S. Weed
A clinical trial of Vitamin D provided encouraging results. Patients with locally advanced breast cancer were given a highly active Vitamin D analogue cream to rub on their tumours. "It was effective in one third of the tumours," said Professor Charles Coombes, clinical oncologist, Charing Cross Hospital, London.
- Bartram's Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine: The Definitive Guide by Thomas Bartram
- Available on Amazon.com
Your skin can manufacture its own D with roughly 15 minutes of sun exposure three or four days a week. If you shun the sun, you should be getting a minimum of 700 IU of vitamin D3 a day; 1,000 IU daily might be even better, but don't go overboard because vitamin D can be toxic at very high doses.
- Best Choices From the People's Pharmacy by Joe Graedon, M.S. and Teresa Graedon, Ph.D.
Now, sulfur dioxide (a main ingredient in smog) absorbs ultraviolet light in the very part of the spectrum that triggers the production of vitamin D in the skin. 'Acid haze' (a high concentration of sulfur dioxide in the air) may thus lead to vitamin D deficiencies and therefore breast and colon cancer. In 20 Canadian cities, there was a positive association between air pollution and the death rate from colon cancer in both women and men, as well as breast cancer in women.
- Cancer Therapy: The Independent Consumer's Guide To Non-Toxic Treatment & Prevention by Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.
The collected data showed that individuals in the group with the lowest blood levels of vitamin D had the highest rates of breast cancer, and the breast cancer rates dropped as the blood levels increased. The most astounding finding in this study is that the blood level associated with a 50 percent lower risk of breast cancer could be reached by spending as little as 25 minutes in the sun for darker skinned people, and no more than 10 to 15 minutes for lighter skinned individuals.
- Timeless Secrets of Health & Rejuvenation: Unleash The Natural Healing Power That Lies Dormant Within You by Andreas Moritz
...there is mounting evidence that vitamin D from sunlight and fish oil may reduce the incidence of certain cancers, such as breast cancer. Hence, some vitamin D residuals in the fish oil may actually increase its protective value against cancer as well as CHD.
- Textbook of Natural Medicine 2nd Edition Volume 1 by Michael T. Murray, ND
New and exciting studies suggest that vitamin D does indeed protect against colorectal and breast cancers and that it may be beneficial in the treatment of certain cancers. There is speculation that chronic vitamin D deficiency finally shows up as cancer of the breast and colon.
- The Doctor's Vitamin and Mineral Encyclopedia by Sheldon Saul Hendler
Vitamin D is also important in reducing breast cancer, with increased intake of both calcium and vitamin D showing good results.
- Eat To Beat Cancer: A Research Scientist Explains How You and Your Family Can Avoid Up to 90% of All Cancers by J. Robert Hatherill
Women with breast cancer are twice as likely to have a fault in the gene required to utilize vitamin D, according to Joseph Mercola, D.O. New research from London suggests that women with polymorphisms (genetic variations) of the vitamin D receptor gene may be less able to benefit from the nutrient. The study added to the increasing evidence that vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms play a role in the disease process (Bretherton-Watt et al. 2001).
- Disease Prevention and Treatment by The Life Extension Editorial Staff
There is some evidence that vitamin D can help transform breast cancer cells into healthy cells. Vitamin D supplements are not necessary; all that is needed for the body to manufacture adequate amounts of vitamin D for fighting cancer is to expose your hands and face to sunlight for twenty minutes each day. Do not use sunscreen during this twenty-minute period, since sun blocks screen out the kind of ultraviolet light that stimulates the natural production of the vitamin.
- Prescription for Herbal Healing: An Easy-to-Use A-Z Reference to Hundreds of Common Disorders and Their Herbal Remedies by Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
Vitamin D also lessens rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, hip fractures, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, breast cancers (in areas of low solar radiation); intestinal, colon and rectal cancers; prostate cancers, and increases Lymphocytes against Candida. Full-spectrum lights on rodents slowed tumor development. Moderate ultraviolet light stimulates metabolism; the short ultraviolet rays are germicidal; improve Immunity, trigger an anti-cancer Enzyme; stimulate Vitamin D formation, saliva, and improve Calcium and Phosphorus metabolism.
- Anti-Aging Manual: The Encyclopedia of Natural Health by Joseph E. Mario
Diseases and conditions caused by vitamin D deficiency:
* Osteoporosis is commonly caused by a lack of vitamin D, which impairs calcium absorption.
* Sufficient vitamin D prevents prostate cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, depression, colon cancer, and schizophrenia.
* "Rickets" is the name of a bone-wasting disease caused by vitamin D deficiency.
* Vitamin D deficiency may exacerbate type 2 diabetes and impair production of insulin in the pancreas.
* Obesity impairs vitamin D utilization in the body, meaning obese people need twice as much vitamin D.
- Natural Health Solutions by Mike Adams
Jamie’s food fuels pupils’ brain power
The Sunday Times UK
February 1, 2009
IT seems Jamie Oliver knows best, as new research suggests the celebrity chef’s healthy school dinners have helped to improve exam results and classroom attendance.
An independent study shows the performance of 11-year-old pupils eating Oliver’s meals improved by up to 8% in science and as much as 6% in English, while absenteeism due to ill-health fell by 15%.
The findings, from a report by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at Essex University, vindicate the chef’s decision to banish fat-laden Turkey Twizzlers - since replaced with nutrient-rich foods such as coconut fish, and broccoli.
Many schools resisted Oliver’s Feed Me Better campaign due to the greater cost of the food. Some pupils would not stop eating junk food, and parents in one area were even seen passing burger and chips to children through school railings.
The ISER report focuses on schools in Greenwich, southeast London, where Oliver launched his healthy eating campaign with Channel 4 in 2004. This weekend Oliver said: “Even while doing the programme we could see the benefits to children’s health: it made them calmer and therefore able to learn. The results are fantastic - it’s the first time a proper study has been done into the positive effects of the Feed Me Better campaign. It strongly suggests we were right all along.”
Academics analysed the key stage 2 results of more than 13,000 children in Greenwich from 2002-7 to gauge the impact on performance of Oliver’s healthier meals. Pupils who sat exams in 2006-7 were on the new diet for at least 12 months, and after researchers had adjusted for an upward trend in pass rates, they found the number of pupils reaching levels four or five had risen by up to 8% in science, and 6% in English. There was also a small improvement in maths results.
The ISER study compared the Greenwich results with those of key stage 2 pupils in seven other London boroughs that did not have Oliver’s meals.
Michèle Belot, a research associate on the study, who allowed for pupils improving over time and for many other variables, was surprised by the speed of improvements and could find no explanation for the results other than Oliver’s meals.
She said of the campaign: “It obviously made a real difference to some children’s lives.”
During the campaign, Oliver hired nutritionists who found most school meals contained less than half the daily recommended amount of iron, a mineral that improves children’s cognitive development and concentration. In response, the chef introduced iron-rich foods such as red meat, pulses and green vegetables, while reducing sugar and saturated fat by eliminating processed foods such as Turkey Twizzlers.
Oliver’s new menus, adopted by 81 out of 88 primary and secondary schools in Greenwich, included more pasta and fresh fruit, plus dishes such as Mexican bean wraps, chickpea soup and vegetable chow mein. Hayley Franklin, 11, from John Roan school in Blackheath, southeast London, said: “The new dinners give me much more energy, for longer, so I can concentrate on work through the whole day.”
Trisha Jaffe, head teacher of Kidbrooke secondary school - the first school to test Oliver’s menu, said: “Because the children aren’t being stuffed with additives, they’re much less hyper in the afternoons now.”
Greenwich council committed more than £90,000 in one year towards retraining its dinner ladies, and has increased the subsidy towards each child’s meal from 33p to 81p.
In 2005, Oliver secured £220m of government funding for healthier menus, and the following year the School Food Trust introduced new national guidelines for healthier school meals.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article5627478.ece
China birth defects 'up sharply'
A senior family planning official in China has noted an alarming rise in the number of babies with birth defects, a Chinese media report says.
Jiang Fan, from China's National Population and Family Planning Commission, said environmental pollution was a cause of the increase.
The coal-mining heartland of Shanxi province had the biggest problem.
China has reported the trend before, and it was not clear if Mr Jiang was commenting on new or old statistics.
A 2007 commission report said the rate of defects had risen 40% since 2001, from 104.9 per 10,000 births to 145.5 in 2006.
Officials blame emissions from Shanxi's large coal and chemical industry for the problems there.
"The problem of birth defects is related to environmental pollution, especially in eight main coal zones," said An Huanxiao, the director of Shanxi provincial family planning agency.
'Prevention plan'
Mr Jiang said a child was born with physical defects every 30 seconds because of the degrading environment.
Correspondents say the report suggests there is a human cost to China's rapid economic development.
Researchers also blamed exposure to nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and particulates for the increase.
"The number of newborns with birth defects is constantly increasing in both urban and rural areas," China Daily newspaper quoted Mr Jiang as saying.
"The rather alarming increase has forced us to kick off a high-level prevention plan."
The commission had introduced a screening programme in the eight worst-affected provinces, Mr Jiang said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7863290.stm
Water - another global 'crisis'?
If you look at the numbers, it is hard to see how many East African communities made it through the long drought of 2005 and 2006.
Among people who study human development, it is a widely-held view that each person needs about 20 litres of water each day for the basics - to drink, cook and wash sufficiently to avoid disease transmission.
Yet at the height of the East African drought, people were getting by on less than five litres a day - in some cases, less than one litre a day, enough for just three glasses of drinking water and nothing left over.
Some people, perhaps incredibly from a western vantage point, are hardy enough to survive in these conditions; but it is not a recipe for a society that is healthy and developing enough to break out of poverty.
"Obviously there are many drivers of human development," says the UN's Andrew Hudson.
"But water is the most important."
At the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), where Dr Hudson works as principal technical advisor to the water governance programme, he calculated the contribution that various factors make to the Human Development Index, a measure of how societies are doing socially and economically.
"It was striking. I looked at access to energy, spending on health, spending on education - and by far the strongest driver of the HDI on a global scale was access to water and sanitation."
Different lives
Two key questions arise, then.
Why do some communities have so little access to water? And how will the current picture change in a world where the human population is growing, where societies are urbanising and industrialising, and where climate change may alter the raw availability of water significantly?
The UNDP is unequivocal about the first question.
"The availability of water is a concern for some countries," says the report.
"But the scarcity at the heart of the global water crisis is rooted in power, poverty and inequality, not in physical availability."
Statistics on water consumption appear to back the UN's case.
Japan and Cambodia experience about the same average rainfall - about 160cm per year.
But whereas the average Japanese person can use nearly 400 litres per day, the average Cambodian must make do with about one-tenth of that.
The picture is improving to some extent.
Across the world, 1.6bn more people have access to clean drinking water than in 1990.
But population growth and climatic changes could change the picture.
In some regions, "the scarcity at the heart of the global water crisis" could become one of physical availability, especially in places where consumption is already unsustainably high.
"There are several rivers that don't reach the sea any more," says Mark Smith, head of the water programme at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
"The Yellow River is one, the Murray-Darling (in Australia) is nearly another - they have to dredge the mouth of the river every year to make sure it doesn't dry up.
"The Aral Sea and Lake Chad have shrunk because the rivers that feed them have been largely dried out; and you can see it on a smaller scale as well, where streams that are important for small communities in Tanzania may go dry for half the year, largely because people are taking more and more water for irrigating crops."
Wet and dry
Last year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) took an in-depth look at how the raw availability of water might alter in the future as climatic patterns change.
Its projections are derived from computer models of the Earth's hugely complex climate system, and as such are far from being firm forecasts.
A warmer climate overall means a wetter climate; warmer air can hold more moisture.
But weather patterns are likely to shift, meaning that water will be deposited in different places with a different pattern in time.
"In general we see drying in the sub-tropics and mid-latitudes, from southern Europe across to Kazakhstan and from North Africa to Iran," recounts Martin Parry, who as co-chair of the IPCC's working group on climate impacts oversaw the water report's compilation.
"And the drying extends westwards into Central America. And there are equivalents in the southern hemisphere - southern Africa, Australia."
In some populated parts of North Africa and Central Asia, he says, people may struggle simply to get enough to drink.
Other areas, meanwhile, are projected to receive more rain - considerably more, in some cases.
The question then is whether societies can make use of it.
"If you look at India, Bangladesh and Burma, there are indications of an increase in water availability," says Professor Parry.
"But when you look in more detail you see that monsoonal precipitation will become more intense - there'll be a heavier downpour but over fewer days - so you might just end up with more runoff, which could actually mean less availability of water to the community."
Thirsty work
A changing climate is only one of the factors likely to affect the amount of water at each person's disposal in future.
A more populated world - and there could be another 2.5 billion people on the planet by 2050 - is likely to be a thirstier world.
Those extra people will need feeding; and as agriculture accounts for about 70% of water use around the world, extra consumption for growing food is likely to reduce the amount available for those basic needs of drinking, cooking and washing.
Industry can also take water that would otherwise have ended up in peoples' mouths.
On the other hand, as a society industrialises it tends to become less reliant on farming - which could, in principle, reduce overall demand.
It is a tremendously complex picture; and forecasting its impacts makes simple climate modelling look a trivial task by comparison.
Researchers at the University of Kassel in Germany, led by Martina Floerke, have attempted it.
Their projections suggest that some regions are likely to see drastic declines in the amount of water available for personal use - and for intriguing reasons.
"The principal cause of decreasing water stress (where it occurs) is the greater availability of water due to increased annual precipitation related to climate change," they conclude.
"The principal cause of increasing water stress is growing water withdrawals, and the most important factor for this increase is the growth of domestic water use stimulated by income growth."
The modelling suggests that by the 2050s, as many as six billion people could face water scarcity (defined as less than 1,000 cubic metres per person per year), depending, most importantly, on how societies develop - a significant increase on previous estimates.
Ideas pipeline
The irony is that the richer societies are the ones most likely to be able to adapt to these changes - perhaps relatively easily.
A century ago, a 500km-long pipeline was built to bring water from the Western Australian coast to the parched inland goldfields around Kalgoorlie; the economics of gold made it viable.
Now that the coastal capital Perth is drying out, there is talk of building an even longer pipeline to bring water from the north of the state.
The state recently acquired a desalination plant - an effective, but expensive, way of increasing the raw supply of clean water. A number of Middle Eastern countries are doing the same; it is even being contemplated near London.
Rivers can be diverted huge distances, as China is contemplating. Spain and Cyprus can take water deliveries by ship.
But can all societies afford such measures?
In any case, is adaptation possible to some of the really big projected changes, such as the rapid shrinking of Himalayan glaciers which may lose four-fifths of their area by 2030, removing what is effectively a huge natural reservoir storing water for more than a billion people?
"In principle you could do it, if you're equipped to do the engineering," says Mark Smith.
"But societies are going to have to get much better at deciding how they're going to use their water.
"And very often, in developing countries where institutions are not well established, decisions are made in a very ad-hoc way - someone says 'yes let's use this much for irrigation' but you're already using that much for a sugar mill, and before you know it you've allocated more than you actually have."
Two years ago I stood in a forest clearing in the west of the Amazon basin talking to researchers studying the deforestation and fires that are an increasing plague in the region.
They told me that some villages around there were experiencing water shortages.
How can that happen, I asked incredulously, in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, in one of the most luxuriously verdant places on Earth?
What had brought the shortages was a combination of increased human settlement, deforestation, and a drying of some streams, possibly related to climate change.
If even the Amazon can feel these pressures, it is difficult not to think that the same picture will be played out in much starker and possibly much messier colours in parts of the world that are already feeling the heat of dwindling supplies and growing needs.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7865603.stm
Small Male Chimps Use Politics, Rather Than Aggression, To Lead The Pack
ScienceDaily (Feb. 3, 2009) — With most mammals, the biggest and most aggressive male claims the alpha male role and gets his choice of food and females. But a new study from the University of Minnesota suggests that at least among chimpanzees, smaller, more mild-mannered males can also use political behavior to secure the top position.
The finding was gleaned from 10 years of observing dominant male chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, looking at behaviors they used to compete for alpha male status relative to their size. Analysis showed that larger males relied more on physical attacks to dominate while smaller, gentler males groomed other chimpanzees, both male and female, to gain broad support.
The study focused on three alpha males who reigned between 1989 and 2003. Frodo, one of the largest and most aggressive male chimpanzees ever observed at Gombe, weighed 51.2 kg (112.6 lbs.) at his peak. He relied on his size and aggression to rule. While he allowed other chimpanzees to groom him, he seldom returned the favor. At the other end of the spectrum, Wilkie, who weighed only 37 kg (81.4 lbs.), obsessively groomed both male and female chimpanzees to maintain his top position. And Freud, who weighed 44.8 kg (98.6 lbs.), used a combination of the two strategies. (The average male chimp in Gombe weighs about 39 kg (85.8 lbs.).
The findings are reported in the February issue of the American Journal of Primatology. While it's widely known that grooming plays an important role in chimpanzee social interaction, this study is the first to show that it can be a strategy for achieving dominance.
Mark Foster, who was an undergraduate pursuing a bachelor of arts degree in anthropology and a B.F.A. in acting when the research was conducted, was the study's lead author of the study. As a recipient of a Katherine E. Sullivan Fellowship he later spent six months in Tanzania and Gombe and then became an educational assistant at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.
"Mark showed extraordinary creativity and tenacity in pulling together this study while still an undergraduate and then seeing it through to publication," said Anne Pusey, who was senior author. Pusey is director of the Jane Goodall Institute's Center for Primate Studies at the University of Minnesota and a University McKnight Distinguished Professor in the College of Biological Sciences' department of ecology, evolution and behavior (EEB).
Other collaborators included EEB graduate students Ian Gilby, who guided Foster in the initial outline of the question and in data extraction; Carson Murray, who guided data analysis; and Emily Wroblewski, who analyzed data on male dominance hierarchies. Statistics graduate student Alicia Johnson of the U of M Statistics Clinic guided the statistical analysis. Gilby is now a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard, and Murray a post-doctoral fellow at Lincoln Park Zoo.
"We were aware that Frodo was a bully and a stingy groomer, but we did not know how closely grooming patterns would correlate with body size," Pusey said. "We plan to study more alpha males to determine if grooming is a common strategy that small-bodied males use to placate rivals or cultivate cooperative alliances."
The Jane Goodall Institute's Center for Primate Studies was established in 1995 at the College of Biological Sciences by Pusey, a former student of Goodall's. Pusey brought all of Goodall's field notes and photographs from 48 years in Gombe to the University of Minnesota. She is overseeing the creation of a searchable, online database providing access to Goodall's research material.
Kids Who Spend More Time Outdoors Have Better Vision
Study finds youngsters who are parked indoors more likely to develop myopia
HealthDay
Friday, January 30, 2009
FRIDAY, Jan. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Kids who spend more time outside -- and away from the television set -- are less likely to develop myopia, the inability to see things clearly at a distance.
The new report, from researchers in Boston, doesn't determine whether too much indoor activity actually causes poor eyesight. And even if it does, researchers haven't pinpointed what the exact mechanism might be.
Still, "it would seem prudent to encourage outdoor activities -- not necessarily sports -- for all growing children and young adults in order to reduce the progression of myopia," said Howard C. Howland, a professor of neurobiology and behavior at Cornell University.
About a third of Americans suffer from myopia, said study author Jane Gwiazda, director of research at The New England College of Optometry. The rates are much higher in some parts of Asia.
The condition seems to be caused by both genetics and the environment, Gwiazda said. The condition is more common in people who engage in a lot of "near work" due to their jobs, she said.
The study authors gave questionnaires to the parents of 191 children who were at an average age of 13.3 years. Among other things, the researchers asked about the children's time spent using the computer, reading for pleasure and watching TV.
The children's eyesight was tested annually.
The findings were published in the January issue of Optometry and Vision Science.
The children who developed myopia -- also known as nearsightedness -- spent less time in outdoor activities, an average of 8.3 hours a week compared to 12.6 hours among the other children.
Those with myopia also watched more television (12.5 hours vs. 8.4 hours a week).
What's going on? "One possibility is that all the hours spent viewing objects at a distance rather than up close, as happens outdoors, provides a 'stop' signal to block myopia progression," Gwiazda said. "Outdoor exposure also may be beneficial, because sunlight causes the pupil to constrict, resulting in a larger depth of focus -- the range in which objects appear clear -- and less image blur that's associated with myopia development."
In other words, the eye may see more clearly outside in the sunlight and avoid developing myopia.
Looking at things farther away may be another benefit of outdoor activities. "We know a great deal about what causes myopia in animals, including primates," said Howland. "Images that are focused behind the retina cause the eye to grow in length, making the animal more myopic. Generally speaking, one can prevent animals from becoming myopic if they are provided with sufficient opportunity to see distant objects."
In popular culture, bookworms and nerds are often depicted as wearing glasses. Some studies have indeed shown a connection between heavy reading and myopia, Gwiazda said. But the new research doesn't confirm that link.
"In our study, children with more hours of outdoor activity do not necessarily spend less time reading and using computers," Gwiazda said.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_74799.html
Eat a little less, remember more
The New Scientist 22:00 26 January 2009
Eating less doesn't just boost physical health. In elderly people, it seems to improve memory too.
Restricting calorie intake has been shown to increase lifespan in mice, reduce the risk of heart disease in people and boost cognitive ability in elderly animals.
To see if the cognitive benefit held for people, Agnes Flöel and colleagues, at the University of Münster in Germany tested the short term memory of 50 people with an average age of 60, who were overweight, but not obese, and then got one-third to eat 30% fewer calories than normal each day.
After three months, the dieters scored 20% higher on the test than they had before the diet, recalling on average 12.5 words compared to 10.5.
"Two words may not seem like much, but it's more than the difference between people under 30 and above 50," says Flöel. Those who did not go on the diet showed no change.
The dieters had lower levels of glucose and insulin in their blood which previous studies have linked to greater neural function.
Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0808587106, in press
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16482-eat-a-little-less-remember-more.html?full=true&print=true |
