Obama's Inauguration Speech: A Call for Responsibility and Sacrifice at a Time of Gathering Storms
By Barack Obama, AlterNet
Posted on January 20, 2009, Printed on January 20, 2009 http://www.alternet.org/story/121123/

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Following is the prepared text of President-elect Barack Obama <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_oba
ma/index.html?inline=nyt-per> ’s Inaugural Address, as provided by the Presidential Inaugural Committee:

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation:
the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sanh.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.
We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages.
We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.
It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Consuming Common Food Additive MSG Increases Risk of Weight Gain

 (NaturalNews) Research has shown that a flavor enhancer found in many popular foods known as monosodium glutamate (MSG) causes weight gain and obesity in lab animals by damaging the appetite regulation center in the area of the brain known as the hypothalamus, causing leptin resistence. Leptin is the hormone that controls how much a person feels like eating. The fullness, gratification and satisfaction that come from having eaten is completely lost when MSG is consumed, leading to an urge to eat that never stops. A recent cross-sectional study in China supports the conclusion that what was seen in the animal studies also applies to people.

Study finds using MSG can make you fat

The study, reported in the August edition of Obesity examined the association between MSG intake and weight gain in humans. Researchers conducted a cross-sectional study involving 752 healthy Chinese people ages 40-59. These people were randomly sampled from three rural villages in north and south China. Forty-eight percent were women. The great majority of the participants prepared their foods at home, without use of commercially processed foods. For the study, participants were told to add quantified amounts of MSG when preparing their foods. Eighty-two percent of the participants were MSG users. Their average intake was 330 milligrams per day.

After adjusting for confounders including physical activity and total energy intake, the researchers found that MSG consumption was positively related to increases in body mass index. Weight gain was significantly greater in MSG users than in nonusers. For the third of participants using the highest amount of MSG, the odds of reaching overweight status were between 2.10 and 2.75 greater than for nonusers.

MSG is an excitotoxin that causes brain damage

MSG is a food additive found in almost all commercially prepared and packaged food. It supercharges the taste of food, but not in the way you would think. MSG operates on the brain, fooling it into thinking food tastes really great. MSG is an excitotoxin in the brain, meaning that it over stimulates the brain causing the production of excessive amounts of dopamine. This creates a drug-like rush that provides a brief sensation of well being. It is highly addictive, causing its consumers to keep coming back for more and end up overeating. In the process, brain cells are destroyed.

Because MSG damages the brain and alters the ability of the brain to respond to the signal from the hormone leptin that satiety has occurred, it is a prime culprit in the epidemic of obesity that has everyone scratching their heads as to cause. Several research studies have shown that ingestion of MSG induces obesity in rats. In fact, when researchers want to fatten up lab rats for experiments, they feed them MSG because its effect is so predictable and rats will bulk up with regularity. MSG destroys the hard wiring in the brain of a rat like it does in the brain of a person.

Corporations that sell processed food love MSG because it makes cheap ingredients taste great. The success of their highly addictive branded flavors depends on their ability to stimulate the brain and create a repetitive response to these products. Instead of creating a quality product that tastes good on its own merits, processed food producers just lace a low integrity food product with MSG without regard for the negative effects it will have on the person who eats this product.

One of corporate America's best friends, the FDA, has said for many years that consumption of MSG is safe, and has condoned its use as an additive flavor enhancer in countless processed and branded food products. As obesity has reached epidemic proportions in American society, the FDA has purposefully ignored the steady stream of research showing its obesity producing effects.

MSG also promotes liver inflammation and dysplasia

Chronic inflammation is a common theme in a variety of disease pathways, including autoimmune diseases. It is a concern due to its increasing prevalence in the westernized world and its direct correlation with lifestyle factors, particularly the diet. Diet caused liver damage may lead to liver cancer. In a study reported in the February-March, 2008 edition of the Journal of Autoimmunity, researchers reported that injecting MSG in mice leads to significant liver inflammation along with obesity and type 2 diabetes. To address the long-term consequences of MSG on inflammation, they performed serial analysis of MSG injected mice and focused in particular on liver pathology.

They found that by the age of 6 and 12 months, all MSG treated mice developed liver inflammation and structural change. Lesions were detected in some cases. They concluded that their results take on considerable significance in light of the widespread usage of dietary MSG and suggested that MSG should have its safety profile re-examined and potentially be withdrawn from the food chain.

The FDA condones food producers hiding MSG in their products

When people become aware of the dangers to their health and well being from the use of MSG, they no longer want to buy products that contain it. The producers of processed foods know that people don't want to consume MSG but are unwilling to remove it from their products because without it, people wouldn't want to buy them unless the quality was greatly improved, a task which would raise the cost of production. So they have gone to extremes to hide MSG in their products and this has been allowed by the FDA.

The term MSG is seldom seen listed on a food label, but MSG is most likely contained in the food, in a disguised form. Here are some of its many disguises: hydrolyzed vegetable protein, autolyzed vegetable protein, textured vegetable protein, hydrolyzed yeast extract, autolyzed yeast extract, plant protein extract, sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate, yeast extract, textured whey protein, and textured soy protein. Even the innocuous terms spice and natural flavor can designate the presence of MSG.

The use of MSG is another example of how corporate America has turned its back on the very consumers who buy their products, all in the name of greed. By continuing to pump their products full of MSG after knowing their customers do not want to consume it, food corporations are showing the ultimate in contempt for the food buying public, a contempt which should produce outrage rather than brand loyalty.

MSG is the world's most widely used flavor enhancer

It's very difficult to find any canned or packaged food item that does not contain MSG in one of its hidden forms. It's in canned and boxed soups, dried soup mixes, frozen prepared meals, canned prepared meals, fast food, junk food, snack food, Chinese food, gravy, stew, chili, canned beans, salad dressing, seasoning blends and mixes, bullion, broths, and prepared pasta products. Most restaurant food contains loads of MSG. It's what makes the restaurant experience so compelling. Hot food bars at grocery stores have foods containing MSG. Even high priced prepared foods that market themselves as gourmet are laced with MSG, such as the soup mixes and other non-dessert products at Harry and David's

You won't escape MSG shopping at Whole Foods or other stores that claim to sell healthy food. Many of the bagged, bottled, frozen and canned foods at Whole Foods contain MSG hidden under another name. Some of the deli dishes as well as those on the hot bar and the take-out rack contain hidden MSG.

Most processed food for children also contains high levels of MSG, such as spaghetti O's and other prepared pasta or pasta mixes, alphabet soup and chicken noodle soup, microwavable cups, packaged dinners marketed to kids, and much more. A meal of MSG containing food can raise the blood level of excitotoxin to a value proven in primates to destroy brain cells. A child's brain is four times mores sensitive to damage by excitotoxins than is the brain of an adult.

Chronic MSG ingestion by children may be one reason behind the nation's falling test scores, as well as attention and hyperactivity problems exhibited by children at home and at school.

The best way avoid MSG is by buying whole foods and preparing them at home. The next best thing is to become an expert at label reading and knowing the various disguises under which MSG travels. There are a few packaged prepared items at traditional grocery stores that do not contain MSG. At health food stores there are many more.

When you have managed to avoid MSG for a period of time and adjusted to the delicious taste of food as it was meant to be experienced, you will be shocked when you go out to a restaurant and taste food loaded with MSG again. You will know instantly because the flavor is so intense it is almost eye popping, and you suddenly want to just keep eating and eating.

Study found Red Clover able to block brain damage from MSG

Sometimes you just can't get around having to eat food that contains MSG. Eating at a restaurant with friends, an invitation to the boss' house for dinner, the need to stop for fast food while on a trip and many other situations can crop up where exposure to MSG is inevitable. A recent study found that pre-treating yourself with a supplement of red clover before you dine can nullify the potential for brain damage from MSG.

Phytomedicine, June 5, 2008 edition, reports researchers finding that the natural mixture of phytoestrogenic isoflavones found in red clover can protect the brain from MSG toxicity. They used a human cortical cell line to test the efficacy of a red clover fraction. When the cells were pretreated with red clover isoflavones there was a significant increase in cell survival and a significant decreased in the release of an enzyme indicating cell damage. The pretreatment also prevented the morphological disruption caused by MSG.

http://www.naturalnews.com/025353.html

Happiness and Life Satisfaction Lead to Better Health

 (NaturalNews) People who are happier and more satisfied with their lives might also enjoy better health, said a study led by Mohammad Siahpush, Ph.D., professor of health promotion at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.

"Everything else being equal, if you are happy and satisfied with your life now, you are more likely to be healthy in the future," said Siahpush.

And, very significantly, factors which usually also affect health, such as exercise and cigarette smoking, were already accounted for. According to Siahpush, "importantly, our results are independent of several factors that impact on health, such as smoking, physical activity, alcohol consumption and age".

Details of Study

The study team examined data collected from two Australian surveys conducted on nearly 10,000 adults in 2001 and 2004. In the surveys, the participants were asked about various health indicators, including their level of physical health and whether or not they had long-term, limiting health conditions.

The questions "During the past four weeks, have you been a happy person?" and "All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life?" were used to assess happiness and life satisfaction respectively.

The results were satisfying and happy news. "We found strong evidence that both happiness and life satisfaction have an effect on our indicators of health," Siahpush said.

Happiness and life satisfaction, as assessed at the baseline survey, both brought about better health three years later, as indicated by three factors: excellent, good or very good health; absence of long-term and limiting health concerns; as well as better levels of overall physical health.

On top of that, the results of the study suggested the possibility that improving levels of happiness or satisfaction with life might also give rise to better health in the future. "There are indications that as you become happier and more satisfied with your life, you tend to become healthier as well," Siahpush added.

One very poignant fact of these findings is that greater happiness and life satisfaction can actually translate to better health in as short a timeframe as three years.

"Their unique contribution is the short, three-year time period of their study. To my knowledge, this the shortest time I've seen where looking at baseline happiness predicts future health. It is compelling to me that measuring someone's happiness now accounts for some differences in physical health in as little as three years," said Paul Hershberger, Ph.D., a professor at the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine in Dayton, Ohio.

Hershberger, who had no affiliation with the study, also found it interesting that the study team was able to isolate happiness and satisfaction with life from all the other factors which were able to influence future health.

More Evidence that Happiness Improves Health

Is it any surprise at all that happier people are healthier, and also become healthier? Well, not really.

For one thing, we know that happiness gives the immune system a boost. Conversely, a person undergoing depression also suffers depressed immunity.

For example, a study carried out by Associates for Research Into the Science of Enjoyment (ARISE) in the UK some ten years ago had revealed that the amount of the antibody, secretory Immunoglobulin-A (sigA), which is found in saliva and protects against respiratory infections, doubled within a mere 20 minutes of having happy thoughts. The levels of sigA increased even more 45 minutes thereafter, and remained about 60% higher even three hours after the start of the experiment.

Conversely, recollection of guilty memories had an adverse effect on the levels of sigA.

Another study conducted a few years ago by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh found that people with positive emotional attitudes did not suffer colds as often as well as experienced fewer symptoms, when compared to those with negative emotional states.

The study, which interviewed 334 healthy volunteers three times a week for two weeks to get a sense of their emotional states, found that people who were happy, relaxed and energetic had a lower likelihood of being hit by a cold. On the flip side, people who were angry, depressed or nervous had a higher chance of complaining about cold symptoms, regardless of whether they actually got infected.

For years, we have heard the phrase, "don't worry, be happy". That certainly still applies. Perhaps, now, we can also add a new one –- "be happy, be healthy".

Cheer up!

http://www.naturalnews.com/025352.html

Magnesium Sulfate Slashes Risk of Cerebral Palsy by 50 Percent in Premature Babies

 (NaturalNews) Injecting women with magnesium sulfate during a premature birth can reduce the infant's risk of cerebral palsy by nearly 50 percent, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

"This is a real breakthrough," said co-author John Thorp. "These are children who have their whole lives in front of them."

The term cerebral palsy describes a group of movement disorders caused by damage to the brain. While the damage that causes cerebral palsy can occur up to the age of three, it is most common at or around the time of birth. Roughly two or three out of every 1,000 children over the age of three suffer from the condition; nearly one-third of these cases can be attributed to damage caused by premature birth.

Researchers studied 2,241 women whose water broke between the 24th and 31st weeks of pregnancy, qualifying their births as premature.

A full-term delivery is considered to occur after the 36th week of pregnancy.

Magnesium sulfate is a common treatment often used to halt contractions in premature labor, and costs only pennies per dose. The researchers randomly assigned some of the women to receive intravenous magnesium sulfate, while the others were treated with a placebo instead. They found that while the rate of moderate or severe cerebral palsy was 3.5 percent among children of women who received the placebo, it was only 1.9 percent among the magnesium sulfate group - 46 percent lower.

The results were consistent with those of a similar Australian study conducted in 2003.

There were no significant side effects observed among the women taking magnesium sulfate, although some of them did get flushed or sweaty, and experienced a temporary blurring of their vision.

Although it did not occur in the study, some women do experience sever reactions to magnesium sulfate that can lead to respiratory problems.

http://www.naturalnews.com/025350.html

Study doubts heart disease genetic testing value

Mon Jan 19, 2009 5:01pm EST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A study tracking a large group of women for a decade casts doubt on the value of testing for a certain genetic trait linked to heart disease to predict one's chances of illness, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
Knowing a woman had the abnormality on chromosome 9 did not improve cardiovascular illness prediction compared to typical risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking, cholesterol levels, diabetes, family history of heart attack and C-reactive protein as an indicator of arterial inflammation, they found.
This common genetic trait has been shown to raise the risk for heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular conditions, and commercial tests for it are available to consumers.
"Once you already know the traditional risk factors, the additional information about the genetic variation doesn't help any. It doesn't improve your ability to predict," Nina Paynter of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who led the study in the Annals of Internal Medicine, said in a phone interview.
"It definitely suggests that as a population screening tool -- to give it to everybody and add it to what we already know -- the test for this trait by itself doesn't seem to have value," Paynter said.
Genetic tests increasingly are being developed to help people gauge their risk for various ailments, but the value of some such tests has been unclear.
Paynter and colleagues tracked 22,129 U.S. female doctors, nurses, dentists and other health care professionals for 10 years, and determined whether they had the chromosome 9 trait through blood samples given at the outset of the study.
The study confirmed that women with the trait had about a 25 to 30 percent higher chance of getting cardiovascular disease, the researchers said. Scientists have not yet pinpointed the specific gene related to the trait, Paynter said.
Knowing a woman had the trait did not improve the ability to predict whether she had a low, medium or high risk for heart attack, stroke, death from cardiovascular disease or other cardiovascular illness, Paynter said.
Paynter noted that the study did not look at whether a certain targeted group of women might benefit from such testing for this particular trait.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50I59O20090119

Compact Fluorescent Bulbs are Making People Sick

By Mike Adams, January 19, 2009 |
Compact fluorescent light bulbs are filling home and office environments with dangerous electromagnetic pollution, causing devastating health effects on some people. Neurologists are increasingly taking notice of the headaches and migraines being reported by people exposed to compact fluorescent light bulbs.
I've been warning NaturalNews about CFLs for years. It's not only the fact that they cause headaches and skin problems, it's also the fact that they contain mercury vapor, which is highly toxic to the nervous system if inhaled. (Unless you're a conventional dentist, of course, who absurdly believes mercury isn't harmful to the human body.)

This is why I founded EcoLEDs (www.EcoLEDs.com), which has been selling mercury-free, eco-friendly LED lights since late 2007. But LED lights are still too expensive for most consumers, and they're nowhere near the affordability of compact fluorescent bulbs.

Meanwhile, CFLs are all the rage these days, with hotels, offices and retail stores all turning to them as light sources, unwittingly unleashing a new wave of electromagnetic pollution onto consumers.

So what should you do in your home? Don't buy compact fluorescent light bulbs! Buy LED lights and you'll earn back the entire cost of the lights in just a couple of years due to savings on electricity expenditures. If you can't afford LEDs, stick with regular incandescent light bulbs until a better solution comes along. They aren't the best thing for the environment, but neither are mercury-containing CFL light bulbs, almost none of which are properly disposed of anyway.

Staying calm 'prevents dementia'
People who are more laid back are less likely to develop dementia in old age, a study has suggested.
Research published in the journal Neurology asked 500 healthy elderly people to fill out questionnaires about their personalities.
Those who were calm and relaxed had a 50% lower risk of developing dementia during the six years of the study.
UK experts said it offered "compelling evidence" of the need to be "socially active throughout life".
There are 700,000 people with dementia in the UK. That number is expected to rise to over one million by 2025 and 1.7 million by 2051.
The personality questionnaires measured neuroticism - a term meaning easily distressed, and extraversion - or openness to talking to people.
Those who were not easily distressed were calm and self-satisfied, whereas people who were easily distressed were emotionally unstable, negative and nervous.
The study of people aged 78 and over found that people who were socially inactive but calm and relaxed had a 50% lower risk of developing dementia compared with people who were socially isolated and prone to distress.
The dementia risk was also 50% lower for people who were outgoing and calm compared to those who were outgoing and prone to distress.
The lifestyle questionnaire determined how often each person regularly participated in leisure activities and the richness of their social network.
During that period they were studied, 144 people developed dementia.
Good news
Dr Hui-Xin Wang of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, who led the research, said: "In the past, studies have shown that chronic distress can affect parts of the brain, such as the hippocampus, possibly leading to dementia.
"But our findings suggest that having a calm and outgoing personality in combination with a socially active lifestyle may decrease the risk of developing dementia even further.
"The good news is, lifestyle factors can be modified as opposed to genetic factors which cannot be controlled.
"But these are early results, so how exactly mental attitude influences risk for dementia is not clear."
One theory is that stress and anxiety trigger the release of chemicals which can damage the tissues of the brain.
Dr Susanne Sorensen, head of research at the Alzheimer's Society, said: "Doctors have always believed that personality traits are linked to risk of dementia.
"This compelling new evidence suggests people who are easily stressed or not very outgoing should make every effort to be socially active."
But she said: "It's a chicken and egg scenario - do these personality traits increase risk of dementia in older people or are they an early sign of the disease?
"One in three people over 65 will die with dementia. It is vital to keep mentally and physically active throughout your life to reduce risk of this devastating condition."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7833707.stm

Salt Reduction May Offer Cardioprotective Effects Beyond Blood Pressure Reduction

ScienceDaily (Jan. 20, 2009) — A new study shows that salt reduction may offer cardioprotective effects beyond blood pressure reduction.
Published in the February 2009 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the study was led by Kacie Dickinson of Flinders University, South Australia.
"Reducing your salt intake provides more benefit than a decrease in blood pressure," said ASN Spokesperson Mary Ann Johnson, PhD.
The study by Dickinson et al provides "further evidence of the importance of decreasing sodium intake to improve blood vessel health and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, one of the leading causes of disability and death in the U.S. These researchers showed that sodium reduction is beneficial for people who have normal blood pressure and those who are overweight or obese, and the benefits start in just a few weeks."
Johnson added, "Regardless of one's body weight or blood pressure, sodium reduction offers many health benefits."
Kacie M Dickinson, Jennifer B Keogh, and Peter M Clifton. Effects of a low-salt diet on flow-mediated dilatation in humans. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2009; 89 (2): 485 DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.2008.26856
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090116142126.htm

Treadmill Exercise Improves Walking Endurance For Patients With Peripheral Arterial Disease

ScienceDaily (Jan. 20, 2009) — Patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD), which can include symptoms such as pain in the legs, who participated in supervised treadmill exercise improved their walking endurance and quality of life, according to a new study. The treadmill exercise also improved walking performance for PAD patients without the classic symptoms of pain in the leg muscles.
Lower extremity PAD (a condition that develops when the arteries that supply blood to the legs become completely or partially blocked as a result of plaque build-up) affects 1 in 16 U.S. adults 40 years or older. Men and women with PAD have greater functional impairment and more rapid rates of functional decline than those who do not have PAD, according to background information in the article. Most patients with PAD do not have symptoms of intermittent claudication (pain in the leg muscles that comes and goes), but PAD patients without these symptoms have greater functional impairment and functional decline than those without PAD. No prior exercise interventions have been tested on PAD participants with and without symptoms of intermittent claudication. Additionally, benefits of lower extremity resistance (strength) training for PAD patients are unclear.
Mary M. McDermott, M.D., of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, and colleagues conducted a study to determine whether supervised treadmill exercise and lower extremity-resistance training improves functional performance and other outcomes among participants with PAD with and without intermittent claudication symptoms. The randomized controlled clinical trial included 156 patients with PAD who were randomly assigned to supervised treadmill exercise, to lower extremity resistance training, or to a control group, for six months. Patients were tested for six-minute walk performance and a short physical performance battery, as well as brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (a measurement of change in the diameter of an artery in the arm), treadmill walking performance, the Walking Impairment Questionnaire, and the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey physical functioning (SF-36 PF) score.
For the 6-minute walk, those in the supervised treadmill exercise group increased their distance from baseline by an average of about 69 feet vs. those in the control group, whose distance decreased from baseline by an average of 49 feet, for an average increase of 118 feet between groups. Participants in the resistance training group increased their distance walked by 41 feet compared with the control group. Those in the lower extremity resistance training group did not experience change in their 6-minute walk performance compared with the control group.
There were no differences in change in short physical performance battery score between the treadmill exercise and control groups or between the resistance training and the control groups at the 6-month follow-up.
Participants in the treadmill exercise group had more favorable changes in brachial arterial flow-mediated dilation than the control group, whereas changes among participants in the resistance training group were not different from the control group. Those in the treadmill exercise and the resistance training groups each had significantly greater increases in average maximum treadmill walking time at the 6-month follow-up than the control group.
The treadmill exercise group had significantly greater average improvement in their SF-36 physical functioning score and in their walking impairment distance score than the control group. The resistance training group had greater average improvement in their SF-36 physical functioning score and in their walking impairment distance and stair climbing scores than the control group.
"Based on findings reported in this trial, physicians should recommend supervised treadmill exercise programs for PAD patients, regardless of whether they have classic symptoms of intermittent claudication," the authors conclude.
McDermott et al. Treadmill Exercise and Resistance Training in Patients With Peripheral Arterial Disease With and Without Intermittent Claudication: A Randomized Controlled Trial. JAMA The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2009; 301 (2): 165 DOI: 10.1001/jama.2008.962
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090113174426.htm

Research Exposes Risk To Infants From Chemicals Used In Liquid Medicines

ScienceDaily (Jan. 20, 2009) — A team of medical scientists from the University of Leicester has published research which looks into the harmful substances in liquid medicines that premature babies are being exposed to.
Research published ahead of print in the Fetal & Neonatal Edition of Archives of Disease in Childhood documents the non-drug ingredients (excipients) present in liquid medicines given to premature infants as part of their medical care.
The study led by Dr Hitesh Pandya, Senior Lecturer in Child Health in the Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation at the University of Leicester and Consultant Paediatrician at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, revealed that the chemicals added to medicines to improve their taste, absorption and to prolong their shelf-life could be potentially harmful to very small babies.
The chemicals generally used are ethanol, sorbitol and Ponceaau 4R (a colouring agent). The study revealed that premature babies are exposed to these potentially harmful excipients in amounts equivalent to over three pints of beer per week.
Dr Pandya said: “This study documents a worldwide problem. It shows that the collection of medicines given to babies may ultimately lead to them being exposed to harmful chemicals with the potential for short and long-term toxic effects. Our research highlighted this, and we are planning further studies on the chemicals to understand exactly what these effects might be. What our study hasn’t done is find any direct evidence on the cause and effect of these chemicals and the medical problems that these babies might be being treated for.”
Dr Andrew Currie, Consultant at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust who was also part of the research team said “Parents should not panic about these findings. These chemicals can be found in foods all around the world. What the study highlighted is that we have a greater understanding of the side-effects of the drugs than we do of the chemicals that many of these drugs are mixed with; there just simply hasn’t been enough research done. It is often necessary that these chemicals are added to medications, and in the majority of cases it improves the way the drugs work, but we should be taking more of an interest in them and their effects. It is great news that Dr Pandya and his team will continue their research.”
Dr Pandya added: “Babies and older children are often given medicines that have only received formal testing on adults, which means we estimate amounts that should be given to children and babies. There are numerous reasons for this, such as the practical problems in performing studies in very small babies, worries their parents may have about involving their child in drug trials and drug manufacturer’s reluctance to tackle the problem. Our study showed that more work needs to be done to tackle this problem and to improve our understanding.”
“Both the UK Government and the European Union have recently passed legislation to incentivise drug companies to develop better medicines for children. Our research team is planning to engage with parents to talk about how they can be encouraged to allow their children to participate in drug trials. We are also in close discussions with drug manufacturing companies about overcoming some of the practical hurdles that restrict performing drug trials in very small children. We are hopeful that this world-wide problem can be addressed for the benefit of future generations by highlighting the issue and through constructive engagement with interested parties.”
Dr Pandya concluded by saying “Parents should begin to understand what chemicals are in the medicines being given to their children, but they should not be overly concerned. In many cases there may not be an alternative medicine, and the risk will be balanced in favour of using them in treatment. As a research team we do feel it is important that the [medicines regulators] not only ensure that all manufacturers provide detailed labelling of the excipient content of their products but all lead action to determine whether existing practice constitutes a risk, and if so, how this might be dealt with.”
The authors point out that children’s medicines have to cater for a wide age range, making it difficult for manufacturers to tailor their products for each age group. The inclusion of some excipients is also a necessity.
Amy Whittaker, Andrew E Currie, Mark Turner, David J Field, Hussain Mulla & Hitesh C Pandya. Toxic additives in medication for preterm infants. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed, 2009; DOI: 10.1136/adc.2008.146035
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090120074826.htm

Generation Y is driving food trends, says report

Nutraingredients.com, 19-Jan-2009

Youngsters brought up in the hi-tech era are driving food trends, and food marketers must be tuned into their wants and needs, according to a report from Packaged Facts.
Generation Y refers to people born between 1980 and 2000, a generation also known as the Millenialls, Generation Me, or the Echo Boomers and counting some 75m consumers in its ranks.
According to the new report, produced by Packaged Facts in cooperation with the Center for Culinary Development (CCD), these young people are a driving force for trends today, and the “ultimate savvy, brand-sensitive consumer cluster”.
Having grown up during decades of technological revolution, huge consumer choice and access to foreign cuisines, they want their food choices constantly updated. Moreover, their influence extends beyond their direct circle of peers.
“Generation Y has a game-changing approach to food consumption that will definitely affect how other demographics, including Gen Xs and Baby Boomers, shop and eat,” said Kimberly Egan, CEO of CCD.
CCD says its strategy in getting to grips with the complex “megaconsumers” of Generation Y was to create customized research methodologies to find out what it wants from food and beverage products.
The research consisted of three rounds: A quantitative online food and beverage attitude and behavior study; a qualitative study, trademarked ‘Kickin’ It’, in a living room setting; and a qualitative ‘Kickin’ It’ study in a restaurant setting.
The findings of this research, plus raw data, is said to give a 360 degree portrait of the “Millennial Eater”.
The findings include:

• An insight into eating habits in communal spaces, real or virtual;

• Technical component of food supply, such as texting for a veggie take-out or the “cybertainment restaurant”.

• Complex and layered flavors, and unusual combinations;

• Social conscience and interest in organic, fair trade and local eating;

• Nutritional savvy inherited from health-conscious boomer parents.

“Prepare yourself,” the report’s authors advise food manufacturers. “This is one generation whose tastebuds you’ll be tickling for a long, long time.”
More information on the report, called How Gen Y Eats Culinary Trend Mapping Report, is available here.

New study backs soy’s bone protection benefits

Nutraingredients.com, 20-Jan-2009

Soy protein consumption could help protect against bone loss in post menopausal women, suggests a new study that adds to previous findings linking soy to bone health in women.
Published in the December 2008 issue of Osteoporosis International, the study followed over 400 perimenopausal Chinese women for 30 months to investigate change in bone mineral density and its determinants.
The findings revealed that the fastest bone loss occurred in women undergoing menopause – but that soy protein intake seemed to exert a positive effect on bone health, together with maintenance of body weight and physical fitness.
Soy and bone health
Limiting bone loss in post-menopausal women could ease the burden of osteoporosis, a disease that affects half of all women over the age of 50. According to the International Osteoporosis Foundation, the total direct cost of osteoporotic fractures is €31.7 bn in Europe alone.
Previous studies have reported conflicting results concerning soy isoflavones (40 to 99 mg/d doses) and bone health for postmenopausal women. But a recent meta-analysis added to the debate by reporting that such doses of soy isoflavones (less than 90 mg/d) may improve bone density (Clinical Nutrition, doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2007.10.012).
Moreover, other studies from China have linked soy isoflavones to increases in bone mineral density (BMD), and a recent large study in the Archives of Internal Medicine (2005, Vol. 165, pp. 1890-1895) reported that high soy consumption was linked with a 48 per cent decrease in fractures for women who had been menopausal for less than 10 years.
New findings
The new study recruited 438 Hong Kong Chinese women, aged 45 to 55 through random telephone dialling and primary care clinic. Researchers took bone mass, body composition and lifestyle measurements at baseline and at 9-, 18- and 30-month follow-ups.
Menopausal status was classified as pre- or postmenopausal or transitional. Using multiple regression analyses derived from baseline and follow-up measurements, the researchers found that menopausal status was the strongest determinant of bone changes.
Premenopausal women had an annual bone loss of around 0.5 per cent. Women in the ‘transitional’ group had 2 to 2.5 per cent bone loss, and postmenopausal women recorded around 1.5 per cent loss.
“Multiple regression analyses, revealed that a positive regression slope of body weight was protective for follow-up bone loss at all sites. Number of pregnancy, soy protein intake and walking were protective for total body BMC. Higher baseline LM was also protective for neck of femur BMD,” wrote the researchers.
Source:
‘Change in bone mineral density and its determinants in pre- and perimenopausal Chinese women: the Hong Kong perimenopausal women osteoporosis study’Osteoporosis International, Volume 19, Number 12 / December, 2008
DOI10.1007/s00198-008-0614-2
Authors: Ho SC, Chan SG, Yip YB, Chan CS, Woo JL, Sham A.
Department of Community and Family Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 4/F School of Public Health, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong.
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/New-study-backs-soy-s-bone-protection-benefits

Flame retarding chemicals pollute fetal tissue.

Jan 16, 2009
Doucet J, B Tague, DL Arnold, GM Cooke, S Hayward and CG Goodyer. 2008. Persistent organic pollutant residues in human fetal liver and placenta from greater Montreal, Quebec: a longitudinal study from 1998 - 2006. Environmental Health Perspectives doi:10.1289/ehp.0800205.
A new study finds that widely used flame retardant chemicals known as PBDEs can cross the placenta barrier, passing readily from mother to fetus, where they accumulate in the liver.
Researchers found that the chemicals accumulated in the liver of the fetus, which had higher levels of the widely used chemicals than did the placental tissue. PBDE concentrations exceeded those of the more well-known PCBs and organochlorine pollutants.
Although infants are exposed to PBDEs during breastfeeding, this is the first study to show that these compounds are also passing to the fetus in an early stage of pregnancy.
It is not known if and how exposure to these pollutants might affect human development and health later in life.
PBDEs are used to control fire and burning in electronics and furniture. Use of the flame retardants has increased during the past two decades. Early exposure to PBDEs is associated with neurodevelopmental disorders and thyroid hormone disruption in rodent studies, but very few studies in humans exist to date.
PBDEs last for years in the environment and are often present in house dust. Most people have some levels of PBDEs in their bodies, with higher levels observed in North Americans than in Europeans. Although PBDE use is now restricted in many states and countries, exposure is likely to continue for many years as furniture, carpets and electronics in the home age.
PBDE levels varied greatly among the fetuses studied. Some had levels that were 10-100 times greater than the average.
Levels of the chemicals in fetal tissue also appear to be increasing over time.  The PBDE concentration in the fetal tissues increased during the eight years of the study, from 1998 to 2006, following the trend of increasing amounts found in the environment during the same time period.
Levels of other persistent chemicals measured -- PCBs and organochlorine pesticides -- remained fairly constant over time.
Researchers in Quebec, Canada, analyzed fetal liver and placenta tissues from pregnancies that were electively terminated. They measured levels of several persistent chemicals. PCBs were widely used in electronics and banned in the 1970s. Organochlorine pesticides, such as DDT, were also banned in the 1970s. Polybrominated diethyl ethers (PBDEs) are structurally similar compounds widely used as flame retardants in consumer products.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/pbdes-pollute-fetal-tissue/

Surveyed scientists agree global warming is real

 (CNN) -- Human-induced global warming is real, according to a recent U.S. survey based on the opinions of 3,146 scientists. However there remains divisions between climatologists and scientists from other areas of earth sciences as to the extent of human responsibility.
A survey of more than 3,000 scientists found that the vast majority believe humans cause global warming.
Against a backdrop of harsh winter weather across much of North America and Europe, the concept of rising global temperatures might seem incongruous.
However the results of the investigation conducted at the end of 2008 reveal that vast majority of the Earth scientists surveyed agree that in the past 200-plus years, mean global temperatures have been rising and that human activity is a significant contributing factor in changing mean global temperatures.
The study released today was conducted by academics from the University of Illinois, who used an online questionnaire of nine questions. The scientists approached were listed in the 2007 edition of the American Geological Institute's Directory of Geoscience Departments.
Two questions were key: Have mean global temperatures risen compared to pre-1800s levels, and has human activity been a significant factor in changing mean global temperatures?
About 90 percent of the scientists agreed with the first question and 82 percent the second.
The strongest consensus on the causes of global warming came from climatologists who are active in climate research, with 97 percent agreeing humans play a role.
Petroleum geologists and meteorologists were among the biggest doubters, with only 47 percent and 64 percent, respectively, believing in human involvement.
"The petroleum geologist response is not too surprising, but the meteorologists' is very interesting," said Peter Doran associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and one of the survey's authors.
"Most members of the public think meteorologists know climate, but most of them actually study very short-term phenomenon."
However, Doran was not surprised by the near-unanimous agreement by climatologists.
"They're the ones who study and publish on climate science. So I guess the take-home message is, the more you know about the field of climate science, the more you're likely to believe in global warming and humankind's contribution to it.
"The debate on the authenticity of global warming and the role played by human activity is largely nonexistent among those who understand the nuances and scientific basis of long-term climate processes," said Doran.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/01/19/eco.globalwarmingsurvey/

Millions of needless deaths

By William Faloon
It is hard to imagine, but it was not until 1867 that Joseph Lister published his findings about the critical need of using sterile procedures in the surgical setting. Back then, doctors seldom washed their hands prior to surgery, let alone sterilize the instruments they had used on the previous patient.
Before Dr. Lister’s sterile techniques were adopted, patients frequently died from infections introduced during surgery.
Joseph Lister had little interest in financial or social success. These traits enabled him to endure the criticisms hurled by the medical establishment about the extra steps he took to ensure his surgical environments were clean.
One of Dr. Lister’s greatest challenges was to persuade his colleagues that germs did in fact exist. Back then, most doctors still believed in the theory of spontaneous generation.1
Convincing today’s medical establishment about proven methods to save lives may be less daunting than what Dr. Lister encountered, but it is still nonetheless challenging.

Today’s Body Count

Back in 2007, I urged the federal government to declare a national emergency. My rationale was that millions of Americans were going to needlessly die if the epidemic of vitamin D insufficiency was not immediately corrected.2
My article was based on irrefutable scientific evidence documenting how vast numbers of lives could be spared if everyone took at least 1,000 IU of vitamin D3 each day.2
I went a step further and showed how mandatory vitamin D supplementation could resolve today’s health care cost crisis by slashing the need for expensive prescription drugs and hospitalizations.2
I took it two steps further and offered to donate 50,000 one-year-supply bottles of vitamin D3 so the government could give these away to those who could not afford this ultra-low cost supplement.2
It is now 16 months later. The federal government has done nothing to inform the public of the opportunity to radically reduce their risk of dying by taking a supplement that costs less than 6 cents a day!

Vitamin D More Effective Than Previously Known

A large number of new vitamin D studies have appeared in the scientific literature since I wrote my plea to the federal government. These studies don’t just confirm what we knew 16 months ago—they show that optimizing vitamin D intake will save even more lives than what we projected.
For instance, a study published in June 2008 showed that men with low vitamin D levels suffer 2.42 times more heart attacks. Now look what this means in actual body counts.3
Each year, about 157,000 Americans die from coronary artery disease-related heart attacks.4 Based on this most recent study, if every American optimized their vitamin D status, the number of deaths prevented from this kind of heart attack would be 92,500.
To put the number of lives saved in context, tens of millions of dollars are being spent to advertise that Lipitor® reduces heart attacks by 37%. This is certainly a decent number, but not when compared with how many lives could be saved by vitamin D. According to the latest study, men with the higher vitamin D levels had a 142% reduction in heart attacks.3
This does not mean that you should stop taking medications if you can’t get your cardiac risk factors under control by natural methods. It does mean that you should make certain you are not vitamin D-insufficient.
Please note that all forms of heart disease kill over 869,700 Americans each year.4 These lethal forms of heart disease include cardiomyopathy, valvular insufficiency, congestive heart failure, arrhythmia, coronary thrombosis (blood clot in coronary artery), and coronary atherosclerosis (narrowing or blockage of coronary arteries). There is reason to believe that vitamin D could help protect against most of these forms of cardiac-induced death.5

Billions of Dollars in Health Care Savings

There are 920,000 heart attacks suffered in the United States every year.4 According to the American Heart Association, the annual cost of health care services, medications, and lost productivity related to these heart attacks is over $156 billion.4
The annual retail cost of all 300 million Americans (including children) supplementing with 1,000 IU of vitamin D per day is $6.6 billion.
So if vitamin D’s only benefit was to reduce coronary heart attack rates by 142%, the net savings (after deducting the cost of the vitamin D) if every American supplemented properly would be around $84 billion each year. That’s enough to put a major dent in the health care cost crisis that is forecast to bankrupt Medicare and many private insurance plans.

Sparing Countless Numbers From the Agonies of Cancer

The evidence supporting the role of vitamin D in preventing common forms of cancer is now overwhelming.2
Vitamin D-deficient women, for example, have a 253% increased risk of colon cancer.6 Colon cancer strikes 145,000 Americans each year and 53,580 die from it.7 Based on these studies, if everyone obtained enough vitamin D, 38,578 lives could be saved and medical costs would be reduced by $3.89 billion.8,9
A study published in January 2008 showed that women with the lowest level of vitamin D were at a 222% increased risk for developing breast cancer.10 Most studies show that higher levels of vitamin D can reduce breast cancer incidence by around 30-50%.11-14
Each year, approximately 186,800 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and 40,950 perish from it in the United States.15 This needless toll of suffering and death caused by insufficient intake of vitamin D is unconscionable.
Prostate cancer will be diagnosed in an estimated 189,000 American men this year. Almost 30,000 will die from it.16 Men with higher levels of vitamin D have a 52% reduced incidence of prostate cancer.17
The first-year costs of prostate cancer treatment are approximately $14,540.18 If all aging men achieved sufficient vitamin D status, about $1.4 billion could be saved each year.
So as you can see, there is no real health care cost crisis. What the population suffers from is frighteningly low blood levels of vitamin D. During winter months in Canada, for instance, an estimated 97% of the population is vitamin D-deficient.19

Vitamin D Protects Against Stroke

Stroke is the number three cause of death in the United States.20 It is also one of the most feared diseases because of its high incidence of permanent disability.
In a study published in September 2008, blood indicators of vitamin D status were measured in 3,316 patients with suspected coronary artery disease. The subjects were followed for 7.75 years. For every small decrease in blood indicators of vitamin D status, there was a startling 86% increase in the number of fatal strokes.21
The doctors who conducted this study concluded: “Low levels of 25(OH)D* and 1,25(OH)2D* are independently predictive for fatal strokes, suggesting that vitamin D supplementation is a promising approach in the prevention of strokes.”21
*Note: 25 [OH] D and 1,25[OH]2D are blood markers that measure vitamin D status in one’s body.
If all that vitamin D did was to reduce stroke risk, it would be critically important for every American to ensure optimal blood levels.

Low Vitamin D Doubles Death Rate

Vitamin D deficiency is a worldwide problem. Yet no conventional medical organization or governmental body has declared a health emergency to warn the public about the urgent need of achieving sufficient vitamin D blood levels.
According to John Jacob Cannell, MD, founder of the non-profit Vitamin D Counsel: “Current research indicates vitamin D deficiency plays a role in causing seventeen varieties of cancer as well as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects, and periodontal disease.
This does not mean that vitamin D deficiency is the only cause of these diseases, or that you will not get them if you take vitamin D. What it does mean is that vitamin D, and the many ways in which it affects a person’s health, can no longer be overlooked by the health care industry nor by individuals striving to achieve and maintain a greater state of health.”22
Vitamin D seems to reduce the risk of almost every killer disease of aging. In fact, a recent study shows that humans with low vitamin D status are twice as likely to die over a seven-year time period!5
Each year, the federal government spends $1 billion in research aimed at finding ways to prevent or cure the killer diseases of aging.23 Yet the government is oblivious to the most medically effective and cost-effective way of preventing needless death. This is analogous to how the establishment ignored Joseph Lister’s pleas for a sterile environment in the surgical arena.

Difference Between “Deficiency” and “Insufficiency”

Doctors are not trained to recognize a vitamin D deficiency until rickets develop in children or osteomalacia (softening of the bones) develops in adults. Clinical vitamin D deficiency is diagnosed when blood levels of a vitamin D metabolite (25-hydroxyvitamin D) drop below 12 ng/mL.
According to the world’s foremost experts, however, optimal blood levels of vitamin D are between 30 and 50 ng/mL and higher.24,25 Those with blood levels below 30 ng/mL are considered to have insufficient vitamin D.
These widely varying numbers explain why mainstream medicine is at a loss to understand the widespread health problem created by less than optimal vitamin D levels. If physicians view a patient’s medical chart and see a vitamin D blood level of 18 ng/mL, they will think this person has adequate vitamin D. The reality is that a vitamin D blood level this low predisposes this patient to virtually every killer disease of aging and may in fact be the reason that individual has become a “patient” instead of remaining healthy.
There clearly is a need for a new consensus in the medical community to redefine vitamin D deficiency as a blood reading below 30 ng/mL. As we at Life Extension long ago learned, it can take decades for the establishment to change its reference ranges to reflect scientific reality.

What Can be Done?

Despite the startling number of needless deaths, the federal government has done nothing to warn the public of the lethal dangers associated with vitamin D insufficiency.
We will distribute my original 2007 article along with this editorial to every member of the new Congress and the President in January 2009. Hopefully someone will understand the urgency of declaring a health emergency and advise that every American maintain a vitamin D blood level of at least 30 ng/mL.
If the government continues to ignore our pleas, perhaps private insurance companies will consider sending free bottles of vitamin D supplements to all of their subscribers. The outlays for medical procedures and prescription drugs would be expected to plummet in groups who took their vitamin D supplement each day.
The media has done a good job in reporting on the numerous positive findings about vitamin D over the past two years. Sales of vitamin D supplements have been increasing, so at least some Americans are getting the message and taking steps to guard against vitamin D insufficiency.
In the meantime, Life Extension will continue to report on new findings about vitamin D. We have found that if we repeat a message long enough, much of the public will wake up to scientific reality and the desire for self-preservation.
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2009/jan2009_Millions-of-Needless-Deaths_01.htm

Breathing dirty air may increase risk of diabetes

McClatchy-Tribune Information Services -- Unrestricted
01-19-09

A new study led by Ohio State University researchers suggests a connection between air pollution and diabetes.

The study, published online today in the journal Circulation, reports that dirty air makes fat mice more likely to get diabetes and raises questions about how closely pollution and Type 2 diabetes are linked in humans.
The study found that air pollution exaggerates insulin resistance and fat inflammation in overfed mice exposed to either filtered air or dirty air for six months.
All the mice were fed a fast-food diet before the experiment to make them obese, said lead researcher Dr. Sanjay Rajagopalan, director of vascular medicine at Ohio State University Medical Center. The National Institutes of Health paid for the research.
The amount of soot in the air breathed by the mice in the pollution group was comparable to the air you'd breathe sitting behind an idling truck, he said.
"We found a very, very strong exaggeration of diabetes" in the pollution group, Rajagopalan said.
Much remains unanswered, but the explanation could lie inside the walls of blood vessels, where inflammation can occur. And inflammation has been linked to environmental factors, including pollution.
"This inflammation in the vessel wall, it's not unique to atherosclerosis. It's in fact the molecular underpinning of obesity and diabetes," he said.
"The mechanisms that lead to heart disease and metabolic diseases such as diabetes are in fact very similar."
Aruni Bhatnagar, a professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at the University of Louisville, said the study is thought-provoking and should prompt more research.
"The human story is quite complicated, and nothing like this has been done in humans," said Bhatnagar, who wrote an editorial to accompany the research.
But pollution has been linked to heart disease, and diabetes, obesity and heart disease have almost identical risk factors, making a connection seem plausible, he said.
"Almost everything that causes heart disease also causes diabetes. It is not altogether surprising that, given the exposure, there appears to be a link."
About 24 million Americans have diabetes.
Although the researchers caution that more study is needed, they say their work might add more weight to efforts to toughen clean-air standards.
"I think the evidence is surely coming to a point where these standards may need to be revised again," Rajagopalan said.
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=7793&Section=Disease

If Obama Grows Old Before His Time, Stressed-Out Cell Tips Might Be to Blame

washingtonpost.com
01-19-09

Focused though the world is on the youthful athleticism of the 47-year-old who will take the oath of office tomorrow, it's tempting to ask what impact his new job will have on President-elect Barack Obama over his four -- or eight -- years in office.

The battle lines of two or more wars may by then have furrowed his brow; a sagging economy put bags under his eyes; and as-yet-untold worries stolen the spring from his jump shot. That's unless another trait, the calm with which Obama apparently responds to stress, allows him to transcend the unique demands of leading the free world.
If looks are anything to go by -- and science suggests they may be -- the cares of the world weigh heavily on our leaders. Witness the graying of Bill Clinton and the wizening of George W. Bush.
Presidents undergo a process of accelerated aging, according to Michael Roizen, who has accumulated facts and figures on presidential health dating back to the 1920s and speculates that "presidents get two years older for every year they're in office." If Roizen's right, eight years from now Obama may look more 63 than 55, more Clarence Thomas than Denzel Washington.
There's no single theory of aging, or senescence, to explain why some people age more quickly than others. Most agree, though, that our bodies reach their peak in our mid-20s, and it's almost all downhill from there -- and slow going, given that life expectancy in the United States now extends about a decade beyond the proverbial three score years and 10.
No surprise then, that in our obsession with beating that clock, some are trying to ignore the inexorable truth of chronological age (the number of candles you blow out every year) in favor of the more malleable notion of biological age (how our bodies are actually doing).
A leader in that field is Roizen, chair of the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic and co-founder of RealAge.com. He has devised an algorithm to calculate a person's age that combines the candle count and genetic factors revealed by family history with such influences as cholesterol level, weight and loyal friendships, as well as bad habits (such as smoking) and good ones (such as playing basketball).
One reason why people in top jobs like presidents and CEOs age so quickly, Roizen believes, is that it is indeed lonely up there. And although he doesn't have the data to figure out Obama's "real age," last year Roizen allocated an age of just under 64 to the president-elect's final rival, John McCain, then 71. The hoary senator's vigorous performance on a cardiovascular stress test took years off his total.
Cell biologists have a method of assessing age that begins under the microscope, and that first came to many people's attention in the late 1990s after the birth of Dolly, the cloned sheep. Dolly looked like a lamb and baaed like a lamb, but her cells bore signs of a more mature ewe: stunted telomeres.
Telomeres are segments of DNA that scientists have come to regard as a kind of biological clock. As organisms age, their cells divide, and these protective caps on the end of chromosomes shorten, eventually eroding until the cell stops dividing altogether. (Cancer cells, on the other hand, divide endlessly, leading some scientists to believe that aging is the fate we have to suffer in order not to have cancer.)
Just as older animals have shorter telomeres, so do creatures living under chronic psychological stress. That's according to the findings of two researchers from the University of California at San Francisco, Elissa Epel and Elizabeth Blackburn and Richard Cawthon of the University of Utah. Their 2004 paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that feeling frazzled (as someone who could at any moment have the nuclear football hiked to him well might) can add years to your cellular age. Their work was what Thea Singer, author of an upcoming book on the science of stress, refers to as the "first attempt to really get to the molecular level regarding stress."
Epel, an associate professor of psychiatry, and her fellow researchers focused on a group widely acknowledged to have high-pressure jobs: not presidents or even CEOs, but mothers. They studied 58 healthy women, 39 of whom were caring for a child with special needs, and examined the DNA of their white blood cells, which play a crucial role in the body's immune response to infection.
After adjusting for the women's ages, the scientists discovered that the more time the women had spent taking care of a special-needs child, the shorter their white-blood-cell telomeres. At a cellular level, at least, they were showing signs of accelerated aging. When quizzed about their own perceptions of their stress levels, the mothers who reported feeling super-stressed also turned out to have significantly shorter telomeres than those who felt more at ease, whether or not they were caring for a disabled child. Outward signs of stress -- like looking haggard, as presidents, CEOs and mothers sometimes do -- may be a signal of deep-seated decline.
Epel says that the research, which showed an association rather than causation, has now been replicated in several studies and that a link is emerging between telomere length and general bodily aging. "Shorter telomeres underlie certain aged tissues, and one day may even help explain sagging skin," says Epel.
The question remains whether shorter telomeres indicate a shorter life. Dolly, the short-telomere sheep, is no help. She died young, but not because of her cell structure: She was put down after receiving a diagnosis of a progressive lung disease. Very short telomeres are related to outward signs of aging and premature mortality in at least one population, says Epel: "People with rare aging syndromes and thus short telomeres have early signs of aging -- wrinkles and gray hair -- and they die young."
And, Epel says, there is growing evidence that immune cell telomere length is a predictor of longevity. A new study by Epel and her colleagues, published online last month in a new journal, Aging, goes a further step toward linking accelerated telomere shortening with mortality in men. "The rate of change," says Epel, "how quickly you are losing [telomere length] is predicting how long people live."
"We are looking at a biological marker of organismal aging. It's a very exciting field," says Epel, who is now investigating whether decreasing stress can slow this aging process.
It's here that the cell biologists start sounding like the wellness gurus. Epel is exploring whether stress-reduction techniques such as meditation and mindfulness can "slow or reverse immune cell aging." And at the Cleveland Clinic, Roizen is involved in a program called Lifestyle 180, which, he explains, uses lifestyle changes such as stress management and diet to activate genes that are protective of good health and to deactivate those that cause disease. More work needs to be done, these scientists know. But they are intrigued, as Roizen says, by a growing realization about aging: "The more we look at it -- until you end up with structural damage -- aging is reversible to a large degree."
"The mystery about aging," Epel says, "is why it's so variable, why some people look so much younger." Research on centenarians, she explains, suggests that coping effectively with stress is part of healthy aging, that people who get to blow out 100 candles have some trait that allows them to transcend the madness of the moment.
Like Obama's trademark equanimity? (He was dubbed "the human valium" by one pundit.)
Maybe, thinks Roizen. But, he adds, if Obama is to slow the 2 to 1 aging ratio that he has observed among previous presidents, he will need to keep up his basketball schedule, resist the enticements of the White House chef and maintain close friendships.
Even then, we're not talking President Peter Pan.
"You can't stop the clock," Roizen says, "but you can modify it considerably."
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=7795&Section=Aging

Reports from University of Southern Denmark, Genetics Institute highlight recent research in inflammation

NewsRx.com
01-08-09

Scientists discuss in 'Supplementation with orange and blackcurrant juice, but not vitamin E, improves inflammatory markers in patients with peripheral arterial disease' new findings in inflammation. According to recent research from Odense, Denmark, "Inflammation and endothelial activation are associated with an increased risk of CVD and epidemiological evidence suggests an association between levels of markers of inflammation or endothelial activation and the intake of fruit. Also, vitamin E, a fat-soluble antioxidant, has anti-inflammatory properties."

"We performed a randomised 2 x 2 factorial, crossover trial to determine the effect of orange and blackcurrant juice (500 ml/d) and vitamin E (15 mg RRR-alpha-tocopherol/d) supplementation on markers of inflammation and endothelial activation in forty-eight patients with peripheral arterial disease. Patients were randomly allocated to two dietary supplements from the four possible combinations of juice and vitamin E: juice+vitamin E; juice+placebo; reference beverage (sugar drink)+vitamin E; and reference beverage+placebo. The supplementations were given for 28 d, separated by a 4-week wash-out period. Analysis of main effects showed that juice decreased C-reactive protein (CRP) by 11% and fibrinogen by 3% while the reference drink increased CRP by 13% and fibrinogen by 2% (p Inflammation).
The researchers concluded: "In this study, orange and blackcurrant juice reduced markers of inflammation, but not markers of endothelial activation, in patients with peripheral arterial disease, relative to sugar drinks."
Dalg??rd and colleagues published their study in British Journal of Nutrition (Supplementation with orange and blackcurrant juice, but not vitamin E, improves inflammatory markers in patients with peripheral arterial disease. British Journal of Nutrition, 2009;101(2):263-9).
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=7765&Section=VITAMINS

Chrysalis Nutritionist Stephen Heuer Arrested by Federal Marshalls in FDA Raid

by Mike Adams, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) Both the FTC and FDA are turning up the heat on nutrition-oriented companies and websites, resorting to arrests at gunpoint to enforce "nutritional illiteracy" across America by imprisoning those who accurately describe the health benefits of nutritional products they sell.

It was only days ago that the FTC attacked a church over its dietary supplements. NaturalNews covered the legal battle in a feature article (http://www.naturalnews.com/025303.html) and an exclusive audio interview with health freedom attorney Jim Turner (http://www.naturalnews.com/Index-Podcas...).

The latest victim of this state-sponsored oppression and censorship agenda is Stephen Heuer of Cocoon Nutrition (www.CocoonNutrition.org) who advertised natural health products as treatments for depression and other health conditions. It remains the position of the FDA that there is no such thing as an herb, vitamin or superfood that has any ability to prevent, treat or cure any disease or health condition whatsoever. (In other words, the FDA ridiculously believes foods and herbs are chemically inert.)

Anyone who accurately describes the biochemical effects of their herbal or nutritional products is immediately branded a criminal by the FDA and subject to arrest at gunpoint. Read the history of FDA raids on vitamin companies here: http://www.naturalnews.com/021791.html

NaturalNews contacted Cocoon Nutrition offices and was told that Stephen Heuer had been arrested and detained by U.S. Federal Marshalls. No further comment was available, but we hope to be able to speak with Heuer's attorneys soon to determine the nature of the charges being brought against Heuer.

The truth about health is outlawed in the "land of the free"

Effectively, it is illegal in America to tell the truth about nutritional products that you sell. The statements made by Heuer on the Cocoon Nutrition website are technically factual and accurate. But they are not LEGAL to make in America because Free Speech is routinely oppressed by the FDA and FTC. Telling the truth in America is enough to get you locked up in federal prison; especially if you dare to inform people about natural cures that might take revenues away from the drug companies.

Both the FDA and FTC are now acting as the racket enforcement thugs of Big Pharma. And like any other mob, they use armed personnel to protect their revenue territories. Who will they raid next? Take your pick: It will be a small, family-run health supplement company that lacks the financial resources to fight back. Notice how the FDA won't dare attack the Life Extension Foundation anymore? That's because LEF has the financial resources to stand up for itself. Small, family-run nutritional businesses do not, so they're routinely targeted by FDA thugs for business termination.

A letter sent to customers by Cocoon Nutrition asks for donations to support Heuer's legal defense fund. Here is the full text of that letter:

I regret to inform our customers and close friends that Stephen is being held by the FDA and their goal is to permanently discontinue Chrysalis. He has not committed a single crime and is only guilty of helping thousands of people across the country live healthier happier lives. The government unfortunately will do whatever it takes to protect the pharmaceutical companies and its investors from a product that genuinely threatens their profit margins.

Stephen will be waging war against Federal Agencies because his rights are at stake as well as your freedom to purchase these supplements. He is going to need all the help and encouragement he can get. If any of you are willing and capable to support or donate towards his legal battle, please do so by mail or by calling us at 888-988-3325. Our mailing address is 160 Dewey Road, Greer, SC 29651. Checks or money orders need to be made out to Stephen Heuer. Thank you so much for helping Stephen in his time of need. He hopes to return home soon so he can continue helping each and every one of you to better health.

What will happen next?

I personally have never met Stephen Heuer, and I'm not yet aware of what charges are being brought against him by the FDA, but this raid and arrest are consistent with the secret police-style oppression tactics the FDA has relied on for nearly two decades to eliminate competitors of Big Pharma.

We are witnessing a nutritional knowledge cleansing of America. This has nothing to do with protecting the public, or good science, or product safety. It is 100% based on eliminating the competition for Big Pharma while keeping the public in the dark about natural cures.

Through their actions, FDA officials have revealed themselves to be little more than common thugs hiding behind a federal badge. Even the FDA's own scientists accuse the agency's top decision makers of being outright criminals who place the safety of Americans' lives at risk (http://www.naturalnews.com/News_000655_...).

U.S. Federal Marshalls, of course, are so clueless about law and justice that they're arresting all the wrong people! They should turn around and arrest the FDA criminals who are running this illegal monopoly enforcement racket instead of harassing the small family business owners who are trying to offer healing herbs to informed consumers.

http://www.naturalnews.com/025347.html

Fruit Rich in Polyphenols Protects Against Alzheimer's Disease, Cognitive Decline

(NaturalNews) Fruits rich in polyphenols may help protect against the oxidative stress that has been linked to cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease, according to a study conducted by researchers from three Korean universities and published in the Journal of Food Science.

"Our study demonstrated that antioxidants in the major fresh fruits consumed in the United States and Korea protected neuronal cells from oxidative stress," the researchers wrote. "Therefore, additional consumption of fresh fruits such as apples, bananas, and oranges may be beneficial to ameliorate chemopreventive effects in neurodegenerative disease."

Researchers took a cancer cell line derived from the forebrains of rats, intended to simulate human neurons. These cells were exposed to hydrogen peroxide after being treated with varying concentrations of fruit extracts.

Treatment with fruit extracts led to a significant increase in cell viability and decreased oxidative damage compared with the control group. The most effective extract was from apples, but the orange and banana extracts also functioned well. At the highest concentration, the orange and banana extracts provided 103 and 118 percent more cell protection than the control treatment.

Researchers believe that Alzheimer's disease might be caused by the build-up of amyloid plaque deposits in the brain, due to increased cell death from oxidative damage. Because the fruit extracts in the current study protected nerve cells against oxidative stress, the researchers believe they might provide a protective benefit against Alzheimer's as well.

A prior study found that when mice with Alzheimer's disease were given apple juice with naturally occurring antioxidants, they exhibited improved cognitive performance and their brain tissue appeared to be protected from oxidative damage. More recently, a different study found that the flavones hesperidin, hesperetin, and neohesperidin - naturally occurring chemicals found in citrus fruits - protected against DNA and cell damage, including from hydrogen peroxide.

An estimated 13 million people around the world suffer from Alzheimer's disease, the most common cause of dementia.

http://www.naturalnews.com/025344.html

A Simple and Natural Facemask with Vitamin C

(NaturalNews) Vitamin C is an extremely common skin care ingredient, since vitamin C is necessary for healthy skin. Vitamin C has been scientifically validated for reducing wrinkles and rejuvenating the skin. Yet many vitamin C products do not work, and may actually cause more harm than good. Camu camu is a S. American fruit that has the highest vitamin C content on the planet, and offers a safe and highly potent way to get this essential vitamin into the skin.

Why is Vitamin C so Important to the Skin?

Vitamin C is essential for the synthesis of collagen, a key structural protein of the skin. As people age, the amount of collagen in the skin dramatically decreases, which causes wrinkles and aging. Vitamin C is a vital antidote to this process.

Vitamin C is an antioxidant and can help reduce skin damage caused by free radicals. The skin is constantly defending against pollution and other toxins. Vitamin C helps the skin fight these toxins to slow down the aging process.

Unfortunately, many creams that contain vitamin C aren`t as anti aging as we might think. Vitamin C is relatively unstable. When vitamin C gets exposed to air, it oxidizes, rendering it useless in promoting collagen and defending against free radicals. In fact, oxidized vitamin C can actually cause free radical damage. The best form is dried.

Furthermore, many skin creams that contain vitamin C contain other toxic chemicals that actually cause aging. If there are unnatural chemicals, then they must be processed by the liver, which makes the body work harder rather than offering the body the nutrients that it needs.

The Benefits of Camu Camu

Camu camu is a perfect form of vitamin C for the skin. This Peruvian rainforest shrub grows along the Amazon River. It is the highest source of natural vitamin C on the planet, containing approximately 30 times more vitamin C than what is found in Oranges. Eating camu camu is a good way to prevent aging and disease, but it is also possible to put this potent fruit directly on the skin. Because camu camu comes in powdered form, it does not easily oxidize so it always delivers the vitamin C content desired.

Because of its high vitamin C content, it is a powerful antioxidant. It neutralizes free radical, preventing disease as well as aging. 1 cup of Camu Camu has a Total antioxidant capacity of 145,000, compared to 13,427 for Wild blueberries, 8,983 for 1 cup of cranberries and 6,058 for 1 cup of raspberries.

Here are some of the benefits of putting camu camu directly on the skin.

*It is highly Anti-aging
* It prevents foreign invaders such as fungi and bacteria which may cause acne and eczema (although always remember that these problems generally start on the inside.)
* It is an amazing collagen production booster
* It aids in neutralizing environmental pollutants which cause wrinkles
* It has natural antihistamine properties, so it is great for people who have skin allergies.
*It is a natural healer for wounds and scars
*It promotes skin elasticity
*It promotes cell rejuvenation

A Naturally effective Vitamin C Facemask

1 desert spoonful of raw honey
1 teaspoon of camu camu

Mix these two ingredients together and rub on cleansed skin. Let it set for 15 minutes and then wash off. You can do this as often as you want, as both ingredients are non toxic and healing.
Camu camu is a stable and rich source of vitamin C to help rejuvenate your skin.
Raw honey defends the skin against bacteria and fungus, as well as free radicals. It is packed with nutrients for beautiful skin, including vitamin C.

http://www.naturalnews.com/025342.html

Doctor Leaked Sensitive Documents on Avandia Study to GlaxoSmithKline

 (NaturalNews) A health researcher who has taken consulting money from GlaxoSmithKline admits that he tipped the company off that a study was about to be published showing that the diabetes drug Avandia significantly raised patients' risk of heart attack and death, according to an article published in the journal ,Nature.

In early 2007, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) contacted Dr. Stephen Haffner, a researcher at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and asked him to peer review a study by Dr. Steve Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic. The journal was considering for publication Nissen's now-famous study, which showed that patients taking Avandia had a 43 percent higher risk of suffering a heart attack.

In the peer review process, researchers in the same field attempt to find flaws in the methodology or analysis of new studies, to ensure that all studies published meet good scientific standards. Reviewers promise to keep all research confidential before publication.

Haffner has admitted that he faxed a copy of Nissen's study to a GlaxoSmithKline employee 17 days ahead of the publication date. Haffner knew the employee due to his own prior work studying Avandia.

The Senate Finance Committee has launched an investigation into Haffner's actions and sent a letter to GlaxoSmithKline asking for more information about the incident.

"According to documents filed at the FDA, GlaxoSmithKline has paid Dr. Haffner around $75,000 in consulting fees and speaking honoraria since 1999," committee member Charles Grassley of Iowa wrote. "Did GlaxoSmithKline contact the NEJM to report this violation of publishing ethics?"

GlaxoSmithKline spokesperson Nancy Pekarek told the press that Haffner contacted the company with questions about the study's methodology, requesting statistical assistance. Pekarek said that the company did not respond to Haffner, nor did it report his actions to the NEJM.

The University of Texas Health Science Center announced that it was investigating Haffner's actions. The NEJM said it would handle any ethics violations, such as a breach of confidential peer-review process, privately.

FDA Approves Some New Drugs Illegally

(NaturalNews) The Office of Inspector General has just released a sickening report on the FDA's drug approval process; providing evidence the FDA has approved drugs without following required legal procedures. When is this madness going to stop?

The Office of Inspector General (OIG), as mandated by law, is the government agency responsible for making sure the FDA is abiding by Federal law, properly following procedure and protocol to assure the safety of human and animal foods and human and animal drugs. A new report from the OIG provides clear cut evidence the FDA is NOT doing their job; not following proper protocol required by Federal law.

The OIG investigated the FDA drug approval process; they discovered that in 2007, the FDA approved numerous new drugs without complete information; specifically conflict of financial interest information of clinical trial investigators.

The drug approval process is a lengthy and costly procedure. Millions of dollars are spent getting a new drug to market; many drugs fail the clinical process resulting in millions lost to the drug manufacturer. No refunds are provided to a drug company whose product fails clinical trials. In other words, the success of the clinical trial could mean the difference between a drug company making millions of dollars or losing millions of dollars.

The Federal government recognizes the importance a new drug clinical trial; the health and safety of future patients are at stake, and the government recognizes that the prospect of millions of dollars in profits can tend to make a company do bad things. As a result, Federal law requires that all investigators involved in clinical trials disclose any potential financial interests with the drug company. Law requires the FDA to review all clinical investigators financial information before a new drug is approved for sale, and should any conflict of interest be found, to closely re-examine the entire approval process.

Just to clarify the severity of the OIG findings, as example, XYZ Drug Company has applied for FDA approval of it's new drug XYZ-E. Ten million dollars have been spent in the drug's development, five million dollars to the FDA for approval; and the clinical trial begins. XYZ Drug Company REALLY needs this drug to be approved, so, the clinical investigators hired to manage the required clinical drug trials are provided stock in XYZ Drug Company as part of the compensation for their 'work'. Any smart investigator realizes, if the clinical trial does well, so will I. The 'smart investigator' oversees the clinical trial making sure things go well, the new drug appears to be the next miracle drug, is approved and everyone gets healthy, or wealthy.

You can see why government requires all clinical investigators involved in the process of testing a new drug, be required to provide the FDA any and all financial interest information of those involved in the clinical trial process. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that a financial interest in the outcome of the clinical trial of those that run the clinical trial, could sway the results of the testing, putting countless humans and pets (depending on the drug) at great risk.

The Big problem is for drugs approved in fiscal year 2007, the FDA did NOT review all the conflict of interest financial information, in fact they didn't even collect this information on many new approved drugs.

The Inspector General's findings:
- 23% of 2007's approved drugs and approved medical devices were missing required attachments.
- 31% of the 2007 FDA approved drugs and approved medical devices showed the FDA did not document any financial information.
- 20% of the 2007 FDA approved drugs and approved medical devices showed the FDA did not take action to minimize potential bias of clinical trial investigators.

The FDA's response to the OIG investigation and report, in typical form, was basically 'it's not our fault'. The FDA told the Inspector General, that the responsibility for collecting financial information regarding potential bias of clinical drug trial investigators was the responsibility of the drug companies. The OIG report stated "FDA asserted that this additional effort would not be worthwhile because financial interests are only one form of potential bias."

The findings of the Inspector General prove the FDA cannot or will not, abide by Federal law, and furthermore, is not a Government Agency that has the best interest of U.S. citizens in mind. With pet food being at the very bottom of the FDA 'to do' list, just imagine what's done and/or not done with regards to pet food safety.

Bailouts are the latest topic of discussion in Washington. Perhaps the law makers in Washington should take a closer look at the FDA's misgivings, and consider an FDA bailout, of sorts. Not a financial bailout; a different kind, more like a 'throw out', a 'throw out' the front door every member of FDA administration. So long, good-bye, see ya, you are fired, don't come back, don't ask for a referral!

To read the full Inspector General report: http://www.oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-...

http://www.naturalnews.com/025346.html

Chamomile Tea Regulates Blood Sugar, Prevents and Manages Diabetes

(NaturalNews) The importance of regulating blood sugar is clear: stabilizing blood sugar can prevent many health problems, one of the most obvious being diabetes, which is often a result of years of unstable blood sugar. Fortunately, for most of us it is within our power to take control of our blood sugar levels by remaining active and making the right food choicesâ€"and also by drinking chamomile tea.

Chamomile tea has long been prized for its ability to calm and relax, making it a favored tea for bedtime, but now a recent study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry shows chamomile may serve another purpose: regulating blood sugar.

At the University of Toyama in Japan and at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research in the United Kingdom, researchers studied the effect of chamomile tea on diabetic rats. Half of the rats were given a dose of chamomile extract for three weeks. Another set of diabetic rats was given a normal diet with no addition of chamomile.

The study observed that when chamomile was given to the rats, a lesser amount of glucose was turned into sorbitol (a sugar alcohol). Excess sorbitol can cause damage to kidneys, eyes and nerve cells. The enzymes primarily responsible for this kind of damage in diabetics were also inhibited in the chamomile rats. The rats who were fed chamomile extract also showed an overall decrease in blood glucose compared to the other rats.

The authors of the study stated there is a clear link between the daily consumption of chamomile tea and preventing the progression of diabetes and hyperglycemia. As usual there are those who say more research needs to be done to determine just how effective this treatment can be, but to anyone searching for a natural way of regulating blood sugar, the results of this study are more than enough encouragement to start drinking chamomile tea.

Chamomile tea's benefits aren't only for those with diabetes. For diabetics, stabilizing blood sugar is crucial for good health, but the truth is even people without diabetes can benefit from maintaining normal blood sugar levels. Blood sugar swings are associated with fatigue, sugar cravings and insulin resistance, among other symptoms. Taking measures to regulate blood sugar can actually prevent the onset of diabetes in healthy individuals, and it will also help you feel more energetic and maintain a healthy weight.

Of course, if you're considering drinking chamomile tea solely to regulate your blood sugar, keep in mind it's a healthy addition to an overall lifestyle that naturallly contributes to healthy blood sugar. Other steps which should be included in this lifestyle are regular exercise, eating balanced meals, avoiding refined foods and getting plenty of sleep.

http://www.naturalnews.com/025330.html

Fish oil may prevent Alzheimer's weight loss
Last Updated: 2009-01-16 16:55:39 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Fish oil supplements could help Alzheimer's patients maintain a healthy weight, a new study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society shows.
People begin losing weight in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and get thinner as the disease progresses, Dr. Gerd Faxen Irving of Karolinksa University Hospital Huddinge in Stockholm and her colleagues note in their report. Several factors may contribute, they add, including inflammation, dulling of taste and smell, and the roaming and fidgeting characteristic of the disease, which may cause people to burn more calories.
Given that people with Alzheimer's disease have low levels of omega-3 fatty acids that drop further as the disease progresses, Irving and her team investigated whether supplementing with these nutrients might improve weight and appetite. They randomly assigned 204 men and women with mild to moderate Alzheimer's to 0.7 grams of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and 0.6 grams of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) or a placebo for 6 months, after which both groups took the supplements for an additional 6 months.
At the study's outset, patients weighed 70 kilograms (154 pounds), on average. Six months later, the omega-3 group had gained 0.7 kilograms (1.5 pounds), but the placebo group's average weight was unchanged.
After 1 year, the men and women who had been on omega-3s for the full 12 months had gained 1.4 kilograms (3 pounds). The placebo group also gained a moderate amount of weight after being switched to omega-3s. Omega-3s improved appetite as rated by caregivers in both groups.
The difference in weight gain between the two groups did not reach statistical significance, but the fact that further analysis found that weight gain rose in tandem with blood levels of DHA supports the benefit of the supplements for maintaining weight, Irving and her colleagues say.
They conclude: "A DHA-enriched omega-3 fatty acid supplement may positively affect weight and appetite in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease."
SOURCE: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, January 2009.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/01/16/eline/links/20090116elin003.html

T&L fibres could hold weight, diabetes benefits: Study

Nutraingredients.com,, 19-Jan-2009

Maize-based dietary fibres have been found to help lower glycemic and insulin responses, potentially opening up opportunities for their use in foods for weight management and diabetes control, reports a new study from the University of Toronto.

The study, sponsored by UK ingredient firm Tate & Lyle, tested the firm's Promitor Resistant starch and Promitor Soluble Gluco Fibre for their effect on blood glucose control.
Earlier studies have already indicated that decreasing the dietary glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) – which measure blood sugar response to food consumption – may play a role in improving risk factors associated with heart disease and diabetes.
According to Cyril WC Kendall, Ph.D., research associate, at the University of Toronto, their most recent findings suggest that "as a low-calorie ingredient, soluble gluco fibre may aid in weight and disease management by helping to control post-meal glucose and insulin spikes."
The study appears in the December 2008 issue of the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, due to be published within the coming days.
Carbohydrates vs glucose
Kendall and colleagues at the university's Department of Nutrition Sciences enrolled 12 healthy volunteers of various ethnic backgrounds for their study.
The participants, all aged between 26 and 36, had an average body mass index of 25.
They were fed seven test beverages containing Tate & Lyle's maize-based fibre ingredients (with 25g total carbohydrate) along with two control meals (which contained 50g glucose) on separate occasions in random order.
The test meals were consumed within a space of 10 minutes after a 10-14 hour overnight fast. Blood samples were taken before the meal, and at regular intervals for the two hours following the meal, and tested for blood glucose levels and insulin.
All the fibre ingredients and combination products tested resulted in "significantly reduced" glycemic and insulinemic responses than the control.
"These data indicate that the fibres tested contain carbohydrates that resist digestion and absorption in the small intestine and may be of value in the formulation of foods that produce lower glycemic responses," wrote the researchers.
However they added that further assessment of the ingredients in beverages and foods is required to determine their effectiveness in decreasing risk factors for cardiovascular disease and improving glycemic control.
Promitor
Tate & Lyle's Promitor resistant starch product is designed to replace flour and can be used in baked products and snacks, including cereal, crackers, cookies, bread and pasta.
The company's Promitor corn fibre product replaces sugar in product applications, and can be used in foods and beverages ranging from cereal coatings, soup and sauces to jams, fillings, confectionery and dairy products.
Both ingredients in the Promitor line are prebiotic fibres.
The authors of the current study conclude: "While further assessment is necessary in beverage and foods containing these fibers, they may be effective in applications for dietary strategies to control diabetes and other chronic diseases. In addition, the in vitro digestibility assay correlated well with in vivo data and may be useful in guiding product development."
Source:
Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 27, No.6 (December 2008)
Authors: Cyril W.C. Kendall, PhD, Amin Esfahani, MSc, Andrew J. Hoffman, PhD, Annette Evans, PhD, Lisa M. Sanders, PhD, Andrea R. Josse, MSc, Edward Vidgen, BSc, Susan M. Potter, PhD
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/T-L-fibres-could-hold-weight-diabetes-benefits-Study

Magnet therapy helps to remove lead from blood
TIMES OF INDIA   17 Jan 2009, 0000 hrs IST

HONG KONG: South Korean scientists may have found a way to remove dangerous heavy metals such as lead from blood by using specially designed

magnetic receptors.

The receptors bind strongly to lead ions

and can be easily removed, along with their lead cargo, using magnets, they wrote in an article in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, a leading chemistry journal.

"Detoxification could theoretically work like haemodialysis: the blood is diverted out of the body and into a special chamber containing the biocompatible magnetic particles," they wrote. "By using magnetic fields, the charged magnetic particles could be fished out. The purified blood is then reintroduced to the patient."

Lead is a dangerous heavy metal and is especially toxic to children. Safe and effective detoxification processes are especially important.

The South Korean team, lead by Jong Hwa Jung at the Gyeongsang National University's department of chemistry, managed to remove 96% of lead ions from blood samples using these magnetic particles.

Exposure to lead in developed countries is mostly a result of occupational hazards, from lead used in paint and gasoline. Outside of occupational hazards, children sometimes fall victim to lead poisoning. A child who swallows large amounts of lead may develop anaemia, muscle weakness and brain damage. Where poisoning occurs, it is usually gradual, with small amounts of the metal accumulating over a long period of time

Magnet_therapy_helps_to_remove_lead_from_blood

2008 Global Temperature Ties As Eighth Warmest On Record

ScienceDaily (Jan. 19, 2009) — The year 2008 tied with 2001 as the eighth warmest year on record for the Earth, based on the combined average of worldwide land and ocean surface temperatures through December, according to a preliminary analysis by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.  For December alone, the month also ranked as the eighth warmest globally, for the combined land and ocean surface temperature. The assessment is based on records dating back to 1880. 
The analyses in NCDC's global reports are based on preliminary data, which are subject to revision.  Additional quality control is applied to the data when late reports are received several weeks after the end of the month and as increased scientific methods improve NCDC's processing algorithms.
NCDC's ranking of 2008 as the eighth warmest year compares to a ranking of ninth warmest based on an analysis by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The NOAA and NASA analyses differ slightly in methodology, but both use data from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center – the federal government's official source for climate data.
Global Temperature Highlights – 2008

• The combined global land and ocean surface temperature from January-December was 0.88 degree F (0.49 degree C) above the 20th Century average of 57.0 degrees F (13.9 degrees C). Since 1880, the annual combined global land and ocean surface temperature has increased at a rate of 0.09 degree F (0.05 degree C) per decade. This rate has increased to 0.29 degree F (0.16 degree C) per decade over the past 30 years.
• Separately, the global land surface temperature for 2008, through December, was sixth warmest, with an average temperature 1.46 degrees F (0.81 degree C) above the 20th Century average of 47.3 degrees F (8.5 degrees C).
• Also separately, the global ocean surface temperature for 2008, through December, was 0.67 degree F (0.37 degree C) above the 20th Century average of 60.9 degrees F (16.1 degrees C) and ranked tenth warmest.

Global Temperature Highlights – December 2008

• The December combined global land and ocean surface temperature was 0.86 degree F (0.48 degree C) above the 20th Century average of 54.0 degrees F (12.2 degrees C).
• Separately, the December 2008 global land surface temperature was 1.22 degrees F (0.68 degree C) above the 20th Century average of 38.7 degrees F (3.7 degrees C) and ranked 14th warmest.
• For December, the global ocean surface temperature was 0.74 degree F (0.41 degree C) above the 20th Century average of 60.4 degrees F (15.7 degrees C) and tied with December 2001 and December 2005 as sixth warmest. 

Other Global Highlights for 2008

• The United States recorded a preliminary total of 1,690 tornadoes during 2008, which is well above the 10-year average of 1,270 and ranks as the second highest annual total since reliable records began in 1953. The high number of tornado-related fatalities during the first half of the year made 2008 the 10th deadliest with a 2008 total of 125 deaths.
• Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent in December was 16.95 million square miles (43.91 million square kilometers).  This was 0.17 million square miles (0.43 million square kilometers) above the 1966-2008 December average.  Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent was below average for most of 2008.
• Arctic sea ice extent in 2008 reached its second lowest melt season extent on record in September.  The minimum of 1.80 million square miles (4.67 million square kilometers) was 0.80 million square miles (2.09 million square kilometers) below the 1979-2000 average minimum extent.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090116163206.htm

Free Antibiotics: Wrong Prescription For Cold And Flu Season, Experts Say

ScienceDaily (Jan. 19, 2009) — With an epidemic of antibiotic-resistant infections growing, experts are warning grocery-store pharmacies that antibiotics giveaways are an unhealthy promotional gimmick. If grocery stores want to help customers and save them money during cold and flu season, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) says, they should offer free influenza vaccinations instead.
 Giant, Stop & Shop, and other grocery stores have recently begun offering free antibiotics at their pharmacies. Most concerning are promotions such as Wegmans' that link antibiotics to the winter cold-and-flu season—despite the fact that antibiotics will have no effect on these viral illnesses and carry risks of serious side effects.
 "While it may make good marketing sense, promoting antibiotics at a time when we are facing a crisis of antibiotic resistance does not make good public health sense," said IDSA President Anne Gershon, MD. "On the other hand, grocery stores would be doing a tremendous service if they help more people get their flu shots."
 A new study in the February 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases shows that workers age 50-64 who received influenza vaccine lost substantially fewer days of work and worked fewer days while ill. But influenza vaccine is underutilized. Millions of doses were thrown away at the end of the last two flu seasons.
 "The opposite is true for antibiotics," said Lauri Hicks, DO, medical director for the "Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work" program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "Each year tens of millions of antibiotics are prescribed for viral conditions, like the common cold, for which antibiotics are totally ineffective. Overuse of antibiotics is jeopardizing the effectiveness of these essential drugs."
 For example, in some parts of the country methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is the leading cause of emergency room visits for skin and soft tissue infections. To make matters worse, there are very few new antibiotics under development to fight resistant bacteria.
 In addition, the risks associated with antibiotics are under-appreciated. Allergic reactions and other adverse events cause an estimated 142,000 emergency room visits annually, according to a recent study by CDC.
 "Most doctors know better than to prescribe antibiotics when they are not needed," Dr. Gershon added. "But many find it hard to say 'no' to sick patients who think antibiotics will make them feel better. We are concerned that these pharmacy marketing efforts will encourage patients to ask for antibiotics prescriptions."
IDSA urges grocery store pharmacies to partner with the CDC's "Get Smart" program. CDC and its partners educate the public and health care providers about when antibiotics will and won't work and the dangers of antibiotic resistance. For more information, see the Get Smart website.
 "Lowering customers' health care costs is an admirable goal," Dr. Gershon said. "But singling out antibiotics for promotion when we are facing a crisis of antibiotic resistance is the wrong way to do it. On the other hand, free influenza vaccinations could make a real contribution to public health."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090116111137.htm

Surprising New Health And Environmental Concerns About Tungsten

ScienceDaily (Jan. 19, 2009) — Surprising new scientific research is raising concerns about the potential health and environmental hazards of tungsten — a metal used in products ranging from bullets to light bulbs to jewelry — that scientists once thought was environmentally-benign, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News.
In the article, C&EN Associate Editor Rachel Petkewich notes that scientists have long held that tungsten is relatively insoluble in water and nontoxic. As a result, the U.S. military developed in the mid 1990s so-called "green bullets" that contain tungsten as a more environmentally-friendly alternative to lead-based ammunition.
But studies now show that tungsten, which is also used in welding, metal cutting, and other applications, is not as chemically inert as previously thought. Some forms of tungsten can move readily though soil and groundwater under certain environmental conditions. Both the U.S. Department of Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency now classify the element as an "emerging contaminant" of concern.
Although scientists think that tungsten seems much less toxic than lead or mercury, they do not know its exact health and environmental effects, the article notes. Scientists have shown that exposure to tungsten can stunt the growth of plants, cause reproductive problems in earthworms, and trigger premature death in certain aquatic animals. But whether or not tungsten can cause chronic health effects in humans, and its mechanism of action, awaits further study, the article suggests.
. Unease Over Tungsten. Chemical & Engineering News, January 19, 2009
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090119091051.htm

New Therapeutic Properties Of N-acetyl-L-cysteine Discovered

ScienceDaily (Jan. 19, 2009) — Researchers from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Univesidad de Alcalá (UAH), confirm that N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) combined with mesalamine (GARY, THIS IS A PHARMA DRUG THOUGH!) produces a significant improvement in patients suffering from ulcerative colitis.
The team headed by Luis González Guijarro, biochemistry and molecular biology professor at the UAH, in collaboration with the pharmaceutical firm Farmasierra S.L., has developed a pilot study of the effects of N-acetyl-L-cysteine on patients suffering from moderate or mild ulcerative colitis. The conclusion reached in this study, and published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology, is that the association of N-acetyl-L-cysteine and mesalamine, reduces the symptoms of patients affected with this condition. Previous to now, these patients were treated solely with mesalamine.
Professor González Guijarro explains that ulcerative colitis is a form of inflammatory bowel disease that specifically affects the colon, producing free radicals and hydrogen peroxide. The cells of our immune system protect the body from infections using several weapons and neutrophils, the most abundant type of white blood cell in our organism, destroying microorganisms and producing hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is unstable and breaks down into hydroxyl radicals that cause damage to the delicate tissues. Professor González Guijarro states that the intention of the co-administration of NAC and mesalamine was to eliminate the hydrogen peroxide and reduce the number of free radicals using N-acetyl-L-cysteine. N-acetyl-L-cysteine is a precursor to glutathione, a molecule that along with glutathione peroxidase, eliminates hydrogen peroxide.
The study carried out in collaboration with the Gregorio Marañón hospital and the Princesa hospital, is the first step in the long process that has to take place before any drug reaches drugstores. Work must begin on the association of mesalamine and NAC into a single product; since the study was carried out by administering one drug as a pill and the other as a soluble compound.
The professor of biochemistry and molecular biology insists that the clinical and biochemical effects have to be continuously recorded in order to corroborate the preliminary indications. For example, that this association does not produce any adverse side effects, and that N-acetyl-L-cysteine can be significant in the quimioprevention of colon cancer.
Another objective of the team of the UAH is to direct the molecule to the inflamed colon, using an enteric coating that should degrade at a certain pH. This way when the patient ingests the pill, the drug will pass through the stomach and intestine and will only be released in the colon.
N-acetyl-L-cysteine, is a drug normally used for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and to minimize the effects of cold and flu. Its hepatic protective properties also make this drug a useful tool in paracetamol intoxications.
The research team at Alcalá University has been studying the new therapeutic properties of NAC for years, producing results such as an in vitro study where N-acetyl-L-cysteine reduced the negative effects caused by azathioprine, a immunosuppressant of clinical use, on the liver. Currently many research groups are working on the application of NAC in the treatment of diverse pathologies, such as diabetes, alcohol and cocaine dependence syndromes.
Every advance in the treatment of ulcerative colitis is of great relevance because the disease causes many discomforts in the patient while conditioning their life. In the early stages the symptoms are mainly diarrhea, weight loss, and intestinal bleeding, but once it aggravates, intestinal fistulas appear. "Nowadays new extremely powerful drugs are being developed; so-called biological drugs, like anti-TNF antibodies, that even manage to cure the fistulas but cause negative side effects and are very expensive. Every improvement in the application of classic drugs with enteric coatings, combinations of drugs, etc… represent less risk for the patient and savings for the social security" states González Guijarro.
"The future in treating diseases is customized treatments. In order for a drug to work, the weight and age of the patient must be considered, but their genetic information will also provide the key to evaluate whether a certain molecule would be effective for the particular patient" concludes the Professor of the UAH.

European Evolutionary Biologists Rally Behind Richard Dawkins' Extended Phenotype

ScienceDaily (Jan. 19, 2009) — Richard Dawkins' Extended Phenotype (EP) concept is as relevant now as when it was first proposed 26 years ago and is not at odds with other evolutionary explanations. This was the conclusion of a recent workshop on the Extended Phenotype today, organized by the European Science Foundation (ESF).
The EP states that the genes of an organism can be expressed beyond its immediate biological boundary, extending for example to birds' nests, or the behaviour of hosts infected by parasites. The key point is that the EP embraces constructions, such as the dams built by beavers, whose quality is correlated with variations, or alleles, in certain of the organism's genes, so that natural selection can act upon them. A new allele that leads to better dam constructions will in turn benefit the beaver expressing it. Similarly a parasite allele that causes the behaviour of its host to change in a way that increases the parasite's chance of survival will be favoured.
Dawkins regarded EP as his single most important contribution to evolutionary biology, but since its publication in 1982, other theories have emerged and questions have arisen over its own fitness for survival. Any doubts were dispelled at the ESF conference, which resurrected EP as an important and valuable concept that helps explain evolution, even though it does not actually help predict specific outcomes.
"It was recognised that it has explanatory rather than predictive power," said David Hughes, convenor of the ESF workshop, from the Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, now at Harvard. "It is a good way of looking at things but not necessarily the best approach when designing experiments."
The idea that niche construction, often considered as a rival theory, contradicted EP was dismissed. "It was agreed that other currently topical points of debate such as Niche Construction theory had no major conflict with the EP," said Hughes.
However there was lively debate between Dawkins and proponents of niche construction over the role of evolution within closely coupled ecosystems. Niche construction theory goes further than EP by suggesting that organisms can alter the selective pressures acting on them by modifying their environment in many ways beyond immediate constructions such as beaver dams. In niche construction theory, the link between variations in an organism's genes and in the surrounding environment is more loosely coupled with no clear mechanism for natural selection to operate.
However according to niche construction theory, there is a feedback effect, in that the genes of organisms alter the environment indirectly, for example by improving nests, that in turn modifies the selective pressures on those genes. Dawkins argued that niche construction is really a special case of EP, relating to genes of those organisms that participate in the relevant environmental construction. But he dismissed the idea that evolution can act in a broader sense across a whole ecosystem, extending to organisms not directly involved in the niche construction. He reiterated the point running through all his books, that selection can only operate against variation of replicators, which are almost always alleles (variants) of genes. The variation in genes caused by mutation generates the different phenotypes, characteristics such as animal behaviour, that allow natural selection to work.
Some advocates of niche construction have suggested that evolution can operate at longer range. For example beavers construct dams that might benefit other animals not directly associated with them. While this may be the case, Dawkins has consistently argued that this would not result in behaviour that would help select genes in beavers themselves that would lead to better dams. Only organisms whose response to better dams has a direct benefit for beavers can affect selection of beaver genes, Dawkins argues.
These points were accepted at the ESF workshop, which concluded that the EP was fine as it stood with no need of revision. Moreover, it emerged that recent research on metabolism had reinforced the EP concept, in particular by showing how closely the health of mammals including humans depends on the populations of microbes, especially bacteria, in the gut. EP might help understand how these populations have evolved in concert with mammals.
Ideas for further projects were proposed. "A follow up funding application is a great idea and it should focus on examining the parasite manipulation of host behaviour component," said Hughes. "There was also a suggestion to have a separate application for a nest construction pan-EU network." These programs would be truly European, typically involving 5-7 partners across the EU.
The ESF Explanatory Workshop, The New Role of the Extended Phenotype in Evolutionary Biology, was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, 2-5 November 2008.

Key To A Healthy Lifestyle Is In The Mind

ScienceDaily (Jan. 18, 2009) — The main factors influencing the amount of physical exercise people carry out are their self-perceived ability and the extent of their desire to exercise. A study of 5167 Canadians has shown that psychological concerns are the most important barriers to an active lifestyle.
Sai Yi Pan, from the Public Health Agency of Canada, led a team of researchers who carried out a study which examined data from a nationwide series of telephone interviews. She said "Our findings highlight the need for health promotion programs to enhance people's confidence and motivation, as well as providing education on the health benefits of physical activity".
One interview question asked participants how confident they were that they could regularly do a total of 30 minutes of moderate physical activity (PA) three or four times a week and a total of 60 minutes of light PA each day. This 'self-efficacy' score was consistently found to be related to higher PA across gender, age group, education level and family income level. According to the authors, "Confidence in one's personal ability to carry out exercise plays a central role in the direction, intensity and persistence of health-behavior change. People who have higher PA self-efficacy will perceive fewer barriers to PA, or be less influenced by them, and will be more likely to enjoy PA".
Likewise, participants were asked to what extent they intended to be physically active over the next six months. This 'intention score' was another important independent correlate of physical activity.
The strong effects of self-efficacy and intention on PA suggest that interventions designed to increase PA should target these factors. The authors conclude that, "Future research is needed to identify how those influences can be optimally incorporated into interventions that will increase people's belief in their ability and motivation/intention to be physically active".
Sai Yi Pan, Christine Cameron, Marie DesMeules, Howard Morrison, Cora LYNN Craig and Xiaohong Jiang. Individual, Social Environmental, and Physical Environmental Correlates with Physical Activity among Canadians: a Cross-sectional Study. BMC Public Health, (in press)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090115190449.htm

Declining Male Fertility Linked To Water Pollution

ScienceDaily (Jan. 18, 2009) — New research strengthens the link between water pollution and rising male fertility problems. The study, by Brunel University, the Universities of Exeter and Reading and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, shows for the first time how a group of testosterone-blocking chemicals is finding its way into UK rivers, affecting wildlife and potentially humans.
The study identified a new group of chemicals that act as 'anti-androgens'. This means that they inhibit the function of the male hormone, testosterone, reducing male fertility. Some of these are contained in medicines, including cancer treatments, pharmaceutical treatments, and pesticides used in agriculture. The research suggests that when they get into the water system, these chemicals may play a pivotal role in causing feminising effects in male fish.
Earlier research by Brunel University and the University of Exeter has shown how female sex hormones (estrogens), and chemicals that mimic estrogens, are leading to 'feminisation' of male fish. Found in some industrial chemicals and the contraceptive pill, they enter rivers via sewage treatment works. This causes reproductive problems by reducing fish breeding capability and in some cases can lead to male fish changing sex.
Other studies have also suggested that there may be a link between this phenomenon and the increase in human male fertility problems caused by testicular dysgenesis syndrome. Until now, this link lacked credence because the list of suspects causing effects in fish was limited to estrogenic chemicals whilst testicular dysgenesis is known to be caused by exposure to a range of anti-androgens.
Lead author on the research paper, Dr Susan Jobling at Brunel University's Institute for the Environment, said: "We have been working intensively in this field for over ten years. The new research findings illustrate the complexities in unravelling chemical causation of adverse health effects in wildlife populations and re-open the possibility of a human – wildlife connection in which effects seen in wild fish and in humans are caused by similar combinations of chemicals. We have identified a new group of chemicals in our study on fish, but do not know where they are coming from. A principal aim of our work is now to identify the source of these pollutants and work with regulators and relevant industry to test the effects of a mixture of these chemicals and the already known environmental estrogens and help protect environmental health."
Senior author Professor Charles Tyler of the University of Exeter said: "Our research shows that a much wider range of chemicals than we previously thought is leading to hormone disruption in fish. This means that the pollutants causing these problems are likely to be coming from a wide variety of sources. Our findings also strengthen the argument for the cocktail of chemicals in our water leading to hormone disruption in fish, and contributing to the rise in male reproductive problems. There are likely to be many reasons behind the rise in male fertility problems in humans, but these findings could reveal one, previously unknown, factor."
Bob Burn, Principal Statistician in the Statistical Services Centre at the University of Reading, said: "State-of- the- art statistical hierarchical modelling has allowed us to explore the complex associations between the exposure and potential effects seen in over 1000 fish sampled from 30 rivers in various parts of England."
The research took more than three years to complete and was conducted by the University of Exeter, Brunel University, University of Reading and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. Statistical modelling was supported by Beyond the Basics Ltd.
The research team is now focusing on identifying the source of anti-androgenic chemicals, as well as continuing to study their impact on reproductive health in wildlife and humans.
The research was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council and is now published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090118200636.htm

Arctic Heats Up More Than Other Places: High Sea Level Rise Predicted

ScienceDaily (Jan. 16, 2009) — Temperature change in the Arctic is happening at a greater rate than other places in the Northern Hemisphere, and this is expected to continue in the future.
As a result, glacier and ice-sheet melting, sea-ice retreat, coastal erosion and sea level rise can be expected to continue.
A new comprehensive scientific synthesis of past Arctic climates demonstrates for the first time the pervasive nature of Arctic climate amplification.
The U.S. Geological Survey led this new assessment, which is a synthesis of published science literature and authored by a team of climate scientists from academia and government. The U.S. Climate Change Science Program commissioned the report, which has contributions from 37 scientists from the United States, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom and Denmark.
The new report also makes several conclusions about the Arctic:

• Taken together, the size and speed of the summer sea-ice loss over the last few decades is highly unusual compared to events from previous thousands of years, especially considering that changes in Earth's orbit over this time have made sea-ice melting less, not more, likely.
• Sustained warming of at least a few degrees (more than approximately 4° to 13°F above average 20th century values) is likely to be sufficient to cause the nearly complete, eventual disappearance of the Greenland ice sheet, which would raise sea level by several meters.
• The current rate of human-influenced Arctic warming is comparable to peak natural rates documented by reconstructions of past climates. However, some projections of future human-induced change exceed documented natural variability.
• The past tells us that when thresholds in the climate system are crossed, climate change can be very large and very fast. We cannot rule out that human induced climate change will trigger such events in the future.

"By integrating research on the past 65 million years of climate change in the entire circum-Arctic, we have a better understanding on how climate change affects the Arctic and how those effects may impact the whole globe," said USGS Director Mark Myers. "This report provides the first comprehensive analysis of the real data we have on past climate conditions in the Arctic, with measurements from ice cores, sediments and other Earth materials that record temperature and other conditions."
Final Report of Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.1 Coastal Sensitivity to Sea-Level Rise: A Focus on the Mid-Atlantic Region
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090116111135.htm