Natural Health News

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Children and teens who have high blood levels of chemicals used in the production of non-stick cookware may be more likely to have elevated LDL cholesterol levels, according to a report.

Humans are exposed to perfluoroalkyl acids, such as PFOA and PFOS, through drinking water, dust, food packaging, breast milk, cord blood, microwave popcorn, air and occupational exposure. Recent survey results reported detection of these chemicals in almost all people in the U.S.

Newswise reports:

“[Researchers] assessed serum lipid levels in 12,476 children and adolescents (average age 11.1) ... [H]igher PFOA levels were associated with increased total cholesterol and LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol, and PFOS was associated with increased total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and HDL or ‘good’ cholesterol.”

A 97 year old woman's pet cat saves her from attacking pit bulls.

Fluoride avoidance reduced anemia in pregnant women, and decreased preterm births, according to a new study.

Anemia in pregnancy can lead to maternal and infant mortality; It continues to be a problem despite nutritional counseling and maternal iron and folic acid supplementation.

Medical News Today reports:

“Anemic pregnant women living in India, whose urine contained 1 mg/L fluoride or more, were separated into two groups. The experimental group avoided fluoride in water, food and other sources ... Results reveal that anemia was reduced and pre-term and low-birth-weight babies were considerably fewer in the fluoride-avoidance group”.

Researchers have reported a surprise finding from a small clinical study -- cranberry juice cocktail blocked a strain of Staphylococcus aureus from beginning the process of infection.

Strains of S. aureus can cause a range of infections, from minor skin rashes to serious bloodstream infections. One particular strain, known as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is a growing public health problem because it doesn't respond to most antibiotics.

Science Daily reports:

“To cause an infection, bacteria must first adhere to a host, then gather together in colonies to form a biofilm ... [A]nalysis showed that the urine samples from subjects who had recently consumed cranberry juice cocktail significantly reduced the ability of E. coli and S. aureus to form biofilms”.

The federal government has warned some Wyoming not to drink their water, and to use fans and ventilation when showering or washing clothes in order to avoid the risk of an explosion.

The announcement followed results from testing and analysis in the town of Pavillion, which has extensive natural gas development. Researchers found benzene, metals, naphthalene, phenols and methane in wells and in groundwater.

According to Pro Publica:

“EnCana, the oil and gas company that owns most of the wells near Pavillion, has agreed to contribute to the cost of supplying residents with drinking water, even though the company has not accepted responsibility for the contamination.”

Drinking green tea every day for a month could protect you against damage at a genetic level. The benefits are linked to the beverage’s antioxidant content.

Combined results from two studies indicated a 20 percent reduction in levels of DNA damage. The research adds to an already large body of science supporting the potential benefits of green tea and the polyphenolic compounds it contains.

According to NutraIngredients:

“Green tea contains between 30 and 40 per cent of water-extractable polyphenols, while black tea (green tea that has been oxidized by fermentation) contains between 3 and 10 percent. The four primary polyphenols found in fresh tealeaves are epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), epigallocatechin, epicatechin gallate, and epicatechin.”

Historically, infant formulas are known to be contaminated by aluminum. This has raised health concerns for exposed infants. Researchers measured the aluminum content of a number of widely used infant formulas to determine if contamination by aluminum.

They found that the concentration of aluminum in ready-made milks varied from about 176 micrograms per liter to about 700 micrograms per liter. The highest concentration was found in a milk for preterm infants. The aluminum content of powders used to make milks varied from about 2.4 to 4.3 micrograms per gram, the highest being a soy-based product.

According to Biomed Central:

“The aluminum content of a range of well known brands of infant formulas remains high ... Recent research demonstrating the vulnerability of infants to early exposure to aluminum serves to highlight an urgent need to reduce the aluminum content of infant formulas to as low a level as is practically possible.”

Researchers have found the first direct, biological evidence showing how chronic stress plays an important role in heart attacks.

Stressors have been linked to the increased of cardiovascular disease, but until now there has been no biological marker that could be used to measure chronic stress. But researchers have developed a method to measure levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, in hair — providing an accurate assessment of stress levels in the months prior to a heart attack.

According to Eurekalert:

“In the study, hair samples 3 cm long were collected from 56 male adults who were admitted to the Meir Medical Centre in Kfar-Sab, Israel suffering heart attacks. A control group, made up of 56 male patients who were hospitalized for reasons other than a heart attack, was also asked for hair samples. Higher hair cortisol levels corresponding to the previous three months were found in the heart attack patients compared to the control group.”

Oral bisphosphonate osteoporosis drugs, which include such Actonel, Boniva, and Fosamax, could be associated with an approximately twofold increased risk of esophageal cancer.

A new study showed that long-term users of the drugs had nearly double the risk for the rare but deadly cancer. Concerns about a link between bisphosphonates and esophageal cancer first reached the public a year and a half ago, when an FDA report cited 23 cases of the cancer in Fosamax users in the U.S., and another 31 cases in Europe and Japan.

WebMD reports:

“The ... analysis included close to 3,000 patients with cancer of the esophagus, 2,000 patients with stomach cancer, and 10,600 patients with colorectal cancer diagnosed between 1995 and 2005. Each cancer case was compared with five people without cancer matched for age and sex.”

by Darin L. Steen

Everyone knows the benefits of gaining more muscle and losing fat. What many people don't realize, however, is that the most time efficient way to make this happen is by lifting weights. So most people spend a whole lot of time on cardio – and little to no time with weights.

Why?

Perhaps it is because some of you are a little confused about how to achieve your fitness goals.

And when you are confused, you usually end up doing nothing. That's called "paralysis by analysis". Well, let me help put an end to some of the confusion you might have.

A major part of the success that I've had, and that over 600 of my one-on-one clients have achieved, is due to the simplicity of the program I'm about to share with you. When you believe in a simple system and add a couple tools, you have something you can both start and finish.

And therein lies the magic in this program: Starting it, and finishing it. It's that simple.

Many people I've talked to have attempted to lift weights to get in peak physical condition. They stick with it for a few weeks but don't see much improvement and sadly give up after just a few weeks.

Obviously consistency is important. You need to develop a workout plan that is time efficient (2-3 one-hour workouts per week), safe, and produces results. The key is to keep it simple and to have a plan. If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.

Going to the gym and just doing what everyone else is doing is most likely not going to result in what your hope to achieve. You need a plan.

Many people are wasting precious time in the gym because they aren't exercising correctly. If you just copy what someone else does, there is a good chance you might follow someone who doesn't know what they are doing either.

Many people who embark on a workout plan believe that once they hit a certain weight on the scale or a specific waistline measurement, they will be able to stop working out and keep their new body. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. You will need to continue working out to maintain your new level of fitness and your new and improved body.

The good news is that once you get in shape, it's not as time consuming, and it is not as much work to maintain your new level of fitness.

The plan below is very simple. I have also included workout sheets for you to use. By using the strength training logs you can be more efficient with your workouts.

The average time required to complete this workout is about 60 minutes, from start (warm-up) to finish (cool down and stretch).

I. Repetition Speed / Tempo

GO SLOW – If you go into any gym, you will undoubtedly see a majority of exercisers lifting too heavy of a weight, too fast. A common mindset for beginners or uninformed weight lifters is that "the more weight I lift and the more times I lift it, the bigger and stronger I will become."

Nothing could be further from the truth.

What happens with this style of fast, heavy lifting is that the tension created from lifting the weight can wind up in the wrong area of your body and increase your risk of injury.

For optimal results, every repetition should take about 8 seconds. We call it a 3-1-3-1 rep tempo.

If you were doing a standing barbell bicep curl for example, you would take 3 seconds to lift the bar up to your chin, pause 1 second (isometric ally squeezing your biceps) and then take 3 seconds to lower the bar back down to the starting position, pause 1 second to let the muscles totally lengthen and stretch out before starting the second repetition.

One major key to getting a higher quality rep is the "mind muscle connection".

Simply try to focus on the intended muscle with your mind. Act like you are trying to squeeze water out of a sponge in the targeted muscle. This is only possible if you lighten the weight and utilize the slower rep as discussed above. It takes some practice but makes a big difference in the quality and the safety of your workout.

II. Number of Repetitions Per Set

If you want to gain muscle, and therefore lose fat, aim for lifting the amount of weight that allows you to barely finish 12 reps on your first set, and 10 reps on your second set.

If you have no experience working out with weights, or if it has been a long time since you lifted, aim for 15 reps (with a lighter weight) on your first set for the first couple of weeks.

The goal is to get the last 2 or 3 reps that you never thought you could get. The last two or three reps are the only reps that will force your muscles to grow. If you get more or less than the goal then adjust the weight accordingly. If you finish fewer reps, reduce weight and vice versa.

Add some weight to each progressive set if you are close to the rep goal. Keep the workouts fast paced with only 60-90 seconds between sets. Doing so will add a cardiovascular aspect to your weight training sessions. It's like killing two birds with one stone.

III. Number of Sets

All that is needed is two or three sets per exercise. When you use the "make a light weight feel heavy by moving it slow" technique that helps you put your mind into your muscle, and less is more.

I know it sounds too good to be true, but 2 or 3 sets is all that is necessary. This fewer sets per exercise strategy also allows you to get your workouts in 50-60 minutes, which psychologically leads to more intense workouts.

Increased intensity means greater results. A shorter and more intense work out will also coach your body to release more anabolic hormones, which is a good thing.

A shorter workout also allows you to have the mentality that you can do this forever. It becomes a lifestyle mindset.

IV. Which Exercises and in What Order?

The exercises that are the best use of your time and yield optimal results are called compound movements. Examples would be squats, bench press, and rows.

These are movements where more than one joint is working and a majority of muscle groups are getting focused on. I have attached exercise cheat sheets to this article that I created for my Fat loss Lifestyle System. All you need to do is plug in exercises from our video library that is located at our site,

http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/default.aspx

Simply view the exercises that you want to use so you can perform them safely, effectively, and intensely. And remember that in order to gain muscle and lose fat, you need to make sure the intensity is pretty high at the end of each set.

The concept that I have developed through 28 years of training and logging over 19,000 workouts as a full time professional trainer here in Chicago, has proven to produce results in the most time efficient manner.

It didn't take me long to realize that if my program was not time efficient, no one would do it long term. And realizing that doing something long term was the only way to accomplish lasting change, I had to create a streamlined version of what bodybuilders and athletes were doing.

There is an exercise cheat sheet for both entry level and intermediate. When you use and follow the exercise videos in the library along with the exercise cheat sheets, you will be taking advantage of my most effective and efficient strategies.

By printing the cheat sheets and filling them out before your work out you will become much more focused and time efficient with your exact plan of action.

Train hard, eat well, stay positive and expect success!

CNN has published a list of the “truth about twelve “health myths”. Among the myths this article busts? “If you cross your eyes, they’ll stay that way.” “To get rid of hiccups, have someone startle you.”

Seriously? There is massive medical misinformation circulating right now which is causing an epidemic of chronic disease unprecedented in human history, and their big concern is whether or not if you cross your eyes, they’ll stay that way?

CNN is completely clueless. The primary purpose of their article is entertainment, as it has absolutely nothing to do with the top health myths. CNN is part of the problem of perpetuating MISINFOMATION.

Here are the REAL health myths, that CNN didn’t bother to mention:

1. Myth: Sun Causes Skin Cancer
2. Myth: Milk Does Your Body Good
3. Myth: Saturated Fat Causes Heart Disease
4. Myth: Low-Fat Diets are Healthy
5. Myth: Whole Grains are Good for Everyone
6. Myth: Soy is a Health Food
7. Myth: Cardio is One of the Best Types of Exercise
8. Myth: All Plant Based Supplements are as Good as Animal Supplements
9. Myth: Vaccines are Safe and Effective and Prevent Disease
10. Myth: Artificial Sweeteners are Safe, Well Tested and Help Promote Weight Loss
11. Myth: Fluoride in Your Water Lowers Your Risk of Cavities
12. Myth: GMOs Crops are Safe, Well Tested and Economically Beneficial

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has vowed to crack down on the increasingly aggressive marketing tactics being used by drug companies. However, the agency lacks the resources to halt misleading drug ads.

In 2009, companies spent $4.8 billion in direct-to-consumer advertising in the United States. Consumer advocates and others see this endless advertising as a way to push medicines that people do not need.

According to Reuters:

“All told, the number of warnings the agency has sent drugmakers has ballooned, despite voluntary industry guidelines established in 2005 to help curb complaints. In 2008, under the Bush administration, the FDA sent just 21 notices to companies for violating the agency's marketing standards. Last year, it sent 41 letters to companies. Already this year, it is outpacing that effort, having issued 45 warnings through August 28.”

Prescription drug use in the United States has been rising steadily over the past ten years. The trend shows no signs of slowing.

A study published by the CDC states that the percentage of Americans who took at least one prescription drug has risen from 43.5 percent to 48.3 percent.

According to WebMD:

“The use of two or more drugs increased from 25.4 percent to 31.2 percent over the same decade, and the use of five or more prescription medications jumped from 6.3 percent to 10.7 percent.”

The Pallas cat is a small wildcat native to central Asia. These Pallas kittens are developing the 'jumpy' movements typical of the species — in a completely adorable way.

PharmedOut is a project that educates physicians on how drug companies influence prescribing.

Dr. Douglas Melnick, a former drug company insider, explains how these companies get around the bans on promoting drugs for non-FDA-approved uses. Shahram Ahari, a former drug company representative, tells how he sold the drug Zyprexa (olanzapine), an antipsychotic drug now being assailed for its side effects. And several drug reps, their voices distorted to protect their identities, explain the real purpose of free samples.

By Dr. Mercola

You simply cannot achieve health without a well-functioning immune system.

Your immune defenses are key in protecting you from all disease, including cancer, toxic poisons, infections, inflammation, and even aging.

Your immune system actually begins in your gut — long before your blood or bone marrow become involved. In fact, 80 percent of your immune system lies in your gastrointestinal tract, which houses 100 trillion bacteria—about two to three pounds worth of bacteria!

So the expression, “He’s got a lot of guts” has some literal truth to it.

The army of bacteria that occupy the nooks and crannies of your intestine are the “DEFCON 1” of your defense system. There is even evidence that your appendix serves as a virtual military barracks for these critical defenses.

You should have about 85 percent “good” bacteria and 15 percent “bad”, but unfortunately, most people are upside down with that ratio. For this reason, I always recommend a diet rich in cultured or fermented foods, as well as a good quality probiotic supplement to restore your ratio to a healthful balance.

Probiotics have been shown to:

• Modulate your immune response and reduce inflammation
• Digest and absorb certain carbohydrates
• Produce vitamins, absorb minerals, and eliminate toxins
• Prevent allergic reactions
• Keep bad bacteria in check

Another major task of  probiotics is to  help restore your immune system after it has been damaged by antibiotics.

Antibiotics: A Prescription for Trouble

Under the right circumstances, antibiotics are very effective and necessary. That said, I believe they are vastly overused.

About 95 percent of the time, antibiotic prescriptions are totally unnecessary, and can be harmful.

According to Doug Kaufmann, author of The Fungus Link:

“Simply put, antibiotics are poisons that are used to kill ... I contend that poisons that kill small organisms in small doses—organism-specific varieties notwithstanding — can also kill big organisms, when they are taken in big doses. You, my friend, are a big organism.

Every time you swallow antibiotics, you kill the beneficial bacteria in your intestines, upsetting the delicate balance of your intestinal terrain. This can lead to a syndrome called “Leaky Gut Syndrome” whereby your intestinal wall is damaged, interfering with how your body absorbs nutrients and filters out waste and toxins.

Leaky Gut Syndrome can lead to a whole host of illnesses.

However, taking the antibiotics your physician prescribes is not the ONLY way you are getting them. Antibiotics may be the mystery ingredient in your Chicken Kiev.

From the Pig-Pen to Your Table

As much as 70 percent of all antibiotics sold in the U. S. are fed to chickens, cattle and hogs — not to treat disease but to make them grow faster. This increases profit margins for livestock producers, but it puts YOUR health at risk.

Animals are fed low doses of antibiotics, killing off some of the animals’ bacteria. Meanwhile, the stronger, more resistant bacteria survive, multiply, and pass on their strength and resistance to future generations.

A report by the Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that 70 percent of antibiotics used in this country are given to animals for growth promotion and other non-medical uses. This negligent practice is largely responsible for the potent strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria we are seeing today.

According to a 2009 University of Iowa study, 70 percent of hogs and 64 percent of workers in industrial animal confinements tested positive for the antibiotic resistant strain of MRSA. The study pointed out that, once MRSA is introduced, it could spread broadly to other swine and their caretakers, as well as to their families and friends.

Not only are antibiotics embedded in your meats, but they have made their way into your produce as well.

Antibiotics are being transferred, via the manure used as fertilizer, into your corn, lettuce, potatoes, and other crops.

Eating organically may not entirely alleviate this problem, since organic crops, which cannot be fertilized with synthetic fertilizers, are the ones most often fertilized with manure.

As it stands, manure that contains antibiotics is still allowed under the organic label. So it all depends on where the organic farmer gets his manure from. Some organic crop farmers may be getting their manure from organic cattle farms, but there’s no guarantee that’s taking place.

The only way to find out is to ask the farmer first-hand. Taking all of these factors into consideration, is it any wonder that the ratio of good-bacteria-to-bad is upside down in most people in our society?

Government Agencies Finally Taking a Stand — Sort of ...

The rise of antibiotic-resistance in livestock is so alarming that government officials have finally admitted you can become infected when you eat or simply handle infected meat. In a remarkable move by the current administration, the FDA is proposing to phase out antibiotics used to promote animals’ growth.

They also warn that the microbes can contaminate kitchen counters, utensils and other food.

Even the USDA, which usually defends agribusiness interests, proclaimed at a congressional hearing that there is indeed a link between antibiotic use in animals and drug resistance in humans.

But the FDA hasn’t gone far enough.

The FDA has “recommended” that producers limit use of these drugs to medically necessary instances, under the guidance of a veterinarian, but they haven’t issued stricter regulations.

Do you really want to rely on “the honor system” with regard to how industry grows your food?

Do you really think industrial lobbyists are going to take the high road here?

Unlikely!

We need to implement measures to ensure antibiotics are used responsibly — and that needs to go beyond mere suggestion. An overhaul of regulation is in order.

This sort of revamping is not unprecedented — Denmark did it in1998.  

The Danish Experiment: A Success Story about Antibiotic-Free Farming

Denmark took the bull by the horns in a bold maneuver that 17,000 Danish farmers proudly call the “Danish Experiment.”

In 1998, after European studies showed a link between antibiotic-fed livestock and antibiotic-resistant infections in humans, Denmark launched a ban on the use of routine antibiotics in farming. Antibiotics were reserved for animals that were actually sick.

Since the ban, the Danish pork industry has grown by 43 percent, making them one of the top pork exporters in the world.

The rest of Europe followed suit in 2006.

But, not so with the American Pork Industry, which was spooked by the potential increased cost of raising a pig. They calculated that it would cost $5 more for every 100 pounds of pork brought to market without the use of antibiotics, and this $5 was not worth it to Big Porky.

No, $5 was too much to invest for improved public health, safer foods, and fewer drug resistant infections in people.

And it isn’t just the American Pork Industry that lists your health last on its list of priorities.

FDA Picks on Cherries While Drug Manufacturers Get Away With Murder

Since 2009, there have been FOUR bills introduced that would end or severely limit your access to food supplements!

So, at the same time as Big Pharma is resisting the movement to rid the livestock industry of the inappropriate use of antibiotic drugs, some members of Congress are trying to restrict your access to the things that will actually protect your health—vitamins, minerals, herbs, and other natural agents.

This is complete nonsense since food supplements used appropriately are not causing deaths, whereas more than 100,000 people are killed every year by pharmaceutical drugs taken as prescribed.

In fact, pharmaceutical drugs are the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the Journal of the American Medical Association (April 15, 1998). NSAIDS alone cause more than 16,000 deaths each year, yet the FDA continues to protect NSAID manufacturers and even allows ads on television offering free samples for the taking.

Instead of the FDA hauling NSAID-makers out to the woodshed, they are spending their time threatening cherry growers for mentioning peer-reviewed studies about how cherries are far better than NSAIDS in controlling pain and inflammation.

How many people do you know who’ve been harmed or killed by cherries?

This issue is nicely summarized by the Dr. Rath Health Foundation:

“The survival of the pharmaceutical industry is dependent on the elimination by any means of effective natural health therapies. These natural and non-patentable therapies have become the treatment of choice for millions of people, despite the combined economic, political and media opposition of the world’s largest investment industry.”

I wholeheartedly agree.

What You Can Do

Of the four pieces of legislation mentioned above, only the “Food Safety Bill” remains an immediate threat.

The other three bills were defeated BY YOU!

Here are two specific actions you can take to light a fire under government officials on these issues:

1. Food Democracy Now! has created a petition against the overuse of antibiotics in livestock production. If you care about this issue, I suggest you use this petition to make your voice heard. In the same way numerous prior bills have been shot out of the water as a direct result of public outcry, your action can put the kibosh on this one as well.

Tell the FDA and the White House to stand up for human health by changing their policies about the reckless use of antibiotics in animal feed.

2. The Alliance for Natural Health USA has put together a letter addressed to Congress in an effort to educate them that “supplements should not be regulated like drugs, and that the regulations already in place are completely sufficient.” All that is required of you is to fill out your contact information and click “send.”

For the purpose of supporting your own health, you might want to consider adding a high quality probiotic to your dietary regimen. There are a number of good ones on the market. I suggest you ask your local health food store for a recommendation. I also offer an excellent probiotic on my site, in addition to information about what to look for in all probiotic supplements.

A lab hired by the United Commercial Fishermen's Association analyzed coastal fishing waters. The results indicate that the U.S. government's claim that Gulf of Mexico seafood is safe to eat may be premature.

The lab found dispersant in a sample taken near Biloxi, Missouri, almost a month after BP said it had stopped using the toxic chemical to break up crude oil from the Gulf spill.

According to AOL News:

“Water samples analyzed by Boston Chemical show oil and toxins in crab. But the key finding, according to Marco Kaltofen, the lab's president, is the presence of the Corexit dispersant used to break up the oil in coastal water near Horn Island, off Biloxi. BP has said repeatedly the last day it used any dispersant was July 19.”

A great site to get the latest information about the spill in the Gulf is http://www.floridaoilspilllaw.com/.

A new study indicates that one out of every seven home kitchens, if not more, would flunk the health inspections given to restaurants.

Fewer than two-thirds of home kitchens would get an “A” or “B” grade on an inspection, and 14 percent or more would fail. Ninety-eight percent of U.S. restaurants receive A or B scores.

According to USA Today:

“The study is believed to be one of the first to offer this kind of look at food safety in private homes. Food poisoning outbreaks in restaurants often get the most attention. But experts believe most illnesses may stem from meals prepared at home.”

You may have seen a story in the news lately claiming a study found that consuming more omega-3 fats doesn’t help heart patients. How did the researchers come to this conclusion? They fed their human guinea pigs margarine — otherwise known as the extremely heart unhealthy form of fat called trans fat.

Essentially, the researchers gave heart attack survivors margarine enhanced with omega-3’s. Unsurprisingly, it did little to offset the heart damaging hydrogenated oil already present in the margarine.

There were additional problems with the study as well. According to the Alliance for Natural Health:

“Dr. Stephen Kopecky, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic said it may have been a matter of too little, too late — the dose was so tiny and the patients were enrolled many years after their initial heart attack — on average four years”.