Natural Health News

The National Sleep Foundation has releases its annual "Sleep in America Poll," which reveals how much sleep Americans are getting, what their bedtime habits are, and who's taking medications when sleep is elusive. This year, for the first time, the report explored differences in the sleep habits of different ethnic groups.

And overall, no one's getting enough sleep. Fewer than half of respondents from each ethnic group say they get a good night's sleep on most nights.

African Americans reported the least amount of sleep.  Inadequate sleep is starting to be associated with obesity, heart disease and diabetes -- all diseases that are more prevalent among African Americans.

A new study has confirmed that vitamin D plays an important role in activating your immune defenses against infectious diseases like flu.

Vitamin D deficiency has already been linked to a wide spectrum of diseases including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, depression, autoimmune disease and many others.

The new study discovers that activation of T-cells to fight infections needs definite help from vitamin D. When a T cell recognizes foreign invaders like bacteria or viruses, it sends activating signals to the vitamin D receptor gene. The VDR gene then starts producing DVR protein, which binds vitamin D in the T cell.  Then the vitamin D bound and activated DVR produces PLC-gamma1 protein -- which allows the T cell to get started fighting the infection.

Dr. John Cannell has also reported that vitamin D helps produce antibacterial peptides that help protect against flu.  That is why in winter, when there is little sunshine, people are more prone to vitamin D deficiency and getting infected with flu viruses.

According to the Gizmodo article linked below, Sony has lost its spirit, spending too much time telling you it's the greatest electronics company in the world and not nearly enough time showing you.

Time and again, Sony took an excellently engineered solution and held it tightly, the better to extract big profits. But each time, Sony's need to control the format became more and more of a liability. As a result, today's Sony is an also-ran that wants to be respected like a market leader.

There's no better example of the arrogance of the modern Sony than the launch of the PlayStation 3. It was the last of the current generation of game consoles to market. It cost more than all its competitors. Sony president and CEO Kaz Hirai said infamously, "The next generation doesn't start until we say it does." Sony spent the next three years struggling in a videogame market they once dominated.

As the U.S. taste for bottled water grows, environmentalists have been trying to sell people on tap water. Bottled water is a drain on the environment -- the U.S. public goes through about 50 billion water bottles a year, and most of those plastic containers are not recycled.

But switching to tap water could be a bad idea in some schools where the risk of lead contamination from old pipes -- known to affect physical and mental development -- is high, particularly in large urban areas such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.

A nationwide investigation showed that the drinking water in schools in 27 states is contaminated with lead and other toxic substances from lead-soldered pipes installed before 1985.  In 2007, Baltimore City public schools switched their entire system to bottled water after a study of 84 randomly selected water fountains found 10 with lead levels high than the EPA's cutoff of 20 parts per billion.

The school district decided it would be cheaper to provide bottled water than testing and remediation efforts.

After a drawn-out debate, the U.S. Agriculture Department has significantly narrowed the definition of organic livestock to animals that spend a third of the year grazing on pasture.

The new rules also say that “organic” milk and meat must come from livestock grazing on pasture for at least four months of the year, and that 30 percent of their feed must come from grazing. The old rules said only that animals must have access to pasture.

Once a niche market, the organic industry has grown exponentially in the last 20 years. Organic products are grown without pesticides, hormones, antibiotics or biotechnology.

The author of a bill that would legalize the sale of raw milk said 300 to 500 people could show up for a public hearing on the issue in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Representative Chris Danou is the lead sponsor of Assembly Bill 628, which would allow the sale of raw milk on the farm to consumers.  Senator Pat Kreitlow has sponsored the same measure in the Senate.

Public health officials have expressed concerns about people getting sick from unpasteurized milk, but advocates tout the many health benefits.

Justice Christopher Jessup, an Australian federal court judge, has found that the anti-arthritis drug Vioxx doubled the risk of heart attacks and was not fit to be on the market.  In a landmark decision, Graeme Peterson, who claimed the drug caused him to have a heart attack in 2003, was awarded compensation of $278,000 plus interest.

Mr. Peterson, acting on behalf of every Australian who took the drug from its launch in 2001 to its voluntary recall in September 2004, alleged that drugmaker Merck knew about the cardiovascular risks of the drug, but covered it up and engaged in inappropriate marketing tactics. The Australian Federal Court case heard allegations that Merck created a “hit list” of doctors critical of the drug who needed to be “neutralized”, and even faked a medical journal promoting the company's product.

It was the first civil trial against the pharmaceutical giant outside the U.S.  Merck settled hundreds of lawsuits over Vioxx in the U.S. for $4.8 billion in late 2007, but did not admit any liability.

Merck has announced that it will appeal the decision.

Senior eye doctors are warning people to keep liquid capsules for fabric detergents out of the reach of children after a wave of eye injuries in young children.

Last year, chemical injuries associated with these capsules accounted for 40 percent of ocular chemical injuries in children under the age of five at The Western Eye Hospital.

The capsule in most liquid detergent capsules is a water soluble polyvinyl alcohol membrane. The liquid detergent is a mixture of three active agents -- an anionic detergent, a non-ionic detergent, and a cationic surfactant -- dissolved in water to give an alkaline solution, making the capsule more dangerous than initially perceived.

Alkali injuries are the most severe form of chemical eye injury. They can cause irreversible damage and have lifelong ramifications, such as constant discomfort, scarring and even amblyopia (lazy eye).

Beginning March of this year, the U.S. Census Bureau's will send out a short questionnaire to every household in the U.S. and Puerto Rico in an effort to collect important demographic data. As a citizen, you are required by law to respond to the 10 short questions. From April to July, those that haven't completed their census will receive a visit at their home address from a census taker.

Identity criminals are taking advantage of the census law and targeting unsuspecting victims in an attempt to steal sensitive information. The scams perpetrated range from fraudulent emails designed to obtain sensitive information to attempts to impersonate census collectors.

Most citizens don't think twice about sharing personal information with a census worker, and that's why these scams can be very effective. It's important to remember there are distinct differences between a real census worker and an identity thief posing as a census worker.

U.S. Census workers will have identification, a handheld device and a confidentiality notice. But these things can be easily fabricated, so it's important to know what census workers will not do:

• They will not ask for your Social Security number or financial information, e.g. bank or credit card accounts
• They will not ask you for money or say that you owe money
• They will not harass or intimidate you
• They will not contact you by email- only by phone, by mail, or in person

It is recommended that you follow universal safety rules -- even with U.S. Census workers. For example, avoid inviting strangers into your home, and be suspicious when someone asks for your personal and sensitive information.

For more information on this scam or variations of it visit the Social Security Administration’s website at www.ssa.gov. Use the search function and enter keywords "email scam".  To learn more about the 2010 Census and U.S. Census workers, call (800) 923-8282 or visit them online at www.2010census.gov.

A new study shows that one in four parents believes some vaccines can trigger autism.

The study is based on a survey of more than 1,500 parents that was conducted last year. About 12 percent of parents said they had refused to allow their children to receive a vaccine that a doctor recommended.

 

Those parents tended to shy away from four vaccines:

 

• Human papillomavirus vaccine, because of concerns about side effects
• Vaccine for meningococcal diseases, because of the risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome, an immune system disorder
• The shot for measles, mumps and rubella, because of potential autism risk
• Chickenpox vaccine

Children as young as 13 who have evidence of secondhand smoke in their blood also have visibly thicker arteries, researchers have reported.

The study suggests that the damage caused by secondhand tobacco smoke starts in childhood and causes measurable damage by the teen years. It look at nearly 500 children aged 8 to 13 taking part in ongoing research on heart disease. The scientists measured levels of cotinine, a byproduct of nicotine that is found in the blood after someone breathes in tobacco smoke.

The children with the most cotinine in their blood had carotid artery walls that were, on average, 7 percent thicker. Their aortas were 8 percent thicker.

The researchers also did a test that measures the flexibility of the arteries in the arm, another measure of blood vessel health and heart disease risk. This measurement was 15 percent lower in teenagers with the highest levels of cotinine.

Too much or too little sleep can cause fat to accumulate around your organs. A new study reveals how extremes of sleep can be hazardous to your health -- especially for young minority women, a group most affected by obesity and chronic metabolic disease.

The findings also indicate that there's more to "fat" than simply what you choose to eat; social factors such as the need to work three jobs in a bad economy could be causing dangerous fat deposition around vital organs.

In individuals under 40, the study showed a clear association between averaging five hours or less of sleep each night and large increases in visceral fat, or fat around the organs. Getting more than eight hours of sleep on average per night has a similar, though less pronounced effect.

A new study analyzing 130 research reports on more than 130,000 subjects worldwide proves conclusively that exposure to violent video games makes more aggressive, less caring kids -- regardless of their age, sex or culture.

A research team used meta-analytic procedures -- the statistical methods used to analyze and combine results from previous, related literature -- to test the effects of violent video game play on the behaviors, thoughts and feelings of people ranging from elementary school-aged children to college undergraduates.

The analysis found that violent video game effects are significant in both Eastern and Western cultures, in males and females, and in all age groups.

In an unusually broad crackdown, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has notified 17 food companies, including major brands such as Gerber and Nestle, that they have violated federal laws by making false or misleading claims.

The agency gave the companies 15 days to respond with an explanation of how they intend to correct their product labels. If the companies fail to do so, the FDA said it might take further action, including product seizures.

The issues include:

 

• Mrs. Smith's Coconut Custard Pie has a "0 trans fats" label, but does not disclose, as required by law, the significant levels of total fat
• Diamond Foods has unauthorized claims on its packaged walnuts, stating that the product can treat, prevent or cure heart disease, arthritis and cancer
• "Pompeian Imported Extra Light Olive Oil" does not have not 50 percent less fat than of regular olive oil, which would fit the legal definition of "light”

Of all the animals that humans eat, none are held more responsible for climate change than cows. Cows not only consume more energy-intensive feed than other livestock, they also produce more methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

But grass-fed cows may have the opposite effect.  Grass is a perennial. If cattle and other ruminants are rotated across pastures full of it, the animals' grazing will cut the blades, spurring new growth, while their trampling helps work manure and other decaying organic matter into the soil, turning it into rich humus. And healthy soil keeps carbon dioxide underground and out of the atmosphere.

Currently, 99 percent of U.S. beef cattle live out their last months on feedlots, where they are stuffed with corn and soybeans.  Much of the carbon footprint of beef comes from growing grain to feed the animals, which requires fossil-fuel-based fertilizers, pesticides, and transportation.

Even though grass-fed cattle produce more methane than conventional ones (high-fiber plants are harder to digest than cereals), their net emissions are lower because they help the soil sequester carbon.

1. By 2025, China will build TEN New York-sized cities.
2. By 2030, China will add more new city-dwellers than the entire U.S. population.
3. China already consumes twice as much steel as the U.S., Europe and Japan combined.
4. If the Chinese, one day, use as much oil per person as Americans, then the world will need seven more Saudi Arabias to meet their demand.
5. There are already more Christians in China than Italy, and China is on track to become the largest center of Christianity in the world.
6. Chinese are far more likely to believe in evolution than Americans.
7. Chinese internet users are five times as likely to have blogs as Americans.
8. China has 150 percent more soldiers than America does -- plus a high tech 'Kill Weapon' the U.S. can't deal with.
9. China still hasn't rid itself of Europe's medieval plague.
10. Forty percent of Chinese small businesses went bust or almost went bust during the world financial crisis.
11. China executes three times as many people as the rest of the world COMBINED -- and uses mobile execution vans for efficiency.
12. China averages 274 protests PER DAY.
13. When you buy Chinese stocks, you are basically financing the Chinese government. Eight of Shanghai's top ten stocks are state-controlled arms of the government.
14. Fifty percent of counterfeit goods come from China.
15. The majority of Chinese drink polluted water.

A daily dose of vitamin D will lift your mood during cold weather months when days are short and more time is spent indoors.

The researchers who obtained this result plan to take vitamin D research a step further by evaluating whether vitamin D can improve blood sugar control and mood in women with diabetes. Depression is associated with increased insulin resistance, so people with diabetes have a greater risk for the disease than those without depression.

Women also tend to have greater rates of depression and poorer blood sugar control than men with diabetes.

There's a heated debate going on over the health risks of consuming too much sugar, high-fructose corn syrup and other caloric sweeteners.

On one side are leading nutrition experts, who believe that these sweeteners add empty calories to people's diets and promote weight gain. Emerging scientific research indicates that consuming too much of these sweeteners may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and other health problems.

On the other side are industry groups representing sugar and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). They claim that their products are natural and don't cause weight gain or health problems. And they have launched advertising and marketing campaigns to spread this idea.

The American Heart Association is on the nutrition experts' side. The group recently issued a scientific statement saying that high intake of added sugars is implicated in many poor health conditions, including obesity, high blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease and stroke.

Something remarkable is happening in the fields and orchards of the Pacific Northwest. After leaving the land for decades, family farmers are making a comeback. They are growing healthier food while using less energy and water than factory farms. And most of this food is organic.  “Good Food” is a film that takes an intimate look at the farmers, ranchers, and businesses that are creating a more sustainable food system in the Pacific Northwest.

A lawsuit brought by environmentalists in California claims popular brands of fish oil dietary supplements contain unsafe and illegal levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, which are carcinogenic chemicals.

The lawsuit targets eight supplement manufacturers or distributors:  CVS Pharmacy, Rite Aid, General Nutrition Corp., Solgar, Twinlab, Now Health, Omega Protein and Pharmavite.

Testing found that levels of PCBs in supplements in popular fish oil products varied wildly, from about 12 nanograms per recommended dose to more than 850 nanograms in the most contaminated product. But the suit claims that all of the manufacturers are in violation of California law for not disclosing any non-zero PCB levels in their products.