Alternative Health News January 13, 2008
The occurrence of breast cancer has dramatically increased in the past 50 years and the medical establishment
encourages the use of annual mammogram screenings as a woman’s best option for early detection. In fact, for more than 30 years it’s been the
unquestioned, standard screening device used by the medical community. While mammography may be useful in certain situations, it has many
disturbing drawbacks.
With toxic radiation, mammogram testing compresses sensitive breast tissue causing pain and possible tissue damage. To make matters worse, the
false negative and false positive rates of mammography are a troubling 30% and 89% respectively.(1) Another concern is that many breast cancers
occur below the armpits; however, mammography completely misses this auxiliary region, viewing only the breast tissue compressed between two
plates of glass. Considering these drawbacks, breast thermography should be given closer consideration.
Thermography (also called thermology) is a little-known technique for breast cancer detection that’s been available since the 1960s. It’s
non-invasive and non-toxic, using an infrared camera to measure thermal emissions from the entire chest and auxiliary regions. Cancerous tissue
develops a blood supply to feed a growing tumor, and the abnormal blood vessel formations generate significantly more heat than the surrounding
healthy tissue. The infrared camera detects the differences in heat emitted from abnormal tissue (including malignancies, benign tumors and
fibrocystic disease), as compared to normal tissue. There is no physical contact with the patient, who stands several feet away from the camera
while a technician takes a series of images.
A second set of images is taken following a “cold challenge”. The patient places her hands in ice cold water for one minute causing healthy
tissue to constrict while the abnormal tumor tissue remains hot. The infrared scanner easily distinguishes the difference, and these images are
compared with the first set for confirmation.
To read the full article, follow this
link :
Thermography: A Safer Option for Breast Cancer
Detection by NewsTarget - November 12, 2007
Have you noticed over the last year how
virtually every large corporation is trying to make consumers believe their products are "Earth friendly?" Everything from toxic cosmetics to
smog-producing cars are now being positioned as "green" products, and just recently I actually saw a package of mercury-containing compact
fluorescent lights with a marketing logo that claimed the product was, "Helping protect the planet!" I have yet to understand the logic of how
buying and throwing away mercury-contaminated products has any real benefit to the planet.
Defenders of CFLs claim these lights are good for the environment because even
though they contain toxic mercury, they use less energy than incandescent lights. And since
coal-fired power plants release mercury into the atmosphere, the use of less energy means less overall mercury is being introduced to the
environment. While this sounds sensible at first, it's still junk logic: How does harming the planet slightly less than before deserve a "green"
claim of any kind? If I poke you with ten sharp sticks, and then reduce it to just five sharp sticks, I cannot claim that my actions are suddenly
"good for your health!" It's still a harmful action with negative consequences.
Corporations, it seems, can claim that practically anything is eco-friendly or environmentally friendly, regardless of all the toxic chemicals it
contains or produces. That's what this article is all about: "Greenwashing" or the practice of corporations claiming their products are green when, in reality, they're not at all impressive
as eco-friendly products.
To read the full article, follow this link :
The greenwashing of toxic consumer products by NewsTarget - November 12, 2007
Because of its negative health impacts, salt should no longer be considered safe, and it’s generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status should
be revoked, according to a petition by advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) filed with the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA).
The FDA has scheduled a hearing in response, where they will discuss revising their salt regulations, along with the implications of doing
so.
In its petition, CSPI has recommended that:
- Limits be put on the amount of salt in processed foods
- Health messages related to salt be limited
- Salt be treated as a food additive, not GRAS
Eating too much sodium has been linked to high blood pressure and heart disease. More than three-quarters of the salt in the
average American diet comes from processed foods.
CSPI has petitioned the FDA about its salt regulations in the past, as well. In 1978 they asked for limits for sodium in processed foods, and in
1981 they suggested adding warning labels on packages of salt that weighed more than half an ounce. Both petitions were denied.
At the FDA’s hearing, scheduled for November 29, 2007, policies regarding salt and sodium will be discussed, and comments on current and
potential future approaches will be taken.
Sources:
To read the full article, follow this link :
Should Salt No Longer Be Generally Recognized as Safe? by
Dr. Mercola - November 13, 2007
The debate over whether organic food is healthier than
conventionally grown food may be over, according to results from a $25-million study into organic food -- the largest of its kind to date.
The four-year, European-Union-funded study found that:
- Organic fruit and vegetables contain up to 40 percent more antioxidants
- Organic produce had higher levels of beneficial minerals like iron and zinc
- Milk from organic herds contained up to 90 percent more antioxidants
The researchers obtained their results after growing fruit and vegetables, and raising cattle, on adjacent organic and non-organic sites. They
say that eating organic foods can even help to increase the nutrient intake of people who don’t eat the recommended five servings of fruits and
vegetables a day.
The UK’s Food Standards Agency, which has formerly said that there is no difference between organic and conventional foods, is reviewing the
research findings.
Sources:
To read the full article, follow this link :
It's Official: Organic Really is Better by Dr.
Mercola - November 17, 2007
Drinking black tea may be beneficial for people with diabetes, as it appears to stimulate an insulin response and reduce blood sugar levels,
according to researchers from King's College London and the University of Central Lancashire.
Sixteen participants drank glucose in either water, water plus a small amount of caffeine, or water plus instant black tea.
After two hours, plasma glucose concentrations were significantly reduced in those who consumed 1 gram of tea, compared to the plain water and
caffeine drinks. Drinking black tea also increased insulin levels compared with the other drinks, after 90 minutes.
Tea’s protective benefits have been linked to polyphenols, including:
- Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)
- Epigallocatechin
- Epicatechin gallate
- Epicatechin
These compounds may offer blood sugar benefits by stimulating B-cells -- pancreatic cells responsible for insulin production -- to produce
insulin in your body, according to researchers.
Black tea makes up about 78 percent of the global tea market.
Sources:
To read the full article, follow this link :
According to new
research published in the November 2007 issue of The FASEB Journal a common ingredient in red wine, fruits and vegetables, has the
ability to affect cancerous tumors, and can battle heart disease.
The French team found that high and low doses of polyphenols have different effects.
Most notably, very high doses of antioxidant polyphenols– equivalent of one bottle of red wine per
day -- were able to shut down and prevent cancerous tumors, by cutting off the formation of new blood vessels needed for tumor growth.
Alternatively, relatively low doses of polyphenols – equivalent to approximately one glass of wine
a day -- were found to play a beneficial role in combating heart disease, benefiting your circulatory system by facilitating blood vessel
growth.
Polyphenols are commonly found in:
-
Red wine
-
Fruits
-
Vegetables
-
Green tea.
Sources:
To read the full article, follow this link :
Antioxidants in Food Stop Both Cancer and Heart Disease by
Dr. Mercola - November 17, 2007
There is much talk about phytonutrients lately. What are phytonutrients and why
are they so important? Well simply put, phytonutrients are certain compounds found in plants that evidence has shown to increase overall health
and protect against certain diseases including cancer. The term “Phyto” comes from the Greek work for plant so phytonutrients are plant
nutrients, though they’re of a different class then the traditional nutrients of fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals.
These nutrients are not considered “essential for life” but they are important for health and longevity. Fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes,
nuts, and teas are rich sources of phytonutrients. Fruits and vegetables that are high in carotenoids appear to protect humans against certain
cancers, heart disease, and age-related macular degeneration.
So what does this have to do with bio-energy? Everything actually. Bio-energy is the actual energy source of the body that keeps you alive every
second. Science knows that the body not only uses and generates electricity but also electromagnetic energy. The Chinese call this energy Chi. It
is derived and absorbed from nature including the Sun, moon, stars, heavens, the earth, and most importantly from the air itself, also known as
ionic energy.
Plants absorb this energy as they grow in the ground from the earth and absorb this energy from the sun and transfer it to their fruits. We then
consume this energy when we eat the fruits which is extracted from the food during digestion via the spleen, something that it little known in
western medical circles.
That is why these nutrients from natural plant sources are so important and beneficial to human health and longevity. It’s the same reason why
drinking herbal and natural teas are so popular in China which has the greatest number of centenarians (people who live to be one hundred years
old or older) in the world.
To read the full article, follow this link :
How Phytonutrients and Bio-Energy Benefit the Human Body by NewsTarget - November 13, 2007
Research spanning a century has shown that strontium, a naturally occurring trace mineral, is an important component of
healthy bone tissue. Researchers from around the world have found that, in pharmaceutical doses, it dramatically increases bone density and
reduces risk for fractures in women with osteoporosis.
National Osteoporosis Foundation statistics indicate that “osteoporosis causes more than 1.5 million fractures annually: 700,000 vertebral,
300,000 hip, 250,000 wrist and 300,000 fractures at other sites”. Sadly, “an average of 24% of hip fracture patients aged 50 and over dies in the year following their fracture.”
As our population ages in huge numbers, finding a safe and effective treatment for osteoporosis is more important than ever before. Dr. Susan Brown, director of the Osteoporosis
Education Project (OEP) in East Syracuse, N.Y., says “Our bone crisis worsens each year, despite intensive public health and disease treatment
efforts”.
So, exactly what is strontium? It is element number 38 on the periodic table of elements. It is in the same group of elements as calcium and
magnesium. That means it has similar chemical properties as these better known
elements.
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, an agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services, notes that safe, non- toxic
forms of strontium most often occur in mineral form. Another form of strontium known as strontium 90 is found in nuclear fall out and is a known
radioactive toxin.
To read the full article, follow this link :
Strontium: An Alternative Treatment For Osteoporosis by NewsTarget - November 14, 2007
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