Alternative Health News January 4, 2008

The movie Supersize Me has probably had more of an effect than the producers anticipated. Since then, in the fast food industry, there has been a market trend promoting menu items that appear to be healthy. But most of these menu items have ingredients that health conscious consumers would prefer to avoid.

Most health conscious consumers consider healthy foods to be things like raw fruits and vegetables, whole grains, raw nuts and seeds, and clean meats like wild Alaskan salmon, or free-range chicken or turkey.

Some ingredients that health conscious consumers consider unacceptable are MSG (or free glutamate, or free glutamic acid, including anything hydrolyzed or autolyzed), trans fats (hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils [3]), artificial colors, artificial flavors, and most preservatives.

Many so-called healthy fast food menu items, upon closer inspection, do not live up to the health hype. Most of the meat from any of the major chains has anything but a simple ingredients list. They add emulsifiers, preservatives, MSG, artificial colors, trans fats, and hidden ingredients under generic labels such as spices, or natural and artificial flavors.

Some of these food additives are not foods at all, but are chemicals that are generally recognized as safe. Most of these additives cannot be found at your local grocery store, probably because they aren’t food. But some can be found at your local hardware store, though in inedible products like low tox antifreeze, silicone caulk, soap, sunscreen, and play sand.

To read the full article, follow this link :

Surprise Ingredients In Fast Food by NewsTarget - November 3, 2007

New Research on Ginseng: Pharmacogenomics and the Yin/Yang actions of ginseng: anti-tumor, angiomodulating and steroid-like activities of ginsenosides. Chinese Medicine 2007

Long known as a whole-body tonic (the root plant, precious for centuries in Asian countries, is shaped like a person) new evidence validates and explains some of ginseng’s healing actions.

In Chinese medicine, ginseng (Panax ginseng) has long been used as a general tonic or an adaptogen to promote longevity and enhance bodily functions. It has also been claimed to be effective in combating stress, fatigue, oxidants, cancer and diabetes mellitus.

Most previous studies have claimed that the pharmacological effects of ginseng are attributed to its bioactive constituents such as ginsenosides, saponins, phytosterols, peptides, polysaccharides, fatty acids, polyacetylenes, vitamins and minerals. In this new research, the focus was the recent advances in the studies of ginsenosides on the formation of blood vessels, which is a common denominator of many diseases, such as cancer and some cardiovascular disorders.

Specifically, the root has been shown to inhibit new blood vessel growth in rapidly growing tissue: that is, tumors. The medical term angiogenesis means the creation of new blood vessels, which is a critical aspect of how a tumor will successfully establish in, and invade, healthy tissue.

To read the full article, follow this link :

New Scientific Focus on Ginseng by NewsTarget - November 4, 2007

Millions of Americans suffer from some degree of energy-depleting thyroid problem. You may be one of the many whose sluggish thyroid problem did not show up on a lab test. This is partly because thyroid lab tests do not accurately measure the activity of thyroid hormone inside cells. Testing can catch more flagrant problems relating to the thyroid gland itself, but it often leaves you with a long list of hypothyroid symptoms and “normal” lab test results. Like many lab tests, thyroid testing is mostly an indirect estimate of what is happening. They are better than nothing, but far from perfect.
Another reason the lab tests may not show anything is because the thyroid problem is secondary to some other form of stress (chemical, physical, or emotional). Thyroid problems often occur in a complex web of other issues including adrenal fatigue, fibromyalgia, depression, cognitive decline, ADHD, digestive complaints, food intolerance, Candida albicans, chemical sensitivity/exposure, allergy, asthma, and leptin-related obesity issues. How are you supposed to know what your problem really is when it could be so many different things? To make matters worse, doctors are almost useless at sorting out complex health issues and now seem obsessed with managing numbers on paper instead of the person sitting in front of them.

To read the full article, follow this link :

The Nature of Energy-Depleting Thyroid Problems by NewsTarget - November 6, 2007

Until recently, people who experienced respiratory problems from household use of spray cleaners had no facts to back up their claims of shortness of breath or wheezing. That has changed.

Previous data linking health risks to spray cleaners was based on occupational users such as custodians. Using cleaning products all day, every day has been linked to an array of illnesses. But now results of a new epidemiological study are in which are relevant to anyone who spritzes the bathroom mirror with window cleaner.

This European study tracked 3,500 people who had no history of asthma symptoms. After an average of nine years, the frequency of each person’s cleaning product use was determined and factored against his or her current health. The overall conclusions may leave you aghast. Or gasping.

Using a spray cleaner only once a week increased the risk of developing asthma by almost 50 percent.

To read the full article, follow this link :

Gasping For Air? Put Down That Spray Cleaner by NewsTarget - November 7, 2007

Another example of outright quackery by pharmaceutical companies has finally gathered enough steam to achieve mainstream news coverage: Cold medicines are useless, say pediatricians who petitioned the FDA to ban the marketing of such products to children. Last month, an FDA advisory panel partially agreed with the recommendation, and voted to declare that such medicines should not be used in children younger than six.

Notably, the FDA advisory panel still somehow believes the same useless medicines are perfectly fine to be used by children older than six (they struck down a vote to recommend blocking the use of such medicines in children aged 6 to 11). This is especially relevant given that the panel openly admitted that there is no evidence that cold medicines work in older children, either.

To read the full article, follow this link :

Cold medicine scam finally exposed after decades of harming children by NewsTarget - November 7, 2007

A species of bacteria that has been linked to both peptic ulcers and gastric cancer becomes more virulent in the presence of higher salt concentrations, according to a study presented at the conference of the American Society for Microbiology.

A bacteria known as Helicobacter pylori is believed to cause more than 75 percent of all peptic ulcers, including up to 80 percent of gastric ulcers and up to 90 percent of duodenal ulcers. However, the presence of H. pylori in the stomach does not always lead to ulcers or other noticeable health problems.

Researchers monitored the way that H. pylori genes expressed themselves under laboratory conditions, as well as the bacteria's rate of growth. They found that higher concentrations of salt caused the bacteria's growth rate to drop and caused its shape to change. Under these conditions, two genes linked to the organism's virulence were expressed more strongly.

This means that in the presence of salt, H. pylori is more likely to produce proteins that cause it to be more dangerous to humans, and more likely to produce ulcers.

To read the full article, follow this link :

Eating a high-salt diet increases the risk of ulcers by NewsTarget - November 9, 2007

Does soy prevent breast cancer or increase the risk? The debate heats up this month as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“It's a myth that soy prevents breast cancer,” says Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America's Favorite Health Food. “Numerous studies show that soy can cause, contribute to or even accelerate the growth of cancer.”

In spite of the most recent research showing the association between soy products and breast cancer women are still being urged to purposefully increase their consumption of soy milk and soy foods in the mistaken belief that soy will prevent or even cure breast cancer.

Dr. Daniel explains, “The truth is that soy protein contains dangerous levels of plant estrogens. Although not identical to human estrogens, these have been proven to increase breast cell proliferation, a widely accepted marker of breast cancer risk.”

To read the full article, follow this link :

Soy - Cause Or Cure For Breast Cancer? by NewsTarget - November 10, 2007

Despite government recommendations, parents in the United Kingdom are not aware of the importance of children and pregnant women supplementing with vitamin D, according to a warning published by two Scottish doctors in the British Medical Journal.

Vitamin D is an essential nutrient, normally produced by the body upon exposure to sunlight. Because of the vitamin's role in calcium absorption and bone formation, deficiency can lead to rickets -- a softening of bones that can lead to fractures and deformities -- as well as poor tooth formation, stunted growth and general poor health.

In northern latitudes like Britain, where sunlight is weak or scarce, the body may fail to produce sufficient vitamin D. Those with darker skin colors -- those of Asian, African, Afro-Caribbean or Middle Eastern origin, according to the article's authors -- are at particularly high risk.

For this reason, the government of the United Kingdom has recommended for more than a decade that all breastfeeding infants receive supplements. The article's authors -- specialist registrar Scott Williamson and consultant pediatrician Stephen Greene, both of Ninewells Hospital in Dundee -- wrote that they have diagnosed five infants with vitamin D-deficient rickets in the last four months. None of the children or mothers had received supplements, and none of the families were aware that the government recommended it.

To read the full article, follow this link :

Widespread vitamin D deficiency in UK leaves children at risk of rickets, cancer by NewsTarget - November 11, 2007