Alternative Health News November 17, 2007

Abnormal lipids (fats) in the blood are considered one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, a leading cause of premature death. Conventional wisdom has been to evaluate blood lipids after abstaining from food for 12 hours. Most people will get their blood drawn for a "cardiovascular panel" first thing in the morning before breakfast, when they have been fasting for 12 hours. One of the fats measured in a cardiovascular panel is triglycerides. Triglycerides literally means three glycerol molecules; this is the storage form of sugar. When you eat carbs that are burned as fuel right away, the energy (calories) gets stored as fat.

Having high triglycerides typically corresponds with eating too many refined carbs (anything made with white sugar or white flour, and alcohol). I can usually look at a patient and tell they have high triglycerides: the tell-tale "apple" shape. Also known as beer gut. The main problem with packing on the triglycerides, however, isn't cosmetic. It is much more than skin deep. This kind of fat lays down under the muscular layers of the abdomen, and no amount of crunches will burn this off. You need to dip into those deep energy reserves by working out and practicing light calorie restriction several times a day. You don't have to go hungry, but you need to eat lightly, and frequently. You need to exercise hard enough to burn through the readily available carbs from recent meals, and start dipping into your reserves. A few grams of L-carnitine daily will also help convert fat to muscle.

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New Information For Women About Testing Triglycerides by NewsTarget - October 16, 2007

Recent news about one aspect of the rapidly growing organic food marketplace in the UK has led to expressions of concern amongst those who believe that ethics should be an integral part of the definition of the term 'organic'. The sales value of the organic sector in the UK exceeded £2billion in 2006, an increase of almost a quarter compared with the previous year. This growth means that, after Germany and Italy, the UK is now the third largest consumer of organic products in Europe.

An increasing number of UK farms have 'converted' to organic production in order to tap into this boom. Even so, organic production is still lagging behind demand, which bodes well for the future prosperity of certified organic producers. However, certain practices in the production of organic milk have raised concerns amongst those who have assumed that 'certified' organic farming necessarily implies that more humane animal husbandry is being practiced.

Recent investigations have confirmed that in order to stimulate the 'natural' supply of milk from herds, some organic farmers employ the same practices as those used on typical 'non-organic' farms. This means that when dairy cattle are inseminated to stimulate milk flow, as well as swell herd numbers, any male offspring, being considered inferior for meat use, are either slaughtered within a day, or else sold on to European veal producers.

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Must Organic Also Be Ethical? by NewsTarget - October 17, 2007

A South Carolina doctor claims that consumption of dairy products can increase your risk of acquiring breast and prostate cancer. Dr. Robert Bibb of Myrtle Beach is working on a book, Death by Dairy, about the dangers of a dairy-consuming diet.

According to Bibb, a growing body of evidence supports his contention that the hormones found in dairy products increase the body's risk of cancer. "There's an association between dairy [consumption] and hormonally sensitive cancers," he said. "I looked, but I can't find any other factors that fit epidemiologically."

After 1948, Bibb says, rates of breast and prostate cancer in the United States began to rise sharply. Bibb attributes this to a change in the way that milk was enriched with vitamin D: From 1928 to 1948, milk was irradiated with ultraviolet rays in order to stimulate vitamin D production; after 1948, powdered vitamin D was added instead.

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Dairy consumption linked to breast, prostate cancer by NewsTarget - October 17, 2007

The Cornucopia Institute has announced a wave of class action lawsuits against the Boulder, Colorado-based Aurora Organic Dairy Corporation, which it says is engaged in, "the largest scandal in the history of the organic industry." The lawsuits allege that Aurora Organic Dairy Corporation, which supplies organic milk to Wal-Mart, Wild Oats, Target, Costco, Safeway, and other retailers, is engaged in "consumer fraud, negligence, and unjust enrichment" by failing to adhere to USDA organic standards even while selling its milk under the organic label.

Federal investigators have already found Aurora in violation of organic standards, according to the Cornucopia Institute, and the USDA has warned Aurora over multiple "willful" violations of organic standards. "Aurora was taking advantage of the consumer's good will in the marketplace toward organics, and the USDA has allowed this scofflaw-corporation to continue to operate," said Mark Kastel of the Cornucopia Institute, which has been following Aurora's activities for several years and first alerted the USDA to Aurora's practices in 2005.

The lawsuits are the latest round in a battle of wills between Aurora Dairy, the Cornucopia Institute (www.Cornucopia.org) and the Organic Consumers Association (www.OrganicConsumers.org). In the last few weeks, Aurora Dairy threatened to sue the Cornucopia Institute and Organic Consumers Association for their continued publicizing of Aurora's reported failures to meet organic standards. Ronnie Cummins of the Organic Consumers Association refused to back down, insisting on holding his ground on this issue and rallying readers for financial support to defend the OCA against Aurora's potential lawsuit.

In a press release distributed today, Aurora essentially declared it had no idea what the OCA and Cornucopia Institute were talking about and said that, "There is absolutely no basis for claims we defrauded consumers by selling milk that isn't organic -- none whatsoever. Our milk has always been organic." Aurora has announced its intention to fight the class action lawsuits and claims it has been "falsely accused" by the OCA and Cornucopia Institute.

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Aurora Organic Dairy Corporation hit by class action lawsuits over "organic" milk labels by NewsTarget - October 17, 2007

Restricting the simple sugar glucose from your diet, while avoiding vitamin supplements, may extend your lifespan, according to German researchers.

While your body needs glucose, a sugar found in high amounts in sweets, too much of it is harmful.

When the researchers used a chemical to block worms’ ability to process glucose, their lifespan was extended by up to 25 percent, which is equal to 15 human years.

The beneficial effect came from an unlikely source: free radicals. Typically, free radicals are thought to cause damage to your body, and many consume antioxidants and vitamins to fight them.

However, when the worms were unable to use glucose for energy, they increased energy power from other cells -- a process that generated more free radicals than normal.

In response, the worms generated enzymes that fought the free radicals and strengthened their long-term protection against the damaging molecules.

The study also points to a reason why antioxidants may not be beneficial in the long run.

When some of the worms were given antioxidants, the free radicals were neutralized. However, this also prevented the worms from generating the beneficial, long-term defenses.

Cell Metabolism October 2007, Vol 6, 280-293, 03 

Reuters October 2, 2007

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Cut Sugar and Supplements -- and Live 15 Years Longer? by Dr. Mercola - October 18, 2007

A new report issued on September 28^th, 2007 by Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General found that federal health officials don't even know how many clinical trials are being conducted in the US. The report said the FDA has 200 inspectors (some part time employees) to police an estimated 350,000 testing sites.

It estimated that only 1 percent of all clinical trials were audited between 2000 and 2005. During the period between 2000 and 2005 - of the estimated 350,000 trial sites the FDA was believed to have inspected just 2,855.

The report also found there was a lack of follow ups on sites which had been issued a warning letter after being classified as 'official action indicated' (OAI) for violations of regulatory significance.

The FDA must re-inspect sites that have been sent a warning letter to ensure there are no repeat violations, but according to FDA data, which was noted to be inadequate by the report, the agency only conducted three follow-ups for every 100 inspections that were classified as OAI or voluntary action indicated (VAI).

Other statistics showed that of the 348 OAIs classified by the FDA only 26 were disqualified from further clinical trials and only two had their data disqualified. Seventy percent received a warning letter, relying heavily on voluntary compliance to correct regulatory violations.

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Clinical Drug Trials: FDA Fails to Monitor Safety and Integrity by NewsTarget - October 18, 2007

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, continuing its campaign of censorship against truthfully-described herbal supplements, seized $71,000 worth of Charantea herbal supplements last week in a raid involving U.S. Marshals. The company, Fulllife Natural Options, was accused by the FDA of marketing an "unapproved drug" due to the truthful marketing claims that accurately describe the blood sugar lowering effects of the product's main ingredient: Bitter Melon fruits.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, there is no such thing as an herb, food or supplement that has any biological activity whatsoever on the human body (other than simply providing calories), and any person who dares to make such a claim is immediately considered to be in violation of the FDA's authority. Any substance that has any therapeutic effect whatsoever on the human body is considered by the FDA to be a "drug" and must be approved as such -- a lengthy process costing about $800 million and requiring the favor of an agency that practically works for Big Pharma.

The FDA is well known for its censorship efforts against nutritional supplements. Earlier this year, the agency sent threatening letters to 29 cherry growers, warning them to remove all links to scientific literature describing the anti-inflammatory effects of phytonutrients found in cherries. Merely linking to such studies from a web page, the FDA warned, instantly transformed cherries into drugs requiring FDA approval. The FDA believes that the dissemination of scientific information about the health benefits of fruits, vegetables and plants simply cannot be tolerated.

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FDA seizes $71k in herbal tea products as campaign of censorship against nutritional supplements continues by NewsTarget - October 18, 2007

Why inject young girls and boys with a dangerous and life threatening vaccine when the herb Pau d’ Arco has been proven to both prevent and cure HPV?

On October 8, 2007, Judicial Watch Released Analysis Of FDA Data Claiming Gardasil Vaccination Can Lead To Serious Health Problems, Death

According to Judicial Watch, 3,461 complaints about Gardasil have been filed with FDA's Vaccine Adverse Event Report System since its approval last year, and 11 women died after exposure to the vaccine. That is an additional 8 deaths since the last report of 3. The complaints about Gardasil have more than doubled compared to the original 1,637 adverse events reported by Alliance for Human Research Protection.

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8 More Deaths Caused by Gardasil Bringing Total Number To 11 by NewsTarget - October 19, 2007