Alternative Health News October 19, 2007

There is an excellent video regarding the dangers of Merck's cervical cancer vaccine called Gardasil. It talks about a 14-year old girl who has taken the vaccine and had major side effects. You owe it to yourself to view the video. Its a shame that drug companies do not care about your health but instead they are only looking after their pocket and how deep it can go.

Click here to view it

A landmark study published recently in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet exposed strong evidence that foods colored with artificial additives may cause a host of undesirable behavioral effects in children. It is interesting to note that compounds performing the same function in nature – to give fruits and vegetables their distinctive colors – actually serve to improve the health of human beings. Looking at the stark, even polar contrast between these man-made chemicals and their naturally occurring counterparts, a predictable trend is illustrated. When a synthetic chemical is matched against a comparable naturally occurring compound, nature tends to come out on top.

In a press release made available on August 19, a team of researchers at Ohio State University announced that anthocyanins, the compounds that give many blue, purple, and red fruits and vegetables their color are capable of cutting the growth of colon cancer cells both in vitro and in rats by 50%-100%, with certain extracts even destroying up to 20% of the cancer cells while leaving healthy surrounding cells intact.

“It is possible to use natural, anthocyanin-based food colorants instead of synthetic dyes,” says Monica Giusti, lead author of the study. “Doing so still maintains the wonderful colors of foods while enhancing their health-promoting properties.”

To read the full article, follow this link :

Blue, red, and purple fruits and veggies fight cancer: study by NewsTarget - September 26, 2007

The South American herb stevia, which is used as a natural sweetener, has been called an “unsafe food additive” by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The FDA sent a letter to Hain Celestial Group Inc, maker of Celestial Seasonings herbal teas, saying the stevia used in some of their teas may be dangerous to blood sugar and reproductive, cardiovascular, and renal systems.

Stevia is several hundred times sweeter than sugar, and has no calories. Though it’s approved as a dietary supplement in the United States, it is not approved as a food additive. A dozen other countries, including Japan, China, and Brazil, have approved the sweetener however.

Beverage giants including Coca-Cola Co. are eyeing stevia as a new low-calorie sweetener, but while the FDA has received requests to use stevia in food, they say "data and information necessary to support the safe use have been lacking."

The Center for Science in the Public Interest also believes that data is lacking to support the safety of stevia in food.

Coca-Cola and Cargill Inc. are working to prove the safety of the herb, but in the meantime, Hain plans to change their stevia-containing teas’ labels to state that they are supplements, not foods.

What is ironic, of course, is that while the FDA is scrutinizing this naturally sweet herb, they maintain a historically generous attitude toward synthetic chemical sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose.

To use stevia as a commercial food additive would require years of testing. Even though this sweetener has passed the test of time, it is viewed as dangerous until proven otherwise.

Not so with the big-name artificial sweeteners on the market; they are innocent until proven guilty.

To read the full article, follow this link :

Uh-Oh: FDA Now Calls Stevia Unsafe by Dr. Mercola - October 2, 2007

Two more studies published in the prominent medical journal JAMA have raised questions about the safety of both Avandia and Actos, two popular diabetes medications.

Earlier this year, a combined analysis of more than 40 studies, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that Avandia, made by GlaxoSmithKline, doubled the risks of heart failure and raised the risks of heart attack by 42 percent.

This finding was corroborated by yet another combined analysis by researchers from Wake Forest University. This time they limited the analysis to four long-term studies. Their findings were almost identical, and Dr. Sonal Singh, co-author of the study, said the FDA should consider withdrawing Avandia from the market.

“If you use Avandia to treat patients with type 2 diabetes,” said Singh, “their chance of getting heart failure due to Avandia is one in 30, and their risk of having a heart attack is one in 220. All due to the drug.”

Additionally, a second study by researchers at the Cleveland Clinic, found that Actos, a similar drug made by Takeda, actually lowered the risks of heart attacks, strokes, and death by about 20 percent but, like Avandia, also raised the risks of heart failure.

To read the full article, follow this link :

Not Again! More Diabetes Drug Dangers... by Dr. Mercola - October 2, 2007

New research published in the Journal of Clinical Pathology suggests that chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalitis (ME), is linked to a stomach virus.

More than 80 percent of the biopsy specimens from patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome tested positive for enteroviral particles, compared to 20 percent of specimens from healthy people.

Enteroviruses infect your bowel, causing severe but short lasting respiratory and gut infections. There are more than 70 different types of enteroviruses, and they can spread to the central nervous system, heart, and muscles.

In a significant portion of patients, the initial infection had occurred years earlier, but they were still showing evidence of mild, long-term inflammation.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), or as it is more recently called: Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS), has only been recognized by the CDC since 1988. Fortunately, most doctors have now abandoned their view that CFS is just something “in your head,” and no longer view it as a psychological disorder.

The CFIDS Association estimates that some 800,000 Americans suffer from this debilitating condition, with a mere 16 percent having been diagnosed.

The characteristics of CFS include:

  * Extreme fatigue

  * Muscle and joint aches and pains

  * Muscle weakness

  * Chronic headaches

  * Swollen glands

  * Periodic fevers and chills

  * Sore throat

  * Numbness and tingling of the extremities

  * Inability to cope with any stress

  * Cognitive dysfunction

  * Insomnia

To read the full article, follow this link :

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Now Linked to a Common Stomach Virus? by Dr. Mercola - October 2, 2007

A major contributor to complications during pregnancy and postpartum periods, pre-eclampsia is a disorder characterized by sudden weight gain, fluid retention, high blood pressure, and swelling in the second and third trimesters. Other symptoms, including vision changes and headaches, may not always appear in rapidly advancing cases. Pre-eclampsia affects 5-8% of all pregnancies and is the cause of 15% of premature births.

Although there is currently no cure in conventional medicine, a physician typically would monitor the patient closely to manage the symptoms and protect the unborn baby. In some cases where pre-eclampsia is quite advanced, labor is induced to avoid major complications and to save the lives of the unborn child and mother.

In a recent study from the University of Pittsburgh School of the Health Sciences, the occurrence of pre-eclampsia was noted as being five times higher in women whose Vitamin D measured low during early pregnancy. Researchers also stressed that even slightly low Vitamin D measurements in pregnant women may double the likelihood of having the disorder. Even with prenatal vitamins, pregnant women remain at a high risk for the deficiency.

Low levels of Vitamin D, for both mother and child, are also associated with a high risk of developing autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, thyroid problems, asthma and low birth weight. Additionally, the low availability of Vitamin D leads to an inefficient deposition of calcium in the bones. In another recent study published in the Journal of Nutrition, insufficient levels of Vitamin D were found widespread, affecting more women in northern latitudes. A recent publication from The New England Journal of Medicine also elaborates on the deficiency of this vitamin, which according to the article exposes millions of children and adults to several serious conditions, occasionally fatal, including cancer, infectious diseases and osteoporosis.

Recent scientific evidence now argues that the current recommended daily allowance (RDA) for Vitamin D, last updated in 1997, falls far short of the daily need and that both the health care community and the government health agencies are ignoring this epidemic. The current RDA values for Vitamin D are 200, 400 and 600 IU based on different age groups. While physicians show concern for toxicity at high levels, prominent Vitamin D researchers stress that the human body needs 1000 units per day for health maintenance and often more in climates where sun exposure is limited. They also argue that the present RDA should be at least five times higher to satisfy nutritional needs, and even more so for Blacks due to pigmentation.

Vitamin D is naturally available in fatty fish such as Salmon, Mackarel, Sardines, Eel and Tuna, and very high in Cod liver oil where one tablespoon yields 1,360 IU. Mushrooms are a good source of Vitamin D especially for vegans. From synthesis through the skin, sensible sun exposure is an excellent source for this vitamin, and all the more important for those living in northern climates, although also limited by the amount of clouds, smog, and UV (sunscreen) protection.

To read the full article, follow this link :

Can Vitamin D Help Prevent Pre-Eclampsia? by NewsTarget - October 3, 2007

A fatty acid known as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) may help reduce body fat mass in humans when taken as a dietary supplement, according to a meta-analysis led by Leah Whigham from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Whigham and colleagues examined the results of studies that looked at the effect of CLA supplementation on body composition. They found that CLA consumption led to a decrease in body fat of 24 grams (0.85 ounces) per gram of CLA consumed per week.

"Given at a dose of 3.2 grams per day, CLA produces a modest loss in body fat in humans," the researchers wrote.

CLA is a trans fat, but one that occurs naturally in the fat of ruminants such as cows, goats, sheep and deer -- in contrast to most trans fats, which are industrially produced. It may be produced by microorganisms in ruminant stomachs, or by the human body upon consumption of ruminant fat. Because of its chemical composition, CLA does not have to be labeled as a trans fat under U.S. law.

While a variety of health benefits have been ascribed to CLA, and it is available in supplement form, some scientists also have some health concerns about the fatty acid, claiming that use of CLA may lead to insulin resistance and an increased risk of diabetes.

The international market for weight loss and management products is now estimated at $7 billion. Approximately 62 percent of people in the United States are classified as overweight, along with 50 percent of Europeans. The International Obesity Task Force estimates that the number of overweight people worldwide will soon top two billion, or more than 30 percent of the global population.

To read the full article, follow this link :

CLA found mildly effective at reducing body fat in meta-data analysis by NewsTarget - October 4, 2007

Outbreaks of asthma and allergies have increased considerably since the early 1980s. Asthma statistics outline a jump of 74% for children between the ages of 5-14 years and 160% for children under four years old, according to the National Institutes of Health. Additionally, one of every four children in the U.S. also suffers from some type of allergy. With annual costs in the billions, researchers offer a glimpse of hope for a natural cure.

Earlier this month, published findings in Pediatric Allergy and Immunology from a seven-year study of 460 Spanish children concluded that a definitive link exists between symptom-free children and a diet rich in “fruity vegetables” and fish. Fruity vegetables are those that grow from a blossom in the plant that comes from seed; such veggies include tomatoes, zucchini, eggplants, green beans, cucumbers and butternut squash, among others.

Scientists explain that the protective effects of this type of diet were irrefutable, and were very specific to this kind of vegetables. Researchers tested different types of foods such as diary, meats and vegetables, but only fruity vegetables and fish were beneficial to these conditions.

Although this is not the first study that links a benefit of a diet rich in fish and vegetables to health improvement, the findings here are quite powerful as the researchers followed the children from the womb until age six, taking the mother’s dietary habits into consideration among other factors. Incidents of asthma and allergies were reduced significantly in children consuming more than 2 oz of fish and 1½ oz of fruity vegetables a day.

To read the full article, follow this link :

Foods That Cure Asthma And Allergies by NewsTarget - October 8, 2007