Health 02 (Nov08 - Mar09)

[winston]

Edible Cancer Sticks By Craig Ballantyne

You are not going to like this, but I refer to French fries as "edible cancer sticks." Here's why...

Polish researchers studied the effect of potato chip consumption on otherwise healthy volunteers. Potato chips and French fries are close cousins. Both contain relatively high concentrations of acrylamide, a potentially carcinogenic compound found in starchy foods that have been cooked at a high temperature.

Fourteen subjects consumed 160 grams of chips daily. That's about 3/4 of a large bag, containing 157 mg of acrylamide. At the end of four weeks, they all had increased levels of oxidized LDL and C-reactive protein (a measure of inflammation). They also had a significant increase in free radicals and a massive immune system response. It was as if their bodies were being attacked.

The researchers did a follow-up on the subjects four weeks after they stopped eating the edible cancer sticks. Their systems were starting to come back to normal, but hadn't yet fully recovered.

Nasty stuff.

If you eat fries or chips every day, even if you are eating just a small amount, you are killing yourself slowly. As the Polish study shows, not only are you consuming a potentially carcinogenic substance, you are increasing your risk of heart disease. Now that's a two-for-one special you should pass on.

[winston]

Don't Let the Recession Make You Overweight By Craig Ballantyne

I'm no economics genius, so I can't help solve the recession. But I do know that times of stress cause some folks to eat more than they need - and that means weight gain for many.

Japanese scientists studied 122 workers between the ages of 21 and 60. They found that work stress (in the form of tension, anxiety, and depression) was associated with an increase in what they called "eating to satiety" (meaning eating until they were completely full). Unfortunately, eating to satiety was also associated with weight gain.

The researchers concluded that work stress can negatively impact your eating patterns, causing you to gain weight. And in today's stressful world, that is not good news.

So here's what you need to do. If stress is making you eat more, make sure you keep high-calorie, energy-dense processed carbohydrates (chips, cookies, baked goods, etc.) out of your house and office. Load up on whole, natural foods - fruits, vegetables, and raw nuts. (Yes, nuts!) These foods will fill you up before you can eat too many calories, and you'll limit your risk of gaining weight, even if you eat to satiety due to stress.

[winston]

It's Good to Know: A Possible Cure for Peanut Allergies

Peanut allergy sufferers take heart! You could one day be free from scanning ingredient lists.

Doctors at the Duke University Medical Center and Arkansas Children's Hospital have successfully tested a treatment for the allergy. But they caution that more testing is needed, and that no one should be tempted to try it at home.

Children with moderate peanut allergies were given microscopic doses of peanuts daily, and then were monitored for allergic symptoms. The doses were gradually increased over a two-year period. Eventually, some of the patients were able to eat 13 to 15 peanuts without having a negative reaction.

Widespread use of this treatment is not expected for several years. The doctors hope to broaden its scope to include other food allergies.

(Source: Reuters)

[winston]

Attack of the Clones By Kelley Herring

If the thought of eating cloned meat doesn't appeal to you, make sure you're buying only pasture-raised meats.

In January of this year, the USDA officially defined "naturally raised" livestock as being raised:

without growth promotants (including growth hormones)
without animal byproducts in feed
without antibiotics (except for parasite-reducing ionophores)
While these three prohibitions are important, the USDA's definition doesn't address whether the animal came from cloned or genetically engineered stock, the environment in which it was raised (pastured or confined), or the type of feed it received (pesticide-free or pesticide-ridden grain).

Protect yourself by looking for "pasture-raised" and "grass-fed" and "organic." Visit the EatWild website for a directory of companies you can trust (e.g., U.S. Wellness Meats).

[LenaHuat]

It's Good to Know: A Possible Cure for Peanut Allergies

Peanut allergy sufferers take heart! You could one day be free from scanning ingredient lists.

Doctors at the Duke University Medical Center and Arkansas Children's Hospital have successfully tested a treatment for the allergy. But they caution that more testing is needed, and that no one should be tempted to try it at home.

Children with moderate peanut allergies were given microscopic doses of peanuts daily, and then were monitored for allergic symptoms. The doses were gradually increased over a two-year period. Eventually, some of the patients were able to eat 13 to 15 peanuts without having a negative reaction.

Widespread use of this treatment is not expected for several years. The doctors hope to broaden its scope to include other food allergies.

(Source: Reuters)

Yes, I vouch that this method works. I used to be terribly allergic to peanuts and had been hospitalized for violent bouts of attacks. The docs feared that I would suffocate to death cuz my oesophagus would swell from the hives. Even my scalp would bloat.
It took me some 15 years to discover that it was due to peanuts especially peanut butter. During the 15 years, my intake of peanuts must have 'hardened' (a process similar to hardening temperate plants for our local humid weather) the body to accept nuts. Now I can eat nuts without adverse effect but lay off peanut butter. The butter still wrecks my body

[iam802]

Fish Oil Doesn’t Help Heart Attack Patients in Biggest Study

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... refer=home

By Tom Randall

March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Omega-3 fatty acids, abundant in the organs of oily fish including salmon and sardines, didn’t help heart attack patients prevent another cardiac event, a study found.

The report, presented today at the American College of Cardiology in Orlando, Florida, contradicts previous smaller studies that suggested a daily supplement may help ward off repeat heart attacks, strokes and death. After taking a gram of purified fatty-acid supplements each day for a year, patients in the latest research, the biggest of its kind, fared no better than those who were given olive oil.

The 3,827 patients studied also got the best recommended therapy for heart-attacks, the researchers said. Most of the earlier studies were performed when heart-attack treatments were less advanced, they said. New treatments for heart attacks are so effective, they may have overwhelmed benefits from the fatty acids, the scientists said.

“We saw no beneficial effect,” said Jochen Senges, professor of cardiology at Heart Center Ludwigshafen at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, in a statement. “In patients who are already taking optimal medical therapy, cardiac event rates become very low and omega-3 do not further improve them.”

In 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted the supplements a “qualified health claim status” for preventing heart disease, allowing companies to advertise the benefits of the supplements based on evidence. An August study of fish oil to treat heart failure, a condition in which the heart can’t pump enough blood to supply oxygen to other organs, found the pills reduced deaths by 9 percent.

Community Health Centers

The latest research was conducted in 104 community health centers in Germany. Researchers found that over the course of the average yearlong follow-up, 3.9 percent of patients had another nonfatal heart attack, 1.7 percent had a nonfatal stroke, and 4.1 percent died. There were no significant differences between the group that took omega-3 fatty acids and the one that took the dummy pills.

Recommended care for heart attack patients varies by patient and includes a combination of tests, procedures and medicines.

About 94 percent of patients in the study had an X-ray exam of the heart called an angiography and 78 percent had angioplasty procedures. About 94 percent were prescribed drugs known as beta-blockers, 94 percent received cholesterol drugs called statins, 95 percent received aspirin and 88 percent received Plavix, a blood thinner made by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Sanofi-Aventis SA.

[winston]

Organics: More Than Meets the Eye By Kelley Herring

The next time you're at the grocery, pick up a conventionally grown apple and an organically grown apple. Smell them. While the organic apple will be more fragrant, there won't be much difference in the way they look.

But what you can't see can hurt you.

Pesticides - in "conventionally grown" fruits and veggies - are powerful endocrine disruptors. They affect your delicate hormonal system - which, in turn, affects everything from your weight and mood to your risk of cancer and infertility. And most Americans eat over a gallon of these health-harming chemicals each year.

Pesticides (and other endocrine disruptors) are measured in nanometers (nM). Professor Michael Mackay helps put the miniscule size of these compounds into perspective by using a Post-It note.

Hold a 3 x 3 inch Post-It note out in front of you - at arm's length. Now imagine how small that Post-It would look if it were halfway around the world from the spot where you are standing. Pretty small, huh? That is 3 nM - the size of one molecule of a pesticide.

In times of economic uncertainty, it's smart to jettison unnecessary expenditures. But paying a little more for healthy food is not an unnecessary expense. Choose only organic produce, wild fish, and organic pastured meats to stay healthy, strong, and mentally balanced - no matter what the economy does.