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Alternative Medicine in the News
July 2010 edition 82
published weekly
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Naturally Prevent and Remove Dangerous Arterial Plaque
The arteries are major blood vessels that the heart uses to pump blood
from the heart to the rest of the body. Over time, arterial walls can
become congested with a fatty substance known as plaque. When this
happens to a severe point, the arteries may begin to harden and the
blood flow can become compromised and ultimately result in a heart
attack. Mainstream medicine's approach for treating plaque is to use
drugs or surgery. However, there are natural ways to prevent and remove
plaque.
As is the case when addressing many health concerns,
exercise and diet can play major roles in avoiding and reducing plaque.
Exercise is already known for many benefits to the body such as
reducing risk factors for disease, better mental function, and weight
control. Exercise can also improve your circulation which can help
reduce plaque. According to the Mayo Clinic, you can do this by getting
30 to 60 minutes of exercise on most days of the week.
When it
comes to diet, what you avoid is equally important as what you eat.
Many foods that are high in saturated fat and cholesterol can cause
plaque to build up. Some examples include deep fried foods, foods that
are high in trans fats, refined foods, and processed foods. Alcohol
should also be avoided and red meat should be eaten in small portions.
Foods
that are nutrient dense, high in fiber, low in sodium and low in
saturated fat help avoid and reduce arterial plaque. Fiber helps block
the intestinal absorption of cholesterol. It also makes you feel full
longer which can result in less overall calorie consumption. Some
examples of fiber-rich foods include whole grains, fruits and
vegetables.
Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fats that the body
cannot make on its own. They can be found in supplements and also in
foods like cold water fish, walnuts, flax seeds and healthy oils such
as olive oil. Fish oil supplements can lower blood pressure and reduce
arterial plaque and they also lower triglycerides.
Niacin raises
HDL, which is known as "good cholesterol". HDL cholesterol removes bad
LDL cholesterol and arterial plaque. According to the FDA, "Niacin is
the best agent known to raise blood levels of HDL, which helps remove
cholesterol deposits from the artery walls." Naturally the FDA removed
this quote from their website.
Vitamin C is crucial in repair
and healing of the endothelial layer of cells inside of coronary and
carotid arteries. When this layer is not maintained properly by the
body, it can become the site for lesions that begin the process of
atherosclerosis.
Coenzyme Q10 strengthens arteries and veins and cleans out accumulated plaque.
Digestive
enzymes help break down the food our body does not digest. When taken
on an empty stomach, they enter the bloodstream intact. As they
circulate, they remove toxins and break down the fats responsible for
plaque formation. Digestive enzymes in supplements and raw foods help
prevent heart disease.
Serrapeptase is a particularly potent
digestive enzyme when it comes to dissolving arterial plaque. It has
the unique ability to digest non-living tissue that is a by-product of
the healing response without harming living tissue. Serrapeptase is
used to dissolve non-living tissues to include: scar tissue, fibrosis,
blood clots, cysts and arterial plaque.
Some herbal remedies can
also help fight plaque by improving circulation, reducing blood clots,
lowering cholesterol and reducing stress. The herb hawthorn helps
remove plaque blockages by widening blood vessels. Horsetail is rich in
silica and can aid removal of plaque by strengthening artery walls.
Other helpful herbs include ashwagandha, ginger, garlic and guggul.
Sources included:
http://www.tbyil.com/High_Cholester...
http://www.actualcures.com/heart-di...
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1928315
http://www.ehow.com/about_5402943_h...
http://www.tbyil.com/Heart_Disease.htm
http://www.ehow.com/way_5692286_nat...
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Tulsi Tea for Coughs
contributed by Kushan Shah
INGREDIENTS:
Tulsi (fresh basil)leaves: 20 gms
Crushed Ginger:15 gms Black peeper powder: 2 gms Jaggery (black sugar): 5 gms Water: 150 ml Boil all the ingredients for 10-15 minutes in low
heat. Strain and serve hot. IMPORTANCE:
The drink is very effective in cough and colds. It promotes the removal of catarrh and phlegm from bronchil tubes. The tea
strengthens the stomach and induces copious perspirtion . It is also useful in
case of sour throat. The tea serves as an important aid in case of bronchitis,
asthma, and influenza. |
Yoga & Meditation at Abha Light House
YOGA
Mondays - Wednesdays
5:30 - 6:30
Cost: Ksh 300
4 classes for Ksh 1000
MEDITATION
Tuesdays
6:30 - 7:30
Cost: free!
Welcome!
Call for information: 0710-620323 / 0733-895466
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Food industry too secretive over nanoparticles
The food industry is being too secretive about the extent to which it
has adopted nanotechnology, according to a report by the United
Kingdom's House of Lords Science and Technology Committee.
The
industry is "very reluctant to put its head above the parapet and be
open about research on nanotechnology," said study chairperson Lord
John Krebs.
"They got their fingers burnt over the use of GM
crops and so they want to keep a low profile on this issue. We believe
that they should adopt exactly the opposite approach. If you want to
build confidence you should be open rather than secretive."
Nanotechnology
refers to the practice of manipulating particles on the scale of
one-billionth of a meter. Particles of this size behave in a
fundamentally different fashion than they do on the more familiar
scale, producing a wide variety of novel applications. Because
nanoparticles are not currently regulated any differently than larger
particles, they are already making their way into consumer products,
from sunscreens and cosmetics to clothing and sporting goods. Their
industrial and medical uses are also being explored.
The food
industry is investigating ways that nanotechnology can be used for
applications such as flavor or even nutritional enhancement, but has
taken advantage of the regulatory loophole to keep these practices
secret.
It is "regrettable that the food industry [is] refusing to talk about its work in the area," the report says.
According
to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnolgies, there are at least 84
food-related products making use of nanotechnology already. Yet due to
industry secrecy, such numbers are necessarily speculative and probably
underestimates.
"We are not clear what is out there in use at the moment," Krebs said.
The
report estimates that the nanotechnology market will balloon from its
current value of $410 million to more than $4.1 billion in just the
next two years.
Sources for this story include: news.bbc.co.uk.
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Diet soda now promoted as medicine to stop kidney stones (opinion)
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com
The "most retarded science journal of the year" award goes to the Journal of Urology
which has published an article suggesting that diet soda is actually an
effective type of medicine for preventing kidney stones (April 19, 2010
issue). The research was led by Dr Brian H. Eisner, a urologist at
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who is apparently completely
clueless about human nutrition and the toxicity of aspartame.
According
to Dr Eisner, diet sodas are not only good medicine for preventing
kidney stones; they're also a good source of water hydration. Noting
that patients need to consume 2-3 liters of water each day, Dr Eisner
said in a Reuters article, "If drinking these sodas helps people reach that goal, then that may be a good thing." (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS...)
If you're thinking this is some sort of April Fools joke, it isn't. Dr Eisner and the Journal of Urology
are somehow convinced this is good research and that diet sodas may
actually have a positive medicinal effect on the human body. Instances
of such "scientific" stupidity appear to be increasing in western
medicine where doctors remain wildly ignorant of the effects on the
human body caused by processed ingredients or toxic chemical additives.
Aspartame, used as the primary sweetener in diet sodas, is a potent neurotoxin
according to experts like Dr Russell Blaylock. Many believe it promotes
headaches, vision problems, endocrine system problems and nervous
system disorders. It has never been proven safe for human consumption
by any honest testing.
Most diet sodas also contain alarmingly high levels of phosphoric acid, a substance that causes a huge increase in acidity throughout the body, suppressing immune function, weakening bones and contributing to kidney stones (not preventing them).
The truth about diet soda
There is absolutely no question that drinking diet soda is atrocious for your health.
That a mainstream western doctor would somehow conclude diet soda to be
a medicine for preventing kidney stones is equivalent to declaring
"pizza prevents heart disease" or that smoking cigarettes prevents
cancer. It shows not merely the shocking nutritional ignorance of Dr
Eisner himself, but the utter lack of nutritional knowledge among his
peers at the Journal of Urology who somehow saw fit to publish his study.
This is called science? Keep in mind that the entire claim is based on the idea that certain diet sodas contain citrate
and that frequent consumption of citrate from natural sources
(lemonade, lime juice, etc.) is well known to prevent kidney stones.
Consuming natural lemonade actually does prevent kidney stones, but you
can't extrapolate from that and claim a lemon-flavored diet soda will
accomplish the same thing. That's like saying that since fruit helps prevent cancer, then drinking fruit punch must prevent cancer, too.
This
research, by the way, never even tested diet sodas on human subjects.
It's really just a "thought experiment" from someone who isn't even
very good at thinking. The entire paper is the scientific equivalent of
saying, "Hey, I betcha that thar diet soda might prevent them kidney
stones 'cuz there's citrate in it!"
And the Journal of Urology
was just silly enough to actually publish it as science. It makes you
wonder: What are the requirements for having a scientific paper rejected by the Journal of Urology?
No coverage of medicinal herbs
I bet a paper touting the very real benefits of the Amazon rainforest herb Chanca Piedra
would be rejected by the journal. Chanca Piedra is known as the
"stonebreaker" herb throughout South America. It really works to
dissolve and eliminate kidney stones, but you'd never see that in a
science journal in North America. No, they're too busy touting the
"medicinal benefits" of diet soda, if you can believe that.
At
this point in the article, I would normally point out how little
credibility remains in the world of western medicine and its loony
research conclusions. This is an industry that calls homeopathy
"witchcraft", that thinks medicinal herbs are dangerous, and that now
apparently believes diet sodas are a form of medicine. Any discussion
of "credibility" about such an industry is frankly just pointless.
If
aspartame and phosphoric acid was somehow good for you, America would
be the healthiest nation in the world! And if diet sodas actually
worked, then all the people drinking them wouldn't be so obese, would
they?
And if diet soda prevents kidney stones, they why are most
of the people suffering from kidney stones the very same people who
drink a lot of soda? If anything, diet soda causes kidney stones. But I suppose the Journal of Urology can print exactly the opposite and call it "science" if they want, right?
That's
exactly why modern "science" has lost so much credibility these days.
Because practically any corporate-sponsored idea, no matter how
ridiculous, can end up being printed in a "scientific journal" even if
its conclusions violate the laws of the known biological universe.
If diet soda prevents kidney stones, then mammogram radiation prevents cancer, too.
Sources for this story include:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS...
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Drug companies intentionally leave out required side effects information on drug ads
The FDA has sent warning letters to four pharmaceutical companies
citing them for omitting and minimizing information about risks and
exaggerating potential benefits in material promoting their drugs.
The
letters order the companies to cease banned marketing behaviors and
instruct their employees on rules for promotions, but do not impose any
fines or other sanctions.
Among the companies reprimanded are
Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly & Co. for their diabetes drug
Byetta. The FDA letter notes that at a meeting of the Endocrine Society
in June, an Amylin representative told an FDA employee that the drug
caused 80 percent of patients to lose seven to eight pounds in 30 weeks
of treatment. When the FDA representative asked about the source of
that claim, he was provided with copies of two published studies that
did not support it.
The letter states that Amylin
representatives made other misleading or false statements about the
drug's benefits, and suggested that it could be used as a standalone
treatment. At the time of the conference, Byetta was not yet approved
as a standalone drug, making it illegal for the company to promote it
for that use.
Eli Lilly was also taken to task for "entirely
[omitting] risk information" in a print ad for the antidepressant
Cymbalta, and for minimizing risks and exaggerating benefits in another
ad.
Cephalon was reprimanded for promotional cards for the
lymphoma drug Treanda, which contain "an extremely limited risk
presentation" and omit "important material information related to the
dosing claims."
Finally, the FDA sent a letter to Bayer over its
marketing campaign for the intra-uterine device Mirena. In addition to
playing down risks and making false and misleading statements, the FDA
notes that Bayer's ad campaign makes unsubstantiated statements
claiming that "the use of Mirena instead of other means of
contraception will result in increased levels of intimacy, romance, and
by implication, emotional satisfaction." The ads also promise that
women who use the device will "look and feel great."
The FDA is
unaware of "any evidence suggesting that women who are using Mirena for
birth control look great or feel great," the letter reads.
Sources for this story include: www.boston.com/business/articles/20... ; www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/ja... ;
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Fight Diabetes with the Power of Zinc
Diabetes is an escalating issue in the United States, and there are no
signs of this health ailment diminishing. According to the American
Diabetes Association, 23.6 million adults and children have diabetes in
the U.S. That is 7.8% of the population according to the latest data
formed from 2007, and 1.6 million new cases are diagnosed each year.
Luckily, there are many natural remedies that may aid in suppressing
the negative effects of diabetes. Many of these remedies may completely
cure or prevent diabetes when used properly.
Research shows that
zinc, an essential trace element responsible for over 300 enzyme
functions, can aid in normalizing the negative effects of diabetes
mellitus. According to the study, zinc has been shown to mitigate the
harmful effects of diabetes by improving glycemic control in type I and
type II diabetes. Many of the enzyme systems in which zinc is a
necessity for are involved with the metabolism of blood sugar, and
therefore make zinc a natural catalyst for insulin secretion.
The
pancreas is an endocrine gland responsible for producing hormones like
glucagon, somatostatin, and - you guessed it - insulin. The beta cells
that secrete insulin in your pancreas are also highly stored with zinc.
Without the high concentrations of zinc, the beta cells suffer.
Luckily, beta cells are equipped with their own special transporter
called 'zinc transporter 8', which makes it easy for the beta cells to
store the zinc. However, it is known that any metamorphosis of the
genes in the zinc transporter 8 causes type 2 diabetes. It is also now
known that antibodies against the zinc transporter are present in type
1 diabetic patients, which means that these antibodies are associated
with type 1 diabetes.
It is no wonder why zinc is as popular as
it is for supplementation. In addition to mending the difficulties
brought on by diabetes, zinc also serves to maintain a healthy immune
system, controls hair loss, halts impotence, improves brain function,
prevents loss of taste or smell, and much more. Although
supplementation is a viable option to obtain the amount of zinc that
you need, it is not the only option thanks to the abundant amount of
foods rich in zinc that are available to the general public. To reap
the many benefits of zinc, one could include any of the following foods
into their diet:
Oysters
Wheat Germ
Veal Liver
Sesame Flour and Tahini
Low Fat Roast Beef
Roasted Pumpkin and Squash Seeds
Dried Water Melon Seeds
Cocoa Powder and Chocolate
Lamb
Peanuts
Almonds
Avocado
Bananas
Beef
Cashew
Cheese
Chicken (dark meat)
Chickpeas (including hummus and falafel)
Crab, Dungeness
Cucumber
Eggs
Fish
Kiwi Fruit
Lettuce
Lima Beans
Liver
Milk
Olives
Onion
Peaches
Peas
Pecan Nuts
Pine Nuts
Pork
Shellfish
Spinach
Strawberries
Sunflower seeds
Sweet potatoes
Tomatoes
Turkey (dark meat)
Walnuts
Yogurt
Sources:
http://www.wellnessresources.com/he...
http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-ba...
http://www.weightlossforall.com/foo...
http://www.healthaliciousness.com/a...
http://www.wellnessresources.com/st... |
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) Makes More Belly Fat Cells
Nutrition experts blame sugar as a major cause of the rise in
obesity in the United States, noting that the rise in overweight
children is especially alarming. Some scientists have zeroed in on
fructose as a major cause, especially high-fructose corn syrup that is
used in soft drinks and processed foods.
Manufacturers have staunchly defended their product, saying it is no
more a cause of obesity than other foods. New research may prove their
critics were right.
A study at the United Kingdom's University of Bristol found that
when a child's fat cells mature, if fructose is present, more of the
cells mature into fat cells in belly fat. In addition, the cells are
less able to respond to insulin in both belly fat and in subcutaneous
fat located below the skin.
"Our results suggest that high levels of fructose, which may result
from eating a diet high in fructose, throughout childhood may lead to
an increase in visceral [abdominal] obesity, which is associated with
increased cardiometabolic risk," lead author Georgina Coade said in a
statement. Abdominal obesity, which is defined by a large waistline,
raises the risk of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes.
Early studies had shown that fructose had a negative effect on fat
distribution in rats, but people hadn't been studied. Coade studied
biopsy specimens from 32 healthy children who had not undergone
puberty.
The investigators obtained preadipocytes - the precursors to fat
cells that have the potential to differentiate, or mature, into
fat-containing adipocytes - from the biopsies. They then allowed the
precursor cells to mature for 14 days in a culture media containing one
of three substances: normal glucose (the main sugar found in the
bloodstream and the principal source of energy in the body), high
glucose, or high fructose.
The researchers found that fructose produced different effects than
those of glucose and caused the fat cells to differentiate more - that
is, to form more mature fat cells - but only in visceral fat. The
fructose also decreased the ability of cells to take up glucose from
the bloodstream into fat and muscles. Decreased sensitivity to insulin
is a characteristic of Type 2 diabetes.
"Fructose alters the behavior of human fat cells if it is present as the fat cells mature," Coade said.
According to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey, two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. Government
statistics show that Mississippi has the highest percentage of obese
and overweight children - 44.4 percent.
According to HealthyAmericans.org, obesity costs the United States
$75 billion each year in direct costs, but the total costs could reach
$139 billion.
http://www.newsmaxhealth.com/headline_health/fructose_makes_belly_fat/2010/06/28/326261.html
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Live without stress, and breast cancer doesn't come back, study discovers
16 July 2010
Breast cancer doesn't come back if you can live a life without stress.
A happy woman has a stronger immune system that can beat cancer, even
if she has had several episodes of the disease in the past, a new study
has discovered.
Researchers have discovered a direct link between stress and the immune
system. In a study involving 227 women with recently diagnosed breast
cancer, around half were taught psychological skills to reduce their
stress levels. Those who went through the stress-reducing programme had
a 45 per cent reduced risk of recurring breast cancer, even 11 years
later. Those who developed breast cancer again were much more likely to
survive, say psychologists at the Ohio State University Comprehensive
Cancer Center.
(Source: Clinical Cancer Research, 2010; doi:
10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-0278). |
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Medical Disclaimer:
The information contained within does not take the place of medical diagnosis or
prescription. See your health care provider in case of sickness.
Editorial Disclaimer: Publication of these articles are to promote food for thought. The opinions expressed in these articles may not be the opinion of editors.
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