Rather Be Healthy

In the United States, Alzheimer’s disease is currently at epidemic proportions, with 5.4 million Americans—including one in eight people aged 65 and over—living with the disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association’s 2011 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures1.

By 2050, this is expected to jump to 16 million, and in the next 20 years, it is projected that Alzheimer’s will affect one in four Americans, rivaling the current prevalence of obesity and diabetes.

There is still no known cure for this devastating disease, and very few treatments. Alzheimer’s drugs are often of little to no benefit at all, which underscores the importance of prevention throughout your lifetime.

Research repeatedly suggests the best hope for patients lies in prevention through optimal diet, exercise and staying socially and mentally active. As recently reported by Forbes2:

“[A] new study in Science suggested that last year’s ‘breakthrough’ pharmaceutical, bexarotene (Targretin) – a cancer drug that had initially received wide publicity for helping break up the plaques in Alzheimer’s – doesn’t seem to do this very well at all, and can have significant adverse side effects for the patient.

‘Something happened in that initial report – either something technically or otherwise, which we can’t put our hands on at this point in time,” study author Sangram Sisodia told US News & World Report. ‘Something is seriously wrong.’

While memory loss is common among Westerners, it is NOT a “normal” part of aging. Research has shown that even mild “senior moments” are caused by the same brain lesions associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. These cognitive changes are by no means inevitable!

People who experience very little decline in their cognitive function up until their deaths have been found (post-mortem) to be free of brain lesions, showing that it’s entirely possible to prevent the damage from occurring in the first place. At the end of this article, I share my best tips for maintaining healthy brain function well into old age.

In recent years, researchers studying natural compounds have offered new hope. For example, two recent studies suggest that compounds in cinnamon, as well as vitamins B12, B6, and folate may delay the onset and/or slow progression of the disease.

The Promise of Cinnamon and Vitamins in the Fight Against Alzheimer’s Disease

The first study in question, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease3, found that cinnamaldehyde and epicatechin, two compounds found in cinnamon, have an inhibitory effect on the aggregation of a particular protein called tau. Tau plays a large role in the structure and function of neurons.

But while a normal part of cell structures, this protein can begin to accumulate, forming “neurofibrillary tangles” that are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. Both compounds were found to protect tau from oxidative damage that can lead to dysfunction.

Donald Graves, adjunct professor in UCSB’s Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and co-author of the study explained the protective process to Medical News Today4:

“‘Take, for example, sunburn, a form of oxidative damage. If you wore a hat, you could protect your face and head from the oxidation. In a sense this cinnamaldehyde is like a cap. While it can protect the tau protein by binding to its vulnerable cysteine residues, it can also come off,’ Graves added, which can ensure the proper functioning of the protein.”

It’s interesting to note that there’s a high correlation between type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. Some even believe Alzheimer’s may be a form of brain diabetes. Insulin and insulin receptors in your brain are crucial for learning and memory, and it’s known that these components are lower in people with Alzheimer’s disease.

In addition to the above findings, cinnamon has also been found to have beneficial effects on blood glucose management in type 2 diabetics. This is one of the reasons I include cinnamon in my healthy coconut candy recipe.

B Vitamins Again Show Promise in Alzheimer’s Prevention

The other study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences5, found that vitamins B6, B12, and folic acid may help slow the progression of the disease, confirming and supporting previous studies. As reported in the featured article6:

“The fact that B-family vitamins may play a significant role in dementia, or more specifically in warding it off has been consistently illustrated. What is news from the current study, however, is that high-dose B-vitamin treatment in people at risk for the disease ‘slowed shrinkage of whole brain volume,’ and especially reduced shrinkage in areas known to be affected in Alzheimer’s disease.”

The 156 study participants, all of whom were over the age of 70, were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment. This, along with midlife hypertension, midlife obesity and diabetes, is a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s. One group of participants received a placebo while the other received high-dose B-vitamin treatment consisting of:
•0.8 mg folic acid
•20 mg vitamin B6
•0.5 mg vitamin B12

It is important to note that vitamin B12 comes in many forms and it is typically injected because it is not absorbed well by most people, especially in the elderly who need it most. This is due to it being one of the largest vitamins known. The most common form is cyanocobalamin but a better from would be methylcobalamin. A better alternative to B12 injections would also be sublingual sprays, which are absorbed very similarly to the injections.

The treatment effectively slowed shrinkage of the whole brain volume over the course of two years. It also reduced, by as much as seven-fold, the cerebral atrophy in certain brain regions that are particularly vulnerable to damage associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Another major boon: The supplements cost less than 50 cents a day and are readily available in pharmacies and health-food stores. In the placebo group, higher homocysteine levels at baseline were associated with faster atrophy in these same regions. According to the researchers7:

“We… show that the beneficial effect of B vitamins is confined to participants with high homocysteine… and that, in these participants, a causal Bayesian network analysis indicates the following chain of events: B vitamins lower homocysteine, which directly leads to a decrease in gray matter atrophy, thereby slowing cognitive decline.

Our results show that B-vitamin supplementation can slow the atrophy of specific brain regions that are a key component of the AD process and that are associated with cognitive decline.”

Dr. A. David Smith, professor emeritus of pharmacology at Oxford University, founding director of the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing, and senior author of the study told Bloomberg News8 that this B-vitamin treatment is “the first and only disease-modifying treatment that’s worked. We have proved the concept that you can modify the disease.” This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who understands that without proper nutrition and exercise, your brain will be increasingly vulnerable to damage with age…

Vitamin B Cocktail Already Used for Dementia Prevention in Sweden

Three years ago, the same group of researchers showed that the atrophy rate in patients’ whole brains was reduced by about 30 percent in those taking the vitamin cocktail9. The atrophy rate was even higher—53 percent—in those who had elevated homocysteine levels, a benefit that was reconfirmed in the featured study. According to Bloomberg10:

“The studies, known as Vitacog, were funded by seven charities and government agencies and vitamin maker Meda AB of Solna, Sweden. Smith is an inventor on three patents held by Oxford University for B vitamin formulations to treat Alzheimer’s disease… Vitamin B12 is found in liver, fish and milk and folic acid in fruit and vegetables. Deficiency of folate and B vitamins is already linked to dementia…

Doctors in Sweden began measuring homocysteine in people who report declining memory about two years ago, said [Johan] Lokk [professor and head physician in the geriatric department at Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden, who wasn’t involved in the study]…

Swedish patients with high homocysteine are given folic acid and B vitamins, even if they aren’t deficient. ‘We think the increased homocysteine level could be deleterious to the brain,’ Lokk said. ‘We wanted to be on the offensive in diagnosing and treating patients. In our opinion, it is harmless and cheap.’”

General Anesthesia Could Increase Risk of Dementia in Elderly by 35 Percent

Related research suggests that being exposed to general anesthesia can increase the risk of dementia in the elderly by as much as 35 percent. The research was presented at the annual congress of the European Society of Anesthesiology (ESA). As reported by Medical News Today11:

“Postoperative cognitive dysfunction, or POCD, could be associated with dementia several years later. POCD is a common complication in elderly patients after major surgery. It has been proposed that there is an association between POCD and the development of dementia due to a common pathological mechanism through the amyloid β peptide. Several experimental studies suggest that some anesthetics could promote inflammation of neural tissues leading to POCD and/or Alzheimer’s disease (AD) precursors including β-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles.”

Participants aged 65 and over were followed for a total of 10 years. Participants exposed to at least one general anesthetic over the follow-up had a 35 percent increased risk of developing a dementia compared to those who were not exposed to anesthesia. According to lead researcher Dr. Francois Sztark12:

“These results are in favor of an increased risk for dementia several years after general anesthesia. Recognition of POCD is essential in the perioperative management of elderly patients. A long-term follow-up of these patients should be planned.”

Tips for Avoiding Alzheimer’s Disease

The beauty of following my revised Nutrition Plan is that it helps treat and prevent all chronic degenerative diseases, from the common ones like heart disease, diabetes, obesity and Alzheimer’s to the ones you have never heard of or can’t even pronounce. So please read the Plan as soon as you can. It is divided into three helpful sections, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced to help you start at the right level.

The plan is the first step in addressing Alzheimer’s disease, which is currently at epidemic proportions, with 5.4 million Americans – including one in eight people aged 65 and over – living with the disease.

Remember, while memory loss is indeed common among Westerners, it is NOT a “normal” part of aging, and cognitive changes are by no means inevitable. People who experience very little decline in their cognitive function up until their deaths have been found (post-mortem) to be free of brain lesions, showing that it’s entirely possible to prevent the damage from occurring in the first place… and one of the best ways to do this is by leading a healthy lifestyle.
•Sugar and Fructose. Ideally, you’ll want to keep your sugar levels to a minimum and your total fructose below 25 grams per day, or as low as 15 grams per day if you have insulin resistance or any related disorders.
•Improve magnesium levels. There is some exciting preliminary research strongly suggesting a decrease in Alzheimer symptoms with increased levels of magnesium in the brain. Unfortunately, most magnesium supplements do not pass the blood brain levels, but a new one, magnesium threonate, appears to and holds some promise for the future for treating this condition and may be superior to other forms.
•Optimize your vitamin D levels with safe sun exposure. Strong links between low levels of vitamin D in Alzheimer’s patients and poor outcomes on cognitive tests have been revealed. Researchers believe that optimal vitamin D levels may enhance the amount of important chemicals in your brain and protect brain cells by increasing the effectiveness of the glial cells in nursing damaged neurons back to health.

Vitamin D may also exert some of its beneficial effects on Alzheimer’s through its anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties. Sufficient vitamin D is imperative for proper functioning of your immune system to combat inflammation that is also associated with Alzheimer’s.

•Keep your fasting insulin levels below 3. This is indirectly related to fructose, as it will clearly lead to insulin resistance. However other sugars (sucrose is 50 percent fructose by weight), grains and lack of exercise are also important factors. Lowering insulin will also help lower leptin levels which is another factor for Alzheimer’s.
•Vitamin B12: In addition to the research presented above, a small Finnish study published in the journal Neurology13 also found that people who consume foods rich in B12 may reduce their risk of Alzheimer’s in their later years. For each unit increase in the marker of vitamin B12, the risk of developing Alzheimer’s was reduced by two percent. Remember sublingual methylcobalamin may be your best bet here.
•Eat a nutritious diet, rich in folate, such as the one described in my nutrition plan. Vegetables, without question, are your best form of folate, and we should all eat plenty of fresh raw veggies every day. Avoid supplements with folic acid, which is the inferior synthetic version of folate.
•High-quality animal-based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil. (I recommend avoiding most fish because, although fish is naturally high in omega-3, most fish are now severely contaminated with mercury.) High intake of the omega-3 fats EPA and DHA help by preventing cell damage caused by Alzheimer’s disease, thereby slowing down its progression, and lowering your risk of developing the disorder.
•Avoid and eliminate mercury from your body. Dental amalgam fillings, which are 50 percent mercury by weight, are one of the major sources of heavy metal toxicity. However you should be healthy prior to having them removed. Once you have adjusted to following the diet described in my optimized nutrition plan, you can follow the mercury detox protocol and then find a biological dentist to have your amalgams removed.
•Avoid aluminum, such as antiperspirants, non-stick cookware, vaccine adjuvants, etc.
•Exercise regularly. It’s been suggested that exercise can trigger a change in the way the amyloid precursor protein is metabolized14, thus, slowing down the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s. Exercise also increases levels of the protein PGC-1alpha. Research has also shown that people with Alzheimer’s have less PGC-1alpha in their brains11 and cells that contain more of the protein produce less of the toxic amyloid protein associated with Alzheimer’s. I would strongly recommend reviewing the Peak Fitness Technique for my specific recommendations.
•Avoid flu vaccinations as most contain both mercury and aluminum, well-known neurotoxic and immunotoxic agents.
•Eat blueberries. Wild blueberries, which have high anthocyanin and antioxidant content, are known to guard against Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases. Like any fruit though, avoid excesses here.
•Challenge your mind daily. Mental stimulation, especially learning something new, such as learning to play an instrument or a new language, is associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer’s. Researchers suspect that mental challenge helps to build up your brain, making it less susceptible to the lesions associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
•Avoid anticholinergic and statin drugs. Drugs that block acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter, have been shown to increase your risk of dementia. These drugs include certain nighttime pain relievers, antihistamines, sleep aids, certain antidepressants, medications to control incontinence, and certain narcotic pain relievers.

Statin drugs are particularly problematic because they suppress the synthesis of cholesterol, deplete your brain of coenzyme Q10 and neurotransmitter precursors, and prevent adequate delivery of essential fatty acids and fat-soluble antioxidants to your brain by inhibiting the production of the indispensable carrier biomolecule known as low-density lipoprotein.

Other Natural Treatments for Your Anti-Alzheimer’s Arsenal

Finally, there are a few other nutritional recommendations worth noting for their specific benefits in preventing and treating dementia. So, although your fundamental strategy for preventing dementia should involve a comprehensive lifestyle approach, you may want to consider adding a few of these natural dietary agents to your anti-Alzheimer’s arsenal. These four natural foods/supplements have good science behind them, in terms of preventing age-related cognitive changes:
1.Coconut Oil: The primary fuel your brain needs for energy is glucose. However, your brain is able to run on more than a single type of fuel, one being ketones (ketone bodies), or ketoacids. Ketones are what your body produces when it converts fat (as opposed to glucose) into energy.

The medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) found in coconut oil are GREAT source of ketone bodies, because coconut oil is about 66 percent MCTs. In fact, ketones appear to be the preferred source of brain food in patients affected by diabetes or Alzheimer’s.

2.Astaxanthin is a natural pigment with unique properties and many clinical benefits, including some of the most potent antioxidant activity currently known. As a fat-soluble nutrient, astaxanthin readily crosses your blood-brain barrier. One study15 found it may help prevent neurodegeneration associated with oxidative stress, as well as make a potent natural “brain food.”

The molecules of astaxanthin neutralize free radicals and other oxidants without being destroyed or becoming pro-oxidants themselves in the process. It’s is a unique molecule whose shape allows it to precisely fit into a cell membrane and span its entire width. In this position, astaxanthin can intercept potentially damaging molecules before they can damage your cells.

You can get some astaxanthin by taking krill oil, which is a fantastic omega-3 fat supplement. But you can boost your astaxanthin even MORE by adding a pure astaxanthin supplement to your nutritional regimen. For optimal absorption, make sure to take krill oil and/or astaxanthin with a fat-containing meal, since both are fat-soluble.

3.Gingko biloba: Many scientific studies have found that Gingko biloba has positive effects for dementia. Gingko, which is derived from a tree native to Asia, has long been used medicinally in China and other countries. A 1997 study from JAMA showed clear evidence that Gingko improves cognitive performance and social functioning for those suffering from dementia.

Research since then has been equally promising. One study in 2006 found Gingko as effective as the dementia drug Aricept (donepezil) for treating mild to moderate Alzheimer’s type dementia. A 2010 meta-analysis found Gingko biloba to be effective for a variety of types of dementia.

4.Alpha lipoic acid (ALA): ALA can stabilize cognitive functions among Alzheimer’s patients and may slow the progression of the disease.

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Many know that studies have suggested that alcohol in moderation may promote heart health, and even ward off diabetes and dementia. But fewer people know that no study has ever proved a causal relationship between moderate drinking and lower risk of death, only that the two often go together.

In other words, it is just as likely that moderate drinking is just something healthy people tend to do, not something that makes people healthy.

Dr. Tim Naimi, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says that, “The bottom line is there has not been a single study done on moderate alcohol consumption and mortality outcomes that is a ‘gold standard’ kind of study — the kind of randomized controlled clinical trial that we would be required to have in order to approve a new pharmaceutical agent.”

Alcohol has been tied to breast cancer, can lead to accidents even when consumed in small amounts, and is linked with liver disease, cancers, heart damage and strokes when consumed in larger amounts.

Some of the WEAKEST science we have is epidemiological observations, and that is precisely the type of science that has been used to support that drinking wine in moderation is healthy for you.

Additionally, to examine the effects of alcohol on the brain, researchers examined eight men and seven women who drank alcohol through a straw while lying in an MRI scanner.

Only 6 minutes after consuming an amount of alcohol equivalent to three beers, changes had already taken place in their brain cells, Live Science reports. Their brains began to run on the sugar in alcohol instead of glucose, the normal brain food.

The concentration of substances such as creatine, which protects brain cells, also decreased as the concentration of alcohol increased. Choline, a component of cell membranes, was also reduced. This probably means that alcohol triggers changes in the composition of cell membranes.

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

I’m sure you’ve heard that alcohol can be beneficial when consumed in low to moderate quantities (about 1-3 standard glasses of alcohol per day), but there are thousands of studies on alcohol consumption and its effects on your health, and researchers still can’t prove that moderate drinking leads to a longer, healthier life.

What they have found, however, is plenty of evidence showing structural damage in your brain as well as other detrimental effects, even when consumed in small quantities.

I think that is far more telling than anything else. It’s hard to imagine any significant health benefit that could outweigh its destructive influence on your brain.

Although some research points to the possibility that moderate alcohol consumption may actually reduce your risk of dementia, numerous studies clearly indicate that alcohol consumption causes too many directly negative neurological complications to say that it has any real benefit.

How Alcohol Damages Your Brain

In the study mentioned above, researchers discovered that creatine and choline concentrations in your brain decrease as the concentration of alcohol increases. Creatine is involved in energy metabolism and protects your brain cells, and choline is a component of your cell membranes.

Researcher Armin Biller said,

“That probably indicates that alcohol triggers changes in the composition of cell membranes.

Our follow-ups on the next day showed that the shifts in brain metabolites after moderate consumption of alcohol by healthy persons are completely reversible. However, we assume that the brain’s ability to recover from the effect of alcohol decreases or is eliminated as the consumption of alcohol increases.

The acute effects demonstrated in our study could possibly form the basis for the permanent brain damage that is known to occur in alcoholics. ”

Another recent study published in the April issue of Human Psychopharmacology addresses the chronic effects of low to moderate alcohol consumption on the structural and functional properties of your brain.

Using Magnetic Resonance Induction (MRI) studies, they found a linear negative effect of alcohol consumption on brain volume. They concluded that the brain shrinkage reported as a result of low to moderate alcohol consumption offers more support for the contention that alcohol is, overall, more detrimental than beneficial to your brain health and cognition.

Yet another study published in the March/April issue of Alcohol & Alcoholism adds to the most recent lineup of studies linking regular alcohol consumption with various forms of brain damage.

In that study the researchers concluded that:

“Even heavy social drinkers who have no specific neurological or hepatic problems show signs of regional brain damage and cognitive dysfunction.

Changes are more severe and other brain regions are damaged in patients who have additional vitamin B1 (thiamine) deficiency (Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome).”

Other Health Hazards of Alcohol Consumption

My position is that it’s never a good idea to drink alcohol.

After all, alcohol is a neurotoxin — it can poison your brain. Even moderate amounts of alcohol are not recommended, because alcohol can also:

· Make you more vulnerable to various preventable cancers

· Harm your body’s delicate hormonal balance

· Cause liver damage

It goes without saying that alcohol should be entirely avoided during pregnancy as it can cause severe damage to your unborn child.

In addition, alcohol consumption has also been found to blunt the responsiveness of your hypothalamus to immune- and other non-immune signals. An impaired physical stress response is believed to affect several body systems, including your immune system’s ability to fight infection, and, again, can hinder your brain cells’ ability to learn and remember.

What About Red Wine?

Red wine is often cited as being a good source of resveratrol, a potent antioxidant that has been shown to increase lifespan in a manner similar to calorie restriction. But what is frequently overlooked is the fact that there are many other, far safer sources of resveratrol.

For example, instead of red wine, you can use a grape seed supplement such as Purple Defense. Because although resveratrol is found in grapes, it is likely that there are other accessory micronutrients and trace elements that enhance resveratrol’s benefits, so taking the entire whole unprocessed food (minus the carbohydrate loaded sweet pulp) will give you the most benefit.

Resveratrol is also found in raspberries, mulberries and peanuts.

Other potent sources of antioxidants include grape pomace, blueberries, and green tea.

Red wine is definitely NOT your best source of antioxidants, as some studies would suggest. There are major benefits to consuming the bioflavanoids that are present in grape seeds and grape skins, but NOT in the alcohol caused by fermenting the sugar in the grape pulp.

Consuming large amounts of wine will also increase your insulin levels, which will eventually have a negative impact on your health.

How to REALLY Boost Your Brain Health

Drinking alcohol to reduce your risk of heart disease or dementia is clearly not your best option.

Heart disease, for example, is actually fairly easy to prevent by implementing simple lifestyle changes, which I’ve discussed at length in previous articles.

And as for fighting age-related cognitive decline, there are far healthier, safer, and proven ways to stay mentally sharp into old age. Here are a few of my most effective strategies:

•Eat a nutritious diet, paying particular attention to avoiding sugar and consuming plenty of vegetables
•Eat plenty of high-quality omega-3 fats
• Avoid most fish and remove mercury from your body
•Avoid aluminum found in drinking water, antiperspirants, cookware, etc.
•Exercise regularly
•Challenge your mind with activities such as traveling, learning to play an instrument or doing crossword puzzles
•Try Purple Defense, an all-natural supplement made from muscadine grape seeds; natures number one source for resveratrol, which can cross your blood-brain barrier to help protect brain cells

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This is not the first time we’ve been told that drinking alcohol is actually good for you. What’s surprising however, not to mention potentially troublesome, are the scientific claims that moderate and even heavy drinking is beneficial – in this case, more beneficial for your longevity than abstaining from alcohol entirely!

It’s difficult to reconcile this claim with everything we already know about the devastating health effects of excessive alcohol consumption and the fact that ethyl alcohol is neurotoxic..

However, I will offer one potential explanation for this oxymoron a bit later in this article.

Moderate Drinkers Live Longer than Non-Drinkers, Study Finds

According to the recent study published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Research, epidemiological research suggests that moderate to high alcohol consumption is associated with a reduced overall mortality risk compared to non- and light drinkers.

Their study included over 1,800 people, aged 55 to 65 when the study began. Sixty-nine percent of the participants were men. The subjects were followed for 20 years.

Surprisingly, the group with the lowest mortality rate was moderate drinkers, who had one to three alcoholic drinks per day, followed by heavy drinkers, and then light drinkers, while non-drinkers had the highest mortality rate of them all.

The study states:

“Controlling only for age and gender, compared to moderate drinkers, abstainers had a more than 2 times increased mortality risk, heavy drinkers had 70% increased risk, and light drinkers had 23% increased risk.

A model controlling for former problem drinking status, existing health problems, and key sociodemographic and social-behavioral factors, as well as for age and gender, substantially reduced the mortality effect for abstainers compared to moderate drinkers.

However, even after adjusting for all covariates, abstainers and heavy drinkers continued to show increased mortality risks of 51 and 45%, respectively, compared to moderate drinkers.”

Time Magazine writes that “moderate alcohol use (especially when the beverage of choice is red wine) is thought to improve heart health, circulation and sociability.”

But is that enough to explain these findings?

I believe it’s unwise to ignore the big picture when it comes to health, and when it comes to alcohol, I’m just not convinced that the potential benefits outweigh all the risks, particularly when it comes to having multiple drinks per day.

So I hope these latest findings will not be used as justification to further promote a dangerous and health-damaging habit that can easily lead to alcoholism.

The Health Hazards of Alcohol

Before we get into the potential benefits, it’s important to realize that alcohol is a neurotoxin that can poison your brain. It can also disrupt your hormonal balance, which could potentially explain why women do not appear to reap the same health benefits from alcohol consumption as men do.

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, “moderate” consumption for women is just one drink per day, whereas “moderate” consumption for men is two drinks. Hence, women who consume two to three drinks a day will actually fall into the category of “heavy” drinkers.

Another important consideration is that wine or other alcoholic beverages will increase your insulin levels, which will eventually have a negative impact on your health. As I’ve stated on many previous occasions, insulin resistance is a hallmark of nearly every chronic disease there is.

Heavy drinkers also face increased risk of cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, and cirrhosis of the liver.

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, women who drink two or more drinks a day increase their risk of breast cancer by more than 40 percent!

Other types of cancer linked to excessive alcohol consumption include cancer of the:
•Mouth, larynx and esophagus
•Liver
•Colon
•Pancreas
•Lungs

Alcohol consumption also inhibits your body’s natural stress response by reducing a key stress hormone, known as corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF). CRF is produced by your hypothalamus and helps trigger your body’s reaction to stress.

If your stress response is impaired, your immune system will also be inhibited, which can have any number of health implications, from reducing your ability to fight infections to increasing your cancer risk.

Alcohol also clearly needs to be avoided during pregnancy.

Beyond Resveratrol – Explaining the Health Benefits of Alcohol

One of the most widely accepted health benefits of alcohol comes from resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red wine, which acts as a:
•Cancer-preventing agent
•Blood thinner
•Vaso-expanding agent
•Blood pressure lowering compound
•Anti-aging chemical

But resveratrol cannot explain the health benefits ascribed to the moderate consumption of other types of alcohol (ethanol).

Interestingly, research into ethanol’s impact on dietary methanol may offer clues that could potentially rival the late breaking science into fructose and its devastating impact on health.

One possible explanation for why mortality rates are higher for non-drinkers may be that low levels of ethanol (alcohol) in your bloodstream helps prevent the formation of formaldehyde from dietary methanol. (In fact, ethanol is used as the preferred antidote for accidental methanol poisoning in an emergency for this reason.)

What is dietary methanol and how could this possibly have ANY significance?

New Concern in Your Food: Wood Alcohol (Methanol)

Fresh fruits and vegetables contain small amounts of naturally-occurring methanol, and the artificial sweetener aspartame converts into methanol in your body.

Normally this is not a problem as the methanol is typically bound to pectin, and since your body has no enzyme to metabolize that bond it is simply excreted in your stool and none of the methanol is absorbed into your body.

However, the problem occurs when you can or bottle fruit- or vegetable juice, as the methanol tends to then dissociate from the pectin into free methanol, which you do absorb.

The methanol you absorb readily passes the blood brain barrier where it can be converted to form formaldehyde, which is a potent toxin that actually causes most of the damage.

Why Ethanol May Protect You From Methanol

An exciting paper that delves into this topic is food scientist Woody Monte’s “Methanol: A chemical Trojan horse as the root of the inscrutable U,” published in the March, 2010 issue of Medical Hypotheses.

In it, he explains that:

“Very low levels of ethanol in your bloodstream would substantively prevent all formaldehyde production from dietary methanol anywhere in the body.

Protection from formaldehyde production may account for the yet unexplained dose region of apparent improvement in the U-shaped curve of alcohol consumption.

Epidemiologic studies show moderate consumption of alcohol is associated with a reduced risk of myocardial infarction, dementia, lupus, and other diseases of civilization.

Low doses of ethanol appear to provide a preventative measure against the causes of diseases of civilization.

Recent studies of individuals who consumed at least one alcoholic drink per day show subjects had an additional 86 percent reduction in risk of myocardial infarction if they were genetically endowed with a genotype of ADH I that was 2.5 times slower to metabolize ethanol than the control.

These findings were ‘‘consistent with the hypothesis that a slower rate of clearance of alcohol enhances the beneficial effect of moderate alcohol consumption on the risk of cardiovascular disease.””

It is important to understand that the primary treatment for methanol poisoning in the emergency room is to give them ethanol, for the reasons described above.

The ethanol will preferentially be broken down before the methanol. The methanol then remains unmetabolized, and in its base form it is relatively nontoxic. It’s becomes a problem when your body breaks it down to formaldehyde.

So while your body is breaking down the ethanol it has enough time to breathe out the methanol unchanged in your lungs and excrete it unchanged in your urine.

A Little Alcohol Might Be Good, But More is Definitely Dangerous

As I mentioned earlier, if this theory is correct, it could rival the scientific findings on fructose in terms of importance, and could explain not only the health benefits of low-to moderate alcohol consumption, but also how aspartame affects some people more negatively than others.

It may still be too early to draw definitive conclusions, but the arguments are compelling and I’ll be following this line of research with great interest in the years to come.

In his paper, Dr. Monte continues to connect the dots and shows how greater alcohol consumption ceases to be beneficial at a certain point, and instead starts to take its toll on your health:

“A compelling explanation of the dose region of adverse effects of the U-shaped curve with high ethanol consumption, which shows increased risk of these same diseases, could be the mechanism by which humans habituate to high consumption of ethanol.

The induction of the P450 hepatic microsomal ethanol-oxidizing system results in a considerably higher clearance rate of ethanol from the bloodstream for an extended period of time, thus accounting for more consumption leading to statistically less time of protection.

Small amounts of supplemental alcohol not sufficient to induce P450 might be expected to prolong the residence time and avoid gaps in the protection afforded by ethanol in preventing methanol-placed formaldehyde. “

P450 is a class, or family, of liver enzymes whose main functions include catalyzing the metabolism of drugs and the oxidation of organic substances.

In simplistic terms, higher alcohol consumption sends this system into high gear, and starts clearing ethanol from your system.

Again, a simplified explanation for how you become a habitual drinker (which also tends to lead to drinking increasing amounts of alcohol) is that the more you drink, the more efficient this ethanol-clearing system becomes, and you begin to be able to drink more before you notice the effects of the alcohol.

What this all means is that in order for the alcohol to provide you with the health benefit of preventing formaldehyde formation, it must be low enough to not activate the P450 system.

Hence you get a U-shaped curve, where low- to moderate alcohol consumption gives you increasing amounts of health benefits, until you reach the “threshold,” at which point the more you drink, the more harm it causes.

It’s important to realize that formaldehyde is a class 1 carcinogen and a mutagen, and in the form of methanol, it can easily be transported throughout your entire body and brain.

Wherever you have a lot of ADH1 (the enzyme metabolizes methanol to formaldehyde), such as in your brain, methanol can be particularly troublesome.

But as long as there’s just enough ethanol in your system to keep the methanol moving along, without ever being metabolized to formaldehyde, no damage is caused.

It’s worth noting here also that the average person typically has some naturally-occurring ethanol in their system, as it is also created through the fermentation process in your gut.

However, the addition of small amounts of ethanol in the form of alcohol may be able to more fully prevent formaldehyde from forming, which could explain why low- to moderate alcohol consumption appears to be even more healthful than total abstinence…

How Can You Get the Same Benefits Without Drinking Alcohol?

It is not my recommendation to start drinking alcohol or to use this information as a justification to continue drinking alcohol. I am not convinced it is physiologically beneficial for you in the long run.

The purpose of running this article was to merely inform you of a recent appreciation of methanol toxicity, and how ethanol can interact with it. If this theory is true then the primary benefit of using ethanol would be to prevent methanol from converting to formaldehyde.

So what is the main source of methanol in your diet?

Remember that fresh fruits and vegetables have it but it’s harmless if you eat them fresh, as the methanol is then bound to pectin and cannot dissociate and cause you harm.

They key is to avoid ALL canned (or bottled) fruit or vegetable juices as they will have free methanol. Another large source of free methanol would be aspartame which is 11 percent methanol by weight.

So if this theory is correct, you would likely receive very little benefit from consuming ethanol if you just avoid canned fruits and vegetables and asparatame…

Do You Drink Too Much?

It’s dangerous to place too much weight on recommendations that include imbibing alcohol on a regular basis. And even if you do take that recommendations to heart, it’s important to remember that health benefits have ONLY been found in people who drink small amounts of alcohol on a daily basis, NOT a week’s worth of alcohol over the weekend…

This fact also further strengthens the theory that the benefit is derived from having low amounts of ethanol circulating almost continuously, or at least regularly, through your system, keeping formaldehyde from forming and doing any damage.

Unfortunately, alcohol abuse is a major problem in most countries, so I certainly hope you will not use this information as an excuse to hit the bottle every day.

Most alcohol misuse and abuse stems from deep emotional challenges. Addressing these issues at a deep level is imperative to avoid the negative health consequences–both physical and mental–that inevitably result from excessive drinking.

The Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) can be helpful if this is an issue for you. This psychological acupressure technique is routinely used in my clinic and it works better than any other traditional or alternative method I am currently aware of.

However, if you try the technique yourself and find that you are not improving, consider consulting a trained EFT therapist to facilitate the process. You can find a list of qualified EFT practitioners near you at this link. For more information, feel free to review Pat Carrington’s site TappingCentral.

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

A tall, cool beverage goes hand-in-hand with a hot summer day, but many of the most popular “summer” drinks come with a hefty downside, like exorbitant amounts of sugar.

It’s alarmingly easy to sip and slurp your way through hundreds of grams of excess sugar just by enjoying a cool drink once or twice a day – and that’s only the start.

There are plenty of options to quench your thirst and even satisfy your sweet tooth that will actually support your health at the same time (I’ll get to those later), so there’s no reason to sabotage your health (and your waistline) with these dietary disasters.

8 Top Summer Beverages to Avoid

1. Soda (Regular or Diet)

Drinking soda is in many ways as bad as smoking. Most sodas contain far too much sugar, or even worse, artificial sweeteners.

For instance, the chemical aspartame, often used as a sugar substitute in diet soda, has over 92 different side effects associated with its consumption including brain tumors, birth defects, diabetes, emotional disorders and epilepsy/seizures. Plus, each sip of soda exposes you to:
•Phosphoric acid, which can interfere with your body’s ability to use calcium, leading to osteoporosis or softening of your teeth and bones.
•Benzene. While the federal limit for benzene in drinking water is 5 parts per billion (ppb), researchers have found benzene levels as high as 79 ppb in some soft drinks, and of 100 brands tested, most had at least some detectable level of benzene present. Benzene is a known carcinogen.
•Artificial food colors, including caramel coloring, which has been identified as carcinogenic. The artificial brown coloring is made by reacting corn sugar with ammonia and sulfites under high pressures and at high temperatures.
•Sodium benzoate, a common preservative found in many soft drinks, which can cause DNA damage. This could eventually lead to diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver and Parkinson’s.

2. Wine Coolers

Wine coolers are alcoholic beverages made to taste much more like fruit juice than alcohol, which is why they’re a popular drink of choice on a warm summer day. But in order to make them taste sweet, manufacturers typically add fruit juice and sugar to the wine, which is usually the cheapest available grade. Some “wine” coolers aren’t even made from wine but the far cheaper “malt” instead.

These coolers can also contain artificial food colors, artificial flavors and even artificial sweeteners like aspartame. And, of course, they also contain alcohol, which is very similar to fructose both in its addictive properties and the kind of damage it can do to your health.

While I don’t recommend drinking alcohol (it is a neurotoxin that can poison your brain as well as disrupt your hormonal balance), if you’re going to have an alcoholic beverage, a glass of red or white wine is far preferable to a heavily (or artificially) sweetened wine cooler.

3. Beer

The “usual” problems associated with beer – its alcohol content and hefty amount of empty calories – are only the tip of the iceberg for why you should limit your consumption. It turns out that the yeast and all that’s used to make beer work together to make beer another powerful uric acid trigger.

Uric acid is a normal waste product found in your blood. High levels of uric acid are normally associated with gout, but it has been known for a long time that people with high blood pressure or kidney disease, and those who are overweight, often have high uric acid levels as well. It used to be thought that the uric acid was secondary in these conditions, and not the cause.

But research by Dr. Richard Johnson indicates that it could be a lead player in the development of these conditions, rather than just a supporting actor, when its levels in your body reach 5.5 mg per dl or higher. At this level, uric acid is associated with an increased risk for developing high blood pressure, as well as diabetes, obesity and kidney disease.

The classic “beer belly syndrome” is actually quite similar to metabolic syndrome, and includes abdominal obesity, hypertriglyceridemia (high triglycerides), high blood pressure, and even insulin resistance, so minimizing or eliminating beer consumption is also something to definitely consider when you’re watching your weight and trying to improve your health.

4. Lemonade and Fruit Juices

For many, nothing says “summer” like a cold glass of lemonade, but this, and other fruit juices, is usually just another source of sugar you’re better off without.

Lemonade is typically a concoction of sugar or high fructose corn syrup, water, and flavorings. It may or may not contain small amounts of actual lemon juice. In terms of its impact on your health, lemonade and fruit juice will act much like soda, exposing you to excessive amounts of fructose that will increase your risk of weight gain and chronic degenerative diseases. Lemonade is simply soda’s evil twin in disguise! However, if you make fresh lemonade or limeade then it is fine because these are the lowest fruits in fructose. Just be sure if you use a sweetener that you stick to stevia and avoid sugar and artificial sweeteners.

5. Sweetened Teas

Sweet tea is another popular summer beverage, and one that’s often confused as “healthy” because of the tea. While tea can be a good source of antioxidants, sweetened tea is another source of extra sugar that will decimate your health. While the actual sugar content of sweetened teas obviously varies, it’s not unusual to find sweet tea recipes that contain 22 percent sugar, which is twice the amount in a can of soda.1

In the Southern US, sweet tea is not an occasional treat, it’s more of a daily staple, making the health risks even steeper.

6. Energy Drinks

The US energy drink market is expected to reach nearly $20 billion in 2013, which is close to a 160 percent increase from 2008.2 While many choose them for the quick energy boost they provide, consuming large quantities of caffeine in energy drinks can have serious health consequences, especially in children and teens, including caffeine toxicity, stroke, anxiety, arrhythmia, and in some rare cases death. Drinking energy drinks has also been compared to “bathing” teeth in acid because of their impact on your tooth enamel.3

If a lack of energy and fatigue state is compelling you to drink energy drinks, please realize that this is likely a result of certain lifestyle choices, such as not enough healthy food, processed foods and sugar, and not enough exercise and sleep, plus an overload of stress. Increasing your energy levels, then, is as easy as remedying these factors.

7. Sports Drinks

Sports drinks are especially popular in the summer months, when many believe they are necessary to restore your electrolyte balance during exercise or other outdoor activities. They basically “work” because they contain high amounts of sodium (processed salt), which is meant to replenish the electrolytes you lose while sweating. But only a very small portion of exercisers work out hard enough that a sports drink might be necessary; typically they aren’t even necessary during a marathon, let alone during most regular workouts.4

Additionally, the leading brands of sports drinks on the market typically contain as much as two-thirds the sugar of sodas and more sodium. They also often contain high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) or artificial sweeteners (they can lead to impaired kidney function, depression, headaches, infertility, brain tumors, and a long list of other serious health problems), artificial flavors and food coloring, which has been connected to a variety of health problems, including allergic reactions, hyperactivity, decreased IQ in children, and numerous forms of cancer.

Also, sports drinks are up to 30 times more erosive to your teeth than water. And brushing your teeth won’t help because the citric acid in the sports drink will soften your tooth enamel so much it could be damaged by brushing.

8. Frappes and Other Frozen/Iced Coffees

An iced coffee sounds innocent enough, until you start adding in the copious amounts of sweeteners (sugar, HFCS and artificial sweeteners may all apply) and flavorings that turn ordinary coffee into a treat that more closely resembles a hyped up milkshake. Some leading coffee drinks from restaurants like Dunkin’ Donuts and Seattle’s Best contain 100 grams of sugar or more, which is more than 2.5 times the amount of sugar an adult man should consume in a day!5

Delicious and Refreshing Summer Drinks That BOOST Your Health

I know what you’re thinking… you’re not going to give up the simple pleasure of enjoying a cool, tasty beverage on a hot summer day. And I should hope not! But you needn’t assume that sugar-laden soda, lemonade, sweet tea or frappes are your only options. By thinking outside the box, you can satisfy your craving for a delicious cool beverage in a way that will actually support instead of hinder your health.

Instead Of …

Choose …

Soda

Sparkling mineral water… spruce it up with fresh lemon or lime juice, a drop or two of natural peppermint extract, liquid stevia, cucumber slices or a few crushed mint leaves.

If you’re adventurous, there are mint-flavored chlorophyll drops on the market that can be added to a glass of water. Chlorophyll may help flush toxins out of your blood and improves your breath.

Wine Coolers

A small glass of white or red wine, ideally organic and biodynamic, on occasion.

Beer

Try adding whole gingerroot to chilled carbonated water for a spicy alternative.

Lemonade or Fruit Juice

Here’s a recipe for a refreshing homemade fruit drink that’s actually good for you. You can even throw in frozen berries instead of ice cubes.
Another tasty option is to blend some homemade kefir with frozen blueberries, raspberries or any fruit you enjoy. Kefir is a fermented milk beverage that contains beneficial bacteria that give your immune system a boost, among many other health benefits.

To make kefir all you need is one-half packet of kefir starter granules in a quart of raw milk, which you leave at room temperature overnight.

Sweetened Tea

Iced green tea is a great pick-me-up that’s high in antioxidants. Although green tea contains caffeine, it also contains a naturally calming amino acid called L-theanine, which balances out caffeine’s adverse effects.

If you want it sweet, you can add natural liquid stevia, which is an herb that has no downsides for your health.

Another option is Tulsi tea (aka Holy Basil), which has a naturally delicious taste – slightly sweet and a bit spicy.

Energy Drinks

For the ultimate refreshing vitamin-rich energy drink, make up some green juice from fresh, organic veggies like spinach, parsley, cucumbers and celery.

Add a pinch of sea salt and some lemon juice for a very refreshing beverage that is heavy on nutrition and virtually guaranteed to give you lasting energy.

Sports Drinks

Try coconut water, which is a powerhouse of natural electrolytes, vitamins, minerals, trace elements, amino acids, enzymes, antioxidants and phytonutrients, and is low in sugar but pleasantly sweet.

It’s great for post-exercise rehydration, but also has anti-inflammatory properties, protects your heart and urinary tract, is a digestive tonic, improves your skin and eyes, supports good immune function, and can even help balance your blood glucose and insulin levels.

Look for a brand that has no additives, or purchase a young coconut and drain the coconut water yourself.

Frappes and Frozen Coffee Drinks

Organic dark-roast coffee served over ice (without additives like milk or sugar) is refreshing and may even lower your risk for type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, stroke, and cancers of the liver, kidney and prostate.

When consumed in this healthful manner, coffee may even lower your blood glucose level and increase the metabolic activity and/or numbers of beneficial Bifidobacteria in your gastrointestinal tract.

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Three anemia drugs – Epogen, Procrit and Aranesp – have been among the best-selling prescription drugs in the United States for years, generating more than $8 billion a year for their makers, Amgen and Johnson & Johnson.

They were blockbuster drugs that stimulate your body to produce new red blood cells, which supposedly helped boost kidney and cancer patients’ energy and, ultimately, enhanced their lives.

But now, after millions of people have taken these drugs, it’s come out that the benefits were “wildly overstated, and potentially lethal side effects, such as cancer and strokes, were overlooked.”1

Worse still, the Washington Post has uncovered a series of unsettling events that show just how far drug makers were willing to go to get rich…

Doctors Earned Profits of Up to 30 Percent Just for Prescribing the Drugs

And this was one of the first problems. Drug makers lobbied Congress in order to put a system into place so that doctors and hospitals would be reimbursed more for the drugs they prescribed to Medicare patients than what they actually paid for them. The markup could be as high as 30 percent, and the higher the dose prescribed, the more money they made.

According to Charles Bennett, endowed chair at the Medication Safety and Efficacy Center of Economic Excellence at the University of South Carolina, in the Washington Post:

“It was just so easy to do – you put this stuff in the patient’s arm, and you made thousands of dollars… An oncologist could make anywhere from $100,000 to $300,000 a year from this alone. And all the while they were told that it was good for the patient.”

Higher Doses Pushed to a Growing Number of Patients

Initially, patients with kidney disease, who often suffer from anemia, were the key target market for the drugs. If anemia is severe enough, blood transfusions are required to boost red blood cell counts. Epogen, Procrit, and, later, Aranesp, were able to accomplish the same boost in blood cells without the need for transfusions.

The Washington Post reported:

“The trouble would arise as the drugmakers won FDA approval for vastly expanded uses, pushing it in larger doses, for milder anemia and for patients with a wider array of illnesses. Very quickly, the market included nearly all dialysis patients, not just the roughly 16 percent who required blood transfusions. The size of average doses would more than triple. And over the next five years, the FDA would approve it to treat anemia in patients with cancer and AIDS, as well as those getting hip and knee surgery.

The key to their marketing was the claim that the drugs at higher doses could make patients feel better. By 1994, the drug’s label, approved by the FDA, advertised a range of benefits: ‘statistically significant improvements for… health, sex life, well-being, psychological effect, life satisfaction, and happiness.'”

These claims, however, were based on a series of incomplete and never-published research, some of which were drawn out over a decade or more only to show inconclusive results. One safety study on cancer patients that was supposed to be finished in 2008 is still not complete, and won’t be until 2017, according to Amgen, which will be nearly 25 years after the drugs were approved for cancer patients.

And as it turns out, the claims that the drugs lead to improved quality of life have since been withdrawn because they don’t meet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) standards of proof.

Higher Doses Increased Patients’ Risk of Dying – Study Results Missing Key Data

In 1998, the Normal Hematocrit Trial was published, which explored giving higher doses of drugs to dialysis patients in order to boost their red blood cell count above those generally achieved with transfusion.2 The study did, in fact, find that patients receiving the higher drug dose were dying or having heart attacks at a higher rate than those receiving the lower dose; the trial was actually halted because of this.

However, rather than sounding an alarm bell, when the study was published the authors downplayed the danger, calling the increased death and heart attack rate “not significant.” And while no difference was found in quality of life between patients receiving the higher or lower dose, this was not noted in the published study. (Four of the study’s eight authors were employed by Amgen, and two have served as consultants.)

As the years went by, health care providers and the drug companies continued to profit from the ever-rising doses of these drugs being prescribed – despite continued studies coming out questioning their safety. It wasn’t until years later, in 2011, that the FDA put out a safety announcement calling for more conservative dosing of the drugs “because of data showing increased risks of cardiovascular events.”3

The Washington Post reported:

“For years, a small Bethesda-based nonprofit think tank, the Medical Technology and Practice Patterns Institute, had been publishing studies that challenged the conventional enthusiasm for the drug and the government policies that it said promoted their overuse.

Then in November 2006, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that kidney patients targeted for higher doses were linked to higher risks of hospitalization, strokes and death. In December, a group of Danish researchers said that it had stopped a trial of Aranesp in cancer patients because of an increase in deaths and tumor growths. And that was just the beginning of the bad news…”

The FDA Finally Cracks Down

The Danish research seemed to be the breaking point for the anemia drug trio.

“‘Then the FDA cracked down,’ The Washington Post reported. ‘The drugs’ use was ruled out in cancer patients considered curable, it was ruled out in patients considered just slightly anemic, maximum recommended doses were lowered, and the agency told doctors in many cases to use the smallest amount possible to avoid a blood transfusion.

The agency also began to look askance at the alleged benefits, for which the evidence, in retrospect, seemed flimsy. There was no solid proof, under revised FDA guidelines for such measures, that use of the drugs leads to ‘statistically significant’ improvements in happiness and other benefits, the agency said. Those quality-of-life claims, once so critical to the drug’s adoption, were removed from the label.

…Last year, nearly two decades after the Office of the Inspector General first suggested it, the economic incentives to use more of the drugs on patients in dialysis disappeared.”

No major class-action suits have so far been filed against the drugs’ makers; it is often difficult to prove the drugs were the cause of death, particularly because patients who received them were typically already facing chronic health problems. Still, Amgen has put aside a reported $780 million to settle various claims, including some for alleged illegal sales tactics – a paltry compensation to those who have lost loved ones. This is, unfortunately, just the latest drug scandal to be brought to the public’s attention… and it surely won’t be the last.

Pharma Giant Pfizer Fined for Bribing Officials in Eastern Europe and China

Earlier this month, it was revealed that U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its subsidiary Wyeth have been charged with paying off officials, doctors and healthcare professionals in Eastern Europe and China to secure approval and registration of the companies’ products.

The company allegedly paid millions of dollars in bribes from 2001 to 2007. The bribery was so blatant and entwined in the sales practices that they even offered points and bonus programs to improperly reward foreign officials who proved to be the best customers, according to the head of the SEC’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Unit. Obviously, such corrupt pay-offs puts honest companies at a disadvantage, James McJunkin, assistant director of the Washington field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation pointed out.4

And that is the over-riding theme we see again and again – these companies are typically NOT honest, yet we trust them with the most sacred possession we have, our health. For punishment, Pfizer will be paying various fines ranging from $15 million to $26 million – barely a slap on the wrist for a company that makes billions of dollars a year.

Big Pharma’s Lack of Ethics, Regard for Patient Safety Seemingly Knows No Bounds

If it seems like the number of lawsuits that Big Pharma is settling – many of them out of court without going to trial – are rising, they are. From Merck’s $950-million Vioxx deal to the latest announcement that Pfizer has made an $896-million settlement with Prempro victims, the deals show no signs of stopping. Most of the lawsuits are being filed in conjunction with, or aided by, the U.S. Department of Justice, many of them originating from former employees-turned-whistleblowers who divulged marketing misdoings by their employers.

The litigation and settlements are starting to rattle the drug industry, which is becoming no stranger to billion-dollar settlements. Most likely near the end of 2012, Johnson & Johnson reportedly will settle for as much $2.2 billion for its fraudulent marketing of the antipsychotic drug Risperdal.

That amount rivals what was the largest health care fraud settlement to date – $2.3 billion paid by Pfizer in 2009, also for illegally promoting uses of four of its drugs. However, now it’s come out that GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to a whopping $3-billion settlement – the largest in U.S. history for health care fraud – with the U.S. government, again for advertising drugs for unapproved uses, along with using gifts to persuade doctors to prescribe the drugs.5

Unfortunately, Americans are disproportionally supporting this behemoth of an industry. Americans, including children, are the most drugged people in the entire world, with the average adult taking 11 prescription drugs – each of which comes with an average of 70 different potential side effects that are then typically addressed with even more drugs…

The situation has gotten out of hand, especially since there’s a mountain of evidence supporting the use of alternatives, and there’s very strong evidence that some “alternative” treatments, such as diet and exercise, are FAR more effective, not to mention safer, than any of the drugs currently in use. My site is chock full of free comprehensive recommendations that can serve as an excellent starting point to break free from this fatally flawed paradigm. The tools I provide on this site will help you to reduce your reliance on the broken health care system, including its overuse of drugs, and provide you with the tools and resources to Take Control of Your Health.

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

Propolis, the “caulk” honeybees use to patch holes in their hives, has been used as a natural remedy since ancient times, treating ills ranging from sore throats and burns to allergies.

New research has revealed another exciting use for this seemingly miraculous substance, this time in the fight against cancer.

Propolis Slows Tumor Growth

Propolis has a number of well-known therapeutic properties, including potent antioxidant and anti-microbial action, and healing, analgesic, anesthetic, and anti-inflammatory properties. In the hive, bees use it as a disinfectant against bacteria and viruses, helping to seal cracks and “embalm” invaders that are too large to carry out.

It’s been used for thousands of years in folk medicine, but despite its plethora of active components, research on this compound, and therefore its modern medical uses, is limited.

Researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center, intrigued by propolis’ anti-cancer potential, decided to look at one of its bioactive components, caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), and its impact on human prostate cancer cells.

In cells grown in a lab, even small doses of CAPE slowed the growth of tumor cells. And when low oral doses were given to mice with prostate tumors, tumor growth slowed by 50 percent! What’s more, feeding CAPE to mice daily caused the tumors to stop growing, although they returned when the CAPE was removed from their diets.

This suggests the propolis compound works by impacting signaling networks that control cancerous cell growth, rather than by killing the cells directly. However, there are at least four studies on propolis’ apoptotic properties, indicating that technically it is capable of directly killing cancer cells, including prostate cancer, melanoma and more, as well.1

This is not the first time propolis has shown promise in treating cancer. In 2009, propolis was found to suppress the growth of neurofibromatosis-associated tumors (tumors on nerve tissue) by blocking PAK1 signaling. Researchers noted:2

“Since more than 70% of human cancers such as breast and prostate cancers require the kinase PAK1 for their growth, it is quite possible that GPE [green propolis extract] could be potentially useful for the treatment of these cancers, as is Bio 30 [a CAPE-based propolis extract].”

Propolis Has Powerful Immune-Modulating, Anti-Inflammatory Properties

What makes natural compounds so exciting, and often so powerful, is that they don’t simply exhibit one therapeutic action the way, say, most drugs work. Instead, they contain numerous bioactive components that may exert dozens of beneficial actions within your body. This appears to be the case with propolis, which has been found to play a role in over 80 conditions, including:3

Inflammation

Ulcers

Radiation damage

Herpes

Warts

Periodontitis

Ear infections

Respiratory tract infections

Flu

Cataracts

Oxidative stress

Staph infection

Writing in Clinical Reviews in Allergy and Immunology, researchers expanded on some of propolis’ potential effects:4

“Propolis, a waxy substance produced by the honeybee, has been adopted as a form of folk medicine since ancient times. It has a wide spectrum of alleged applications including potential anti-infection and anticancer effects. Many of the therapeutic effects can be attributed to its immunomodulatory functions. The composition of propolis can vary according to the geographic locations from where the bees obtained the ingredients.

Two main immunopotent chemicals have been identified as caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) and artepillin C. Propolis, CAPE, and artepillin C have been shown to exert summative immunosuppressive function on T lymphocyte subsets but paradoxically activate macrophage function.

On the other hand, they also have potential antitumor properties by different postulated mechanisms such as suppressing cancer cells proliferation via its anti-inflammatory effects; decreasing the cancer stem cell populations; blocking specific oncogene signaling pathways; exerting antiangiogenic effects; and modulating the tumor microenvironment.

The good bioavailability by the oral route and good historical safety profile makes propolis an ideal adjuvant agent for future immunomodulatory or anticancer regimens.”

Protein Intake Also Crucial for Cancers

Earlier this month I interviewed Dr. Ron Rosedale for several hours. He is one of the first physicians in the U.S. that started measuring leptin levels clinically and was far ahead of the curve on this one. In our interview, he helped me understand the major importance that excessive protein intake can have on cancer growth.

The mTOR pathway is short for mammalian target of rapamycin. This pathway is ancient but relatively recently appreciated and has only been known for less than 20 years. Odds are very high your doctor was never taught this is medical school and isn’t even aware of it. Many new cancer drugs are actually being targeted to use this pathway. Drugs using this pathway have also been given to animals to radically extend their lifespan. But you don’t have to use drugs to get this pathway to work for you.

You can biohack your body and merely restrict your protein intake and replace the decreased protein with healthy fats as this will provide virtually identical benefits as these dangerous and expensive drugs.

Eating excessive protein can be an additional synergistically powerful mechanism. Dr. Rosedale believes that when you consume protein in levels higher than one gram of protein per kilogram of LEAN body mass you can activate the mTOR pathway, which will radically increase your risk of cancers. It is very easy to consume excess protein and my guess is that most people reading this are. I know I was, and as a result of this new insight I have reduced my protein intake by about half.

To determine your lean body mass find out your percent body fat and subtract from 100. So if you are 20% body fat you would have 80% lean body mass. Just multiply that times your current weight to get lean body mass. For most people this means restricting protein intake from 35 to 75 grams. Pregnant women and those working out extensively need about 25% more protein though.

Of course when you reduce protein you need to replace it with other calories, so the key is to replace the lost calories with high-quality fats such as avocados, butter, coconut oil, olives, olive oil, nuts and eggs. It is also very helpful to avoid eating anything for three hours before going to bed as this allows you to have relatively low blood sugars while you are sleeping. This is another good trick to move your body to fat burning mode.

Nearly everyone is primarily in carb burning mode because of the amount of carbohydrate content that they consume. The beauty of shifting over to fat burning mode is that it virtually eliminates hunger. Intermittent fasting is one way to help achieve this, but radically cutting back on non-vegetable carbs is also very important. Coconut oil is particularly useful to use in making the transition to fat burning mode as it is primarily short and medium chain fats which break down very quickly and can be used as an energy source which is important for countering the decreased energy and other physical challenges that many encounter in the several weeks it typically takes to make the transition to fat burning mode .

Other Natural Remedies Also Show Cancer Promise

One of the reasons why conventional cancer treatment is such a dismal failure in the United States is because it relies on chemotherapy. Chemotherapy drugs are, by their very nature, extremely toxic and typically work against your body’s natural ability to fight cancer, e.g. destroying host immunity instead of supporting it.

One of the biggest drawbacks to chemotherapy is the fact that it destroys healthy cells throughout your body right along with cancer cells, a “side effect” that often leads to accelerated death, not healing.

Another devastating side effect of chemotherapy is the way it actually supports the more chemo-resistant and malignant cell subpopulations within tumors (e.g. cancer stem cells), both killing the more benign cells and/or quiescent cells within the tumor that keep it slow-growing, or even harmless.

As a result, this unleashes a more aggressive, treatment-resistant type of cancer to wreak havoc on your body.

Like propolis, a handful of natural compounds have been discovered that show promise for treating cancer without such toxic effects. Some of these even exhibit an effect called “selective cytotoxicity,” which means they are able to kill cancer cells while leaving healthy cells and tissue unharmed, and even benefited one such compound is bromelain, an enzyme that can be extracted from pineapple stems. Research published in the journal Planta Medica found that bromelain was superior to the chemotherapy drug 5-fluorauracil in treating cancer in an animal study .5

Researchers stated:

“This antitumoral effect [of bromelain] was superior to that of 5-FU [5-fluorouracil], whose survival index was approximately 263 %, relative to the untreated control.”

What makes this impact particularly impressive is that the bromelain worked without causing additional harm to the animals. The chemo drug 5-fluorauracil, on the other hand, has a relatively unsuccessful and dangerous track record despite being used for nearly 40 years. Selective cytotoxicity is indeed a property that is only found among natural compounds; no chemotherapy drug yet developed is capable of this effect. Aside from bromelain, other examples of natural compounds that have been found to kill cancer cells without harming healthy cells include:
•Vitamin C: Dr. Ronald Hunninghake carried out a 15-year research project called RECNAC (cancer spelled backwards). His groundbreaking research in cell cultures showed that vitamin C was selectively cytotoxic against cancer cells.
•Eggplant extract: Solasodine rhamnosyl glycosides (BEC), which are a class of compounds extracted from plants of the Solanaceae family, such as eggplant, tomato, potato, Bell peppers, and tobacco, can also impact only cancerous cells leaving normal cells alone. Eggplant extract cream appears to be particularly useful in treating skin cancer . Dr. Bill E. Cham, a leading researcher in this area, explains:

“The mode of action of SRGs [glycoalkaloids solasodine rhamnosy glycosides (BEC)] is unlike any current antineoplastic [anti-tumor] agent. Specific receptors for the SRGs present only on cancer cells but not normal cells are the first step of events that lead to apoptosis in cancer cells only, and this may explain why during treatment the cancer cells were being eliminated and normal cells were replacing the killed cancer cells with no scar tissue being formed.”
•Turmeric (Curcumin Extract): Of all the natural cancer fighters out there, this spice has been the most intensely researched for exhibiting selective cytotoxicity.6 Remarkably, in a 2011 study published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, rats administered curcumin, the primary polyphenol in turmeric, saw a decrease in experimentally-induced brain tumors in 9 out of 11 treated, while noting that the curcumin did not affect the viability of brain cells “suggesting that curcumin selectively targets the transformed [cancerous] cells .”7

Natural Strategies for Cancer Prevention

When it comes to cancer and other chronic diseases, effective prevention trumps progressive treatments in my eyes. I believe you can virtually eliminate your risk of ever developing cancer (and radically improve your chances of recovering from cancer if you currently have it) by following some relatively simple risk reduction strategies — all of which help promote a healthful biological environment in which your cells can thrive and combat disease naturally.
• Optimize your vitamin D levels.
• Reduce or eliminate your processed food, fructose and grain carbohydrate intake.
• Control your fasting insulin and leptin levels. Normalizing your insulin levels is one of the most powerful physical actions you can take to lower your risk of cancer, and improved insulin and leptin control is the natural outcome of reducing or eliminating fructose, grains, and processed foods from your diet.
• Normalize your ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats by taking a high-quality krill oil and reducing your intake of most processed vegetable oils.
• Get regular exercise. One of the primary ways exercise lowers your risk for cancer is by reducing elevated insulin levels, which creates a low sugar environment that discourages the growth and spread of cancer cells, which thrive on sugar-based metabolism (anaerobic glycolysis). Controlling insulin levels is one of the most powerful ways to reduce your cancer risks. Additionally, exercise improves the circulation of immune cells in your blood. Your immune system is your first line of defense against everything from minor illnesses like a cold right up to devastating, life-threatening diseases like cancer.

The trick about exercise, though, is understanding how to use it as a precise tool. This ensures you are getting enough to achieve the benefit, not too much to cause injury, and the right variety to balance your entire physical structure and maintain strength and flexibility, and aerobic and anaerobic fitness levels. If you have limited time, high-intensity Peak Fitness exercises are your best bet but ideally you should have a good strength-training program as well.
• Get regular, good-quality sleep .
• Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides, household chemical cleaners, synthetic air fresheners and air pollution.
• Limit your exposure and provide protection for yourself from EMF produced by cell phone towers, base stations, cell phones and WiFi stations. On May 31, 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an arm of the World Health Organization (WHO), declared that cell phones are “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”
• Avoid frying or charbroiling your food. Boil, poach or steam your foods instead.
• Have a tool to permanently reprogram the neurological short-circuiting that can activate cancer genes. Even the CDC states that 85 percent of disease is caused by emotions. It is likely that this factor may be more important than all the other physical ones listed here, so make sure this is addressed. Energy psychology seems to be one of the best approaches and my particular favorite tool, as you may know, is the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) .
• Eat at least one-third of your diet in the form of raw food.

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In recent weeks, we’ve learned some very disturbing truths about glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s broad-spectrum herbicide Roundup, which is generously doused on genetically engineered (GE) Roundup Ready crops.

GE crops are typically far more contaminated with glyphosate than conventional crops, courtesy of the fact that they’re engineered to withstand extremely high levels of Roundup without perishing along with the weed.

A new peer-reviewed report authored by Anthony Samsel, a retired science consultant, and a long time contributor to the Mercola.com Vital Votes Forum, and Dr. Stephanie Seneff, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), reveals how glyphosate wrecks human health.

In the interview above, Dr. Seneff summarizes the two key problems caused by glyphosate in the diet:
•Nutritional deficiencies
•Systemic toxicity

Their findings make the need for labelling all the more urgent, and the advice to buy certified organic all the more valid.

The Horrific Truth about Roundup

In 2009, a French court found Monsanto guilty of lying; falsely advertising its Roundup herbicide as “biodegradable,” “environmentally friendly” and claiming it “left the soil clean.”

Mounting evidence now tells us just how false such statements are. I don’t believe that Monsanto is one of the most evil companies on the planet for nothing. The company has done absolutely nothing to improve their worldwide influence on human and environmental health.

In the video above, Jeffrey Smith, author of the bestseller Seeds of Deception, says Monsanto, during some reflective moment, must have asked “What would Darth Vader do?” Because what they’ve come up with is a way of pretending that they’re beneficial and then insinuating themselves into the food and agriculture industry, and now it turns out that what they have is very, very dangerous.

Indeed, according to Dr. Seneff, glyphosate is possibly “the most important factor in the development of multiple chronic diseases and conditions that have become prevalent in Westernized societies,” including but not limited to:

Autism

Gastrointestinal diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, chronic diarrhea, colitis and Crohn’s disease

Obesity

Allergies

Cardiovascular disease

Depression

Cancer

Infertility

Alzheimer’s disease

Parkinson’s disease

Multiple sclerosis

ALS, and more

How Glyphosate Worsens Modern Diseases

While Monsanto insists that Roundup is as safe to humans as aspirin, Seneff and Samsel’s research tells a different story altogether. Their report, published in the journal Entropy1, argues that glyphosate residues, found in most commonly consumed foods in the Western diet courtesy of GE sugar, corn, soy and wheat, “enhance the damaging effects of other food-borne chemical residues and toxins in the environment to disrupt normal body functions and induce disease.”

Interestingly, your gut bacteria are a key component of glyphosate’s mechanism of harm.

Monsanto has steadfastly claimed that Roundup is harmless to animals and humans because the mechanism of action it uses (which allows it to kill weeds), called the shikimate pathway, is absent in all animals. However, the shikimate pathway IS present in bacteria, and that’s the key to understanding how it causes such widespread systemic harm in both humans and animals.

The bacteria in your body outnumber your cells by 10 to 1. For every cell in your body, you have 10 microbes of various kinds, and all of them have the shikimate pathway, so they will all respond to the presence of glyphosate!

Glyphosate causes extreme disruption of the microbe’s function and lifecycle. What’s worse, glyphosate preferentially affects beneficial bacteria, allowing pathogens to overgrow and take over. At that point, your body also has to contend with the toxins produced by the pathogens. Once the chronic inflammation sets in, you’re well on your way toward chronic and potentially debilitating disease. In the interview above, Dr. Seneff reviews a variety of chronic diseases, explaining how glyphosate contributes to each condition. So to learn more, I urge you to listen to it in its entirety. It’s quite eye-opening.

The Overlooked Component of Toxicity

The research reveals that glyphosate inhibits cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes, a large and diverse group of enzymes that catalyze the oxidation of organic substances. This, the authors state, is “an overlooked component of its toxicity to mammals.” One of the functions of CYP enzymes is to detoxify xenobiotics—chemical compounds found in a living organism that are not normally produced or consumed by the organism in question. By limiting the ability of these enzymes to detoxify foreign chemical compounds, glyphosate enhances the damaging effects of chemicals and environmental toxins you may be exposed to.

But that’s not all. Dr. Stephanie Seneff has been conducting research at MIT for over three decades. She also has an undergraduate degree in biology from MIT and a minor in food and nutrition, and I have previously interviewed her about her groundbreaking insights into the critical importance of sulfur in human health. Not surprisingly, this latest research also touches on sulfur, and how it is affected by glyphosate from food.

“[W]e show how interference with CYP enzymes acts synergistically with disruption of the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids by gut bacteria, as well as impairment in serum sulfate transport,” the authors write.

“Consequences are most of the diseases and conditions associated with a Western diet, which include gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. … [T]he recent alarming increase in all of these health issues can be traced back to a combination of gut dysbiosis, impaired sulfate transport, and suppression of the activity of the various members of the cytochrome P450 (CYP) family of enzymes.”

The Roundup-Autism Connection

For the past 30 years, Dr. Seneff has been passionate about teasing out potential causes of autism, after seeing what it was like for a close friend whose son was diagnosed. She points out the clear correlations between increased glyphosate use over recent years (the result of genetically engineered crops causing weed resistance, necessitating ever-larger amounts to be used) and skyrocketing autism rates.

The rate of autism has risen so quickly, there can be no doubt that it has an environmental cause. Our genes simply cannot mutate fast enough to account for the rapid rise we’re now seeing. The latest statistics released by the CDC on March 20 show that 1 in 50 children in the US now fall within the autism spectrum2,3, with a 5:1 boy to girl ratio. Just last year the CDC reported a rate of 1 in 88, which represented a 23 percent increase since 2010, and 78 percent since 2007. Meanwhile, I remember when the incidence of autism in the US was only 1 in 100,000—just short of 30 years ago!

Dr. Seneff identified two key problems in autism that are unrelated to the brain yet clearly associated with the condition—both of which are linked with glyphosate exposure (starting at 10 minutes into the interview, she gives an in-depth explanation of how glyphosate causes the many symptoms associated with autism):
1.Gut dysbiosis (imbalances in gut bacteria, inflammation, leaky gut, food allergies such as gluten intolerance)
2.Disrupted sulfur metabolism / sulfur and sulfate deficiency

Interestingly, certain microbes in your body actually break down glyphosate, which is a good thing. However, a byproduct of this action is ammonia, and children with autism tend to have significantly higher levels of ammonia in their blood than the general population. Ditto for those with Alzheimer’s disease. In your brain, ammonia causes encephalitis, i.e. brain inflammation.

Another devastating agent you really do not want in your body is formaldehyde, which a recent nutritional analysis discovered is present in genetically engineered corn at a level that is 200 times the amount that animal studies have determined to be toxic to animals. Formaldehyde destroys DNA and can cause cancer.

Other research backing up the Roundup-autism link is that from former US Navy staff scientist Dr. Nancy Swanson. She has a Ph.D. in physics, holds five US patents and has authored more than 30 scientific papers and two books on women in science. Ten years ago, she became seriously ill, and in her journey to regain her health she turned to organic foods. Not surprisingly (for those in the know) her symptoms dramatically improved. This prompted her to start investigating genetically engineered foods.

She has meticulously collected statistics on glyphosate usage and various diseases and conditions, including autism. A more perfect match-up between the rise in glyphosate usage and incidence of autism is hard to imagine… To access her published articles and reports, please visit Sustainable Pulse4, a European website dedicated to exposing the hazards of genetically engineered foods.

When Food Is Poison…

What the biotech industry, spearheaded by Monsanto, has managed to do is turn food into poison… quite literally, and in more ways than one. Here, we’re just talking about the effects of Roundup. There are plenty of indications that the genetic alteration of a crop itself can pose significant health concerns. So with the vast majority of GE crops, you have no less than two potentially hazardous factors to contend with, glyphosate toxicity being just one part of the equation.

As discussed above, glyphosate has a number of devastating biological effects. So much so that it may very well be one of the most important factors in the development of a wide variety of modern diseases and conditions, including autism. In summary, these detrimental effects include:

Nutritional deficiencies, as glyphosate immobilizes certain nutrients and alters the nutritional composition of the treated crop

Disruption of the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids (these are essential amino acids not produced in your body that must be supplied via your diet)

Increased toxin exposure (this includes high levels of glyphosate and formaldehyde in the food itself)

Impairment of sulfate transport and sulfur metabolism; sulfate deficiency

Systemic toxicity—a side effect of extreme disruption of microbial function throughout your body; beneficial microbes in particular, allowing for overgrowth of pathogens

Gut dysbiosis (imbalances in gut bacteria, inflammation, leaky gut, food allergies such as gluten intolerance)

Enhancement of damaging effects of other food-borne chemical residues and environmental toxins as a result of glyphosate shutting down the function of detoxifying enzymes

Creation of ammonia (a byproduct created when certain microbes break down glyphosate), which can lead to brain inflammation associated with autism and Alzheimer’s disease

How to Protect Yourself and Your Family from This Systemic Poison

It’s important to understand that the glyphosate sprayed on conventional and genetically engineered crops actually becomes systemic throughout the plant, so it cannot be washed off. It’s inside the plant. For example, genetically engineered corn has been found to contain 13 ppm of glyphosate, compared to zero in non-GMO corn. At 13 ppm, GMO corn contains more than 18 times the “safe” level of glyphosate set by the EPA. Organ damage in animals has occurred at levels as low as 0.1 ppm. If that’s not reason enough to become a label reader to avoid anything with corn in it, such as corn oil or high fructose corn syrup, I don’t know what is.

You’d also be wise to stop using Roundup around your home, where children and pets can come into contact with it simply by walking across the area.

Until the US requires genetically engineered (GE) foods to be labeled, the only way you can avoid GE ingredients is to make whole, fresh organic foods the bulk of your diet, and to only buy 100% USDA certified organic processed foods. Meats need to be grass-fed or pastured to make sure the animals were not fed GE corn or soy feed.

Last but not least, do not confuse the “natural” label with organic standards.

The natural label is not based on any standards and is frequently misused by sellers of GE products. Growers and manufacturers of organic products bearing the USDA seal, on the other hand, have to meet the strictest standards of any of the currently available organic labels. In order to qualify as organic, a product must be grown and processed using organic farming methods that recycle resources and promote biodiversity. Crops must be grown without synthetic pesticides, bioengineered genes, petroleum-based fertilizers, or sewage sludge-based fertilizers.

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As a parent, one of the best gifts you can give your child is a strong nutritional start. The first years of life represent a time of rapid development, during which your child’s language, cognitive, social and motor skills are developed.

During the first three years of life, the brain also grows at its fastest rate, and this represents a crucial window of development during which proper nutrition is essential.

If your child does not get healthy foods (and ideally breast milk) during this time, his future intelligence could be impacted.

A 2010 study1 revealed just how big an impact a poor nutritional start can have on your kids. Those who ate a predominantly processed food diet at age 3 had lower IQ scores at age 8.5. For each measured increase in processed foods, participants had a nearly two point decrease in IQ.

As you might suspect, the opposite also held true, with those eating healthier diets experiencing higher IQ levels.

As a parent, it is important to carefully consider the types of foods you give your child at home and in restaurants, as research has shown that repeated exposure builds taste preferences very quickly.

Potentially reduced IQ is not the only health risk your child faces if he eats a diet consisting mainly of processed foods and snacks.

A junk food diet can also set the stage for obesity, asthma, eczema, and a variety of allergies, behavioral problems—from hyperactivity to aggression—as well as inflammatory conditions and autoimmune diseases. In fact, many of the top diseases plaguing the United States are diet-related, including heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

The National Institutes of Health even states that four of the six leading causes of death in the US are linked to unhealthy diets.

So the importance of proper nutrition simply cannot be overstated. Yet despite all this knowledge, food and beverage companies and even supplement makers are foisting products on children that are FAR from health-promoting, making your role as an educated parent all the more important…

Girl Scolds McDonald’s CEO

At a recent shareholder meeting, nine-year old Hannah Robertson had some pointed questions for Don Thompson, CEO of McDonald’s Corp2.

“Something that I don’t think is fair is when big companies try to trick kids into eating food that isn’t good for them by using toys and cartoon characters,” Hannah told the attendees at the meeting.

“If parents haven’t taught their kids about healthy eating then the kids probably believe that junk food is good for them because it might taste good… I make cooking videos with my mom that show kids that eating healthy can be fun and yummy.

We teach them that eating a rainbow of fruits and veggies makes kids healthier, smarter and happier because that is the truth… Mr. Thompson, don’t you want kids to be healthy so they can live a long and happy life?”

Thompson’s reply? “… [W]e don’t sell junk food, Hannah,” he said. He also denied marketing to children. His response left her unimpressed, and rightfully so, if you ask me. Children are clearly a primary market for McDonald’s. In fact, America’s 52 million kids under the age of 12 represent one of the most powerful markets for American businesses, influencing adult spending worth $700 billion a year.

Children age 2-11 now see an average of more than 10 television food ads per day, and 98 percent of food advertisements viewed by children are for products that are high in fat, sugar or sodium, like McDonald’s and other fast food joints.

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Absurd Lies Told By McDonald’s CEO

A related article3 pointed out the many lies spouted by McDonald’s CEO during this shareholder’s meeting, including but not limited to:
•Claiming “chicken nugget Happy Meals and fat-free milk” are healthy…

Chicken McNuggets contain roughly 30 ingredients, including: sodium phosphates, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate and calcium lactate. The “fat-free milk” Thompson touted numerous times is actually chocolate milk, containing 10 grams of added sugar…
•“We provide high-quality food, we always have. It’s real beef, it’s real chicken, it’s real tomatoes, real lettuce, real fruit, real smoothies, real dairy, real eggs.”

Really? The “real eggs” in an Egg McMuffin are “ prepared with” the following: Liquid Margarine: Liquid Soybean Oil and Hydrogenated Cottonseed and Soybean Oils, Water, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Salt, Soy Lecithin, Mono and Diglycerides, Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate (Preservatives), Artificial Flavor, Citric Acid, Vitamin A Palmitate, Beta Carotene (Color).
•“Globally, we follow guidelines on responsible marketing to children.”

… Just last month, McDonald’s was fined $1.6 million by the consumer protection agency in Sao Paolo [Brazil] for violating local laws on targeting children… A report from Yale University found that… “Although McDonald’s pledged to improve food marketing to children, they increased their volume of TV advertising from 2007 to 2009.” Preschoolers saw 21 percent more McDonald’s ads and older children viewed 26 percent more ads in 2009 compared to 2007…
•“And we are not marketing food to kids.”

Two words: Happy Meals.

The author, Michele Simon, a public health lawyer specializing in industry marketing and lobbying tactics, suggests adding your voice by signing the petition created by Corporate Accountability International, urging CEO Don Thompson to stop marketing McDonald’s to children.

What’s in That Big Mac?

A cross-sectional study of 1,877 adults and 330 school-age kids who regularly ate at fast-food chains revealed that meals consumed at these restaurants were very high in calories, and that both children and adults underestimated the amount of calories their meals contained. As reported by Time Healthland4:

“The investigators collected receipts from the participants in order to calculate how many calories the participants consumed from their meals. They also asked the volunteers to estimate the number of calories they had just ordered. At the time of the study, none of the restaurant chains included calorie information on their menus, as many now do.”

On average, each adult fast-food meal came out to 836 calories, teens’ meals were about 756 calories, and kids consumed a whopping 733 calories in one sitting. But it’s not all about calories per se, because a calorie is NOT a calorie. What matters most is the source of those calories, and this is where fast food fails miserably. The ingredients used simply cannot be compared to whole, unprocessed foods.

As a general rule, “food” equals “live nutrients.” Nutrients, in turn, feed your cells, optimize your health, and sustain life. Obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension and heart attacks are hallmark diseases associated with a fast food diet – a CLEAR indication that it does not provide the appropriate nutrition for your body. And, if lack of healthful nutrition isn’t enough of a deterrent, perhaps the fact that some fast foods have been found to be impervious to decomposition, even after more than a decade, will get you to reconsider feeding it to your children.

Thompson denies McDonald’s sells junk food. However, looking at the lists of ingredients in McDonald’s meals, I find this to be an undefendable stance. When you consider the fact that a large number of the ingredients in a fast food meal exist nowhere in nature, but are rather concocted in a lab, it’s just not ‘real food’; it’s junk. As just one example, what kind of bread can lie out for years on end without developing so much as a trace of mold? According to McDonald’s website5, their hamburger buns consist of:

“Enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, enzymes), water, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, yeast, soybean oil and/or partially hydrogenated soybean oil, contains 2% or less of the following: salt, calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, wheat gluten, ammonium sulfate, ammonium chloride, dough conditioners (sodium stearoyl lactylate, datem, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, mono- and diglycerides, ethoxylated monoglycerides, monocalcium phosphate, enzymes, guar gum, calcium peroxide, soy flour), calcium propionate and sodium propionate (preservatives), soy lecithin.”

Interestingly, analyzing this list of ingredients offers clues not only for how these buns remain unblemished for years on end, but also to some of the health ramifications you may experience when eating a McDonald’s hamburger. For example, if you’ve ever felt it just “sitting” in your gut like a brick, perhaps the plaster of Paris, aka calcium sulfate6 isn’t quite as digestible as you’d hoped. Or if you’ve had to run to the bathroom shortly after your meal, perhaps the ammonium sulfate and the ammonium chloride are to blame. Both of these chemicals cause gastrointestinal irritation with symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Processed Food Contains Many Potentially Dangerous Ingredients

Fast food hamburgers are not the only type of heavily processed food that is questionable in terms of whether or not it should be considered real food. The following are just a few more examples, but you get the idea – any time a food is heavily processed, it typically ceases to be beneficial for your child’s health. Many processed foods also contain dangerous MSG, to give the otherwise bland mixture some flavor.
•Chicken McNuggets, for example, have made it into mainstream news because of the potentially hazardous additives they contain.
•Soda can contain any number of health harming substances, from high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to benzene and aspartame.
•French Fries are loaded with the worst types of fat on the planet — typically highly refined and genetically modified omega 6 oils, such as corn, canola, and soybean oils.
•Breakfast cereals are little more than disguised forms of high fructose corn syrup and many are loaded with genetically engineered grains.

Diet Soda Found to Be as Bad as Meth or Crack Cocaine for Your Teeth

A recent article in the New York Daily News7 highlighted study8 findings that a steady consumption of diet soda can result in the same type of tooth decay and erosion as that caused by methamphetamines and crack cocaine:

“The report, which was recently published in the journal General Dentistry9, found that a woman in her 30s who drank two liters of diet soda every day for three to five years had eroded teeth similar to those of a 29-year-old meth addict and a 51-year-old longtime crack user. ‘You look at it side-to-side with ‘meth mouth’ or ‘coke mouth,’ it is startling to see the intensity and extent of damage more or less the same,’ said Dr. Mohamed Bassiouny, a professor of restorative dentistry at the Temple University School of Dentistry in Philadelphia.

Diet and regular soda are highly acidic, like methamphetamine and crack cocaine. Paired with poor dental hygiene, the citric and phosphoric acid in soda can lead to substantial damage and decay, Bassiouny said.”

The American Beverage Association (ABA), which represents soft drink manufacturers, issued a statement noting that the woman did not receive dental health services for more than 20 years, and that “To single out diet soda consumption as the unique factor in her tooth decay and erosion — and to compare it to that from illicit drug use — is irresponsible.” The ABA also stated that these findings do not justify never drinking soda again; rather you should be aware that soda is highly acidic, and that you should rinse your mouth after drinking it, and brush your teeth twice a day.

I disagree. Soda, whether regular or diet, has no positive place in a healthy diet. There’s simply no reason to ever give your child soda. To learn more, please see this previous article, where I review my many reasons for this hardcore stance.

Why Do Kids’ Vitamins Contain Aspartame, GMOs, and Hazardous Chemicals?

Another industry that is shockingly irresponsible when it comes to children’s nutrition is that of dietary supplements. Take Flintstones Vitamins, for example, which is marketed as the “Pediatricians’ #1 Choice” of supplement for kids. A recent article by GreenMedInfo.com10 reveals several of the horrid ingredients in this well-known kids vitamin—ingredients that can have adverse health effects severe enough to warrant a trip to the hospital.

Flintstones Vitamins is produced by the pharmaceutical company Bayer. I’ve revealed some of the many skeletons in Bayer’s closet in the past — including their numerous drug-related lawsuits and intentional selling of AIDS-infected drugs in Europe and Asia. With that in mind, perhaps it’s not so surprising to find that their wildly successful kids vitamin contains some shockingly unhealthy ingredients, including:

Aspartame, perhaps the most dangerous artificial sweetener on the market, aspartame converts into toxic methanol and formaldehyde in your body. The featured article lists over 40 adverse health effects of aspartame11 found in the biomedical literature, including neurotoxicity and carcinogenicity

Cupric Oxide, listed as the ‘nutritional’ source of ‘copper,’ supplying “100% of the Daily Value (Ages 4+). However, the European Union’s Dangerous Substance Directive lists Cupric Oxide as a Hazardous substance, classified as both “Harmful (XN)” and “Dangerous for the environment” (N)

Coal tar artificial coloring agents (FD&C Blue #2, Red #40, Yellow #6). All of these are well-known for their adverse effects on children and are banned in certain European countries for this very reason

Zinc Oxide. Also widely used in sunscreens, the EU’s Dangerous Substance Directive classifies it as an environmental Hazard, “Dangerous for the environment (N).” It causes the death of phytoplankton (the plankton absorbs it until they burst)

Sorbitol. Higher amounts have been linked to gastrointestinal disturbances from abdominal pain to more serious conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome

Ferrous Fumarate, the form of iron used in Flintstones Vitamins, is actually an industrial mineral not found in nature as food. It is extremely toxic, and accidental overdose of products containing this form is “a leading cause of fatal poisoning in children under 6”

Hydrogenated soybean oil. This is one of the most harmful ingredients in processed foods. Part of the problem with hydrogenated soybean oil relates to the health hazards of soy itself. An added hazard factor is the fact that the majority of soybeans are genetically engineered. Hydrogenated soybean oil has been linked to over a dozen adverse health effects, from coronary artery disease to cancer, violent behavior and fatty liver disease

Genetically engineered corn starch. According to the featured article, the ‘vitamin C’ listed as ascorbic acid in Flintstones is likely produced from GMO corn. (Bayer’s Ag-biotech division, Bayer CropScience, donated $381,600 to defeat California’s Prop. 37 GMO labeling bill)

Kids Chemotherapy Rebranded as ‘Superformula’

Yet another area where kids are being increasingly targeted for brainwashing is with regards to pharmaceuticals. One of the most shocking and recent examples is the rebranding of chemotherapy as ‘superformula’ for children. As reported by iO9.com12:

“Chemotherapy is never fun, but A.C.Camargo Cancer Center in São Paulo is trying to make it easier for children to accept the treatment. They’re rebranding the treatment as “superformula” and using comics to help kids understand chemo…. [T]he cancer center is working with ad agency JWT, which also works with Warner Bros. The idea was to help children believe in the power of chemotherapy to make them ultimately better. They’re not just covering the chemo cases with superhero logos; they’re also giving pediatric cancer patients comic books in which the heroes experience something similar to cancer and must receive a similar treatment formulated by doctors. And in the comics, the cases for the treatment bags look just like the cases the kids get over their own chemo bags.”

How Do You Determine Whether or Not a Supplement Is a Good Choice?

To optimize your child’s health, your BEST solution is to choose the highest quality foods possible, and serve a wide variety of whole locally grown minimally processed organic foods. But how do you pick a high quality supplement, should you or your child need one? For starters, make sure it has the following characteristics:
•It is as close as possible to its natural (whole food) form, and ideally certified organic
•Use independent third-party labs that check the raw materials for contaminants and correct dosage.
•Follows industry standards for quality assurance including ISO 9001, ISO 17025 and Good Manufacturing Processes (GMP) certifications.
•The utmost care has been taken in all phases of its production, from growing its ingredients, to manufacturing, testing for potency and quality control.
•It works! I always try to select from companies that have a long track record of providing high-quality products that produce good clinical results.

Your Child’s Healthy Diet Is Up to You

Children will simply not know which foods are healthy unless you, as a parent, teach it to them. Remember, wholesome food is “live” food, and the hallmark of live food is the fact that it will wilt and decompose. The fact that fast food burgers, buns, and fries do not decompose, even after a decade, is a clear sign that it’s just not real food and serves no beneficial purpose as part of your diet. It’s very simple: Kids need real nutrients, not man-made chemicals that are nonexistent in natural food! These substitutes are NOT equivalent to the real deal.

Food is a part of crucial lifestyle choices first learned at home, so you need to educate yourself about proper nutrition and the dangers of junk food and processed foods in order to change the food culture of your entire family. To give your child the best start at life, and help instill healthy habits that will last a lifetime, you must lead by example. If you’re not sure where to start, I recommend reading my nutrition plan first. This will provide you with the foundation you need to start making healthy food choices for your family.

The simplest way back toward health, for children and adults alike, is to focus on WHOLE foods — foods that have not been processed or altered from their original state; food that has been grown or raised as nature intended, without the use of chemical additives, pesticides and fertilizers. You, a family member, or someone you pay will need to invest time in the kitchen cooking fresh wholesome meals from these whole foods so that you can break free from the processed food diet that will ultimately make you sick.

By doing this, and eating meals together as a family, your children will receive the proper nutrition their bodies need during the important developmental years while also developing a love for whole fresh foods that will last them a lifetime.

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

Top natural remedies for common skin problems like wrinkles, stretch marks and acne

The usual skin creams, lotions, or salves promoted on TV or on slick magazine ads are not effective for wrinkles, stretch marks, acne, and other skin problems. They often make matters worse, they’re expensive, and some even contain carcinogenic components.

Pharmaceutical applications prescribed by dermatologists can be just as ineffective and harmful, and probably more expensive. Your skin is your largest organ. It is your immune system’s first line of defense. However, some ingredients can eventually be absorbed into your bloodstream.

Using natural ingredients on your skin is a wiser first choice, if you know what is likely to work for any undesirable skin condition.

Highlighting topically applied natural skin remedies
Here are some suggestions starting from the most serious, non-impact injury troublesome skin conditions, to the least threatening.

Skin cancers (non-melanoma) and warts are reportedly cured by extracts from eggplant. UK physician Dr. Bill Cham, MD, PhD, observed Australian farmers and veterinarians curing farm animals of skin cancer with a folk remedy extracted from the Australian Devil’s Apple plant.

So he took samples of Devil’s Apple and studied them to determine their active ingredients. Since Devil’s Apple is not easily found everywhere, he looked for an easier alternative source that contained the same phytonutrient glycocides and glycoalkaloids that were the cancer curing agents of Devil’s Apple.

That turned out to be eggplant. So Dr. Cham created a cream using those compounds from eggplant to sell commercially known as BEC5. Though condemned by mainstream dermatology, which insists you avoid sunshine to escape skin cancer,

Dr. Jonathan Wright MD, founder of the holistic Tahoma Clinic in the Seattle, Washington area promotes Dr. Cham’s BECS product.

You can even make your own extract of eggplant solution that some have tried with success, explained here: http://www.naturalnews.com/035471_skin_cancer_cure_eggplant.html

Herpes and several other skin irritations, including eczema, dermatitis, and tinea are easily remedied by topical applications of aloe vera gel. Aloe vera is antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-fungal.

Use the highest quality organic gel you can find, or better yet, grow your own. Pealing or cutting a leaf of the plant exposes its healing gel, which can be directly applied to infected areas.

Here are more detailed instructions for using aloe vera topically on a variety of skin problems: http://www.naturalnews.com

Tinea is a skin surface fungus that can manifest as athlete’s foot, ring worm, or genital area skin irritations for women and men (jock itch). Ringworm has the red ring look and can appear almost anywhere. Other tinea contaminated areas can appear somewhat red or display a white, scaly appearance.

Tinea is a fungus that loves warm, damp areas and makes those areas itch almost incessantly. The most common topical application that is usually effective is tea tree oil. It’s an indigenous folk remedy that has proven itself in Western medicine clinical trials.

Neem is another good natural topical remedy for tinea. The salve usually works well, and if you can find an ozonated or oxygenated tea tree oil or neem salve, go for it. You can get some relief from pure unpasteurized apple cider vinegar as well.

Here’s what Chris Kilham, a botany professor at University of Massachusetts Amherst recommends for winkles, stretch marks, and acne:

For wrinkles, try using remedies that contain comfrey, calendula and lavender. Maca powder is also an excellent choice for helping skin remain youthful.

Stretch marks can be reduced more rapidly by massaging coconut oil and shea butter into the skin, but tamanu oil from the Pacific Islands is even better.

Acne is helped immensely by tamanu oil also. Oils or creams containing copaiba or dragon’s blood are also helpful for acne.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.foxnews.com

http://www.paylesschemists.com.au/faqs/faq_1.cfm?view=243

http://www.naturalnews.com/028825_skin_rashes_natural_remedies.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/026470_skin_tinea_natural.html

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Ninety percent of U.S. tobacco is GMO; hey smokers, you’re smoking pesticide!

Smoke herbicide and pesticide all day and what do you get? You get a recurring hangover that seemingly needs a new blast of nicotine to quell or “dissipate,” but in actuality, the only thing the nicotine does is stave off the headache, the nervousness, the anxiety, the “chemical hangover,” and after 30 to 40 minutes, it kicks in again, that feeling of angst, of unnecessary worry, and you need another fix. What is the TRUE driving force of the cigarette addiction? Could it possibly be that the 4,000-plus chemicals, which are comprised of pesticide and different super strength herbicides, cause a “hangover” which beckons for relief?

GMO tobacco means that scientists in labs are injecting or infusing the genes of bacteria from the DNA of other living things into the seeds of the tobacco plant. GMO tobacco also means that pesticide and herbicide are inside the tobacco plant, and that farmers who use GM pesticides are spraying up to TEN TIMES MORE RoundUp and other poisons on the crop, adding exponentially to the toxicity of the smoker’s nightmare, where these bug and weed killers are mixed with bacteria in the lungs, the heart and the brain, compounding the inability of the pack-a-day smoker to ever quit the habit. (http://www.naturalnews.com/039233_tobacco_ammonia_cigarettes.html)

Let’s examine what is occurring every time someone smokes a genetically modified cigarette. When the cigarette burns at 1700-degrees Fahrenheit during the inhale, the pesticide is mixed with ammonia-treated nicotine, and creates a chemical cocktail for the central nervous system to engage. The vicious cycle deepens. (http://www.naturalnews.com/036175_smoking_addiction_hangover.html)

Killing beetles, weeds, worms and humans for profit
The entire genetically modified (GM) tobacco industry, otherwise known as “Big Tobacco,” wants the BUD WORMS AND HORN WORMS dead. It’s as simple as that! Their ultimate goal is making more money using biotech “engineering,” all at the cost of human health. You see, by digesting bacteria and “biochems,” which destroy the digestive tracts and the reproductive abilities of insects, worms, beetles and the like, humans are destroying their same genes. In America, it’s legal to “slow kill” people, by manufacturing and selling carcinogens, especially when those consumers “know” there is a risk. But who REALLY knows the risk, because if you don’t understand GMO, you have no clue the extent and depth of that risk, hence the junk science of bad food and tobacco addictions. Long term problems have now become SHORT TERM health destruction problems. Think about genetically modified corn, soy, cottonseed, beets and canola as you read the following about tobacco pests and GM pest fighting chemicals:

The tobacco budworm (Heliothis virescens): A devastating insect pest of tobacco and cotton, the budworm is an inch and a half long, pale green in color and has pale stripes. The female moths lay their eggs in the bud of tobacco plants and the tiny larvae begin feeding in the unfolded leaflets of the plants, which leaves the plants ragged looking. Once these caterpillars burrow deep into protective foliage, insecticide sprays don’t reach them, plus, once the budworm matures, it becomes resistant to most insecticides anyway. This is why the giant agricultural biotech firm Monsanto creates genetically modified plants, my friends, to kill the pests from the inside out. This translates into irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and leaky gut syndrome for humans. This is digestion and lung destruction. This is prostate and bladder cancer. These mutations are birth defects being generated in food and tobacco. See how quickly it all adds up? And what do the killers recommend you use for your own garden pests? They say use more chemicals that cause cancer, like bleach, cascade, Bayer’s “suspend,” do it yourself pro-grade, “RoundUp,” Royal pest control and “Miracle Grow.” (http://www.ehow.com/info_7920787_insecticide-bud-worms.html). And what is prescribed later for pesticide disease (cancer)? Chemotherapy. Chemo is just more chemicals for that chemically driven disease.

The tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta): The hornworm is one of the largest insects that damages tobacco. The larvae are greenish in color with white bars on their sides and a reddish horn projecting from the back end. They reach three to four inches in length and are such ravenous feeders that they may completely defoliate plants if not controlled.

The aphid (Myzus persicae): Aphids vary in color from light green to yellow or almost black. Two “tail pipes” or cornicles project from their rear end. Aphids damage tobacco by sucking plant juices from the leaves which causes them to curl. As they feed, they excrete honeydew that supports fungus growth, which gives the tobacco a black sooty appearance. This can result in an uneven curing of the whole tobacco harvest. This is why Biotech develops fungicides – to destroy bugs and fungi, but that can also destroy human gut flora (good bacteria, proteins, enzymes, etc). This digestive destruction feeds cancer. Don’t smoke fungicide and don’t eat it, if you value your life.

The tobacco wireworm (Conoderus vespertinus): These pests occur throughout the south and can be the predominant species in any field. When full grown the larvae are an inch long and are yellow-brown in color. Tobacco wireworms are hard, shiny and look just like a short piece of wire – hence their name. Wireworms feed on the roots or underground stems of tobacco plants, which often destroys the rest. (http://wiki.bugwood.org/Archive:SEIPM/Tobacco_Insects)

Farmers could use diatomaceous earth to kill these pests, if they only knew about it! Instead, humans are smoking insect and weed killer. When we use pesticides on our lawns or gardens, we’re careful to avoid direct contact whenever possible, and we certainly wouldn’t knowingly breathe pesticides into our lungs, but that’s exactly what smokers do every time they take a puff!

Researchers at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, have identified three previously undetected pesticides in cigarette smoke: (http://www.livescience.com/4083-pesticides-cigarette-smoke.html)

Flumetralin: known to be toxic to humans and is carcinogenic. Flumetralin is an endocrine disruptor and is banned in Europe for use on tobacco. They must not want deformed children and their citizens dying of cancer there.

Pendimethalin: another endocrine disrupter which targets the thyroid specifically. Pendimethalin is carcinogenic and toxic to humans.

Trifluralin: also an endocrine disrupter, toxic to humans and carcinogenic, affecting glands and hormones in the worst ways, hence breast and prostate cancer.

These are approved for use by the EPA, claiming, “No information exists for long-term low-level inhalation exposures to these compounds,” yeah, except ALL THE HUMANS DYING OF CANCER. They are living and dying proof that smoking herbicides and pesticides rips apart your insides. (http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/chemicalsinsmoke/a/pesticides.htm)

Stop Smoking RoundUp
There’s only one “sure fire” way out of the nicotine/pesticide addiction: Nutrition combined with behavior modification. NaturalNews enthusiasts know about a natural method which requires no medication and no hypnosis. You can stop smoking bug and weed killer and start living CLEAN again, and you can eat organic food and become “organic” again, just like you were before cigarettes, before the corrupt tobacco industry got a hold of you. Learn the KEY strategies you need to stop smoking forever. You can get “insider” knowledge from the author/teacher who has helped thousands of smokers stop smoking within 14 days using the natural method called 14AndOut!. By weaning yourself off commercial tobacco and switching to organic tobacco for the final 14 days, you can learn how to kill the urge and cut the habit with 14AndOut!, which is recommended by the Health Ranger. Watch the free preview by Mike Adams or share this insight with someone you know who wants to stop smoking GMO tobacco and who would like to reclaim their healthy life! (http://premium.naturalnews.tv/14AndOut__TV.htm)

On top of everything else cigarettes do ruin your health, nicotine is constipating and lowers your libido. Dear friends; escape the GMO nightmare! Don’t eat it. Don’t drink it. Don’t smoke it. Say goodbye to Monsanto, toxic vaccines, genetically mutated food and yes, cigarettes, once and for all. Remember, you are NOT a BUG. Ask yourself, do you want to be a bug being killed, or a “human being” alive?

Sources for this article include:

http://ipm.ncsu.edu/AG271/tobacco/tobacco.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_crops

http://wiki.bugwood.org/Archive:SEIPM/Tobacco_Insects

http://ipm.ncsu.edu/AG271/tobacco/tobacco.html

http://www.livescience.com/4083-pesticides-cigarette-smoke.html

http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/chemicalsinsmoke/a/pesticides.htm

http://premium.naturalnews.tv/14AndOut__TV.htm

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