Nutrition and Prevention

Posted By Dr. Mercola | January 12 2012 | 15,409 views

Story at-a-glance

• A new study is reporting that the cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins may reduce flu deaths by half, but it did not compare statin drugs against a control group; it compared statin drugs to antiviral medications. What the study actually found was that, more than likely, antiviral drugs were killing people twice as quickly as the statins!
• Both statins and antiviral flu drugs carry serious side effects and their effectiveness at fighting the flu is dubious at best; antiviral drugs, for instance, only shorten the duration of the flu by one or two days and have been linked to convulsions, delirium or delusions, and death.
• Safe, effective and natural options, like optimizing your vitamin D levels and avoiding sugar, are readily available for both flu prevention and treatment.

By Dr. Mercola

A new study has led to what is perhaps the most ludicrous recommendation for flu treatment ever — statin drugs!

The researchers reported that statin use may reduce death risk in people hospitalized with the flu, and the media is reporting sensational headlines like “Statins reduce flu death risk by half.”

This is particularly outrageous, because the study was seriously flawed and designed to make statin drugs useful for another condition while they do nothing to address the underlying cause.

To validly determine if statin drugs are effective for flu they need to compare it to placebo, not a poison.

So what did they do?

They compared statin drugs to other toxic drugs, this time antiviral medications. So what the study actually found was that, more than likely, antiviral drugs were killing people twice as quickly as the statins!

What did the Study Really Show?

In the observational study published in The Journal of Infectious Disease, researchers examined data from 3,000 patients hospitalized with the flu, 33 percent of whom were given statins while the rest received antiviral drugs. The results showed that people who did not receive statins were twice as likely to die.

Another way of saying this, of course, is that people who received antiviral drugs were twice as likely to die as those given statins. And what this really means is that the antiviral medications were exceptionally harmful, not that statins were beneficial.

Still, it is not surprising that the drug’s manufacturer and the media are reporting favorable results for statin drugs, even though the researchers themselves pointed out the many limitations to their study, noting, for example:

” … it was difficult to ascertain the underlying functional health status of these patients, which may potentially confound the relationship between statins and severity of influenza.”

Further, one of the study’s authors has been a consultant to numerous drug companies, including Sanofi Pasteur, Novartis, Pfizer, Dynavax, and GlaxoSmithKline, whereas the study itself was funded by the Emerging Infections Program Cooperative Agreement of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which also has worrisome ties to the drug industry.

Statins are Not Wonder Drugs

The drug companies started pushing their statin drugs, which are ordinarily prescribed to lower cholesterol levels, for the flu back in 2009 during the swine flu scare, and they are working hard to get the accepted as “wonder drugs” for the treatment of everything from pneumonia to Alzheimer’s disease.

However, as Dr. Stephanie Seneff, a senior scientist at MIT, explains, statins are dangerous because they suppress the synthesis of a true biological wonder drug, namely cholesterol. And she believes it is actually cholesterol (in high amounts prior to patients’ starting statin therapy) that is responsible for many of the statins’ alleged benefits:

“Statin drugs are particularly problematic because they suppress the synthesis of a biological wonder drug, namely cholesterol. Repeatedly, retrospective studies have shown an alleged benefit for statins, which is actually a benefit derived from the many years of high cholesterol that preceded statin treatment. This game has been played out for sepsis, pneumonia, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s, and these are just the ones I’m aware of. When the proper placebo-controlled study is done, the effect reverses — statins make the situation worse. But these negative results are kept well concealed from the public’s eyes. This is how the myth has been kept alive that statins, instead of cholesterol, are the wonder drug.”

There are, in fact, 304 adverse health effects that may be associated with statin drugs, and this may only be the tip of the iceberg.

The Truth About Antiviral Flu Drugs

Anti-viral flu drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza are conventional medicine’s go-to option for treating the flu, but you should know that they carry serious side effects — and may only shorten the time you are sick by one to two days. These drugs are part of a group of anti-influenza drugs called neuraminidase inhibitors, which work by blocking a viral enzyme that helps the influenza virus to invade cells in your respiratory tract.

The problem is that your nervous system also contains neuraminidase enzymes essential for proper brain functioning, and when blocked with these dangerous drugs, severe neurotoxicity may ensue (especially in the infants and children whose blood-brain barrier has not yet developed sufficiently).

Serious side effects include convulsions, delirium or delusions, suicidal behavior and 14 deaths in children and teens have been reported as a result of neuropsychiatric problems and brain infections. Japan actually banned Tamiflu for children in 2007 because of the steep risks.

It was also around this time that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began reviewing reports of abnormal behavior and other brain effects in more than 1,800 children who had taken Tamiflu. Further, the drug commonly causes a myriad of side effects that, ironically, resemble the flu symptoms the drug claims to treat. You can decide for yourself whether these risks are worth a measly one- or two-day reduction in your flu symptoms:

Nausea	Vomiting
Diarrhea	Headache
Dizziness	Fatigue
Cough	Behavioral side effects (such as reports of children jumping off roofs shortly after taking the drug)

Statin Study Highlights Flu Shot Ineffectiveness

Whenever I address the topic of influenza, I like to mention flu shots, simply because the propaganda supporting them is so widespread — and the truth deserves to be heard. Not only is there a shocking lack of evidence supporting the use of the flu vaccine, but a number of studies have actually confirmed the danger and ineffectiveness of the shots.

One major study determined that the best the flu vaccine could do during a season where, in the rare case, the vaccine actually matched the wild-type strains in circulation, was to reduce the risk of influenza infection by a paltry 1 percent relative to unvaccinated controls. This means that despite receiving the shot – riddled, as it is, with side effects such as the debilitating and potentially deadly nerve disease Guillain-Barre Syndrome — there is still an overwhelming likelihood that you will not be protected from the flu as a result of receiving the vaccine.

The reason for this has to do with how flu strains work. Along with the faulty science behind the creation of the vaccine, the act of determining which flu strains will affect your area is pretty much a guessing game. Mainstream medical officials urge you to receive the shot, but health officials are fully aware that it is truly impossible to know for sure which strain to vaccinate against.

With such a wide selection of strains (hundreds, if not thousands), it is very rare for officials to actually pick the correct strains – the best case scenario is that an appropriate match will occur 10 percent of the time, according to the study. Interestingly, as it was not the researchers’ intent, the statin-flu study also highlighted the striking lack of effectiveness of the flu vaccine in preventing flu deaths:

“Our finding that vaccine was not effective in preventing mortality from influenza is likely explained by the timing of our study. We evaluated the impact of statins on influenza mortality in 2007–2008, a year in which the vaccine was not well matched to the circulating viruses … In addition, vaccination status may not impact mortality in the event of vaccine failure regardless of match to circulating strains; 50% of our patients were over the age of 70, an age group in which influenza vaccine is known to be less effective.”

Why Doesn’t the CDC Fund a Study on Vitamin D for Flu Treatment?

Apparently the CDC would rather throw money at a potential cash cow for the drug makers than promote the real natural alternatives that can stop the flu in its tracks without any side effects. Where is the CDC-sponsored study on vitamin D and the flu, for instance?  According to the findings from a 2010 study that didn’t get any widespread attention, vitamin D is a highly effective way to avoid influenza.  In fact, children taking low doses of vitamin D3 were shown to be 42 percent less likely to come down with the flu.

Dr. John Cannell, founder of the Vitamin D Council, was one of the first to introduce the idea that vitamin D deficiency may actually be an underlying cause of influenza, which would help explain its apparent benefits as a flu-fighter. His hypothesis was published in the journal Epidemiology and Infection in 2006, which was followed up with another study published in the Virology Journal in 2008.

Dr. Cannell’s hypothesis received further support and confirmation when, in the following year, the largest and most nationally representative study of its kind to date discovered that people with the lowest blood vitamin D levels reported having significantly more recent colds or cases of the flu. You can find my full recommendations for how to optimize your vitamin D levels in this past article.

There are Effective Natural Options for Beating the Flu

I have not caught the flu in over two decades, and you can avoid it too, without using drugs or getting vaccinated. Following these guidelines will help to keep your immune system in optimal working order so that you’re far less likely to acquire the infection to begin with — and if you do, these strategies will help you to get better, faster.

• Optimize your vitamin D levels. As I’ve previously reported, optimizing your vitamin D levels is one of the absolute best strategies for avoiding infections of ALL kinds, and vitamin D deficiency is likely the TRUE culprit behind the seasonality of the flu— not the flu virus itself. This is probably the single most important and least expensive action you can take.If you are coming down with flu-like symptoms and have not optimized your levels, you can take doses of 50,000 units a day of vitamin D3 for three days to treat the acute infection.
• Avoid sugar and processed foods. Sugar decreases the function of your immune system almost immediately, and as you likely know, a strong immune system is key to fighting off viruses and other illness. Be aware that sugar is present in foods you may not suspect, like ketchup and fruit juice.In fact, the first thing you want to do when you feel yourself coming down with a cold or flu is to avoid ALL sugars, artificial sweeteners, and processed foods.
• Get enough rest. Just like it becomes harder for you to get your daily tasks done if you’re tired, if your body is overly fatigued it will be harder for it to fight the flu. Be sure to check out my article Guide to a Good Night’s Sleep for some great tips to help you get quality rest.

• Implement effective tools to address your stress. We all face some stress every day, but if stress becomes overwhelming then your body will be less able to fight off the flu and other illness.If you feel that stress is taking a toll on your health, consider using an effective energy psychology tool such as the Emotional Freedom Technique, which is remarkably effective in relieving stress associated with all kinds of events, from work to family to trauma.
• Exercise. When you exercise, you increase your circulation and your blood flow throughout your body. The components of your immune system are also better circulated, which means your immune system has a better chance of finding an illness before it spreads. You can review my exercise guidelines for some great tips on how to get started.

• Take a good source of animal-based omega-3 fats like krill oil. Increase your intake of healthy and essential fats like the omega-3 found in krill oil, which is crucial for maintaining health. It is also vitally important to avoid damaged omega-6 oils like trans fats found in most processed foods, as it will seriously damage your immune response.

• Wash your hands. Washing your hands will decrease your likelihood of spreading a virus to your nose, mouth or other people. Be sure you don’t use antibacterial soap for this — antibacterial soaps are completely unnecessary, and they cause far more harm than good. Instead, identify a simple chemical-free soap that you can switch your family to.

• Eat garlic regularly. Garlic works like a broad-spectrum antibiotic against bacteria, virus, and protozoa in your body. And unlike with antibiotics, no resistance can be built up so it is an absolutely safe product to use. However, if you are allergic or don’t enjoy garlic it would be best to avoid as it will likely cause more harm than good.

• Avoid hospitals whenever possible. I’d recommend you stay away from hospitals unless you have an emergency, as hospitals are prime breeding grounds for infections of all kinds, and could be one of the likeliest places you could be exposed to flu bugs.

For even more details on specific immune-boosting foods and supplements that can help boost your immune function to help you kick your cold or flu faster, without drugs, please see my article The First Thing to do When a Cold or Flu Strikes.

Read the original article here

A new paper cites nearly 900 studies on the adverse effects of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, also called statins, which are a class of drugs widely used to treat high cholesterol. The review provides the most complete picture to date of reported side effects of statins.

Muscle problems are the best known of statin drugs’ adverse side effects, but cognitive problems and pain or numbness in the extremities are also widely reported. A spectrum of other problems, ranging from blood glucose elevations to tendon problems, can also occur as side effects.

The paper summarizes powerful evidence that statin-induced injury to the function of the body’s energy-producing cells, called mitochondria, underlies many of the adverse effects that occur to patients taking statin drugs. Statins lower levels of coenzyme Q10, a compound central to the processes of making energy within mitochondria and eliminating dangerous compounds called free radicals.

Higher statin doses and more powerful statins are linked to greater risk of developing side effects.

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

Statins, which are a class of drugs used to lower your cholesterol, are among the most commonly prescribed medications in the world, and I believe, one of the most unnecessary drugs there are.

Use of statins rose by a whopping 156 percent between 2000 and 2005, rising from 15.8 million people to 29.7 million people. Spending on these drugs jumped from $7.7 billion to $19.7 billion annually over the same period. This is a travesty in light of the overwhelming evidence – nearly 900 studies compiled in the review listed above — showing the damage statins inflict.

The Dangerous Side Effects of Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs

Statin drugs are some of the most unnecessary drugs on the market today.

Why?

Because their use is based on a misinformed notion that cholesterol is the nemesis of good health in the first place. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: Cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease.

Making matters worse, statins are also some of the most dangerous and are fraught with side effects.

Confusing matters, however, is the fact that statin drugs oftentimes do not have any immediate side effects, and they are quite effective, capable of lowering cholesterol levels by 50 points or more. This makes it appear as though they’re benefiting your health, and health problems that appear down the line are frequently not interpreted as a side effect of the drug, but rather as brand new, separate health problems.

But there’s an ever-growing body of evidence showing that potentially serious side effects begin to manifest several months after the commencement of therapy.

For starters, some of the possible consequences of taking statins in strong doses, or for a lengthy period of time, include:

• Cognitive loss
• Neuropathy
• Anemia
• Acidosis
• Frequent fevers
• Cataracts
• Sexual dysfunction

Other serious and potentially life threatening side effects include, but are not limited to:

• An increase in cancer risk
• Immune system suppression
• Serious degenerative muscle tissue condition (rhabdomyolysis)
• Pancreatic dysfunction
• Hepatic dysfunction. (Due to the potential increase in liver enzymes, patients must be monitored for normal liver function)

According to the latest review published in the American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs, adverse effects are dose dependent, and your health risks are also amplified by a number of factors, such as:

• Drug interactions that increase statin potency
• Metabolic syndrome
• Thyroid disease
• Other genetic mutations linked to mitochondrial dysfunction

How Statin Drugs Destroy Your Muscles

The most common side effect is muscle pain and weakness, a condition called rhabdomyolysis. Unfortunately, many older adults are likely unable to distinguish between muscle pain related to a statin effect versus an effect of aging, and therefore adverse effects of statins in older adults may be grossly under-reported.

Researchers have now discovered that there is more than one way this condition can arise as a result of taking statins, including:

• Depleting your body of Co-Q10, a nutrient that supports muscle function. In my view it is medical malpractice to prescribe a statin drug without recommending one take CoQ10, or better yet ubiquinol.
• Altering the ability of skeletal muscle to repair and regenerate due to the anti-proliferative effects of statins. In one recent study, the viability of proliferating cells was reduced by 50 percent at a dose equivalent to 40 milligrams of Simvastatin – the dose per day used in some patients. This could clearly have a negative effect on your skeletal muscles’ ability to heal and repair themselves, and could lead to eventually becoming more or less incapacitated.

• Activating the atrogin-1 gene, which plays a key role in muscle atrophy.

The breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue can in turn also lead to kidney failure.

The industry insists that only 2-3 percent of patients get muscle aches and cramps but according to one study, 98 percent of patients taking Lipitor and one-third of the patients taking Mevacor (a lower-dose statin) suffered from muscle problems!

Adding insult to injury, active people are actually more likely to develop problems from statin use than those who are sedentary. In a study carried out in Austria, only six out of 22 athletes with familial hypercholesterolemia were able to endure statin treatment. The others discontinued treatment because of muscle pain.

The Importance of CoQ10 

There are no official warnings in the U.S. regarding CoQ10 depletion from taking statin drugs, and many physicians fail to inform you about this problem as well. Labeling in Canada, however, clearly warns of CoQ10 depletion and even notes that this nutrient deficiency “could lead to impaired cardiac function in patients with borderline congestive heart failure.”

Coenzyme Q10 is an antioxidant compound that is central to the process of energy production within your mitochondria, and in the quenching of free radicals.

Statins have been found to impair mitochondrial function, which leads to increased production of free radicals.

At the same time, statins also lower your CoQ10 levels by blocking the pathway involved in cholesterol production – the same pathway by which Q10 is produced. Statins also reduce the blood cholesterol that transports CoQ10 and other fat-soluble antioxidants.

The loss of CoQ10 leads to loss of cell energy and increased free radicals which, in turn, can further damage your mitochondrial DNA, effectively setting into motion an evil circle of increasing free radicals and mitochondrial damage.

This explains why statins are particularly dangerous if you have existing mitochondrial damage, as your body relies on ample CoQ10 to bypass this damage.

High blood pressure and diabetes are linked to higher rates of mitochondrial problems, so if you have either of these conditions your risk of statin complications increases, according to the authors of this latest review.

Additionally, since statins can cause progressive damage to your mitochondria over time, and your mitochondria tend to weaken with age anyway, new adverse effects can develop the longer you’re on the drug.

Said co-author Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD:

“The risk of adverse effects goes up as age goes up, and this helps explain why.  This also helps explain why statins’ benefits have not been found to exceed their risks in those over 70 or 75 years old, even those with heart disease.”

How to Lower Your Cholesterol Naturally

There’s really no reason to take statins and suffer the consequences from these ill-conceived drugs. These simple guidelines have the power to lower your cholesterol naturally, without any dangerous side effects:

If you truly want to normalize your cholesterol levels, following these simple lifestyle changes can get you there:

• First, normalize your insulin levels by eliminating sugar and grains.
• Second, you can take a high-quality krill oil or fish oil that is chock full of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids.
• Eat the right foods for your nutritional type, and eat a good portion of your food raw.
• Additionally, if you are a man, or a woman who is in menopause, you should check your iron levels, as elevated levels of iron can cause major oxidative damage in the blood vessels, heart and other organs. Excess iron is also one of the major contributing factors of cancer risk.
• Regular exercise is another important tool that can help. When you exercise you increase your circulation and the blood flow throughout your body. The components of your immune system are also better circulated, which means your immune system has a better chance of fighting an illness before it has the opportunity to spread.
• Energy Psychology methods such as Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) can also be helpful for cholesterol.  Read this press release for the possibilities.  Doctors Use New Acupressure Technique to Lower Cholesterol and Triglyceride Levels: Medications Unnecessary
• Avoid smoking and drinking alcohol excessively.

Read the original article here

Posted By Dr. Mercola | November 21 2011 | 59,282 views

Story at-a-glance

• The soda industry engages in many of the same marketing tactics as Big Tobacco, including forming “independent” front groups, funding research to discredit links to health problems, and making large donations to health organizations
• Soda is linked to numerous health problems among children and adults, including obesity, liver disease and even violent behavior; frequent soft drink consumption is associated with a 9-15% increase in aggressive behavior, according to new research
• Processed foods and junk foods are heavily marketed to kids and promoted to schools; manufacturers of sugar-laden processed foods pay “rebates” (aka “kickbacks”) to food service companies that serve school districts across the United States
• You can fight back against soda and junk-food giants by purchasing healthy, locally grown organic foods instead of processed foods and beverages

Read the original article here

Posted on ‘Antioxidants for Health and Longevity, Anti-Aging Nutrition and Disease Prevention’, by Stan.  Check out his amazing website by clicking on this link.

The health benefits of cilantro come from beneficial phytonutrients and antioxidants, especially the flavonoid quercetin. Cilantro is also a good source of dietary fiber and iron, magnesium and manganese.

It’s a little-known fact that herbs (and spices) such as cilantro have far greater concentrations of antioxidants than any common fruit or vegetable. Herbs also contain a particularly wide variety of antioxidants as well, which makes them more effective at fighting many different kinds of free radicals. Getting the widest variety of antioxidants is just as important as how much of any one antioxidant you get. Many herbs have also been used for medicinal purposes, further demonstrating their health benefits.

Antioxidants are nutrient compounds found in virtually all plant foods (and also manufactured in your body). The primary job of antioxidants is to protect your cells against the oxidative stress caused by free radicals, considered to be the primary cause of the aging process.

Protecting yourself against free radicals with antioxidants is the most effective way to reduce the risk of many health problems associated with aging. The benefits of antioxidants include powerful protection against all types of degenerative diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, macular degeneration, Alzheimer’s disease, and many more.

Specific Health Benefits of Cilantro

Cilantro contains an antibacterial compound, dodecenal, that has shown to be a safe, natural means of fighting salmonella, a frequent and sometimes deadly cause of foodborne illness.

Cilantro oil (derived from cilantro) has been found to assist the digestive system in the production of digestive enzymes.

Cilantro contains good quantities of an alcohol known as borneol that is capable of destroying viruses and germs that cause colds.

Cilantro is a natural anti-inflammatory and helps to alleviate the symptoms of arthritis.

Regular intake of cilantro helps to reduce bad cholesterol (LDL) and increases good cholesterol (HDL).

The benefits of cilantro may include an ability to help control blood sugar and fight inflammation. The antioxidants found in cilantro help reduce free radical damage from exposure to sunlight. Research shows that daily use of cilantro helps in preventing skin cancer.

Detoxing is One of the Primary Health Benefits Of Cilantro

Cilantro is being used for metal detoxification in combination with chlorella, a green algae superfood, and garlic extracts.

Cilantro has been found to chelate (remove) heavy metals like mercury, aluminum, and lead from the body. Cilantro has been specifically used to remove heavy metals that are in the brain and spinal cord.

Chlorella and liquid garlic extract bind with the mercury and remove it and other toxic heavy metals and carry them out of your body through your elimination systems. Studies done in many different countries prove that chlorella and aged garlic extract are effective for mercury detox and heavy metal poisoning detoxification. They also detoxify a variety of other toxic contaminates as well.

How to Get the Health Benefits of Cilantro Every Day

The benefits of cilantro are so numerous, ideally you’d want to have some every day. However, as with any herb or spice, you may find it impractical to include cilantro in your meal plans that often. There’s an easy way to accomplish this — by making yourself a smoothie every day and adding some cilantro to your recipe.

Fresh smoothies make for some of the most nutritious, delicious and easy-to-make meals you could imagine. They’re a great way to get more of those “good for you” antioxidant-rich foods (that you may not get enough of) into your diet.

I like to use small amounts of cilantro, parsley and basil in my green smoothie recipes to help give them more of the benefits of dark green leafy vegetables. Because they’re so concentrated with antioxidants, you can use a much smaller amount than you would with other greens like kale or spinach, and they won’t overwhelm the flavor of your smoothie recipe.

I don’t stop there, either. I like to use other spices such as cinnamon, cloves, ginger, turmeric and others in my smoothie recipes, mostly for their added antioxidant benefits. Once they’re blended in with all the other ingredients, you can’t really distinguish any one particular taste. You just need to experiment a little to get the flavor just right for you.

To learn more about the art of making smoothies, skip on over to my page on How to Make a Smoothie the Healthy Way and learn all my tricks for making delicious and nutritious smoothies!

To learn more about cilantro and ways to use it, check out The World’s Healthiest Foods/Cilantro

Related Article: Time To Celebrate Cilantro

Posted By Dr. Mercola | November 01 2010 | 252,823 views

Read the original article here

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1. Agave syrup contains the highest amount of fructose – anywhere between 70 to 97 percent, depending on the brand – among all commercial sweetener s, which is FAR HIGHER than HFCS (55 percent on average).
2.  Agave syrup is a highly-processed sweetener. Food manufacturers would like you to believe that agave nectar flows from the agave plant to the jar when in reality, the syrup is produced similarly to how cornstarch turns to HFCS. A natural agave syrup is available in Mexico but it is too expensive to produce. What you gets to the States is either the light or dark syrup – due to poor quality control, some of the product gets burnt and turns dark amber in color.
3. Agave syrup is highly addictive because it’s basically a sweeter and highly-concentrated form of sugar.
4. Agave syrup may be a highly sprayed crop. The FDA has rejected shipments of the product due to excessive pesticide residues.
5.  Agave syrup has no nutritional value. It is not whole food or a live one. Processing has stripped it of the nutrients contained in the agave plant, and of natural enzymes to prevent it from fermenting into tequila.
6. Agave syrup contains large amounts of toxic steroid derivatives called saponins, which are associated with diarrhea, disruption of red blood cells and vomiting. Saponins also stimulate blood flow to the uterus, which is why pregnant women should avoid agave products due to the possible risk of miscarriage.
7.  Agave syrup may contain an organic, heat-formed contaminant called hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), which has suspected toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic effects.

Dr. Mercola advises a severely reduced consumption of sugar if you want to improve your health. But if you need to satisfy your sweet tooth, there are healthier alternatives to HFCS and agave. Pure glucose will set you back about a dollar per pound and does not have the harmful effects of fructose when used in moderation. You can also try other health products and natural sweeteners like Lo Han and stevia. Again, the keywords are use in moderation.

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There’s a Difference Between Agave Nectar and Agave Syrup

Tuesday, April 24, 2007
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

Ever wonder which foods should be strongly avoided by those at high risk for cancer? We can begin identifying cancer-causing foods once we know which ingredients in our food cause cancer. Some of those ingredients are food additives and chemicals used to enhance taste, while others are used strictly for appearance or to increase product shelf life. The key to avoiding cancer-causing foods is knowing which ingredients are carcinogens — or cancer promoters — and then reading food labels to permanently avoid consuming those ingredients.

Cancer tumors develop, in part, by feeding on sugar in the bloodstream. If you eat lots of sugary snacks loaded with simple carbs, you’re loading your bloodstream with the chemical energy needed for cancer cells (and tumors) to proliferate. No biological system can live without fuel for its chemical processes, including cancer cells. Thus, one of the strategies to pursue for any anti-cancer diet is to eat low-glycemic diet. That means no refined sugars… ever! No refined grains (white flour, for example), no heavy use of sweeteners and the lifetime avoidance of sugary soda pop. Aside from starving tumors, eating foods low in sugar and avoiding simple carbs will also keep your weight in check while helping prevent blood sugar disorders such as type-2 diabetes.

What to avoid on the labels: high-fructose corn syrup, sugar, sucrose, enriched bleached flour, white rice, white pastas, white breads and other “white” foods.

The dangers of hydrogenated oils

Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils — another danger — are developed from otherwise harmless, natural elements. To make them hydrogenated, oils are heated in the presence of hydrogen and metal catalysts. This process helps prolong shelf life but simultaneously creates trans fats, which only have to be disclosed on the label if the food contains more than 0.5 grams per serving. To avoid listing trans fats, or to claim “trans fat free” on their label, food manufacturers simply adjust the serving size until the trans fat content falls under 0.5 grams per serving. This is how you get modern food labels with serving sizes that essentially equate to a single bite of food. Not exactly a “serving” of food, is it?

Besides being a cancer factor, trans fats promote heart disease, interrupt metabolic processes, and cause belly fat that crowd the organs and strain the heart. The essential fatty acids that the hydrogenation process removes are responsible for a number of processes in your body. When trans fats replace these essential fatty acids, they occupy the same space without doing the same job. The “anchor” portion of the fatty acid is in place (which is how the body recognizes the fatty acid and puts it to work) but the chemically active part of the fatty acid is twisted, distorted, and missing vital parts.

After the hydrogenation process, the fatty acid can’t biochemically function in the same way. Things like brain cell function, hormones, gland function, oxygen transport, cell wall function (keeping things in or out of your cells) and digestive tract operation (putting together nutrients and blocking allergens) are adversely affected.

Food manufacturers don’t tell you this on the product label, of course. Your body needs essential fatty acids and you are programmed to keep eating until you get them. If you’re only eating trans fats, you’ll never feel fully satiated, because your body will never get the fatty acids it needs for essential function. Since cancer needs high blood sugar and low oxygen levels, a person with lots of belly fat who just can’t seem to put down those trans fat cookies or crackers (also loaded with flour and simple sugars) presents the ideal environment for the development of cancer.

The acrylamide factor

Since trans fats are often formed during the frying process, we should also talk about acrylamides. Acrylamides are not added into food; they are created during the frying process. When starchy foods are subjected to high heat, acrylamides form. A Swedish study found that acrylamides cause cancer in rats, and more studies are under way to confirm the understanding that acrylamides also cause cancer in humans.

Sodium nitrite (and nitrates)

Food companies add sodium nitrite into certain foods on purpose. This carcinogen is added to processed meats, hot dogs, bacon, and any other meat that needs a reddish color to look “fresh.” Decades ago when meats were preserved, it was done with salt. But in the mid 20th century, food manufacturers started using sodium nitrite in commercial preservation. This chemical is responsible for the pinkish color in meat to which consumers have grown accustomed. Although today the use of refrigeration is largely what protects consumers from botulism and bacteria, manufacturers still add sodium nitrite to make the meat look pinkish and fresh.

The nitrites themselves are not the problem. People get more nitrites from vegetables than they do from meat, according to research by the University of Minnesota. During the digestion process, however, sodium nitrite is converted to nitrosamine, and that’s where the cancer problems begin. Nitrosamine is a carcinogen, but since it is not technically an ingredient, its presence can be easily overlooked on the packaging. Nitrosamines are also found in food items that are pickled, fried, or smoked; in things such as beer, cheese, fish byproducts, and tobacco smoke.

Knowing about all these ingredients doesn’t mean there is simply a “short list” of foods that should be avoided. You have to vigilant and read labels constantly. Here are the five worst offenders:

1. Hot dogs: The Cancer Prevention Coalition recommends that children should not eat more than 12 hot dogs per month because of the risk of cancer. If you must have your hot dog fix, look for those without sodium nitrite listed among the ingredients.
2. Doughnuts: Doughnuts contain hydrogenated oils, white flour, sugar, and acrylamides. Essentially, they’re one of the worst cancer foods you can possibly eat. Reader’s Digest calls doughnuts “disastrous” as a breakfast food, and many experts agree it’s probably one of the worst ways to start the day.
3. French fries: Fries are made with hydrogenated oil and fried at high temperatures. Some chains even add sugar to their fry recipe to make them even more irresistible. Not only do they clog your arteries with saturated fat and trans fat, they also contain acrylamides. They should be called “cancer fries,” not French fries.
4. Processed meats and bacon: These meats almost always contain the same sodium nitrite found in hot dogs. You can find some without nitrites, but you’ll have to look for them in natural grocers or health food stores. Bacon is also high in saturated fat, which contributes to the risk of cancers, including breast cancer. Limiting your consumption of processed meats and saturated fats also benefits the heart.
5. Chips / crackers / cookies: These generally contain white flour and sugar as well as trans fats, but it’s not enough to simply look for these ingredients on the label; you have to actually “decode” the ingredients list that food manufacturers use to deceive consumers. They do this by hiding ingredients (such as hiding MSG in yeast extract, or by fiddling with serving sizes so they can claim the food is trans fat free, even when it contains trans fats (the new Girl Scout cookies use this trick).

Besides avoiding these foods, what else can consumers do to reduce their risk of cancer? The main things are simple: Eat unprocessed foods and base your diet largely on plants. Consume foods that have omega-3 fats and other essential fatty acids. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables; many common ones have known cancer-fighting properties. Get regular vigorous exercise, since tumors cannot thrive in highly oxygenated environments. Keep your blood sugar stable to avoid being an all-you-can-eat buffet for cancer cells.

Eat foods high in natural vitamin C, a nutrient that deters the conversion of nitrite into nitrosamine and promotes healthy immune function. Make sure you get adequate amounts of cancer-fighting vitamin D through exposure to sunlight — about 10 to 15 minutes each day if you have fair skin, or ten times as long if you have dark skin pigmentation. Stay well hydrated to ensure that your body rids itself of toxins. Avoid smoking and don’t use conventional fragrance, cosmetics and personal care products — virtually all of them contain cancer-causing chemicals.

Preventing cancer is actually quite straightforward. Even the World Health Organization says that 70 percent of all cancers can be prevented with simple changes in diet and lifestyle. The truth is that most people give themselves cancer through the foods, drinks and products they choose to consume. In my opinion, over 90 percent of cancers are easily preventable.

By the way, don’t you find it interesting that the cancer industry seems to have no interest whatsoever in urging people to avoid eating sodium nitrite, or to stop using cancer-causing skin care products, or to get more sunlight on their skin so they can prevent cancer with vitamin D? As you’ll read in many other articles I’ve written here, it is my firm belief that the cancer industry has no interest whatsoever in preventing cancer, and it primarily interested in treating cancer for profit. This view is generally agreed upon by noted cancer experts such as Dr. Samuel Epstein and Dr. Ralph Moss. See www.PreventCancer.comto learn more from Dr. Epstein.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 by: Paul Fassa
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(NaturalNews) Ginger root is more than a zesty culinary spice. It’s both a general tonic and specific medicinal herb. Ginger is actually the rhizome or horizontal “creeping root” of the Zingiber officinale plant, which belongs to the same family as turmeric and cardamom. Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine has used ginger for centuries. Now mainstream medicine uses various ginger extracts for major health problems.

Ginger Benefits

Ginger has been used effectively for gastrointestinal problems as major as colitis and as minor as motion sickness. It stimulates good digestion. It helps alleviate congestion and minimizes mucous, even helping asthmatics. Various ginger extracts have been shown to improve cardiovascular health and circulation.

Ginger kills off 5-LO enzymes, without which prostate cancer cells die within hours. A component of ginger has demonstrated the ability to slow or stop several types of cancer mestastasis (spreading cancer cells).
Some oncologists use ginger extracts as adjuncts to their toxic therapies, enabling them to shorten the length of their patients’ suffering from chemo or radiation.

It is also an excellent natural anti-inflammatory. More naturopaths and even MDs are picking up on the fact that daily ginger consumption helps sooth daily arthritis pain as well other chronic aches and pains. Even brain inflammation is sometimes handled or alleviated with ginger.

One mainstream medical report asserted that ginger was no better than ibuprofen for arthritic inflammation relief. But ibuprofen is an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) with many harmful long term side effects, affecting kidneys, liver, and intestines while damaging the immune system.

With all the concern regarding increased nuclear fallout and radiation from Fukushima, it’s good to know that ginger offers considerable radiation protection. But it needs to be consumed on a daily basis. How to use ginger is in the next section of this article.

It makes sense to use a natural, less expensive anti-inflammatory that is also an immune system enhancing tonic on a daily basis for chronic aches and pains.

How to Use Ginger

Since ginger extracts have so many powerful mainstream medical applications as implied above, your daily or frequent use of ginger roots will certainly provide considerable health benefits as well.

Powdered ginger capsules are handy to have on hand. But either juicing or brewing as a tea from fresh ginger roots are the best ways to use ginger. Make sure the ginger roots you purchase are crisp with smooth outer skins. Avoid the moist, wrinkled roots.

A traditional method is to first skin the roots, then cut several long thin slices that can be placed into a pot of pure water. The more ginger slices the better. Too strong is easily thinned down with added water. Too weak is almost useless as a tonic or remedy.

After bringing the pot to a boil, bring the heat down and let it simmer for around a half-hour. The pot with water and ginger can remain intact overnight for additional steeping. Go ahead and have a cup, but pour the rest into a glass container to refrigerate.

If the tea is strong enough, you can treat it like a concentrate. Pour some into a cup and add hot water each time you have some. If the taste is slightly offensive, add some raw honey.

If you have a slow speed masticating juicer, you can juice a small (two inch long), freshly peeled piece of thick root as part of whatever juice you like to drink. If you make water kefir, you can add a tablespoon or two of this thick heavy ginger liquid into the fermentation process for every pint of water kefir you brew.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.gaia-health.com/articles…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger

http://www.boost-immune-system-natu…

Science Daily excerpt http://www.sciencedaily.com/release…

Written by Dr. Mercola

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Yes, you can, but there are about 75,000 chemicals regularly manufactured and imported by U.S. industries. Rather than compile an endless list of what you should avoid, it’s far easier to focus on what you should do to lead a healthy lifestyle with as minimal a chemical exposure as possible:

By optimizing your diet you will amplify the ability of your beneficial gut bacteria to grow and colonize in your intestine. This is one of the most important detoxification mechanisms you have, as the bacteria will greatly facilitate your body’s ability to detoxify these poisons. Just remember, though, every time you eat sugar you damage your good bacteria, reduce their growth and actually increase their pathogenic counterparts, the bacteria, yeast and  fungi that actually cause disease.

Helpful strategies include:

1. As much as possible, buy and eat organic produce and free-range, organic foods to reduce your exposure to pesticides and fertilizers. Since animal products tend to bioaccumulate toxins from their pesticide-laced feed, concentrating them to far higher concentrations than are typically present in vegetables, I strongly recommend you buy only organically raised animal foods.
2. Rather than eating conventional or farm-raised fish, which are often heavily contaminated with PCBs and mercury, supplement with a high-quality purified krill oil, or eat fish that is wild-caught and lab tested for purity.
3. Eat mostly raw, fresh foods, steering clear of processed, prepackaged foods of all kinds. This way you automatically avoid artificial food additives of all kinds, including dangerous artificial sweeteners, food coloring and MSG, as well as the chemicals found in food packaging.
4. Store your food and beverages in glass rather than plastic, and avoid using plastic wrap and canned foods (which are often lined with BPA-containing liners).
5. Have your tap water tested and, if contaminants are found, install an appropriate water filter on all your faucets (even those in your shower or bath).
6. Only use natural cleaning products in your home.
7. Switch over to natural brands of toiletries such as shampoo, toothpaste, antiperspirants and cosmetics. The Environmental Working Group has a great safety guide to help you find personal care products that are free of phthalates and other potentially dangerous chemicals.
8. Avoid using artificial air fresheners, dryer sheets, fabric softeners or other synthetic fragrances. if you like the idea of using air fresheners, scented candles, or dryer sheets because you like the scent, then therapeutic essential oils are an excellent, and safe, alternative for all of these uses.
9. Replace your non-stick pots and pans with ceramic or glass cookware.
10. When redoing your home, look for “green,” toxin-free alternatives in lieu of regular paint, carpeting and vinyl floor coverings.
11. Replace your vinyl shower curtain with one made of fabric.

• By Ronnie Cummins
  Organic Consumers Association, August 17, 201

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Oganic foods and products are the fastest growing items in America’s grocery carts. Thirty million households, comprising 75 million people, are now buying organic foods, clothing, body care, supplements, pet food, and other products on a regular basis. Fifty-six percent of U.S. consumers say they prefer organic foods.

Here are 10 reasons why you should buy organic foods and products:

1. Organic foods are produced without the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). Consumers worry about untested and unlabeled genetically modified food ingredients in common supermarket items. Genetically engineered ingredients are now found in 75% of all non-organic U.S. processed foods, even in many products labeled or advertised as “natural.” In addition, the overwhelming majority of non-organic meat, dairy, and eggs are derived from animals reared on a steady diet of GM animal feed. Although polls indicate that 90% of Americans want labels on gene-altered foods, government and industry adamantly refuse to respect consumers’ right to know, understanding quite well that health and environmental-minded shoppers will avoid foods with a GMO label.

2. Organic foods are safe and pure. Organic farming prohibits the use of toxic pesticides, antibiotics, growth hormones, nano-particles, and climate-destabilizing chemical fertilizers. Consumers worry about pesticide and drug residues routinely found in non-organic produce, processed foods, and animal products. Consumer Reports has found that 77% of non-organic produce items in the average supermarket contain pesticide residues. The beef industry has acknowledged that 94% of all U.S. beef cattle have hormone implants, which are banned in Europe as a cancer hazard. Approximately 10% of all U.S. dairy cows are injected with Monsanto and Elanco’s controversial genetically engineered Bovine Growth Hormone, banned in most industrialized nations. Recent studies indicate that an alarming percentage of non-organic U.S. meat contains dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

3. Organic foods and farming are climate-friendly. Citizens are increasingly concerned about climate-destabilizing greenhouse gas pollution (CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide), 35-50% of which in North America comes from our energy-intensive, chemical-intensive food and farming system. Organic farms and ranches, on the other hand, use far less fossil fuel and can safely sequester large amounts of CO2 in the soil (up to 7,000 pounds of CO2 per acre per year, every year.) Twenty-four billion pounds of chemical fertilizers applied on non-organic farms in the U.S. every year not only pollute our drinking water and create enormous dead zones in the oceans; but also release enormous amounts of nitrous oxide, a super potent, climate-destabilizing greenhouse gas.

4. Organic food certification prohibits nuclear irradiation. Consumers are justifiably alarmed about irradiating food with nuclear waste or electron beams, which destroy vitamins and nutrients and produce cancer-causing chemicals such as benzene and formaldehyde. The nuclear industry, large food processors, and slaughterhouses continue to lobby Congress to remove required labels from irradiated foods and replace these with misleading labels that use the term “cold pasteurization.” The USDA and large meat companies have promoted the use of irradiated meat in school lunches and senior citizen facilities. Many non-organic spices contain irradiated ingredients.

5. Consumers worry about rampant e-coli, salmonella, campylobacter, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and fecal contamination in animal products coming out of the nation’s inhumane and filthy slaughterhouses. The Centers for Disease Control have admitted that up to 76 million Americans suffer from food poisoning every year. Very few cases of food poisoning have ever been linked to organic farms or food processors.

6. Consumers are concerned about billions of pounds of toxic municipal sewage sludge dumped as “fertilizer” on 140,000 of America’s chemical farms. Scientific evidence has confirmed that municipal sewage sludge contains hundreds of dangerous pathogens, toxic heavy metals, flame-retardants, endocrine disruptors, carcinogens, pharmaceutical drugs and other hazardous chemicals coming from residential drains, storm water runoff, hospitals, and industrial plants. Organic farming categorically prohibits the use of sewage sludge.

7. Consumers worry about the routine practice of grinding up slaughterhouse waste and feeding this offal and blood back to other animals, a practice that has given rise to a form of human mad-cow disease called CJD, often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s disease. Animals on organic farms cannot be fed slaughterhouse waste, manure, or blood – daily rations on America’s factory farms.

8. Consumers care about the humane treatment of animals. Organic farming prohibits intensive confinement and mutilation (debeaking, cutting off tails, etc.) of farm animals. In addition to the cruel and unhealthy confinement of animals on factory farms, scientists warn that these CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) produce enormous volumes of manure and urine, which not only pollute surface and ground water, but also emit large quantities of methane, a powerful climate-destabilizing greenhouse gas.

9. Consumers are concerned about purchasing foods with high nutritional value. Organic foods are nutritionally dense compared to foods produced with toxic chemicals, chemical fertilizers, and GMO seeds. Studies show that organic foods contain more vitamins, cancer-fighting anti-oxidants, and important trace minerals.

10. Consumers care about preserving America’s family farms, world hunger, and the plight of the world’s two billion small farmers. Just about the only small farmers who stand a chance of making decent living these days are organic farmers, who get a better price for their products. In addition study after study has shown that small organic farms in the developing world produce twice as much food per acre as chemical and GMO farms, while using far less fossil fuel and sequestering large amounts of excess CO2 in the soil. Yields on organic farms in the industrialized world are comparable to the yields on chemical and GMO farms, with the important qualification that organic farms far out-produce chemical farms under extreme weather conditions of drought or torrential rains. Of course, given accelerated climate change, extreme weather is fast becoming the norm.

For all these reasons, millions of American consumers are turning to organic foods and other organic items, including clothing and body care products – part of an overall movement toward healthy living, preserving the environment, and reversing global warming.