A Natural Environmental Health Facts Ezine

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"A NATURAL ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH FACTS Ezine" Here to Inform and Help You Become Healthier and Happier while Achieving Quality Longevity!

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Friday March 30, 2007
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=> IN THIS ISSUE!
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==> Editors' Ranting & or Warnings
==> Something To Think About
==> Health Thought for the day!
==> Showcase Health Spotlight
==> Monthly Spotlight Ads
==> Today's Health Tip
==> Health Today
==> Environmental Report
==> Life Changing Information

Greetings and thank you for being an optin subscriber!

March weather is always a little unpredictable but I cannot tell you how strange it has been around here this last week, weatherwise that is! One day unusual record breaking summer temps and then snow flurries the next! From 80 degrees to freezing overnight... That is how unpredictable things are and I'm thankful that my husband and I practice natural health so that we can avoid the bugs that are hitting with this unpredictable weather. Yes, people's allergies and viruses spread like wildfire in this type of weather environment. I met this gal at the store dressed in very inappropriate clothing for the day and she was complaining cause she had put her winter clothes away and wasn't prepared for the cold, she was already sniffling and coughing.... I do hope you have prepared your body with it's virus repellent! You haven't been reading and don't have that virus armor/prevention information? Just ask!

Take charge of your family's health before it takes charge of you!
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Something To Think About
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Millions of Flu Shots to Be Destroyed
Mar 21, 2007
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE and MIKE STOBBE

(AP) Millions of doses of flu vaccine will expire at midnight June 30, unsold during this year's mild flu season and written off as trash. Still perfectly good, and possibly useful for a few more years, the vaccine will wind up being destroyed. This annual ritual is supposed to ensure that Americans get the most up-to-date vaccine, but the leftovers - more than 10 million of a record 110 million doses produced - will be destroyed before a new supply is guaranteed.

An Associated Press examination of this long-standing practice raises questions about its consequences. For years, policymakers have talked about letting doctors keep unused vaccine until new doses are in hand, donating leftover supplies to poor countries, or pushing back the expiration date. Wasted vaccine means lost money for drug companies and one stopped making flu shots because of it - setting the stage for a flu shot shortage in 2004.

Having no vaccine in the summer deprives travelers of the chance to get a shot before they visit places where flu is in season. It also prevents summer vaccinations for children, who need two doses the first time around.

"All of those issues have come up in the past," but there is a strong reluctance to change policy, said Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University, a government vaccine adviser. "These ideas clearly have merit and at the very least ought to be discussed."

The June 30 expiration date is set by the federal Food and Drug Administration and has less to do with the vaccine's shelf life than with the desire to tweak the recipe each year to include the three strains causing the most cases.

Manufacturers test throughout a flu season to ensure the vaccine stays potent, but they don't test beyond June 30 because it's assumed that new vaccine will be made, said Len Lavenda, spokesman for Sanofi-Aventis SA, which supplies most of the nation's flu shots.

However, vaccine degrades very slowly and not into anything harmful, said Dr. Peter Patriarca, a scientist who formerly worked for vaccine maker MedImmune Inc. (MEDI) and once headed the FDA's vaccine division. Patriarca says most vaccines would be stable for another year or two years, some as long as three or four.

The June 30 date is mostly to ensure that all old vaccine is gone before new doses come out.

"What they don't want to have happen is people inadvertently getting vaccinated with last year's vaccine," because it will not be as effective since it targets older strains, he said.

"There is some benefit to a system where unused vaccine is discarded even if it hasn't really lost that much potency," said Dr. John Treanor, a vaccine expert at the University of Rochester in New York.

Old vaccine could be a tough sell if one of the strains is not well-matched to what's expected to circulate. "You'd have to tell people next year that the vaccine they got could be inferior," said Dr. Walter Orenstein, a vaccine expert at Emory University.

One more argument for the current system: Straying from a set expiration date for an entire season's vaccine would probably cause a huge headache for those trying to manage vaccine supplies, and for manufacturers trying to calculate the following season's demand, added Dr. Carolyn Bridges of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But there also is risk in destroying old before new is available - the first shipments are usually by early fall.

After the 2002-03 season, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals had to destroy a third of the 20 million doses it produced because of low sales. The company lost about $35 million and then dropped out of the flu shot business. A national shortage followed in October 2004, when Chiron Corp. lost a manufacturing license that deprived the nation of half of its flu shot supply during the height of vaccination season.

Although there are more suppliers now than then, brewing vaccine takes six months at best and remains vulnerable to the vagaries of millions of chicken eggs and a fragile production system.

Stockpiling leftover vaccine until new vaccine is available "doesn't sound like an unreasonable thing to be doing," said another vaccine scientist, Dr. Robert Belshe at St. Louis University. After all, usually only one of the three vaccine strains changes - often, only slightly. Twice in the last decade, the recipe didn't change at all, said Alexander Klimov, a CDC flu strain expert.

And three times in the last decade, the vaccine strains recommended for the United States in one winter were identical to what was recommended for the Southern hemisphere the following summer, he said.

"This past year, the demand definitely was down," said Jean Ellis of the Visiting Nurse Associations of America. Many late-season orders were canceled, and lots of vaccine remains on shelves. Doctors and VNA clinics will get a refund of taxes paid but will still lose about $10 per dose. Losses of up to $20,000 a season have caused some clinics to quit offering shots.

As long as public demand falls short of supply and manufacturers can make enough fresh vaccine, "there doesn't appear to be any reason to hang on to it," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Even better, Fauci said, would be a universal, permanent flu vaccine effective for all strains of the virus, something his office has been researching.

LENA'S COMMENT: Did you get that statement? "This past year, the demand definitely was down." Did you also see that they are insinuating that a lack of flu virus around made for lower flu immunizations given... I love it! They would have you believe that a low flu season created the lack of flu immunizations given... What a lot of bunk! The lesser people contracting flu illness corresponds with the years that flu immunizations given were lowest. That isn't new nor true as this happens every time people fail to get flu immunizations. Less flu floating around... Is that just a coincidence? I think not! Less flu immunizations received = less flu contracted? Could it be that people are getting smart and know the risk to themselves and discovered they really aren't protected when receiving flu vaccine and remain healthier when not getting the vaccine?

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY!
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Before you heat up that doggie-bag full of the leftovers from last night's barbecue at your friend's house, be warned.

According to the American Journal of Epidemiology, nuking leftovers is not as good as reheating in the oven or a frying pan. That information comes from the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, which was tracing an outbreak of Salmonella typhimurium in Juneau, Alaska.

Researchers found that all the people who became sick had been to the same picnic, and they all had taken home leftovers. But while 30 people had taken home doggie bags, only 10 became sick. What protected the others? According to the CDC, all who became sick had reheated their food in a microwave oven. Those who didn't become sick had used a conventional oven or frying pan.

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People ask me all the time, “Is there just one formula that I can take each day to satisfy my body’s needs?" There is now!

Learn about this amazing Japanese "SUPER FOOD".

How did the Japanese become the longest-living people on Earth?

*Their cancer rates are one sixth those of America’s.

* Heart disease and cholesterol-clogged arteries are nearly unheard of, yet these are America’s number one killers.

* Menopause and osteoporosis rates are also ridiculously less than here in the West.

Perhaps they know something the rest of the world doesn't. (That is until now!) One of their secrets is a unique “SUPER FOOD” that is crammed with life generating elements.

The Japanese take more of this pure dynamite “SUPER FOOD” per person than Americans take of Vitamin C. They take it religiously, each and every day in a tiny capsule that contains a veritable ‘smorgasbord’ of life itself.

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Japan Drug Firm: Tamiflu Not for Teens
Mar 21, 2007
By CHISAKI WATANABE

TOKYO (AP) - Japanese doctors were warned on Wednesday against prescribing Tamiflu to teenagers after several young patients taking the bird flu-fighting drug reportedly exhibited dangerous behavior.

The Health Ministry issued emergency instructions Tuesday to a Japanese Tamiflu distributor, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., to warn doctors not to give the drug to teenagers, a Chugai official said on condition of anonymity, citing protocol.

Chugai began distributing warnings to doctors, hospitals and pharmacies across Japan on Wednesday, the official said.

Martina Rupp, a spokeswoman for Swiss manufacturer Roche Holding AG, said the company didn't understand the Japanese government's rationale for the action.

"No causal relationship has been established between Tamiflu and these reports, and we don't see this as an appropriate course of action," Rupp told The Associated Press.

Concerns over Tamiflu, also known as oseltamivir, have spiked in Japan after a boy and a girl, both 14, fell to their deaths from their condominiums while taking the drug in separate incidents in February.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said it received more than 100 reports of delirium, hallucinations and other unusual psychiatric behavior, mostly in Japanese children treated with Tamiflu, between Aug. 29, 2005, and July 6, 2006. The Japanese government has not released detailed figures.

The FDA added a new precaution to Tamiflu's label in November, bringing the U.S. label more in line with the Japanese one that already warned that such abnormal behavior could occur.

Both Roche and the FDA have said that severe cases of the flu can spark the abnormal behavior displayed by some patients.

Two 12-year-old boys also taking Tamiflu both broke legs after jumping out of their houses in separate incidents in February and March, the official said.

Tamiflu, one of the few drugs believed to be effective in treating bird flu, is widely used in Japan to treat influenza.

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Associated Press Writer Eliane Engeler in Geneva contributed to this report.

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FOOD OF THE WEEK
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Unique and Interesting; While most everyone who eats it regularly say it's the sweetest best tasting fruit that exists!

Annonaceae most commonly known as Cherimoya (U.S., Latin America), Custard Apple (U.K. and Commonwealth), Chirimoya, Chirimolla.

A somewhat ugly but mouthwateringly delicious, sweet, creamy, subtropical fruit combining the exotic flavors of pineapple, papaya, passion fruit, banana, mango and lemon in one luscious bite. The cherimoya is believed to be native to the inter-Andean valleys of Ecuador, Colombia and Peru. Seeds from Mexico were planted in California (Carpinteria) in 1871.

Conical or somewhat heart-shaped, 4 to 8 inches long and up to 4 inches in width, weighing on the average 5-1/2 to 18 ounces, but the largest fruits may reach 5 pounds in weight. The skin, thin or thick, may be smooth with fingerprint-like markings or covered with conical or rounded protuberances. The sweet, juicy, white flesh is melting, subacid and very fragrant. The fruit is of a primitive form with spirally arranged carpels, resembling a raspberry. Each segment of flesh surrounds a single hard black bean-like seed. The fruit size is generally proportional to the number of seeds within. They ripen October to May.

The fruit turns a pale green or creamy yellow color as they reach maturity. Color change is not marked in cool weather. They should be picked when still firm and allowed to soften at room temperature. Ripe fruit will give to soft pressure. Overripe fruit will be dark brown. Fruit left on the tree too long will usually crack or split and begin to decay. If you are lucky enough to have one of these trees growing in you yard you should know how to pick the fruit It should be clipped rather than pulled from the tree. Cut the stem close to the fruit so it won't puncture other fruit during storage.

Lots of good nutrients such as vitamins A, C, D, E, B6, B12, K, Retinol, Alpha Carotene, Beta Carotene, Lycopene, Lutein+Zeaxanthin, Beta, Gamma and Delta Tocopherols, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Folate and Pantothenic Acid. Not too shabby in minerals department either, with Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Sodium, Zinc, Copper, Manganese and Selenium.

This fruit is very rich in amino acids making them digestive joys and healthy with; Tryptophan, Threonine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Cystine, Phenylalanine, Tyrosine, Valine, Arginine, Histidine, Alanine, Aspartic acid, Glutamic acid, Glycine, Proline, Serine and Hydroxyproline.

Toxic Seeds:
The seeds are crushed and used as insecticide. Some have said they have witnessed blindness resulting from "the juice of the crushed seeds coming in contact with the eyes." I cannot say if that is true or just a tale that has gone around over the centuries The seeds do contain several alkaloids: caffeine, reticuline, anonaine, liriodenine, and lanuginosine.

In Mexico, rural people toast, peel and pulverize 1 or 2 seeds and take the powder with water or milk as a potent emetic and cathartic. Mixed seed powder with grease and used to kill lice and is applied on skin disorders caused from parasites. A decoction of the skin of the fruit is taken to relieve pneumonia.

The cherimoya flesh, when ripe, is most commonly eaten out of-hand or scooped with a spoon from a cut open fruit. It really needs no embellishment but some people like to add a few drops of lime juice. Occasionally it is seeded and added to fruit salads or used for making sherbet or ice cream. Something I have not tried but sounds really refreshing and healthful is a Colombian drink; crushed and strained juice, add a slice of lemon and dilute with ice-water to make a refreshing soft drink. The fruit has also been fermented to produce an alcoholic beverage in some cultures. Although it is best eaten straight out of its skin here is a really exotic salad that is found in some high end restaurants;

Cherimoya Fruit Salad
1 cherimoya
2 oranges
2 apples
2 avocados

Peel, seed and cut cherimoya into chunks. Wash and cut apples into eighths (do not remove skin) and core fruit. Peel oranges and cut into slices. Cut slices in half, forming half-circles of orange. Peel and pit avocados and cut into eighths. On a bed of lettuce, arrange alternating slices of apple, orange and avocado in a circle. Top with cherimoya chunks.

Serve with poppy seed or light vinaigrette dressing. Or try this dressing: Combine 1/4 cup each; plain yogurt and mayonnaise; add 4 tablespoons cherimoya puree. Makes 6-8 servings.

Interesting and very tasty fruit, try it!
Lena

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HEALTH TODAY
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Study Finds Alzheimers' Increase Connected To Lower Cholesterol!

According to a study published in the journal "Movement Disorders" in December, low LDL cholesterol levels may actually increase your risk of Parkinson's disease. The study involved 236 people -- 124 Parkinson's patients and 112 controls. The researchers measured all the participants' cholesterol levels and gathered information regarding their smoking habits and use of cholesterol-lowering drugs.

They found that the subjects with the lowest LDL levels (less than 114 milligrams per deciliter) had a 3.5-fold higher occurrence of Parkinson's than the participants with higher LDL levels (more than 138 milligrams per deciliter).

LENA'S COMMENT: Finally, they've actually documented what I've been telling you all along!!!! And they wonder why millions-and-growing Alzheimers' cases exist and they say they haven't a clue... The clue is because they are all not listening or watching their patients... Looks to me like the pharmaceutical industry along with doctors who never check things out that aim for an LDL below 200 are causing the Alzheimer's increase! No mystery there!

Looking East: Organic focus forges the way
Chris O'Brien
3/1/2007

Food safety concerns lead trends in the Asian market

The Asian market is poised for huge growth in natural products, fueled primarily by a hot interest in organics. Just a few years ago, Asia was more a supplier's haven, offering low-priced herbs and nutraceuticals as well as exciting Eastern supplement formulas designed to meet the needs of Western consumers. But since about 2000, the consumer trend in Asia has been growing steadily, and recently, astronomically.

"From 2000 to 2004, the market grew a total of almost 80 percent," says Edmund Lo, managing director of Rainbow Asset, a marketing and distribution company in Hong Kong. "But in the past three years, the market has grown 100 percent."

Lo estimates recent yearly growth rates at 20 percent to 30 percent, and sees no slowing in the near future. The driving force behind this growth is the organic foods market, with several factors brewing a perfect storm for increased sales.

First, in developed areas of Hong Kong, Macao, China and Taiwan, as well as Japan, average incomes have been on the rise, particularly for the middle class. This allows consumers to opt for premium on all purchases, including organic foods, which are considered best quality. But more than just buying top shelf, consumers are driven by real health concerns.

"The organic movement has taken off due to a variety of factors, including threats such as mad cow disease, bird flu and SARS," says Pat Chu, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Organic Farming Association. "Also, last April's discovery of poisonous vegetables [with unsafe levels of pesticides] in the supermarket as well as the continuous revealing of hormones, toxins and carcinogens in mainstream pork, fish and eggs, has led the general public to become more aware of health risks and food safety."

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