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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Email Lena
928-636-9425
Friday April 29, 2005
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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
==> Food of The Week
==> Health Today
==> Environmental Report
==> Life Changing Information

Greetings and thank you for subscribing! Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to take a day of rest!

Back to the unpredictable spring weather again. This spring has been a real spring like we haven't seen in many years. At any given point in the day someone will be happy with the weather whether it be cloudy, sunny, windy, showers, warm or cold. We can have all of them in one day around here lately. Isn't it great to be alive and experience life in its most unpredictable form. My joy is livened each day as I receive reports from clients who are experiencing turn around in their health conditions. That's good turn-around...

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Take charge of you and your family's health before it takes charge of you!
Lena

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Something To Think About
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When you start taking a new drug, or change your dosage of an old one, always be on the lookout for seemingly unrelated side effects. It's not enough to pay attention only to whether or not your original symptoms go away. You also must keep an eye on what's happening throughout your body. If something changes -- even if it seems totally unrelated -- it may possibly a side effect of the medication. Always remember, you know your body best and are the best advocate for your own health.

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We accept all advertisements in good faith, but the advertisers are completely responsible for the content and accuracy of their advertisements. We do not give any warranties and accept no responsibility. The editor and publisher suggest that you exercise due diligence!
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Rise of Melanoma in Kids Alarming Doctors
Apr 28, 2005
By LINDSEY TANNER

CHICAGO (AP) - Doctors used to think that it took years for the deadliest skin cancer to develop - that is, until melanoma started appearing in teenagers and children even younger.

Corey Halpin of Hanover Park was one of them. At age 10, he noticed a dark bump on his upper left arm, thinking during a Boy Scout camping trip that it might even be a tick.

"I pushed it but it didn't move, but it bled," Corey, now 13, recalled.

It wasn't until a few months later, during a spring 2002 visit to his pediatrician, that Corey casually asked his dad if he should mention the odd mole. That led to a referral to a specialist and alarming test results that caught even his doctors by surprise.

Melanoma was until recently almost unheard of in children, and it was a diagnosis that his family wasn't prepared for.

"My husband and I were scared to death" and so was Corey, said his mother, Marge Halpin.

Pediatric melanoma is still uncommon in children, affecting only 7 per million, or about 500, according to 2002 statistics from the National Cancer Institute. But that number has risen from 3 per million in 1982.

Dr. Charles Balch of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, who has specialized in melanoma for 30 years, saw his first pediatric case five years ago. Since then, Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he works, has treated about 20 youngsters, the youngest just 8.

Dr. Anthony Mancini, dermatology chief at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, diagnosed Corey Halpin's melanoma and said he and his colleagues have treated eight cases in the past nine years, about double the number seen in the previous two decades.

Recent studies also report increases in England, Sweden and Australia.

"There's an appropriate level of alarm here," Mancini said. "Clearly it's happening and it's deadly, and it's missed."

Some pediatricians who see unusual moles in children "would ordinarily dismiss this as nothing because melanoma is not supposed to happen in this age group," Balch said. "We all should be aware that this can occur and biopsy suspicious or changing moles in children."

Balch said reasons for the increase are uncertain. Some doctors think it might be from depletion of the ozone layer, which protects the Earth from some of the sun's damaging ultraviolet radiation. Others attribute it to excessive sun exposure and blistering sunburns in early childhood, though some experts had thought it took much longer for skin damage from repeated sun exposure to develop into cancer.

Melanoma prevalence has risen in adults, too - more than doubling in the past 30 years, according to the cancer institute. And the American Cancer Society estimates that this year about 60,000 U.S. adults will be diagnosed with melanoma and that 7,700 will die from it.

Melanoma develops in skin cells called melanocytes, which produce the pigment that colors the skin's surface and protects deeper layers from sun damage. It is much more invasive and likely to spread to other parts of the body than other skin cancers.

Research from Italian doctors published in the March edition of Pediatrics found that melanoma lesions in children sometimes look different from those in adults and may be misdiagnosed.

In adults, melanoma often looks like a black or very dark brown mole, or one with irregular borders. But half the Italian children studied had lighter-colored lesions, and most had well-defined borders.

Also unlike adults, most children with melanoma have no family history of the disease, and they may lack other risk factors including moles present since birth, Balch said.

Freckle-faced Corey has no relatives with melanoma or any other kind of cancer. But he does have other risk factors - fair skin, red hair and green eyes.

Mancini, his doctor, says the traditional A-B-C-D signs of melanoma - asymmetry, border irregularities, colors of mixed black and brown, and diameters larger than a pencil eraser - sometimes occur in children. But a child's lesion also can be smaller and pinkish. Mancini recommends the "ugly duckling" detection method - watching for a mole that looks completely different from the child's other moles.

In Corey's case, the mole was tiny but much darker than his other freckles, and it bled - another warning sign.

Three years since his surgery, Corey is cancer-free. He still has tests every few months, but doctors say his long-term survival chances are excellent.

The angry scar on his arm has shrunk as he's grown but it will always be a reminder. His pediatrician told him that it would be like a battle scar he could use to impress girls.

Now 13, Corey smiles at that thought.

National Cancer Institute
American Cancer Society

Phaseolus vulgaris,

Legumes of all kinds are great foods and should be eaten at least twice a week for greater health. Black beans, botanically-known as Phaseolus vulgaris, are native to the Americas. One of over 500 varieties of kidney beans, black beans are also known as turtle beans, caviar criollo, black Spanish beans, Tampico beans, Venezuelan beans and frijoles negros. These beans date back at least 7,000 years when they were a staple food in the diets of Central and South Americans.

Black beans are about the size of a pea, up to 1/2-inch long, with the slightly less-pronounced boat-shape common to kidney beans.

The darker the bean the more the antioxidant content. Out of all the bean family black beans win with the most nutrients.

Black beans are an amazing food! One-half cup of cooked black beans has as many antioxidants as two glasses of red wine. Not only that but they are packed with fiber and folate, which are touted to be great at reducing the risk of heart disease. Black beans, as all dried beans, are also good sources of starches, fiber, B vitamins, iron, zinc, phosphorus, complex carbohydrates and calcium. About half of the calcium is lost during cooking. High percentages of the other nutrients remain however, even after cooking.

All legumes are high in protein, and black beans are no exception. Dried beans are important sources of protein in vegetarian diets, and in areas where animal protein is scarce or expensive. However, this protein is incomplete (does not contain all 9 amino acids), so grains (which provide the missing amino acids) must also be a significant part of the strictly vegetarian diet. In the areas where common beans originated (Central America and southern Mexico) corn and squash supplied the missing amino acids and additional source of vitamins.

Before cooking, be sure to pick through them, picking out any small pebbles, split and withered beans and any other foreign matter. (Beans from the Rockies and Pacific coast tend to have more adobe (bits of clay) and stones). It is also helpful to cover the beans with cold water, let sit for 5 minutes and remove anything that floats. Repeat to be sure all dirt and foreign matter is removed. Drain and ready to cook

Here is one great way of eating black beans.

Bean, Barley & Avocado Summer Salad

This can be refrigerated and stored for several days!

1 cup carrot juice
½ teasp. Thyme
½ teasp. Sea salt
1/8 teasp. Ground Cayenne pepper
1.2 cup quick-cooking barley
3 Tablespoons Lime or Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon Virgin Olive Oil
1 can (9 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup diced tomatoes
½ cup diced avocado

Combine carrot juice, thyme, sea salt and cayenne in a saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat; add barley and reduce to a simmer. Cover with lid and simmer until barley is cooked, approx. 15 minutes.

While beans are simmering whisk lime/lemon juice and oil in a large bowl. Add barley when cooked and any liquid remaining in the barley. Toss to coat all.
Add beans, tomatoes and avocado, toss to mix well. Serve on a lettuce leaf.

Enjoy your healthy beans,
Lena

Can Bob Dole Save Your Life? Ask Your Doctor
By JANE E. BRODY
April 26, 2005

I'm not normally much of a television viewer, but while I was recovering from painful surgery, watching TV for several hours a night was a welcome distraction, though not always enough. Every 10 or 15 minutes, it seemed, some screen personality was urging me to ask my doctor about one drug or another.

In two months of watching programs from 9 to 11 p.m., I was treated to scores of advertisements for about two dozen prescription drugs intended to treat ailments common to 21st-century Americans.

Among them were drugs to fight blood clots, cholesterol, allergies, diabetes, stomach acid, eczema, depression, erectile dysfunction, urinary urgency, insomnia, irritable bowel, Crohn's disease, psoriasis, genital herpes, arthritic pain and the symptoms of menopause.

Since the Pandora's box of direct-to-consumer (D.T.C.) televised ads for prescription drugs was opened in 1997, pharmaceutical companies have spent billions telling consumers to "ask your doctor" about various patent-protected prescription drug.

The Learning Curve

Presumably, if you did discuss these drugs with your doctor, you'd learn much more than a 30- or 60-second commercial could possibly relate about the potential benefits and risks of the medication, not to mention the nondrug alternatives.

I say "presumably" because in some cases, viewers learn about new drugs faster than doctors. And when doctors are aware of new or even not-so-new medications, they may not know any more about them than their TV-watching patients.

But even well-informed doctors may not have the time to go into the details demanded by patients convinced that certain advertised drugs are an answer to their prayers.

If, say, patients wish to fully discuss one or two of these drugs with their doctors in an ordinary office visit, the conversations could easily consume the 7 to 15 minutes that insurance plans allot to each patient, with no time left for the main reason for the visit.

Consumer ads for prescription drugs initially appeared only in newspapers and magazines accompanied by a federally required page-long list of indications, risks and precautions that few without a medical education could hope to understand.

In 1997, when the Food and Drug Administration loosened its reins in the name of free speech and conceded that it could not block prescription drug ads on radio and television, the detailed lists of warnings fell to broadcasting time constraints.

Contrary to what many consumers think, the drug agency does not screen these commercials, though it does insist on a balanced presentation of benefits and risks and has forced some companies to modify or discontinue their ads.

All such ads are required to contain a "brief summary" of the drug - side effects, effectiveness and the conditions that make its use inadvisable. Unless an ad mentions only the name of the drug and makes no benefits claim, it must disclose all major risks associated with it or tell consumers exactly how they can get such information.

Thus, you may hear that a given drug is unsafe for pregnant women or people with diabetes, or may cause blood clots or dangerous bleeding, or may interact badly with other medications.

Only the United States and New Zealand now permit direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs. So far, the European Union has resisted, seeing more risks than benefits. Too often, the ad conveys unrealistic benefits or distracts viewers from the risks and warnings.

So before you are swayed by the ads to "ask your doctor" about a prescription drug, consider what experts say about the pros and cons of direct-to-consumer advertising.

Drug makers have stated repeatedly that a major goal of direct-to-consumer advertising is educating potential customers. In theory, when people hear a brief description of symptoms and learn that a treatment may be available to reverse them, some may be prompted to ask their doctors about conditions they might otherwise have ignored or thought of as untreatable.

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CDC Pushing New Mosquito Repellents
Apr 28, 2005
By DANIEL YEE

ATLANTA (AP) - After years of promoting the chemical DEET as the best defense against West Nile-bearing mosquitoes, the government for the first time is recommending the use of two other insect repellents.

Repellents containing the chemical picaridin or the oil of lemon eucalyptus offer "long-lasting protection against mosquito bites," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, adding that repellents with DEET remain on the agency's recommendation list.

"Since West Nile virus is present across the entire country at this point and it's here to stay, we constantly need to be vigilant," said Dr. Lyle Petersen, director of the CDC's division of vector-borne infectious diseases. "It gives consumers a better option to protect themselves."

Both products have been available elsewhere in the world, including Europe and Australia, since the 1980s. Repellent makers have been eager to introduce them to U.S. markets but it was hard to compete with DEET, the only chemical touted as effective by local, state and federal health officials.

Federal officials maintained for years that non-DEET repellents were not likely to offer the same degree of protection from mosquito bites. DEET has been the go-to chemical for health officials trying to control the spread of the West Nile virus in the United States.

However, recent studies prompted CDC officials to broaden the recommendations. The CDC says picaridin is "often comparable with DEET products of similar concentration" and oil of lemon eucalyptus provides protection time "similar to low-concentration DEET products in two recent studies."

Consumers tend to like picaridin repellents because they are more pleasant to the skin and don't have the odor that DEET repellents have. And oil of lemon eucalyptus is a natural ingredient, which appeals to those who don't like the thought of putting chemicals on their skin, said Angela Proctor, a product manager for the Cutter line of insect repellents by Spectrum Brands.

Nationwide, only about 40 percent of people use insect repellents. In Pacific coast states such as California - the state with the highest number of cases (771 cases, 23 deaths) last year - only 23 percent use insect repellent, said Emily Zielinski-Gutierrez of the CDC.

"That's a lot of people who are going out there unprotected," she said.

Users complained of DEET's odor or said it feels unpleasant on the skin. DEET repellents also have reportedly damaged plastics and fake fingernails. Other people have speculated it could cause brain damage, although the Environmental Protection Agency said the chemical won't cause harm if used properly.

"There's a certain segment of the population that no matter how safe you tell them DEET is, ... there's a hesitancy to use DEET," said Richard Falco, a Fordham University medical entomologist. "You can do so much to tell people what to use but if they're not using it you have to go to something else. I think this will have a positive impact on public health."

DEET was developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1946 and has been registered with the Environmental Protection Agency as an approved active ingredient since 1957.

Various levels of DEET appear in the popular Off! lines by S.C. Johnson & Son Inc., including Deep Woods and Skintastic. Other brands such as Repel and BugOff! have lately launched products without DEET.

Spectrum Brands introduced a picaridin-based repellent in January - Cutter Advanced - and it has been marketing a repellent with oil of lemon eucalyptus since 2002. The products provide four and six hours of protection, respectively, Proctor said.

The CDC said it still will promote other personal protection measures, such as wearing long-sleeved clothing while outside and disposing of containers of water that could be breeding grounds for the flying insects.

West Nile virus first arrived in 1999 in New York. Last year there were 2,470 cases and 88 deaths. The highest number of U.S. cases came in 2003, when 9,682 people were infected and 264 died.

CDC West Nile Info