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!

http://www.antibiotic-alternatives.com
Email Lena
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Sunday July 17, 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

You know me speak up for freedom of choice in all areas of life and now it's important to Protect Natural Health Choice--Tell Your Representative to Vote NO on CAFTA The President and pro-corporate members of Congress are pushing for approval of the proposed Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) by the end of July, which would expand NAFTA. As long as this agreement fails to protect dietary supplement choice and opens the way for restrictive dietary supplement laws like those encouraged by the Codex vitamin and mineral guidelines, dietary supplement users should oppose it. Take a stand while there's still time. If you care about being in charge of your health you will let your voice be heard Click Here Just remember that apathy has created more wars, illness and loss of freedom then anything else....

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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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Gut reactions

Here's a fascinating tidbit about intestinal transit time, the length of time it takes for the stuff you've eaten to move through your large and small intestines.

Not surprisingly, it varies from person to person -- sometimes because of general health factors, and sometimes because of emotions.

But those with the slowest moving intestines are depressed women, usually those repressing anger.

And those with the most average intestinal transit times are men who have a strong streak of hypochondria.

That's from a report in the journal Gut of research done at the University of Sydney, in Australia.

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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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ALZHEIMER'S AND DEMENTIA PREVENTION!

The data collected from the Rotterdam Study, an ongoing research project in which dietary and medical records for more than 10,000 male and female subjects over the age of 55 are followed to investigate risk factors for chronic diseases.

For the Parkinson's study, nearly 5,300 subjects were selected at the outset of the study. All were free of dementia or Parkinson's, and each subject underwent a complete dietary assessment. Subjects were monitored for an average period of six years.

At the conclusion of the follow up period, 51 subjects had been diagnosed with Parkinson's. The data revealed a significant link between a reduced risk of Parkinson's and the highest intake of total fat, monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs).

One of the primary forms of PUFAs is omega-3, mostly available through fish and fish oils.

The Ultimate Omega 3 oil... Click Here

Elevated levels of the amino acid homocysteine have been linked with atherosclerosis as well as Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. Considerable research has also demonstrated that foods and supplements rich in vitamins B-6, B-12, and folic acid may help reduce homocysteine levels. Stop Homocysteine in it's tracks with Antioxidants! Click Here for all natural botanical antioxidants... Antioxidant Formula Info and/or purchase

Experts to Consider Withdrawal of Asthma Drugs
By DENISE GRADY
July 13, 2005

A panel of lung experts is being convened today to advise the government on whether three popular asthma drugs should stay on the market or be withdrawn because of safety concerns.

The drugs are Advair and Serevent, made by GlaxoSmithKline, and Foradil, made by Novartis and sold in the United States by Schering Plough. Advair and Serevent contain the same drug, salmeterol; in Serevent, salmeterol is alone, while in Advair it is combined with another medicine. Foradil does not contain salmeterol; its active ingredient is formoterol.

The drugs are inhaled to keep the airways open, preventing asthma attacks. Patients are to take them every day even if they are feeling well. The drugs are different from the inhaled medicines used to treat attacks.

Concerns have arisen about the three drugs, the Food and Drug Administration said, because in a small number of patients they "have been associated with severe asthma exacerbations."

Advair and Serevent already carry warnings about a study that showed a small but significant increase in deaths among people who added the drugs to their usual asthma treatment: 13 deaths in 13,176 patients who took the drugs, versus 3 in 13,179 who took placebos. Foradil was not part of the study and does not carry such a warning.

Serevent was one of the drugs singled out by Dr. David Graham, a drug agency reviewer who began speaking out in November about what he called the F.D.A.'s inability to protect the public from unsafe drugs.

The meeting today is of an advisory committee of 14 asthma experts who are expected to review the data on the drugs, listen to presentations from the manufacturers and others, and then vote on whether the products should be left as they are, relabeled or taken off the market altogether.

Spokeswomen for both companies said they would present data showing that the drugs' benefits far outweighed their risks, and that they should be left on the market.

More than 21 million adults and 8 million children in the United States have asthma.

Dr. Erwin W. Gelfand, chairman of pediatrics at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center, a hospital for respiratory diseases in Denver, said that he and many other doctors treating asthma thought the drugs helped many patients.

"There is no doubt," Dr. Gelfand said. "To my knowledge, when you look at the overall picture from a number of studies there's not really a danger emerging."

Advair, sold overseas as Seretide, was the third-best-selling drug in the world in 2004, with sales of more than $4.5 billion. In the past 12 months in the United States, 17.2 million Advair prescriptions were filled. Serevent's sales were $639 million last year, and Foradil's $320 million.

www.nytimes.com

My mother would tell me the story; when I was 18 months old I ate a half can of lye, that she was using to make soap. This ate the lining of my esophagus and left my upper passages looking like a web that spiders had built, according to the doctor who read my esophagram a few years ago. But shortly after that incident while my throat was still very raw my mother said she would find me sitting in the garden eating ripe tomatoes and crying from the pain, but she was unable to convince me that I should not eat them. Guess that was when my love affair with tomatoes began...

Tomatoes continue to be one of my favorite foods into this ripe old-age of 68! I now know that they are very good for me and you!

Tomatoes generally range in size from three-quarters of an inch in diameter and a quarter of an ounce in weight to six inches in diameter and two pounds. Tomatoes range in hue from white to red to purple, green yellow and orange. Generally, the lighter colored tomatoes have a milder taste. The red colored tomatoes get their red pigment due to the lycopene content. More on lycopene later on…

If you're like most people, you think tomatoes are vegetable. If you talk to a botanist, he or she might insist that the tomato is a fruit because it contains seeds with sweet pulp. However, a horticulturist would argue that the tomato plant is a vegetable plant and not like fruits that are grown on trees (eg. apple, peach, pear, etc.). Both arguments are valid, and in a way, the answer is most likely tomatoes are both a fruit and a vegetable.

Tomatoes are the second most consumed vegetable in North America. The tomato is a treasure of nutrients, including Vitamin C, Vitamin A, potassium, folic acid and more. Processed tomatoes have higher levels of the nutrients simply because it is concentrated. North Americans customarily eat a large volume of tomatoes and tomato products that it ranks as No.1 among fruits and vegetables in the total amount of nutrients they contribute to the diet.

Interestingly, second to oranges, tomatoes contribute a high amount of Vitamin C in North American diets. Vitamin C has long been known to prevent scurvy - a condition that is characterized by bleeding gums and soreness in the joints. Vitamin C is also known to function as an antioxidant in the human body. Studies have shown that it may prevent certain degenerative diseases and common colds.

In addition, tomato consumption is listed as the fourth most important source of vitamin A. In the body, vitamin A is converted from sources beta-carotene and it is important for immune functions, maintenance of the skin and tissue lining and vision.

Potassium is an essential nutrient that is important for normal health maintenance and growth. It is required for movement of nutrients across the cells in the body. A deficiency of potassium will lead to muscle weakness, causing heart palpitations, heart attack or heart disease, apathy, cramps and more. It is important for athletes to maintain levels of potassium which is lost through sweating during an event. Potassium levels can be easily maintained before or after the event by eating foods or drinking fluids high in potassium.

Tomatoes were first thought to be poison and were not to be eaten but that idea lost it's wind and then became the food of necessity.

The tomato originated in the Andes Mountains in South America and was first domesticated in Mexico by the Aztec people. After the Spanish conquered Mexico in the early 1500s, they introduced it to southern Europe, where it quickly became popular. The Italians named it "poma amoris" meaning "apple of love". Similarly, the French also called it "pomme d'amour". This name gave rise to the legend that the tomato was an aphrodisiac. However, in colder climates, such as Canada, Great Britain and parts of the United States, it was called the "wolf peach". This unappealing name reflected its poor reputation and people's beliefs that tomatoes were poisonous. Therefore, for many years, the tomato plant was only grown for decorative purposes.

The most talked about food nutrient known, at this time in the tomato, is Lycopene and being studied for further health benefits. In addition to giving tomatoes their vibrant color, lycopene appears to protect against diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

Lycopene is an “antioxidant” - it helps to counteract the harmful effects of substances called “free radicals,” which are thought to contribute to many chronic diseases and age-related processes in the body.

The researchers surveyed the eating habits of over 47,000 men between the ages of 40-75 for six years and found that the consumption of tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato juice and pizza was associated with a reduced risk for developing prostate cancer. Researchers theorize that lycopene, an antioxidant nutrient found in large amounts in tomatoes, may be responsible for this possible protective effect.

I serve up hug plates of sliced fresh tomatoes with sliced cucumbers splashed with a bit of rice vinegar, salt and pepper and the family loves it. My dh grows our own organic tomatoes with which I make our ketchup, tomato sauce and canned fresh tomatoes to go with us through the winter. Try a small patch, as tomatoes are easily grown in your flower bed!

Tomato season is coming into full swing here, if that is the case in your area go out and get some great organically grown tomatoes for maximum health and nutrient content.

Sunlight key to surviving surgery?

In the last few months, I've reported quite a bit (Daily Dose, 4/29 and 6/13) about the medical establishment's grudging concession that vitamin D from SUNLIGHT (I love rubbing that in) is a powerful disease fighter - especially for cancer.

But earlier this spring, a news item caught my eye that adds yet another telling wrinkle to the vitamin D/cancer saga. According to a recent Reuters Health article, there's new evidence suggesting that vitamin D and plenty of sunshine may help patients survive longer after lung cancer surgery.

The Harvard Medical School/Harvard School of Public Health study reviewed data from the histories of 456 patients who were treated between 1992 and 2000 and found this startling correlation: Patients who had higher levels of vitamin D in their blood and had undergone surgery in the sunnier months were more than 2.5 times more likely to be alive after 5 years than those who had the lowest levels of vitamin D.

The study's lead researcher theorized that the vitamin somehow inhibits the proliferation of cancerous cells. Wow - what a revelation, and from Harvard no less! A powerful antioxidant stops abnormal cells from multiplying? You don't say!

I could have told them that - three decades ago!

The author also mentioned that other studies have proved vitamin D's worth in the fight against cancer, and that fortifying your body with D supplements soon after a diagnosis of lung cancer could provide a survival advantage.

Of course (no doubt in the name of "balance"), the Reuters article also goes on to quote the researchers as saying that they wouldn't suggest that people schedule cancer surgeries around seasonal or location factors.

Of course, I'd try to avoid the surgery at all costs, attempting an aggressive course of natural therapies first - including vitamin D therapy. Heck, just skipping the scalpel might increase my odds of living five years post-surgery more than any vitamin, if today's medicine's track record for surgical errors is any indication.

William Campbell Douglass II, MD
http://www.realhealthnews.com

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Unborn Babies Carry Pollutants, Study Finds
July 15, 2005

WASHINGTON - Unborn US babies are soaking in a stew of chemicals, including mercury, gasoline byproducts and pesticides, according to a report released on Thursday.

Although the effects on the babies are not clear, the survey prompted several members of Congress to press for legislation that would strengthen controls on chemicals in the environment.
The report by the Environmental Working Group is based on tests of 10 samples of umbilical-cord blood taken by the American Red Cross. They found an average of 287 contaminants in the blood, including mercury, fire retardants, pesticides and the Teflon chemical PFOA.

"These 10 newborn babies ... were born polluted," said New York Rep. Louise Slaughter, who spoke a news conference about the findings on Thursday.

"If ever we had proof that our nation's pollution laws aren't working, it's reading the list of industrial chemicals in the bodies of babies who have not yet lived outside the womb," Slaughter, a Democrat, said.

Cord blood reflects what the mother passes to the baby through the placenta.

"Of the 287 chemicals we detected in umbilical-cord blood, we know that 180 cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests," the report said.

Blood tests did not show how the chemicals got into the mothers' bodies, or what their effects might be on the babies.

MERCURY AND PESTICIDES

Among the chemicals found in the cord blood were methylmercury, produced by coal-fired power plants and certain industrial processes. People can breathe it in or eat it in seafood and it causes brain and nerve damage.

Also found were polyaromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which are produced by burning gasoline and garbage and which may cause cancer; flame-retardant chemicals called polybrominated dibenzodioxins and furans; and pesticides including DDT and chlordane.

The same group analyzed the breast milk of mothers across the United States in 2003 and found varying levels of chemicals, including flame retardants known as PBDEs. This latest analysis also found PBDEs in cord blood.

Slaughter had similar tests done on her own blood.

"The stunning results show chemicals daily pumping through my vital organs that include PCBs that were banned decades ago as well as chemicals like Teflon that are currently under federal investigation," she said in remarks prepared for the news conference.

"I have auto exhaust fumes, flame retardant chemicals, and in all, some 271 harmful substances pulsing through my veins. That's hardly the picture of health I had hoped for, but I've been living in an industrial society for over 70 years."

The Government Accountability Office issued a report on Wednesday saying the Environmental Protection Agency does not have the powers it needs to fully regulate toxic chemicals.

The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, found that the EPA's Toxic Substances Control Act gives only "limited assurance" that new chemicals entering the market are safe and said the EPA only rarely assesses chemicals already on the market.

"Today, chemicals are being used to make baby bottles, food packaging and other products that have never been fully evaluated for their health effects on children -- and some of these chemicals are turning up in our blood," said New Jersey Democrat Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who plans to co-sponsor a bill to require chemical manufacturers to provide data to the EPA on the health affects of their products.

Story by Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE