Month: August 2007

Flaxseed is a tremendous food, and has a lot of health benefits! Flaxseed and its derivative flaxseed oil are rich sources of the essential fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid, which is a biologic precursor to omega-3 fatty acids. Increasing consumption of flaxseed is always a good idea! Now, it seems there is growing evidence for an additional benefit!

Flaxseed May Relieve Hot Flashes

“Flaxseed may be one way to reduce the bothersome hot flashes of menopause, Mayo Clinic researchers report. A small pilot study found that postmenopausal women not on estrogen who used dietary flaxseed daily reported a 50 percent reduction in hot flashes over the course of six weeks. ‘Flaxseed worked very well,’ said Dr. Sandhya Pruthi, director of the Mayo Breast Clinic at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. ‘The women who used it said it really helped them.’ But another expert, Dr. Wulf H. Utian, executive director of the North American Menopause Society, cautioned that the study was too preliminary to prove that flaxseed is effective. While hormone replacement therapy, particularly estrogen, is effective against hot flashes, its long-term use has fallen out of favor since the large study known as the Women’s Health Initiative found an increased risk of heart disease, breast cancer and other problems with long-term HRT use. So, Pruthi and her team were looking at options for women who suffered from hot flashes but didn’t want to take estrogen. They enrolled 29 postmenopausal women, median age 55, in the study. To join, the women had to have at least 14 hot flashes a week for at least one month. ‘Flaxseed has some natural phytoestrogens,’ Pruthi said, explaining how it, like the hormone estrogen, could possibly have an effect on hot flashes. Over the course of the study, the women sprinkled 40 grams of crushed flaxseed daily into yogurt or cereal or mixed it with orange juice or water. In the end, 21 women completed the study; others had dropped out because of side effects. Of those who finished, the researchers said, the frequency of hot flashes declined 50 percent, and the hot flash score — a combined measure of a flash’s severity and frequency — was found to have decreased about 57 percent. ‘By the second or third week, most women noticed improvement,’ Pruthi said, adding that she is now planning a larger study to compare flaxseed to a placebo.”

Now, first let me say that way too much has been made of cholesterol levels… “healthy rates” have been “officially” dropping for some time as lobbyists from Big Pharma have influenced studies that are saying we should have ever lower cholesterol levels! What was healthy just a few years ago is now considered “high!” Why? Can you say, “To sell more drugs!?” Well, for what it is worth, a study in The Lancet has found that Omega-3s are protective of the heart in those with high cholesterol!

EPA omega-3 oils protect the heart in people with high cholesterol

“(NewsTarget) Supplementing with an omega-3 fatty acid called eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) may lower the risk of non-fatal coronary events by 20 percent, according to a new Japanese study published in The Lancet. Researchers followed 18,645 Japanese high-cholesterol patients for four and a half years. All the patients were already taking cholesterol medications known as statins when the study began. Over the course of the study, half of the patients were assigned a daily EPA supplement in addition to their medication, while the other half received only medication. The group receiving the EPA supplement had a 24 percent lower occurrence of a type of chest pain known as angina pectoris, and a 19 percent lower occurrence of non-fatal coronary events. The researchers did not report any effect on mortality risk. ‘Overall, this study shows that EPA, at a dose of 1,800 milligrams per day, is a very promising regimen for prevention of major coronary events,’ the researchers wrote. However, they cautioned that their results might not generalize to other ethnic groups. EPAs occur naturally in fish oils, as well as spirulina and microalgae. They are only one of many types of omega-3 fatty acid. Previous studies have linked consumption of omega-3s to improved heart health and reduced risk of cancer. Experts are still undecided, however, on the health benefits of EPAs in particular. A study recently published in the British Medical Journal examined a variety of prior studies on the subject, and found no evidence linking EPA to improved heart health.”

There is a chemical in your water that is harmful to your teeth, is used in rat poison, accumulates in your bones, making them brittle, effects your hormone health, increases the uptake of aluminum and lead in your blood, inhibits antibodies from forming in your blood, and confuses the immune system, causing it to attack your body’s tissue! Further, did you know that this chemical is added ON PURPOSE? It is fluoride. Check out this article from Dr. Mercola’s site:

The Truth About Tap Water

“Most tap water in the United States is laced with fluoride, a toxic industrial chemical that has been widely promoted as being healthy for the public. In reality, however, fluoride is a poison that may harm your health. Consider this:

* The American Dental Association admits that fluoride is harmful to the development of teeth
* Fluoride is used in rat poison
* Ninety percent of the fluoride used to fluoridate U.S. water systems comes from the fertilizer industry and may contain trace amounts of various heavy metals such as lead, mercury, and arsenic

The only states where less than 25 percent of the tap water is fluoridated are Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, Montana, and New Jersey. The others fluoridate from 25 percent to over 75 percent of their water supplies. Countertop and pitcher filters typically only filter out particulate matter, not fluoride. You can remove fluoride from your drinking water using a reverse osmosis filtering system.”

Public outcry against fluoride has been wide laughed off as crazy rantings of a few nuts… but recent studies have backed up concerned citizens claims. Earlier this year, the American Dental Association finally issued a warning about giving fluoridated water to infants under 1 year old! For more information check out this fascinating book:

“Fluoride Deception” by Christopher Bryson

Power. Power and money. That’s what it comes down to!

Antioxidants, bad science and failure of the press to tell the truth

“Following yesterday’s announcement of a new study showing the phenomenal benefits of antioxidants for preventing heart disease in women, the mainstream media rallied behind a blatantly false distortion of the study designed to convince the public that vitamins E and C are somehow useless. The popular press, which maintains an incestuous relationship with the pharmaceutical industry, once again demonstrates it is little more than a mouthpiece for the pro-pharma propaganda machine. There is no scrutiny of the study’s findings, no critical thinking and absolutely no independent journalism being conducted by the mainstream media on this particular topic. It’s as if these media outlets just can’t wait to be spoon-fed the latest propaganda from drug company collaborators and then parrot it out to the public as fact. The distortion in question concerns the assessment of women who participated in a nine year trial measuring the effects of vitamins E and C. According to the results published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, women who took these vitamins on a regular basis experienced a remarkable and statistically significant reduction in stroke risk (31 percent) and heart attack risk (22 percent). Not all the women in the study, of course, actually took the vitamins on a regular basis, and when you count the results of those women who never took the vitamins, the study shows no statistically significant benefits for vitamins E and C. In other words, the vitamins didn’t work on those who didn’t take them. (Is this surprising to anyone?) The mainstream media has taken hold of this statistical distortion and declared that antioxidants are now useless for preventing heart disease. Utterly ignoring the fact that the vitamins worked remarkably well in those who actually took them, the media now seems to be on a crusade to discredit nutritional supplements by lying to its readers. Having abandoned all common sense or scientific scrutiny, the media is now engaged in an organized campaign of disinformation designed to boost the profits of their largest advertisers — the drug companies — by spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt about nutritional supplements.”

Remember how earlier in the year a bunch of politicians (likely paid off by Big Pharma) were trying to MANDATE the use of Gardasil or girls that did not receive the vaccination would be denied the right to go to school? Well, those that decided to take the drug are now paying the price!

Gardasil Reactions and Deaths on the Rise

“In May 2007, it was reported that over 1,600 adverse reactions, including three deaths, had been linked to Gardasil, Merck’s new vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV). Among those reactions, 371 were classified as serious, and, of the 42 women who received the vaccine while pregnant, 18 experienced side effects including spontaneous abortion and fetal abnormalities. It appears those reactions, and deaths, are steadily rising. A review of the National Vaccine Information Center revealed the following statistic about this vaccine: 2,207 adverse reactions to Gardasil have been reported.

* 5 girls died
* 31 were considered life-threatening
* 1,385 required a visit to the emergency room
* 451 of the girls have not recovered as of July 2007
* 51 of the girls were disabled

Gardasil ‘may be more dangerous than consumers have been led to believe,’ according to one public-interest group, and an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine has also raised questions about the vaccine’s effectiveness.”

Artificially created drugs are dangerous. Mandating the use of them is anti-freedom, and anti-American! We have to stand vigilant against losing our rights to health freedom!

Diabetes has long been linked to deficiency in the diet, and the overconsumption of sugars, but now many of the “side effects” of diabetes is potentially caused by dietary deficiencies as well!

Diabetes problems ‘vitamin link’

“A simple vitamin deficiency may be the cause of many of the side effects of diabetes, a study suggests. Researchers found people with the disease expelled thiamine – vitamin B1 – from their bodies at 15 times the normal rate in a study of 94 people. The Warwick University team said thiamine helped ward off complications such as heart disease and eye problems, the Diabetologia journal said. Experts said diet supplements could potentially help people with diabetes. t is the first time a deficiency of the vitamin, which is found in meat, yeast and grains, has been identified in people with diabetes. It has been missed in the past because of the way thiamine levels were measured. Traditionally, the activity of an enzyme called transketolase in red blood cells has been used to indicate thiamine levels. But the researchers found that increased activity – usually a sign of high thiamine levels – was also associated with the body’s response to deficiency. Instead, the team measured thiamine levels in blood plasma and found concentrations were 76% lower in people with type 1 diabetes and 75% lower in people with type 2. Thiamine is key to warding off vascular problems such as kidney, retina and nerve damage as well as heart disease and stroke. It works by helping protect cells against the effect of high glucose levels.”

There are a lot of benefits of chocolate… but the latest research shows that it may help regulate blood sugar!

Cacao stabilizes blood sugar; chocolate may actually help diabetics

“Obese, diabetic mice whose diet was supplemented with an extract of cacao liquor demonstrated a significant reduction in blood sugar levels in a Japanese study reported in the journal Nutrition. ‘The dietary intake of food or drinks produced from cacao beans might be beneficial in preventing the onset of Type 2 diabetes,’ the study’s authors wrote. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body becomes desensitized to the sugar-regulating hormone insulin. Type 1 diabetes is caused by an actual deficiency of insulin due to low production by the body. Both lead to high blood sugar levels (hyperglycemia). An estimated 7 percent of the U.S. population — 21 million people — have been diagnosed with diabetes. The American Diabetes Association further estimates that 6.2 million people remain undiagnosed and another 41 million are prediabetic. Researchers supplemented the diets of obese, diabetic mice with either 0, 0.5 or 1.0 percent cacao liquor proanthocyanidins (CLPr) — containing 72 percent polyphenols — for three weeks. They found that blood sugar was reduced in direct correlation with the dosage of CLPr. Proanthocyanidins are a type of flavonoid, a plant chemical known to have antioxidant properties. Previous studies have found evidence that eating flavonoid-rich chocolate reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. The current study, however, is the first to record an effect of cacao chemicals on blood sugar levels.”