November 19, 2009

Greater intake of cruciferous vegetable compound may help protect the lungs and other tissues
Life Extensions, November 18, 2009
An article scheduled to appear online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of November 16-20, 2009 revealed the discovery of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine of a protective effect for an antioxidant compound found in broccoli and cauliflower against damage to the lung and other tissues from chemicals made in the body in response to injury and inflammation. The finding holds promise for patients with the hereditary lung disease cystic fibrosis (CF), as well as for those with atherosclerosis and other inflammatory conditions.
Professor of Physiology Zhe Lu, MD, along with Yanping Yu, MD, PhD and Szilvia Szep, PhD, investigated the effects of thiocyanate in cultured lung cells. Thiocyanate helped protect these cells from damage caused by the oxidant hydrogen peroxide, which is released in response to injury and infection. Thiocyanate was also protective against an enzyme released by white blood cells during inflammation known as myeloperoxidase (MPO), which produces another oxidant known as hypochlorite.
The team additionally found that high concentrations of thiocyanate reduced toxicity from MPO in arterial endothelial cells, a neuronal cell line and a pancreatic cell line, which suggests that the compound could be protective against cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration and diabetes. “Our findings raise the possibility that insufficient levels of antioxidant thiocyanate may provide inadequate protection from hypochlorite, thus worsening inflammatory diseases, and predisposing humans to diseases linked to MPO activity, including atherosclerosis, neurodegeneration, and certain cancers,” the authors conclude.
“In light of the obvious implications of this protective action of thiocyanate against the cell-damaging effect of MPO activity with regard to both CF disease and general population health, my colleagues and I will vigorously investigate the potential health benefit of thiocyanate,” stated Dr Lu.
http://www.lef.org/whatshot/2009_11.htm#Greater-intake-of-cruciferous-vegetable-compound-may-help-protect-the-lungs-and-other-tissues

Yale University: New Culprit for Viral Infections Among Elderly - An Overactive Immune Response

M2 Communications 11-18-09
New Haven, Conn. - Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found that exaggerated responses of the immune system explain why the elderly succumb to viral infections more readily than younger people. Published in the November 19 Cell Host & Microbe, the study bucks the general belief that declining immune responses are to blame for susceptibility to viral infections.
Illness and death caused by viral infections tend to increase with age, indicating that aging impairs immunity, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. To understand how aging modifies inflammatory response to viral infection, a research team led by Daniel R. Goldstein , M.D., associate professor of internal medicine and cardiology at Yale School of Medicine, infected young (2-4 months), middle-aged (8-10 months), and aged (18-20 months) mice with the herpes virus. This led to a rapid increase in inflammatory mediators, or cytokines, called interleuken 17. When the team examined the blood for inflammatory substances and examined the liver, they saw evidence of damage in only the aged cohort.
When Goldstein and his team inhibited interleuken 17 either before or after infection, the mice in the aged group no longer showed signs of liver damage and no longer died. Goldstein said the study's results demonstrate that aged individuals succumb to viral infection due to exaggerated immune responses rather than declining immunity.
'This was a dramatic response to inhibiting a single cytokine,' said Goldstein. 'Aged mice do have defective immune responses, but instead of trying to boost their immune response, we should try to inhibit certain inflammatory pathways to prevent susceptibility to viral infections.' Goldstein said the findings could explain why older people are more susceptible to the seasonal influenza viral infection. 'Our study could also explain why other susceptible populations succumb to viruses, such as the H1N1 pandemic virus, since it is possible that heightened immune responses-rather than defective immunity-attack the body and lead to disease in these individuals.' Other Yale authors on the study included Heather W. Stout-Delgado, Wei Du, Anushree C. Shiralli and Carmen J. Booth.
Citation: Cell Host & Microbe, Vol. 6, No. 5 446-456, (November 19, 2009)
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=9028&Section=Aging

Folic acid study misleads claims supplement industry

Nutraingredients.com, 19-Nov-2009

A recent study linking folic acid and vitamin B12 supplements with higher risks of cancer is misleading, claim two trade associations representing dietary supplement manufacturers and ingredient suppliers.
The research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), revealed that heart patients in Norway, where foods are not fortified with folic acid, were more likely to die from cancer if they took folic acid andvitamin B12 supplements than those who did not take them.
Lung cancer rates were 59 per cent higher in those who took the supplements compared with those who did not, according to the study conducted at Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway.
But the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) and the Health Food Manufacturers'Association(HFMA) claim that the research reveals the dangers of smoking not of taking folic acid and vitamin B12 supplements.
Lung cancer
Andrew Shao, CRN’s vice president, scientific and regulatory affairs, said: “The real headline of this study should be that smoking increases the risk of lung cancer. The study found that a total of 94 per cent of the subjects who developed lung cancer were either current or former smokers. Most health experts would agree that the number one way to prevent lung cancer is to abstain from smoking.”
The results are inconsistent with the larger body of data and any link between folic acid and vitamin B12 supplements has not been observed previously, he added.
“Given that mandatory folic acid fortification went into effect in the United States in 1998, if high doses of folic acid have a paradoxical effect on lung cancer, then we likely would not have seen these drastic reductions in lung cancer incidence over the past two decades. It is inappropriate at this point to reach firm conclusions based on such limited data, especially in the face of vast evidence showing benefit for folic acid supplementation,” said Shao.
Graham Keen, HFMA executive director, said: "The main reason for the finding of increased incidences in the Norwegian study is due to lung cancer. 40% of the subjects were current smokers and of all the lung cancer diagnoses, 70% were in current and 24% in former smokers. The main concern of this study had been a possible link with colorectal cancer - a link that was not found."
Overwhelming evidence
"There is an overwhelming body of evidence supporting the role folic acid plays in many groups, specifically pregnant women, where it helps to prevent birth defects such as spina bifida," said Keen.
Peter Engel, spokesperson of DSM Nutritional Products Europe told NutraIngredients.com that the authors found a non-statistically signficant association between folate treatment and cancer incidence and mortality at folate acid supplemenation levels 4-6 fold higher than those achieved with mandatory fortification.
“In terms of primary outcomes, colorectal cancer incidence and mortality, subjects in the 2nd quartile of serum folate levels (3.8-10.6 ng/mL) had the lowest incidence and risk of colorectal cancer mortality, lower than that in Quintile 1,” wrote Engel in statement. “This provides evidence that achieving adequate folate status (Quintile 2 vs Quintile 1) protects against both development and promotion of cancer whereas pharmacologic doses may not.”
Also current evidence shows that average folic acid intake in United States adults is inversely related to cancer incidence, Engel pointed out. Prospective analyses indicate that US fortification of foods with folic acid was associated with 50% reductions in mortality risk from colorectal cancer
The Norewegian study was entitled Cancer Incidence and Mortality After Treatment with Folic Acid and Vitamin B12.
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Folic-acid-study-misleads-claims-supplement-industry

Folic acid supplements lift cancer risk: Study

Nutraingredients.com, 18-Nov-2009

UK and Australian food safety officials should pay particular attention to a new study linking folic acid and vitamin B12 supplements with higher risks of cancer, according to the lead scientist who conducted the research at Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway.
Dr. Marta Ebbing told NutraIngredients.com that the study should be scrutinized closely by officials in Australia, which recently introduced mandatory folic acidfortification of wheat flour for breadmaking and in the UK, which has said that it plans to do so.
Heart patients in Norway, where foods are not fortified with folic acid, were more likely to die from cancer if they took folic acid and vitamin B12 supplements than those who did not take them, according to the research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
The study recorded the mortality rates of 6,837 patients split into two groups over six-and-a-half years. One group received a 0.8mg folic acid and 0.4mg vitamin B12 supplement each day for three-and-a-half years and the other group did not.
Lung and prostrate cancer
“The research revealed an increase in all types of cancers (in the group taking the supplement) except colorectal cancer but lung and prostrate cancer were prominent,” said Dr Ebbing. Lung cancer rates were 59 per cent higher in those who took the supplements compared with those who did not. Deaths both from cancer and from other causes were also higher in the group taking the supplement.
Although Dr Ebbing’s research did not explore the reasons for the increase, she told NutraIngredients.com that other research had suggested that in stimulating cell division, folic acid may have provided existing cancer cells “the nutrition to grow.”
Since the study took place in a population that is normally not exposed to folic acid, the results support concerns about the long-term effects of folic acid supplements, she said.
Many countries, including the United States, fortify flour and grains with folic acid which is particularly beneficial for pregnant women or women hoping to become pregnant and in the prevention of serious birth defects such as spina bifida.

Further animal and human research was necessary to explore the link between folic acid and vitamin B12 and the enhanced risk of cancer, said Dr Ebbing. Writing in JAMA the research team concluded: "Our results need confirmation in other populations and underline the call for safety monitoring following the widespread consumption of folic acid from dietary supplements and fortified foods."
Mandatory fortification
Monitoring cancer rates in Australia and the UK, if mandatory fortification is introduced, would also provide important information about the long-term effects of mandatory folic acid fortification, added Dr Ebbing.
Meanwhile, earlier this month scientists from a European Food Safety Association-led scientific cooperation project said a potential link between high folic acid intakes and increased risks of cancer can not be ruled out and called for closer monitoring.
EFSA’s Scientific Cooperation Working Group (ESCO) advised in a report on the risks and benefits of folic acid fortification of food that uncertainties relating to cancer risk highlight the importance of monitoring the impact of folic acid intake.
Source: Journal of the American Medical Association. Published: Journal of the American Medical Association. Title: Cancer Incidence and Mortality After Treatment With Folic Acid and Vitamin B12. Authors: Marta Ebbing, MD; Kaare Harald Bønaa, MD, PhD; Ottar Nygård, MD, PhD; Egil Arnesen, MD; Per Magne Ueland, MD, PhD; Jan Erik Nordrehaug, MD, PhD; Knut Rasmussen, MD, PhD; Inger Njølstad, MD, PhD; Helga Refsum, MD, PhD; Dennis W. Nilsen, MD, PhD; Aage Tverdal, PhD; Klaus Meyer, PhD; Stein Emil Vollset, MD, DrPH
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Folic-acid-supplements-lift-cancer-risk-Study

Child food allergies on the rise in the US

Foodnavigator-USA.com , 17-Nov-2009

There has been an 18 percent increase in reported food allergy among US children between 1997 and 2007, according to new research.
And the article in the December issue of the journal Pediatrics reports that parents of almost four percent of US children reported a food or digestive allergy in their child.
The study's lead researcher Amy Branum, a health statistician for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suggests that greater awareness may partially explain the dramatic increase in rates of pediatric food allergies.
But she claims more research is needed to determine what factors exactly are contributing to this increase.
The study notes that peanut allergies accounted for nine percent and egg allergies seven percent and milk allergies accounted for 12 percent, claims the author.
“The data show there is a very high co-occurrence of conditions such as asthma, skin allergy or eczema, and respiratory allergies that co-exist with food allergy,”said Branum.
The most common allergies among children are cow’s milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, soybeans and wheat, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), while the most common among adults are peanuts, tree nuts, fish, crustaceans, mollusks, fruits and vegetables.
Cross-contamination
Allergen contamination is a big problem for manufacturers, who must make costly recalls if their products contain allergens that are not listed on the label.
Food processors must follow good manufacturing practices (GMPs) to reduce the risk of allergen contamination including regular reviews of product labels, equipment, cleaning practices, product handling, and final product and packaging inspection.
Disclosure
The prevalence of allergy and difficulties for allergy sufferers in choosing appropriate products led the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to introduce the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) in 2006.
The Act mandates the disclosure of eight food allergens in the ingredient statement: Milk, egg, wheat, soy, peanut, tree nuts, fish, and crustacean shellfish – but it does not regulate advisory labels.
Labeling ambiguity 
Recently, researchers behind a major review of voluntary allergen advisory labels called for more regulation for allergen labeling to remove ambiguities and make life easier for allergy sufferers.
Their study, published in the August issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, surveyed 20,241 manufactured food products and found that 17 percent included advisory labels, with chocolate confectionery, cookies, and baking mixes accounting for more than 40 percent or the warnings.
Across food categories, researchers found 25 different types of advisory term including ‘may contain’, ‘shared equipment’ and ‘within plant’. Additionally, they found that 65 percent of products listed non-specific terms, such as ‘natural flavors’ and spices’, and that 83 percent of those were not linked to any specific ingredients.
“Supermarket product labeling deficiencies and ambiguities are prevalent,” the researchers wrote. “Allergists must continue to educate their patients about these problems, which could be addressed by strict enforcement of labeling laws as well as additional regulation.”
Risk perception
They added that an earlier study had shown that consumers erroneously perceive different terms to indicate different levels of risk – for example, that ‘may contain’ indicates a higher risk than ‘shared facility’, although there is no such risk differentiation.
One specific issue outlined by the review was the labeling of soy products. Lecithin derived from soy must disclose soy on the ingredient label under the FALCPA legislation. More than half of the products labeled as containing soy only contained soy as soy lecithin which, the researchers argued, could be tolerated by some soy allergy sufferers since it contains only trace amounts of soy protein.
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Science-Nutrition/Child-food-allergies-on-the-rise-in-the-US

Meditation may lower BP and college stressors
Last Updated: 2009-11-18 16:01:01 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - If the stresses of college have put you at risk for high blood pressure, try transcendental meditation.
Blood pressure fell among college students who spent about 20 minutes at least once a day to reach the "restful alertness" state of transcendental meditation, Dr. Sanford I. Nidich, at Maharishi University of Management Research Institute in Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, and colleagues report.
Their study, in the American Journal of Hypertension, found meditating students also had "reduced psychological distress, anxiety, and depression," Nidich told Reuters Health in an email.
He and colleagues randomly assigned 298 healthy students with and without high blood pressure to transcendental meditation training or to a training wait list. The students, 40 percent men, were just under 26 years old on average and attended universities in and around Washington, D.C.
Among the 207 students still participating in the study 3 months later, those in the meditation group had slight reductions in blood pressure, while the wait-listed students had slight increases in average blood pressure from the start of the study.
The meditating students also showed greater reductions in overall mood disturbances, anxiety, depression, anger, and hostility, and better coping skills compared with baseline measures and wait-listed students.
Nidich's team further assessed a subgroup of 48 meditating and 64 wait-listed students who initially had high blood pressure (above 130 over 85 millimeters of mercury) or were at risk for high blood pressure.
In this high-blood-pressure-risk group, the meditating students had blood pressures that were lower, on average, than at the start of the study, while the wait-listed students had increases in blood pressure.
Nidich and colleagues also found these "significant reductions" in blood pressure correlated with lower measures of psychological distress and greater coping measures.
The researchers suggest their findings warrant further investigations into the potential health benefits of longer-term transcendental meditation in college students.
SOURCE: American Journal of Hypertension, December 2009
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/11/18/eline/links/20091118elin002.html

Oceans' Uptake of Human-Made Carbon May Be Slowing

Carbon released by fossil fuel burning (black) continues to accumulate in the air (red), oceans (blue), and land (green). The oceans take up roughly a quarter of manmade CO2, but evidence suggests they are now taking up a smaller proportion. (Credit: Samar Khatiwala, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory)
ScienceDaily (Nov. 19, 2009) — The oceans play a key role in regulating climate, absorbing more than a quarter of the carbon dioxide that humans put into the air. Now, the first year-by-year accounting of this mechanism during the industrial era suggests the oceans are struggling to keep up with rising emissions -- a finding with potentially wide implications for future climate. The study appears in the November 19 issue of the journal Nature.
The researchers estimate that the oceans last year took up a record 2.3 billion tons of CO2 produced from burning of fossil fuels. But with overall emissions growing rapidly, the proportion of fossil-fuel emissions absorbed by the oceans since 2000 may have declined by as much as 10%.
Some climate models have already predicted such a slowdown in the oceans' ability to soak up excess carbon from the atmosphere, but this is the first time scientists have actually measured it. Models attribute the change to depletion of ozone in the stratosphere and global warming-induced shifts in winds and ocean circulation. But the new study suggests the slowdown is due to natural chemical and physical limits on the oceans' ability to absorb carbon -- an idea that is now the subject of widespread research by other scientists.
"The more carbon dioxide you put in, the more acidic the ocean becomes, reducing its ability to hold CO2" said the study's lead author, Samar Khatiwala, an oceanographer at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. "Because of this chemical effect, over time, the ocean is expected to become a less efficient sink of manmade carbon. The surprise is that we may already be seeing evidence for this, perhaps compounded by the ocean's slow circulation in the face of accelerating emissions."
The study reconstructs the accumulation of industrial carbon in the oceans year by year, from 1765 to 2008. Khatiwala and his colleagues found that uptake rose sharply in the 1950s, as the oceans tried to keep pace with the growth of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. Emissions continued to grow, and by 2000, reached such a pitch that the oceans have since absorbed a declining overall percentage, even though they absorb more each year in absolute tonnage. Today, the oceans hold about 150 billion tons of industrial carbon, the researchers estimate--a third more than in the mid-1990s.
For decades, scientists have tried to estimate the amount of manmade carbon absorbed by the ocean by teasing out the small amount of industrial carbon -- less than 1 percent -- from the enormous background levels of natural carbon. Because of the difficulties of this approach, only one attempt has been made to come up with a global estimate of how much industrial carbon the oceans held -- for a single year, 1994.
Khatiwala and his colleagues came up with another method. Using some of the same data as their predecessors -- seawater temperatures, salinity, manmade chlorofluorocarbons and other measures -- they developed a mathematical technique to work backward from the measurements to infer the concentration of industrial carbon in surface waters, and its transport to deep water through ocean circulation. This allowed them to reconstruct the uptake and distribution of industrial carbon in the oceans over time.
Their estimate of industrial carbon in the oceans in 1994 -- 114 billion tons -- nearly matched the earlier 118 billion-ton estimate, made by Chris Sabine, a marine chemist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization in a 2004 paper in the journal Science.
Sabine, who was not involved in the new study, said he saw some limitations. For one, he said, the study assumes circulation has remained steady, along with the amount of organic matter in the oceans. "That being said, I still think this is the best estimate of the time variance of anthropogenic CO2 in the ocean available," said Sabine. "Our previous attempts to quantify anthropogenic CO2 using ocean data have only been able to provide single snapshots in time."
About 40 percent of the carbon entered the oceans through the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean, around Antarctica, because carbon dioxide dissolves more readily in cold, dense seawater than in warmer waters. From there, currents transport the carbon north. "We've suspected for some time that the Southern Ocean plays a critical role in soaking up fossil fuel CO2," said Khatiwala. "But our study is the first to quantify the importance of this region with actual data."
The researchers also estimated carbon uptake on land, by taking the known amount of fossil-fuel emissions and subtracting the oceans' uptake and the carbon left in the air. They were surprised to learn that the land may now be absorbing more than it is giving off.
They say that until the 1940s, the landscape produced excess carbon dioxide, possibly due to logging and the clearing and burning of forests for farming. Deforestation and other land-use changes continue at a rapid pace today -- but now, each year the land appears to be absorbing 1.1 billion tons more carbon than it is giving off.
One possible reason for the reversal, say the researchers, is that now, some of the extra atmospheric carbon -- raw material for photosynthesis--may be feeding back into living plants and making them grow faster. "The extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may be providing a fertilizing effect," said study coauthor Timothy Hall, a senior scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Many other scientists are now working to determine the possible effects of increased carbon dioxide on plant growth, and incorporate these into models of past and future climates.
Khatiwala says there are still large uncertainties, but in any case, natural mechanisms cannot be depended upon to mitigate increasing human-produced emissions. "What our ocean study and other recent land studies suggest is that we cannot count on these sinks operating in the future as they have in the past, and keep on subsidizing our ever-growing appetite for fossil fuels," he said.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091118143211.htm

Common Herbal Medicine May Prevent Acetaminophen-Related Liver Damage, Says Researcher

ScienceDaily (Nov. 18, 2009) — A well-known Eastern medicine supplement may help avoid the most common cause of liver transplantation, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The finding came as a surprise to the scientists, who used a number of advanced genetic and genomic techniques in mice to identify a molecular pathway that counters acetaminophen toxicity, which leads to liver failure.
"I didn't know anything about the substance that was necessary for the pathway's function, so I had to look it up," said Gary Peltz, MD, PhD, professor of anesthesiology. "My postdoctoral fellow, whose parents and other family members in Asia were taking this compound in their supplements, started laughing. He recognized it immediately."
The molecule was S-methylmethionine, which had been marketed as an herbal medicine known as Vitamin U for treatment of the digestive system. It is highly abundant in many plants, including cabbage and wheat, and is routinely ingested by people. Coincidentally, Garnett Cheney, MD, at Stanford University performed a series of studies in the 1950s in which he used the compound to treat peptic ulcers.
Peltz is the senior author of the research, which will be published online Nov. 18 in Genome Research. The experiments were conducted in Peltz's laboratory at Roche Palo Alto in Palo Alto, Calif., where Peltz worked before coming to Stanford in July 2008. He is continuing the research at Stanford. The first author of the paper, Hong-Hsing Liu, MD, PhD, is now a postdoctoral scholar in Peltz's Stanford lab.
Acetaminophen is a pain reliever present in many over-the-counter cold and flu medicines. It is broken down, or metabolized, in the body into byproducts -- one of which can be very toxic to the liver. At normal, therapeutic levels, this byproduct is easily deactivated when it binds to a naturally occurring, protective molecule called glutathione. But the body's glutathione stores are finite, and are quickly depleted when the recommended doses of acetaminophen are exceeded.
Unfortunately, the prevalence of acetaminophen makes it easy to accidentally exceed the recommended levels, which can occur by dosing more frequently than indicated or by combining two or more acetaminophen-containing products. However, severe liver damage can occur at even two to three times the recommended dose (the maximum adult dose is 4 grams per day; toxic daily levels range from 7 to 10 grams).
"It's a huge public health problem," said Peltz. "It's particularly difficult for parents, who may not realize that acetaminophen is in so many pediatric medicines." Acetaminophen overdose is the most common cause of liver transplantation in this country. The only effective antidote is an unpalatable compound called NAC that can induce nausea and vomiting, and must be administered as soon as possible after the overdose.
Peltz and his colleagues used 16 inbred strains of laboratory mice for their investigations. Most strains are susceptible to acetaminophen toxicity, but one is resistant. They compared how the drug is metabolized by the different strains and looked for variations in gene expression and changes in endogenous metabolites in response to acetaminophen administration. They identified 224 candidate genes that might explain the resistant strain's ability to ward off liver damage, and then plumbed computer databases to identify those involved in metabolizing acetaminophen's dangerous byproducts.
One, an enzyme called Bhmt2, fit the bill: It helped generate more glutathione, and its sequence varied between the resistant and non-resistant strains of mice. Bhmt2 works by converting the diet-derived molecule S-methylmethionine, or SMM, into methionine, which is subsequently converted in a series of steps into glutathione. The researchers confirmed the importance of the pathway by showing that SMM conferred protection against acetaminophen-induced liver toxicity only in strains of mice in which the Bhmt2 pathway was functional.
"By administering SMM, which is found in every flowering plant and vegetable, we were able to prevent a lot of the drug's toxic effect," said Peltz. He and his colleagues are now working to set up clinical trials at Stanford to see whether it will have a similar effect in humans. In the meantime, though, he cautions against assuming that dosing oneself with SMM will protect against acetaminophen overdose.
"There are many pathways involved in the metabolism of this drug, and individuals' genetic backgrounds are tremendously variable. This is just one piece of the puzzle; we don't have the full answer," he said. However, if subsequent studies are promising, Peltz envisions possibly a co-formulated drug containing both acetaminophen and SMM or using SMM as a routine dietary supplement.
The research was partially funded by the Institute of General Medical Sciences and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health and by Roche. Peltz and Liu are the co-inventors on a patent filed on the use of SMM to prevent acetaminophen toxicity in humans. SandHill Bio, a drug discovery startup co-founded by Peltz, is further investigating the potential therapeutic applications of the finding.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117184535.htm

Could Widely Used Rapid Influenza Tests Pose a Dangerous Public Health Risk?

ScienceDaily (Nov. 18, 2009) — Rapid influenza diagnostic tests used in doctors' offices, hospitals and medical laboratories to detect H1N1 are virtually useless and could pose a significant danger to public health, according to a Loyola University Medical Center researcher.
"At Loyola, we determined four years ago that the rapid tests for influenza detected only 50 percent of the patients who were positive," said Paul Schreckenberger, Ph.D., director of Loyola's clinical microbiology laboratory. "I can flip a coin and get the same results as I could with those tests. So what's the value of the tests? I can flip a coin for free."
Schreckenberger said use of the tests could delay effective treatment with antiviral medication for critical hours for a large number of high-risk patients who registered a false negative with the rapid tests. The tests can generate results in a half-hour or less and are available for purchase on the Internet in prices ranging from $20 to $299.
"People who actually are infected with H1N1 are being sent home without treatment. Those in high-risk groups could face serious illness," Schreckenberger said. "As for the others: maybe they go back to work; maybe the children go back to school and infect others."
Studies published recently in prominent medical journals back up Schreckenberger's assertion. One study published in The New England Journal of Medicineconcludes that that one test generated a false negative 49 percent of the time, meaning it detected H1N1 only 51 percent of the time. Another study published in theJournal of Clinical Virology found another test generated a false negative 82.2 percent of the time, detecting H1N1 only 17.2 percent of the time.
A study in Emerging Infectious Diseases, published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), found that a test generated a false negative 88.9 of the time, detecting H1N1 only 11.1 percent of the time. The agency's Web site features data that coincides with the findings of its journal.
"The effectiveness of these test is not acceptable and reporting false results is a public health hazard," said Schreckenberger, who is also professor of pathology, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. "Our government agency, the CDC, is publishing data that proves that these kits don't work. That's a big concern to me."
Loyola utilizes a molecular-based test that detects 98 percent of people who are positive for influenza, Schreckenberger said. The test has a 24-hour turnaround time. However, about 90 percent of all hospital labs in Chicago and across the United States use rapid tests to confirm a diagnosis. Some hospitals use the rapid tests but will double check all negatives with a more accurate test.
"It's not the physicians. They believe the results just like they believe any lab results. It's the laboratories. They should be telling physicians who order these rapid tests, 'I'm sorry. We don't do them. They don't work. We can offer you these other alternatives,'" Schreckenberger said.
The tests are so inaccurate that physicians are being told by public health officials that they should consider anyone exhibiting flu-like symptoms as infected with H1N1 and then care for them accordingly, Schreckenberger said. Also, public health agencies have begun tracking people with flu-like symptoms instead of cases confirmed by the rapid tests because they know the tests are unreliable.
"If these kits do not work, then why do 90% of the hospital laboratories still perform them on their patients? False negative test results can only lead to a bad outcome and puts a huge financial burden on the health care payers." Schreckenberger said.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117190404.htm

When Good Companies Do Bad Things
ScienceDaily (Nov. 18, 2009) — The more prominent and financially successful a corporation becomes, the more likely it is to break the law, according to a new study led by a Michigan State University scholar that challenges previous research.
MSU's Yuri Mishina and colleagues argue that unrealistically high pressure on thriving companies increases the likelihood of illegal behavior, as the firms are faced with continuously maintaining or improving their performance. Previous research suggested high-performing firms are less likely to feel the strains that can trigger illegal activities such as fraud, false claims and environmental and anticompetitive violations.
The MSU-led study, which will appear in a forthcoming issue of the Academy of Management Journal, analyzed 194 large public manufacturing firms in the United States between 1990 and 1999.
"We found that high-performing companies tended not to be able to sustain that high level of performance over time," said Mishina, assistant professor of management and lead researcher on the project. "At the same time, high performing and highly prominent companies tend to be the ones that are punished most severely for not meeting performance expectations. And so it becomes a choice: Do I cut corners to try to meet these high performance goals and maybe get caught, or do I accept the results of not meeting my performance goals and be punished for sure."
The pressure comes from both internal and external sources, Mishina said. Internal pressure includes company officials' perception of how they're faring against the competition, while external pressure is driven by heightened investor expectations brought about by strong market performance.
The researchers say three factors potentially fuel illegal behavior: loss aversion, or the tendency to prefer avoiding losses above all else; hubris, in which managers come to believe they cannot fail; and the house-money effect, or the concept that people perceive themselves to be gambling with the "house's money" rather than their own capital.
Mishina said companies are most apt to engage in illegal activity once they become prominent and feel significant public pressure to maintain or improve performance. The research findings also suggest it's the prospect of poor performance in the future -- not the past -- that compels firms to break the law.
Thus, regulators should try to monitor the activities of both high- and low-performing firms to detect illegal corporate behavior and consider a firm's prominence and performance relative to industry peers to determine which firms should receive closer attention, the researchers say.
Mishina also said analysts, investors and company directors need to be careful about how they evaluate firm performance and the pressure they place on management to constantly improve performance.
"Obviously people want their companies to perform well, both from a revenue and profitability standpoint as well as increasing stock prices," Mishina said. "But this implies we are in some ways missing the idea of what performance should be. Would it be better to think about maybe five-year growth or 10-year growth? Should performance be based on profitability and stock prices or should it be some sort of long-term viability measure that includes creating jobs, stimulating the economy and other factors?
"By focusing completely on fairly short-term financials we're ignoring a lot of other things," he added. "And the emphasis on this performance seems to be what's driving this type of illegal behavior."
Yuri Mishina, Bernadine Dykes, Emily Block, and Timothy Pollock. Why Good Firms Do Bad Things: The Effects of High Aspirations, High Expectations and Prominence on the Incidence of Corporate Illegality. Academy of Management Journal, 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091118143257.htm

Antifibrotic Effects of Green Tea

ScienceDaily (Nov. 18, 2009) — Several studies have shown that lipid peroxidation stimulates collagen production in fibroblasts and hepatic stellate cells (HSC), and plays an important role in the development of liver fibrosis. Hepatoprotective effects of green tea against carbon tetrachloride, cholestasis and alcohol induced liver fibrosis were reported in many studies. However, the hepatoprotective effect of green tea in dimethylnitrosamine (DMN)-induced models has not been studied.
A research article published on November 7, 2009 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. The research team, led by Prof. Hong-Yon Cho from Korea University examined the protective effect of green tea extract (GT) on hepatic fibrosis in a rat HSC line and in a rat model of DMN-induced hepatic fibrosis.
The results showed GT administration prevented the development of hepatic fibrosis in the rat model of DMN-induced liver fibrosis. These results were confirmed both by liver histology and by quantitative measurement of hepatic hydroxyproline content, a marker of liver collagen deposition. Accordingly, inhibition of proliferation, reduced collagen deposition, and type 1 collagen expression were observed in activated HSC-T6 cells following GT treatment. These results imply that GT reduced the proliferation of activated HSC and down regulated the collagen content and expression of collagen type 1, thereby ameliorating hepatic fibrosis.
The researchers drew a conclusion that green tea may protect liver cells and reduce the deposition of collagen fibers in the liver. Green tea provides a safe and effective strategy for improving hepatic fibrosis.
Kim et al. Antifibrotic effects of green tea on in vitro and in vivo models of liver fibrosis. World Journal of Gastroenterology, 2009; 15 (41): 5200 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091118101359.htm

More evidence brews about green tea's benefits: it may prevent oral cancer
S. L. Baker, NaturalNews.com  November 19, 2009 

(NaturalNews) According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 35,720 new cases of oral and/or pharynx cancer will strike Americans this year. And, unfortunately, less than 50% of these people are expected to live for five years or more after diagnosis. However, scientists may have found a natural substance that can prevent these types of malignancies -- green tea.

Green tea is known to be rich in polyphenols, a type of phytonutrient shown to inhibit the development of cancer in many laboratory studies. The new research, conducted by scientists at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and just published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, is the first to test green tea as a cancer preventing agent in people who are at especially high risk for oral cancer because they haveleukoplakia. A pre-malignant condition, oral leukoplakia is an area of whitish abnormal tissue that develops in the mouth or throat. 

For the study, 41 oral leukoplakia patients at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center were divided into groups that received either an inactive placebo or a green tea extract taken orally for three months at low, medium, or high doses. In a statement to the press, the research team noted that the green tea extract was well tolerated even in the patients given the high doses and it produced no significant toxicity. 

A baseline biopsy was taken when the study started and repeated as the study was underway. When the scientists checked the progression of the pre-malignant oral lesions, they found that almost 60% of patients taking the highest doses of green tea extract displayed a positive clinical response, compared with only 18.2% of those who were given the placebo. There was improved histology (the appearance of abnormal tissues when examined microscopically) and also a beneficial trend in biomarkers which are believed to be indicators of future cancer development. 

"Collecting oral tissue biopsies was essential in that it allowed us to learn that not only did the green tea extract appear to have benefit for some patients, but we pointed to anti-angiogenic effects as a potential mechanism of action," Anne Tsao, M.D., assistant professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Thoracic, Head and Neck Medical Oncology, and the study's first author, said in a statement to the media. "While preliminary because our patient population was so small, this gives us direction for further study."

The research participants were followed for 27.5 months and at the time the study concluded, 15 had developed oral cancer. Overall, there was no difference in oral cancer development between those who took green tea and those who did not. So what was the benefit of taking the green tea extract? It took far longer for cancer to develop in the high risk patients who took green tea extract, strongly suggesting that the green tea was slowing the development of malignant cells. And that clearly raises the possibility that green tea extracts started earlier or used longer might have a stronger impact and prevent oral cancer.

"While still very early, and not definitive proof that green tea is an effective preventive agent, these results certainly encourage more study for patients at highest risk for oral cancer," Vassiliki Papadimitrakopoulou, M.D., professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Thoracic, Head and Neck Medical Oncology, and the study's senior author, said in the press statement.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027532_green_tea_oral_cancer.html

Monetary Gain and High-Risk Tactics Stimulate Activity in the Brain
ScienceDaily (Nov. 17, 2009) — Monetary gain stimulates activity in the brain. Even the mere possibility of receiving a reward is known to activate an area of the brain called the striatum.
A team of Japanese researchers report in the January 2010 issue of Cortex, published by Elsevier, the results of a study in which they measured striatum activation in volunteers performing a monetary task and found high-risk/high-gain options to cause higher levels of activation than more conservative options. They also found levels of activation to increase with the amount of money owned.
Dr. Tadashi Ino and colleagues, from the Department of Neurology at the Rakuwakai-Otowa Hospital and the Research Center for Nano Medical Engineering at Kyoto University, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study hemodynamic changes in the brains of 17 healthy volunteers performing a monetary task. The volunteers were given an initial stock of money and then required repetitively to press one of two buttons, which resulted in either an increase or decrease of the money stock, depending on whether their choice agreed or disagreed with a number that appeared randomly after the button had been pressed. One button was a low-risk option and the other involved high-risk, so that more money was gained or lost when choosing the high-risk option. The volunteers were also able to keep track of the total money stock throughout the task.
They found higher levels of activation in volunteers when choosing high-risk/high-gain options, compared to low-risk/low-gain, and when gaining money, compared to losing money. It did not matter how much money was gained, since small gains stimulated the volunteers' striatum as much as large gains. They also found that overall striatum activity increased with the total amount of money in stock.
According to the authors, these results show that "risky tactics and pleasure of monetary gain are correlated with activation of the striatum" and that this finding demonstrates "the concept of the striatum as a major reward-related brain structure".
Iadashi Ino, Ryusuke Nakai, Takashi Azuma, Toru Kimura and Hidenao Fukuyama. Differential activation of the striatum for decision making and outcomes in a monetary task with gain and loss. Cortex, 2009;
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117094929.htm

Vitamin D Emerges as Treatment for Prostate Cancer - Cuts PSA Levels by Half
David Gutierrez, NaturalNews.com  November 19, 2009  

(NaturalNews) Treatment with vitamin D supplements may slow the progress of prostate cancer, according to a study published in the journal BJU International.

In the United States, prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among men, after lung cancer. Approximately 240,000 new cases are diagnosed every year, leading to 30,000 deaths.

Researchers have suspected for nearly two decades that the so-called "sunshine vitamin" may play a role in the risk and progression of prostate cancer, but no studies have previously been conducted on its usefulness as a treatment.

"It's very interesting - there has been no significant trial of vitamin D," said lead researcher Jonathan Waxman of Imperial College London. "This is a treatment which is unlikely to have significant toxicity and is a welcome addition to the therapeutic options for patients with prostate cancer." 

Waxman decided to do the study when he learned of a prostate cancer patient who recovered after his wife bought vitamin D pills for him. Waxman and colleagues recruited 26 men with prostate cancer and assigned them each to take a daily vitamin D supplement. In five of the men, reductions in levels of the prostate specific antigen (PSA) were reduced.

In men with prostate cancer, PSA levels are an indicator of disease severity. One participant experienced a decrease in PSA levels less than 25 percent, two experienced decreases of between 25 and 50 percent, and two experienced decreases of more than 50 percent. In one of the participants, PSA levels remained reduced for a full 36 months.

Vitamin D is synthesized by the body upon exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sunlight. It plays a critical role in calcium absorption and bone health, and deficiency in the vitamin can lead to rickets in children and osteoporosis in adults. Recent research has also suggested that vitamin D can help prevent autoimmune disorders and a variety of chronic diseases, including diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Some scientists have stated that if everyone increased the amount of time they spent in the sun, far more lives would be saved from cancers prevented than would be lost from increased skin cancer cases.

A light-skinned person can get enough vitamin D from getting 15 minutes of sun on the face and hands each day, while a darker skinned person might need up to 45 minutes. More sun exposure is needed at more extreme latitudes.

A connection between vitamin D and prostate cancer was first suggested in 1990, when researchers suggested that the vitamin might tie together a variety of observed risk factors for the disease. A wide body of research has demonstrated that prostate cancer risk is higher at northern latitudes (where people get less vitamin D), among older people (with reduced vitamin D synthesis) and black people (who absorb less UV rays). Researchers have also found that men diagnosed with prostate cancer in the summer or autumn, when vitamin D levels tend to be highest, have a better prognosis than men diagnosed in winter or spring.

In 1992, researchers also suggested that higher vitamin D consumption in Japan might account for lower rates of prostate cancer there, relative to the United States. Japanese men consume more fatty fish, which is high in both vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids that increase the vitamin's stability in the body, and soy, which slows the rate at which bodily vitamin D breaks down.

Since then, studies have found that many prostate cancer cells contain vitamin D receptors, and that vitamin D can inhibit the growth of some of these cells.

Researchers also hypothesize that vitamin D might inhibit the action of the androgen receptor, which produces male sex hormones that have been linked to the disease.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027534_vitamin_D_prostate_cancer.html

Vegetarians Have Lower Cancer Risk Than Meat Eaters
David Gutierrez, NaturalNews.com  November 18, 2009 

(NaturalNews) Vegetarians are significantly less likely to develop cancer than non-vegetarians, according to a study conducted by researchers from universities in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and published in the British Journal of Cancer.

"These interesting results add to the evidence that what we eat affects our chances of developing cancer," said a spokesperson for Cancer Research U.K. "We know that eating a lot of red and processed meat increases the risk of stomach cancer."

Researchers followed 61,566 British adults and compared cancer rates among vegetarians, those who ate fish but not other kinds of meat, and those with no dietary restrictions. They found that the lifetime risk of developing cancer was 14 percent lower in vegetarians than in the general population. The protective effect was greatest for stomach cancer, bladder cancer, Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and blood cancers. Vegetarians were less than 50 percent as likely to develop lymph and blood cancers as nonrestricted eaters, while their risk of a rare bone marrow cancer known as multiple myeloma was 75 percent lower. Fish-eaters had a lower risk of blood and lymph cancers than nonrestricted eaters, but their risk was still higher than that of vegetarians.

It is the first study specifically showing a link between a vegetarian diet and a lower risk of bone marrow cancer.

"Dietary advice to myeloma patients remains aligned with national guidance -- that they should eat a healthy, balanced diet high in fiber, fruit and vegetables and low in saturated fat, salt and red and processed meat," Myeloma U.K. said.

Red and processed meats have previously been linked to elevated rates of stomach cancer. Processed meat is believed to be particularly dangerous, due to the N-nitroso compound used to preserve them and the high temperatures they are cooked at.

The researchers found that vegetarians and fish eaters had roughly the same risk of stomach cancer, about one-third less than the risk experienced by unrestricted eaters. This adds evidence to the theory that red and processed meats are particular risk factors for this kind of cancer.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027517_vegetarians_cancer_risk.html

Wild Burdock Root Cleanses Blood, Clears Acne and Speeds Weight Loss
Melissa Sokulski, NaturalNews.com  November 18, 2009 

(NaturalNews) As the days get cooler and wild plants seem few and far between, Burdock (Arctium lappa) can still be found in large quantity. Burdock root is a versatile vegetable and one of the finest healing herbs known to cleanse the blood. In Healing with Whole Foods Paul Pitchford writes, "(Burdock) is a virtual cure-all for conditions of excess, and significantly purifies the blood while reducing fat and regulating blood sugar." (1)

In the fall and winter - until the ground freezes - you can harvest burdock root all over North America. Look for first year plants: the wavy green leaves will be in basal rosettes on the ground. You'll find them close to the easier-to-spot dead second year burdock plants which are brown, devoid of leaves and covered with burrs that stick to your clothes or your pet's fur. Harvest the roots from plants that are still green: you'll need a long shovel or spade because burdock sends down a long thick taproot that can be difficult to extract.

In Japan, burdock root is called gobo and is eaten as a vegetable. It can usually be found in Asian groceries or health food stores. The wild or store-bought root can be eaten cooked or raw: added to soups or sauteed with carrots and sesame seeds, or grated in salads and coleslaw. Burdock can also be juiced for a delicious and refreshing healing beverage.

Burdock root can be used medicinally as well. The root can be sliced and dried, then simmered into tea. To make a tincture, steep the fresh root in alcohol. A standard dose is about 30 drops taken twice a day.

Burdock root is considered powerful medicine in both Eastern and Western herbal traditions. In the East burdock is considered bitter and cool. It drains dampness and clears excess heat (or toxins) from the body. In the West burdock is known to cleanse the blood, and is useful in situations such as:

• exposure to environmental toxins such as cigarette smoke or air pollution
• parasites in the blood
• heavy metals such as mercury, lead or arsenic in the blood
• chronic bacterial or viral infections, such as chronic fatigue or Lyme disease

Burdock is a favorite among herbalists to treat acne. It supports the liver in cleansing the blood, and clears skin redness and blemishes.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027521_burdock_root_blood.html

Sawasya: Israel uses Palestinian prisoners as guinea pigs to test drugs

http://uruknet.info/index.php?p=m60143&hd=&size=1&l=e

http://americanheart.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=862

When East meets West: Why consumers turn to alternative medicine
University of Chicago, November 17, 2009
Alternative health remedies are increasingly important in the health care marketplace. A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research explores how consumers choose among the many available remedies.
"Examples of the wide array of health remedy options available to consumers include drugs, supplements, acupuncture, massage therapy, Ayurveda, and Traditional Chinese Medicine (to name a few). Such medical pluralism is common in both developed and developing countries and raises the questions: How do consumers choose among health remedies, and what are the consequences for a healthy lifestyle?" write authors Wenbo Wang (New York University), Hean Tat Keh (Beijing University), and Lisa E. Bolton (Pennsylvania State University).
The authors use "lay theories of medicine" to explain how consumers choose between Western medicine and its Eastern counterparts, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurvedic medicine.
"Western Medicine is primarily concerned with the material aspect of the body and views all medical phenomena as cause-effect sequences, relying on rigorous scientific studies and research that seeks empirical proof to all phenomena," write the authors. "On the other hand, TCM and Ayurvedic Medicine favor a holistic approach, view the mind and body as a whole system, and rely upon inductive tools and methods for treatment."
Based on a series of experiments and surveys in the United States, China, and India, the authors found that consumers prefer TCM (over Western medicine) when uncertain about the cause of an illness (i.e., diagnosis uncertainty)—because a holistic medicine tolerates uncertainty better than Western Medicine. Similarly, consumers prefer TCM (over Western medicine) because of lay beliefs that TCM offers an underlying cure (versus symptom alleviation by Western Medicine).
"These findings add to the growing debate over the regulation of health marketing and the delivery of health care, the role of direct-to-consumer advertising, and marketing efforts to promote a healthy lifestyle," the authors conclude.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/uocp-wem111709.php

Why We Need Bees and More People Becoming Organic Beekeepers

Makenna Goodman, Chelsea Green Publishing
Posted on November 6, 2009

Beekeeping is rising in popularity -- from urban rooftops to backyard hives, the world is abuzz with interest in homemade honey. And who better to comment on the nature of bees than the former president of the Vermont Beekeepers Association, Ross Conrad. He's led bee-related presentations and taught organic beekeeping workshops and classes throughout North America for many years, and Conrad's small beekeeping business supplies friends, neighbors, and local stores with honey and candles among other bee related products, not to mention provides bees for Vermont apple pollination in spring. I talked to Conrad about organic beekeeping, the state of pollination, and tips for aspiring bee farmers.

Makenna Goodman: Your book, Natural Beekeeping: Organic Approaches to Modern Apiculture, offers up a program of natural beehive management, and an alternative to conventional chemical-based approaches. So -- why organic beekeeping?

Ross Conrad: History has shown us that the industrialized "economy of scale" approach does not work when applied to agriculture because we are dealing with living biological systems, not an inert assembly line food production system where the economy of scale approach can be applied across the board.  One of the biggest issues is the large number of chemical contaminants that are being found in beeswax and pollen, often at very high concentrations. Toxic chemical contamination has been implicated in Colony Collapse and the reality is that there is no effective regulation of chemicals in Western society. Let me tell you why:

When the EPA was created in 1970 and sanctioned with the task of regulating chemicals, all the chemicals that were already used in commerce up to that time were grandfathered in. Additionally, since the EPA is given very limited personnel and financial resources, the agency ends up relying on the chemical manufacturers for the majority of the scientific data that is used to evaluate the safety of the regulated toxins…a serious conflict of interest. When chemicals are evaluated for toxicity, they are studied in isolation. Little thought is given to the chemical's break down products which can prove to be more toxic and longer lasting than the original chemical itself, such as in the case of Imidacloprid Olefin, which is produced as the neonicotinoid, Imidacloprid degrades. Once in use and released into the environment, chemicals, and their breakdown products, will combine with other chemicals already in the environment to form new compounds. The synergistic effects of some of these combinations have proven themselves to be hundreds of times more toxic than either compound on its own.

Recent research into endocrine-disrupting chemicals (the kind often used as pesticides), reveals that the timing of exposure combines with the amount of exposure to produce a chemical's effect. Thus, a certain dose might be very toxic to an organism in its developmental stage, while not having any obvious detrimental affects on the organism once it has matures, or vice-verse. To make matters worse, in some cases low doses of a chemical can be more damaging than higher doses. These new understandings of chemical toxicity have proven wrong Paracelsus's 450-year-old maxim, "The dose makes the poison." Today we know that often the timing can make the poison and that sometimes less is actually worse.

Add to this the many studies that now show that a cocktail of "insignificant" doses of several chemicals each acting on their own can combine to have significant results. In other words, exposure to very low concentrations of several chemicals at the same time can cause biological effects that none of the chemicals would have on their own. Thus when an living organism is exposed to a mixture of chemicals, every component contributes to the overall effect, no matter how minute their concentration. The only sane answer to our ignorance in the use of these toxic compounds is to stop using these chemicals, not only in our hives, but in our everyday lives. Thus, organic beekeeping came into being in just the last 20 years as a response to the fact that chemical use in bee hives has became the common way to try to control Varroa mites. Organic beekeeping is not only possible, but necessary.

MG: What are the biggest obstacles faced by organic beekeepers today?

RC: The biggest challenge beekeepers face today is the same challenge facing all of Western industrial civilization…

In his 1980 book, Overshoot, William Catton, Jr. states, "Infinitesimal actions, if they are numerous and cumulative, can become enormously consequential." This statement refers to the problem of cumulative impacts where actions that are harmless or tolerable at the individual level can degrade the planets life support systems if thousands or millions of people do them. One person fertilizing their lawn near Chesapeake Bay for example makes no significant impact, but when thousands do it the bay becomes degraded and Blue Crab populations decline precipitously.

When it comes to chemicals the current regulatory approach to controlling pollution does not deal with global pollution. The main focus has instead been on the maximally exposed individual.  In the United States, we conduct risk assessments (used when conducting "cost-benefit" analyses) to evaluate the risk to a hypothetical "maximally exposed" individual. If the threat to that individual (or honey bee) is found to fall within acceptable limits, then regulation does not occur and these so-called acceptable amounts of contamination are allowed to be released forever after. Then another risk assessment and cost benefit analysis gives the go-ahead to another acceptable release or use of a different toxic substance or harmful activity. Then another and another. What we have not started to look at until recently is the total impact of all these acceptable risks. Our society has assumed that it could tolerate unlimited small amounts of harm as a byproduct of economic growth. It is only when a particular activity is demonstrated to fail to provide a net benefit to society that most of our property and environmental laws are permitted to interfere with economic activity.

Biochemist and lawyer, Joseph H. Guth, legal director of the Science and Environmental Health Network, has analyzed this situation and offered solutions in several scholarly papers one of which was published in the Barry Law Review, titled "Cumulative Impacts: Death-Knell for Cost-Benefit Analysis In Environmental Decisions."  In this paper Guth points out that our laws only forbid damage when the perceived benefits are not considered to outweigh the cost or destruction to the environment or human health. The law also puts the burden of proof that an activity is creating more harm than good on the injured party, or the government. If the victim (or the government) can not meet the burden of proof, then the damaging action is allowed to continue by default. This burden of proof transforms doubt, and missing scientific information into a barrier to legal protection for the environment (and honey bees). The default presumption is that the benefits of economic activity always outweigh the costs unless a specific cost-benefit analysis (often based upon incomplete or faulty research conducted by those that stand to profit) can show otherwise.

According to Joe Guth, "These laws do not permit regulators broadly to take account of what is happening to the world around them. They embed regulators in a decision-making structure that may seem scientific but in fact is profoundly unscientific because it prevents them from responding to the ever more detailed findings by the world scientific community that we are overshooting the Earth's ecological capacities. Rooted in the assumption that ecological overshoot does not occur, our current statutes are incapable of containing the cumulative scale of ecological damage… It is an approach that has become outdated because it is based on assumptions that are no longer valid."

Guth sums up by stating, "To maintain a functioning biosphere in which humans can prosper, the law must turn its attention to the problem of cumulative impacts. The law will have to abandon its use of cost-benefit analysis to justify individual environmental impacts and instead adopt the goal of maintaining the functioning ecological systems that we are so dependent upon."

In Section II of his "Cumulative Impacts" paper, Joe Guth states that "Our legal system already harbors examples of decision-making structures that establish a principle of standard of environmental quality or human health and do not rely on cost-benefit balancing." and that these examples "show that such legal principles or standards can enable the legal system to contain the growth of cumulative impacts." The cumulative impacts of our culture are destroying the life support systems of the planet and the bees are simply acting as the proverbial "canary in the coal mine."  As a result we don't have an environmental problem that we can "solve" we have a situation we must learn to adjust to.  The actions that needed to be taken to rectify our predicament should have been taken years ago. At this point the damage is done.  The only real question left is whether our actions today are going to result in our great grandchildren living a difficult life in a crippled world that is a shadow of the world we live in today, or are we going to inflict damage that is so devastating that we will have created a total catastrophe for future generations?

MG: Describe briefly beekeeping as a business. How much energy do you focus on honey production?

RC: Honey production is not the focus of my beekeeping business at all.  The focus is on caring for the honey bees and keeping the colonies as healthy and vibrant as possible. This means primarily reducing stress on the bees.  In fact the only consistent observation that has been made of hives suffering from Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is that the bees in infected colonies are always suffering from stress that has caused the bee's immune systems to collapse.  While there are numerous stresses that the bees must deal with that we cannot directly control (see below), there are numerous other stresses on the hive that we do have control over.  Such stressors include reducing chemical contaminants in the hive, eliminating the presence of antibiotics in the hive, making sure that the bees are fed a healthy diet of honey and pollen from a wide variety of plants and that the hives have access to clean uncontaminated water.  When the bees health needs are taken care of, a honey harvest tends to be the natural result.

MG: Let's say I'm an aspiring small-scale farmer, or beginning life on a homestead, or merely thinking of expanding my urban garden. Why should I keep bees, in terms of honey production, and their pollination benefits, etc?

RC: The biggest benefit honey bees provide is pollination.  Pollination fees are what is keeping the beekeeping industry alive today. Honey is really a byproduct of pollination. Why should anybody keep bees? As suggested above, the life support systems of our planet are collapsing. The forests are disappearing, desert regions are growing, the climate is shifting so that some areas are getting dryer, other areas are getting wetter, some areas are getting colder, other areas are getting warmer, and our oceans are collapsing with large dead zones, acidification, giant "islands" of floating plastic debris, collapsing fisheries, and ocean animals that are dying in greater numbers every day from cancer. My observation is that it is our industrial civilization that is, if not the actual cause of all this destruction, it is certainly contributing to the devastation. As a member of this society then, I am partly responsible and part of the problem.  This is a wonderful thing, for if I am part of the problem, then I have the responsibility and am empowered to be part of the solution.

One of the greatest lessons we learn from the honey bee is in observing how they go about making their "living" here on earth.  As they go about their business collecting pollen, nectar, propolis and water (everything they need to survive) they do not harm or kill anything in the process.  Unless they feel threatened and are forced to defend themselves, not so much as a leaf on a plant is harmed.  In the process of taking what they need to survive they in turn give back more than they take and make the world a better place through the pollination the plants.  This gift of pollination ensures that the plants can thrive and reproduce in vast numbers which produces a large variety of seeds, nuts, berries, fruits and vegetable in all shapes and sizes, which in turn ensures an abundance of food for all the rest of the insects, animals and people on the planet.  This is the ultimate lesson that the bees teach us and challenge us to accomplish: How to live our life in a way that by taking what we need from the world around us we leave the world better than we found it. 

Each one of us who takes care of the honey bees and makes sure that there is adequate habitat and flowering plants for the native pollinators in our regions, is indirectly through the good work of these pollinators, making the world a better place for all of creation.  This is the kind of healing our beautiful blue-green planet needs desperately at this time in history.
http://www.alternet.org/story/143764/

Longer telomeres equal longer lives
Life Extensions, November 16, 2009
In the November 9, 2009 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in the Bronx report an association between long telomeres and surviving to an advanced age.
Telomeres are sections of DNA at the ends of chromosomes that shorten with each division of the cell, which are maintained by an enzyme known as telomerease. As telomeres erode, their host cells stop dividing and enter senescence, which contributes to signs of aging in tissues and organs. Reduced telomere length has been associated with hypertension, metabolic syndrome and dementia.
Einstein associate professor of medicine and genetics Gil Atzmon, PhD and his colleagues examined telomeres in 86 Ashkenazi Jews whose age averaged 97, as well as in 175 of their children and 93 control subjects. "Telomeres are one piece of the puzzle that accounts for why some people can live so long," Dr Atzmon remarked. "Our research was meant to answer two questions: Do people who live long lives tend to have long telomeres? And if so, could variations in their genes that code for telomerase account for their long telomeres?"
"As we suspected, humans of exceptional longevity are better able to maintain the length of their telomeres," answered coauthor Yousin Suh, PhD. "And we found that they owe their longevity, at least in part, to advantageous variants of genes involved in telomere maintenance."
"Our findings suggest that telomere length and variants of telomerase genes combine to help people live very long lives, perhaps by protecting them from the diseases of old age," she added. "We're now trying to understand the mechanism by which these genetic variants of telomerase maintain telomere length in centenarians. Ultimately, it may be possible to develop drugs that mimic the telomerase that our centenarians have been blessed with."
http://www.lef.org/whatshot/2009_11.htm#Longer-telomeres-equal-longer-lives

Food short for 14.6 pct of U.S. households -gov't
Last Updated: 2009-11-16 14:15:14 -0400 (Reuters Health)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One in seven Americans struggles to get enough to eat, the government reported on Monday, and more than a third go hungry from time to time - the highest levels since the "food security" report began in 1995.
The new report covers 2008, when the United States was in economic recession and financial markets plunged. The jobless rate has surged past 10 percent.
The number of households with trouble providing enough food for all family members rose sharply in 2008 from the preceding year, said the Agriculture Department (USDA), which produces the annual report. It is based on a survey conducted each December.
"The recession has made the problem of hunger worse, and it has also made it more visible," said David Beckmann of the antihunger group Bread for the World. Beckman called for stronger federal antihunger programs. The school lunch and school breakfast programs are due for renewal.
In 2008, 14.6 percent of U.S. households, equal to about 49.1 million people, "had difficulty providing enough food for all their members due to a lack of resources" said USDA. The families, which the USDA calls "food insecure," went to food pantries, enrolled in antihunger programs and ate less varied diets.
About 5.7 percent of households, or 17.3 million people, had "very low food security," meaning some members of the household had to eat less. Typically, food runs short in those households for a few days in seven or eight months of the year, USDA said.

Research calls for better assessment of tests for tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria

McGill University (Montreal)  Nov. 16, 2009

A rapid and accurate diagnosis is the first step towards treatment in the fight against infectious disease. However, a team headed by Dr. Madhukar Pai at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and McGill University in collaboration with researchers at the TDR* and the WHO*, has highlighted the poor quality of published studies that evaluate the accuracy of diagnostic tests for 3 major killer infectious diseases (TB, HIV/AIDS and malaria). The research study, published in the journal PLoS One, suggests that diagnostic studies on TB, malaria and HIV commercial tests had moderate to low quality and were often poorly reported.
Worldwide, TB, malaria and HIV/AIDS are responsible for approximately 3.5 million deaths annually.  Early diagnosis is a vital part of controlling the spread of these diseases. However, questions have been raised in the scientific literature about the performance of these tests.
The new study suggests many of these scientific papers use poor methodologies and lack quality. Moreover sources of bias and variation were present in all the studies. “The necessary methodological elements such as patient selection criteria, recruitment methods or blinded test interpretation were poorly reported,” said Dr. Pai, who is also the senior author and principal investigator of the study. “Moreover, only a small percentage of these studies accurately described the manner in which the tests were conducted and whether they are reproducible.”
“Poorly designed studies can lead to premature or misguided adoption of tests that may have little or no clinical and public health relevance, resulting in incorrect diagnosis and adverse consequences for the patient,” said Dr. Pai.
The challenge facing the researchers is to make a concerted effort to improve the quality of diagnostic studies during design and implementation. “Whether it is for cancer testing, TB or even the flu, we must report the study results in a clear and transparent manner in order to validate the accuracy of the test and ensure it is properly used at the clinical level,” stated Dr. Pai.
*TDR: Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR)
** WHO: World Health Organization
Dr. Madhukar Pai is a researcher in the Respiratory Epidemiology & Clinical Research Unit at the Montreal Chest Institute and RI – MUHC. He is also an assistant professor of epidemiology at McGill University.
Dr Patricia Fontela is the first author of the study and a pediatrician currently doing her doctoral studies in epidemiology, McGill University.
Partners
This article was co-authored by Dr. Nitika Pant Pai, Mr Ian Schiller and Dr. Nandini Dendukuri, Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, McGill University and Dr. Andrew Ramsay from TDR and World Health Organization (WHO), Switzerland.
Funding
This study was funded by the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), World Health Organization (WHO), Switzerland, and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR).

The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) is a comprehensive academic health institution with an international reputation for excellence in clinical programs, research and teaching. Its partner hospitals are the Montreal Children's Hospital, the Montreal General Hospital, the Royal Victoria Hospital, the Montreal Neurological Hospital, the Montreal Chest Institute and the Lachine Hospital. The goal of the MUHC is to provide patient care based on the most advanced knowledge in the health care field and to contribute to the development of new knowledge. www.muhc.ca

The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC) is a world-renowned biomedical and health-care hospital research centre. Located in Montreal, Quebec, the institute is the research arm of the MUHC, the university health center affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University. The institute supports over 600 researchers, nearly 1200 graduate and post-doctoral students and operates more than 300 laboratories devoted to a broad spectrum of fundamental and clinical research. The Research Institute operates at the forefront of knowledge, innovation and technology and is inextricably linked to the clinical programs of the MUHC, ensuring that patients benefit directly from the latest research-based knowledge.
The Research Institute of the MUHC is supported in part by the Fonds de la recherche en santé  du Québec. For further details visit: www.muhc.ca/research

http://www.muhc.ca/media/news/item/?item_id=112214

Some prescription meds can harm fetus

University of Montreal, November 17, 2009
Montreal, November 17, 2009 – More than six percent of expectant mothers in Quebec consume prescription drugs that are known to be harmful to their fetuses, according to a Université de Montréal investigation published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Half these women will voluntarily terminate their pregnancy fearing congenital malformations, which means the abortion rate among these women is 11 percent higher than in the rest of the population.
"I never expected such results and I was extremely surprised," says senior author Anick Bérard, a professor at the Université de Montréal's Faculty of Pharmacy and director of the Research Unit on Medications and Pregnancy of the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center.
Dr. Bérard examined data from the Quebec Pregnancy Registry on 109,344 women, aged 15 to 45, who were pregnant between 1998 and 2002. Her research team found that 6,871 pregnant women consumed one of 11 prescription drugs that are known to be harmful to fetuses through the first, second or third trimester. Of those women, 3,229 aborted; 6 percent had a miscarriage; and 8.2 percent gave birth to a child with major congenital malformations.
By comparison, the rate of fetal malformations in the general population in the province of Quebec is approximately seven percent. "If there are 80,000 births in Quebec per year, a one percent difference translates into an additional 800 children born with serious malformations," says Bérard, who is currently a visiting professor at the Université Claude Bernard in Lyon, France. "At the very best, those babies will die. In the worst case, they'll live with serious physical or psychological health problems their entire lives."
The study also examined the use of prescription drugs that are known to be feto-toxic or increase in-utero problems or premature births. The researchers found that 11,400 prescriptions – for dangerous medicines such as isotretinoin (for the treatment of acne and rosacea), anxiolytic benzodiazepines (anti-anxiety treatment) and antiepileptics (epileptic seizure treatment) – were used by pregnant women. Other drugs that were harmful to fetuses – for hypertension, anticoagulation and infection – were also widely used.
Bérard was shocked to discover that one particular acne treatment is still available on the market in Canada without proper risk management programs, since the product increases the risk of malformations by 30 percent (baseline risk is estimated at 3 percent). Of the 73 pregnant women who used isotretinoin in Quebec, she found, 78 percent got an abortion.
Dr. Bérard believes some drugs are overused, such as benzodiazepine to treat symptoms of anxiety, and should be avoided to reduce the odds of fetal malformations.
Other drugs are necessary however, such as antiepileptics. "In those cases, the pregnancy must be carefully planned and medication use must be at a strict minimum during the first trimester," she stresses. "And the expectant mother must meet with her physician regularly."
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/uom-spm111709.php

US gets a 'D' for preterm birth rate

March of Dimes Foundation, November 17, 2009
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., NOV. 17, 2009 – For the second consecutive year, the United States earned only a "D" on the March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card, demonstrating that more than half a million of our nation's newborns didn't get the healthy start they deserved.
In the 2009 Premature Birth Report card, seven states improved their performance by one letter grade and two fared worse. Criteria that affect preterm birth improved in many states:

• 33 states and the District of Columbia reduced the percentage of women of childbearing age who smoke;
• 21 states and the District of Columbia reduced the percent of uninsured women of childbearing age;
• 27 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico lowered the late preterm birth rate.

As in 2008, no state earned an "A," and only Vermont received a "B." The grades were determined by comparing preterm birth rates to the national Healthy People 2010 preterm birth objective, which is 7.6 percent of all live births. The U.S. preliminary preterm birth rate was 12.7 percent in 2007.
"Although we don't yet understand all the factors that contribute to premature birth, we do know some interventions that can help prevent it, and we must consistently make use of all of these," said Dr. Jennifer L. Howse, President of the March of Dimes. She cited smoking cessation programs; health care before and during pregnancy; progesterone supplementation; and improved adherence to professional guidelines on fertility treatment and early Cesarean-sections and inductions.
According to the March of Dimes, quality improvement programs also are key to lowering preterm birth rates. For example, the Intermountain Health Program in Utah reduced its elective C-sections to less than 5 percent from more than 30 percent. At Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, pregnant women are screened for chronic conditions and risks factors that can be treated proactively to lower the risk of preterm birth.
A program run by the Hospital Corporation of America based in Tennessee, which delivers about 5 percent of all U.S. births in the 21 states it serves, reduced the primary C-section rate, lowered maternal and fetal injuries and reduced the cost of obstetric malpractice claims by 500 percent. Also, Parkland Memorial Hospital in Texas reduced its preterm birth rate to 4.9 percent in 2006 from 10.4 percent in 1988 by establishing a comprehensive, community-based public health care system of prenatal care that targets minority pregnant women.
In the United States, more than 540,000 babies are born too soon each year. Preterm birth is a serious health problem that costs the United States more than $26 billion annually, according to the Institute of Medicine. It is the leading cause of newborn death, and babies who survive an early birth often face the risk of lifetime health challenges, such as breathing problems, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and others.
A March of Dimes report released in October found that 13 million babies worldwide were born preterm, and more than one million die each year.
The March of Dimes released its second annual report card today, the 7th Annual Prematurity Awareness Day®, when the March of Dimes focuses the nation's attention on the growing problem of premature birth (birth before 37 weeks gestation). A special Web site – marchofdimes.com/fightforpreemies – includes state profiles on prematurity and ways for volunteers to help reduce the premature rate.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/modf-uga111109.php

Transcendental Meditation Helped Heart Disease Patients Lower Cardiac Disease Risks by 50 Percent
ScienceDaily (Nov. 17, 2009) — Patients with coronary heart disease who practiced the stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation® technique had nearly 50 percent lower rates of heart attack, stroke, and death compared to nonmeditating controls, according to the results of a first-ever study presented during the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Fla., on Nov.16, 2009.
The nine-year, randomized control trial followed 201African American men and women, average age 59 years, with narrowing of arteries in their hearts who were randomly assigned to either practice the stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation technique or to participate in a control group which received health education classes in traditional risk factors, including dietary modification and exercise.
All participants continued standard medications and other usual medical care.
The study found:

• A 47 percent reduction in the combination of death, heart attacks, and strokes in the participants
• Clinically significant (5 mm Hg average) reduction in blood pressure associated with decrease in clinical events
• Significant reductions in psychological stress in the high-stress subgroup

The trial was sponsored by a $3.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health-National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and was conducted at The Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee in collaboration with the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa.
According to Robert Schneider, M.D., FACC, lead author and director of the Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention, "Previous research on Transcendental Meditation has shown reductions in blood pressure, psychological stress, and other risk factors for heart disease, irrespective of ethnicity. But this is the first controlled clinical trial to show that long-term practice of this particular stress reduction program reduces the incidence of clinical cardiovascular events, that is heart attacks, strokes and mortality."
"This study is an example of the contribution of a lifestyle intervention -- stress management -- to the prevention of cardiovascular disease in high-risk patients," said Theodore Kotchen, M.D., co-author of the study, professor of medicine, and associate dean for clinical research at the Medical College. Other investigators at the Milwaukee site included Drs. Jane Kotchen and Clarence Grim.
Dr. Schneider said that the effect of Transcendental Meditation in the trial was like adding a class of newly discovered medications for the prevention of heart disease. "In this case, the new medications are derived from the body's own internal pharmacy stimulated by the Transcendental Meditation practice," he said.
Fast Facts on Coronary Heart Disease

• Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death in the United States
• There are nearly 1.5 million heart attacks per year in the US, according to the American Heart Association
• An American will suffer a heart attack every 34 seconds
• Coronary heart disease is also the leading cause of health care costs. More than $475 billion is spent annually on treating CHD, including:
• $100,000 for each coronary bypass surgery
• $50,000 for each angioplasty
• $30,000 for each diagnostic cardiac catheterization
• There are nearly 500,000 coronary artery bypass grafts and 1.3 million angioplasties performed every year
• Stress is thought to contribute to the development of CHD

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116163204.htm

Previous Seasonal Flu Infections May Provide Some Level of H1N1 Immunity

ScienceDaily (Nov. 17, 2009) — Researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology and colleagues have found that previous influenza infections may provide at least some level of immunity to the H1N1 "swine" flu.
"The question we asked was, 'Is the swine flu more like the seasonal flu or like a totally new strain of influenza where there would be no immunity?'," said Alessandro Sette, Ph.D., an internationally recognized vaccine expert and director of the La Jolla Institute's Center for Infectious Disease. "What we have found is that the swine flu has similarities to the seasonal flu, which appear to provide some level of pre-existing immunity. This suggests that it could make the disease less severe in the general population than originally feared."
The researchers used the Immune Epitope Database--a worldwide research tool developed and hosted by the La Jolla Institute and funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health--to conduct their study. Initially, the research team conducted their studies using computer modeling, and later used blood samples of adults representative of the normal population.
"We looked at the molecular markers for seasonal influenza viruses dating back 20 years and compared them with the molecular markers of the H1N1 influenza virus," said Bjoern Peters, Ph.D., lead author on the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"We found that the immune system's T cells can recognize a significant percent of the markers in swine flu." T cells are infection-fighting white blood cells in the body's immune system. "Nobody knows what level of immunity is sufficient for protection. We do know that a T cell response is not enough to prevent being infected by the virus. But, if infected, our data suggests that T cells in those who have previously been exposed to influenza may make the infection less severe," Dr. Peters said.
The findings are based on knowledge that the body's T cells recognize and will launch an attack against viruses -- in this case certain molecular pieces of the swine flu -- that they have seen before.
The research team also looked at the immune system's antibody-producing B cell response to the H1N1 virus. In this area, they saw only 17 percent recognition of the markers on the H1N1 as compared to seasonal flu. B cells, and their ability to produce antibodies that remember a virus, are the basis for vaccines to protect against subsequent infections by similar viruses. "Since the antibody recognition of the H1N1 virus was relatively low as compared to previous flu viruses, it means that the vaccine is important to prevent being infected by the H1N1 virus," said Dr. Peters.
"The data regarding pre-existing T cell immunity helps to explain why the general population seems to be faring better against the H1N1 virus than expected," said Dr. Sette. Nonetheless, H1N1 remains a serious concern as does seasonal influenza, he said.
According to CDC estimates, between 14 million and 34 million cases of H1N1 occurred between April and October 17, 2009, and between 63,000 and 153,000 H1N1-related hospitalizations during that same period. Between 2,500 and 6,000 H1N1-related deaths occurred during the same period, according to CDC estimates.
CDC officials have said up to 40 percent of the U.S. population may eventually be infected by the H1N1 virus.
In a normal flu season, influenza infects as much as 20 percent of the U.S. population, causes more than 200,000 hospitalizations and kills about 36,000 people.
The La Jolla Institute team used the immense power of the Immune Epitope Database to compile the data for their paper, "Pre-existing Immunity Against Swine-Origin H1N1 Influenza Viruses in the General Human Populace." The database, launched in 2006 and available freely to researchers worldwide at www.iedb.org is the largest collection of data in the world on how the body responds to infectious disease. It is designed to aide and speed vaccine development by giving scientists quick access to existing research data. The La Jolla Institute designed, developed and continues to host the database under a contract with the NIAID.
"I think our ability to compile this data on the H1N1 virus, which is an issue of critical worldwide importance, exemplifies the value of this database as a research and public heath tool," said Dr. Sette, who is lead investigator on the database.
To conduct their study, the La Jolla Institute team obtained H1N1 virus data from several scientific resources. "We cross-referenced the swine flu sequence data with the epitope data on previous seasonal influenza viruses," said Dr. Peters, explaining that this provided the research team the ability to compare the molecular patterns of the viruses.
"The results of our study have been posted to the database to make it available to researchers worldwide, "he said. "We're glad to be able to not only host, but to contribute data, to this important resource."
Researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center and the University of California San Diego also contributed to the work.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116165643.htm

Nanoparticles Used in Common Household Items Cause Genetic Damage in Mice
ScienceDaily (Nov. 17, 2009) — Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, found in everything from cosmetics to sunscreen to paint to vitamins, caused systemic genetic damage in mice, according to a comprehensive study conducted by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The TiO2 nanoparticles induced single- and double-strand DNA breaks and also caused chromosomal damage as well as inflammation, all of which increase the risk for cancer. The UCLA study is the first to show that the nanoparticles had such an effect, said Robert Schiestl, a professor of pathology, radiation oncology and environmental health sciences, a Jonsson Cancer Center scientist and the study's senior author.
Once in the system, the TiO2 nanoparticles accumulate in different organs because the body has no way to eliminate them. And because they are so small, they can go everywhere in the body, even through cells, and may interfere with sub-cellular mechanisms.
The study appeared the week of November 16 in the journal Cancer Research.
In the past, these TiO2 nanoparticles have been considered non-toxic in that they do not incite a chemical reaction. Instead, it is surface interactions that the nanoparticles have within their environment- in this case inside a mouse -- that is causing the genetic damage, Schiestl said. They wander throughout the body causing oxidative stress, which can lead to cell death.
It is a novel mechanism of toxicity, a physicochemical reaction, these particles cause in comparison to regular chemical toxins, which are the usual subjects of toxicological research, Schiestl said.
"The novel principle is that titanium by itself is chemically inert. However, when the particles become progressively smaller, their surface, in turn, becomes progressively bigger and in the interaction of this surface with the environment oxidative stress is induced," he said. "This is the first comprehensive study of titanium dioxide nanoparticle-induced genotoxicity, possibly caused by a secondary mechanism associated with inflammation and/or oxidative stress. Given the growing use of these nanoparticles, these findings raise concern about potential health hazards associated with exposure."
The manufacture of TiO2 nanoparticles is a huge industry, Schiestl said, with production at about two million tons per year. In addition to paint, cosmetics, sunscreen and vitamins, the nanoparticles can be found in toothpaste, food colorants, nutritional supplements and hundreds of other personal care products.
"It could be that a certain portion of spontaneous cancers are due to this exposure," Schiestl said. "And some people could be more sensitive to nanoparticles exposure than others. "I believe the toxicity of these nanoparticles has not been studied enough."
Schiestl said the nanoparticles cannot go through skin, so he recommends using a lotion sunscreen. Spray-on sunscreens could potentially be inhaled and the nanoparticles can become lodged in the lungs.
The mice were exposed to the TiO2 nanoparticles in their drinking water and began showing genetic damage on the fifth day. The human equivalent is about 1.6 years of exposure to the nanoparticles in a manufacturing environment. However, Schiestl said, it's not clear if regular, everyday exposure in humans increases exponentially as continued contact with the nanoparticles occurs over time.
"These data suggest that we should be concerned about a potential risk of cancer or genetic disorders especially for people occupationally exposed to high concentrations of titanium dioxide nanoparticles, and that it might be prudent to limit their ingestion through non-essential drug additives, food colors, etc.," the study states.
Next, Schiestl and his team will study exposure to the nanoparticles in mice that are deficient in DNA repair, to perhaps help find a way to predict which people might be particularly sensitive to them.
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116165739.htm

How Cells Tolerate DNA Damage: Start Signal for Cell Survival Program Identified

MDC researchers have shown that the sensor protein PARP-1, activates the transcription factor NF-kappaB, a survival factor for cancer cells. (Credit: Graphic by Michael Hinz / Copyright: MDC)
ScienceDaily (Nov. 17, 2009) — Cancer researchers of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch have gained new insights into how cells react to DNA damage.
Reporting in the journal Molecular Cell, Dr. Michael Stilmann, Dr. Michael Hinz and Professor Claus Scheidereit have shown that the protein PARP-1, which detects DNA damage within seconds, activates the transcription factor NF-kappaB, a well-known regulator of gene expression. NF-kappaB triggers a survival program, which blocks programmed cell death. The activation of NF-kappaB is thought to be one of the potential causes for tumor cell resistance to chemo and radiation therapy.
The DNA of each human cell is damaged many times every day. DNA lesions can be caused by ultraviolet radiation, errors in cell division, DNA-damaging chemicals or intracellular metabolic products. Damaged chromosomal DNA can ultimately be the cause for serious diseases, such as cancer.
However, cells have developed complex systems that recognize DNA lesions within seconds and ensure that the damage will be repaired. In case of massive DNA damage, the affected cell can be destroyed by initiating apoptosis (programmed cell death).
Apoptosis is a cellular program which drives defective cells to commit suicide, thus protecting the organism as a whole. Another regulator of gene expression, the transcription factor p53 -- also known as the "guardian of the genome" -- has a key function in the activation of programmed cell death. But p53 is not always successful in switching on the protective program.
NF-kappaB opposes the function of p53, in turn activating a survival program which protects the damaged cells from destruction. The activation of this program by NF-kappaB is considered to be one of the possible causes for resistance of tumor cells to chemo or radiation therapy.
The transcription factor NF-kappaB not only regulates cell survival programs, it also plays an important role in the immune system and in inflammatory processes. NF-kappaB can be switched on by a number of extracellular and intracellular stimuli.
Such stimulation alters the activity of protein-regulated signaling pathways, which ultimately activate NF-kappaB. The process of signal transduction initiated by external physiological stimuli has been well characterized in recent years.
However, it was not understood how NF-kappaB is switched on by DNA damage. MDC researchers have now succeeded in illuminating this particular signaling pathway.
Professor Scheidereit and his colleagues Dr. Stilmann and Dr. Hinz discovered that the DNA damage detector PARP-1 plays a key role in the activation of NF-kappaB. PARP-1 recognizes sites of DNA damage within seconds and then attracts several proteins, which are important for this signaling pathway, to form a complex in the cell nucleus.
Due to subsequent chemical changes in the complexed proteins, signals are generated, which then trigger NF-kappaB activation. "We have thus identified the start signal for NF-kappaB activation," Dr. Stilmann and Dr. Hinz explained.
Now the researchers want to investigate further components of this signal transmission cascade and their interaction. "For medical research it is of enormous significance to understand these signaling pathways. This is based on the hope to identify targets for the development of drugs, which allow to switch off the survival factor NF-kappaB in cancer diseases in a context-specific manner."
Already now, clinical trials are in progress worldwide with various, not yet approved substances, which target and inhibit PARP-1 and which have gained much attention from the scientific community. In the context of these studies, experts consider the work of the MDC researchers to be of special significance.
Professor Scheidereit and his collaborators have been working for many years on NF-kappaB. Some years ago they were able to show that NF-kappaB plays a key role in tumor cell survival in Hodgkin's lymphoma, a common lymph gland cancer.
Michael Stilmann, Michael Hinz, Seda Çöl Arslan, Anja Zimmer, Valérie Schreiber and Claus Scheidereit. A Nuclear Poly(ADP-Ribose)-Dependent Signalosome Confers DNA Damage-Induced IκB Kinase Activation. Molecular Cell, 2009; 36 (3): 365
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116103441.htm

Cancer Screening is Essentially Useless; Experts Finally Begin Questioning Sanity of "Routine Screening"

David Gutierrez, NaturalNews.com  November 17, 2009 

(NaturalNews) Cancer experts are expressing increasing concern over the explosion of campaigns urging people to get regularly screened for a wide variety of cancers, warning that such programs may do more harm than good.

"It is a real problem," said Otis W. Brawley of the American Cancer Society. "They are doing things that might actually harm the people they want to help."

Brawley made his comments about supporters of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz's bill that would mandate an education program to promote breast cancer self-screening among young women. But the comments could just as easily apply to supporters of the American Urological Association's ad campaign urging prostate cancer screening, or the Light of Life Foundation's ads promoting screening for thyroid cancer.

There are now campaigns to promote regular screening for nearly every variety of cancer, based on the widespread popular belief that early detection of cancer is important in saving lives. Yet experts note that for the vast majority of cancers, there is little support for this belief.

In the absence of specific risk factors – like a history of smoking or family history of a certain kind of cancer – or symptoms – like a lump – there is no evidence that routine cancer screening reduces death rates. There are only three exceptions to this general rule, said the United States Preventive Services Task Force, a panel of medical experts commissioned by Congress. Women should get regular pap smears starting at age 21 andmammograms starting at age 40, while all people should be screened for colon cancer starting at age 50. Of these three, the evidence for the usefulness of breast cancer screening is the weakest.

Critics of cancer awareness campaigns note that such campaigns can make people think that the risk of dying from cancer is actually much higher than it really is. For example, contrary to what the current ad campaign might suggest, only 1600 people die from thyroid cancer each year in the United States. An incorrect assessment of risk might lead people to perform unnecessary screenings that can actually be harmful.

"There are five things that can happen as a result of screening tests, and four of them are bad," said task force Chairperson Ned Calonge. The only positive result, he said, is identifying a life-threatening cancer early enough for treatment to be helpful. Harmful results include detecting an aggressive cancer that will not respond to treatment no matter how early it is detected, detecting a stable or slow-growing cancer that does not require treatment, falsely detecting cancer where there is none, or failing to detect a real cancer and thus giving patients a false sense of security as symptoms begin to develop.

False positives lead to unnecessary, painful and traumatic biopsies and other procedures, even when they do not lead to treatment for a cancer that does not exist. Even when cancers are real, treatment is not necessarily helpful. Yet because few tests exist to determine how aggressive a cancer is or how it will respond to treatment, most patients are given the full barrage of therapies such as radiation, chemo and surgery. In many cases, these treatments are costly and carry debilitating side effects. Treatment for prostate cancer, for example, can often lead to impotence and incontinence. In most cases the disease grows too slowly to be dangerous, however.

On top of the physical and emotional costs, cancer screening is costly. U.S. women spend $4 billion on mammograms every year, leading to between $1.4 and $7 billion worth of unnecessary biopsies and other surgeries on healthy breasts each year.

Most experts recommend that people talk with their physicians to gain an understanding of what cancer tests might be helpful for them as individuals. In contrast, mass cancer screening is like a lottery, said Barnett S. Kramer of the National Institutes of Health.

"In exchange for those few who win the lottery," he said, "there are many, many others who have to pay the price in human costs."
http://www.naturalnews.com/027513_cancer_screening_mammograms.html

Vaccines and Pregnancy Do Not Mix

Paul Fassa, NaturalNews.com  November 17, 2009 

(NaturalNews) From an internet forum: "I got both vaccines [seasonal and swine flu] on Thursday. I was 9 weeks pregnant. I miscarried on Sunday. I was told by several doctors to get these vaccines. Now I wish I followed my gut feeling and not get them at ALL!" This is not an isolated case.

Here's another report: "I feel like I had a healthy baby and I caused this by getting the H1N1 vaccine. My doctors pushed it. I researched online and there have been many miscarriages after the H1N1 vaccine but they haven't been reported since it is hard to say what caused the miscarriages."

She researched online, the only source reporting vaccination tragedies throughout the world.

Lies Under the Light of Truth

First of all, the Swine Flu is less harmful than a normal seasonal flu. Research with ferrets, real statistics released by independent researchers, as well as reports from uncorrupted medical authorities have confirmed this. The CDC and mainstream media bury that information. Instead, they circulate alarming false swine flu statistics.

But one mainstream media outlet, CBS Washington Unplugged, did inadvertently reveal true swine flu statistics. They had tried to get information from the CDC about swine flu episodes actually confirmed. The CDC skirted the issue and stonewalled them.

So they surveyed all 50 USA state medical laboratories themselves. The results were that most states had confirmed five percent or less of reported cases as swine flu. Most labs reported half or more cases were not any kind of flu! So much for hysteria.

Dr. Michael Bronze of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, stated on WebMD that the actual risk of pregnant women getting hospitalized for swine flu infections is one in 300 thousand.

The Australian/New Zealand's flu season was surveyed by American epidemiological statisticians. The data from around the middle of that flu season indicated that pregnant women are 99.97 percent sure of avoiding hospital care for any flu.

Of those few admitted and held in ICU 7.7 percent died. Not a high figure. And even those few had other health complications prior to being infected with the swine flu.
Vaccinations Are The Real Danger.

According to Dr. Russel Blaylock, retired neurosurgeon and author of Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills, various studies have proven that artificially stimulating the immune system causes a cytokine immune reaction that damages the forming brain of a fetus.

Throw in thimerosal mercury additives as well as formaldehyde and other toxic materials delivered in the vaccines. These circulate through the fetus if a pregnant woman is vaccinated. The child can become prone to seizures, autism, schizophrenia, and a host of other neurological problems.

There is the case of Desiree Jennings, the young Washington Redskins cheerleader who was diagnosed with dystonia by doctors at John Hopkins and Fairfax Inova. They determined her dystonia, which caused chronic severe spasms and partial paralysis, was a reaction to her seasonal flu shot.

Right, she wasn't pregnant. She was also active and healthy. But her story links the miscarriage stories to Dr. Blaylock's conclusion, "The bottom line is vaccinating a pregnant women is vary hazardous to the mother's health as well as the baby."

As for miscarriages, there has been a history of sterilization agents planted surreptitiously in vaccines intended for women in developing countries. Some vaccines were examined and recovered before further damage could be done. More at - http://www.naturalnews.com/026907_f...

And now special flu jab centers are being set up for pregnant women here?
http://www.naturalnews.com/027512_vaccines_miscarriage.html

Genetically engineered hormones used by dairy industry promote cancer

E. Huff, NaturalNews.com  November 16, 2009 

(NaturalNews) An industry report claiming that the genetically-engineered hormone Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin (rBST) is safe has received criticism from the Cancer Prevention Coalition (CPC) for its dubious findings. Funded by producers of rBST, the report was conducted entirely by industry-paid consultants rather than by independent, credible scientists, indicating it is fallacious.

Dr. Samuel S. Epstein, chairman of the CPC, lambasted the report for failing to recognize the grave, scientifically-proven dangers imposed by rBST. Author of the 2006 book What's In Your Milk?, Dr. Epstein stated the report was "blatantly false".

One of the primary effects of rBST on cows is that is causes them to become seriously ill with various diseases including mastitis, an infection of the udder that ultimately contaminates milk with pus. Commonly branded as Posilac, rBST unnaturally increases milk production at the expense of the cow's health, the repercussions of which are passed on to the consumer.

Monsanto, the original creator of rBST, was forced to reveal the truth that rBST induces roughly 20 toxic effects, all of which end up tainting the milk with disease. When farmers then treat these illnesses with antibiotics, those too end up in the milk that is eventually drunk by unsuspecting consumers.
Got milk hormones?
Research has also revealed that rBST-treated milk is both chemically and nutritionally different than natural milk and that traces of the hormone end up in the milk. Those who drink rBST-tainted milk readily absorb the hormone in their digestive tract which is then assimilated into the blood.

Milk from rBST-treated cows contains unnaturally high levels of natural growth factor (IGF-1) which inhibits the body's natural defense mechanisms designed to fend off cancer. Well-documented scientific studies have implicated the hormone in precipitating prostate, breast, and colon cancer.

CPC has been working for decades to eliminate rBST from the milk supply. In 1990, the group issued a warning in conjunction with over 40 other organizations about the dangers of rBST. The warning fell upon deaf ears at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which continued to accept the flawed notion that rBST was safe in spite of its proven dangers.

In 2007, CPC sent a petition to the FDA entitled "Seeking Withdrawal of the New Animal Drug application for rBST", which was endorsed by several farmer and consumer protection groups. Citing Congressional concerns about the hormone that date back to the 1980s, as well as countless studies illustrating the toxicity of rBST, these groups labored to reform the FDA's flawed position. Unfortunately, the FDA ignored the facts and continues to keep the interests of industry as its priority at the expense of consumer protection.

Dr. Epstein's recommendation, especially for children who are most susceptible to cancer-causing additives like rBST, is to choose organic milk if they are going to drink milk at all. Organic milk is not allowed to contain rBST or any artificial hormones and is the best alternative to conventional milk that may be tainted with rBST.

Organic, raw milk is the most preferable option as it is a whole, living food rich in beneficial enzymes, probiotics, and other nutrients that get destroyed during pasteurization and homogenization. Many believe raw milk is a perfect food rich in essential vitamins and high in protein.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027508_rBST_cancer.html

Eggplant Cures Skin Cancer

Melanie Grimes, NaturalNews.com  November 16, 2009 

(NaturalNews) An ingredient in common eggplant has been shown to cure cancer. The eggplant extract is a phytochemical called solasodine glycoside, or BEC5. Dr. Bill E. Cham discovered it, after hearing of a folk medicine cure from Australian farmers. They told him of eye cancers cured in cattle after application of a poultice made from the fruit of a weed called Devil's Apple, known in Latin as Solanum linnaeanum. This plant is part of the Solanacea family, which includes other common vegetables such as tomato and eggplant.

BEC5 works by bonding to a receptor on the surface of the cancer cell. After the cell digests the eggplant extract, it causes the cell to rupture. The cancer cell is destroyed and its contents are then reabsorbed by the body.

BEC5 has been proven effective in treating over 80,000 cases of skin cancer, preventing surgery. The types of cancer treated by eggplant are both invasive and non-invasive non-melanoma skin cancers. In every case the cancers went into remission and did not return. Australians have been curing their skin cancers using these phytochemicals for decades.

BEC5 acts by killing cancer cells without harming any other healthy cells in the human body. BEC5 can also be used to treat actinic keratose, the precursor to cancer, as well as age or sunspots on the skin.

Actinic keratoses are a possible predictor of skin cancer. These red patches caused by sun exposure are made of abnormal cells that can mutate into malignant cells in the basal, or lower layers of the skin. Squamous cell carcinomas are another common form of skin cancer, and one which causes nearly two thousands deaths annually. This wart-type growth has irregular borders and can also be treated with the eggplant extract.

Used as a cream for over twenty-five years in clinical trials in both Australia and the United Kingdom, BEC5 had success rate of over 78% when applied for eight weeks. Used for 12 weeks, the cream had a 100% success rate in removing cancers, none of which returned for the following five years.

Over one million new cases of non-melanoma skin cancers are diagnosed each year in the United States alone. Skin cancer is now the most common illness in men over the age of 50. It is even more common than lung, prostate or colon cancer. Incidences are so common that one out of three Caucasians are now expected to develop skin cancer at some point in their lives. With this simple, natural remedy, many surgeries might be prevented and health restored.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027506_eggplant_skin_cancer.html

Plant foods, fiber, vitamin C associated with lower C-reactive protein in men
Life Extensions, November 13, 2009
The November, 2009 issue of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported the finding of Dr A Oliveira of the University of Porto in Portugal and colleagues of a protective effect for fruit, vegetables, vitamin C, and fiber against elevations in C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation which has been proposed as a predictor of cardiovascular disease.
The study included 385 men and 675 women residing in Portugal. Questionnaires completed by the subjects concerning dietary intake over the previous year were analyzed for the intake of fruit, vegetables, carotenoids, vitamin C, vitamin E and fiber. Participants’ serum CRP levels were categorized as low at less than 1.0 milligram per liter; moderate, at 1.0 to 3.0 mg/L; and high at over 3.0 mg/L.
Men in this study were more likely to smoke and exercise than female participants, and had lower levels of CRP. In men whose weight was normal, for every 100 gram increase in fruit and vegetable intake there was a 30 percent less probability of being classified in a higher CRP category. Vitamin C, carotenoids, fiber, and fruit and vegetables separately showed protective associations. No significant associations were found for women.
In their discussion, the authors remark that women’s body fat, which tends to be proportionally greater than men’s, is a source of proinflammatory cytokines which could be responsible for the greater amount of inflammation documented in this group. “We could hypothesize that in women the adipose tissue is the most important source of inflammation, and that the effect of nutrients and foods are not enough to be detected,” the authors write. The same explanation was suggested for the lack of a positive effect associated with the nutrients analyzed in this study in overweight men, in whom increased inflammation is likely to overcome potential benefits.
http://www.lef.org/whatshot/2009_11.htm#Plant-foods-fiber-vitamin-C-associated-with-lower-C-reactive-protein-in-men

New study questions effectiveness of popular cholesterol drugs

washingtonpost.com 11-16-09
A widely prescribed and expensive cholesterol drug is not as effective as niacin, a cheap vitamin, in helping to unclog coronary arteries in people already taking statins, the standard medicines used to lower cholesterol, according to a new study.
The research, which appears Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine, is sending rumbles through the medical community because it is the third recent study to raise questions about the effectiveness of Zetia and its sister drug, Vytorin, highly profitable pharmaceuticals made by Merck & Co.
"This is the third strike," said Steven Nissen, chairman of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. "The studies are telling us that it doesn't appear to produce benefits. This is a drug used by millions of Americans, a very big seller, in a health-care system where costs are a major issue. And the question has to be, is this the right approach?"
Vytorin and Zetia are among the most popular prescription drugs. Last year, physicians in the United States wrote a total of more than 29 million prescriptions for them, and worldwide sales totaled $4.56 billion, according to Merck.
Although the drugs have been shown to reduce cholesterol, there is no evidence that they prevent heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular problems.
Top Merck executives are vigorously defending their drugs and have dismissed the new research as limited.
"I don't think a clinician or a doctor or a patient should use this as the basis for any decision-making whatsoever," said Richard Pasternak, vice president of Merck research laboratories. "I worry that people might unnecessarily come off a drug that is approved and accepted."
He and other critics said the study appearing Monday involved just 200 patients, was ended early, and examined what is known as a surrogate marker -- the amount of plaque on artery walls -- rather than evaluating the rate of heart attacks and stroke.
Because plaque can clog arteries and restrict blood flow to the heart and brain, cardiologists view plaque as a good indication for the risk of heart attack and stroke.
The study has been highly anticipated by the medical community and financial analysts, and is the buzz at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association, which began Sunday in Orlando.
Introduced in 2002 and 2004 amid heavy direct-to-consumer marketing, Zetia and Vytorin became blockbusters for Merck and Schering-Plough, which had collaborated on their development. The companies recently merged.
But new research has placed the drugs under greater scrutiny and the number of written prescriptions has been slipping, although together they still represent big business for Merck.
Last year, a study released by Merck showed that Zetia did not reduce plaque in arteries compared with patients taking only statins, which are much less expensive and available in generic form. Although released in January, the study had been completed in 2006, prompting a class-action lawsuit alleging that Merck intentionally withheld unfavorable results of a clinical trial. The company paid $41.5 million in August to settle the claims.
Another study published last year showed a potential increase in cancer among patients taking Zetia and Vytorin, compared with those taking only statins.
Taken as a whole, the new research is unnerving, said Harlan Krumholz, a Yale University cardiologist. "The accumulating evidence isn't giving you any confidence," he said. "This is a very expensive drug being used without any strong evidence that it's benefiting patients." Zetia and Vytorin should be "drugs of last resort, if used at all," Krumholz said. "And anyone who uses it should make sure patients are informed that they're taking a gamble."
Statins, such as Lipitor, have long been used to lower cholesterol and reduce cardiovascular disease. They inhibit the production of LDL, or low-density lipoprotein, often called "bad" cholesterol, which can lead to plaque buildup in arteries.
Zetia, the brand name for ezetimibe, uses a different mechanism. It blocks the absorption of cholesterol from food in the intestines. It has been shown by Merck to lower LDL by 18 percent on average. It is designed for patients who cannot tolerate statins, or for whom high-dose statins are not working.
Vytorin is Zetia combined with a statin, simvastatin, in one pill.
The study released Monday followed about 200 patients who were already taking statins. Some were also given Niaspan, a modified form of Vitamin B, or niacin. The rest took Zetia. Researchers took images of the artery leading to the brain to measure the thickness of the artery walls over 14 months.
The patients who took Niaspan had less plaque in their arteries and also had higher levels of high-density lipoprotein or HDL. Known as "good" cholesterol, HDL is believed to remove cholesterol from the arteries and carry it back to the liver, where it is passes from the body.
The patients who took Zetia had more plaque in their arteries but lower levels of LDL. They also had more heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular problems than the patients taking niacin. Merck President Peter Kim said the fact that Zetia lowers LDL cholesterol makes it valuable. "It's very well established that lowering LDL saves lives," he said.
Roger S. Blumenthal, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, criticized the new study in an editorial also published Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Blumenthal, who has been a paid speaker for Merck, noted that the new study was halted early, which meant results from 40 percent of the participants were not included in the final analysis.
The study's author, Allen J. Taylor of Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Washington Hospital Center, said the trial ended early because the results were quickly apparent. "It couldn't be more clear," Taylor said. "It would have been unreasonable to continue the experiment because the trial had met its objective -- niacin is superior to ezetimibe."
Kim said any conclusions about Zetia and Vytorin should wait until Merck completes a large-scale clinical trial. It involves 15,000 patients and is not expected to yield results until at least 2012.
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=9019&Section=Vitamins

Vitamin K & Insulin

Nutrition Action Health Letter  11-16-09
Originally Published:20091101.
Vitamin K may curb insulin resistance, at least in men. Insulin moves sugar from the blood into the cells, In people who are insulin resistant, the cells don't respond well to insulin and it builds up in the blood.
Researchers randomly assigned 355 men and women aged 60 to 80 to take either vitamin K (500 micrograms a day) or a placebo. After three years, the men who got vitamin K had lower insulin levels and less insulin resistance than those who took a placebo.
Vitamin K had no effect on the women, possibly because those who got vitamin K were (by chance) more likely to be overweight than those who got the placebo. The authors speculated that the extra vitamin K might have been stored in the women's fat tissue, making it unavailable to help insulin do its job.
What to do: Eat more leafy green vegetables (like spinach, kale, collards, and broccoli), which are rich in vitamin K.
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=9018&Section=Vitamins

Heart and Bone Damage From Low Vitamin D Tied to Declines in Sex Hormones; Effects of Vitamin D Deficiency Amplified by Shortage of Estrogen

AScribe Newswire  11-16-09
BALTIMORE, Nov. 15 (AScribe Newswire) -- Researchers at Johns Hopkins are reporting what is believed to be the first conclusive evidence in men that the long-term ill effects of vitamin D deficiency are amplified by lower levels of the key sex hormone estrogen, but not testosterone.
In a national study in 1010 men, to be presented Nov. 15 at the American Heart Association's (AHA) annual Scientific Sessions in Orlando (Poster Abstract #20601a, Poster Hall A2-A3, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Fla.), researchers say the new findings build on previous studies showing that deficiencies in vitamin D and low levels of estrogen, found naturally in differing amounts in men and women, were independent risk factors for hardened and narrowed arteries and weakened bones. Vitamin D is an essential part to keeping the body healthy, and can be obtained from fortified foods, such as milk and cereals, and by exposure to sunlight.
"Our results confirm a long-suspected link and suggest that vitamin D supplements, which are already prescribed to treat osteoporosis, may also be useful in preventing heart disease," says lead study investigator and cardiologist Erin Michos, M.D., M.H.S.
"All three steroid hormones - vitamin D, estrogen and testosterone - are produced from cholesterol, whose blood levels are known to influence arterial and bone health," says Michos, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Heart and Vascular Institute. "Our study gives us a much better understanding of how the three work in concert to affect cardiovascular and bone health."
Michos says the overall biological relationship continues to puzzle scientists because studies of the long-term effects of adding estrogen in the form of hormone replacement therapy in women failed to show fewer deaths from heart disease. Indeed, results showed that in some women, an actual increase in heart disease and stroke rates occurred, although, bone fractures declined.
The Hopkins team's latest data were provided by analyzing blood samples from a subset of men participating in a study on cancer. That study was part of a larger, ongoing national health survey involving both men and women and was designed to compare the risk of diseases between those with the lowest blood levels of vitamin D to those with higher amounts. An unhealthy deficiency, experts say, is considered blood levels of 20 nanograms per milliliter or lower.
The men in the study had their hormone levels measured for both chemical forms of testosterone and estrogen found in blood, when each is either unattached or circulating freely, and when each is attached to a separate protein, known as sex hormone binding globulin, or SHBG for short.
Initial results showed no link between vitamin D deficiency and depressed blood levels of either hormone. And despite finding a harmful relationship between depressed testosterone levels and rates of heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure, as well as osteopenia in men, researchers found that it was independent of deficiencies in vitamin D.
However, when researchers compared ratios of estrogen to SHBG levels, they found that rates of both diseases, especially osteopenia, the early stage of osteoporosis, were higher when both estrogen and vitamin D levels were depressed.
For every single unit decrease in ratios of estrogen to SHBG (both in nanomoles per liter), men low in vitamin D showed an 89 percent increase in osteopenia, but men with sufficient vitamin D levels had a less worrisome 64 percent jump.
Using the same measure of estrogen levels, men low in vitamin D were also at heightened risk of cardiovascular diseases, at 12 percent, compared to men with adequate levels of the vitamin, at 1 percent, numbers that researchers say are still statistically significant.
"These results reinforce the message of how important proper quantities of vitamin D are to good bone health, and that a man's risk of developing osteoporosis and heart disease is heavily weighted on the complex and combined interaction of how any such vitamin deficits interact with both their sex hormones, in particular, estrogen," Michos says.
Michos and her team next plan to analyze blood samples from women to see if the same results from men hold true.
Michos recommends that men and women boost their vitamin D levels by eating diets rich in fatty fish, such as cod, sardines and mackerel, consuming fortified dairy products, taking vitamin supplements, and in warmer weather briefly exposing skin to the sun's vitamin-D producing ultraviolet light.
She points out that clinical trials are under way to determine whether or not vitamin D supplements can prevent incidents of or deaths from heart attack, stroke and other signs of cardiovascular disease.
The U.S. Institute of Medicine suggests that an adequate daily intake of vitamin D is between 200 and 400 international units, but Michos feels this is inadequate to achieve optimal nutrient blood levels (above 30 nanograms per milliliter). Previous results from the same nationwide survey showed that 41 percent of men and 53 percent of women are technically deficient in the nutrient, with vitamin D levels below 28 nanograms per milliliter.
Funding for this study was provided by the Hormone Demonstration Project, a part of the Maryland Cigarette Restitution Fund Research Grant Program at the Johns Hopkins University. Additional support was provided by the American College of Cardiology Foundation and a Clinician Scientist Award at the Johns Hopkins University.
Besides Michos, other researchers at Johns Hopkins involved in this study were Jared Reis, Ph.D.; and Meredith Shields and Elizabeth Platz, Ph.D., Sc.D., at the University's School of Public Health; and Sabine Rohrmann, now at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg. Another investigator in this research was Nader Rifai, Ph.D., at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School.
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=9017&Section=Vitamins

Swine flu skepticism demands deft response
Last Updated: 2009-11-13 10:15:04 -0400 (Reuters Health)
LONDON (Reuters) - European scientists and health authorities are facing angry questions about why H1N1 flu has not caused death and destruction on the scale first feared, and they need to respond deftly to ensure public support.
Accusations are flying in British and French media that the pandemic has been "hyped" by medical researchers to further their own cause, boost research grants and line the pockets of drug companies.
Britain's Independent newspaper this week asked "Pandemic? What Pandemic?"
In their response, scientists are walking a fine line.
They say that although the virus is mild, it can still kill, and that the relatively low fatalities in Europe are in part the result of official response to their advice.
On suggestions of "hyping" the threat to boost research funding, they point out that while we know enough to start to protect the vulnerable, we need to know a lot more to conquer the virus, and funding for new research and drugs is vital to be equipped for future pandemics.
H1N1 is hitting a younger population -- adults in their 20s and 30s and children -- and the global death count so far is more than 6,000, according to the WHO.
While seasonal flu attacks about 20 percent of the population in an average year, experts estimate that even in Britain -- the worst-hit country in Europe so far -- fewer than 10 percent of people have had H1N1 swine flu.
Fred Hayden, influenza research co-ordinator at the Wellcome Trust and a former World Health Organization (WHO) expert, said early planning is paying off, but added:
"I wouldn't characterize this as a "mild" pandemic at all. We are seeing some very unfortunate loss of life. I think it a bit early to make that judgment."
Yet the word "mild" is used so often to describe H1N1's impact in most people that it is prompting skeptical publics to ask what all the fuss is about. Why they should care? And why take a vaccine?
France's Le Parisien newspaper ran the headline: "Swine flu: why the French distrust the vaccine" and noted a gap between the predicted impact of H1N1 and the less dramatic reality.
"Although some 30-odd people have died....the disease is not really frightening," it said. "Dangerous liaisons between certain experts, the labs and the government, the obscurity of the contracts between the state and the pharma firms have added to the doubt."
SCENARIO REVISED DOWN
In Britain, health authorities' original worst-case scenario -- which said as many as 65,000 could die from H1N1 -- has twice been revised down and the prediction is now for around 1,000 deaths, way below the average annual toll of 4,000 to 8,000 deaths from seasonal winter flu.
A group of eminent scientists who called a media briefing in London this week to announce 7.5 million pounds ($12.4 million) of new funding for British research into H1N1 found their plans hijacked by reporters asking why the pandemic was so weak.
Scientists say the truth is they can't win.
The WHO has been urging countries to prepare for a flu pandemic since 1997, when H5N1 avian flu infected 18 people in Hong Kong and was stopped only after a mass slaughter of birds. The re-emergence of H5N1 in China and South Korea in 2003 fueled the urgency to get ready.
Now that it has arrived, the apparently low impact of the H1N1 pandemic so far may show that the planning is paying off, the Wellcome Trust's Hayden said.
British officials repeatedly said the nation was well-prepared for a flu pandemic. It had high stocks of antivirals and orders for enough vaccines to cover its population in place very early.
Hayden said comparisons with earlier flu pandemics like the one in 1918, which killed an estimated 230,000 people in Britain and up to 50 million worldwide, were skewed by the fact that there were so few effective treatments at that time.
"We didn't have antivirals then, and we didn't have antibiotics for the high frequency of bacterial complications," he said. "We have these kinds of interventions now and they are making a difference."
At the funding briefing, Peter Openshaw, director of the center for respiratory infection at Imperial College London, dismissed suggestions that scientists were enjoying the fruits of a pandemic in the form of big grants to keep them in work.
"This is not something that we are licking our lips and welcoming," he said. "But there is certainly an enormous outbreak of scientific information that has greatly enriched our understanding of flu."
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/11/13/eline/links/20091113elin008.html

Stressed? Dark chocolate might help, scientists say
Last Updated: 2009-11-13 10:14:04 -0400 (Reuters Health)
SYDNEY, Nov 13 (Reuters Life!) - A small bar of dark chocolate a day can keep stress hormones at bay, according to a small study by international researchers.
German and Swiss researchers have found that eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduced the levels of stress hormones in highly stressed people.
Dark chocolate, which is rich in a variety of bioactive compounds, also partially corrected other imbalances in the body related to stress.
"The study provides strong evidence that a daily consumption of 40 grams (1.4 ounces) during a period of two weeks is sufficient to modify the metabolism of healthy human volunteers," wrote the researchers led by Sunil Kochhar, from the Nestle Research Center in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The study, published online in ASC's Journal of Proteome Research, comes amid growing scientific evidence that antioxidants and other beneficial substances in dark chocolate may reduce risk factors for heart disease and other illnesses.
The trial was performed on 30 people who were classified as having low or high anxiety. Researchers measured levels of stress hormones in blood and urine samples collected several times a day from the participants in the trial to measure metabolic changes.
The participants snacked on 20 grams of dark chocolate mid-morning and again as an afternoon snack.
The researchers said people with high anxiety traits had a distinct metabolic profile, and changes that occurred from eating dark chocolate showed up clearly after two weeks with reduced stress hormones and other stress-related chemicals in the blood. However, they did not test the subjects' feelings of stress after eating chocolate, only their blood levels of various compounds.
The authors said the study was small and further research was necessary -- while nutrition experts were quick to add that chocolate is high in fat and too much can lead to weight issues.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/11/13/eline/links/20091113elin011.html

Diet rich in sulfur amino acids may aid bowel healing

Nutraingredients.com , 16-Nov-2009

A higher intake of sulfur-containing amino acids like cysteine following intestinal surgery might aid healthy intestinal recovery, claims a new study.
Short bowel syndrome (SBS) is a condition related to poor absorption of nutrients, which typically occurs in people who have had half or more of their small intestine removed.
Diarrhoea is the main symptom of SBS and can lead to dehydration, malnutrition, and weight loss, and researchers are studying ways to help the small intestine that remains after surgery adapt and function better.
And, according to a study, published in the December issue of The Journal of Nutrition scientists, based at Emory University, said that metabolism of sulfuramino acids may be important in alleviating SBS.
The authors maintain that these amino acids and their associated proteins are especially critical in the regulation of reduction-oxidation (redox) status and protecting the body from oxidative stress. Cysteine is the precursor to glutathione, a powerful antioxidant and also used to cleanse the body of toxins.
To study the possibility that consumption of higher amounts of sulfur amino acids might help prevent SBS after massive small intestinal resection, the authors studied its effect in rats.
Methods
According to the scientists, male rats were fed either a nutritionally adequate control diet or one containing a similar amount of calories and protein but elevated levels of sulfur amino acids (218 per cent of the cystine+methionine content of the control diet).
The researchers said that the animals were further divided into two experimental groups depending on whether they underwent a ‘sham’ surgery or a small bowel resection.
Because rats undergoing the more extensive surgery ate less than those with the sham procedure, and this difference could affect bowel growth indices, the investigators said that they employed a pair-feeding strategy.
They said that one week after surgery, the rats were killed and their intestinal segments were carefully removed and weighed, with sections of jejunum, ileum and colon microscopically examined, and analyzed for DNA and protein contents as well as biochemical indicators of sulfur-related oxidative state.
Results
The data showed that bowel-resected animals consuming the sulfur-supplemented diet had a greater reduction in the redox potential of the GSH/glutathione disulfide pool in jejunal and ileal mucosa compared with those consuming the control diet.
The researchers claim that this effect was associated with significantly increased cellular growth in the ileal mucosa, a beneficial outcome in terms of intestinal absorptive following surgery.
They conclude that the study shows that greater consumption of sulfur-containing amino acids following intestinal surgery might be beneficial in terms of aiding healthy intestinal recovery, and that this may be partly due to influencing the GSH/GSSG reduction-oxidation system in the gut.
However, the researchers stress that further clinical studies will be needed to determine whether dietary sulfur consumption might decrease malabsorption due to SBS in humans.
Source: The Journal of Nutrition  Title: Dietary sulfur amino acid supplementation reduces small bowel thiol/disulfide redox state and stimulates ileal mucosal growth after massive bowel resection in rats. Authors: Y. Shyntum, S. S. Iyer, J. Tian, L. Hao, Y. O. Mannery, D. P. Jones, T. R. Ziegler
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Diet-rich-in-sulfur-amino-acids-may-aid-bowel-healing

Coffee linked to breast and colon cancer

Foodnavigator-usa.com, 13-Nov-2009

More research is necessary to explore links between a compound in coffee and breast and colon cancer, according to Texas AgriLife Research scientists.
Kathleen Philips, a spokesperson for Texas AgriLife Research, told NutraIngredients.com: “If the compound could be extracted and directed towards the colon tumor, it could be a new way to target this form of cancer.”
Additional studies are necessary to determine recommended consumption amounts, she added.
Act like a hormone
Dr Clinton Allred, AgriLife Research nutrition scientist, said that trigonelline has the ability to act like a hormone. "So there is a tie to cancer in the sense that we are looking at estrogen-dependent (breast) cancer cells. But that doesn't suggest that it would actually cause the disease. I don't believe there should be any concern about drinking coffee at this point," said Allred.
Allred’s report, published in the Journal of Nutrition, focuses on dietary compounds that can mimic the hormone estradiol – a primary hormone in women. His studies have examined how estrogen protects against the development of colon cancer.
Estradiol is one of three estrogen hormones, explained Allred. "There's a history of these compounds in crops such as soy. Soy has a number of different compounds that can mimic estradiol in several disease states some of which are good and some of which have the potential to be more deleterious-type effects."
Concentrations
Estrogen-dependent tumors in the presence of estradiol will grow faster, he said."We haven't gotten as far as to suggest that if a woman had the disease that it would necessarily be a problem. But what we've proven is that the compound is estrogenic or can be at certain concentrations and doses," said Allred.
Trigonelline occurs in coffee beans at varying concentrations depending on the type of bean. "The more you roast a coffee bean, the less there is," Allred said. "But the most critical aspect is that when you do a water extract of ground coffee, which is basically how you make a cup of coffee. It does in fact come out in the water, so we know it is in a cup of coffee."
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Science-Nutrition/Coffee-linked-to-breast-and-colon-cancer

White bean derived supplement may lower GI of bread

Foodnavigator-usa.com , 13-Nov-2009

The glycemic index (GI) of foods could be reduced through the intake of a white bean derived dietary supplement, claims a new study.
According to findings published in the Nutrition Journal, a dietary supplement derived from the white kidney bean, when consumed by volunteers, in both capsule and powder form, decreased the GI of white bread.
The GI index measures how quickly certain foods release carbohydrates into the body, which then raise consumers' blood glucose levels. High GI foods cause blood sugar levels to rise more rapidly whereas a low GI rating, that takes longer to digest and release sugar into the bloodstream, provides consumers with the satiety, 'full' sensation.
The researchers, based at the UCLA School of Medicine, say that epidemiological studies suggest that low GI diets decrease the risk of developing type IIdiabetes and coronary heart disease, while controlled clinical trials indicate that low GI diets lowers cholesterol.
Hypothesis
According to the scientists, during in-vitro analysis, the white kidney bean derived supplement called Phase 2 was shown to inhibit the digesting enzyme alpha-amylase, which is secreted in the saliva and by the pancreas and is responsible for breaking down starches into sugars that are consequently absorbed in the small intestine.
“Since the GI is a function of the rate of absorption of glucose in the gut, inhibition of alpha-amylase may result in the lowering of GI,” they hypothesised.
The authors said the objective of this study was to thus determine whether the addition of Phase 2 in-vivo would lower the GI of a commercially available high glycemic food such as white bread.
The study
Predicting the GI through the in-vivo method involved feeding the test food to a number of human volunteers and taking regular blood samples to monitor changing blood sugar levels.
They researchers explained that they conducted an open-label 6-arm crossover study with 13 randomized subjects aged between 24 and 44 and a BMI between 18 and 25 (kg/m2).
And they said that standardized GI testing was performed using white bread with and without the addition of Phase 2 in capsule and powder form.
Subjects with any active eating disorders, gastrointestinal illness or history of gastrointestinal surgery, diabetes or other endocrinologic disorders were excluded, continued the authors.
They said that the study population received 50g net carbohydrates in the form of white bread with butter either by itself or with a form of Phase 2 in seven different sessions at the testing facility.
“Although fat may affect the GI of foods there was consistency in the study in that it was included in both the control and test groups,” stressed the researchers.
They said that the dietary supplement was given at dosages of 1500mg, 2000mg, and 3000mg in capsule form and 1500mg, 2000mg, and 3000mg in powder form, with the powder form of the test product mixed into the butter which was spread on the bread.
“The capsules were taken immediately prior to the ingestion of food. During each visit subjects had their capillary blood glucose measured nine times over two hours,” explained the authors.
Statistical analysis was performed by one-way ANOVA of all seven treatment groups, they added.
Results
The researchers found that the data demonstrated significant decreases in the GI of white bread with the powder form of Phase 2 at the dosage of 3000mg, while the capsule formulation at the 1500mg dose had no effect on the GI and both the 2000mg and 3000mg capsule doses caused insignificant reductions in GI.
"The data suggests a possible dose dependent effect with a preference for the powder form.The lesser effect with the capsule formulation may reflect a reduced bioavailability of the white bean extract, perhaps due to the time required for capsule dissolution,” they said.
The authors conclude that their results merit further research with a larger number of volunteers, and they suggest it would be beneficial to determine if 2000mg and 3000mg doses of powder and/or capsule forms of Phase 2 can reduce the GI's of other high GI foods such as pasta or rice.
Source: Nutrition Journal Title: Lowering the glycemic index of white bread using a white bean extract  Authors: J K Udani, B B Singh, M L Barrett and H G Preuss
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Science-Nutrition/White-bean-derived-supplement-may-lower-GI-of-bread

Plastic chemicals 'feminise boys'
BBC News, November 16, 2009
Chemicals in plastics alter the brains of baby boys, making them "more feminine", say US researchers.
Males exposed to high doses in the womb went on to be less likely to play with boys' toys like cars or to join in rough and tumble games, they found.
The University of Rochester team's latest work adds to concerns about the safety of phthalates, found in vinyl flooring and PVC shower curtains.
The findings are reported in the International Journal of Andrology.
Phthalates have the ability to disrupt hormones, and have been banned in toys in the EU for some years.
However, they are still widely used in many different household items, including plastic furniture and packaging.
There are many different types and some mimic the female hormone oestrogen.
“ This feminising capacity of phthalates makes them true 'gender benders' ” 
Elizabeth Salter-Green, director of CHEM Trust
The same researchers have already shown that this can mean boys are born with genital abnormalities.
Now they say certain phthalates also impact on the developing brain, by knocking out the action of the male hormone testosterone.
Dr Shanna Swan and her team tested urine samples from mothers over midway through pregnancy for traces of phthalates.
The women, who gave birth to 74 boys and 71 girls, were followed up when their children were aged four to seven and asked about the toys the youngsters played with and the games they enjoyed.
Girls' play
They found that two phthalates DEHP and DBP can affect play behaviour.
Boys exposed to high levels of these in the womb were less likely than other boys to play with cars, trains and guns or engage in "rougher" games like playfighting.
PHTHALATES 
   There are many different types and the most commonly used are deemed entirely safe by regulators
   DEHP - used to make PVC soft and pliable and used in products like flooring
   DBP - used as a plasticiser in glues, dyes and textiles
Elizabeth Salter-Green, director of the chemicals campaign group CHEM Trust, said the results were worrying.
"We now know that phthalates, to which we are all constantly exposed, are extremely worrying from a health perspective, leading to disruption of male reproduction health and, it appears, male behaviour too.
"This feminising capacity of phthalates makes them true 'gender benders'."
She acknowledged that the boys who have been studied were still young, but she said reduced masculine play at this age might lead to other feminised developments in later life.
But Tim Edgar, of the European Council for Plasticisers and Intermediates, said: "We need to get some scientific experts to look at this study in more detail before we can make a proper judgement."
He said there were many different phthalates in use and the study concerned two of the less commonly used types that were on the EU candidate list as potentially hazardous and needing authorisation for use.
DBP has been banned from use in cosmetics, such as nail varnish, since 2005 in the EU.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8361863.stm

Dementia drug use 'killing many'

BBC News, November 16, 2009
Needless use of anti-psychotic drugs is widespread in dementia care and contributes to the death of many patients, an official review suggests.
About 180,000 patients a year are given the drugs in care homes, hospitals and their own homes to manage aggression.
But the expert review - commissioned by ministers - said the treatment was unnecessary in nearly 150,000 cases and was linked to 1,800 deaths.
The government in England has agreed to take steps to reduce use of the drugs.
These include:

• Improving access to other types of therapy, such as counselling
• Better monitoring of prescribing practices
• Guidance for families explaining what they can do if they are worried about drug use
• Specialist training in dementia for health and social care staff
• Appointment of a new national director for dementia to oversee the measures

The review - and the government pledge to take action - comes after long-running concerns about the use of anti-psychotic drugs.
Over the past 30 years, the NHS has increasingly turned to the treatment, which was originally aimed at people with schizophrenia, as it has struggled to cope with the rise in people with dementia.
'Different mindset'
There are currently 700,000 people in the UK with the condition, but this is expected to rise to one million in the next 10 years because of the ageing population.
The review, led by King's College London expert Professor Sube Banerjee, accepted that for some people anti-psychotic drugs would be necessary.
But it said they should be used only for a maximum of three months and when the person represented a risk to themselves or others.
Professor Banerjee estimated that of the 180,000 people given the drugs each year, only 36,000 benefited.
He said health and social care services needed to develop a "different mindset".
He believes if the steps the government has agreed to are followed, anti-psychotic drug use could be reduced by two-thirds within three years.
Care services minister Phil Hope agreed action was needed.
"We know there are situations where anti-psychotic drug use is necessary - we're not calling for a ban, but we do want to see a significant reduction in use."
Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, said the long-awaited review was a welcome recognition of the scale of the problem.
He added: "This goes beyond quality of care. It is a fundamental rights issue.
"Our members tell us of enormous worry and distress over what is happening to their loved ones."
The Royal College of GPs - in most cases the drugs are prescribed by family doctors - admitted the situation was "unacceptable".
President Dr Steve Field said: "People deserve much better."
While the review was commissioned by the government in England, ministers elsewhere in the UK have agreed to study the recommendations.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8356423.stm

Whole Foods to Use "Non-GMO" Seal on Its Private-Label Products
David Gutierrez, NaturalNews.com  November 16, 2009 

(NaturalNews) Whole Foods Market has announced plans to have all of its store-brand products independently tested to certify that they are made without the use of any genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

"Since there is no U.S. regulation regarding disclosure on products manufactured with GMO ingredients, we are committed to helping our shoppers make confident choices by knowing that what they are buying has been verified as meeting the standards of the Non-GMO Project," said Senior Global Vice President of Purchasing Michael Besancon.

Ensuring a food supply free of GMO ingredients can be difficult for manufacturers, since GM and unmodified crops are often mixed together prior to distribution. In addition, the prevalence of genetic modification in some crops – 90 percent of U.S.-grown soy is genetically modified – can make finding traditional varieties difficult.

Whole Foods is the largest retailer to ever take part in the Non-GMO Project's Product Verification Program in order to prove its GMO-free claims. Other companies whose products already carry a Non-GMO seal include Lundberg Family Farms, San J, SK Foods and Whole Soy & Co.

The Product Verification Program provides a GMO-free seal to any products that have tested free of GMO contamination in a combination of document-based reviews, on-site inspections and genetic tests.

Whole Foods called on other segments of the food industry to join it in seeking Non-GMO verification. It is holding a Web seminar on August 26 to educate the food industry about the Non-GMO Project and its Product Verification Program.

"As you can imagine, the level of diligence involved will require an enormous amount of effort at every step in the manufacturing process," said Non-GMO Project board member and Whole Foods Quality Standards Coordinator Joe Dickson. "The more participation we have in the program, the more rapidly the industry will realize efficiencies. Economies of scale will ultimately have a real and lasting impact on the available supply of non-GMOingredients."

Whole Foods' in-house brands should carry the GMO-free seal by October.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027495_Whole_Foods_GMOs.html

Water Wars Erupt in India as Drought Threatens Population Survival
David Gutierrez, NaturalNews.com  November 14, 2009 

(NaturalNews) The drought in India has become so severe that people have begun literally fighting over water in many regions of the country, even murdering each other over the precious substance.

Northern India is in the grips of a drought so severe that in Bhopal, the City of Lakes, the government has been forced to ration water use to half an hour once per three days. Nearly two million people live in this massive city, where the 1,000-year old artificial Upper Lake has shrunk from 38 square kilometers (15 square miles) to a mere five square kilometers (two square miles). 

Almost 100,000 Bhopal residents live without water hookups of their own, relying on water tankers that travel throughout the city. Fights are common when the tankers arrive in a slum, with people jostling each other for the best chance at the limited water supply. In unregistered slums, water tankers never arrive and residents may have to hike two kilometers (one mile) or more to the nearest pumping stations.

It was in one such unregistered slum that the Malviya family drilled a hole into a municipal water pipe, and traveled there shortly before the water began flowing one night, to collect the liquid in whatever containers they could get their hands on. The family was confronted by a group of neighbors, including a local man named Dinu who accused them of blocking the pipe and cutting off water farther down the hill. Dinu slapped Gyarasi Malviya, and when her son Raju tried to interfere, one of the people gathered drew a sword. In the ensuing clash, all the Malviyas were hacked to death.

"We were too afraid to do anything," said a woman who identified herself as Shanno. "Dinu didn't want them to take any water. He wanted it for himself."

The situation in Bhopal and across northern India may offer a glimpse of the world's future. The United Nations has warned that by 2050, four billion people will find themselves living in areas with an insufficient water supply.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027490_water_wars_India.html

Stop and Kill Cancer Cells: Chrysanthemums could Hold the Key, Chinese Scientists Find
Sherry Baker, NaturalNews.com  November 14, 2009 

(NaturalNews) Chinese scientists have found that an extract of a common flowering plant -- known to most of us as mums -- could be a potent cancer treatment. In a series of studies, a research team headed by Professor Zong-fang Li from the Second Affiliated Hospital at Xi'an Jiaotong University's School of Medicine has previously demonstrated that Chrysanthemum indicum extract (CIE) possesses antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and neuroprotective effects. Now, in a paper published in the September issue of the World Journal of Gastroenterology, they report that it also kills human cancer cells through a process known as apoptosis.

In a statement to the media, the scientists explained that researchers have noted the possible anticancer activity of Chrysanthemum indicumbefore, especially against the most common type of liver cancer known as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). But just how CIE works against this and possibly other malignancies has not been known. So, to address this important issue , the Xi'an Jiaotong University investigators studied the effects of CIE on cancer cells in the lab, using a line of human liver cancer cells known as HCC MHCC97H.

For the experiment, Professor Li and his colleagues used both rat hepatocytes (liver cells) and human endothelial cells (cells that line the interior surface of blood vessels) as controls. The results of the experiment showed that CIE dramatically inhibited the proliferation of the HCC MHCC97H cancer cells. And CIE induced apoptosis, too, a form of cell death in which a programmed sequence of events leads to the elimination of cells without releasing harmful substances into the surrounding area. This process involves a series of biochemical events that lead to changes in the cell membrane, shrinkage of cells, nuclear fragmentation and chromosomal DNA fragmentation.

However, the chrysanthemum extract did not cause any harm to the normal rat and human cells. Bottom line: the chrysanthemum derived extract showed such potency specifically against cancerous cells -- while not damaging normal, healthy cells -- that CIE could be a promising novel treatment for human cancer.

Using chrysanthemums for natural healing isn't a new idea. Traditional healers in numerous cultures have long used parts of the plant and its flowers to treat dizziness, headaches, fevers, inflammation and more (http://www.herbreference.com/chrysa...). When used as a houseplant, chrysanthemums can also help improve air quality.

Reference:  Li ZF, Wang ZD, Ji YY, Zhang S, Huang C, Li J, Xia XM. Induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in human HCC MHCC97H cells with Chrysanthemum indicum extract. World Journal of Gastroenterology 2009; 15(36): 4538-4546 .
http://www.naturalnews.com/027486_cancer_health_cells.html

Human milk improves nutritional outcomes

Times of India  16 November 2009, 11:37am IST

Human milk can significantly improve nutritional and neurodevelopmental outcomes in premature babies, say experts. 

University of California, San Diego Health Sciences have recently launched a website dedicated to offering families and the medical community valuable information about the best way to provide human milk to premature and underweight infants. 

The website was developed with a 10,000 dollars grant from The March of DimesþuSan Diego chapter. 

Infants born prematurely sometimes develop an infection called necrotizing enercolitis (NEC), the most common life-threatening gastrointestinal emergency in the newborn period. 

It causes intense inflammation and acute intestinal necrosis or death. 

"One of the goals of this website is to help fellow hospitals adapt our model of human milk nutrition in their own neonatal intensive care units,¡± said Dr Jae Kim, medical director of the Supporting Premature Infant Nutrition Program (SPIN) at UC San Diego Medical Centre. 

Since the implementation of our feeding protocols, we have seen rates of human milk feeding go up by 15 percent. We¡¯d love to see this become a nationwide trend,¡± Kim added. 

The SPIN program at UCSD Medical Centre is focused on the provision, analysis, and research of human milk to improve nutritional and neurodevelopmental outcomes in preterm babies. The program is believed to be the first of its kind in the United States.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/health-fitness/health/Human-milk-improves-nutritional-outcomes/articleshow/5232537.cms

Artificial Sweeteners are Continually Found to be Unsafe and Toxic
Ethan Huff, NaturalNews.com  November 14, 2009

(NaturalNews) A recent study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology in San Diego found that adult women who drink at least two diet sodas a day experience a 30 percent drop in kidney function over the course of a decade. Findings indicate that artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose are the culprits in the rapid degeneration of glomerular filtration rates in the kidneys of those consuming excessive amounts of artificially-sweetened diet sodas.

Dr. Julie Lin of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and her colleague Dr. Gary Curhan conducted the research correlating artificial sweetenerintake to kidney degradation, highlighting one of the many dangers of artificial sweeteners.

A 2005 study conducted by Dr. Morando Soffritti of the esteemed European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences and the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center confirmed once again what independent scientists discovered over thirty years ago; aspartame consumption leads to all sorts of illness and disease including cancerous tumors, lymphomas, leukemias, lesions in various organs, transitional cell carcinomas, nerve damage, seizures, and premature death.

Original approval of aspartame by the FDA involved questionable studies that were later investigated by the drug enforcement division of the Bureau of Foods. Though found to be faulty and ridden with errors, the FDA ignored both these reports and the slew of adverse event data that surfaced following aspartame's approval. Between 1974 when aspartame was approved and 1990, the number of brain tumors in people over the age of 65 had increased by 67 percent.

Similarly sucralose, a chlorocarbon popularly marketed as the artificial sweetener derived from sugar, has been implicated in severe chronic illnesses including brain and nervous system disorders, migraine headaches, cancers, and immune-system debilitation.

Though touted as safe, the chlorocarbon components of sucralose are verifiable toxins. Those who have experienced negative symptoms from sucralose often recover following the discontinuation of its consumption. Among other results, laboratory tests have concluded that long-term sucralose consumption shrinks the thymus gland, the biological source of the immune system.

According to Dr. Soffritti's research group, most studies alleging the safety of artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose fail to use internationally-recognized "Good Laboratory Practices" for conducting carcinogenicity bioassays and thus arrive at faulty, corporate-controlled outcomes. Rather than objectively seek results, the studies used to allege safety are often funded by the companies producing the additive in question.

Preferable options include natural foods like raw honey and raw agave nectar which are healthy, enzyme-rich sweeteners that work great in moderation. Natural stevia extract is another excellent option as it contains no sugar and no calories, and it is completely safe and suitable for those with a diabetic condition or for those who are looking to cut sugar intake.

Soda alternatives include stevia or fruit-juice sweetened soda water. Some stevia extracts are available in various flavors including root beer and vanilla, offering multitudinous options in creating quick, healthy beverages. Fruit juices mixed in soda water also offer a refreshing thirst quencher for those who don't mind a little natural fruit sugar every now and then.

There are plenty of alternatives to artificial chemical sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin but they are often difficult to find in processed foods. Chalk this up as another great motivation to pursue whole, healthy foods that are as close to their natural states as possible.

http://www.naturalnews.com/027491_aspartame_sweeteners_health.html

Curry as Cure? Spicing Up the Effectiveness of a Potential Disease-Fighter
ScienceDaily (Nov. 16, 2009) — Scientists are reporting development of a nano-size capsule that boosts the body's uptake of curcumin, an ingredient in yellow curry now being evaluated in clinical trials for treatment of several diseases.
Their study is in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication.
Koji Wada and colleagues note that curcumin is a potent antioxidant found in the spice, turmeric. Clinical trials are checking its safety and effectiveness for colon cancer, psoriasis, and Alzheimer's disease. However, digestive juice in the gastrointestinal tract quickly destroys curcumin so that little actually gets into the blood.
Scientists have known for years that encapsulating insulin and certain other drugs into structures called liposomes can boost absorption. The scientists prepared the liposomes encapsulating curcumin and fed them to laboratory rats.
Encapsulating more than quadrupled absorption of curcumin, and also boosted antioxidant levels in the blood. The encapsulating process could be an answer to the problem of increasing curcumin's absorption in the digestive environment of the gastrointestinal tract, they suggest.
Takahashi et al. Evaluation of an Oral Carrier System in Rats: Bioavailability and Antioxidant Properties of Liposome-Encapsulated Curcumin.Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2009; 57 (19): 9141 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091104122528.htm

Inadequate Levels of Vitamin D May Significantly Increase Risk of Stroke, Heart Disease and Death

ScienceDaily (Nov. 16, 2009) — While mothers have known that feeding their kids milk builds strong bones, a new study by researchers at the Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City suggests that Vitamin D contributes to a strong and healthy heart as well -- and that inadequate levels of the vitamin may significantly increase a person's risk of stroke, heart disease, and death, even among people who've never had heart disease.
For more than a year, the Intermountain Medical Center research team followed 27,686 patients who were 50 years of age or older with no prior history of cardiovascular disease. The participants had their blood Vitamin D levels tested during routine clinical care. The patients were divided into three groups based on their Vitamin D levels -- normal (over 30 nanograms per milliliter), low (15-30 ng/ml), or very low (less than 15 ng/ml). The patients were then followed to see if they developed some form of heart disease.
Researchers found that patients with very low levels of Vitamin D were 77 percent more likely to die, 45 percent more likely to develop coronary artery disease, and 78 percent were more likely to have a stroke than patients with normal levels. Patients with very low levels of Vitamin D were also twice as likely to develop heart failure than those with normal Vitamin D levels.
Findings from the study will be presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Conference on Nov. 16 in Orlando, Florida.
"This was a unique study because the association between Vitamin D deficiency and cardiovascular disease has not been well-established," says Brent Muhlestein, MD, director of cardiovascular research of the Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center and one of the authors of the new study. "Its conclusions about how we can prevent disease and provide treatment may ultimately help us save more lives."
A wealth of research has already shown that Vitamin D is involved in the body's regulation of calcium, which strengthens bones -- and as a result, its deficiency is associated with musculoskeletal disorders. Recently, studies have also linked Vitamin D to the regulation of many other bodily functions including blood pressure, glucose control, and inflammation, all of which are important risk factors related to heart disease. From these results, scientists have postulated that Vitamin D deficiency may also be linked to heart disease itself.
"Utah's population gave us a unique pool of patients whose health histories are different than patients in previous studies," Dr. Muhlestein says. "For example, because of Utah's low use of tobacco and alcohol, we were able to narrow the focus of the study to the effects of Vitamin D on the cardiovascular system."
The results were quite surprising and very important, says Heidi May, PhD, MS, an epidemiologist with the Intermountain Medical Center research team and one of the study authors.
"We concluded that among patients 50 years of age or older, even a moderate deficiency of Vitamin D levels was associated with developing coronary artery disease, heart failure, stroke, and death," she says. "This is important because Vitamin D deficiency is easily treated. If increasing levels of Vitamin D can decrease some risk associated with these cardiovascular diseases, it could have a significant public health impact. When you consider that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in America, you understand how this research can help improve the length and quality of people's lives."
Because the study was only observational, definitive links between Vitamin D deficiency and heart disease could not be assigned -- but the findings create an impetus for further study, says Dr. Muhlestein.
"We believe the findings are important enough to now justify randomized treatment trials of supplementation in patients with Vitamin D deficiency to determine for sure whether it can reduce the risk of heart disease," he says.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116085038.htm

Lesbians make better parents

Times of India, 16 November 2009

Lesbians make better parents than a man and a woman, says a British expert. 

According to Stephen Scott, director of research at the National Academy for Parenting Practitioners, kids who are taken care of by lesbian couples are more aspirational, reports The Times . 

Speaking at the launch at the think tank Demos of a report on the influence of character on life, Scott said: “Lesbians make better parents than a man and a woman.” 

Experts have also backed Scott’s comments. 

Over the years, scientists have found that children brought up by female couples are more aspirational and more confident in championing social justice. They exhibit no more tendencies towards homosexuality than the offspring of heterosexual parents.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/relationships/parenting/Lesbians-make-better-parents/articleshow/5232626.cms

Daily dose of nuts benefit heart health

Times of India, 15 November 2009

A daily dose of nuts”walnuts, almonds, pistachios” can make up for a heart-healthy diet, according to Mayo Clinic researchers. 

Most nuts contain some nutrients that can benefit heart health and help with cholesterol control. 

They include unsaturated fats, omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, 1-arginine and plant sterols. Nuts have been shown to reduce low-density lipoproteins (LDL, or cholesterol) levels in the blood. 

Eating nuts also can reduce the risk of developing blood clots and improve the health of the lining of the arteries. 

The above benefits suggest that eating nuts, in limited amounts, may reduce the risk of heart disease, though studies haven’t yet proved this conclusively. 

Almost any type of nut is nutritious -- and high in calories. It is best to eat nuts in moderation, no more than a handful a day. 

Also, choose unsalted or low-salt versions and use nuts as a substitute for saturated fats, such as those found in meats, eggs and dairy products. 

The study has been published in the latest issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/health-fitness/health/Daily-dose-of-nuts-benefit-heart-health/articleshow/5232577.cms

Exercise during pregnancy good for mother

Times of India  16 November 2009

A new study carried out by Polytechnic University of Madrid has revealed that exercising up to the end of pregnancy has no harmful effect on the weight or size of the foetus. 

"An exercise regime carried out during the second and third trimester of pregnancy does not harm the health of the foetus", said Jonatan R. Ruiz, researcher at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, and principal author of this study, who has coordinated a team from the Polytechnic University of Madrid in collaboration with the Swedish centre. 

These findings highlight the benefits for the health of the baby and the mother when a physically-active lifestyle is maintained throughout pregnancy. 

160 healthy women between the ages of 25 and 35 took part in the study, all of whom had sedentary habits and no risk of premature birth. 

Of this group of women, half followed an exercise regime under the supervision of experts in Physical Activity and Sports Science in collaboration with the Gynaecology and Obstetrics Unit of Hospital Severo Ochoa in Madrid. 

The researchers used multiple variables to assess the health of the foetus in women, and they analysed the effect of the training programme carried out during the second and third trimester of pregnancy on the weight and size of the foetus. 

"Body size and gestational age, as well as other health parameters, were similar in the group of women who followed the exercise regime compared to those who did no form of physical activity during pregnancy, which indicates that exercise poses no threat to the health of the foetus", Ruiz said. 

The study appears in the International Journal of Obesity.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/health-fitness/health/Exercise-during-pregnancy-good-for-mother/articleshow/5232664.cms

Common cold virus may stave off swine flu

Times of India  14 November 2009

The virus responsible for causing common cold may help fend off common cold, reveals a new study. 

In the study, researchers found that that the percentage of throat swabs from French respiratory illnesses that tested positive for swine flu fell in September, while at the same time rhinovirus, which causes colds, rose. 

Jean-Sebastien Casalegno of the French national flu lab at the University of Lyon said that in late October, rhinovirus fell - at the same time as flu rose. 

He believes rhinovirus may have blocked the spread of swine flu via a process called viral interference. 

"We think that when you get one infection, it turns on your antiviral defences, and excludes the other viruses," New Scientist quoted Ab Osterhaus at the University of Rotterdam in the Netherlands as saying. 

However, process of interference is unclear, as there have been cases where there is no interference, and people catch two viruses at the same time. 

In another study, Mia Brytting of the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control in Solna reported a rise in rhinovirus coupled with a decrease in swine flu. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/health-fitness/health/Common-cold-virus-may-stave-off-swine-flu/articleshow/5230259.cms

Study data from Friedrich-Schiller University, Institute of Nutrition update understanding of cancer prevention (Study on Watercress)
NewsRx.com 11-13-09
New investigation results, 'Modulation of detoxification enzymes by watercress: in vitro and in vivo investigations in human peripheral blood cells,' are detailed in a study published in European Journal of Nutrition. According to a study from Jena, Germany, "Epidemiological studies indicate that consumption of cruciferous vegetables (CV) can reduce the risk of cancer. Supposed mechanisms are partly the inhibition of phase I and the induction of phase II enzymes."
"The aim of this study was to investigate in vitro and in vivo effects of watercress (WC), a member of the CV family, on chemopreventive parameters using human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) as surrogate cells. We investigated the hypothesis that WC reduces cancer risk by inducing detoxification enzymes in a genotype-dependent manner. In vitro gene expression and enzyme activity experiments used PBMC incubated with a crude extract from fresh watercress (WCE, 0.1-10 microL/mL with 8.2 g WC per 1 mL extract) or with one main key compound phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC, 1-10 microM). From an in vivo perspective, gene expression and glutathione S-transferase (GST) polymorphisms were determined in PBMC obtained from a human intervention study in which subjects consumed 85 g WC per day for 8 weeks. The influence of WC consumption on gene expression was determined for detoxification enzymes such as superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) and glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPX1), whilst the SOD and GPX activities in red blood cells were also analysed with respect to GST genotypes. In vitro exposure of PBMC to WCE or PEITC (24 h) increased gene expression for both detoxification enzymes GPX1 (5.5-fold, 1 microL/mL WCE, 3.7-fold 1 microM PEITC) and SOD2 (12.1-fold, 10 microL/mL WCE, 7.3-fold, 10 microM PEITC), and increased SOD2 activity (1.9-fold, 10 microL/mL WCE). The WC intervention had no significant effect on in vivo PBMC gene expression, as high individual variations were observed. However, a small but significant increase in GPX (p=0.025) and SOD enzyme activity (p=0.054) in red blood cells was observed in GSTM1*0, but not in GSTM1*1 individuals, whilst the GSTT1 genotype had no impact," wrote T. Hofmann and colleagues, Friedrich-Schiller University, Institute of Nutrition (see also Cancer Prevention).
The researchers concluded: "The results indicate that WC is able to modulate the enzymes SOD and GPX in blood cells in vitro and in vivo, and suggest that the capacity of moderate intake of CV to induce detoxification is dependent in part on the GSTM1 genotype."
Hofmann and colleagues published the results of their research in European Journal of Nutrition (Modulation of detoxification enzymes by watercress: in vitro and in vivo investigations in human peripheral blood cells. European Journal of Nutrition, 2009;48(8):483-91).
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=9005&Section=Nutrition

White bean derived supplement may lower GI of bread

Nutraingredients.com , 13-Nov-2009

The glycemic index (GI) of foods could be reduced through the intake of a white bean derived dietary supplement, claims a new study.
According to findings published in the Nutrition Journal, a dietary supplement derived from the white kidney bean, when consumed by volunteers, in both capsule and powder form, decreased the GI of white bread.
The GI index measures how quickly certain foods release carbohydrates into the body, which then raise consumers' blood glucose levels. High GI foods cause blood sugar levels to rise more rapidly whereas a low GI rating, that takes longer to digest and release sugar into the bloodstream, provides consumers with the satiety, 'full' sensation.
The researchers, based at the UCLA School of Medicine, say that epidemiological studies suggest that low GI diets decrease the risk of developing type IIdiabetes and coronary heart disease, while controlled clinical trials indicate that low GI diets lowers cholesterol.
Hypothesis
According to the scientists, during in-vitro analysis, the white kidney bean derived supplement called Phase 2 was shown to inhibit the digesting enzyme alpha-amylase, which is secreted in the saliva and by the pancreas and is responsible for breaking down starches into sugars that are consequently absorbed in the small intestine.
“Since the GI is a function of the rate of absorption of glucose in the gut, inhibition of alpha-amylase may result in the lowering of GI,” they hypothesised.
The authors said the objective of this study was to thus determine whether the addition of Phase 2 in-vivo would lower the GI of a commercially available high glycemic food such as white bread.
The study
Predicting the GI through the in-vivo method involved feeding the test food to a number of human volunteers and taking regular blood samples to monitor changing blood sugar levels.
They researchers explained that they conducted an open-label 6-arm crossover study with 13 randomized subjects aged between 24 and 44 and a BMI between 18 and 25 (kg/m2).
And they said that standardized GI testing was performed using white bread with and without the addition of Phase 2 in capsule and powder form.
Subjects with any active eating disorders, gastrointestinal illness or history of gastrointestinal surgery, diabetes or other endocrinologic disorders were excluded, continued the authors.

They said that the study population received 50g net carbohydrates in the form of white bread with butter either by itself or with a form of Phase 2 in seven different sessions at the testing facility.
“Although fat may affect the GI of foods there was consistency in the study in that it was included in both the control and test groups,” stressed the researchers.
They said that the dietary supplement was given at dosages of 1500mg, 2000mg, and 3000mg in capsule form and 1500mg, 2000mg, and 3000mg in powder form, with the powder form of the test product mixed into the butter which was spread on the bread.
“The capsules were taken immediately prior to the ingestion of food. During each visit subjects had their capillary blood glucose measured nine times over two hours,” explained the authors.
Statistical analysis was performed by one-way ANOVA of all seven treatment groups, they added.
Results
The researchers found that the data demonstrated significant decreases in the GI of white bread with the powder form of Phase 2 at the dosage of 3000mg, while the capsule formulation at the 1500mg dose had no effect on the GI and both the 2000mg and 3000mg capsule doses caused insignificant reductions in GI.
"The data suggests a possible dose dependent effect with a preference for the powder form.The lesser effect with the capsule formulation may reflect a reduced bioavailability of the white bean extract, perhaps due to the time required for capsule dissolution,” they said.
The authors conclude that their results merit further research with a larger number of volunteers, and they suggest it would be beneficial to determine if 2000mg and 3000mg doses of powder and/or capsule forms of Phase 2 can reduce the GI's of other high GI foods such as pasta or rice.
Source: Nutrition Journal Title: Lowering the glycemic index of white bread using a white bean extract  Authors: J K Udani, B B Singh, M L Barrett and H G Preuss
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/White-bean-derived-supplement-may-lower-GI-of-bread

Gut microflora and obesity: Study highlights potential for pre-, probiotics

Nutraingredients.com, 12-Nov-2009

US researchers have successfully transferred gut bacteria from obese humans to germ-free mice, a breakthrough that will allow a more detailed study of the link between gut microflora and obesity.
A breakthrough paper published in Nature in December 2006 reported that microbial populations in the gut are different between obese and lean people, and that when the obese people lost weight their microflora reverted back to that observed in a lean person, suggesting that obesity may have a microbial component.
The new study, published in Science Translational Medicine, takes us forward in this exciting area. The study succeeded in showing that the human gut microbiota can successfully be transferred to germ-free mice, and that this can then be passed on from mother to offspring.
The study also shows that “the configuration of the microbiota, its microbiome, and meta transcriptome changes in a rapid, dramatic, and reproducible fashion after switching from a plant polysaccharide-rich, low-fat diet to a high-fat, high-sugar Western diet”, report the researchers led by Peter Turnbaugh from Washington University School of Medicine.
From lean to obese
When Turnbaugh and his co-workers colleagues transplanted microbes from human faeces into mice bred without any microorganisms in their guts (germ-free mice), and fed them a high-fat, high-sugar, Western-style diet, they recorded a rapid change in the population of gut bacteria present, compared to mice fed a low-fat diet.
Furthermore, the mice also showed an increase in body fat.
As further evidence of the important role that the gut microbes play, the researchers also found that simply transplanting the microbiota from the high-fat fed mice into a set of germ-free mice caused the new mice to accumulate more body fat, even though they were fed a low-fat diet.
Implications for prebiotics and probiotics
In an accompanying perspective Jeffrey Flier and John Mekalanos from Harvard Medical School note the implications for food and nutrition.
“As mechanisms for the interrelationship between the microbiota and host metabolism are defined, one can imagine several levels of interventions that might be explored in this model,” they wrote.
 “One approach could involve searching for nutritional interventions to modify specific gut microbial species. Dietary components (prebiotics) might be found that alter growth of specific microbial species capable of affecting host physiology, and the Turnbaugh model can be used to pinpoint these elements and decipher the mechanisms of the host-microbe collaboration.
“Dietary ingestion of live microorganisms (probiotics) has been used to alter microbial gut flora with the intention of conferring favorable effects on the host. The germ-free mouse system could be used to explore the actions and efficacy of novel probiotics,” they added.
At a scientific symposium organised by the Beneo Group in April 2008, Dr. Kieran Touhy from the University of Reading noted that obese animals have significantly lower bifidobacteria levels than their lean counterparts, which suggests potential for prebiotic fibres since the growth of these bacteria is selectively promoted by inulin and fructooligosaccharides.
Dr. Nathalie Delzenne from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium and Dr. Robert Welch from the University of Ulster presented results from animal and human studies, respectively, which indicated the potential of prebiotic supplementation to regulated food intake.
Source: Science Translational Medicine Vol 1 Issue 6 6ra14: www.sciencemag.org  "The Effect of Diet on the Human Gut Microbiome: A Metagenomic Analysis in Humanized Gnotobiotic Mice"  P.J. Turnbaugh; V.K. Ridaura; J.J. Faith; F.E. Rey; J.I. Gordon, R. Knight
Perspective: Science Translational Medicine 11 November 2009 “Gut Check: Testing a Role for the Intestinal Microbiome in Human Obesity” Authors: J.S. Flier, J.J. Mekalanos
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Gut-microflora-and-obesity-Study-highlights-potential-for-pre-probiotics

Acetaminophen could up asthma, wheezing risk
Last Updated: 2009-11-12 15:49:28 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An analysis of 19 studies provides additional evidence of increased asthma risk in children and adults given acetaminophen.
The study's lead author told Reuters Health, while this type of study isn't the best way to prove that the medication actually causes the illness, it does show that the relationship should be investigated further.
"We know acetaminophen affects inflammatory cells in the airway," said Dr. J. Mark FitzGerald of the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute in British Columbia. But even if the medication does boost asthma risk, he added, it's likely only one factor in the rise in asthma prevalence seen in recent years.
Asthma has become increasingly common worldwide, and some investigators have suggested that more widespread acetaminophen use could be one contributing factor, given that the drug lowers levels of an antioxidant called glutathione found in lung tissue, FitzGerald and his team note in the journal CHEST.
Also, the researcher pointed out in an interview, a study of about 200,000 patients published in 2008 suggested an increased risk of asthma and wheezing in those who took acetaminophen.
To investigate further, FitzGerald and his associates searched the medical literature for studies that looked at acetaminophen and risk of asthma and wheezing.
When the researchers did a combined analysis of the 19 studies they identified, which included 425,140 patients in all, they found acetaminophen use was associated with a 1.6-fold increased risk of asthma. Children exposed to the drug in the womb were at 1.3-fold greater risk of asthma and 1.5-fold increased risk of wheezing.
The one study that looked at high-dose acetaminophen in children found it more than tripled asthma risk.
At this point, FitzGerald said, parents shouldn't purge their medicine chests of acetaminophen.
When a pediatrician recommends acetaminophen to treat fever in a child, according to the researcher, parents should follow this advice. The drug "works very well to do what it is supposed to do," he noted, adding "there's always a risk benefit in terms of medication."
SOURCE: CHEST, November 2009.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/11/12/eline/links/20091112elin004.html

Can A Plant Be Altruistic?
ScienceDaily (Nov. 12, 2009) — Although plants have the ability to sense and respond to other plants, their ability to recognize kin and act altruistically has been the subject of few studies. The authors explored kin recognition in Impatiens pallida (yellow jewelweed). By moving their resources into leaves, these plants not only positively affected their own growth, but also negatively affected their competitors' growth. This is the first instance where researchers demonstrated that a plant's response to an aboveground cue is dependent upon the presence of a belowground cue.
The concept of altruism has long been debated in philosophical circles, and more recently, evolutionary biologists have joined the debate. From the perspective of natural selection, altruism may have evolved because any action that improves the likelihood of a relative's survival and reproduction increases the chance of an individual's DNA being passed on.
Social behavior, kin recognition, and altruism are well known in the animal kingdom; however, although plants have the ability to sense and respond to other plants, their ability to recognize kin and act altruistically has been the subject of few studies.
In a paper published in the November issue of the American Journal of Botany, Ph.D. candidate Guillermo Murphy and Dr. Susan Dudley explore kin recognition in Impatiens pallida, commonly known as yellow jewelweed. Yellow jewelweed individuals are often found growing in close proximity to related individuals and are known to respond strongly to aboveground competition, making this species a likely candidate for kin recognition.
Murphy and Dudley measured plants' responses to two potential cues for competition -- changes in light quality (an aboveground cue) and the presence of root neighbors (an underground cue) -- for plants grown with strangers and with relatives. The researchers found that the response of Impatiens plants differed depending on whether the plants grew with relatives or with strangers. This demonstrates that jewelweed is capable of recognizing kin from non-kin and shows an interesting degree of complexity since both types of responses differed from plants growing with no neighbors at all.
Among close relatives, plants did not increase resource allocation to roots or leaves. Rather, they altered their aboveground morphology by increasing stem elongation and branching. This may be an example of the plants cooperating with kin by attempting to acquire needed resources without shading nearby relatives. Yellow jewelweed is found in the understory of forests, where light may be scarce but the soil is usually nutrient-rich. Because light is the limiting factor for plant growth in this environment, a plant competing with its neighbors would be most likely to allocate resources to leaves.
For Impatiens plants grown with strangers, the plants increased their resource allocation to their leaves relative to allocation to stems and roots, an indication of a competitive response. By moving their resources into leaves, these plants not only positively affected their own growth by enhancing their ability to acquire a limited resource but also negatively affected their competitors' growth by shading nearby plants and decreasing the competitor's light acquisition abilities.
However, these differences in response based on the presence of kin or strangers were only observed in those plants grown with root neighbors, indicating that communication among roots may be necessary for plants to recognize kin. Also, changes in allocation of resources toward roots in response to light quality only occurred in plants grown with root neighbors. This is the first instance where researchers demonstrated that a plant's response to an aboveground cue is dependent upon the presence of a belowground cue. This study demonstrates that plants are social organisms. It shows that altruism is possible among plants and that response to both kin and strangers depend on the ecology of the plant species.
Murphy et al. Kin recognition: Competition and cooperation in Impatiens (Balsaminaceae). American Journal of Botany, 2009; 96 (11): 1990 DOI:10.3732/ajb.0900006
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091111092047.htm

New Evidence That Dark Chocolate Helps Ease Emotional Stress
ScienceDaily (Nov. 12, 2009) — The "chocolate cure" for emotional stress is getting new support from a clinical trial published online in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research. It found that eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduced levels of stress hormones in the bodies of people feeling highly stressed. Everyone's favorite treat also partially corrected other stress-related biochemical imbalances.
Sunil Kochhar and colleagues note growing scientific evidence that antioxidants and other beneficial substances in dark chocolate may reduce risk factors for heart disease and other physical conditions. Studies also suggest that chocolate may ease emotional stress. Until now, however, there was little evidence from research in humans on exactly how chocolate might have those stress-busting effects.
In the study, scientists identified reductions in stress hormones and other stress-related biochemical changes in volunteers who rated themselves as highly stressed and ate dark chocolate for two weeks. "The study provides strong evidence that a daily consumption of 40 grams [1.4 ounces] during a period of 2 weeks is sufficient to modify the metabolism of healthy human volunteers," the scientists say.
Martin et al. Metabolic Effects of Dark Chocolate Consumption on Energy, Gut Microbiota, and Stress-Related Metabolism in Free-Living Subjects.Journal of Proteome Research, 2009
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091111123612.htm

Inexpensive 'Dipstick' Test For Pesticides In Foods
ScienceDaily (Nov. 12, 2009) — Scientists in Canada are reporting the development of a fast, inexpensive "dipstick" test to identify small amounts of pesticides that may exist in foods and beverages. Their paper-strip test is more practical than conventional pesticide tests, producing results in minutes rather than hours by means of an easy-to-read color-change, they say.
The study is in the November 1 issue of ACS' Analytical Chemistry, a semi-monthly journal.
John Brennan and colleagues note in the new study that conventional tests for detecting pesticides tend to use expensive and complex equipment and in some cases can take several hours to produce results. They cite a growing need for cheaper, more convenient, and more eco-friendly tests for pesticides, particularly in the food industry.
The scientists describe the development of a new paper-based test strip that changes color shades depending on the amount of pesticide present. In laboratory studies using food and beverage samples intentionally contaminated with common pesticides, the test strips accurately identified minute amounts of pesticides.
The test strips, which produced results in less than 5 minutes, could be particularly useful in developing countries or remote areas that may lack access to expensive testing equipment and electricity, they note.
Hossain et al. Reagentless Bidirectional Lateral Flow Bioactive Paper Sensors for Detection of Pesticides in Beverage and Food Samples. Analytical Chemistry, 2009; 81 (21): 9055
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091104122534.htm

Dopamine Enhances Expectation Of Pleasure In Humans
ScienceDaily (Nov. 12, 2009) — People constantly make complex decisions, from the more mundane -- which restaurant to go to for dinner or which movie to go see -- to the more profound -- whether to have kids or not. Now, a new study confirms an important role for the brain chemical dopamine in how people make such life choices, by influencing our expectations of the pleasure associated with their outcomes.
Enhancing the effects of the brain chemical dopamine influences how people make life choices by affecting expectations of pleasure, according to the new research from the UCL Institute of Neurology.
The study, published in Current Biology, confirms an important role for dopamine in how human expectations are formed and how people make complex decisions. It also contributes to an understanding of how pleasure expectation can go awry, for example in drug addiction.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter produced in several areas of the brain that is found in a wide variety of animals. Its role in reward learning and reward-seeking behaviour is well established by animal studies -- however, in humans its role is much less understood.
Lead author Dr Tali Sharot, Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL, said: "Humans make much more complex decisions than other animals -- such as which job to take, where to go on holiday, whether to start a family -- and we wanted to understand the role of dopamine in making these types of decisions. Our results indicate that when we consider alternative options when making real-life decisions, dopamine has a role in signalling the expected pleasure from those possible future events. We then use that signal to make our choices."
The research team, which included Dr Tamara Shiner and Professor Ray Dolan, examined estimated pleasure of future events before and after the administration of a drug called L-DOPA which is known to enhance dopamine function in the brain and is commonly used to treat patients with Parkinson's disease. The 61 study participants were asked to rate their expectations of happiness if they were to holiday at each of 80 destinations, from Thailand to Greece. They were then given L-DOPA or a placebo and asked to imagine holidaying in those destinations.
The following day participants had to pick between a series of paired destinations that they had initially assigned with equal ratings, one member of the pair was imagined under L-DOPA the day before and the other under placebo. Finally, they rated the full set of 80 destinations again.
Ratings for particular destinations increased after they were imagined under L-DOPA's influence. That increase also affected the participants' selections the following day. Dr Sharot added: "We had reason to believe that dopamine would enhance expectations of pleasure in humans, but were surprised at the strength of this effect. The enhancement lasted at least 24 hours and was evident in almost 80 per cent of the subjects."
The study builds on earlier work by Dr Sharot and colleagues, which used brain imaging as participants imagined holiday destinations. An area of the brain called the straitum tracked expectations and the scientists found that they could take that signal and predict what the participants would choose. The authors believed this was dopamine at work and set-up this study to further explore its role.
This research was supported by the Wellcome Trust, the British Academy and the Medical Research Council.
. Dopamine enhances expectation of pleasure in humans. Current Biology, November 12, 2009
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091112121603.htm

Love And Envy Linked By Same Hormone, Oxytocin
ScienceDaily (Nov. 12, 2009) — A new study carried out at the University of Haifa has found that the hormone oxytocin, the "love hormone," which affects behaviors such as trust, empathy and generosity, also affects opposite behaviors, such as jealousy and gloating. "Subsequent to these findings, we assume that the hormone is an overall trigger for social sentiments: when the person's association is positive, oxytocin bolsters pro-social behaviors; when the association is negative, the hormone increases negative sentiments," explains Simone Shamay-Tsoory who carried out the research.
Previous studies have shown that the oxytocin hormone has a positive effect on positive feelings. The hormone is released in the body naturally during childbirth and when engaging in sexual relations. Participants in an experiment who inhaled the synthetic form of the hormone displayed higher levels of altruistic feelings, and it is supposed that the hormone plays an important role in the formation of relationships between people.
However, in earlier studies carried out by other investigators with rodents, it was found that the hormone is also related to higher levels of aggression. Therefore, it was decided to examine whether the hormone also affects negative social sentiments. The present study, which was published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, included 56 participants. Half of the participants inhaled the synthetic form of the hormone in the first session and were given a placebo (a dummy drug) in the second session; the others were given a placebo in the first session and oxytocin in the second session. Following drug administration each participant was asked to play a game of luck along with another competitor, who was in fact -- and without their knowledge -- a computer. Each of the participants was asked to choose one of three doors and was awarded the sum of money that was hidden behind that door. Sometimes the participant gained less money than the other player, and sometimes more, creating conditions in which a person might well develop feelings of envy and gloating.
The findings show that those participants who inhaled the "hormone of love" displayed higher levels of envy when the opponent won more money and of gloating when they were ahead. Another interesting result was that as soon as the game was over, no differences between the participants were evident with regards to these sentiments. This indicates that the negative feelings were empowered only in the course of the game itself.
"Following the earlier results of experiments with oxytocin, we began to examine the possible use of the hormone as a medication for various disorders, such as autism. The results of the present study show that the hormone's undesirable effects on behavior must be examined before moving ahead," Dr. Shamay-Tsoory concludes.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091112095038.htm

Prevent kidney disease by saying no to diet sodas and excess salt
S. L. Baker, NaturalNews.com  November 13, 2009 

(NaturalNews) According to the American Society of Nephrology (ASN), the number of people in the US diagnosed with kidney disease has doubled over the past 20 years. About 20 million Americans are at risk for developing kidney disease and the ASN web site states another 20 million Americans already have some evidence of chronic kidney disease. And when chronic kidney disease progresses, it often leads to kidney failure or end stage renal disease (ESRD) -- resulting in ongoing, expensive dialysis treatments or even kidney transplants.

But like countless other diseases and conditions, kidney disease doesn't just strike out of the blue. It is often the result of what people do to their own bodies. And researchers have just reported two direct ways diet appears to be associated with declining kidney function. The culprits? Eating food high in sodium (like the fast foods and processed junk snacks Americans love) and drinking artificially sweetened sodas.

Those are the findings of two new studies, both conducted by Julie Lin, MD, and Gary Curhan, MD, ScD, of Brigham and Women's Hospital, which were recently presented at the American Society of Nephrology's annual meeting held in October in San Diego, California. The first study, entitled "Associations of Diet with Kidney Function Decline," examined the impact of specific dietary components on declining kidney function over 11 years in more than 3,000 women who participated in the Nurses' Health Study. Dr. Lin and Dr. Curhan found that "in women with well-preserved kidney function, higher dietary sodium intake was associated with greater kidney function decline, which is consistent with experimental animal data that high sodium intake promotes progressive kidney decline."

In previous research, scientists using information collected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a long-term collection of studies designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the US, had found a link between sugar containing sodas and urinary protein. However, they did not collect data on any kidney function changes related to drinking sweetened sodas. So, in their second study, Dr. Lin and Dr. Curhan, decided to specifically check for any kidney function decline in women who drink sodas regularly. Once again, they used data from the Nurses' Health Study.

In a statement for the media, Dr. Lin reported they found "a significant two-fold increased odds, between two or more servings per day of artificially sweetened soda and faster kidney function decline; no relation between sugar-sweetened beverages and kidney function decline was noted." Moreover, this association persisted even when the researchers accounted for age, obesity, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, physical activity, calorie intake, diabetes and cigarette smoking. Clearly, artificially sweetened sodas are detrimental to kidney health.

"There are currently limited data on the role of diet in kidney disease," said Dr. Lin in a statement to the press. "While more study is needed, our research suggests that higher sodium and artificially sweetened soda intake are associated with greater rate of decline in kidney function." 
http://www.naturalnews.com/027482_diet_soda_kidney_disease.html

Grapefruit Extract May Prevent Metabolic Syndrome

David Gutierrez, NaturalNews.com  November 13, 2009 

(NaturalNews) A chemical naturally found in grapefruit may help prevent the physiological changes that produce the condition known as metabolic syndrome, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes, a new study has found.

Metabolic syndrome refers to a cluster of symptoms including high blood pressure, central obesity high triglycerides, low HDL ("good") cholesterol, and high levels of blood sugar between meals.

A handful of prior studies have previously suggested that some component or mix of components in grapefruit might be helpful to the body in regulating blood fats and sugars. One study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, found that people who ate one red grapefruit each day might reduce their cholesterol levels by 15 percent and their triglycerides by 17 percent. Both lab studies and experiments in humans suggested that the grapefruit might also act through other channels in the body to reduce the risk of heart disease.

Another study, conducted by researchers from the University of Western Ontario found that the flavonoid naringenin, which occurs naturally in grapefruit, might perform a role similar to the sugar-regulating hormone insulin. The laboratory experiment found that naringenin appeared to stop the liver from secreting very low-density lipoproteins, thereby lowering the levels of certain triglycerides in the blood. In theory, this means that naringenin might be able to compensate for the effects of insulin resistance, a characteristic of both metabolic syndrome and Type 2 diabetes.

In the newest study, published in the journal Diabetes, the same team of researchers conducted a follow-up to the naringenin study using live mice instead of laboratory cultures. First, the researchers specifically bred mice to have a deficiency in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors in their livers. Because LDLs carry cholesterol, a receptor deficiency causes blood levels of cholesterol to stay high. When such mice are fed a high-fat diet (with 42 percent of its calories from fat), they quickly develop obesity and other symptoms characteristic of human metabolic syndrome.

At eight to 12 weeks of age, the modified mice were separated into four groups: one fed a normal diet, one fed a high-fat diet, one fed a high-fat diet plus 1 percent naringenin, and the last fed a high-fat diet plus 3 percent naringenin. After four weeks, the mice fed the high-fat diet alone developed obesity, insulin resistance, reduced glucose tolerance and increased levels of liver lipids, all characteristic of metabolic syndrome. Those fed a high-fat diet plus naringenin, however, maintained a normal weight, had normal levels of cholesterol, triglycerides and insulin sensitivity, and retained normal glucose metabolism.

"The marked obesity that develops in [mice fed a high fat diet] was completely prevented by naringenin," lead researcher Murray Huff said.

The researchers then repeated the experiment in unmodified mice. After 30 weeks, normal mice also developed obesity and symptoms of metabolic syndrome, except when their diet was supplemented with 3 percent naringenin.

Naringenin did not appear to act by suppressing appetite, as mice in all the high-fat groups at the same amount of food. Instead, it caused the liver to burn excess fat rather than store it, decreased the ability of liver cells to make cholesterol and reduced levels of insulin.

"Thus, naringenin, through its correction of many of the metabolic disturbances linked to insulin resistance, represents a promising therapeutic approach for metabolic syndrome," the researchers wrote.

The naringenin dose used in the study was much higher than could be gained by eating grapefruit, the researchers said. In addition, they do not know if the effects seen in mice would actually translate to humans.

"The next step is to find out if naringenin prevents heart disease in animal models and to explore the feasibility of clinical trials to determine its safety and efficacy in humans," Huff said.

Colloidal silver better than antibiotics
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews.com  November 12, 2009 

(NaturalNews) Colloidal silver is one of the best natural antibiotics yet discovered in human history. For many health applications, it's safer, cheaper and far more effective than traditional antibiotics. The effectiveness of colloidal silver is such a huge threat to the pharmaceutical industry that the FDA (and even the FTC) has engaged in an all-out assault to threaten and intimidate colloidal silver companies in order to drive them out of business.

Aren't you curious to find out what they don't want you to know about colloidal silver?

To help provide answers to NaturalNews readers, we've gathered this collection of supporting quotes describing the seemingly-miraculous properties of colloidal silver. Read and enjoy!
Colloidal silver vs. antibiotics
Silver was used 1,200 years ago by Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, sailors, and then by the pioneers who populated our country. They used it for various illnesses and to keep their foods and liquids from spoiling. Prior to 1938, before antibiotics, colloidal silver was used by doctors as their main substance to fight bacteria in a more natural way than through the antibiotics they use today. Antibiotics can harm our kidneys and liver functions. Colloidal silver promotes healing.
- Defeat Cancer by A. Gore Gregory

Olive leaf extract, colloidal silver, acidulous, royal jelly, and mushroom extracts are examples of products that may be a better first choice than antibiotics. When our bodies are toxic the immune system becomes the garbage collection system. Saunas and hot baths help to eliminate toxins that overwhelm the body's immune system. This is a natural way to boost your immune system by freeing it up to do what it does best. The bottom line is this - you need to stay away from antibiotics.
- More Natural Cures Revealed: Previously Censored Brand Name Products That Cure Disease by Kevin Trudeau

I'm not suggesting that colloidal silver should be avoided altogether. I think it is ideal for some purposes and might be of use in an emergency or for last-ditch treatment of a bacteria that has grown resistant to antibiotics. However the use of this medication must be approached very cautiously. Because colloidal silver loses its potency over time, the best bet is also a kit that permits mixing the solution and using it immediately. You should then discard any excess you cannot use. Whenever you use it, keep in mind the fact that the silver will be accumulating in your body.
- Attaining Medical Self Sufficiency by Duncan Long

Colloidal silver is a natural broad-spectrum antiseptic that fights infection, subdues inflammation, and promotes healing. It is a clear golden liquid composed of 99.9 percent pure silver particles approximately 0.001 to 0.01 micron (1/1 to 1/100,000 millimeter) in diameter that are suspended in pure water. It can be taken by mouth, administered intravenously, or applied topically. Colloidal silver is available in health food stores. 
- Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 4th Edition: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements by Phyllis A. Balch, CNC

You may be able to keep the infection at bay with use of colloidal silver, grapefruit seed extract or garlic capsules. Each of these substances has wide antimicrobial properties, low toxicity and a low incidence of negative side effects. Your physician will probably use antibiotics. 
- Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 4th Edition: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements by Phyllis A. Balch, CNC

Research on colloidal silver shows it to be an effective resource against infections and pathogens, yet very little is known about it by the general public or the medical profession. Prior to 1938 it was in common use by doctors. According to Alexander G. Schauss, PhD, of Johns Hopkins University, considerable scientific evidence has been published regarding the effectiveness of silver as an antiseptic against "several hundred pathogenic organisms." He also points out that silver is not an antibiotic because, by definition, antibiotics are derived from living organisms.
- Conscious Health: A Complete Guide to Wellness Through Natural Means by Ron Garner

Also try oxygen therapies alternating with high antioxidant intake, intestinal sanitation, and herbal parasite cure, and continue longer with wormwood. Colloidal silver, copper salicylate or colloidal copper, echinacea, MSM, propolis, and other natural antibiotics can be beneficial, along with a Beck-type electronic zapper and magnetic pulser, Basic Cleanse, and emotional and mind therapies. 
- The Natural Way to Heal: 65 Ways to Create Superior Health by Walter Last

Occasionally people with muscle aches, pains, and backaches are improved with silver, probably because these are associated with viral or bacterial infections in the spinal fluid, which traditional antibiotics or colloidal silver cannot reach. Zinc and silver make a very powerful synergistic team as a secondary immune system. Silver is also effective in controlling warts. Angstrom-size silver is the best source.
- Spiritual Nutrition: Six Foundations for Spiritual Life and the Awakening of Kundalini by Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

Colloidal silver is a liquid mineral supplement that fights infection. Take 10 drops three to four times daily. If you must take antibiotics, restore the body's "friendly" bacteria by taking a probiotic supplement, such as acidophilus and/or bifidobacteria, as recommended on the product label. If you are allergic to milk, select a dairy-free formula. Colostrum is another effective probiotic that can be taken on a rotating basis with acidophilus and bifidobacteria. Take 300 milligrams three times daily, between meals.
- Smart Medicine for Healthier Living : Practical A-Z Reference to Natural and Conventional Treatments for Adults by Janet Zand, LAc, OMD, Allan N. Spreed, MD, CNC, James B. LaValle, RPh, ND
http://www.naturalnews.com/027474_colloidal_silver_antibiotics.html

Antioxidant in Ginkgo may protect cells from radiation damage
S. L. Baker, NaturalNews.com  November 12, 2009 

(NaturalNews) According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), the Ginkgo biloba (G. biloba) is one of the oldest types of trees in the world. Ginkgo herbal treatments have been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years to treat a host of ills including asthma, bronchitis, fatigue, and tinnitus (ringing or roaring sounds in the ears). Now 21st century scientists may have discovered yet another Ginkgo-based therapy.

According to a study just published in the International Journal of Low Radiation, antioxidant extracts of the leaves of the G. biloba tree may protect cells in the human body from radiation damage. The discovery could offer a way to protect cancer patients from side effects produced by radiotherapy. G. biloba might also offer protection from medical tests that involve radiation, such as X-rays.

Chang-Mo Kang of the Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences in Taegu and colleagues have been investigating well-known herbal remedies to see what actual medicinal effects they may have. They specifically decided to study extracts made from G. biloba leaves because these substances are known to contain several antioxidant compounds, called ginkgolides and bilobalides, that are thought to protect cells in the body from damage caused by free radicals and other reactive oxidizing species. Free radicals are generated by the body's normal metabolism and are also produced in excess as a result of certain diseases and from exposure to pollution or radiation. If left unchecked, they can damage proteins and DNA and even kill cells. 

Dr. Kang and his research team collected human white blood cells, known as lymphocytes, from healthy volunteers between the ages of 18 and 50. Then they treated half of these cells in the lab with a G. biloba extract. The other half of the cells were used as a control group and exposed to only a salt solution. Next, both sets of white blood cells were treated with gamma radiation from radioactive cesium.

The scientists used a light microscope to measure how many lymphocytes were undergoing programmed cell death, known as apoptosis, caused by the exposure to radiation. They found a significant increase in apoptosis in the untreated cells but the lymphocytes treated with G. biloba extract tended to be protected from the radiation. In all, about a third of the untreated cells underwent apoptosis compared with only one in twenty of the Ginkgo treated cells. 

In a statement to the media, the researchers noted that other studies using laboratory mice have also demonstrated a similar protective effect when Ginkgo was used to shield the animals against radiation poisoning. The results of the latest research suggest that the G. biloba extracts actually neutralize the free radicals and oxidizing agents produced in the cells by radiation -- and that appears to prevent the cells from undergoing apoptosis. 

As NaturalNews reported recently, other research has found evidence Ginkgo biloba extract may reduce brain damage after a stroke by about 50 percent (http://www.naturalnews.com/025981.html) and it may also be a natural memory booster (http://www.naturalnews.com/025722_d...). NCCAM is currently funding numerous studies on Ginkgo for asthma, symptoms of multiple sclerosis, vascular function (intermittent claudication), cognitive decline, sexual dysfunction due to antidepressants, and insulin resistance.

Reference: "Protective effect of Ginkgo biloba against radiation-induced cellular damage in human peripheral lymphocytes and murine spleen cells", International Journal of Low Radiation, 2009, 6, 209-218.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027469_ginkgo_biloba_radiation_damage.html

Cupuacu is the New Superfruit from the Amazon
Aaron Turpen, NaturalNews.com  November 12, 2009 


(NaturalNews) You may have heard of the cupuacu fruit on one of the morning shows on the networks, but it's not likely you've seen it unless you eat at authentic Brazilian restaurants. This sweet cousin of cocoa, however, may be the greatest entrant into the superfruits category thus far.

Cupuacu (pronounced "coo poo wa soo") is very well known in South America, but largely unknown elsewhere. It is considered a delicacy in restaurants in Rio and Sao Paulo, Brazil and the cupuacu tree itself grows in the rainforests of South America.

Cupuacu belongs to the cocoa family and the tree grows to be twelve to twenty feet high. Natives have collected the fruits of the cupuacu tree as a primary food source during the rainy season for centuries. The fruits are hard on the outside, similar to a coconut (though larger and more football-shaped). The pulp is creamy and exotic to the taste.

The pulp of the cupuacu is made into all kinds of delicacies including ice cream, juice, jam, and more. The juice is drunk like an energy drink and has the same boosting effect of coffee, but without any caffeine.

Natives in the rain forest, besides eating the fruits, also save the "beans" (seeds). These are blessed by shamans and given to people as a cure for abdominal pains, to ease childbirth, and to increase vigor and potency for couples who want to have children.

Nutrients in Cupuacu
The secret to the fruit's power is in the nutrient content. Cupuacu is extremely nutrient-dense. Compared to the popular acai berry, cupuacu has more nutrients per pound than the little berries do.

It's primary beneficial ingredient is the phytonutrient polyphenols (theograndins) it contains. These have a number of health benefits. In addition, cupuacu is heavy with Vitamins B1, B2, B3 (Niacin), both fatty and amino acids, at least nine antioxidants (including Vitamins A and C), and a high flavanoid content. Other nutrients include calcium, selenium, and more.

All of these nutrients combine to affect things in the body such as immune system boosting, evening out the metabolism, lowering blood pressure, and more. The vitamins and nutrients act as an instant energy booster (without the down that caffeine has) and its lipid peroxidation inhibition lowers cholesterol levels.

NaturalNews readers will need no explanation for the many benefits of antioxidants, including free radical neutralization.

Most of the cupuacu sources currently available to those of us in North America or Europe are either juices or powders. Often the juice is mixed with acai to harmonize benefits as well as to lower costs for the producer, since cupuacu is generally cheaper than acai. Juice or straight pulp is, of course, the best way to get cupuacu.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027475_Cupuacu_Amazon.html

The Cervical Cancer Vaccine may Not Work, but Broccoli Does
Kerri Knox, RN, NaturalNews.com  November 13, 2009 

(NaturalNews) Gardasil, a vaccine designed to prevent cervical cancer in women, has recently been the target of debate about its safety and efficacy. While young girls have been dying and key researchers are saying the vaccine doesn't work, there are dozens of studies using natural compounds in broccoli that DO work to not only PREVENT but possibly TREAT cervical cancer as well.

Cervical cancer is very slow growing and is generally treatable with minor interventions when caught early; hence, pap smears have been recommended as a routine part of an annual physical exam for decades. But a paradigm shift in cervical cancer thought occurred in 1984 when it was discovered that the Human Papilloma Virus causes cervical cancer. Drug researchers immediately went to work on a vaccine and their dream came true when Gardasil, the first cervical cancer vaccine, was released in 2006. A disease mostly controlled with routine screenings became the new public health threat that immediately required mandatory vaccinations for every young woman in the US, whether at risk or not.

But while new evidence is coming to light that young women are suffering serious health effects and even death from a vaccine that may not even do what it is intended to do, readily available strategies for prevention of cervical cancer are being completely overlooked. Broccoli and other 'Brassicas' like cabbage and Brussels sprouts have long been touted as health foods- and with good reason. Antioxidants and anticancer agents are continually being isolated from this family of vegetables, making them some of the biggest health powerhouses available. One particular compound inbroccoli called Indole-3-Carbinol, also called I3C, has been isolated and studied for over 2 decades for its anti-cancer properties.

"Studies increasingly indicate that dietary
indole-3-carbinol (I3C) prevents the development of
estrogen-enhanced cancers including breast,
endometrial and cervical cancers"
'Indole-3-Carbinol Is a Negative Regulator of Estrogen'

I3C's chemoprotective properties are unquestioned in the many animal and laboratory studies that have been done. And with only two adverse reactions having ever been reported, human studies have proven it to have an astonishingly good safety profile. The research using I3C against cervical cancer is extremely promising as well. In one double-blind placebo controlled trial, a full one-half of women with biopsy-proven early stage cervical cancer had COMPLETE REGRESSION of their cancer where NONE in the control group did. That means that simply by supplementing once daily with I3C, 50% of these women's cancers were completely reversed. In addition, animal studies not ONLY show that supplementation with I3C can prevent cervical cancer in the animals taking it, but it ALSO prevents cervical cancer in their offspring!

"Addition of chemoprotective agents to the maternal diet
during pregnancy and nursing may be an effective new approach
in reducing the incidence of cancers in children and young adults."
'Indole-3-carbinol in the maternal diet provides chemoprotection
for the fetus against transplacental carcinogenesis'

The benefits of I3C don't stop there, though; other studies have shown that it can help to prevent and treat breast, endometrial, vulvar, skin and prostate cancers as well. But even while I3C is being ignored as a natural supplement, drug researchers are feverishly attempting to reproduce its properties in the lab in order to create a patentable synthetic anticancer agent. In the study 'A potent indole-3-carbinol-derived Antitumor agent' , the researchers called its anticancer effects "weak" and therefore they are "...exploiting indole-3-carbinol to develop potent antitumor agents". But "weak" is not the first word that comes to mind when discussing this natural substance that reduces cancer by:

Lowering 'bad' estrogen levels,
Killing cancer cells directly,
Inhibiting the viruses associated with these cancers and
Strengthening the immune system.

Like most natural substances, doctors' offices and medical centers are ignoring this research and, instead, are having teenage girls line up for a shot with a nebulous safety profile that may not even be effective. Yet, it would be far safer, less expensive and likely more effective if public health campaigns were directed at teaching women the benefits of eating foods like broccoli and cabbage that are naturally rich in anticancer compounds like I3C.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027463_cancer_cervical_broccoli.html

Detox with the Ancient Ayurvedic Practice of Oil Pulling
Alex Howard, NaturalNews.com  November 12, 2009 

(NaturalNews) Oil pulling or oil swishing, in alternative medicine, is a procedure that involves swishing oil in the mouth for oral and systemic health benefits. It is mentioned in the Ayurvedic text Charaka Samhita where it is called Kavala Gandoosha / Kavala Graha, and it is claimed to cure about 30 systemic diseases ranging from headache, migraine, diabetes, asthma, skin conditions, allergies, oral bacterial infections, gum problems and more.

The practitioner rinses the mouth with approximately one tablespoon of oil (sesame and sunflower oils are the most recommended) for 15-20 minutes on an empty stomach (preferably first thing in the morning, before eating/drinking), then spits it out.

Procedure for Oil Pulling

First thing in the morning, before brushing your teeth, eating or drinking, take 1 TBSP of organic sesame oil. Put the oil in your mouth, tilt your chin up and slowly swish, suck, chomp and pull through the teeth. Do this for at least 10 minutes. 15 - 20 minutes is better. You want the oil to become thin, white foam when you finally spit it out. If it's still yellow, you haven't done it long enough.

You can do this 2 more times during the day if you want to detox faster. Make sure you do it on an empty stomach, however. Spit it out in the toilet when your mouth is full and rinse your mouth out well. Follow by drinking 2 - 3 glasses of water.

DO NOT SWALLOW THE OIL as it now contains parasites and bacteria!
DO NOT USED TOASTED SESAME OIL
DO NOT GARGLE IN THE THROAT, THE OIL IS MEANT TO BE SWISHED IN THE MOUTH ONLY.
DO IT SLOWLY.

Follow these Guidelines:

-Keeping the chin tilted up makes sure the oil gets to the back molars.

-The old school says that only sesame and sunflower oils produce favorable results. However, people report success using other oils too such as coconut oil; it is always advisable to use organic versions.

-If after meals, wait at least 4 hours before you Oil Pull. After drinking, wait 1 hour.

-A worsening of symptoms is an excellent indication that the disease/ailment is being cured; however, if the reaction is too strong reduce dosage and build up more gently. If this does not work, speak to your practitioner.

-Do not use oils that you know you are allergic or intolerant to.

-Will your dental fillings fall out? It is highly unlikely unless there is pre-existing damage or loose fillings. Never swallow an amalgam filling when possible.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027460_detox_health_oil_pulling.html

People entering their 60s may have more disabilities today than in prior generations
University of California, Los Angeles, November 12, 2009
In a development that could have significant ramifications for the nation's health care system, Baby Boomers may well be entering their 60s suffering far more disabilities than their counterparts did in previous generations, according to a new UCLA study. The findings, researchers say, may be due in part to changing American demographics.
In the study, which will be published in the January 2010 issue of the American Journal of Public Health, researchers from the division of geriatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA found that the cohort of individuals between the ages of 60 and 69 exhibited increases in several types of disabilities over time. By contrast, those between the ages of 70 and 79 and those aged 80 and over saw no significant increases — and in some cases exhibited fewer disabilities than their previous cohorts.
While the study focused on groups born prior to the post–World War II Baby Boom, the findings hold "significant and sobering implications" for health care because they suggest that people now entering their 60s could have even more disabilities, putting an added burden on an already fragile system and boosting health costs for society as a whole, researchers say.
If this is true, it's something we need to address," said Teresa Seeman, UCLA professor of medicine and epidemiology and the study's principal investigator. "If this trend continues unchecked, it will put increasing pressure on our society to take care of these disabled individuals. This would just put more of a burden on the health care system to address the higher levels of these problems."
The researchers used two sets of data — the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) for 1988 and 1999 — to examine how disabilities for the three groups of adults aged 60, 70, and 80 and older had changed over time. They assessed disability trends in four areas: basic activities associated with daily living, such as walking from room to room and getting into and out of bed; instrumental activities, such as performing household chores or preparing meals; mobility, including walking one-quarter mile or climbing 10 steps without stopping for rest; and functional limitations, which include stooping, crouching or kneeling.
The study focused primarily on trends for the more recent 60 age group — those born between 1930 and 1944, just before the start of the Baby Boom, whose data was included in the 1999 NHANES. In particular, researchers felt this group could offer insights into the health of the Boomers following them, who are now entering their 60s.
The researchers found that between the periods 1988 and 1999, disability among those in their 60s increased between 40 and 70 percent in each area studied except functional limitations, independent of sociodemographic characteristics, health status and behaviors, and relative weight. The increases were considerably higher among non-white and overweight subgroups.
By contrast, the researchers found no significant changes among the group aged 70 to 79, while the 80-plus group actually saw a drop in functional limitations.
One reason for this uptick, researchers say, is that disabilities may be linked with the changing racial and ethnic makeup of the group that recently reached or will soon be reaching its 60s, with the most rapid growth projected to be among African Americans and Hispanics — groups with significantly higher rates of obesity and lower socioeconomic status, both of which are associated with higher risk for functional limitations and disabilities.
The researchers note that their controls for differences in sociodemographics, health status (such as chronic conditions and biological risk factors) and health behavior do not completely explain the increase in disability trends among the 60- to 69-year olds. Still, the trends within that group "are disturbing," Seeman said.
"Increases in disability in that group are concerning because it's a big group," she said. "These may be people who have longer histories of being overweight, and we may be seeing the consequences of that. We're not sure why these disabilities are going up. But if this trend continues, it could have a major impact on us, due to the resources that will have to be devoted to those people."
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/uoc--pet110909.php

New neurons erase old memories to make new ones
Times of India, 13 November 2009
Newborn neurons in the brain make room for new memories by moving out the old ones, concludes a new mice study. 

The study provides some of the first evidence that new neurons sprouted in the hippocampus (a brain region associated with learning and memory) cause the decay of short-term fear memories in that brain region, without an overall memory loss. 

Study’s lead author Kaoru Inokuchi of The University of Toyama in Japan and colleagues say the discovery shows a more important role than many would have anticipated for the erasure of memories. 

They propose that the birth of new neurons promotes the gradual loss of memory traces from the hippocampus as those memories are transferred elsewhere in the brain for permanent storage. 

Although they examined this process only in the context of fear memory, Inokuchi says he "thinks all memories that are initially stored in the hippocampus are influenced by this process." In effect, the new results suggest that failure of neurogenesis will lead to problems because the brain’s short-term memory is literally full. 

In Inokuchi’s words, we may perhaps experience difficulties in acquiring new information because the storage capacity of the hippocampus is "occupied by un-erased old memories." 

Of course, Inokuchi added, "our finding does not necessary deny the important role of neurogenesis in memory acquisition." He says hippocampal neurogenesis could have a dual role, in both erasing old memories and acquiring new ones. 

The study has been reported in the November 13th issue of the journal Cell , a Cell Press publication .
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/health-fitness/health/New-neurons-erase-old-memories-to-make-new-ones-/articleshow/5226574.cms

Red wine compound slows brain plaque linked to Alzheimer's disease, study finds.

Nov 06, 2009

Feng Y, X Wang, S Yang, Y Wang, X Zhang, X Du, X Sun, M Zhao, L Huang and R Liu. 2009. Resveratrol inhibits beta-amyloid oligomeric cytotoxicity but does not prevent oligomer formation. Neurotoxicology doi: 10.1016/j.neuro.2009.08.013.

A compound in red wine may offer yet another health benefit – it may slow formation of the amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Resveratrol is a compound that is generating a lot of health buzz, and not just because it is found in red wine. Results from a newly published laboratory study show the compound may slow the development of protein clumps – called amyloid fibrils. The fibrils – made of beta-amyloid protein – ultimately aggregate into the distinctive plaques commonly found in Alzheimer’s patients.
Alzheimer's disease is a form of dementia that robs people of their ability to remember and perform simple tasks, such as eating and dressing. There are no known medications to ease or cure this debilitating and fatal disease.
Preventing the formation of fibrils and untangling them once they aggregate into plaques are the current focus of efforts to combat this illness that attacks brain tissue. As many as 5.3 million people in the United States live with the disease, according to the Alzheimer's Association.
The findings from the study, which was recently published online in the journal Neurotoxicology, agree with prior human epidemiology studies that associate frequent red wine consumption with a reduced risk of developing dementia. Resveratrol – and other similar compounds called polyphenols – have long been thought to contribute to this beneficial effect. Resveratrol is a potent antioxidant that is also associated with numerous other health effects, including a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.
Researchers tested resveratrol's effects on fibrils by combining one type of beta-amyloid (Aβ42) with it and then looking for protein aggregation. They found that the higher the dose of resveratrol, the lower the amount of aggregation. Resveratrol reduced the aggregation by as much as 90 percent.
Resveratrol also induced the beta-amyloid fibrils to come apart, suggesting it may have the potential to wipe out plaque that has already formed.
Although amyloid plaques are a distinctive feature of Alzheimer’s disease, it is not yet clear how these plaques cause the dementia associated with the disorder. There is some suspicion that the fibrils that accumulate into the distinctive plaques are less toxic to the brain than the intermediate compounds called oligomers. Unfortunately, resveratrol did not reduce the formation of oligomers, although the researchers found some evidence that resveratrol could reduce their toxic impact to cells.
This study was conducted in the laboratory and not in live animals or people. The amounts of resveratrol used for this study, and in others that report its health benefits, are higher than levels would be after drinking red wine. Future studies are necessary to determine if drinking or eating resveratrol – either through a normal diet or through supplements – could reduce plaque formation in the brain, rather than just in a test tube.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/resveratrol-may-slow-plaque-formation-in-brain/

Swine flu skepticism demands deft response
Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:19am EST
Swine flu skepticism demands deft response
Reuters, November 13, 2009
LONDON (Reuters) - European scientists and health authorities are facing angry questions about why H1N1 flu has not caused death and destruction on the scale first feared, and they need to respond deftly to ensure public support.
Accusations are flying in British and French media that the pandemic has been "hyped" by medical researchers to further their own cause, boost research grants and line the pockets of drug companies.
Britain's Independent newspaper this week asked "Pandemic? What Pandemic?."
In their response, scientists are walking a fine line.
They say that although the virus is mild, it can still kill, and that the relatively low fatalities in Europe are in part the result of official response to their advice.
On suggestions of "hyping" the threat to boost research funding, they point out that while we know enough to start to protect the vulnerable, we need to know a lot more to conquer the virus, and funding for new research and drugs is vital to be equipped for future pandemics.
H1N1 is hitting a younger population -- adults in their 20s and 30s and children -- and the global death count so far is more than 6,000, according to the WHO.
While seasonal flu attacks about 20 percent of the population in an average year, experts estimate that even in Britain -- the worst-hit country in Europe so far -- fewer than 10 percent of people have had H1N1 swine flu.
Fred Hayden, influenza research co-ordinator at the Wellcome Trust and a former World Health Organization (WHO) expert, said early planning is paying off, but added:
"I wouldn't characterize this as a "mild" pandemic at all. We are seeing some very unfortunate loss of life. I think it a bit early to make that judgment."
Yet the word "mild" is used so often to describe H1N1's impact in most people that it is prompting skeptical publics to ask what all the fuss is about. Why they should care? And why take a vaccine?
France's Le Parisien newspaper ran the headline: "Swine flu: why the French distrust the vaccine" and noted a gap between the predicted impact of H1N1 and the less dramatic reality.
"Although some 30-odd people have died....the disease is not really frightening," it said. "Dangerous liaisons between certain experts, the labs and the government, the obscurity of the contracts between the state and the pharma firms have added to the doubt."
SCENARIO REVISED DOWN
In Britain, health authorities' original worst-case scenario -- which said as many as 65,000 could die from H1N1 -- has twice been revised down and the prediction is now for around 1,000 deaths, way below the average annual toll of 4,000 to 8,000 deaths from seasonal winter flu.
A group of eminent scientists who called a media briefing in London this week to announce 7.5 million pounds ($12.4 million) of new funding for British research into H1N1 found their plans hijacked by reporters asking why the pandemic was so weak.
Scientists say the truth is they can't win.
The WHO has been urging countries to prepare for a flu pandemic since 1997, when H5N1 avian flu infected 18 people in Hong Kong and was stopped only after a mass slaughter of birds. The re-emergence of H5N1 in China and South Korea in 2003 fueled the urgency to get ready.
Now that it has arrived, the apparently low impact of the H1N1 pandemic so far may show that the planning is paying off, the Wellcome Trust's Hayden said.
British officials repeatedly said the nation was well-prepared for a flu pandemic. It had high stocks of antivirals and orders for enough vaccines to cover its population in place very early.
Hayden said comparisons with earlier flu pandemics like the one in 1918, which killed an estimated 230,000 people in Britain and up to 50 million worldwide, were skewed by the fact that there were so few effective treatments at that time.
"We didn't have antivirals then, and we didn't have antibiotics for the high frequency of bacterial complications," he said. "We have these kinds of interventions now and they are making a difference."
At the funding briefing, Peter Openshaw, director of the center for respiratory infection at Imperial College London, dismissed suggestions that scientists were enjoying the fruits of a pandemic in the form of big grants to keep them in work.
"This is not something that we are licking our lips and welcoming," he said. "But there is certainly an enormous outbreak of scientific information that has greatly enriched our understanding of flu."
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-SwineFlu/idUSTRE5A52FU20091112

Greenland ice loss accelerating: study

Reuters,  Nov 12, 2009
OSLO (Reuters) - Greenland's ice losses are accelerating and nudging up sea levels, according to a study showing that icebergs breaking away and meltwater runoff are equally to blame for the shrinking ice sheet.
The report, using computer models to confirm satellite readings, indicated that ice losses quickened in 2006-08 to the equivalent of 0.75 mm (0.03 inch) of world sea level rise per year from an average 0.46 mm a year for 2000-08.
"Mass loss has accelerated," said Michiel van den Broeke, of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who led the study, in Friday's edition of the journal Science.
"The years 2006-08, with their warm summers, have seen a huge melting," he told Reuters of the study with colleagues in the United States, the Netherlands and Britain.
"The underlying causes suggest this trend is likely to continue in the near future," Jonathan Bamber, a co-author at the University of Bristol, said in a statement.
The computer models matched satellite data for ice losses -- raising confidence in the findings -- and showed that losses were due equally to meltwater, caused by rising temperatures, and icebergs breaking off from glaciers.
"This helps us to understand the processes that affect Greenland. This will also help us predict what will happen," van den Broeke said. Until now, the relative roles of snowfall, icebergs and thawing ice have been poorly understood.
Greenland locks up enough ice to raise world sea levels by 7 meters (23 ft) if it ever all thawed. At the other end of the globe, far-colder Antarctica contains ice equivalent to 58 meters of sea level rise, according to U.N. estimates.
COPENHAGEN
About 190 governments will meet in Copenhagen from December 7-18 to try to agree a U.N. pact to slow global warming, fearing that rising temperatures will bring more powerful storms, heatwaves, mudslides and species extinctions as well as rising sea levels.
The study said losses of ice from Greenland would have been roughly double recent rates but were masked by more snowfall and a re-freezing of some meltwater before it reached the sea.
In total, Greenland lost about 1,500 billion tons of ice from 2000-08, split between icebergs cracking into the sea from glaciers and water runoff. "The mass loss would have been twice as great," without offsetting effects, Van den Broeke said.
The U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated in 2007 that world sea levels could rise by 18-59 cms by 2100. A natural expansion of water as it warms would account for most of the rise, rather than melting ice.
Greenland's current rate, of 0.75 mm a year, would be 7.5 cms if continued for 100 years. "This is...much more that previous estimates of the Greenland contribution," van den Broeke said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5AB4FM20091112