Health Supreme NewsGrabs - 6 January 2007
Health Supreme's News Grabs - selected health news and bits of related information ...
In this issue:
Wireless Pillcam -
Longevity gene keeps mind sharp -
Ascorbic acid competes with sugar in immune system -
Folate levels falling in US women -
Natural substances prevent brain cell death -
Texas defrauded by drug companies -
Canadian media group challenges medicine advertising prohibition -
FDA says you can eat cloned animals' meat -
Teflon: toxic compound found in blood -
UK Soil Association condemns fluoridation -
Pesticide industry asks EPA to crack down on natural pesticides -
China: Study finds link between ADHD and blood mercury levels -
Study connects mobile phones to cancer
Electroshock causes amnesia, prominent researcher admits -
Quackbusters in trouble -
- - -
Medical Imaging Technologies 2.0: Portable, Disposable, Wireless - Pillcam Is Here
The ubiquity of cheap, all but throwaway cameras is something we have come to take for granted. Web-cams and the advent of online video sharing have made broadcasting our internal lives to the world as easy and as commonplace as picking up the phone. But new medical technologies promise to make the literal broadcasting of our internal lives a reality, potentially changing the lives of millions of people.
'Longevity gene keeps mind sharp'
The "longevity" gene alters the size of fatty cholesterol particles in the blood, making them bigger than normal. This stops them causing the fatty build up in blood vessels that is linked with brain impairment, and deadly strokes and heart attacks, Neurology reports.
It would appear that instead of fighting cholesterol (to prevent heart disease), the question we should ask is: "Do you have enough cholesterol, and are its fatty particles the correct size?"
ASCORBIC ACID COMPETES WITH SUGAR IN THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Insulin moves both glucose and ascorbic acid into cells including phagocytic immune cells. The phagocytic cells like leukocytes attack and remove microbes, tumor cells and debris from the blood. The level of ascorbic acid in leukocytes may be 80 times greater than that found in plasma. Glucose and ascorbic acid are constantly competing for insulin transport so diets high in sugar and carbohydrates will decrease the amount of ascorbic acid that enters cells and thus create undesirable effects on the immune response.
Folate Levels Fall in Young U.S. Women
"This is a cause of substantial concern," said Dr. Nancy Green, medical director for the March of Dimes, which campaigns for birth defects prevention. Folate is a naturally occurring B vitamin. An artificial version, which is more easily metabolized by the body, is folic acid.
NAD, Green tea extract prevent brain cell death hours after stroke
Ying says that because both compounds provide significant protection hours after the onset of ischemia, both studies have important potential implications for treatment of ischemic brain injury among humans. In current medical practice, treatment during the first 60 minutes after injury –– the so-called "golden hour" –– is considered crucial if the patient is to survive with minimal damage.
CMAJ * Canadian Medical Association Journal - January 2, 2007
CanWest Media group set to challenge ban on DTCA
(Direct-to-Consumer-Advertising of drug ads)
Last December CanWest, which owns 11 of Canada's major daily newspapers including the National Post, a major television channel and other media outlets, launched a legal challenge to the federal law outlawing American-style prescription drug advertising, claiming that the regulation discriminates against its business interests.
Only the US and New Zealand allow direct-to-consumer drug advertising, a practice that arguably has made the US health system the most expensive in absolute terms, while doing little for quality of service. New Zealand is considering to reverse its policy on the issue to no longer allow direct advertising for drugs.
FDA Says Cloned animals' meat safe to eat
"None of the studies … identify any remarkable nutritionally or toxicologically important differences in the composition of the meat or milk," according to a draft of a paper to be published Jan. 1 in Theriogenology, a scientific journal on animal reproduction. Though the safety of cloned animals may not be in question, public opinion is another matter, said Michael Fernandez of the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology. A poll in September by the non-profit group found that 64% of people were uncomfortable with animal cloning.
Toxic Teflon: Compounds from Household Products Found in Human Blood
DuPont and other companies use those synthetic compounds to make an extraordinarily wide range of products, including nonstick cookware (e.g, Teflon), grease-resistant food packaging (e.g., microwave popcorn and pizza boxes), stain-resistant fabrics and carpets (e.g., Stainmaster), shampoos, conditioners, cleaning products, electronic components, paints, firefighting foams, and a host of other artifacts of modern life. But like many "better things" produced by industrial chemistry, these products can have disastrous side effects.
Fluoridation of drinking water - the UK Soil Association's position
h. We consider that the practice of adding fluoride to drinking water is prophylactic treatment and is therefore in opposition to organic principles. As a result the Soil Association is opposed to the artificial fluoridation of water by water companies and also the legislation allowing this practice. We support the campaign by the National Pure Water Association for water companies to have the right not to fluoridate their water.
Palmbeach Post: EPA asked to crack down on natural pesticides
The Consumer Specialty Products Association, whose members include manufacturers of conventional chemical pesticides, sent the EPA a petition in March arguing that a product that claims to kill or repel a pest known to carry a disease is making a health claim, even if its label does not specifically refer to the disease. It asks the EPA to require manufacturers of such products to provide scientific data showing that the products are efficacious.
A small study in China of children diagnosed with ADHD finds a highly significant difference in blood mercury levels between cases and controls
The children with ADHD had blood mercury levels on average (geometric mean) over 50% higher than controls. Children with blood mercury levels above 28 nmol/L were over 9 times more likely to have ADHD. Neuropediatrics.
Another study connecting mobiles and brain cancer
"We found for all studied phone types an increased risk for brain tumours, mainly acoustic neuroma and malignant brain tumours. OR increased with latency period, especially for astrocytoma grade III-IV."
Medical News Today: Electroconvulsive Therapy Causes Permanent Amnesia And Cognitive Deficits, Prominent Researcher Admits
In a stunning reversal, an article in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology in January 2007 by prominent researcher Harold Sackeim of Columbia University reveals that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) causes permanent amnesia and permanent deficits in cognitive abilities, which affect individuals' ability to function.
Although not widely known, the barbaric practice of electroshock is still in routine use by psychiatrists. See Leonard Roy Frank's Electroshock Quotationary (PDF).
Quackbuster Citadel Crumbling - They Face Massive Litigation...
One of those groups who've had enough of Barrett and company is the age-old Chiropractic Profession. It looks to me, that finally, the Chiros are picking up the sword, sharpening it to a razor's edge and heading for Allentown, Pennsylvania where they'll drag stinky old Barrett out of his basement "quackwatch" lair, haul him into the daylight of the LeHigh County Court of Common Pleas, and flay and fillet him (so to speak), in front of a jury of his hometown peers.
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Saturday January 6 2007
updated on Wednesday December 8 2010URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2007/01/06/health_supreme_newsgrabs_6_january_2007.htm