Big Sugar, Stevia, Aspartame and E-numbers - NewsGrabs 23 September 2007
Health Supreme's NewsGrabs are a selection of alternative health and other underprivileged news. Find what you may have missed in your everyday reading - watch out for these weekly NewsGrabs .... and if some of these news seem strange, don't worry. You aren't required to believe what is being reported. Just pick what seems of interest and then make up your own mind.
In this issue:
Vitamin E trials - Eat (Less) to Live Longer - E-Numbers for food additives - Video: Big Sugar - FDA Pushing Stevia Out of U.S. - Codex Comments on Aspartame - UK: 'Dangerous' E-numbers - New York Sues Merck Over Vioxx - Women unaware of hormone therapy dangers - ADHD Drugs' Cardiovascular Risk - Effectiveness of drugs overstated - The Drug Safety Blindfold - Pro-Consumer Drug Safety Reforms in Final FDA Bill - Book: Don’t Have To Be Afraid Of Cancer - EU calls for urgent action on Wi-Fi radiation - Antarctic ice grows to record levels - Russian Human Genome Project discovers ET abilities to modify DNA through a "biological internet"More information out there...
Of course there is much I cannot cover but other sources for this kind of information exist and are active.
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The Alternative Medicine Yahoo Group is another great place to get information on what is happening in the world of nutrition and other natural health options.
For the influence of electromagnetic waves from radio, mobile phones and other radio emitting devices, check out the emfrefugee group on Yahoo.
If you are interested in a different take on the news that isn't health centered but is certainly fun, check out Robin Good TV News. You can watch when you want, but you can also send in your own video news broadcasts from your corner of the globe and likely have them published on that viral tv channel.
Some sites to keep up to date with the other side of world affairs, the stuff you won't find on tv:
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com
http://www.commondreams.org
http://www.stratfor.com/
http://www.globalresearch.ca/
http://rawstory.com/
http://www.truthout.org/- - -
Vitamin E trials 'fatally flawed'
In a new study and commentary in Free Radical Biology and Medicine, researchers concluded that the levels of vitamin E necessary to reduce oxidative stress – as measured by accepted biomarkers of lipid peroxidation – are about 1,600 to 3,200 I.U. daily, or four to eight times higher than those used in almost all past clinical trials. This could help explain the inconsistent results of many vitamin E trials for its value in preventing or treating cardiovascular disease, said Balz Frei, professor and director of the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, and co-author of the new commentary along with Jeffrey Blumberg, at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.
Eat (Less) to Live (Longer) - New study reveals why restricting calories may lead to longevity
The researchers determined from cultures of human embryonic kidney cells that lower caloric intake sends a signal that activates a gene inside cells that codes for the enzyme NAMPT (nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase). The two- to four-fold surge in NAMPT in turn triggers the production of a molecule called NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), which plays a key role in cellular metabolism and signaling. The uptick in NAD levels activates the SIRT3 and SIRT4 genes, increasing levels of their corresponding SIRT3 and SIRT4 enzymes, which then flood the interior of the mitochondria. Sinclair says he's not sure exactly how SIRT3 and SIRT4 beef up the mitochondria's energy output, but that events leading to cell death are at the very least delayed when there are vast quantities of the enzymes.
Food additives make children behave badly
Britain’s food watchdog is warning all parents today of a clear link between additives and hyperactive behaviour in children. Research for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and published in The Lancet has established the “deleterious effects” of taking a mixture of artifical extras that are added to drinks, sweets and processed foods. It has led the FSA to issue the advice to parents who believe their children to be hyperactive that they should cut out foods containing the E numbers analysed in the study.
Video: Big Sugar
Big Sugar explores the dark history and modern power of the world's reigning sugar cartels. Using dramatic reenactments, it reveals how ... all » sugar was at the heart of slavery in the West Indies in the 18th century, while showing how present-day consumers are slaves to a sugar-based diet. Going undercover, Big Sugar witnesses the appalling working conditions on plantations in the Dominican Republic, where Haitian cane cutters live like slaves. Workers who live on Central Romano, a Fanjul-owned plantation, go hungry while working 12-hour days to earn $2 (US).
Of course sugar gives nothing to the human metabolism - except a quick and in the long run very destructive high. Sugar lowers IQ, it kills by destroying the natural glucose metabolism, it is implicated in the genesis of cancer and it uses up important nutrients such as vitamin C. Why are we still eating sugar and why are our governments actively protecting the industry? The video (there are two parts) has some interesting historical as well as current information.
FDA Continues Pushing Natural Herb Sweetener Stevia Out of U.S.
Stevia is a main staple sweetener in many countries, including Japan and China, where it's found in multiple food products. Companies including Coca-Cola Co. and Cargill Inc. have been developing products that substitute stevia for artifical sweeteners like aspartame, but the FDA currently bans any food product from containing the natural sweetener.According to the American Herbal Products Association, "Stevia leaf is a natural product that has been used for at least 400 years as a food product, principally as a sweetener or other flavoring agent. None of this common usage in foods has indicated any evidence of a safety problem. There are no reports of any government agency in any of the above countries indicating any public health concern whatsoever in connection with the use of stevia in foods."
National Health Federation submits Codex Comments on Aspartame
The National Health Federation is the only health-freedom group with the right to submit comments to this EWG (Codex Electronic Working Group on food additives) and we are doing just that – rest assured. Moreover, NHF will be attending the next CCFA (Codex Food Additives Committee) meeting to be held in April 2008. If you have comments that you wish to have considered for us to make at that meeting, then please direct them to us, care of Scott Tips, our NHF delegation head.
UK: Organic lobby targets 'dangerous' E-numbers
Two weeks ago the FSA published research by the University of Southampton which for the first time conclusively confirmed a link between specified additives and hyperactive behaviour. The FSA took the significant step of issuing revised guidance to consumers, recommending that they avoid products containing certain E-numbers if their children were showing signs of hyperactivity or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). But the move confounded health campaigners, who said the government had missed a chance to ban the additives, instead of placing a burden on parents.
E-numbers are a scheme that all but hides the real identity of additives put in foods. The names of sweeteners, preservatives and other chemicals in foods are substituted by numbers, which most consumers have no way of tracing. There is no publicly accessible comprehensive listing and little information on the dangers of various additives.
New York Sues Merck Over Vioxx
New York State Attorney General Andrew M Cuomo and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg have filed a lawsuit against Merck & Co Inc accusing the drugmaker of hiding risks posed by Vioxx and thereby defrauding Medicaid, the state supported insurance programme, of the moneys paid out for the prescriptions.Merck withdrew Vioxx in 2004 because it significantly increased the risk of heart attack and stroke. The drug was approved for the treatment of osteoarthritis, dysmenorrhea, rheumatoid arthritis, migraine headaches and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.
Merck's Experimental AIDS Vaccine Fails
"It's very disappointing news," said Keith Gottesdiener, head of Merck's clinical infectious disease and vaccine research group. "A major effort to develop a vaccine for HIV really did not deliver on the promise."
Comments a friend of mine from Canada: "Since HIV/AIDS emerged in the early '80s, all known and accepted scientific investigative techniques have failed to prove the existence of a virus. No electron photograph (micrograph) of an isolated HIV particle has ever been published." He asks the question no one seems to ask : "....if an HIV vaccine is ever developed that does not injure or kill, how will anyone know that it works? By testing HIV–positive?" adding "... to produce a vaccine one must have a virus. No virus, no vaccine, no Nobel Prize!"
Less than one-third of women aware of landmark hormone therapy study, researcher finds
Despite the huge publicity generated by a 2002 study on the potential dangers of hormone therapy for postmenopausal women, new research from the Stanford University School of Medicine found that only 29 percent of women surveyed knew about the study two years later.Senior author Randall Stafford, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, said the new study points out that the medical profession hasn't yet figured out an effective way of communicating crucial health information to patients. "This study suggests that we have a flawed mechanism for getting information down to the level of the population," Stafford said.
ADHD Drugs to Be Studied for Cardiovascular Risk
In his recent testimony before the House subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Feb. 13, 2007, Dr. Steven Nissen, Chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Cleveland Clinic and President of the American College of Cardiology, testified about the dangers posed by ADHD drugs that are prescribed for 2.5 million U.S. children - 10% of 5th grade boys are on these drugs: "ADHD drugs are closely related to methamphetamine or 'speed,' a major drug of abuse." "ADHD drugs increase blood pressure. Approximately 25 children suffered sudden cardiac death after taking these drugs, occasionally after the first dose." "ADHD drugs are closely related to ephedra, a drug that the FDA has sought to ban from OTC products."
Effectiveness of drugs 'overstated because of biased testing'
Pharmaceutical companies are overstating the effectiveness of their drugs, and may be placing patients at greater risk, because animal laboratory studies they fund are biased, it was claimed yesterday. A survey of nearly 300 animal-test studies involving six different experimental drugs suggested that such flawed methodology is rampant in the drug-testing industry.
The Drug Safety Blindfold
A recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that serious adverse drug events reported to the FDA were up by a large margin (260%) from 1998-2005. The increase over time was largely explained by increases of just 1 type of report – expedited reports from manufacturers of new, serious events not on the product label. Of the increase of 54,876 additional events in 2005 compared with 1998, expedited reports accounted for 48,080 (87.6%) of these events.
In other words, drug makers are scrambling to report serious side effects that have not been reported when asking for approval of their drugs but that are appearing once the drug is sold on the market. The drug approval process appears to be broken, passing drugs onto the market with only partial knowledge of the side effects to be expected.Vera Hassner Sharav of AHRP comments: These findings confirm FDA's failure to protect the public from lethal drugs--both by approving drugs whose safety has not been demonstrated, and by failing to take action when a drug is identified as killing Americans. "The results highlight the importance of this public health problem and illustrate the need for improved systems to manage the risks of prescription drugs."
Pro-Consumer Drug Safety Reforms Agreed to in Final FDA Bill
Nearly three years to the day Vioxx was removed from the market, Congress has completed a major drug safety reform bill that will give FDA the power to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for safety problems, and help ensure industry can’t keep drug risks hidden from the public, Consumers Union said.
Book: You Don’t Have To Be Afraid Of Cancer Anymore
Citing recent scientific studies which show vitamins, mineral chelators and various herbal extracts are far more capable of curing or preventing cancer than currently available anti-cancer drugs, health journalist Bill Sardi, author of the new book “You Don’t Have To Be Afraid Of Cancer Anymore,” declares the decades-long war on cancer has largely been won. “The problem now is getting the entrenched cancer care industry to lead patients to these discoveries,” he says.
EU watchdog calls for urgent action on Wi-Fi, mobile phone radiation
Europe's top environmental watchdog is calling for immediate action to reduce exposure to radiation from Wi-Fi, mobile phones and their masts. It suggests that delay could lead to a health crisis similar to those caused by asbestos, smoking and lead in petrol. The warning, from the EU's European Environment Agency (EEA) follows an international scientific review which concluded that safety limits set for the radiation are "thousands of times too lenient", and an official British report last week which concluded that it could not rule out the development of cancers from using mobile phones.
Antarctic ice grows to record levels
Over 500 scientists published studies countering global warming fears
While the news focus has been on the lowest ice extent since satellite monitoring began in 1979 for the Arctic, the Southern Hemisphere (Antarctica) has quietly set a new record for most ice extent since 1979. A new analysis of peer-reviewed literature reveals that more than 500 scientists have published evidence refuting at least one element of current man-made global warming scares. More than 300 of the scientists found evidence that 1) a natural moderate 1,500-year climate cycle has produced more than a dozen global warmings similar to ours since the last Ice Age and/or that 2) our Modern Warming is linked strongly to variations in the sun's irradiance.
Russian Human Genome Project discovers ET abilities to modify DNA through a "biological internet"
‘The human DNA is a biological Internet’ with evidence that DNA can be ‘influenced and reprogrammed by words and frequencies.’ This suggests that ‘our DNA is not only responsible for the construction of our body, but also serves as data storage and communication.’ The Russian scientists and linguists have found that the genetic code ‘follows the same rules as all our human languages.’The Russian researchers believe that ‘Living chromosomes function just like a holographic computer using endogenous DNA laser radiation. This means that they managed to modulate certain frequency patterns (sound) onto a laser-like ray which influence DNA frequency and thus the genetic information itself. Since the basic structure of DNA-alkaline pairs and language is of the same structure, no DNA decoding is necessary. One can simply use words and sentences of the human language! This, too, was experimentally proven!’
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Sunday September 23 2007
updated on Wednesday August 15 2012URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2007/09/23/big_sugar_stevia_aspartame_and_enumbers_newsgrabs_23_september_2007.htm