Groundbreaking research nearly two decades ago demonstrating the adverse effects of poverty.

How Poverty Molds the Brain: Poor Neural Processing of Sound Linked to Lower Maternal Education Background

Oct. 29, 2013 — Groundbreaking research nearly two decades ago linking a mother's educational background to her children's literacy and cognitive abilities stands out among decades of social science studies demonstrating the adverse effects of poverty.

Now new research conducted at Northwestern University has taken that finding in a neuroscientific direction: linking poor processing of auditory information in the adolescent brain to a lower maternal educational background.
"These adolescents had noisier neural activity than their classmates, even when no sound was presented," said Nina Kraus, the Hugh Knowles Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology and Communication Sciences at Northwestern and corresponding author of the study.
In addition, the neural response to speech for the adolescents from a lower maternal educational background was erratic over repeated stimulation, with lower fidelity to the incoming sound.
"Think about the neural noise like static in a radio -- with the announcer's voice coming in faintly," Kraus said.
Maternal education acted as a proxy for socioeconomic status for the study. Adolescents were divided into two groups, according to whether their mothers had a high school education or less or had completed some post-secondary schooling.
Not only did the adolescents from a lower maternal educational background have neural responses to speech sounds that were nosier, more variable and represented the input signal weakly, but their performances on tests of reading and working memory also were poorer.
"The impoverished brain: Disparities in maternal education affect the neural response to sound" will be published Oct. 30 in the Journal of Neuroscience. Its authors are Erika Skoe, assistant professor of speech, language and hearing sciences at the University of Connecticut; Jennifer Krizman, a doctoral student in Northwestern's Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory; and Kraus, also the director of the Auditory Neuroscience Lab.
This study builds on evidence that children from low-income families experience a type of auditory impoverishment. The landmark study by Hart and Risley (1995) revealed that children in high-income families are exposed to 30 million more words than children from families on welfare. This reduction in the quality and quantity of language input, along with greater exposure to unstructured sound such as ambient noise, may be affecting how the brain represents auditory information.
In urban populations, income and amount of noise exposure are known to be correlated. Consistent with the idea that noisy auditory environments increase neural noise, the new Journal of Neuroscience study found that the adolescents from the lower maternal educational group have increased neural activity in the absence of sound input.
According to the study, "Neural models indicate that when the input to a neuron is noisier, the firing rate becomes more variable, ultimately limiting the amount of sensory information that can be transmitted."
"If your brain is creating a different signal each time you hear a sound, you might be losing some of the details of the sound," said Skoe, lead author of the study. "Losing these details may create challenges in the classroom and other noisy settings."
The new research conducted at Northwestern contributes to a recent wave of neuroscientific research demonstrating that sociocultural factors influence brain structure and function.
Another recently published study from the Kraus lab showed that inconsistent neural responses to sounds relate to poor reading but that by acoustically augmenting the classroom, neural responses became more stable.
"Modifying the auditory world for a particular student, even if just for a portion of the day, may improve academic performance and fine-tune how sound is automatically encoded in the brain," Skoe said.
Ongoing work in Northwestern's Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory is investigating whether auditory enrichment in the form of music education and other school-based activities can offset the negative impact of an impoverished acoustic environment.
For the new study, brain activity of Chicago Public School adolescents, almost all ninth-graders, was assessed both in response to and in the absence of auditory input. The nervous system's responses to speech sounds were observed through passive electrophysiological recordings, with students grouped according to the highest educational level achieved by their mothers.
The responses reflect activity from a communication hub within the central nervous system that provides a snapshot of sensory, cognitive and reward circuits that are engaged to process sound. These fundamental, automatic responses to sound reflect past and ongoing sensory experiences and relate to linguistic and cognitive function.
The collection protocol for "the impoverished auditory brain" lasted roughly 20 minutes, during which participants sat comfortably watching a self-selected subtitled movie, while the brain response to speech syllables was passively collected.
The syllables were presented at a rapid rate to the right ear through an earphone placed in the ear canal. The left ear remained unblocked, making the movie sound track audible yet not intense enough to mask the stimulus.
The syllables chosen are common to many languages of the world, and their acoustic characteristics are perceptually challenging.
In addition, IQ assessments for the students were collected, and they were administered a standardized, age-normed test battery of reading ability and executive function (working memory). Previous work has revealed that the neurobiological systems mediating higher order functions such as language, memory and executive function are especially sensitive to disparities in socioeconomic status.
"By studying socioeconomic status within a neuroscientific framework, we have the potential to expand our understanding of the biological signatures of poverty," Kraus concluded. "And a better understanding of how experiences shape the brain could inform educational efforts aimed at closing the socioeconomic achievement gap."

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Northwestern University. The original article was written by Pat Vaughan Tremmel.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Skoe E, Krizman J, Kraus N. The impoverished brain: Disparities in maternal education affect the neural response to sound. Journal of Neuroscience, 2013

Related articles

• The Adverse Effects of Poverty
• How poverty molds the brain
• This Is Your Brain on Poverty

As the EU Launches Shocking Fructose Health Claim Label, Oreos Are Found to Be as Addictive as Cocaine

October 30, 2013

Visit the Mercola Video Library

By Dr. Mercola

When you eat refined processed sugars, they trigger production of your brain's natural opioids -- a key ingredient in the addiction process. Your brain essentially becomes addicted to stimulating the release of its own opioids as it would to morphine or heroin.
This addictive nature of sugar and processed food has again been confirmed by a psychology professor and a team of students at the College of Connecticut,^1,2 who showed that Oreo cookies are just as addictive as cocaine or morphine.
The study, which was designed to investigate the potential addictiveness of high-fat/high-sugar foods, also found that eating Oreos activated more neurons in the rat brain’s pleasure center than exposure to illicit drugs did. According to professor Schroeder:

“Our research supports the theory that high-fat/ high-sugar foods stimulate the brain in the same way that drugs do. It may explain why some people can’t resist these foods despite the fact that they know they are bad for them.”

The idea for the study originated with neuroscience major Jamie Honohan, who wanted to know how the high prevalence of junk foods in low-income neighborhoods might contribute to the obesity epidemic.
Indeed, it’s quite revealing to note that, in contrast to third-world countries, in the US the poorest people have the highest obesity rates. This seeming contradiction is, I believe, a clear indication that the problem stems from the diet itself.
Something in the cheapest and most readily available foods is creating metabolic havoc, and that’s exactly what researchers keep finding. As reported by Connecticut college:

“...Oreos activated significantly more neurons than cocaine or morphine. 'This correlated well with our behavioral results and lends support to the hypothesis that high-fat/ high sugar foods can be thought of as addictive,' said Schroeder.

And that could be a problem for the general public, says Honohan. ‘Even though we associate significant health hazards in taking drugs like cocaine and morphine, high-fat/ high-sugar foods may present even more of a danger because of their accessibility and affordability,’ she said.”

Please note that I do not agree with the comment that everything that is considered high-fat is bad for you. Oreo cookies and virtually every other processed snack are bad because they use highly processed omega-6 vegetable oils, the wrong type of fat. However it is possible to make a healthy high-fat snack using oils like coconut oil.

Processed Foods Are DESIGNED to Be Addictive

Indeed, scientific research into the addictive nature of certain foods, combined with shocking “insider” exposés,³ tells us that Americans are not necessarily lacking in self control when it comes to their food consumption. Rather, food companies have perfected food concoctions that are addictive. And they know it.
Most people blindly believe that food companies will do the right thing; that they would never produce food that might be toxic or harmful. This, we’ve learned is not the case.
The food industry is well aware of its role in creating obesity, and they’re not ignorant as to the reason why Americans can’t seem to get enough junk food. They even insist on selling foods to the American market with ingredients that have been banned for health reasons in other countries...
Most processed foods are actually created to be addictive—whether we’re talking about cookies or pasta sauce—through the masterful use of addictive ingredients like salt, fat, sugar and a wide variety of proprietary flavorings.
In a previous New York Times article,⁴ investigative reporter Michael Moss wrote about the extraordinary science behind taste and junk food addiction, and how multinational food companies struggle to maintain their “stomach shares” in the face of mounting evidence that their foods are driving the health crisis.
In it he mentions a 1999 meeting between 11 CEOs in charge of America’s largest food companies, including Kraft, Nabisco, General Mills, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and Mars, where their role in the increasingly poor health of Americans was addressed head-on. Moss writes in part:

“James Behnke, a 55-year-old executive at Pillsbury... was engaged in conversation with a group of food-science experts who were painting an increasingly grim picture of the public’s ability to cope with the industry’s formulations —
From the body’s fragile controls on overeating to the hidden power of some processed foods to make people feel hungrier still. It was time, he and a handful of others felt, to warn the C.E.O.’s that their companies may have gone too far in creating and marketing products that posed the greatest health concerns.“

SHOCKING! EU Approves Health Claim for Fructose

With everything we now know about the metabolic disaster that is fructose, it’s absolutely SHOCKING to learn that the European Union has approved a health claim for fructose,⁵ slated to take effect as of 2014. Many of my readers are scattered through the EU nations, and for you, understanding the ramifications of this label is crucial.
As of 2014, food manufacturers that replace at least 30 percent of the glucose and/or sucrose content in their food with fructose will be allowed to put a health claim on their product, stating that it has a positive effect on carbohydrate metabolism and insulin sensitivity.
There’s no doubt in my mind that such a health claim will promote an avalanche of chronic disease, as food manufacturers start switching from the lesser to the greater of two evils... As reported by Ingredients Network:⁶

“[F]ood and beverage manufacturers can expect a healthy upward surge in sales for products with fructose from the 2nd of January 2014 when the European Union’s fructose health claim comes into effect. ...[T]he fructose declaration promises to be truly ground breaking for food and beverage manufacturers. Manufacturers who substitute at least 30 percent of glucose or sucrose with fructose can now claim that

‘Consumption of foods containing fructose leads to a lower blood glucose rise compared to foods containing sucrose or glucose.’ ...fructose’s ability to emphasize fruity flavors also makes the news particularly favorable for manufacturers of beverages, fruit preparations, fruit flavored ice-cream, yogurts and more.
Since the EU’s game-changing step, validating fructose benefits, the industry’s attention has focused with increased urgency on the opportunities presented by incorporating non-GMO crystalline fructose into different food and beverages products...”

Why Fructose Is Worse for You Than Other Sugars

One of the primary problems with refined fructose is that it is isocaloric but not isometabolic. What this means is that while you can have the same amount of calories from fructose or any other nutrient, including glucose, the metabolic effect will be entirely different despite the identical calorie count.
While it is true that refined fructose creates a lower glycemic response immediately after eating it, compared to sucrose or glucose, to say that it is therefore healthier for you is a gross and seriously misleading claim that wholly ignores its overall metabolic consequences.
In short, the fact that refined fructose produces a lower immediate glycemic response is completely irrelevant, because the overall metabolic effects are far more destructive. In my view, this label is dangerous, and may set the EU up for an out-of-control spiral of chronic disease.
Refined fructose actually affects your body in ways similar to alcohol, hence the rise in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease—and, again, addiction. Fructose and ethanol both have immediate, narcotic effects associated with their dopaminergic properties. In the same way that alcohol can lead to the downward spiral of compulsive overconsumption, fructose tends to generate an insatiable and intense sensation of pleasurable sweetness, often driving us to consume far more than our body can handle; even while it damages multiple organ systems.
The EU Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies even spells out the consequences in their Opinion paper,⁷ while still agreeing with the proposed health claim for fructose:

“The Panel considers that in order to bear the claim, glucose or sucrose should be replaced by fructose in sugar sweetened foods or beverages. The target population is individuals who wish to reduce their post-prandial glycaemic responses. The Panel notes that high intakes of fructose may lead to metabolic complications such as dyslipidaemia, insulin resistance and increased visceral adiposity.“ [Emphasis mine]

Discover the great super health power found in the star anise plant.

The super power of star anise

Thursday, October 24, 2013 by: Dr. David Jockers



(NaturalNews) The Asian fruit Illicium verum, commonly called star anise, has been given recent prominence in the natural health world. The star anise has a characteristic licorice, anise-like flavor, although it is not related to the anise plants native to the Middle East and Mediterranean. Discover the great super health power found in the star anise plant.

Star anise is a fruit picked off of a medium-sized evergreen tree in the northeast Vietnam and southwest China regions. It is also found in the southern region of New South Wales. The herb takes on an eight pointed star shape and is often used in Chinese, Vietnamese and Indian cuisine. It is also commonly used as a fragrance in natural cosmetics, soaps and toothpastes.

Star anise is a culinary superstar

Star anise is also revered in the culinary arts for its pungent flavor with hints of licorice and clove. It is used in a variety of dishes from beverages to deserts and savory stews. Many culinary artists use a single anise star to flavor an entire pot of stew or soup. Both the pods and the seeds are used for different purposes in the culinary arts and natural healing therapies.

Star anise is a powerful antimicrobial

Star anise is the world's greatest source of the shikimic acid compound, which is also found in ginkgo, ginger, fennel and sweetgum fruit and is used by pharmaceutical companies to produce the anti-flu medication Tamiflu. The shikimic acid combines with other components in star anise to act as a neuraminidase inhibitor which blocks an enzyme that facilitates the replication of viral particles from body cells.

A study published in the April 2008 issue of the Journal of Medical Virology showed that the combination of shikimic acid and the flavonoid quercetin ramped up immunity to fully resist viral infection. Several studies have also found that the compounds in star anise showed very strong antifungal and antimicrobial activity.

Star anise is a great digestive aid

Star anise also gets its distinctive sweet licorice flavor from a chemical compound called anethole. The anethole is helpful for digestion and improves symptoms of colic in babies and irritable bowel syndrome in adults. It is thought to activate enzymes within the body to improve the digestive process of proteins and fats. In this way, it reduces gas and bloating and improves nutritional absorption.

Star anise is a warming spice that contains linalool and limonene, which are powerful terpene antioxidants. Linalool acts to protect the lipid bilayer of the cell membranes; it protects the arteries and improves blood flow. Limonene exerts strong anticancer activity within the body. These components also help improve energy levels and as an expectorant to cough up mucous associated with asthma, bronchitis, common cold and whooping cough.

Acts to improve hormone function in women

The combination of compounds including diantheole and photoantheole in star anise also promote lactation in nursing mothers. They also increase libido and help reduce symptoms associated with premenstrual syndrome. However, this herb should not be used during pregnancy due to its effect on female hormone levels and the potential for complications.

This fruit can be used as a spice in a variety of dishes and taken as a supplement or in an organic fermented herbal tonic drink. Fermented herbal botanicals go through a two to four month process that activates the full nutritional potential in an organic acid base with live enzymes and probiotics. This is a revolutionary way to take in superfoods and herbs such as star anise.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.naturalnews.com

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com

http://naturalhealthscience.com

http://themodernherbal.com

http://science.naturalnews.com

About the author:
Dr. David Jockers owns and operates Exodus Health Center in Kennesaw, Ga. He is a Maximized Living doctor. His expertise is in weight loss, customized nutrition & exercise, & structural corrective chiropractic care. For more information go to www.drjockers.com To find a Maximized Living doctor near you go to www.maximizedliving.com Dr. Jockers is also available for long distance phone consultations to help you beat disease and reach your health goals

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/042634_star_anise_superfood_health_benefits.html#ixzz2icwCrnYt

Hundreds of dogs killed by contaminated jerky treats made in China; FDA still mystified by cause

Thursday, October 24, 2013
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...)
(NaturalNews) Thousands of family dogs across the USA have been sickened by pet jerky treats made in China, and nearly 600 dogs have died. The FDA has issued a warning over the deadly jerky treats but has not forced any sort of product recall.
So far, the cause of the fatalities remains a mystery. The FDA says it has tested jerky treats for heavy metals, pesticides, antibiotics, chemicals and even Salmonella but cannot find the cause. The agency is warning pet owners to watch their pets for symptoms of poisoning which may include "decreased appetite, decreased activity, vomiting, diarrhea (sometimes with blood or mucus), increased water consumption and / or increased urination."
Click here to view the FDA's fact sheet on contaminated jerky treats.
According to USA Today, the deadly jerky treats "come mostly from China," and the number of dogs sickened or killed by these treats has been rising all year.
The treats causing this epidemic of death, says USA Today, are "made of chicken, duck, sweet potatoes or dried fruit."

Beware of pet treats made in China

Most consumers do not fully realize that pet treats do NOT have to list their country of origin. Many pet treats are highly deceptive on their packaging, sometimes showing a logo of the continental USA and claiming to be "made with beef from the USA" even though the treats themselves are manufactured in China using toxic chemicals.
The FDA has not issued a recall on the brands it suspects are causing these deaths. This is one of the problems with the agency: it already knows which products are killing dogs, but it has so far failed to release that information to the public. As a result, as more and more people learn about this, all pet treat manufacturers will suffer because consumers will shun the entire product category.

Read More Here

Related articles

• FDA warns of pet deaths from jerky treats
• Pet illness, deaths related to jerky
• FDA warns pet owners of dangerous jerky treats
• FDA: Dangerous Jerky Treats Sicken 3,600 Dogs
• FDA to vets: Watch out for jerky pet treats; some linked to illness, death
• FDA to vets: Watch out for jerky pet treats; some linked to illness, death
• FDA: Some jerky pet treats linked to illness, death
• Why are jerky treats killing pets? FDA asks for help
• FDA: Jerky treats making pets sick?
• Jerky treats leave nearly 600 dogs dead in 'mysterious outbreak', FDA says

Big Pharma and FDA: A Marriage Not Made in Heaven

In this excerpt from the new book Crony Capitalism in America 2008-2012, Hunter Lewis exposes the incestuous relationship between government and the drug industry.
Lewis, who serves as president of ANH-USA’s board of directors, has written nine books on moral philosophy, psychology, and economics, including the widely acclaimed Are the Rich Necessary? (which the New York Times called “highly provocative and highly pleasurable”). He has contributed to the New York Times, the Times of London, the Washington Post, and the Atlantic Monthly, as well as numerous websites such as Forbes.com and RealClearMarkets.com.
In his new book, Lewis shows how private interests and politicians rely upon one another—political favors in exchange for money—a system known as crony capitalism. Where do private interests such as those on Wall Street or in the drug industry stop and Washington begins? It’s impossible to say anymore.
Chapter 15 is all about the FDA, and we thought our readers would enjoy this searing behind-the-scenes look at just how deeply the US Food and Drug Administration has enmeshed itself with the pharmaceutical industry:

Big Pharma and FDA:
A Marriage Not Made in Heaven

The drug industry at one time was called the patent medicine industry. This is still the more revealing name. Drug companies devote themselves to inventing non-natural molecules for use in medicine. Why non-natural? Because molecules previously occurring in nature cannot, as a rule, be patented. It is essential to develop a patentable medicine; only a medicine protected by a government patent can hope to recoup the enormous cost of taking a new drug through the government’s approval process.
Getting a new drug through the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is not just expensive ($1 billion on average). It also requires having the right people on your side. Drug companies know that they must hire former FDA employees to assist with the process. They also hire leading experts as consultants, some of the same experts who may be called on by the FDA to serve on its screening panels. Direct payments must also be made to support the FDA’s budget.
All these financial ties encourage a “wink and a nod” relationship between researchers working for drug companies and regulators, who are often the same people, thanks to the revolving door. As the Economist magazine writes:

Pharmaceutical companies bury clinical trials which show bad results for a drug and publish only those that show a benefit. The trials are often run on small numbers of unrepresentative patients, and the statistical analyses are massaged to give as rosy a picture as possible. Entire clinical trials are run not as trials at all, but as under-the-counter advertising campaigns designed to persuade doctors to prescribe a company’s drug.

The bad behavior extends far beyond the industry itself. Drug regulators, who do get access to some of the hidden results, often guard them jealously, even from academic researchers, seeming to serve the interests of the firms whose products they are supposed to police. The French journal Prescrire applied to Europe’s drug regulator for information on the diet drug rimonabant. The regulator sent back 68 pages in which virtually every sentence was blacked out. . . .

Medical journals frequently fail to perform basic checks on the papers they print, so all sorts of sharp practice goes uncorrected. Many published studies are not written by the academics whose names they bear, but by commercial ghostwriters paid by drug firms. Doctors are bombarded with advertising encouraging them to prescribe certain drugs. . . .

What the Economist calls “bad behavior” also spills over from the medical world to the financial world. Just since 2008, 75 people have been charged with trying to profit from inside information about drug approvals or company mergers related to patentable drugs. One of them, an FDA chemist named Cheng Yi Liang with access to the Agency’s approval database, pleaded guilty to insider trading on 25 companies for a total gain of $3.78 million over five years. Others with larger resources to invest have made much larger sums. Rod Rothstein, the US Attorney for Maryland who helped prosecute the FDA case, has noted that “healthcare is particularly attractive to criminals because so much turns on government regulatory approval.”
Dr. Ben Goldacre, author of Bad Pharma, summarizes the entire drug approval process as follows: “[It] is broken. . . . The people you should have been able to trust to fix [the] problems have failed you.”
Although the costs of drug approval keep growing, along with the related corruption, the financial payoff for those ultimately winning approval can be astronomical, because approval also brings with it a government-protected monopoly. Only FDA-approved drugs can be prescribed within government programs such as Medicare. Doctors may prescribe unapproved substances outside of Medicare, Medicaid, or the Veteran’s Administration, but by doing so risk losing their license to practice. Some approved drugs may be priced as high as $500,000 per year per patient.
The FDA will also discourage, and often ban, substances that might compete with approved drugs. When anti-depression drugs (based on extending the life of a hormone, serotonin, inside the body) were approved, the Agency promptly banned a natural substance, L-Tryptophan, that increased serotonin, even though the natural substance was much cheaper and had long been available. Many years later, after the anti-depression drugs were well established, Tryptophan was finally allowed back, but under restrictions that made it more expensive.
In general, the FDA maintains a resolutely hostile stance toward supplements. It will not allow any treatment claims to be made for them, no matter how much science there is to support it, unless they are brought through the FDA approval process and thus become drugs. The Agency understands that this is a classic “Catch-22.” Who can afford to spend up to a billion dollars to win FDA approval of a non-patented substance? The answer is obvious: no one. So the real FDA intent is simply to eliminate any competition for patented drugs, since these drugs pay the Agency’s bills.
This FDA policy prevents millions of Americans from hearing about food or supplement remedies that are safer and cheaper than drugs. It hurts the poor and the middle class. But, ironically, it also hurts the rich, even the crony capitalist rich. A national magazine ran a profile of a Wall Street billionaire sitting in his gigantic Connecticut mansion, popping acid blockers for a stomach problem that tormented him. He was totally unaware of research suggesting that most such ailments stemmed from too little acid, not too much, and that a few simple tablets containing hydrochloric acid, one of the cheapest supplements, would probably end his pain.
Why did the billionaire not know this? The answer could not be simpler: crony capitalist drug companies earn huge profits from acid blockers, and along with their friends in government at the FDA, succeed in keeping this information hidden. So there the billionaire sits in his great mansion, unable to enjoy it because of intense stomach pain.
Drug companies and the FDA are not alone in wishing to suppress supplement alternatives to hyper-expensive patented prescription drugs. They have allies among both politicians and doctors. For example, the Archives of Internal Medicine, run by the American Medical Association, and supported financially by drug companies, often publishes flimsy studies attacking supplements, and generally ignores the considerable scientific evidence in their favor.
One such study, published October 10, 2011, by University of Michigan researchers, purported to show that taking supplements could shorten your life. It caused a media feeding frenzy, with headlines everywhere. The problem was that this study, like its predecessors, was junk science. The women in the study were asked every six years what they had taken. They were supposed to remember what they had taken for the six-year period. The reports did not have to be specific: the word “multivitamin” could mean anything. Who knows what was taken or even it if was taken? It could also be synthetic or natural.
Those who reported taking “multivitamins” were found over time to be healthier on average than others and to live longer. But the authors of the study, who clearly had an anti-supplement agenda, made numerous “adjustments” attributing the good health to other factors. Once these arbitrary “adjustments” were made, they then concluded that supplements actually made these healthier than average and longer living people unhealthier. Even after the “adjustment,” the statistical evidence was weak to nonexistent, but that did not prevent media from all over the world reporting that supplements may hasten your death.
What was behind this? The AMA seems worried about competition for its brand of medicine, which focuses almost exclusively on conventional drugs and surgery. It is especially worried about competition from “integrative” doctors who include advice about food, supplements, and exercise in their practice. The AMA and its affiliates also have a tight relationship with drug companies, and depend on them for financial support in many forms, not just journal advertising. Both the AMA and drug companies thus seem determined to trash supplements and those giving advice on supplements.


Read More Here


*****************************************************

Dr John Rengen Virapen (1/4) Big Pharma Whistleblower Speaks Out at the AZK in Germany (Full Edit)

Philip Jonkers  

Uploaded on Jul 9, 2009

 

Dr. John Rengen Virapen worked 35 years for Eli Lilly & Co as an executive. He now speaks out on the many crimes Big Pharma was and is responsible for and he himself also participated in. Unfortunately, many of its crimes go passed public awareness as it enjoys the unethical protection from its big allies, the mainstream media, the FDA and governments. 

Check out accompanying blog carrying ample background material: http://1phil4everyill.wordpress.com/2... 

 John Virapen's website - with contact info and book order instructions: http://www.johnvirapen.com/ http://www.side-effects-death.com/ 

 New interview dated 2009-07-27 on blogtalkradio: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/MedicalW...

     
Part 2


   
 Part 3


 
Part 4


 

*****************************************************

Related articles

• Big Pharma and FDA: A Marriage Not Made in Heaven
• Big Pharma and FDA: A Marriage Not Made in Heaven
• Big Pharma Paid for Seat at FDA Advisory Table
• FDA Policy: Big Pharma Firms Pay to Play
• Pharma Controls Clinical Trials Of Their Drugs. Is This Hazardous To Your Health?
• The government knows it's a medical killing machine
• Pulling Back the Curtain on the Organized Crime Ring That Is the Pharmaceutical Drug Cartel
• Pharmaceutical company asks FDA to withdraw approval for its own drugs since agency is too corrupt to protect public safety on its own
• Here's Why Your Asthma Inhaler Costs So Damn Much

Watercress Turns Off Breast Cancer Cell Growth

Posted on:

Tuesday, October 1st 2013 at 5:15 pm

Written By:

Margie King, Health Coach

Long associated with tea sandwiches and white gloves, watercress contains a powerful plant compound that may help fight breast cancer.
According to a study conducted at the University of Southampton and published in the British Journal of Nutrition and Biochemical Pharmacology, the plant compound known as phenylethyl isothiocyanate, may suppress breast cancer cell development.  It works by turning off a signal in the cells which is necessary to cancer cell growth.
When cancerous tumors outgrow their blood supply, they send out signals to normal tissues to feed them oxygen and nutrients. This compound in watercress interferes with those signals.  That results in the starvation of the cancerous growth by blocking essential blood and oxygen.
Prior studies had found the same plant compound to be effective in blocking the growth of prostate and colon cancer cells.
In the current study a small group of breast cancer survivors ate a bowl of watercress and then had their blood tested over the next 24 hours. The researchers found significant levels of the plant compound in the blood following the watercress meal.  The signaling function was also measurably affected in the blood cells of the women.

Read More Here

Related articles

• Can watercress grown in Hampshire help fight cancer?
• Study Finds Various Compounds in Cannabis Can Fight Leukemia, Stopping Cancer Cells in their Tracks
• Cannabinoids Destroy Cancer Cells, Prevents Them From Growing
• How Cancer Cells are Supported by Normal Cells in and Near Tumors Revealed
• Targeting Cancer Cells and Environment Halts Tumor Growth

Green Tea and Tai Chai Team Up to Protect Bones

Posted on:

Sunday, October 13th 2013 at 11:30 am

Written By:

Margie King, Health Coach

Green tea is one of the latest superfoods making its way into bottled waters and energy drinks.  You'll even find it in energy bars, mints, chewing gum and ice cream. It has many claimed health benefits.  Texas researchers add to the list with evidence that green tea aids in the prevention of osteoporosis.  Especially when coupled with a tai chi practice. 
Green tea is full of compounds called polyphenols which are known for their potent antioxidant activity. Studies have shown that people who consume the highest levels of green tea polyphenols tend to have lower risks of several chronic degenerative diseases such as cardiovascular disease.
Animal studies suggest that the mechanism behind this correlation may have to do with lowering chronic levels of inflammation.  These studies show that green tea may benefit bone health by mitigating bone loss due to aging, estrogen deficiency, or chronic inflammation.  That in turn may improve clinical symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, normalize bone metabolic disorders, and impact trace element metabolism.
In humans, the Mediterranean Osteoporosis Study showed that drinking up to 3 cups of tea per day was associated with a 30% reduction in the risk of hip fractures in women as well as men over 50 years of age.
Researchers at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center believe bioactive components in green tea might decrease the risk of fracture by improving bone mineral density.  These compounds may support osteoblastic activities (bone building) while suppressing osteoclastic activities (bone breakdown).

Read More Here

Related articles

• Over-50s osteoporosis scale revealed
• A Green Tea A Day Keeps The Doctor Away
• How good is GREEN TEA for you?
• To Tea or Not to Tea
• How good is GREEN TEA for you?
• NaturalNews - American Chemical Society Embraces Plant-Based Polyphenols As Powerful Nutrients For Preventing Disease, Boosting Longevity - 2 October 2013
• How to make Green Tea