Month: May 2010

Prostate cancer kills more than 27,000 men in the United States each year, making it the second deadliest cancer in men, surpassed only by lung cancer. Roughly 200,000 new cases are diagnosed in the country each year.

"Few studies have looked prospectively at this association, and none have looked at coffee and specific prostate cancer outcomes," said lead researcher Kathryn Wilson. "We specifically looked at different types of prostate cancer, such as advanced vs. localized cancer or high-grade vs. low-grade cancers."

Researchers studied 50,000 men between 1986 and 2006, recording their coffee consumption once every four years. They found that the rate of advanced prostate cancer was 60 percent lower in those who drank six or more cups of coffee per day than in those who never consumed the beverage. Those who drank between four and five cups per day lowered their risk by 25 percent, while those who drank one to three cups lowered it by 20 percent.

The same risk reduction was seen regardless of whether the men drank caffeinated or non-caffeinated coffee.

No relationship was seen between coffee consumption and the risk of developing prostate cancer, only the risk of developing cancer that eventually progressed into an advanced stage. This might explain why prior studies have found no connection between coffee drinking and prostate cancer risk.

The researchers are unsure exactly how coffee affects cancer risk, although it may have something to do with levels of the sugar-regulating hormone insulin. High insulin levels have previously been correlated with prostate cancer risk, and coffee has been shown to increase the body's use of the hormone.

Coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world. It is consumed by 54 percent of U.S. adults.

Researchers examined patient and prescription records to examine rates of heart failure, heart attack and death from any cause among 900,000 patients taking all different kinds of diabetes drugs. Patients were followed for an average of seven years each.

Diabetes drugs fall into three classes: sulphonyureas, glitazones and biguanides. The sulphonyureas include chlorpropamide, glibenclamide (marketed as Daonil and Euglucon), gliclazide (marketed as Diamicron), glimepiride (marketed as Amaryl), glipizide (marketed as Glibenese and Minodiab) and tolbutamide. The glitazones, also called thiazolidinediones, include rosiglitazone (marketed as Avandia) and pioglitazone (marketed as Actos). Metformin is the only anti-diabetes biguanide on the market.

The researchers compared all other drugs to metformin, which is an older, well-proven diabetes drug that is often used as a first line of treatment. They found that patients taking sulphonyureas were between 24 and 60 percent more likely to die of any cause than patients taking metformin, and also significantly more likely to suffer heart failure or heart attack. Patients on rosiglitazone had an increased risk of heart failure over metformin.

Pioglitazone appeared to offer the same risk of heart failure as metformin, and both glitazones had the same risk of heart attack or death as the older drug.

Because the elevated blood sugar levels characteristic of diabetes tend to damage blood vessels, all diabetics are at an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. Combined with the fact that chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease can take a long time to develop even when caused or exacerbated by drugs, this means that heart-related side effects to diabetes drugs can be very hard to detect. Often, they only emerge after products have been on the market for years.

by Mike Adams

(NaturalNews) If you've been reading NaturalNews for long, you've heard me talk about the importance of switching from processed table salt to a "full spectrum" salt. Table salt — or "white salt" — is to real salt as table sugar is to dehydrated cane juice. Both white table salt and white sugar are devoid of the full spectrum of minerals and other nutrients that protect and enhance your health.

Pink Himalayan Salt

Here in Ecuador, I regularly drink jugo de caña, for example (fresh, raw sugar cane juice), but I would never think of eating refined white sugar. I don't use refined white table salt, either. Instead, I use Himalayan Pink Crystal Salt because it contains the full spectrum of 84 minerals and trace elements just like Mother Earth intended. It is an unrefined, unprocessed "raw" salt that's hand-mined from abundant salt caves that were formed 250 million years ago as ocean salt settled in certain geologic pockets around the earth.

Most of the western world thinks of salt as sodium chloride — a highly refined, processed white substance that's devoid of nutrients. Salt is so devoid of nutrients, in fact, that in the early 20th century, doctors noticed that people who ate white table salt started to suffer chronic degenerative diseases such as goiter. This was caused by the lack of iodine in the salt.

Iodine deficiency, by the way, is the No. 1 most preventable cause of mental retardation. Eating processed salt that lacks iodine, in other words, can cause your offspring to be retarded.

Now what's really interesting about processed table salt is that it's missing over 80 minerals. But they only put ONE mineral back in — iodine. That's because iodine is the one mineral that causes the most obvious disease (goiter is sort of hard to not notice).

Iodine is a naturally occurring mineral in the ocean. It's abundant in seafood and in real sea salt, but it's completely missing from refined white table salt.

So they started adding iodine to table salt, creating "iodized salt."

But why would you want to eat salt that's been artificially enriched with ONE mineral when you could be eating salt that naturally contains eighty-four minerals?

Himalayan Pink Crystal Salt contains 84 minerals and trace minerals, including iodine! And below we share a link where you can get it at 33% off…

Beware of the "sea salt" scam
You've probably noticed a lot of processed salt companies now claiming to offer "sea salt." The truth is, virtually all salt is sea salt because it all came from the sea at one time or another in the Earth's history.

The term "sea salt" is essentially meaningless. White processed salt can still be called "sea salt" even though it is devoid of full-spectrum sea minerals.

The way to tell if your salt is really full-spectrum salt is to look at the color. If it's pure white, it's not full-spectrum. White salt is just like white sugar: It's missing the key supporting minerals and nutrients your body needs.

Full-spectrum salt always has a non-white color. Celtic Sea Salt, for example (which is really good salt) has a brownish sandy color. Our Pink Himalayan salt is a sort of sandy rose color. All the truly natural full-spectrum salts are sandy or brownish in color.

Save 33% on our full-spectrum salt
Himalayan Pink Crystal Salt normally sells for $14.95 per pound. With this week's special for NaturalNews readers, we've discounted the one-pound bag to $12.95 (a 13% savings).

When you buy three one-pound bags of Himalayan Pink Crystal Salt, the price drops to just $9.98 per bag. Three pounds of this full-spectrum salt are just $29.95 (a 33% savings!).

Click here to take advantage of this NaturalNews discount on Himalayan Pink Crystal Salt.

The 3-pack is our best price on full-spectrum salt, and if you don't need all 3 pounds for yourself, they make fantastic gifts for family or friends!

Some other things you may not know about full-spectrum salt:

• This product stores for years. It's naturally shelf-stable as long as you keep it relatively dry and unopened. Store in a dark, cool place for longest shelf life.

• Full-spectrum salt is a crucial preparedness item. Your body cannot live without salt, and in a crisis situation, real salt may be very difficult to come by in many areas. Storing full-spectrum salt is not only good for your health today; it's a type of nutritional insurance against future food shortages.

• If you exercise a lot, juice a lot or live in a very hot climate, your body may actually need more salt than you're getting. But processed salt doesn't provide all the minerals your body needs to replenish. Only full-spectrum salt fulfills your body's true salt needs.

• A craving for junk foods is often just a craving for full-spectrum salt. When your body lacks minerals, it urges you to consume more. This is often mistranslated in your mind as a craving for salty snack foods. But consuming full-spectrum salt (in a reasonable amount) can often ease your junk food cravings.

Pick up Himalayan Pink Crystal Salt today by clicking here.

Where it comes from
Our Himalayan Pink Crystal Salt comes from the Himalayan Region of the Karakoram mountain range located 400 miles from the Hunza Valley in Pakistan. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakoram)

Our salt is always stone ground. No metal ever touches the salt during grinding. All the salt is extracted by hand from the salt caves (ancient sea bed deposits). No salt from other sources is mixed with this salt. This is 100% from the Karakoram mountain range salt caves.

These salt deposits are roughly 250 million years old, meaning they were deposited long before the earth became polluted with heavy metals, pesticides and PCBs. While there is really no such thing as "organic" salt, this is probably the most pristine salt you'll find anywhere on the planet. Eating this salt is a lot like going back in time and consuming minerals from pre-industrial Earth.

Get some for yourself by clicking here.

This is the salt I use regularly. I actually add salt to raw foods recipes (like raw guacamole) in order to increase my mineral intake. That's necessary because I eat very few packaged foods that are high in salt. Plus, I exercise regularly so I'm losing a lot of minerals through sweating. This is why salt intake is a regular part of my diet. To me, it's actually a type of superfood, and I make sure I get enough full-spectrum salt on a daily basis.

Note: If you have high blood pressure or eat a lot of salty processed foods, then obviously don't add more salt to your diet. Instead, replace the junky processed salt in your diet with full-spectrum salt. Stop eating salty snack chips and canned soups (those soup cans are lined with BPA, too) and start eating fresh juice smoothies and homemade cuisine made with full-spectrum salt.

by Mike Adams

(NaturalNews) An independent panel of supposed experts recently met at the National Institutes of Health near Washington, D.C., to discuss whether or not Alzheimer's Disease can be prevented through dietary and lifestyle changes. After evaluating a handful of studies that deal with the subject, the panel basically concluded that there is no way to avoid Alzheimer's Disease.

Colloidal Gold
SAMe
IntraMax
Enzymes

Either that, or they all forgot to bring their science notes and couldn't remember what to say, so they defaulted to their traditional "It's not proven" mantra and ended the conference early.

Interestingly, the studies in question all seemed to demonstrate how things like taking fish oil or doing crossword puzzles can help prevent Alzheimer's Disease, but the panel of doctors and PhDs decided all this evidence simply didn't count. When you work for the NIH, it's very important to filter out all scientific evidence that does not agree with your foregone conclusions.

According to Dr Martha Daviglus, panel chair and Professor of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University, there is no cause and effect relationship between Alzheimer's and diet, exercise or lifestyle choices. Listen to her loopy logic:

"These associations are examples of the classic chicken or the egg quandary. Are people able to stay mentally sharp over time because they are physically active and socially engaged or are they simply more likely to stay physically active and socially engaged because they are mentally sharp?" she asked.

Loopy logic
Even applied to an actual study, Dr Daviglus' hypothesis makes no sense. A recent study found that a Mediterranean diet helps lower the risk of developing Alzheimer's Disease.

But, to invoke Dr Daviglus' logic, does eating a Mediterranean diet actually cause Alzheimer's risk to be lowered, or does already having a lower risk of Alzheimer's make people eat Mediterranean diets?

As ridiculous as it sounds, this warped thinking (loopy logic) passes as legitimate science in the bizarre world of modern medicine, which seems to go out of its way to insist that diet and lifestyle have no effect on health. Even when studies continue to show links between what people eat and how healthy they are, it's never enough for the ivory tower medicine "experts" who insist that "further research is needed".

And yet these same "experts" completely contradict themselves when they rush to defend chemical contaminants like fluoride, aluminum and nitrates, all of which contribute to brain deterioration. They insist that there is no proven cause-and-effect relationship between these toxins and neurological disease, therefore they are safe.

In other words, chemicals are assumed safe until proven dangerous while nutrients and healthy lifestyle choices are assumed useless until proven effective.

Do you see what's wrong with this picture?

The truth is, there are plenty of ways to prevent Alzheimer's Disease, and each them involves what you put in your body and how you take care of it. Mainstream medicine simply doesn't want to admit that patients have control over their own health.

Environmental toxins that contribute to Alzheimer's
To prevent Alzheimer's disease, it's important to first identify the things that cause it. Toxins found in consumer goods, processed foods, pesticides, fertilizers, tap water and even the air itself all contribute to cognitive decline that can eventually lead to Alzheimer's. (Mainstream medicine admits to none of this, by the way. All chemicals are good for you, they somehow believe.)

According to a 2009 study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, widespread exposure to nitrosamines, nitrates and nitrites in processed food and the environment are all linked to degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. These chemicals are commonly used in food factories and large-scale farming operations.

The aluminum added to most conventional antiperspirant deodorants, baking sodas, toothpastes and other personal care products crosses the blood-brain barrier and lodges itself in the brain where it can lead to dementia. Many Alzheimer's patients have a measurable buildup of aluminum in their brain tissue.

(Oh, but does aluminum buildup in the brain actually cause Alzheimer's, or does already having Alzheimer's cause aluminum buildup? That's the question you might be asking if you rely on the backwards logic of mainstream scientists…)

A 1998 study found that sodium fluoride, a toxic byproduct of the aluminum manufacturing and fertilizer industries that's commonly added to drinking water, also has a synergistic effect with aluminum that makes it even more dangerous. Drink out of aluminum cans and swallow some tap water, and you've got a recipe for accelerated Alzheimer's.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences actually commissioned a review on aluminum back in December of 2000 in response to the issue. The review was published in the Federal Register that year.

Nitrates, aluminum and fluoride are just a few of the many chemical contaminants that contribute to Alzheimer's, and most American consumers are exposed to them all on a daily basis.

Five ways to protect yourself from Alzheimer's
#1) Avoid processed foods
This may seem obvious, but besides nitrates, many processed foods are loaded with neurotoxins like MSG and aspartame that may be linked to Alzheimer's. Processed foods also contain toxins like trans-fats and refined sugar that compromise your health. Stick with whole, organic foods and your Alzheimer's risk will be significantly reduced.

#2) Install a home water filter
Most municipal tap water systems are treated with chlorine, fluoride and other chemicals that harm your health. These chemicals are easily absorbed by your skin when you take a shower or drink unfiltered tap water. (Does anybody really do that anymore?) A whole-house activated carbon filtration system will remove most or all of these toxins from tap water.

#3) Detoxify on a regular basis
I can't stress enough how important it is to eat foods and supplements that help your body remove chemicals and heavy metals. Cilantro, chlorella and spirulina are a few top choices that can help your body eliminate heavy metals like aluminum and mercury — both of which are strongly associated with Alzheimer's.

#4) Exercise regularly
By exercise, I'm talking about both physical and mental exercise. Physical exercise directly contributes to increased brain function because it reinforces neural connections in your brain, which in turn improves memory and learning capability. Mental exercises such as working on crossword puzzles will also help to keep your cognitive function in top shape. (Use it or lose it, folks!)

#5) Eat plenty of superfoods and nutritional supplements
There's a lot that belongs in this category, so I'll highlight some of the primary superfoods that recent studies have found play a role in preventing Alzheimer's.

Researchers last year found that the amino acid Acetyl-L-Carnitineprevents brain tau protein strands from tangling. Stress and excitotoxins like MSG can cause brain tangles that are believed to cause cognitive decline, but Acetyl-L-Carnitine effectively stops the process. Acetyl-L-Carnitine is found naturally in grass-fed meats, nuts, beans, legumes, vegetables and fruits. It can also be purchased as a nutritional supplement.

Curcumin, a natural phytochemical found in the turmeric spice, has also been shown to prevent and even treat Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's is preventable
To sum it all up, you don't have to give in to the fatalistic views of the mainstream sick-care industry which believes there is no way to prevent disease (other than drugs, of course). To arrive at such a conclusion, you'd have to nearly lose your mind and forget about all the supporting evidence showing how superfoods and lifestyle changes can not merely prevent Alzheimer's Disease but actually help reverse it!

I'm beginning to think that the researchers who announced "Alzheimer's cannot be prevented" were, themselves, suffering from Alzheimer's. See, this is the problem with researchers in mainstream medicine: They take too many pharmaceuticals and end up destroying their brain function.

That's why they all seem so incredibly insane to the rest of us who eat healthy diets and retain full, sensible brain function.

And for all of us who practice healthy eating and healthy lifestyle decision making, Alzheimer's is a degenerative condition that's readily preventable.

by: S. L. Baker

(NaturalNews) It's common for mainstream medical doctors to declare there's no reason to take nutritional supplements. After all, this line of reasoning goes, you are supposedly getting all the nutrition you need from a typical American diet. However, evidence continues to mount disproving this idea. And scientists are documenting that an optimum intake of nutrients can, in fact, have enormous benefits to health. A case in point: a new study indicates taking multi-vitamins and calcium supplements can dramatically slash the risk of breast cancer.

Membrane Complex
Vitamin D

Scientists at the Ponce School of Medicine in Puerto Rico investigated 268 women with malignant breast tumors and 457 healthy controls to look for possible causative factors for breast cancer. The results, which were recently presented by Jaime Matta, Ph.D., at the American Association for Cancer Research's 101st Annual Meeting held in Washington, D.C., showed vitamin supplements reduced the risk of breast cancer by about 30%.

"It is not an immediate effect. You don't take a vitamin today and your breast cancer risk is reduced tomorrow. However, we did see a long-term effect in terms of breast cancer reduction," Dr. Matta, who headed the study, said in a statement to the press. "We're not talking about mega doses of these vitamins and calcium supplements, so this is definitely one way to reduce risk."

Dr. Matta explained that his research team's findings also suggest that calcium supplements help protect against breast cancer because they enhance DNA repair capacity. This is important because DNA repair is a complex biological process involving more than 200 proteins that, if disrupted, can cause malignancies, including breast tumors.

"This process involves at least five separate pathways and is critical for maintaining genomic stability," Dr. Matta noted in the media statement. "When the DNA is not repaired, it leads to mutation that leads to cancer."

Although breast cancer is a disease women tend to fear, the new study is one of many that gives credence to the idea women can take control of their health and use natural therapies, including nutrition, to help prevent and even treat breast cancer. For example, NaturalNews recently reported that a vegetable commonly eaten in China and India, bitter melon, stops breast cancer cells from growing.

In addition, a Mediterranean diet rich in fruits and vegetables, fish, and olive and sunflower oils has been found to reduce the incidence of post-menopausal breast cancer.

At age 5, she was diagnosed with a rare condition that causes massive headaches that strike without warning. Since then, the Gahanna, Ohio, teen has missed so much school that she is forced to spend most weekends and every summer bent over her desk to keep up with classmates.

"I don't get to hang out like normal kids," says Ashley (pictured). "And other kids are always saying, 'You don't look like you are sick,' or 'Well, you don't have cancer.'"

The teenager described the headaches, which wake her up most nights, as feeling as if she is "being hit in the head." "I wake up exhausted," she says.

The massive headaches have created an endless 10-year nightmare of medical tests, resulting in more than 30 surgeries and 50 hospitalizations, which have prevented her from attending more than two hours of school each day. She is also tutored privately. Recently, the dizziness and headaches forced her to quit her favorite pastime, tap dancing.

"They told us [initially] she had a brain tumor," says her mom, Diane, who is a pediatric nurse.

But Ashley doesn't. What she does have is a phantom brain tumor, or pseudotumor cerebri. Diagnosed during a routine eye exam, Ashley is one of a fast-growing number of mostly adolescents and some younger children who are being diagnosed with this puzzling and complex condition that appears to be — but is not — a tumor. The symptoms are characterized by chronically increased pressure in the head and include severe headaches, dizziness and, in the most debilitating cases, loss of eyesight.

With a frightening number of children — 80 last year alone — diagnosed at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, the facility recently launched the first clinic in the country dedicated to treating pseudotumors in children.

Diagnoses of pseudotumor cerebri have increased dramatically in recent years, says Dr. E. Steve Roach, chief of neurology and vice chairman of pediatrics at Nationwide Children's and professor of pediatrics and neurology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

"We're still unaware of the precise reason for the increase in the number of incidences in children and especially adolescents," he says. "But we have pinpointed that the leading risk factor is childhood obesity, with two-thirds of the cases attributed to that. And that leads to an obvious assumption that the increase in childhood obesity is propelling the spike. Traditionally, this has been a condition found in adults."

In the last year alone, the hospital has identified dozens of teens and small children with the illness, more than Roach has seen in the last 15 years. The researchers hope to study the causes and to investigate the other one-third of cases, like Ashley's, that do not fall under the obesity risk factor, he says.

"Through the clinic, we can find kids with this condition earlier and get them treated," says Roach. "I mean, it's really a crying shame to have an 8-year-old lose their vision when we could prevent it."

The hospital's pseudotumor clinic will also simplify treatment for children and teens suffering from the debilitating condition. The cooperative of eye doctors, surgeons and imaging specialists working in one place toward one goal will lessen the burden of the condition on patients that typically take dozens of medicines, sometimes endure countless surgeries and travel extensively to see different specialists.

Currently hard to diagnose, pseudotumor cerebri is typically suspected after a child with headaches is found to have optic nerve swelling, says Roach. The diagnosis is confirmed after a brain scan eliminates a tumor and the pressure elevation is confirmed. After that, the child's visual function is closely monitored, and any underlying risk factors are eliminated. While medications are typically administered to relieve the pressure, surgical procedures to lower the intracranial pressure or to prevent pressure damage of the optic nerve are prescribed as needed.

"This has been very tough on Lauren," says Diane, who helped start an organization called IHGraymatters, dedicated to connecting other families whose children have pseudotumors to resources.

"We thought it was the worst thing we could ever hear when we were told Lauren had a brain tumor," she said. "If we only knew then what the endless battle would be like. Now we just want to help make it a little easier on other families to get a diagnosis and get on the road to treatment much faster."

Dr. George Carlo EMF Cell Phone Dangers Interview

How Wireless Frequencies Affect You – Information from Dr. Carlo

Dr. Carlo’s recent research has shown that microwave frequencies from cellphones and wireless devices are recognized as a form of invader by the receptors located on the cell membranes. The affected cells send messages to surrounding cells, as well as to the cells’ own internal cytoplasm, to implement defense mechanisms.

One of the results of this defense response is that the active transport channels from the cell membranes are shut down and cells lose their ability to communicate with each other, so cells that are supposed to work together as a system, cannot. The message that needs to go to the immune system, for example, to come destroy and eliminate the toxic wastes, never gets there, and the self-repair mechanisms the body would otherwise call upon are now disrupted and malfunction.

In addition, nutrients are not able to penetrate into the cell, and waste products are not able to be eliminated. Among the waste products trapped inside the cell walls are free radicals, toxins which damage the affected cells and more importantly, damage DNA. It is a well established fact that DNA damage can lead to cancer. In addition, any disease that is characteristic of old age is seen much earlier in people who are exposed to this type of toxic radiation, which includes everyone.

Power Output of the Cell Phone is NOT a Indicator of Risk

The important thing in terms of damaging health effects from wireless frequencies is NOT the power output of the microwave signal coming from the device, as is commonly believed, but the SHAPE OF THE WAVE and its PROXIMITY to biological tissue, according to Dr. Carlo. “The mechanism is not dependent on intensity,” says Dr. Carlo. “The mechanism is dependent on the type of radio wave that carries the information. There is NO safe level. We have not identified ANY level that will not trigger that (harmful) response by the cell mechanism.”

by Mike Adams

(NaturalNews) The other day I wrote a story about the massive recall by McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, of its infants' and children's line of Tylenol products. An FDA inspection report found these drugs to be contaminated with dangerous bacteria (they did not disclose the actual type) as well as "foreign materials" that were visible as "dark or black specks". But a recent story published by USA Today has revealed that McNeil actually knew about the bacterial contamination and kept shipping the products anyway.