Month: September 2010

A Swedish report found that when starchy foods such as flour and potatoes are baked or fried at high temperatures, they produce the carcinogenic (i.e. cancer causing) chemical acrylamide 1. Prolonged exposure to acrylamide has been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals and may do the same in humans 1.

The generation of carcinogens from frying is not limited to only starchy foods. During the process of frying protein-rich foods, such as meat and fish, various kinds of carcinogenic heterocyclic amines (HCAs) are produced, particularly when cooking temperature is very high (above 400oF )2. Heterocyclic amines have been shown to cause malignant tumors in the colon and breast of mice and rats, and they are possible or probable carcinogens for humans 2.

Temperature is the most important factor in the formation of HCAs3. Frying, broiling, and barbecuing produce the largest amounts of HCAs because the meats are cooked at very high temperatures. The higher the temperature, the higher the number of carcinogenic compounds produced. One study conducted by researchers showed a threefold increase in the content of HCAs when the cooking temperature was increased from 200 degrees to 250 degrees C (392 degrees to 482 degrees F) 3. A typical gas grill easily reaches 500oF. Such extreme temperatures produce high levels of carcinogens.

Furthermore, barbecues have long been known to be dangerous because of the tendency of flames and smoke to blacken and burn the meat and especially the fat. The amount of fat on the meat compounds the carcinogenic potential of the grilled meat. When the fat from the grill drips onto the open fire, the smoke, which is another source of carcinogens known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), carries the dangerous compounds back to the food 4.

How do these carcinogenic compounds released from cooking foods in high temperature promote cancer? The answer is oxidation. Acrylamides, HCAs, and PCAs are all oxidants. Oxidants, or compounds that participate in the process of oxidation, disrupt the stability of cell membranes and DNA 5; accumulated damage to the DNA is a precursor to cancer 6.

Turning down the cooking temperature is a simple way to help prevent cancer. In order to minimize the number of carcinogens released from cooking, reduce cooking temperature to 350oF and below 7. Steaming, poaching, and cooking in a crock pot are some examples of cooking with low heat. When barbecuing, try to use and consume leaner cuts of meats. If consuming foods that are cooked with high temperature methods, remember to consume plenty of colorful fruits and vegetables since they are great sources of antioxidants, or take antioxidant supplements. Antioxidants will counteract the damage done by the dangerous oxidants and help keep your body healthy and cancer-free.

[Editor`s Note: NaturalNews is strongly against the use of all forms of animal testing. We fully support implementation of humane medical experimentation that promotes the health and wellbeing of all living creatures.]

Candida is not created in the body by antibiotic use but instead converts to a pathogenic yeast overgrowth that swarms through the body – accounting for many of the health problems that people experience. Natural flora keep everything in check throughout the body. When antibiotics are taken, the natural flora are wiped out, and the immune system is suppressed. This leaves the body in a severely dampened state due to bacterial imbalances.

Unfortunately, antibiotics are virtually given out like candy. Not only are they excessively consumed in our western society, creating all types of bacterial imbalances, but the body also develops a resistance to antibiotics over time. This renders them useless later on. The unit amount provided within antibiotics has increased drastically since the breakthrough of antibiotic penicillin was made 82 years ago. Due to this increase, the negative effects from antibiotic use are greater than ever. Luckily there are natural antibiotics such as olive leaf extract that can be used as a healthy alternative.

A recent study conducted in Brazil found that pomegranate extract is a powerful Candida killer. Pomegranate fruit has been found to have very potent anti-fungal activity against Candida due to its primary active component, punicalagin. Candida protects its cell membranes with a barrier in order to survive. Luckily, punicalagins penetrate these barriers and fight off the yeast cells that contribute to Candida albicans. Pomegranate extract may be a strong ally against Candida, but it also serves as a combat against prostate cancer, heart disease, and joint inflammation. Some research has shown that it even exhibits phenomenal anti-viral activity.

The negative effects of antibiotics are rather prevalent, but there are natural alternatives. Try taking natural antibiotics such as colloidal silver, tea tree oil, bitter melon, or neem plant derivatives. If you truly insist on taking pharmaceutical antibiotics, take a probiotic supplement (or foods containing probiotics) about 2 hours after the consumption of the antibiotic. Probiotics act to replenish the "good" bacteria that antibiotics destroy.

For most people, however, prevention is too late. Luckily, this study sheds light on how to fight Candida. Pomegranate extract can be used to wage war against Candida, and restore your gut health to its optimum levels. With this new information, people can get rid of their Candida albicans and live a vibrant, healthy life.

The obesity epidemic in the United States, and throughout the world, is escalating rapidly. The epidemic is a result of multiple health pitfalls that many citizens are currently falling for. Processed foods contain harmful fat-inducing additives, such as aspartame and high-fructose corn syrup. These additives spark fat gain through spiking insulin levels and stress the organs to the point of disease. Lack of activity is another overbearing factor that contributes to the poor health of the nation. Exercise can help manage insulin levels and even treat diabetes. Unfortunately, obesity rates are skyrocketing without interruption.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the prevalence of self-reported obesity in the United States is approximately 27%. However, there is no telling if every person that is obese actually reported themselves as obese in this survey. There are many steps people could and should take to lose fat, or prevent fat from being gained in the first place.

Thanks to recent studies, we now know that omega-3 fatty acids aid in keeping the weight off through revamping metabolic health. Information from a recent study shows that the health of your white adipose tissue as well as the health of your liver is vital in metabolizing, or burning, calories at normal rates. In addition to keeping your fat metabolic rate in check, omega-3's also coordinate gene signals that prevent your body from storing up the calories as fat.

While this is extremely helpful information, it's important to realize that the consumption of omega-3's alone will not suffice when it comes to reducing body fat. It is critical to get some sort of activity every day, as opposed to a highly sedimentary lifestyle. A highly sedimentary lifestyle may lead to disease and a shorter lifespan. Overeating is also a main factor in fat gain, especially eating excessive amounts of junk food rich in additives and dangerous chemicals. Omit these things from your diet, get some fresh air, add those omega-3's, and watch the weight vanish.

Chronic illness afflicts 100 million Americans… consumes two-thirds of all U.S. health care costs and causes 7 out of 10 deaths. ($2.00 out of every $3 spent on health care is for chronic illness caused most often by preventable poor lifestyle habits), according to Mike Leavitt, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

The (CDC) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that close to half of Americans suffer from, at least one chronic disease. More than two-thirds of the deaths in the U.S. are caused by a combination of heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and diabetes. Their web site showing the ways chronic diseases might be managed on a nationwide level is www.FightChronicDisease.org.

A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that four healthy lifestyle choices could reduce your risk of most common chronic diseases by 80 percent. By eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, not smoking and maintaining a healthy weight you could significantly reduce your risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other ailments.

The American Diabetes Association conducted a survey and found that 52 percent identified developing a chronic illness as the worst possible thing that could happen. At the same time when it came to making changes to reduce the risk of disease the survey found that 67% admitted to following a poor diet. 62% maintained an UN-healthy weight while a whopping 83% recognized that being overweight or obese was a contributing factor to developing diabetes.

The conclusion seems to be, that while more than half of the people in the survey thought chronic illness was the worst thing that could happen and understood that being overweight or obese could lead to diabetes, they still maintained an un-healthy weight and followed a poor diet.

What is the answer?
The key to reducing the risk of chronic illness is prevention. We must focus on a healthy lifestyle and develop healthy habits by eating nutritious foods, getting enough sleep, keeping stress levels down and getting regular daily exercise.

More knowledge may be needed about the relationship between chronic disease and poor lifestyle choices. Many may not be convinced that making better choices will help and some are simply unwilling to make the changes in spite of the knowledge.

Choices and habits that have a negative impact on our lives can imprison us. If we learn about the choices that are available to us and then develop good habits, it can give us all the power we need to improve our health.

We really have nothing if we don't have our health. It's a choice.

Linda Carlson CNWC

Dr Oz even seems to think he has a perfect health record, saying, "I have done everything right. I don't have any family history, and yet I'm high risk now." His personal physician, meanwhile, is implying that even though Dr Oz's "healthy" diet was perfect, it wasn't enough to prevent colon polyps, and therefore you might get them too. (And therefore everybody should get screened…)

Dr Jonathan Lapook, went on to say "…no matter what you do, you can't totally eliminate your risk of developing this disease, which is expected to strike 143,000 Americans and kill over 51,000 in 2010." (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_…)

Colon polyps, in other words, appear without any cause! Mainstream medicine, you see, believes in the theory of "spontaneous disease" that "strikes" people at random.

Sort of like disease voodoo.

No matter what you do, they say, you can't be totally sure that you're disease free. Therefore, you need all their disease screening protocols, mammograms, and CT scans (which irradiate your body and can actually cause cancer, by the way).

What a bunch of nonsense. As any real scientist knows, everything that happens in our universe has a cause. It's a cause-effect universe, and unless you're God or can magically change the laws of the universe, you can't alter the laws of cause and effect.

So if you develop colon polyps, there is a cause for it, and that cause is without question related to the foods you're consuming, because that's what is in contact with your small intestine, large intestine and colon. (It's not the only factor, but it's the primary factor.)

And the more you eat meats, cooked foods, cheese, dairy products, fried foods and dead foods, the more likely you are to develop colon polyps.

The things that prevent colon polyps are raw foods, plant foods, superfoods, aloe vera and even water.

"Healthy" is relative
Now, Dr Oz says he eats a "healthy" diet, but he's from the world of mainstream medicine. Even though Dr Oz has undoubtedly given a lot of really positive dietary advice to a lot of people, and even though his diet is no doubt far healthier than what most people eat, from the point of view of us who focus on superfoods nutrition, Dr. Oz is not really that deep into cutting-edge healthy eating.

He's not an advocate of raw foods or veganism, for example, and while he smartly teaches people to avoid high-fructose corn syrup and sugar, he's places very little emphasis on avoiding other harmful ingredients like MSG, aspartame and artificial colors.

He doesn't strongly advocate organic foods, either, and eating pesticides from conventionally-grown produce is certainly one way to aggravate your colon. Nor does Dr Oz talk much about avoiding genetically modified foods (GMOs), which we now know may actually result in pesticides being manufactured and released directly in your gut. (He did, however, interview Jeffrey Smith on his Oprah radio show, to his credit.)

You see, Dr Oz is only considered really healthy by mainstream people who are ridiculously unhealthy by comparison. Sure, compared to what most people eat — or even what most doctors eat — Dr Oz has a fairly clean diet. But I don't know anyone in the world of natural health who is really that impressed with Dr Oz's dietary advice — most of which seems "watered down" to make it more acceptable to a mainstream television audience. People like Dr Mercola no doubt follow far healthier diets than Dr Oz, and raw food gurus like Dr Gabriel Cousens will probably never be diagnosed with colon polyps.

See, there's "mainstream healthy" and then there's "cutting edge healthy," and while Dr Oz is definitely healthy compared to mainstream consumers, he's really not that far into what I would call "cutting edge healthy eating." Don't get me wrong: His advice, directed at a mainstream audience, is extremely valuable to that audience. He's reaching an audience of diabetic, obese junk food eaters who, let's face it, watch daytime television!

Just speaking on the facts, most of these daytime TV viewers know virtually nothing about health or nutrition. At least Dr Oz is teaching them some of the basics, and that's good a good thing. For that reason, he deserves credit for being one of the few mainstream physicians out there who at least has one foot in the realm of nutrition. One foot is a start. Both feet are even better.

But don't confuse Dr Oz with someone who has attained a state of perfect human health. Whatever polyps appear in Dr Oz's colon are being predominantly caused by Dr Oz's food choices. That's because the body of Dr Oz follows the laws of physics, just like yours and mine. There is no law of the universe by which Dr Oz could follow a diet of perfect health and yet somehow a colon polyps would spontaneously appear in his body without cause.

If you believe that, you believe in magic. Or voodoo. Or luck. Heck, if you believe that disease is spontaneous and appears without cause, then you might as well just eat whatever you want and pray to the spontaneous disease gods that they don't strike you down with some random affliction like diabetes. Don't laugh: There are literally some people who believe you can drink soda all day long and you'll never get diabetes as long as you "bless" your soda first.

Sure, maybe if you're Moses or some other supernatural figure endowed with magical powers. If you can turn water into wine, then maybe you really can turn soda into a healthful beverage. But for the rest of us non-supernatural beings, we need to follow the laws of biochemistry, and that means eating in alignment with the foods that will cause our bodies to express a state of health and balance. The health results you get are determined by what you feed your body, how you treat your body and what you expose your body to (as in chemicals).

Stress is also a factor, of course, in determining your health outcome. But luck plays absolutely no role whatsoever.

And that's important to understand because Dr Oz's physician is essentially saying that Dr Oz was struck with "a case of bad luck."

As any real scientist would tell you, there's actually no such thing. There's bad planning, bad diets, bad choices… but there's no such thing as bad luck that cause spontaneous colon polyps.

Maybe Dr Oz needs to discover the amazing healing power of fresh, raw aloe vera gel and talk about that on his show. Or maybe he needs to shift his diet into a new chapter of health based on more raw foods, more organics, no GMOs and more microalgae superfoods. There are many areas where Dr Oz could improve his diet by investigating superfoods and various raw plants — especially raw aloe vera gel which I have been advocating for years. (Fresh aloe vera prevents colon polyps like nothing else…)

I have no doubt Dr Oz will easily recover from this colon polyp incident, because he is, after all, in a relative state of good health compared to the mainstream population. But unless he takes his diet to a whole new level of health, he will likely soon have another colon polyp. Because these things, after all, do not spontaneously appear without cause as has been suggested by his physician.

Also, while Dr Oz has offered a lot of good health advice to a lot of people, he still promotes influenza vaccines even though they don't work on 99% of those who receive them (http://www.naturalnews.com/029641_v…).

Dr Oz, in other words, might be most accurately described as a pro-vaccine, pro-pharmaceutical, pro-screening mainstream doctor who has begun to explore some of the benefits of healthy eating but still has a long ways to go. Overall, he's a positive influence on mainstream America, so I'm glad he's out there, and I hope he continues to move in the right direction on superfoods, organics and cutting-edge nutritional remedies.

But don't confuse Dr Oz with someone who espouses a "perfect" diet. Based on what I know, he's far from it (but a lot closer than most other doctors, for sure). And he hasn't done "everything right."

None of us have, actually. We all veer from dietary perfection from time to time. Today I ate a sandwich at a vegan restaurant, but the bread was white bread! Is that white bread going to increase my own risk of colon polyps? Absolutely, by some tiny amount. That's why I'm chasing it later tonight with an 8 oz. glass of fresh organic vegetable juice made in my countertop Hurom "Slow Juicer." And tomorrow morning I'll drink a breakfast smoothie blended with raw aloe vera juice.

The healing effects of the raw juices and aloe vera gel will more than make up for eating one vegan sandwich made with white bread.

I'm not perfect with my diet, you know. Sure, I eat a lot of superfoods and some really cutting-edge nutrients like astaxanthin, but I slip up from time to time and ingest something that's less than perfect. Fortunately, I've discovered that my body knows how to heal itself, and as long as I'm ingesting superfood nutrients and sunshine while getting plenty of exercise, the body can handle a slice of bread from time to time.

Atrazine is an herbicide widely sprayed on corn fields in the Midwest, and one of the most widely detected groundwater contaminants in the country. According to an analysis of state and federal records by the Chicago Tribune, atrazine has been detected in the drinking water of a million people in 60 Illinois communities over the past four years. Yet the EPA requires testing for the chemical only four times a year, meaning that short-term spikes of the toxin go undetected — and unregulated.

Special agreements between the EPA and Syngenta, the top manufacturer of the atrazine used in the U.S., have led to limited weekly or biweekly testing for the chemical by 130 water utilities in 10 different states. In 2008, nearly half of these communities in the Midwest alone experienced atrazine levels in their water above the federally imposed limit of 3 ppb (parts per billion) at least once. In Flora, Illinois, levels spiked as high as 30 ppb at one point.

In nine Midwestern communities, atrazine levels averaged higher than 3 ppb for the full year. Yet unless levels higher than 3 ppb are detected during one of the EPA's four official yearly tests, the agency is helpless to take action. Likewise, contamination detected at other times need not, under the Safe Water Drinking Act, be reported to the public. This has led to a situation where citizens are not only unaware that their water is contaminated, they are never told that an inexpensive home filter could remove the toxin from their water.

Even the EPA's "safe" level of 3 ppb, however, may be far too high; studies suggest that atrazine is biologically active in levels as low as 0.1 ppb, mimicking the action of hormones in the body. A recent meta-analysis of 125 studies by researchers from the University of South Florida found that the chemical causes developmental and reproductive defects in amphibians and fish. Another study, conducted by University of California-Berkeley researchers and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that small amounts of atrazine lowered testosterone levels and fertility in male frogs. Many of the frogs were chemically castrated or even turned into females.

Prenatal exposure to low levels of atrazine has also been shown to predispose rats to cancer as adults. And according to a 2009 study by researchers from Indiana University, human children conceived between the months of April and July, when atrazine levels in water are highest, were more likely to suffer from nine different kinds of birth defects than children conceived in other months.

"Atrazine … appears to have effects during critical stages of fetal development," said Suzanne Fenton of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a former EPA researcher.

Atrazine has been banned in Europe for its contaminating effects on groundwater, and a handful of U.S. states prohibit spraying in certain contamination-prone areas. Yet the EPA's most recent ruling on the chemical, issued in 2006, endorses its use. The Bush-era ruling was based on a 2003 review heavily funded by Syngenta. Bush administration officials are known to have met with officials from the company at least 50 times before issuing their ruling, including at two industry-dominated panels.

The EPA's position has drawn the ire of states that have been stuck with regulating the atrazine problem on their own. In 2009, 44 water utilities in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi and Ohio sued the federal government to reimburse them for the costs of atrazine cleanup.

Since the 2003 EPA review, a further 100 studies have been published showing health risks from atrazine exposure. The Obama administration is now conducting a review of the EPA's stance on the chemical.