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Natural Remedies Get Rid of Wrinkles

by: John Dill

(NaturalNews) Wrinkles are among the most visible signs of aging. Wrinkles form as a result of a gradual decrease in the skin’s collagen and elastin levels, which cause the skin to lose its natural elasticity and resilience. The skin also loses fat and becomes thinner, causing the skin to sag and form wrinkles as it loses support. While we cannot completely prevent wrinkles from forming, there are a number of ways to naturally minimize their appearance and prevent them from forming prematurely. This includes natural materials that you may already have at home, such as honey, avocado, vitamin E and Egg white.

Honey
Honey is an age-old beauty aid that has been valued for its anti-wrinkle properties since the days of the ancient Egyptians. Thanks to its potent, humectant properties, honey attracts and retains moisture, hydrating the skin and keeping it softer, suppler and less prone to wrinkles.Apply pure, organic honey to the skin and leave it on for at least 15 minutes. Rinse off the honey with lukewarm water and pat your skin dry gently.

Avocado
Avocado is rich in naturally nourishing proteins and vitamins A, B and E, which are natural antioxidants that help repair and prevent free radical damage that causes wrinkles. Incorporate an avocado mask as part of your daily beauty regimen to help diminish the appearance of wrinkles and prevent more from forming.

Mash 1/4 of a ripe avocado into a creamy paste and smooth this over the face and neck. Leave the mask on for 20 minutes and then rinse it off with warm water.

Vitamin E
Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that helps to neutralize the damaging effects of free radicals on the skin. Free radicals are biologically-destructive chemical agents that attack healthy skin cell tissue and cause collagen deterioration, a direct cause of wrinkle formation. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC), studies indicate that when it is applied topically, vitamin E reduces wrinkle depth and the length of facial lines.

To apply vitamin E, use a needle or pin to poke a hole in three vitamin E capsules. Squeeze the contents of each capsule into a bowl. Add one teaspoon of olive oil to make it easier to apply. Gently dab the oil mixture directly onto your skin.

Egg White
Egg white is another widely-used home remedy that diminishes the appearance of wrinkles naturally. When applied to the skin, egg white tightens the pores and temporarily lifts the skin, smoothing out wrinkles and fine lines.

Whisk two organic egg whites until they peak. Apply the egg white to your skin and leave it on for thirty minutes. Rinse it off with cool water, patting your skin dry gently with a towel.

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The Best Years In Life

FDA Turns $10 Treatment Into $1500 Money-Maker

by Tony Isaacs

What's a poor faltering drug company to do when it has been busted for misdeeds, its shareholders are up in arms and its former CEO has been fined, sent to jail and banned from the industry?  In the case of KV Pharmaceutical, the answer was to get the FDA to give the company exclusive rights to a common generic drug for expectant mothers and raise the price from $10 per treatment to $1500 – a decision which has outraged doctors, US senators, and even the March of Dimes.

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On February 4th the FDA made an eyebrow-raising decision to give exclusive rights to the generic drug to KV Pharmaceutical after declaring the drug to be an "orphan drug".  As a consequence, low-income mothers and their babies will be put in grave jeopardy and a huge financial burden will be created for the health insurance companies, private citizens, and government programs that have to pay for it

The drug, Hydroxyprogesterone caproate, is a synthetic form of progesterone known commonly as 17P and it has been used since 1956 to prevent premature births.  It is administered as a weekly injection, which means that the price hike for KV’s new Makena drug could bring the total cost during a pregnancy to as much as $30,000.

Doctors say the $30,000 price tag will almost certainly deter low-income women from getting the drug, leading to more premature births. “That’s a huge increase for something that can’t be costing them that much to make”, stated Dr. Roger Snow, deputy medical director for Massachusetts’ Medicaid program. “For crying out loud, this is about making money!”

Dr. Arnold Cohen, an obstetrician at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, observed, “I’ve never seen anything as outrageous as this.”

The non-profit March of Dimes, which has received funding from KV Pharmaceutical and initially supported the company’s New Drug Application, sent a letter to KV “expressing our serious concern about the price of Makena.”

Two senators, Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar and Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown, want the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to investigate the price that KV Pharmaceuticals (KVA) is charging for its brand new Makena drug for high-risk pregnancies.  The senators contend that, given that versions of the same drug have been available from compounding pharmacies for many years at a fraction of the cost, the drugmaker, they charge, is engaging in price gouging.

Senator Brown also sent a letter to KV Pharmaceutical asking the company to “immediately reconsider” its pricing. “I am deeply concerned that your company appears to be taking advantage of FDA approval at the expense of women, children and federal and state budgets,” Brown wrote. “By ratcheting up prices, fewer women will be able to afford the drug, increasing rates of preterm birth nationwide. This isn’t in the interest of children, new mothers, or taxpayers.”

Lung issues common with premature births can have lifelong repercussions with an increased propensity toward asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonia, among other early birth issues.  In the long run, because of birth complications, the babies will need to be hospitalized for perhaps months, all at the expense of taxpayers.

The Orphan Drug Act is meant to encourage pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs for uncommon diseases and conditions.  However 17P treatments were already developed and approved and were already in use for years for a condition that is far from uncommon.

Besides declaring the drug an orphan, the FDA also raised questions by awarding exclusive rights to a company it had previously fined and sanctioned heavily.  Just this month, former KV CEO Mark Hermelin – whom the FDA had essentially banned from the industry last November – pled guilty to overseeing the sale of poorly manufactured and oversized morphine sulfate tablets and other drugs in 2007 and 2008.  He was sentenced to serve 30 days in jail, pay $1 million in fines and forfeit $900,000 in earnings.

Hermelin's sentence comes on the heels of a long list of recalls and violations by KV Pharmaceutical and its subsidiary, Ethex.  KV production was put on hold in 2009 in the United States after the FDA cited the company for selling unadulterated and unapproved drugs.  In 2008, Ethex Corp suspended manufacturing and shipments for all products after several generic drug recalls due to mislabeled drugs.

In November KV shareholders filed suit for being misled.  That same month, the company announced that it would be relying on on a NYSE financial distress exception in order to sell stocks and secure funding to help it stay afloat.

However, with help from the FDA the company has more than rebounded. Company stock rose 131% the day after the FDA announced awarding KV exclusive rights to 17P (which will be marketed under the trade name Makena). KV stock, which had been as low as 61 cents a share last year, ultimately reached a high of over $13.

The fine and the light jail sentence for Hermelin comes amid increased pressure from critics of the FDA and pharmaceutical companies to levy real criminal consequences against drug company executives, as opposed to simply fining the companies.  Hermelin's fine may have been covered via stock sales by a “beneficial owner” relative.  Records show that on the third of March, Arnold L. Hermilin sold 100,000 shares of KV stock at over $10 per share.  Under federal securities law “Beneficial owner” is a term which can be used for a person who has the power to dispose of stock held in another name.

Not surprisingly, the backlash over the unconscionable price hike has been significant – so much that KV hired the public relations firm Golin Harris to handle the mess.  Jennifer Forst from Golin Harris writes: “Ther-Rx Corporation [a subsidiary of KV] announced the list price of Makena at $1,500 per injection. A patient’s out-of-pocket costs (copay) for Makena will likely be substantially less than the list price and will vary based on her health insurance provider and her insurance benefit design.” In other words, insurance, which consumers and companies pay for via premiums and taxes, will have to pick up the whole tab.

Though the actions against Hermelin and past actions against KV may play well with the public, one has to wonder:  On balance, did either KV Pharmaceutical or Hermelin really pay a price?
Fortunately for natural health-conscious consumers, there are natural progesterone products which are safe, effective and less costly than even the generic progesterone shots.

Sources included:

http://www.anh-usa.org/fda-turned-a-ten-dollar-treatment-into-money-maker/
http://blogs.forbes.com/davidwhelan/2011/03/11/is-kv-pharmaceutical-a-flat-out-evil-company/
http://seekingalpha.com/article/259085-kv-pharmaceuticals-under-federal-scrutiny-for-price-gouging
http://www.aboutlawsuits.com/oversized-morphine-recall-jail-time-drug-executive-16810/
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2008/12/01/daily50.html
http://www.thestreet.com/story/10924884/1/k-v-pharmaceutical-company-announces-reliance-on-financial-distress-exception-to-nyses-shareholder-approval-policy.html
http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/insiderTrading?symbol=KVa.N

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Radiation Detected in Massachusetts Rainwater

by Mike Adams

(NaturalNews) The Fukushima crisis continues to worsen by the day, with nuclear experts around the world finally realizing and admitting we've all been lied to. "I think maybe the situation is much more serious than we were led to believe," said Najmedin Meshkati of the University of Southern California, in a Reuters report. That same article revealed that recent radiation readings at Fukushima show "contamination 100,000 times normal in water at reactor No. 2 and 1,850 times normal in the nearby sea."

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Massachusetts rainwater has also been found to be contaminated with low levels of radiation from Fukushima, indicating just how widespread the radioactive fallout has become. It's not just the West Coast of North America that's vulnerable, in other words: even the East Coast could receive dangerous levels of fallout if Fukushima suffers a larger release of radioactive material into the air.

Rolling blackouts are now continuing throughout Japan due to the drop in power production from Fukushima diminishing Japan's electricity generating capacity . The only reason Japan isn't experiencing widespread power blackouts right now is because so many factories were damaged or swept away from the tsunami itself. Once a serious rebuilding effort gets underway, Japan is going to find itself critically short of electrical power.

The radiation leaking from Reactor No. 2 is now measured at 1,000 millisieverts an hour — more than enough to cause someone's hair to fall out from a single exposure event. Radiation sickness can begin at just 100 millisieverts. The extremely high levels of radiation are, in fact, making it nearly impossible for workers to continue working at the reactor. "You'd have a lot of difficulty putting anyone in there," said Richard Wakeford, a radiation epidemiology expert at the Dalton Nuclear Institute in Manchester. "They're finding quite high levels of radiation fields, which is impeding their progress dealing with the situation." Taiwan looking to ditch nuclear power?

The worsening Fukushima situation is also starting to spook nearby nations such as Taiwan, which also depends on nuclear power. The DPP opposition party there announced today that it wanted to see nuclear power phased out by 2025. Taiwan is a relatively small island nation, and a Fukushima-like catastrophe would leave most of the island residents with nowhere to go. And like Japan, Taiwan is also vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis (as well as hurricanes).

In Germany, massive demonstrations (200,000 people in four large cities) have brought the nuclear safety issue to the forefront, contributing heavily to the defeat of Merkel and the rise to power of the Green Party in southwestern Germany (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/28/w…). Germans tend to have very strong opposition to nuclear power, in much the same way that most Europeans despise genetically modified foods.

The nuclear power industry turns out to be just as corrupt as Big Pharma
The truth is that many nations are rethinking nuclear power right now, thanks to the corruption, cover-ups and outright deceptions that we're now finding out were behind the Fukushima power plant catastrophe. The nuclear industry, it turns out, is one big profit incest fest where the regulators are deeply in bed with the very industry they're supposed to regulate (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100…).

Then again, what rich, powerful industry isn't in bed with its regulators? It's true with Big Pharma and the FDA just as much as it is with the nuclear power industry and its corrupt regulators. Every government-run regulator eventually becomes a marketing extension of the industry it was supposed to regulate.

That's why Big Government never really works: Most of the regulators who are supposed to protect the people inevitably end up operating as industry whores. This entire Fukushima incident is a direct result of that deep-rooted corruption coming back to haunt humanity.

Watch for more reporting on this incident here at NaturalNews.com, and subscribe to our daily email alerts to be kept up to date on the situation: http://www.naturalnews.com/ReaderRe…

The Fukushima situation is nowhere near over. Now regulators are saying this might take not just weeks or months to sort out, but even years to fully rectify.

The half life of plutonium, it turns out, is a whole lot longer than the entire history of human civilization (24,000 years) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium). We would be wise to remember what we're playing with when we attempt to harness the power of fission.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/031871_radiation_rainwater.html#ixzz1HuGfgOua

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What the Bible Says About Healthy Living

by: Fleur Hupston

(NaturalNews) Millions view the bible as a book of practical wisdom, and rightly so since it contains a lot of reliable guidance not only in spiritual matters, but also in areas such as living a healthy, full life. Remarkably, these laws were written thousands of years ago and are just as relevant today. Consider some examples:

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Vegan Diet

In 607 BCE, Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylonian armies and surviving Jews were taken as exiles to Babylon. The prophet Daniel was one such exile. He and 3 of his companions were singled out as young men of aptitude and were to undergo a 3 year training program in which they were learn, among other things, the Chaldean language and literature.

The young men refused to "pollute themselves with the delicacies of the king's table and with his drinking wine." The Babylonian diet likely consisted of a variety of meats such as pork, rabbit, beef, shellfish, lobster and so on, probably cooked in rich and oily sauces.

Instead of this fare, the teenagers insisted on a diet of only vegetables and water. The result? "Their countenances appeared better and fatter than all the children who were eating the delicacies of the king". Academically, they surpassed all the other learned men in King Nebuchadnezzar's realm. Daniel chapter 1.

Drinking wine

The bible does not prohibit drinking in moderation. But it does have much to say on the subject of drunkenness and gluttony.

"Who has woe? Who has uneasiness? Who has contentions? Who has concern? Who has wounds for no reason? Who has dullness of eyes? Those staying a long time with the wine, those coming in to search out mixed wine." Prov 23:29 – 35

"Do not come to be among heavy drinkers of wine, among those who are gluttonous eaters of flesh." Proverbs 23:20

"Do not be getting drunk with wine, in which there is debauchery." Ephesians 5:18

Cleanliness, food prohibitions and disease

The laws given to the Israelite nation were penned approximately 3 500 years ago. These laws, found in the Old Testament of the Holy Scriptures, contributed to the health of the nation:

Any person, who touched a dead animal or body, was to wash his/her hands and garments and not to come near anyone else until evening time. Leviticus 11:39 – 40

Excrement was to be correctly disposed of and buried. Deuteronomy 23: 12,13

Quarantine for infectious diseases such as leprosy was strictly enforced. Leviticus chapter 13

Israelites were expressly forbidden to eat the blood or fat of an animal. Leviticus 7:22 – 27.

Although the eating of meat was permitted, certain animals were deemed unclean and therefore the meat of such animals was considered unfit for human consumption. An example of this is pork. Interestingly, modern research has shown that, because of their indiscriminate feeding habits, pigs can carry up to 200 different diseases and 18 different parasites and worms, including tapeworms and the deadly worm called trichinella spiralis.

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Deadly New ‘Superbug’ Sweeps California Hospitals & Nursing Homes

by: Jonathan Benson

(NaturalNews) Move over methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), there is a new "superbug" in town. Reports from CBS 2 in Los Angeles say that a deadly new bacteria known as CRKP is rapidly making the rounds in hospitals and care facilities throughout Southern California. According to reports, the bacteria has no known cure, and it may never have one.

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CRKP, also known as Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, is not actually a new superbug. As early as 2006, it was known to have spread throughout an Israeli hospital, and shortly thereafter to every hospital in Israel. And now, it is becoming a serious problem worldwide.

ABC 7 in Los Angeles quotes its own Dr. Richard Besser who stated that CRKP is "very fatal" and that it kills roughly 40 percent of people who contract it. And reports indicate that 350 people in the Los Angeles area already became infected with CRKP within a seven-month time frame last year.

Some experts are blaming a lack of new antibiotic drug development as the reason why CRKP and other superbugs are allegedly incurable. But inquiry into superbugs has actually revealed that overuse of antibiotics is to blame for their existence in the first place, whether it is humans taking too many antibiotics for minor ailments, or factory farmers giving them to animals to accelerate their growth and cover up filthy, disease-ridden conditions.

Last year, a study published in the journal Science revealed that superbugs appear to be the direct descendants of mutated bacteria created as a result of the introduction of synthetic antibiotic drugs. By analyzing the course of mutation of MRSA over the years, scientists were able to pinpoint antibiotics and their overuse as the primary culprit.

When taken by humans, antibiotics actually destroy all the good bacteria in the gut along with the bad, which ends up destroying proper immune function. Without balanced and healthy gut flora, the body is essentially crippled from being able to ward off harmful pathogens, including deadly superbugs

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Sixth Study Links Mercury in Flu Shots To Brain Damage & Autism

by: Ethan A. Huff

(NaturalNews) The toxic effects of the mercury, also known in vaccines as Thimerosal, have once again been confirmed, this time by researchers from the University of Brazil. Marking the sixth major study in recent months to condemn the use of mercury in medicine, the new study reveals that mercury causes serious brain damage, and is linked to autism and other developmental diseases in children and Alzheimer's disease in adults.

Vaccination Protocol

Dr. Jose Dorea and his colleagues conducted an extensive, peer-reviewed analysis of various studies and available information in major databases that address the effects of low-dose Thimerosal, or ethylmercury, on neural tissue and behavior. They found conclusively that Thimerosal accumulates in brain tissue, negatively affects brain development, and harms brain cells.

"Mercury is known to cause serious harm, especially to fetuses and children because of their smaller size," said Lisa Sykes, president of the Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs (CoMeD), a non-profit group dedicated to removing mercury from medicine. "Why remove Thimerosal from pediatric vaccines only to inject it into pregnant women and children with recommended flu shots? They removed Thimerosal from other vaccines, so it should also be removed from flu shots."

Several other recent studies confirm the numerous dangers posed by mercury, including one recently published in the Folia Neuropathologica that links the toxin directly to autism. Mercury is also known to disrupt proper immune function, damage DNA, inhibit healthy embryonic development, and cause cancer.

The vast majority of the flu shots administered in the US still contain Thimerosal, as they come from multi-dose vials that require a preservative in order to prevent contamination. However, CoMeD says there is no reason to continue using Thimerosal since safer alternative preservatives already exist and are currently in use in many pediatric vaccines that used to contain Thimerosal.

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Worst Texas Drought In 44 years Causing Wheat & Beef Shortages

by: Jonathan Benson

(NaturalNews) Lower yields and continually-rising demand has sparked a sharp rise in prices for wheat and beef in the US. And extended drought conditions across Texas, which is the nation's largest cattle producer and second-largest winter-wheat grower, has contributed to the overall US cattle herd now being the smallest it has been since 1958, as well as to the more than half of the Texas wheat crop that is currently in poor or very poor condition.

According to reports, Texas has gotten only about 4.7 inches of rain since September, which is the lowest average on record since 1967. While areas in the north that include North Dakota and parts of Canada have been getting too much rain in recent days, Texas and surrounding states like Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado — all of which are also heavy producers of cattle and wheat — are barely holding on as they hope and pray for rains to come.

"We're probably already seeing some damage, but in the next couple of weeks, we'll surely go downhill major if we don't get some rain," said David Cleavinger to Bloomberg, concerning the continued decline in his wheat crop. He is currently only able to irrigate about 75 percent of his 1,000 acre wheat crop due to the drought, and conditions could get even worse.

National Weather Service data shows that within the past month, most of the southern-central plain states have received less than 25 percent of their normal precipitation for this time period. Such conditions have only exacerbated the already bad wheat yields, which have driven wheat prices at the Kansas City Board of Trade up 71 percent throughout the past year.

As far as beef is concerned, many cattle ranchers have had to reduce their herds because there simply is not enough grass for them to eat. Wholesale beef prices in the US have jumped 17 percent throughout the past year, and in February, retail beef prices were up 9.4 percent compared to what they were last year.

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More Scientific Evidence That Antioxidants Can Fight Cancer

by: David Gutierrez

(NaturalNews) For the first time, scientists have discovered a genetic pathway suggesting that antioxidants may help in the treatment of cancer, according to a study conducted by researchers from Thomas Jefferson University and published in the journal Cancer Biology & Therapy.

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Scientists have known for a long time that diets high in antioxidant-containing foods are associated with a lower risk of cancer. This effect is widely attributed to the fact that antioxidants remove DNA-damaging free radicals from the body.

"Reactive oxygen species [free radicals] are formed in vivo during normal aerobic metabolism and can cause damage to DNA, proteins, and lipids, despite the natural antioxidant defense system of all organisms," writes Erich Grotewold in the book The Science of Flavonoids.

"Diets high in flavonoids, fruits, and vegetables are protective against a variety of diseases, particularly cardiovascular disease and some types of cancer," he writes.

Yet now researchers have shown that antioxidants may not just prevent, but also treat cancer. The Thomas Jefferson University researchers had previously discovered a protein called Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) that, when present in the human genome, suppresses tumor growth. Indeed, the presence or absence of the Cav-1 protein is the single best predictor of breast cancer outcome. Women with triple-negative breast cancer – the most deadly kind – are more than 75 percent likely to be alive 12 years after diagnosis if they have the protein, and less than 10 percent likely to be alive five years after diagnosis if they lack it.

The researchers further verified that Cav-1 plays an antioxidant role in the body. In the current study, the researchers confirmed that when Cav-1 is removed, oxidative stress in breast cancer tumors increases, leading to a 300 percent increase in tumor mass and volume.

"Antioxidants have been associated with cancer reducing effects – beta carotene, for example – but the mechanisms, the genetic evidence, has been lacking," lead researcher Michael P. Lisanti said. "This study provides the necessary genetic evidence that reducing oxidative stress in the body will decrease tumor growth."

The findings may actually cast doubt on the effectiveness of many chemotherapy drugs, which are actually known to increase oxidative stress. They also suggest that many antioxidant drugs used to treat other conditions, such as diabetes and malaria, may be effective in treating cancer.

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Pecans – Antioxidants Prevent Heart Disease and Lower LDL Cholesterol Levels

by: John Phillip

(NaturalNews) The result of a study published in The Journal of Nutrition provides important evidence that the noble pecan is a powerful functional food providing essential antioxidant nutrients to support cardiovascular health. Pecans contain bioactive compounds including the tocopherol fraction of vitamin E that lowers levels of damaging inflammation known to provoke arterial plaque and to lead to sudden death from a heart attack. A handful of pecans each day are shown to be helpful in lowering the risks associated with heart disease and cancer.

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Researchers now understand that heart disease risk is much more a factor determined by LDL particle size and oxidative status than the total serum LDL level. Pecans contain one of the critical vitamin E fractions called gamma tocopherol known to be important in raising antioxidant blood levels, along with other naturally occurring phenolic substances that enhance the free radical scavenging ability of the nut.

The finding from the study showed that gamma-tocopherol levels in the body doubled with pecan consumption and unhealthy oxidized LDL levels dropped by a third. Researchers found that eating pecans each day significantly increased the amount of antioxidants available to neutralize free radicals and to lower systemic inflammation. The risk of developing heart disease and cancer was lowered by regular consumption of this single functional food.

The study included 16 men and women aged 23 to 44 who ate from one of three specially prepared diets. The first group ate a meal consisting of 3 ounces of whole pecans while a second group ate the same quantity of nuts mixed with water. A third group ate a controlled meal with no pecans. Blood samples were taken prior to eating the first meal and at regular intervals for a period of 24 hours after eating.

Researchers found that vitamin E gamma-tocopherol levels doubled eight hours after eating either of the meals containing pecans and the antioxidant capacity increased by up to 12% measured using the ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capability) scale. The oxidized LDL cholesterol reduction peaked at 30% two hours after eating and continued at a sustained level for more than eight hours.

The lead study author Dr. Ella Haddad found that pecans are a powerful ally in the prevention of chronic disease and noted: "Previous research has shown that pecans contain antioxidant factors. Our study shows these antioxidants are indeed absorbed in the body and provide a protective effect against diseases." Health-minded people will want to add a healthy handful of organically grown pecans to their daily menu to control the risks associated with oxidized LDL cholesterol, heart disease and cancer.

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Super Omega-3 Fat Protects The Heart And Arteries

by: John Phillip

(NaturalNews) As the population of American baby boomers continues to swell, age related afflictions including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and complications such as blindness are growing at a similar pace. The number of people aged 65 or older will double over the next 20 years creating an epidemic of chronic conditions that perpetuate with age. According to the result of a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a diet supplemented with the Omega-3 fatty acid DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid) can significantly lower the risk of sudden cardiac death, heart disease and visual degeneration leading to blindness.

Many scientific studies have proven the importance of Omega-3 fish oils in the prevention of cardiac disorders and in specifically lowering the risk of sudden death from a heart attack. Research conducted by the Division of Cardiology and Department of Medicine at the University of Maryland found that the DHA fraction of fish oil dramatically alters the mitochondria in the heart muscle increasing healthy heart energy production. Researchers found that DHA activates the gene PPAR to help prevent the increasing incidence of heart failure and of risk from a deadly heart attack.

Another key component in the progression of cardiovascular disease is systemic inflammation that leads to unstable plaque known to rupture and cause a heart attack. Further evidence of the importance of DHA in lowering heart diseases risk is published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology. Researchers found that DHA influences the action of immune system macrophages. Working at the genetic level, DHA is shown to control the release of cellular antioxidants that inhibit the damage caused by excessive and chronic inflammation to the coronary arteries.

DHA is an important tool in the prevention of stroke. Many of the mechanisms that increase incidence of a heart attack also contribute to stroke risk. DHA becomes incorporated into the cell wall structure where it stabilizes existing plaque, making it less likely to break off and cause a stroke. DHA has been shown to help blood flow easier, lower the risk for clotting and reduce blood pressure. High levels of DHA can prevent hardening and thickening of the arteries that result in vascular decay.

The journal Science Translational Medicine reports the result of research that demonstrates how DHA regulated genes that can prevent blindness. DHA is highly concentrated in the retina and can control the abnormal growth of blood vessels in the eye that cause visual degradation. By halting unnecessary growth, DHA regulates vessel formation so that healthy blood vessels form and undesirable ones do not.

Fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring and trout are ideal sources of Omega-3 fats including the DHA fraction. Due to the ever-increasing problem of mercury contamination in fish, supplementation is well advised. Nutrition experts recommend a molecularly distilled, dosage-controlled supplement that supplies 250 to 500 mg of DHA (not EPA and DHA combined, read labels carefully) daily to dramatically lower the risks from heart disease, heart attack, stroke and blindness.