Current Health News and Studies Concerning Nutrition & Exercise

January 29, 2010: I made the following post concerning the FDA's giving the green light to the possibility of marketing cloned meat here. The FDA finds that the meat and milk from cloned animals and their offspring "...are as safe as food we eat every day..." (Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center of Veterinary.)

The reality however is quite different. Opponents of cloned meat find evidence that the consumption of cloned meat may cause unforeseen health risks. There have been no long term studies of the effect of cloned meat on human beings.

Here is what studies of cloned animals have revealed. Birth defects in clones are quite common. Cloning has been found to produce unhealthy animals who suffer tremendously. Clones often die young, suffer birth defects, and commonly need antibiotics.

According to the Center for Food Safety, as many as 50 percent of cow clones have what has been designated as 'Large Offspring Syndrome.' Symptoms of this syndrome include an unusually high birth weight which jeopardizes the mother. Clones have also been born with immature lung development, heart problems, and other organ and systematic abnormalities.

Contrary to what 'cloning' has been portrayed as, the report has noted that there is evidence that clones are not always exact replicas of their gene donors. Since cloning is not an exact science, unpredictability runs high.

Another recent study discovered differences in the composition of the milk and meat of cloned animals.

Here is the really frightening part of all this. Cloned meat has entered the consumer marketplace. Major cattle cloning companies admit they are clueless as to how many offspring of cloned animals have entered the American food supply.

There is no federal law saying that meat companies must label their products as being cloned. Running true to form, big cartels like the pharmaceutical and meat corporations manage to sidestep ethical practices that would ensure the safety of Americans. Consumers are again being used as guinea pigs for untested products.

We do have recourse however. Make certain that the meat you buy is grass-fed and organic. Purchase your grass-fed meat here. You and your family don't have to become specimens in a laboratory experiment, and subsequent victims in the future.

January 31, 2010: Study after study confirm the fact that in order to successfully lose weight, you must eat losts of protein. Yet another study reveals that people who eat a relatively low-carb diet with lots of protein lose fat weight and gain muscle.

Participants in this latest study who consumed a high protein diet lost seven pounds in six weeks. The ones who followed a standard diet didn't lose any weight at all. In addition, the high protein group gained twice as much muscle as the standard group.

As it turns out, protein elevates your sensitivity to leptin, the hormone which tells the brain that your stomach is full.

Protein from eggs are great. Eggs are the gold standard by which all other protein sources are rated. I suggest incorporating them into your meal plan every day. Grass-fed beef is another great protein source. Grass-fed beef has less saturated fat than conventional grain-fed beef. It also has fats that support muscle growth such as CLA (conjugated linoleic acid.)

As happens all too often with nutrients which are good for you, Americans get far too little protein. The current recommendation of 30 to 50 grams of protein a day for an adult is far too little.

I once advised getting 1 gram of protein for every kilogram of lean body weight. Re-read this article. I now advise getting 1 gram of protein for every pound of lean body weight (total weight minus fat weight.)

Whether on a weight-loss diet or not, I advise eating 5 to 6 mini-meals a day. This manner of eating accomplishes two things--it will keep your metabolism stoked and you will never get hungry. Eating three meals a day places too great a burden on your body's digestive system. It also tells your body that food is scarce. When your body perceives that, it holds onto its fat stores.

Having a protein shake is a great way to supplement your protein intake. Whey protein is superior to all others. But you want whey from grass-fed cows with no artificial ingredients and sweeteners. This source of whey protein will give your body the protein it needs for you to drop excess fat and build lean muscle.

February 2, 2010: PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has voted Mimi Kirk "Sexiest vegetarian Over 50." What's remarkable about Mimi is that she is 20 years over 50. She is set to celebrate her 71st birthday.

Mimi, a grandmother of 7, looks fantastic for her age. She attributes her youthful look to eating plenty of fruits and vegetables as part of a raw, vegan diet.

Her boyfriend is 19 years younger than she is. Concerning her lifestyle, Mimi says, "Through my plant-based diet, I have cured my arthritis, my high blood pressure and have avoided all of my family diseases."

Mimi's radiant and youthful skin has to do more with her nutritious diet than to good genes. Research reveals that women who get plenty of vitamin C from fruits such as pineapples, kiwis, and strawberries tend to have a minimal number of wrinkles. Research also shows that women on vegetarian diets are generally of healthy weight.

(Everyone should eat according to their metabolic or nutritional type. And if you are a protein type like myself, all meat consumed should be organic, grass-fed. With the absence of perticides, hormones, antibiotics, and excessive omega-6 fatty acids, maintaining a healthy weight should not be a problem. Factory-farmed meat that is standard in America today contains chemicals and toxins which will not only destroy your skin's elasticity, but will contribute to obesity and its complications.)

As an encouragement to healthy eating, Mimi says: "You don't have to give foods up, you just have to make sure you add the good stuff to your diet."
Source: Dole Nutrition Institute.

February 2, 2010: Moderate physical exercise performed in midlife or later seems to be associated with a reduced risk of mild cognitive impairment. A six-month high intensity aerobic exercise program can improve the cognitive function in individuals with mild cognitive impairment.

Exercise may protect against mild cognitive impairment by means of the production of nerve-protecting compounds, greater blood flow to brain, improved development and survival of neurons and a decreased risk of heart and blood vessel diseases.

According to the results of the latest two studies looking at exercise and cognitive impairment, moderate exercise like aerobics, yoga, and strength training, results in a 39 percent reduced risk of mild cognitive impairment during midlife; moderate exercise in the late stage of life leads to a 32 percent reduced risk.

February 2, 2010: Although the obesity epidemic has reached global proportions, there are pockets of civilation where it is unheard of. Some of these pockets lie deep in the jungles of West Africa.

A professor from nearby Cameroon who is an expert in nutritional biochemistry noticed that the natives did not get fat. Intrigued, he watched this certain group and compared them to other groups.

He soon discovered something about the natives' diet. They added a paste made from the seeds of 'bush mangoes' to thicken their soup.

This professor made his own extract and conducted tests. After ten weeks with this extract added to their diets, the test subjects lost an average of 28 pounds and reduced their waists by an average of 6 inches.

The scientific name for this miracle herb is irvingia gabonensis. This herb seems to reset the body to where it was when you were young. You could eat anything and not get fat. (This of course was before the onslaught of high fructose corn sugar and so much processed food.)

Your body has a system of signals that controls fat cells. Age and junk food compromises this system. Signals get distorted and fat cells get larger and larger.

When the body functions normally, your fat cells produce a hormone called leptin which tells your brain that your stomach is full. It also signals the fat inside the cells to break down into the kind of fat that can be burned as energy.

However when too many fat cells accumulate, a protein known as CRP adheres to leptin and stops it from delivering its message to the brain. This is known as leptin resistance.

A signal known as adiponectin controls your sensitivity to insulin. Besides allowing your cells to take in glucose, insulin tells the body how much fat to produce. The more adiponectin you have, the more sensitive you are to insulin. This is known as being insulin sensitive as opposed to insulin resistant.

Levels of adiponectin drop as you age.

The West African herb irvingia gabonensis has an positive effect on heart health too. Indicators like LDL, HDL, blood glucose, and C reactive protein are all normalized by this herb.

This kind of herb is called an adaptogen. An adaptogen is a natural substance that helps your body adapt to stress and exerts a normalizing effect on bodily processes.
Source: Doctor's House Call; Al Sears, MD.

February 4, 2010: Queen Latifah, actress and singer, is turning 40 this March. And with advancing years she is focused on the importance of nutrition for living a healthy lifestyle.

"I don't really diet. I kind of keep everything in moderation, exercise and eat right. I eat a lot of vegetables and lean meats, and I drink a whole lot of water...", says Queen Latifah.

As a spokesperson for Jenny Craig, Queen Latifah has maintained her weight. Through diet and exercise she dropped 20 pounds almost three years ago and has managed to keep it off.

Queen Latifah regrets not having the knowledge of the benefits of exercise and healthy eating when she was younger. Back in those days her weakness was 'Mac and cheese.'

Source: People Magazine.

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February 4, 2010: Science has discovered that besides environmental and what is eaten and drunk, emotional stress plays a major role in the development of cancer. Scientists have found that your normal, everyday stress is a trigger for the growth of tumor cells. Any type of trauma, whether physical or emotional, can act as a 'pathway' between cancerous mutations, bringing them together.

The National Cancer Institute has said that research with animal models suggests that the body's neuroendocrine response (release of hormones into your blood in response to stimulation of your nervous system) can directly change important processes in cells that help protect against the formation of cancer, such as DNA repair and the regulation of cell growth.

There has been other research which looked at the hormone norepinephrine. It has been noted that this hormone may increase cancer growth rate. Norepinephrine is produced during periods of stress.

Norepinephrine may also stimulate the tumor cells to release a chemical (vascular endothelial growth factor, or VEGF) that can aid in the growth of the blood vessels that feed cancer cells. This can increase the growth and spread of the cancer.

Further, the stress hormone norepinephrine has been found to cause changes in breast and prostate cancer cells insulating them from cell death. This suggests that emotional stress not only contributes to cancer, but makes treatment less effective.

It is important to be able to manage stress. A vigorous exercise program is one excellent way to accomplish that.

February 5, 2010: In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, black women who ate fried chicken or fast food burgers at least two times a week were found to be between 40 to 70% more at risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those who do not. Although anyone who eats fast foods on a regular basis are at risk of developing diabetes, African- Americans are 80% more likely to be diagnosed with it than non-Hispanic whites.

Study leader Dr. Julie Palmer and her colleagues from Boston University recruited over 44,000 black women. These women were given questionnaires back in 1995 and told to complete them. The results were compared with results from an entirely different group of women who claimed they did not eat fast foods.

Upon examining the questionnaires from both groups, the researchers found that not only were the women in the fast food group at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes, but they were on average heavier with many categorized as overweight.

The researchers used body mass index in determining weight categories. A range between 18.5 to 24.9 is considered normal. Many of the women in the fast food group had BMIs between 28 and 29. These women continued gaining weight throughout the course of the study.

Surprisingly, the two fast foods which had the greatest impact on the women's blood sugar were fried chicken and burgers. They caused the most weight gain, and nearly 3,000 study participants developed type 2 diabetes at the conclusion of the study.

February 10, 2010: The more any food is cooked, the greater the difficulty the body has in digesting and metabolizing it. This can snowball into all kinds of of health issues.

Partially digested food remains in your gut, becoming toxic. This food can in turn migrate to and attack your weakest system.

The best method of cooking is by stewing, steaming, or using a slow crock cooker. The closer foods are eaten in their raw state, the better your body will digest and absorb all of its nutrients.

The greater the temperature any food is cooked, the harder it is for your body to digest it. When food is hard to digest, it remains in the gut longer. The body then can become poisoned by this clump of undigested food.

Every food has what is known as its heat labile point. This is the temperature at which a food's chemical structure is changed.

Your body is programmed to to digest food which has a predetermined chemical makeup. The programming comes from centuries of preparing and eating cooked food. God created your cellular structure with the ability to adapt to continually changing circumstances.

When food is cooked beyond its heat labile point, your body doesn't understand the new chemical composition. The incompletely digested food sits in your gut becoming more and more toxic. The food rots.

From a macronutrient perspective, carbohydrates start to ferment, proteins start to putrefy, and fats start to become rancid. Your gastrointestinal tract then becomes irritated and its cells become larger. When this happens, the undigested or partially digested food moves into your bloodstream--a condition known as the leaky gut syndrome.

Partially digested food moving through the bloodstream causes other problems too. Known as macromolecules, the undigested or partially digested food particles can go to the head and produce allergy-like symptoms like runny eyes, scratchy throat, sinusitis, and sneezing. If the macromolecules reach the brain, they can cause headaches, anger, fatigue, schizophrenia, and perspiration. They can cause arthritis when they hit the joints.

Macromolecules can also cause multiple sclerosis if they impact your nerves. They will attack your weakest internal system. Everyone is different.

February 12, 2010:

A new study has found evidence that blueberry juice improves memory in humans. A collaborative effort between researchers from the University of Cincinnati, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Canadian Department of Agriculture worked with a group of volunteers in their 70s who battled memory decline.

Half of the volunteers were given two to two and a half cups of blueberry juice to drink every day for two months. The other half, a control group, were given juice without any trace of blueberry juice.

After about eight weeks, the volunteers were given memory and learning tests to see if there were any changes in the participants' cognitive abilities. The group given the blueberry juice showed measurable and significant improvement in their mental abilities. These results were published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

The reseachers said, "These preliminary memory findings are encouraging and suggest that consistent supplementation with blueberries may offer an approach to forestall or mitigate neurodegeneration..."

Blueberries contain an antioxidant called anthocyanin. This flavonoid gives reddish/purplish fruits their color. And according to ORAC, blueberries contain among the highest levels of antioxidants.

February 15, 2010: Male breast reduction surgery has risen 2,540 percent in the last 5 years. This is an alarming trend.

But like taking pharmaceuticals, the surgery doesn't address the problem--it just reduces the symptom of the problem. The cause of the feminization of male breasts is excess estrogen.

Estrogen is the female hormone. Unnatural forms of estrogen are intimately woven into all aspects of modern society. Estrogen is used to fatten cattle, pigs, and chicken. It is in the meat products that you purchase at your local supermarket.

There also exist synthetic estrogen chemicals known as xenoestrogen. These chemicals mimic estrogen, and the body can't tell the difference.

Estrogen is in products as diverse as shampoo, plastic cups, garden hoses, flooring, and many more. They send 'female' signals to your body's tissues.

Excess estrogen don't just feminize men's breasts. They can cause you to gain weight, slow you down and make you tired, and negatively impact your sex life.

Excess estrogen affects women too. It can make your monthly periods more painful. This can make menopause a veritable nightmare.

When the body perceives it is getting estrogen from the outside, it reduces or stops its own production of it. When that happens, it also ceases production of progesterone. Progesterone is a feminine hormone which reduces anxiety and depression in a woman.

Synthetic estrogen will increase a woman's risk of developing cancer, heart attack, and stroke too.

There are steps men and women can take to reduce environmental exposure to estrogen-like chemicals.

• Avoid processed, packaged, and fast foods
• Eat organic whenever you can
• Stick to grass-fed, hormone-free beef and poultry products
• Eat wild-caught fish whenever possible
• Stay away from all processed grains

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You can purchase natural products that will flush excess estrogen from your body. These products are Indole 3 carbinole (I-3-C) and diindolylmethane (DIM). Both are highly concentrated forms of cruciferous vegetables.

Supplements are necessary because it would not be feasible for you too eat the amount of vegetables necessary to remove estrogen from your body. As an example, it would take 130 raw Brussels sprouts to equal 400 mg of I-3-C.

February 16, 2010: Fruits and vegetables do not pack the nutritional punch they did 30 years ago. The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) compared the nutritional values of some fruits and vegetables today to those in 1975. The results are disheartening:

• Apples: vitamin A down 41%
• Sweet Peppers: vitamin C down 31%
• Watercress: iron down 88%
• Broccoli: calcium, vitamin A down 50%
• Cauliflower: vitamin C down 45%; vitamin B1 down 48%; vitamin B2 down 47%
• Collard Greens: vitamin A down 45%; potassium down 66%; magnesium down 85%

The University of Texas at Austin conducted a study and found nutritional declines in a wide range of produce. They found that generally vitamin C is down 20 percent and vitamin B2 is down 38 percent. These results were reported at a meeting of the American Association of the Advancement of Science in St. Louis.

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Research conducted by the United Kingdom based Institute of Food Research suggests that frozen vegetables are more nutritious than fresh vegetables. By the time they are eaten, fresh vegetables have lost approxiamately 40 percent of their nutrient value.

After 16 days, the following vegetables have lost:

• green beans: 45%
• broccoli: 25%
• cauliflower: 25%
• carrots: 10%
• peas: 10%

Comments nutritionist Sarah Schenker, "The nutritional content of fresh vegetables begins to deteriorate from the minute they re picked..."

Frozen vegetables are frozen as soon as they are harvested. The quick-freezing process locks in nutrients.

This is not to say that consumers should totally bypass fresh vegetables. Locally grown produce is still good. You can be assured locally grown vegetables are pesticide-free. They are also process-free.

February 17, 2010: Good news for chocolate lovers. One study found that people who ate one serving of chocolate per week, were 22 percent less likely to have a stroke. A second study found that people who ate 50 grams of chocolate once a week were 46 percent less likely to die following a stroke.

The majority of strokes occur (about 86 percent) when insufficient blood gets to the brain. This starves the brain of oxygen and vital nutrients.

Chocolate is loaded with antioxidants known as flavonoids. As a matter of fact, dark chocolate has four times the antioxidant power of tea.

Look for dark chocolate at your favorite store. Make cetain that it contains at least 70 percent cocoa. Avoid artificial sweeteners and low-fat varieties. (Sugar is preferable to artificial sweeteners.)

February 18, 2010: Expectant mothers require 50 percent more protein for the healthy growth of both her and her unborn child. Conservatively speaking, pregnant women should bump up their protein intake by 25 grams per day.

Active mothers and those with high-risk pregnancies may require more protein.

The unborn undergo a tremendous growth spurt. They begin as a microscopic single cell and grow to a visible physical size within 9 months. The protein is needed for the development of healthy muscle, bone, blood, nerves, and specialized needs.

The extra protein is also needed for:

• placenta development
• growth of maternal tissues (to develop uterine and breast tissue and all the blood vessels required to nourish them)
• increase maternal blood (blood volume in mother grows by up to 50 percent during pregnancy)
• amniotic fluid (acts as a shock absorber to protect the child from injury)

Be careful about your source of protein. Stay away from fish as they are now so full of mercury and other toxins as to make them completely unsafe for you and your unborn child. Choose grass-fed beef and free-grazing poultry.

February 20, 2010: When European studies showed an association between animals given antibiotic-laced food to eat every day, and people developing antibiotic-resistant infections from eating and handling that food, Denmark banned widespread use of antibiotics. That was 12 years ago.

Now Denmark uses antibiotics only for sick animals. Europe followed Denmark's example in 2006.

Denmark's 17,000 farmers feel a great sense of pride. The pork industry has grown by 43 percent. Denmark is one of the top exporters of pork in the entire world.

Meanwhile the United States stubbornly continues to give its animals that are bred for food antibiotics. The need for antibiotics is fed by unhealthy factory farming techniques which breed sick animals.

February 21, 2010: New research has indicated that vitamin D can counter the devastating effects of Crohn's disease. Science has known of the importance of vitamin D in fighting this disease for quite some time now.

Vitamin D helps the body to make over 200 anti-microbial peptides that help fight many kinds of infections. Therapeutic levels of vitamin D is between 55 and 65 ng/ml.

As many Americans are woefully deficient in vitamin D, levels should be tested. The test that should be used is called 25(OH)D, also known as 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Only one of two facilities should be used--Lab Corp or Quest. If Quest is used, divide the result by 1.3!

Vitamin D Levels
Deficient	Optimal	Cancer	Excess
<50 ng/ml	50 - 65 ng/ml	65 - 90 ng/ml	>100 ng/ml

February 26, 2010: A new study has found that a milk protein is highly effective in fighting pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is the leading cause of cancer death, and it is very difficult to treat. In its early stages, there are no noticeable symptoms.

This milk protein is known as lactoferrin.

In the study, laboratory rats were given a toxic chemical known to cause tumors in the intestinal tract. The rats that were given lactoferrin showed significantly lower rates of abnormal cell growth.

Lactoferrin supports and boosts your immune system. It protects nursing newborns against disease and 'turns' on their immune systems.

Found to be highly effective in suppressing pancreatic cancer cells, lactoferrin is found in cow's milk and mother's milk. Lactoferrin is only in small quantities from 0.5 to 1 percent in cow's milk. In mother's milk, it comprises up to 15 percent.

Lactoferrin binds to iron. Iron is necessary for bacteria growth. The form of lactoferrin that is depleted of iron is known as apolactoferrin. For disease-fighting capabilities, it is recommended that 250 mg to 500 mg a day be taken.

March 2, 2010: Where's the beef? Beef is a red meat which has unfortunately been villified by the medical community. I say 'unfortunately' because not all beef is bad for you.

The only type of beef, or any other kind of meat for that matter, which should be avoided is factory-farmed meat. Not only are factory-farmed animals cruelly and inhumanely treated, the very system places your health at risk.

Beef and poultry that is raised in their natural environment is not only a plus for your health, but the animals themselves are raised the way they were meant to be raised. These grass-fed and free-ranged animals are superior in terms of nutrients and lack of toxic chemicals.

Thirty ounces of beef contains 50 grams of complete protein. In comparison, 2 tablespoons of peanut butter has only 16 grams of protein.

Here are the primary reasons you should be eating beef:

• Vitamin B12. Animal products, including beef, are the primary source of vitamin B12
• Iron. There is a difference between iron derived from a vegetarian diet and iron from a meat diet. Iron from a vegetarian diet is 70 percent less absorbed than from a meat diet
• Zinc. Beef is the number one source of zinc. Your body only absorbs 35 percent of the zinc from a vegetarian diet
• CLA. Almost 98 percent of CLA comes from meat.
• CoQ10. Beef is the best source of Co-Enzyme Q10. Fruits and vegetables provide almost none.

In comparing the nutrient and health benefits of organic, grass-fed beef to conventionally grain fed beef, there is no comparison. Grass-fed beef has less fat and calories overall. Six ounces of grass-fed beef has a whopping 1,592 fewer calories than grain-fed.

Grass-fed has more omega-3 fatty acids. Next to vitamin D, omega-3s may be the most important nutrient most Americans are deficient in. Grass-fed beef has 2 to 30 times as much omega-3s as grain-fed. The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 is as low 1:1. In grain-fed it can be as high as 14:1!

The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 is vital. Grain is full of omega-6 fatty acid. Although your body needs omega-6, the average American gets far too much. The source of this over-supply of omega-6 are vegetable oils and meat, poultry, and fish. Your farmed-fish are fed primarily grain as are beef and poultry. In reality, the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 runs as high as 25:1 to 50:1!

Grass-fed beef contains 2 to 5 times the conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) of grain-fed. CLA is important in fat-loss and maintaining and building muscle mass.

There is also 3 to 6 times more vitamin E and up to 4 times as much carotenoids in grass-fed beef.

Grain-fed meat is to blame for the heart disease, weight gain, and other chronic health concerns blamed on red meat in general.

You can buy quality organic, free-range and grass-fed meat at Mercola.com.

March 5, 2010: New research points to polyphenols in olive oil inhibiting the bacterium that causes most stomach ulcers. The gold standard treatment for heicobacter (H.) pylori (ulcer-causing bacterium that can survive the acid environment in your stomach) is antibiotics.

But there exist resistant strains of H.pylori bacterium. Recent studies show that the polyphenols in olive oil seem to kill all types of H.pylori--even the resistant strains.

Limit olive oil consumption to extra-virgin. It is the least processed of all olive oils. Purchase your olive oil in a dark, glass bottle, and store it in a dark place away from sunlight.

March 6, 2010: Thanks to thousands of concerned Americans, the bill co-sponsored by Sen. McCain has been dealt a serious blow. The bill, Dietary Supplement Safety Act (S 3002), had its support withdrawn by Sen. McCain.

Word is circulating around Capitol Hill that Sen. McCain met with Sen. Orin Hatch, a proponent of natural medicine, and told him that he is withdrawing his support from his bill. The bill as written now is effectively dead.

Of course we haven't heard this from Sen. McCain himself. The bill's co-sponsor Sen. Dorgan has not made any public statement about Sen. McCain's apparent change of mind, nor of where he now stands.

March 6, 2010: Here is another compelling reason to buy organic, grass-fed and free-ranged meat besides the antibiotics, hormones, genetically-modified organisms, and pesticides in conventional meat. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has approved a livestock drug which has been banned in 160 countries.

The drug is named ractopamine. Ractopamine increases protein synthesis in animals. In other words, it makes animals destined for your dinner plate more muscular. This drug is given to the animals just days prior to their slaughter.

Also known as Paylean and Optaflexx, imported meat is refused in countries that ban Ractopamine's use. If used within the borders of countries that ban its use, fines and imprisonment result.

The FDA doesn't even require a 'washout' period for ractopamine. Some drugs are required to have a two-week period to ensure that they are flushed from the animal's system before their slaughter. This process reduces the amount of contaminant in the meat by the time it reaches your dinner table.

Ractopamine is clearly marked: "Not for use in humans. Individuals with cardiovascular disease should exercise special caution to avoid exposure. Use protective clothing, impervious gloves, protective eye wear, and a NIOSH-approved dust mask"

The 160 nations which currently ban ractopamine include Europe, Taiwan and China. This drug is used in 45 percent of pigs and 30 percent ration-fed cattle in the United States. It is used in an undetermined number of turkeys.

Why, you might ask, if a drug is so dangerous that individuals that handle it are warned to wear protective clothing and eye wear and inpenetrable gloves, has the FDA allowed its use in our meat supply? The agricultural industry has powerful lobbyists in Washington.

Columnist Martha Rosenberg answers, "The same way Elanco's other two blockbusters, Stilbosol (diethylstilbestrol DES), now withdrawn, and Posilac or bovine growth hormone (rBST), bought from Monsanto in 2008, became part of the nation's food supply: shameless corporate lobbying" (emphasis mine.) [Martha Rosenberg is a freelance journalist and cartoonist.]

Another reason is conflict of interest between influential people in high positions and industry. For instance, former governeor of Iowa Tom Vilsack is now the Secretary of Agricultural. Secretary Vilsack has a long record of siding with Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) or factory farms.

The only way you can protect yourself and your loved ones from meat contaminated with hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, genetically modified organisms, and Ractopamine is to buy grass-fed, free-ranged meat. You can find local farms that raise animals humanely and naturally by going here. You can also buy organically-raised and free-ranged meat at Mercola.com.

March 8, 2010: Although America's alarming obesity crisis can be blamed on too much fast and processed foods and a sedentary lifestyle, there is another factor at play. And it is this third factor that will require a little more diligence to fix.

The third arm of America's obesity-promoting society is caused by endocrine-disrupting chemicals. These are natural and synthetic chemicals that wreak havoc on the endocrine system.

Just what is the endocrine system?

The endocrine system is a group of glands that produce the hormones that regulate your body. This system comprises the pancreas, hypothalamus, adrenal glands, thyroid, pituitary gland, and testes. The hormones produced by these glands control growth and development, sexual function, reproductive processes, mood, sleep, hunger, stress, and metabolism.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals are playing such a devastating role in our obesity epidemic that researchers have coined a new term to describe them--obesogens.

Researchers believe that these obesogens interfere with the operation of your hormonal system and lead to weight gain. And it is a fact that uncontrolled weight gain can result in many chronic ailments including certain types of cancer, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

Obesogens can enter your body through many channels. These channels include natural hormones found in soy products, hormones from milk and meat, plastics in food and drink containers, ingredients in processed foods, and pesticides sprayed on fruits and vegetables.

These chemicals can mimic estrogen, misprogam stem cells to become fat cells, and, perhaps, change the function of genes.

Endocrine disruptors are suspected of playing a role in fertility problems, genital malformation, reduced male birth rates, precocious puberty, miscarriage, behavior problems, brain abnormalities, impaired immune function, various cancers, and cardiovascular disease.

Frederick vom Saal, Ph.D., professor of biological sciences at the University of Missouri, says concerning obesogens: "Obesogens are thought to act by hijacking the regulatory systems that control body weight...And any chemical that interferes with body weight is an endocrine disruptor."

The Endocrine Society agrees. They stated in a recent report, ""The rise in the incidence in obesity matches the rise in the use and distribution of industrial chemicals that may be playing a role in generation of obesity... suggesting that EDCs (endocrine disrupting chemicals) may be linked to this epidemic."

Conventional techniques used to lose weight such as choosing leaner meats such as selecting poultry over red meat, including more fish in your diet, and eating more fruits and vegetables, is not enough today. Your poultry as well as red meat can come laden with hormones. The same is true with fish and produce.

Your poultry and red meat are given hormones to increase their growth and weight. Farmed fish are given soy and pesticide-soaked grained to feed on. And the produce is sprayed with dangerous pesticides. The common denominator among these foods is they are all loaded with obesogens.

It is estimated that the average American is exposed to 10 to 13 different pesticides and their breakdown products every day through food, beverages, and drinking water.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) says that you can reduce your pesticide exposure by 80 percent by buying organic versions of the top twelve pesticide-laden produce. In order of the greatest amount of pesticides they are: peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, kale, lettuce, imported grapes, carrots, and pears.

Produce with the least amount of pesticides are: onions, avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, mangoes, asparagus, sweet peas, kiwis, cabbages, eggplants, papayas, watermelons, broccoli, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes.

I'd advise you to purchase all produce at farmer's markets where it is locally-grown.

The estimated percentage of Americans with detectable levels of BPA in their body is 95. And over 75 percent have detectable levels of phthalates in their blood. Both chemicals mimic estrogen, and predispose your body to accumulate fat from an early age.

You can limit your esposure to these chemicals by observing the following rules:

• never heat plastic container in a microwave oven; the chemicals can leach into your food
• avoid plastic-wrapped meat; the plastic is primarily PVC which contain phthalates.
• avoid canned foods; the cans are lined with BPA. Buy frozen vegetables in bags instead of cans. An exception is Eden Foods which uses BPA-less cans. Glass jars are okay too.
• don't drink hot beverages from styrofoam cups

Did you know that your shampoo can make you fat?

March 9, 2010: The New York Times has obtained confidential government reports concerning the controversial diabetes drug Avandia. These reports state that hundreds of people who take Avandia needlessly suffer heart attacks and heart failure every month. The reports continue by saying that Avandia should be removed from the market.

The confidential reports obtained by the New York Times goes even further. They say that if the diabetes pill Actos were given in place of Avandia, 500 heart attacks and 300 cases of heart failure could be avoided each and every month.

There is a caveat in regards to Actos though. There is a possibility that it may damage your heart too. While Actos is dangerous to a lesser degree than Avandia, it is yet dangerous.

Avandia is manufactured by the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. The drug was first placed on the market in 1999 after a multi-million dollar advertising campaign. Sales of Avandia hit $3.2 billion in 2006.

In 2007 a study was published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) that associated Avandia with a 43 percent increased risk of heart attack and a 64 percent increased risk of cardiovascular death than diabetics using other medications. In 2009 sales of Avandia fell to $1.2 billion.

Despite the controversy and negative reports concerning Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline has neglected to warn the American public. In a 342 page bipatisan Senate report, Democratic Senator Max Baucus (Montana) and Republican Senator Charles E. Grassley (Iowa) sharply criticized the pharmaceutical company.

Not only has GlaxoSmithKline known about the dangers of Avandia, so has the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This is the agency responsible for overseeing pharmaceutical drugs. They are supposed to be looking out for you the public--and your welfare. In this they have failed miserably.

The FDA is supposedly going to reexamine the drug, and come to a decision this summer about whether or not it should remain on the market.

There has been internal dissent within the FDA concerning the danger of Avandia. Voices calling for it to be pulled from the market have fallen on deaf ears. The FDA had the following facts on hand:

• GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) completed a study in 2003 in which diabetics given Avandia suffered far more heart problems than those given a placebo
• two months later, the World Health Organization alerted GSK that they had also found a link between Avandia and heart ailments
• In a June 2004 company meeting, GSK's Global Safety Board advised they needed to review all of Avandia's clinical trials to check for more indications of heart problems caused by the drug. As a result, GSK completed two reviews of their own data. In both cases they discovered that Avandia increased the risks of serious heart problems by nearly one third, which is very significant since two-thirds of diabetics die of heart problems

The Institute for Safe Medication Practice performed an analysis of prescription drugs and the number of serious, disabling and fatal problems among consumers. Avandia ranked number one among all prescription drugs in the third quarter of 2009!

As long as conventional medicine believes that diabetes is a disease centered around blood sugar levels, pharmaceutical drugs will always be touted as a means of treating it. First and foremost, diabetes is caused by insulin resistance and failed leptin communication. Both of these conditions can be controlled through your diet.

Don't expect pharmaceutical companies to come on board with this fact. They would lose billions of dollars in over-priced and dangerous medication. And it is these same companies that control to a large extent medical schools and doctors--not to mention the FDA.

As with most prescription drugs, notwithstanding the medical condition they were formulated for, diabetes drugs merely target the symptomof elevated blood sugar levels. They don't address the cause of the high levels. The cause of chronic disease remains, and consigns the patient to a lifetime of drug dependency.

Leptin is a hormone that is produced by your fat cells. Dr. Joseph Mercola states on his website: "Leptin, a relatively recently discovered hormone produced by fat, tells your body and brain how much energy it has, whether it needs more (saying "be hungry"), whether it should get rid of some (and stop being hungry) and importantly what to do with the energy it has (reproduce, upregulate cellular repair, or not)."

Elevated blood sugar levels is a signal for insulin to be released for the purpose of transporting the extra energy--your blood sugar--to be stored. A small amount is stored as glycogen, but the majority is put away s your body's preferred energy supply--fat.

Thus, rather than insulin's responsibility being to lower blood sugar, its job is to take the extra energy and store it for future use. The lowering of your blood sugar level is a side effect of energy storage.

One of the substances contributing to diabetes is fructose. This includes the fructose in fruit. The reason why even fruit becomes problematic is that with the standard American diet (SAD,) Americans are over-consuming frustose. You see, fructose, whether in he form of high fructose corn syrup or crystalline fructose, is an ingredient in soft drinks, medications, and almost all processed foods.

Nearly 100 percent of type 2 diabetics can be successfully treated without having to resort to pharmaceuticals. Implement the following steps into your daily routine:

• exercise; exercise is absolutely essential to get diabetes under control. You may have to exercise up to 2 hours a day every day until the disease is under control. Of course you have to gradually work yourself up to these levels. Make certain to incorporate strength training too.
• eliminate sugar and grains; grains includes even 100% whole grain and corn (corn is a grain, not a vegetable.) Even 100% whole grain--a complex carbohydrate--is metabolized into sugar. You may even have to eliminate fruit until your condition is under control.
• eat for your nutritional type
• monitor your fasting insulin level; it should always be in the range of 2 to 4
• optimize your vitamin D levels

March 11, 2010: Are you taking a vitamin or other supplement that has a hard shell coating? It may not be dissolving in your stomach. Here's a simple test you can perform at home to see if your supplement is dissolving, or just sitting in your stomach undissolved.

Take a glass and mix equal portions of water and vinegar. Drop in your supplement and wait 40 minutes. If it is not well on its way to being dissolved, it is more than likely passing through your body undissolved.

March 11, 2010: Research published in the New York Times found that fewer calories are consumed when food is eaten slowly. In a recent study, subjects who were given identical servings of ice cream on different occasions consumed less calories when they finished it in 30 minutes as opposed to 5 minutes. More hormones were released when the ice cream was eaten in 30 minutes making the study participants feel full.

You may remember your mother telling you to eat your food slowly back in the day. Science has now proven how much wisdom was in that statement. Most of your digestive enzymes lies in the mouth, not the stomach. By slowly chewing your food, you give these enzymes time to adequately break down the meal.

A study published in the British Medical Journal found that eating quickly and until full tripled the subjects risk of becoming overweight.

A good side effect of slowly eating your food is a reduction in portion size. Many people find it difficult if not impossible to just cut back on portion size. But by consciously taking twice as long to chew food is very doable.

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