FOOD to Feed the World: There has to be a different way

Walker's World: The food crisis

Published: Sept. 7, 2010 at 6:13 AM

By MARTIN WALKER
UPI Editor Emeritus

PARIS, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- The deaths of 10 people during food riots in Mozambique last week, combined with Russia's renewed ban on wheat exports and floods that threaten crops in Pakistan, Canada and Argentina, have revived fears of the food shortages that rocked the world two years ago.

Welcome to the future. The combination of population growth, richer diets and the erosion of arable land means that there will be pressure on food supplies for decades to come.

Wheat prices touched $300 a ton last month, almost double their price in April. Beef prices in the United States are back to their 2008 peak of 90 cents a pound, after a bumpy but steady rise from 60 cents a decade ago. Prices for lamb have tripled in the course of this decade.

But there are two wild cards lurking in the future that could turn crisis into catastrophe. The first is climate change. It matters not whether one assumes this is caused by human action or is simply one of those centuries-long trends of warming and cooling that has marked the Earth's history. Temperatures are rising, weather and rainfall patterns are shifting and these changes will have major impact on crops and yields.

The most serious study yet produced on the likely impact of climate change on food, by William Cline of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, claims that the most serious change could come in India.

His model suggests that the overall food crop in India could fall by as much as 30 percent over the next 25 years. Since India's population is expected to grow from 1.1 billion to 1.5 billion over the same period, this spells disaster.

The second wild card is a form of wheat rust called Ug99, so named because it first emerged in Uganda in 1999. At first it was thought to have been controlled within a limited area but it seems to be spreading inexorably. First it hit crops in Kenya, then Ethiopia. Then it jumped across the Red Sea to Yemen and has now been found in Iran. This year it was found in South Africa.

Worse still, it isn't a single fungus. It has developed four variants so far, which means it can overcome most of the cocktails of wheat breeds that scientists have developed over recent decades. Two particular genetic variants, known as S24 and S31 which were developed as part of Norman Borlaug's famous Green Revolution, were long thought to have solved the problem of wheat rust.

But Ug99 defeats them. The red pustules it produces on wheat stems can burst and spread countless spores on the wind. And this means that 90 percent of the world's wheat supplies, which produce one-third of the calories that humans consume, is at risk.

Help may be at hand. This summer, scientists unpicked the complete genetic code of wheat and are desperately looking for strains of wheat that can resist Ug99.

It's a race against time. The fear is that the virus spreads from Iran eastward into the Punjab, the breadbasket of the Indian subcontinent, with dire implications for India and Pakistan. Or it could move north into the Caucasus and central Asia and then attack Russia and the Ukraine and Europe.

Worst of all, just one of those spores attached to a tourist's clothes could hop aboard a long commercial flight to the United States or to Brazil and spread the disease to the Western Hemisphere. That is what happened when yellow rust, a similar but less lethal disease, spread from France to Australia in the clothes of a visiting tourist.

Even without the wild cards of climate change and Ug99, the long-term outlook is deeply worrying. The global population, now 6.8 billion, is expected to top 9 billion by 2050, which means a lot more mouths to feed. Arable land is under intense pressure from urbanization, particularly in China. Most of the countries where population growth will be highest, which means Africa and the Indian subcontinent, are already facing severe stress on water supplies.

And human food habits are changing. As hundreds of millions of people in India and China and elsewhere clamber up the prosperity ladder, they also climb the protein ladder; they want meat and dairy products, hamburgers and a chicken in the pot. But it takes eight pound of wheat to produce a pound of beef.

The demand for beef is strong but the supply is problematic. Over the past decade, the total number of the U.S. beef herd has fallen from 100 million to 75 million. In Australia, the world's main supplier of lamb, the sheep herd has halved since the 1990s. Whatever the global demand, farmers are limited by local factors like Australia's drought or rising grain prices in the United States.

"In the past few weeks, global cereal markets experienced a sudden surge in international wheat prices on concerns over wheat shortages," the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said after scheduling a conference of agricultural experts to assess the crisis for Sept. 24.

"The purpose of holding the meeting is for exporting and importing countries to engage in constructive discussions on appropriate reactions to the current market situation," the FAO spokesman added.

The problem should be manageable, at least for this year. Globally, the world has seen a bumper crop of grains and, unlike 2008, food stocks are adequate.

But already experts are eyeing with alarm the coming of the El Nina currents and weather patterns in the Pacific, replacing the better-known El Nino. El Nina usually means reduced rainfall and smaller yields in Argentina, the world's largest exporter of corn after the United States and the third-biggest soybean exporter.

And Ug99 lies in wait.

© 2010 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Obesity: Concerns and Considerations

Here are some current headlines: 

One in 6 U.S. adults struggle with weight

Childhood Obesity Woes Linked to Too Little Sleep

Parents caving on healthy choices for kids

Do you ever wonder if it isn't just too much crappy food thrown at you by Big AG, errors in immunity created by continual vaccination, all kinds of artifical additives in food, fluoride in water, and too much refined food, with too many sugars (not to let artificial sweeteners off the hook?)

Then consider lack of absorption of nutrients, if any nutrients are actually in the food you consume.

The start here with the real food pyramid, skip the shots, skip water fluoridation, and start exercising....

and (new) don't over look this -

Why Is the Food Industry Pumping Food Dyes That Cause Cancer Into Our Food?

Despite signs that they may cause cancer, food manufacturers continue to pour about millions of pounds of synthetic dyes into the American food supply every year.

and this -

Remember that fluoride impairs your thyroid and it is your thyroid that controls metabolism and so much more.   No question here as PFOS and PFOA in non-stick coatings used in cookware, clothing, and in so many more products used by people who do not question ingredients and effects of what chemicals are in every day products. And yes, elevated cholesterol is directly related to low functioning thyroid...

Study shows latest potential negative effect of non-stick chemicals - Obesity from non stick cookware -

Read more: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/09/teflon_children.html#ixzz0z416i2gC

Fluoride damages your immune system, liver, and thyroid...

Dr Kelley

I am fortunate enough to have been educated in Dr Kelley's method, and well aware of the help it can offer to many. It is offered through Creating Health Institute.

ONE MAN ALONE: AN INVESTIGATION OF NUTRITION, CANCER, AND WILLIAM DONALD KELLEY

By Nicholas J. Gonzalez, MD

Dr. Gonzalez completed this comprehensive analysis of Dr. Kelley’s approach in 1986 as partial fulfillment of his immunology fellowship under the direction of Robert A. Good, PhD, MD, founder of “Modern Immunology.”

Although never previously published, this monograph has been generating interest in the alternative and conventional medical world for over two decades. This book documents Dr. Gonzalez’s five year evaluation of hundreds of Dr. Kelley’s patients and illustrates the value of Dr. Kelley’s nutritional-enzyme program.

Includes 50 representative case histories of patients diagnosed with a variety of poor prognosis or terminal cancer who did well under Dr. Kelley’s care.

Learn about the natural cancer treatment and Dr. Kelley’s success.

Ageing with Grace

Weintraub has been writing on health for about 15 years from what I can find out about her, not a great amount of time exposed to the history on anti-aging health care, I'd say, but I am sure the naysayers and quack-watchers will use her report for fodder in the continual attack against non-mainstream medicine.
While I don't totally agree with Somers, I do know that anti-aging medicine has been around for a very long time and Weintraub's indictment is not so well placed.
After all, what is mainstream medicine?  It is nothing but hucksters for a buck because it is controlled by Big Insurance and Big PhRMA.  In other words, the bottom line reigns.

For more information about A4M, please go here

Selling the Fountain of Youth

The beauty industry--which once revolved around creams and powders, subtle agents to enhance beauty--has become the anti-aging industry, overrun with steroids, human growth hormone injections, and “bio-identical” hormones--all promoted as “cures” for getting old. Acclaimed BusinessWeek science reporter Arlene Weintraub takes us inside this world, from the marketing departments of huge pharmaceutical companies to the backroom of your local pharmacy, from celebrity enthusiasts like Suzanne Somers and Oprah to the self-medicating doctors who run chains of rejuvenation centers, all claiming that we deserve to be forever young--and promising to show us how. Weintraub reveals the shady practices that run rampant when junk science and dubious marketing meet consumer choice. She shows for the remarkable economic and cultural impact of anti-aging medicine, on the patients who partake and on the rest of us. It’s not a pretty story, but Weintraub tells us everything we need to know to avoid being duped by this billion-dollar--and dangerous--hoax.

America's $88bn anti-ageing industry: dangerous and with no scientific backing a new book warns that millions face serious health problems caused by the gurus of hormones and dietary fads...

By Paul Harris, The Observer -

The desire to defy age is as ancient as human history, but in the past 10 years a multibillion-dollar industry has sprung up in America promising decades of extra life and good health beyond your 100th birthday.

However, a new book has revealed a disturbing lack of safety regulation, outrageous unproved medical claims, risky products that could cause serious health problems, and a celebrity-dominated marketing machine promising an extended youth – much of it with little science to back it up.

Arlene Weintraub, who spent four years researching Selling the Fountain of Youth, says the anti-ageing industry has grown from virtually nothing to a staggering $88bn in 10 years, with few products and procedures regulated in the same way as normal pharmaceuticals and medical cures. Much of it is based on replacing the body's hormones as people grow older. But it also includes extensive use of products such as Botox, vitamin supplements and dietary fads. All have become hugely popular, but there is little proof that they work – or are 100% safe. Some female users of a popular hormone therapy called the Wiley Protocol have complained about their menstrual cycles starting again, with excessive bleeding and hair loss. The creator of the Wiley Protocol, a Californian called Susie Wiley, was found to have virtually no scientific or medical qualifications.

Such alarming reports have not slowed the huge expansion of the industry. The American Academy of Anti-Ageing Medicine (known by the acronym A4M) holds annual conferences that attract thousands of businessmen, chemists and physicians, all hawking their wares. Some critics of the organisation have dubbed it "all for the money" and say it has spearheaded the idea that getting old is basically a treatable condition.Across America chains of "rejuvenation centres" have sprung up touting the latest "cures" for getting old.

Weintraub argues that the current demographics of America have made the country especially susceptible to an anti-ageing message. The "baby boomer" generation – some 77 million strong – is just hitting the retirement age and millions are looking for ways to prolong their health and lifespan. "This generation, probably more than any before, wants to grow old in a different sort of way," Weintraub said. "Boomers have seen how their parents' generation aged and are trying to avoid that scenario."

She traces the birth of the anti-ageing industry to the discovery that human growth hormones used to treat stunted growth problems in children could also be used in adults, and in many cases appeared to have a rejuvenating impact.

The industry spread to include the use of Botox, derived from the deadly botulinum toxin and originally intended to treat muscle disorders. But anti-ageing doctors also frequently prescribe hormones such as testosterone and oestrogen, that are derived from plants such as yams and soy beans. Weintraub has documented cases where people are using such large amounts of these hormones, sometimes as skin creams, that their partners are absorbing them when they lie next to them in bed at night.

She says the main problem is that government regulation is too light and safety rules not as tight as for normal drugs, which require extensive medical trials before they get federal approval. She also points out that as ageing is not classified as a medical problem – and thus is not covered by insurance companies – the anti-ageing industry is largely founded on patients buying treatments from their doctors, which can easily lead to abuse and lax safety standards.

The industry frequently has its products touted on influential shows. It's highest-profile celebrity proponent is Suzanne Somers, a former actress on the sitcom Three's Company, who has written three books on anti-ageing and is a regular on the talk show circuit.

In her latest bestseller, Somers describes herself in 2041, when she will be 94: "Most mornings start with wonderful sex with my 105-year-old husband, Alan."Weintraub sees her book as a shot across the bows of such celebrity marketing. But she has seen first hand how powerful they are. Last year she was visiting an anti-ageing clinic when Somers appeared on Oprah. Suddenly the clinic was besieged by phone calls from interested potential patients desperate to stop the ageing process. "Their phones were ringing off the hook. It was crazy," Weintraub said.

How You Can Reduce Medical Errors

Stay safe during your hospital stay with these guidelines.

From Reader's Digest, not bad...

Don't become a victim of a hospital medical error by following these 10 recommendations from the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

1. Be an active member of your health-care team. Don’t just blindly nod when your doctor hands you a prescription or says you need surgery. Question everything, ask for studies, find out about your doctor’s experience in a particular procedure. Research shows that patients who are more involved with their care tend to get better results.

2. Make sure all your doctors know everything you’re taking. That includes prescription and over-the-counter medicines, and dietary supplements such as vitamins and herbs. But it also includes illegal drugs. Don’t worry—your doctor is bound by confidentiality rules not to disclose the information to anyone. So once a year, toss all your meds into a paper bag and take them to your annual checkup.

3. When your doctor writes you a prescription, make sure you can read it. If you can read it, chances are good the pharmacist can too. And that will help reduce medication errors.

Plus: 15 Secrets the Emergency Room Staff Won't Tell You

4. Ask for information about your medicines in terms you can understand—both when your medicines are prescribed and when you receive them. Studies find that doctors are terrible at explaining to patients how to take medications, what their side effects are, and how long they should be taken. Ask the following questions:

• What is the medicine for?
• How am I supposed to take it, and for how long?
• What side effects are likely? What do I do if they occur?
• Is this medicine safe to take with other medicines or dietary supplements I am taking?
• What food, drink, or activities should I avoid while taking this medicine?

5. Make sure you understand the medication label. For instance, does “four doses daily” mean a dose every six hours or just during regular waking hours?

6. Don’t assume that no news is good news. If you have a test done, ask about the results.

7. When you’re discharged from the hospital, ask your doctor to explain the treatment plan you will use at home. This includes learning about your medicines and finding out when you can get back to your regular activities. Research shows that at discharge time, doctors think their patients understand more than they really do about what they should or shouldn’t do when they return home.

Plus: 10 More Secrets the ER Staff Won't Tell You

8. If you’re having surgery, make sure you, your doctor, and your surgeon all agree and are clear on exactly what will be done. In fact, ask your doctor to sign his/her initials on the site of the surgery—for instance, the left knee—then double-check that it’s the correct site. That’s what the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons urges its members to do.

9. Make sure that someone, such as your personal doctor, is in charge of your care.This is especially important if you have many health problems or are in a hospital.

10. Ask a family member or friend to be there with you and to be your advocate (someone who can help get things done and speak up for you if you can’t). Even if you think you don’t need help now, you might need it later.

Oil Spill Fallout Hits Mother Nature

Hometown U.S.A.: Golden Meadow, La.

Saving the healing herbs of the bayou

Much of the land of the native Houma people is now underwater, and after the oil spill, one healer's great-grandson fears that the traditional plants once used to save the ill will soon be lost too.

By My-Thuan Tran, Los Angeles Times
September 4, 2010

Jason Pitre grew up hearing stories of how his great-grandfather healed babies on the cusp of death using herbs and plants found along Louisiana's bayous. The tribal healer, or traiteur, was known by the native Houma people for his potions and salves that seemed to treat any sickness.

Now, the traditional herbs are in danger, Pitre said, threatened by decades of coastal erosion, hurricanes and development that have crept up on Golden Meadow in Bayou Lafourche, where many members of the United Houma Nation once lived.

"A lot of the plants that my great-grandfather used and that my grandfather grew up with are no longer there," he said. "It's a matter of time before more and more of them disappear."

After BP's Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and oil began gushing into the Gulf of Mexico in April, Pitre worried a hurricane could push oil or dispersants into the wetlands where the plants grow.

So Pitre, 26, and his grandfather began uprooting herbs to replant them on higher ground. On a recent afternoon, Pitre pulled his SUV up to a small blue house in Golden Meadow — the home of his grandfather, Whitney Dardar, 74.

Dardar said that as a young boy, people came long distances and knocked on the door at all hours of the night to be treated by his late father. "My father would go into the woods and pick plants for every sickness," Dardar said.

Dardar stepped along the walkway lined with broken oyster shells and pointed out a row of plants — tall dark-green straws poking out from the ground. The Houma people, who once spoke a mix of French and Houma, call the plant prelle, Dardar said.

He plucked one of the straws and ripped it into sections. "You get an odd number of them, tie it with a thread, and boil it to make a strong tea," he said. "It's good for blood infections."

A few steps away grew a saw palmetto. The trunk and fruit of the plant, which looks like a miniature palm tree, were used to treat prostate problems, and the leaves could be used to weave baskets.

Surrounding the house were other plants his father used: a plantain tree, whose large leaves were crushed to make a salve to treat poison ivy, heat stroke and skin swelling. The leaves of the bon blanc plant were used to brew a minty tea for babies with colic. The leaves of the sage-like venera treated colds.

Dardar says he wishes he had learned more from his father, Ernest, who did not write instructions for his remedies, but passed them down through word of mouth.

When he was young, Dardar used to hunt and trap muskrat and mink on the land that stretched as far as he could see from his home.

Today, much of that land lies below sea level, due to costal erosion that has been sped up by oil and gas drilling and levee systems that restrict the Mississippi River. Pipeline canals cut into the marshes have brought in saltwater, killing vegetation.

Many families from the Houma tribe had no choice but to move inland. Today, the 17,000-member tribe is scattered across coastal Louisiana.

Some of the plants Dardar's father used are gone too from the surrounding bayous, Dardar said. Cat's foot, an herb with clusters of small white flowers used as a tea to cleanse the body, is nowhere to be found, he said.

And now, though the BP oil well has been capped, Dardar worries about how the remaining plants will fare with the toxins that may still be in the marshes.

So he led his grandson to the side of his house and handed him a gray plastic bucket. Inside were a few inches of water and a light green grass shrub — turkey grass. "It's good for kidney and liver trouble," Dardar said.

Pitre drove with the plant to his home in Raceland, about 30 more miles inland. A few weeks earlier, Pitre had tried to replant a root of a plant called black vine, but it didn't take. He's only seen a few black vines growing in the bayou.

In the front yard, he shoveled a hole and carefully placed the turkey grass, hopeful that that what had survived in the bayou for centuries would continue to grow.

my-thuan.tran@latimes.com

PINK Cause Marketing

4 September 2010 - The Pink Cause Marketing is getting underway once again.  I just received a spam from a PR firm about a massage clinic in Seattle that would give $15 from each massage to the Komen Foundation.  I wrote the fellow back and explained a few things about the Politics of Pink.

Here at Natural Health News we have well over 3 dozen articles on this topic. Here is one and here is another...

Our friends at Think Before You Pink have a great amount of information that you can use to learn more.  You can also sign on to their petition.

Please educate yourself, and consider thermography and ultrasound with breast self-exam as much better, safer, and more effective than breast cancer causing mammograms. (Many posts here and at leaflady.org)

Stay tuned, we'll be adding more as the madness gears up and the season continues through October.

from Natural Health News - October 2009
This month the sale flyer from my local market includes an half-page ad from the GoodCook's "Hope" line. GoodCook is a line of kitchen items including the Pink kitchen ware set you can get free if you purchase specific items manufactured by Proctor & Gamble.

Not too far of a stretch from the Yoplait lids campaign, just recall that P & G manufactures TIDE and Actonel (the risky bisphosphonate osteoporosis drug that's of late been hawked for breast cancer).

Seems to me there is another cause for concern because part of their "free" set is a pink non-stick skillet.

The problem with this pink skillet is not that it is pink, but that it is coated with aluminum oxide*** and then a layer of PFOA(Perfluorooctanoic Acid), a known carcinogen manufactured by DuPont.

PFOA stands for Perfluorooctanoic Acid, a man-made chemical which does not occur naturally in the environment. PFOA (also known as "C8") is used by companies, such as DuPont (Teflon®, Stainmaster®, Scotchguard®), to make fluoro-polymers for use in non-stick cookware and all-weather clothing.

Recently, scientists have found great concern, however, as levels of PFOA have been commonly found in many in humans across the globe and concerns abound about how exposure to PFOA could affect people's health. Thus the reason for the creation of this website. Our goal as scientists and concerned citizens is to both better understand this important chemical and to assess the possible risks and concerns of the global exposure to this fluoride-containing, unhealthy substance.

Surely it's up to you to decide if you want to support advertising in the name of a cause that has underlying concerns about just how healthy these free items might be.

Request a copy of our Breast Health Awareness Fact Sheet About the Risks of Mammography with your donation to our work. We aren't on the Pink Lid donation list although we've tried many times.

Women Kept in the Dark

"CANCER SCREENING 'BLIGHTS TEN LIVES FOR EVERY ONE SAVED"

1000s of women have unnecessary surgery, chemotherapy & radiotherapy as a result of routine mammogram breast cancer screening, doctors warned in The UK's Times on 19 Feb. 09.

For each woman whose life is saved, 10 healthy ones needlessly receive mastectomies & other treatment, a study found.

Experts said the NHS should do more to warn women of the high risk of a false positive.

23 doctors, surgeons, academics & health specialists claimed on 19 Feb. that "There is evidence to show that up to half of all cancers & their precursor lesions found by screening might not lead to any harm to the woman. Yet if found at screening, they potentially label the woman as a cancer patient: She may then be subjected to the unnecessary traumas of surgery, radiotherapy & perhaps chemotherapy, as well as suffer the potential for serious social & psychological problems."

Dr. Paul Pharoah, Cancer Research UK Senior Clinical Research Fellow, Cambridge Uni, & Prof. Michael Baum, Emeritus Prof. of Surgery, University College London, were among the experts who wrote this letter to "The Times."

They said none of the invitations for screening come close to telling the truth & that women are being unintentionally manipulated into attending.

Natural Help for OCD

Some years ago my oldest daughter went through a period of time when she was troubled by a compulsive disorder. We found it was related to vitamin deficiencies so I took steps to get her on a natural regimen that resolved thie health problem.

A number of years later I became involved with the Safe Harbor Project and have compiled some information from that resource.

And recently via a twitter contact I commented on B vitamins for OCD.

This information may be of help, and since we doo offer natural mental health therapy, let us know if you have an interest in this service. Our professional grade supplements amy also interest you as well as our Health Detective service.

Eat a well planned food plan filled with nutrient rich foods. (Ask about our food plan for biochemical rebalancing)

With anxiety or OCD, reduce sugar and simple carbohydrates (donuts, white pasta and other white food)

Eat whole grain, natural foods. 

Include protein at every meal. 

Eat high-protein snacks if you notice you tend to crash or bottom out during the day. Hypoglycemia has been linked to anxiety and OCD. This may also indicate stressed adrenal glands (low levels of B and C vitamins, sodium).

Caffeine may add to anxiety.

Soft drinks should also be avoided.

Psychotherapy,choose a therapeutic approach that is meaningful to you.

Exercise a minimum of three times per week for 30 minutes per session. and/or  increase your level of physical activity. 

If your cholesterol is below 170, it cannot repair the myelin.  
EFA fatty acids or pure lecithin, or pure olive oil can help nourish the myelin
Spirulina
A nervine compound(ask us about this and also about passionflower)

In addition, the following nutrients may help:

• L-theanine—200 milligrams (mg) twice daily to decrease the symptoms of OCD
• Inositol—4 grams (g) in three divided doses daily
• Tryptophan—2 g taken in the evening on an empty stomach
• St. John’s wort—300 to 900 mg daily
• Melatonin —10 mg at night to start

Another protocol - from Dr Charles Gant

• Theanine 500 mg. (green tea amino acid-inhibits glutamic acid) - 3000 mg/day
• GABA 500 mg - 3000 mg a day
• Phosadyllic (purified soy lecithin) - 3000 mg a day
• Magnesium taurate 3000 mg a day
• P5P (activated B6) 50 mg twice a day
• (5HTP) 300 mg a day

These are maximum doses unless amino acid/mineral testing suggests that higher doses are needed, and should be divided and can be taken at bedtime for sleep.

Both men and women may consider comprehensive hormone testing to see whether they are suffering from abnormal hormone levels. If so, bioidentical hormone therapy may be recommended. 

Julia Ross, Therapist and author of The Mood Cure
This syndrome has already been identified as a symptom of serotonin insufficiency. It responds well to tryptophan and 5HTP therapy in our clinical experience (which rarely includes psychosis).

Inositol Treatment of "OCD"

Inositol, one of the B vitamins, has been found effective in treating Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Inositol is used in biochemical processes that effect serotonin receptors.

A double-blind study reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry, 1996 [153(9):1219-21] was done on 13 patients. They were given 18 grams of inositol per day (2 tsp in juice 3 times daily). At 3 weeks there were no significant effects. At 6 weeks inositol significantly reduced "OCD" scores compared with placebo. It was as effective as some drugs.

From the Pfeiffer Clinic

A. Inositol is usually very helpful for UNDERMETHYLATED, HIGH HISTAMINE patients. This includes nearly every OCD patient we have seen.  Inositol usually provides calming throughout the day and ability to settle down to sleep at night, for these patients.

B. On the other hand, OVERMETHYLATED patients usually derive little or no benefit from Inositol, and may experience very nasty side effects from it. 

OCD patients respond nicely to methonine, SAMe, calcium, magnesium, B-6, Inositol, TMG, and zinc.  

Most OCD patients get worse if given supplements of DMAE, choline, copper, or folic acid.

Another natural approach

Increase HCL (hydrochloric acid – stomach acid) test with Betaine HCl and use as the supplement if needed.

Minerals

B-6 

Adrenal gland support

Rest is very important.

I do this and I think everyone should: UNPLUG!

The Sabbath Manifesto is a great idea that I wholly endorse.

I think you should too.

Get more information

More Dangers in FDA Approved Drug

The topic of problematic FDA approved drugs has been covered by Natural Health News for more than 20 years.  It seems as if there is no stopping this train. Many articles can be found here, using "search".

Why Medication Can Be Dangerous to Your Health from Dr. Leo Galland

Did you know that the majority of FDA approved drugs have serious potential side effects that were not detected before marketing approval?

That about three quarters of a million people a year are rushed to emergency rooms in the U.S. because of adverse drug reactions, according to the CDC?

That the number of medication-related deaths in the U.S. is estimated at over 200,000 a year, making medications the third or fourth leading cause of death in this country?

That even common pain relievers called NSAIDs, examples of which include Advil, Motrin, Aleve and aspirin, account for an estimated 7,600 deaths and 76,000 hospitalizations in the U. S. every year? 

Read more...

Journal editors question sale of diet pill

STEPHANIE NANO, Associated Press Writer Stephanie Nano, Associated Press Writer – Wed Sep 1,

NEW YORK – Editors of a top medical journal call Meridia "another flawed diet pill" and question whether it should stay on the market as a study shows it raises the risk of heart attack and stroke in people with heart problems.
The strongly worded editorial comes two weeks before government advisers review the prescription drug, which has already been pulled in Europe. In January, U.S. drug regulators strengthened existing warnings that the appetite suppressant should not be used by those with a history of heart trouble.
In Thursday's issue, the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine noted that the latest study showed weight loss with Meridia was minimal, it didn't improve cardiovascular health, and those with heart disease fared worse.
"It is difficult to discern a credible rationale for keeping this medication on the market," they wrote.
The editorial — with a headline calling the drug "another flawed diet pill" — was published along with the findings of the study conducted in Europe, Latin America and Australia.

And from MoJo we have some of the same sentiments -

Cheap Drugs

By Kevin Drum | Fri Aug. 27, 2010 7:15 AM PDT

---

Aaron Carroll writes today that we're addicted to new drugs even though older drugs are often just as good or better than the new ones. The problem is that we don't usually know this for sure since comparative studies are rare. However, a few years ago one was done for blood pressure medications: [1]

There were so many drugs to choose from for this trial (at different costs) that the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) primarily organized and supported a randomized, controlled trial to examine which was best. This study was enormous; it took place in 623 centers in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands between 1994 and 1998, and included over 33,000 participants. Patients received one of four drugs:

• Amlodipine, a calcium channel blocker
• Doxazosin, an alpha-adrenergic blocker
• Lisinopril, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor
• Chlorthalidone, a diuretic

The last of these, the diuretic, was the oldest of the drugs, and by far the cheapest. However, at the end of the study, the results were clear. This old, cheap diuretic was significantly better at preventing at least one of the major types of cardiovascular disease when compared to the other, newer drugs. Since the diuretic was also significantly less expensive, it should be the drug of choice in initial treatment of high blood pressure. However, it usually is not.

I'm glad to hear it! My blood pressure has been slowly rising for the past few years, and last year my doctor decided I should start taking something for it. At first she recommended a beta blocker, but as we talked about it she said something that made me a little nervous (I don't remember quite what). "You know," I said, "I actually have a strong preference for the oldest, cheapest, best studied drugs around." She looked slightly surprised, but said that was perfectly reasonable and immediately prescribed a diuretic. I've been taking it ever since. (And, yes, I try to watch my sodium intake too.)
The whole post is worth reading. Sometimes new drugs are great, but I'm willing to bet that we waste upwards of a quarter to a third of the money we spend on pharmaceuticals because both doctors and patients have been brainwashed to always want the latest and greatest. But me? I like drugs that have been really well studied and are known to have infrequent and well understood interaction effects. In fact, new drugs actually make me kind of nervous. I am an insurance company's dream patient.

---

Source URL: http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/08/cheap-drugs

Links:
[1] http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/newer-drugs-arent-always-better/

Child’s Ordeal Shows Risks of Psychosis Drugs for Young

This same risk is also for teens, adults, and the elderly.  I have real concerns about these drugs because my mother was allowed to be over medicated in anti-psychotic drugs by my brother for the last six years of her life.  She had a closed head injury, she had expressive aphasia, and he refused to consider a drug profile I had obtained from a colleague at FDA.  She had no neurologist and no speech therapy.  Staff at the 5 star facility where she was housed laughed at her when I would call on the phone.  My brother ignored all of my concerns, as did the attorney (and that in itself is a story of its own), and not only the care center owned by Hyatt, but so did the State of Florida!

Child’s Ordeal Shows Dangers of Antipsychotic Drugs - NYTimes.com

OPELOUSAS, La. — At 18 months, Kyle Warren started taking a daily antipsychotic drug on the orders of a pediatrician trying to quell the boy’s severe temper tantrums.
Thus began a troubled toddler’s journey from one doctor to another, from one diagnosis to another, involving even more drugs. Autism, bipolar disorder, hyperactivity, insomnia, oppositional defiant disorder. The boy’s daily pill regimen multiplied: the antipsychotic Risperdal, the antidepressant Prozac, two sleeping medicines and one for attention-deficit disorder. All by the time he was 3.
He was sedated, drooling and overweight from the side effects of the antipsychotic medicine. Although his mother, Brandy Warren, had been at her “wit’s end” when she resorted to the drug treatment, she began to worry about Kyle’s altered personality. “All I had was a medicated little boy,” Ms. Warren said. “I didn’t have my son. It’s like, you’d look into his eyes and you would just see just blankness.”
Continue reading: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/02/business/02kids.html

Margarine Not Heart Healthy

Again, an important warning about a topic we have covered for years - margaine is not a health promoting food.  Further the use of GMO oils in these products is an unknown risk.  And recal that Unilever is known to do unnecessary animal testing on many of its produtcs.

Unilever: Omega-3 margarine study will not affect usage advice

By Shane Starling, 31-Aug-2010

Related topics: Nutritional lipids and oils, Cardiovascular health

Omega-3 spread maker Unilever says a 40 month study that found omega-3 spreads don’t protect elderly heart attack sufferers from further cardiac events, requires further analysis and won’t affect approved methods of usage.

“The outcome does not question the current authoritative dietary recommendations and advices for omega 3 intakes on which our products are based,” Unilever’s Flip Dotsch told NutraIngredients.com this morning.

The ALPHA-OMEGA trial saw almost 5000, 60-80 year old male and female heart attack survivors consuming varying levels of EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and ALA (alpha-linolenic acid) via non-commercial Unilever omega-3 spreads developed for the study for 40 months.

One group consumed 376mg of marine sourced DHA and EPA; another had 1.9g of soy and walnut sourced ALA; a third group had a spread fortified with all three fatty acids and a fourth was placebo.

After the 40 months, 13.9 per cent of the participants, who were 75 per cent male and 24 per cent obese, had suffered another cardiac event among all the groups.

Surprising

Unsurprisingly, Unilever said it found the results surprising, especially when the body of EPA/DHA scientific literature was considered.

“The study outcome for EPA and DHA is surprising considering the weight of evidence published to date,” Unilever said in a statement. “This could be the result of methodological issues such as the relatively low daily dosage compared to previous studies or the fact that in this study serious cardiovascular events were much lower than in studies performed in the past. This is probably due to extensive drug treatment that is nowadays applied.”

It said its “science experts” were looking at the paper in greater detail.

The European Food Safety Authority has issued opinion on ALA, saying it supports lowering of blood cholesterol, But EPA/DHA were not backed for the same effect in an opinion published in October 2009.

No effect

Lead researcher, Daan Kromhout, PhD, of Wageningen University in the Netherlands, said that while the study found omega-3 fatty acid-enriched margarines "had no effect on the rate of major cardiovascular events”,improvements in medical treatment could have been a factor.

The EPA-DHA daily dose of 400mg was half that recommended by the American Heart Association.

Kromhout noted "the patients in this trial were very well treated" with many taking blood pressure and cholesterol drugs, a factor that made, “beneficial effect of low doses of EPA-DHA difficult to prove."

The findings were presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress and simultaneously published in theNew England Journal of Medicine.

Unilever added: “We welcome this well-executed study as a valuable addition to the growing body of evidence on the role of omega 3s in cardiovascular health. Unilever is proud to have supported this important study and has a long history of supporting scientific investigation into cardiovascular disease and its management through diet and lifestyle.”

Source: New England Journal of Medicine

‘n–3 Fatty Acids and Cardiovascular Events after Myocardial Infarction’

10.1056/nejmoa1003603

Authors: Daan Kromhout, M.P.H., PhD, Erik J. Giltay, M.D., PhD, Johanna M. Geleijnse, PhD

© 2000/2010 - Decision News Media SAS - All right reserved

from Natural Health News

PUFAS Lead to Increased Inflammation

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Best Life? Whoa Oprah, didn't Bob tell you ?

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Natural Health News: Promise not to

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I did find the Promise margarine ingredients and it made me worry about exactly what is in Activ. Like all inquiring minds I wanted to know exactly what is in this product. I phoned the company this morning and received help from a nice ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Not Balanced

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Canola Comments

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Heart Month?

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Why to Avoid Genetically Modified Food

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Eating healthfully & real food

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More products plied with plastic

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Natural Health News: Fake Foods: Oprah, Bob and General Mills

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It is a long-term toxin that has serious adverse health effects including hair loss and blindness. It has no place in the diet of man nor beast. Avoid all margarine including the plastic fat Becel. 10:36 AM. Anonymous said. ...

Animal testing continues...

I want to thank All Naturale for this alert -

Caution, photo is disturbing

Companies that (still) test on animals

A shocking number of manufacturers of personal care and household items still test their products on animals, despite the availability of alternative methods for evaluating product safety. Here is the most recent list of these companies and their associated brands, with some of the biggest shockers in red. We gathered this information from the vegetarian site.com and original sources are referenced below. Please choose all-natural products to help put an end to this insane animal cruelty!