Natto has been a staple source of nutrition since feudal Japan. The Japanese believe natto brings good health, and they have substantiated this belief by research. As East continues to meet West, natto is showing up across the U.S in Japanese restaurants and grocery stores, as well as some typically American health food stores. American research is now documenting the health benefits of natto, particularly for the heart and blood pressure.
Natto offers powerful protection against blood clotting and stroke
According to Japanese folklore, natto was introduced to Japan by a Samurai warrior. The ancient Samurai ate natto on a daily basis and even fed it to their horses to increase their speed and strength. In 1980, a researcher at the University of Chicago discovered nattokinase, the enzyme in natto that provides fibrinolytic activity. Nattokinase is a proteolytic enzyme that breaks up blood clots before they have a chance to become dangerous, and promotes heart and vascular health. Its action reduces thrombosis that can lead to heart attacks, pulmonary embolisms, and stroke.
Natto is a daily breakfast for many Japanese
Natto was originally made by placing soybeans in a rice straw pouch that naturally contained the fermenting bacillus. Now natto is made from steamed soybeans fermented by a culture of bacillus subtilis natto. Being fermented for 24 hours, the soybeans develop a brown color, a sticky gooeyness, and a distinctly fermented aroma that resembles cheeses such as blue cheese or roquefort. After smelling natto, people tasting it for the first time are surprised by its nutty, savory flavor.
A popular breakfast in Japan is created by:
1.Placing natto in a small bowl
2.Stirring it
3.Adding real fermented soy sauce (not sold at traditional grocery stores), and stirring again
4.Adding chopped green onion and karashi mustard if desired
5.Placing the mixture on streamed rice and eating
Other ingredients can be added if desired, such as broth, grated daikon, or okra. In some parts of Japan, natto is dusted with sugar. Natto is also used as part of other foods, such as sushi, toast, salad, or noodles. Natto can be added to miso soup to make a nutritional powerhouse. There is also a dried from of natto without the gooeyness that is eaten as a nutritious snack. Some producers make a low or no odor natto. About 236,000 tons of natto are consumed in Japan every year.
Natto is mass produced and sold at markets in small containers or paper wrappings that contain between two and four individual servings along with some condiments. Sometimes it is sold frozen. When the individual container is opened, the natto is ready to be stirred, mixed as desired, and eaten. Ready to eat natto provides a quick and highly nutritious breakfast or lunch.
Natto is loaded with nutrition
Natto contains a full spectrum of amino acids and is an excellent complete vegetarian protein. Natto is a good source for lecithin, which prevents arteriosclerosis, improves memory retention, and increases concentration ability. It has saponin, which is said to suppress carcinogens, relieve constipation, and slow the aging process. It contains high levels of Vitamin K, involved in the formation of calcium binding groups of proteins assisting the formation of bone, and preventing osteoporosis. Vitamin K2 is found in fermented food products such as cheese and miso. Natto has large amounts of K2, approximately 870 micrograms per 100 grams. In addition, natto is an excellent source of selenium.
Natto contains high amounts of the newly discovered Vitamin PQQ, a critical nutrient for skin health. Mice deprived of PQQ showed poor overall development and low integrity skin. PQQ is essential to the mammalian diet, meaning it can only be obtained from food sources.
Polyamines are potent anti-inflammatory agents that also have an immune system normalizing effect. Natto has a higher content of polyamines than any other food.
Chemicals alleged to prevent cancer are contained in natto, although their effects are controversial. These act as phytoestrogens in women and men, locking into estrogen receptors and displacing the estrogen produced by the body. The most well known of these are genistein and daidzein.
Natto has been shown to have a cholesterol lowering effect in studies. It has an antibiotic effect and was used as medicine against dysentery during World War II.
Natto encourages weight loss by its high nutritional density and low calories. There are approximately 90 calories and 8 grams of protein in a serving.
Nattokinase promotes cardiovascular health without side-effects
As the benefits of the nattokinase enzyme found in natto become apparent, people find they have an alternative to toxic drugs for maintaining cardiovascular health. Nattokinase complements the body's natural clotting and fibrinolytic processes and keeps circulation flowing smoothly. It helps raise body energy levels by delivering oxygen rich blood to organs and tissues.
The ability of nattokinase to increase circulation helps prevent cancer, since cancer can only thrive in cells where oxygen levels are reduced. Healthy circulation means more nutrients from food and supplements are carried throughout the body and made available for use. This helps joints stay cleaner and free of pain. It also promotes a high level of oxygen to the brain for quickened mental processing.
The body naturally produces its own fibrinolytic enzyme, called plasmin. Production of plasmin decreases during the aging process. This is one reason why the risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke increases so much as people get older. Eating natto providing the nattokinase enzyme is the natural way to continue fibrinolytic action in the body. For anyone not wanting to eat natto, Nattokinase is available as an individual supplement, and also as part of several proteolytic enzyme combination supplements.
Natto found to reduce amyloids that lead to Alzheimer's disease and reduce hypertension
This is a period of renewed interest in enzyme activity in the body and respect for the importance of enzymes in all bodily processes. New research into the roles of enzymes in achieving and maintaining good health regularly highlights their critical nature. Two new studies on nattokinase have extended the knowledge base to include insight into their function in the brain and in blood pressure regulation.
A newly released study published in the January edition of Journal of Agriculture Food and Chemistry noted that more than 20 unrelated proteins can form amyloid fibrils related to various diseases, such as Alzheimer's, and systematic amyloidosis, excessive deposition of amyloids in the tissues of the body. Enhancing amyloid clearance is one of the targets of therapy for amyloid-related diseases. Researchers studied the amyloid-degrading ability of nattokinase, and found it capable of amyloid hydrolysis, the dissociation of amyloids in water.
Natto found to reduce hypertension
The April, 2008 issue of Hypertension Research reports a study examining the effects of nattokinase supplement on blood pressure in subjects with pre-hypertension or stage one hypertension. In their randomized, double-blind, controlled trial, 86 participants ranging from 20 to 80 years of age received nattokinase or a placebo capsule for an eight week period. Compared with the control group, the net changes in systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure were -5.55 mmHg and -2.84 mmHg respectively, after the eight week intervention. A proteinase released by the kidney that normally acts to raise blood pressure by activating angiotensin was also reduced.
How to make natto
To create your own soybeans fermented with the natto baccilus, start with:
Small soybeans, sometimes sold as natto soybeans
Natto bacillus starter (available online or in health food stores)
Procedure:
1.Wash the soybeans and soak them in water for 12 to 20 hours. Soybeans will swell.
2.Steam the soybeans for 6 hours or use a pressure cooker.
3.Mix the beans with the starter bacterium bacillus subtilis natto. Take care to keep ingredients away from impurities and other bacteria.
4.Allow the mixture to ferment for 24 hours at a temperature of about 105 degrees.
5.Refrigerate the mixture for one week to allow for the breakdown of the soy protein into easily digested amino acids. This process creates the stringy, gooey sauce of the natto.
For more information:
Hsu RL, Lee KT, Wang JH, Lee LY, Chen RP, "Amyloid-degrading ability of nattokinase from Bacillus subtilis natto", Journal of Agriculare Food and Chemistry, January, 2009.
Kim, JY, Gum SN, Paik JK, Lim HH, Kim KC, "Effects of nattokinase on blood pressure: a randomized, controlled trial", Hypertension Research
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Add Spirulina to Your Diet and Replace those Expensive Supplements
Spirulina is considered one of nature's most perfect foods because it performs such a broad spectrum of activities in the body. Its nutritional profile shows it can replace many more expensive supplements, and its research profile reveals its dedication to promoting good health. Several animal studies have documented the ability of spirulina to arrest the development of cancer progression, reduce risk of cancer initiation, and boost the immune system. Spirulina has anti-viral and anti-allergic effects, and is a natural antihistamine. Recently, spirulina has been found effective at lowering the immune response when it has become overactive, a function that may make it effective against autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis.
Spirulina's credentials date back more than three billion years
Spirulina are microscopic coiled blue-green algae that have been around for the past 3.6 billion years or so. Spirulina and other blue-green algae were the generators of the oxygen found in the atmosphere that allowed higher life forms to evolve. These algae contain every nutrient needed by life to evolve into the diversity of life seen on earth today.
Documented use of spirulina dates back to the Aztecs who consumed it in Mexico over five centuries ago. In the recent past, millions of people around the world have used spirulina as a food supplement to their diets based on recommendations of the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Spirulina was chosen by NASA to enrich the diets of astronauts on space missions.
Spirulina is sustainable food, offering more nutrition per acre than any other food. It is able to provide 20 times more complete protein per acre than soybeans, and 200 times more per acre than beef. It contains the eight essential amino acids as well as ten non-essential amino acids, making it an excellent choice for anyone not consuming animal protein. It is rich in enzymes, chlorophyll, magnesium, potassium, calcium, and phosphorous. It is rich in B complex vitamins including B6, biotin, B12, pantothenic acid, folic acid, inositol, niacin, riboflavin and thiamine. It is a good source of essential fatty acids, including linoleic, and arachidonic acid. Spirulina contains 4,000 mg/kg of carotenoids as alpha and beta carotene, xanthophylis, cryptoxanthin, echinenone, zeaxanthin, and lutein.
The pigment that gives spirulina its blue cast is phycocyanin, found in a concentration of about seven percent. Phycocyanin is related to the human pigment bilirubin, which is important to healthy liver function and digestion of amino acids. Another pigment in spriulina is porphyrin, a red compound that forms the active nucleus of hemoglobin.
Spirulina is low in sodium and low in calories.
This nutritional profile, coupled with the ability of spirulina to be grown vertically as well as horizontally, makes spirulina a potential answer to the deepening world food crisis. On the individual level, spirulina's nutrient density gives it the potential to replace many more costly individual supplements and expensive whole food multi vitamin capsules. The nutrients found in spirulina exist in natural harmony and integrity, making them much more highly bioavailable that those found in multi-vitamin and mineral capsules, or in supplements containing isolated nutrients. Many toxicological studies have proven spirulina's safety, even when consumed in large amounts.
Study reveals spirulina's power to suppress an overactive immune system
The study, reported in the December, 2008 issue of the journal Natural Medicine (Tokyo) was designed to test the ability of spirulina to modulate the immune system. The in vivo effect of spirulina on humoral immune response, cell-mediated immune response, and tumor necrosis factor alpha was investigated in mice. In vitro, its effect on induced T lymphocyte proliteration was analyzed.
The researchers found spirulina significantly inhibited the humoral immune response, cell mediated immune response reaction, and tumor necrosis factor alpha in the mice in a dose-dependent manner. In vitro, spirulina decreased the mitogen-induced T lymphocyte proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner when compared with controls. The scientists concluded that spirulina's ability to suppress the immune response was remarkable.
Spirulina fights Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Spirulina restores the body to a state of high energy according to those who use it. The process may be through its high levels of polysaccharides and essential fatty acids. It is one of the few sources of gamma linolenic acid (GLA), providing 30 mg per serving. Spirulina may also boost energy through the lactobacillus in the intestinal tract, which aid in the release of nutrients from food, and enable the production of energy promoting Vitamin B6.
Spirulina is a powerful anti-inflammatory
The anti-inflammatory and anti-histamine properties of spirulina have been well documented. In a recent double-blind, controlled study, people with allergic rhinitis were fed daily with either a placebo or spirulina for twelve weeks. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated before and after the spirulina feeding, and levels of inflammatory marking cytokines were measured. The researchers found that high doses of spirulina significantly reduced interleukin-4 levels by 32%, demonstrating its protective effect against allergic rhinitis.
Other studies have demonstrated the ability of spirulina to promote mucosal immunity, and improve the symptoms of nasal discharge, sneezing, nasal congestion, and itching. Production of Natural Killer (NK) cells in the body is increased by spirulina.
Spirulina contains 2250 units of superoxide dismutase (SOD), the powerful antioxidant made naturally by the body. As youth is left behind, levels of SOD decline and should be replenished by the diet to slow the aging process.
Spirulina found to cause regression of cancer
There have been few human studies to date using spirulina. Such studies looking for an endpoint of lower cancer incidence are usually based on review of data collected from longitudinal studies designed to provide information in several areas. They reflect existing behaviors and habits rather than the introduction of a substance to be studied.
In one trial with human subjects, the effects of spirulina on oral carcinogenesis were studied. Researchers found that 45 percent of their 77 subjects showed complete regression of leukoplakia, an oral cancerous conditions, after taking spirulina supplements for one year.
Several animal studies have revealed that spirulina produced tumor regression. The most recent of these, reported in the January 21 edition of Medical Oncology reported a study of male hamsters introduced to a potent carcinogen through their buccal pouches. They were divided in four groups. Group one received the carcinogen three times a week for 32 weeks. Group 2 received the same carcinogen and at the same time was given 10 mg daily of spirulina. Group 3 received a shorter exposure to the carcinogen and the same amount of spirulina. Group 4 had neither the carcinogen nor the spirulina administered. Hamsters were examined periodically throughout the 32 weeks of the study. Findings revealed a highly significant difference between the different groups, revealing that the spirulina intervention had a beneficial role in regression of cancer progression.
Spirulina is a potent antioxidant and body detoxifier
Spirulina contains a wealth of antioxidant vitamins C and E, as well as the antioxidant minerals selenium, manganese, zinc, copper, iron, and chromium. Its antioxidant capabilities have been shown to reduce the toxic effects of cadmium, and of free radicals generated by inflammatory processes. It has also been highly effective against mercuric chloride induced oxidative stress.
Spirulina has been found to reduce kidney toxicity resulting from heavy metals including mercury, and from pharmaceutical drugs. It has also been shown to promote the elimination of dioxin.
Spirulina promotes lower blood pressure and LDL cholesterol
Studies with men in Japan and India showed that several grams of spirulina daily can reduce serum LDL and improve the cholesterol ratio. Human studies in Germany and India found a weight reduction effect from spirulina along with the cholesterol normalizing effects.
In a 2007 study reported in Lipids Health Digest, 36 human subjects ingested 4.5 grams of spirulina daily for six weeks without making any other modifications in their diets or lifestyles during the course of the study. After the six week period, total cholesterol concentrations and levels of body fat were lowered. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure was reduced.
Spirulina improves digestive tract health
Spirulina provides a tremendous boost to digestive functioning. When it is added to the diet, an improvement in regularity and elimination is almost immediate. Spirulina suppresses bacteria like e-coli, and stimulates beneficial flora to assure protection against infection and maximum nutrition from food that is eaten.
Spriulina flakes are now on the market
Spirulina has been available as powder or tablets. Now crystal flakes of spirulina are on the market, making adding spirulina to meals much easier. Flakes can be added to smoothies, or sprinkled on salads, pasta or popcorn. The flakes blend into guacamole, soups and sauces. Spirulina flakes contain all the nutrition of powdered spirulina and have been dried at low temperatures that protect enzymes.
Spirulina's credentials date back more than three billion years
Spirulina are microscopic coiled blue-green algae that have been around for the past 3.6 billion years or so. Spirulina and other blue-green algae were the generators of the oxygen found in the atmosphere that allowed higher life forms to evolve. These algae contain every nutrient needed by life to evolve into the diversity of life seen on earth today.
Documented use of spirulina dates back to the Aztecs who consumed it in Mexico over five centuries ago. In the recent past, millions of people around the world have used spirulina as a food supplement to their diets based on recommendations of the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Spirulina was chosen by NASA to enrich the diets of astronauts on space missions.
Spirulina is sustainable food, offering more nutrition per acre than any other food. It is able to provide 20 times more complete protein per acre than soybeans, and 200 times more per acre than beef. It contains the eight essential amino acids as well as ten non-essential amino acids, making it an excellent choice for anyone not consuming animal protein. It is rich in enzymes, chlorophyll, magnesium, potassium, calcium, and phosphorous. It is rich in B complex vitamins including B6, biotin, B12, pantothenic acid, folic acid, inositol, niacin, riboflavin and thiamine. It is a good source of essential fatty acids, including linoleic, and arachidonic acid. Spirulina contains 4,000 mg/kg of carotenoids as alpha and beta carotene, xanthophylis, cryptoxanthin, echinenone, zeaxanthin, and lutein.
The pigment that gives spirulina its blue cast is phycocyanin, found in a concentration of about seven percent. Phycocyanin is related to the human pigment bilirubin, which is important to healthy liver function and digestion of amino acids. Another pigment in spriulina is porphyrin, a red compound that forms the active nucleus of hemoglobin.
Spirulina is low in sodium and low in calories.
This nutritional profile, coupled with the ability of spirulina to be grown vertically as well as horizontally, makes spirulina a potential answer to the deepening world food crisis. On the individual level, spirulina's nutrient density gives it the potential to replace many more costly individual supplements and expensive whole food multi vitamin capsules. The nutrients found in spirulina exist in natural harmony and integrity, making them much more highly bioavailable that those found in multi-vitamin and mineral capsules, or in supplements containing isolated nutrients. Many toxicological studies have proven spirulina's safety, even when consumed in large amounts.
Study reveals spirulina's power to suppress an overactive immune system
The study, reported in the December, 2008 issue of the journal Natural Medicine (Tokyo) was designed to test the ability of spirulina to modulate the immune system. The in vivo effect of spirulina on humoral immune response, cell-mediated immune response, and tumor necrosis factor alpha was investigated in mice. In vitro, its effect on induced T lymphocyte proliteration was analyzed.
The researchers found spirulina significantly inhibited the humoral immune response, cell mediated immune response reaction, and tumor necrosis factor alpha in the mice in a dose-dependent manner. In vitro, spirulina decreased the mitogen-induced T lymphocyte proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner when compared with controls. The scientists concluded that spirulina's ability to suppress the immune response was remarkable.
Spirulina fights Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Spirulina restores the body to a state of high energy according to those who use it. The process may be through its high levels of polysaccharides and essential fatty acids. It is one of the few sources of gamma linolenic acid (GLA), providing 30 mg per serving. Spirulina may also boost energy through the lactobacillus in the intestinal tract, which aid in the release of nutrients from food, and enable the production of energy promoting Vitamin B6.
Spirulina is a powerful anti-inflammatory
The anti-inflammatory and anti-histamine properties of spirulina have been well documented. In a recent double-blind, controlled study, people with allergic rhinitis were fed daily with either a placebo or spirulina for twelve weeks. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated before and after the spirulina feeding, and levels of inflammatory marking cytokines were measured. The researchers found that high doses of spirulina significantly reduced interleukin-4 levels by 32%, demonstrating its protective effect against allergic rhinitis.
Other studies have demonstrated the ability of spirulina to promote mucosal immunity, and improve the symptoms of nasal discharge, sneezing, nasal congestion, and itching. Production of Natural Killer (NK) cells in the body is increased by spirulina.
Spirulina contains 2250 units of superoxide dismutase (SOD), the powerful antioxidant made naturally by the body. As youth is left behind, levels of SOD decline and should be replenished by the diet to slow the aging process.
Spirulina found to cause regression of cancer
There have been few human studies to date using spirulina. Such studies looking for an endpoint of lower cancer incidence are usually based on review of data collected from longitudinal studies designed to provide information in several areas. They reflect existing behaviors and habits rather than the introduction of a substance to be studied.
In one trial with human subjects, the effects of spirulina on oral carcinogenesis were studied. Researchers found that 45 percent of their 77 subjects showed complete regression of leukoplakia, an oral cancerous conditions, after taking spirulina supplements for one year.
Several animal studies have revealed that spirulina produced tumor regression. The most recent of these, reported in the January 21 edition of Medical Oncology reported a study of male hamsters introduced to a potent carcinogen through their buccal pouches. They were divided in four groups. Group one received the carcinogen three times a week for 32 weeks. Group 2 received the same carcinogen and at the same time was given 10 mg daily of spirulina. Group 3 received a shorter exposure to the carcinogen and the same amount of spirulina. Group 4 had neither the carcinogen nor the spirulina administered. Hamsters were examined periodically throughout the 32 weeks of the study. Findings revealed a highly significant difference between the different groups, revealing that the spirulina intervention had a beneficial role in regression of cancer progression.
Spirulina is a potent antioxidant and body detoxifier
Spirulina contains a wealth of antioxidant vitamins C and E, as well as the antioxidant minerals selenium, manganese, zinc, copper, iron, and chromium. Its antioxidant capabilities have been shown to reduce the toxic effects of cadmium, and of free radicals generated by inflammatory processes. It has also been highly effective against mercuric chloride induced oxidative stress.
Spirulina has been found to reduce kidney toxicity resulting from heavy metals including mercury, and from pharmaceutical drugs. It has also been shown to promote the elimination of dioxin.
Spirulina promotes lower blood pressure and LDL cholesterol
Studies with men in Japan and India showed that several grams of spirulina daily can reduce serum LDL and improve the cholesterol ratio. Human studies in Germany and India found a weight reduction effect from spirulina along with the cholesterol normalizing effects.
In a 2007 study reported in Lipids Health Digest, 36 human subjects ingested 4.5 grams of spirulina daily for six weeks without making any other modifications in their diets or lifestyles during the course of the study. After the six week period, total cholesterol concentrations and levels of body fat were lowered. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure was reduced.
Spirulina improves digestive tract health
Spirulina provides a tremendous boost to digestive functioning. When it is added to the diet, an improvement in regularity and elimination is almost immediate. Spirulina suppresses bacteria like e-coli, and stimulates beneficial flora to assure protection against infection and maximum nutrition from food that is eaten.
Spriulina flakes are now on the market
Spirulina has been available as powder or tablets. Now crystal flakes of spirulina are on the market, making adding spirulina to meals much easier. Flakes can be added to smoothies, or sprinkled on salads, pasta or popcorn. The flakes blend into guacamole, soups and sauces. Spirulina flakes contain all the nutrition of powdered spirulina and have been dried at low temperatures that protect enzymes.
Industrial Farm Animal Production Linked to Increased Human Disease
Many health conscious people have made the decision not to eat meat, viewing the consumption of animal flesh as having negative consequences on the body, the spirit, and even the personality. Animal rights activists have been quite vocal in pointing out the deplorable conditions under which animals destined to become part of the traditional food chain are raised. Tough economic times have given rise to a chorus of budget minded columnists reminding people that giving up animal protein will make their food dollars stretch farther. Today, there is one more aspect to consider about the consumption of animal protein: the connection between industrialized animal farming and human disease.
New infectious diseases are linked to the rise of factory animal farming
Factory farms are breeding grounds for virulent disease and disease resistant strains of antibiotics, according to the 2008 report from the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, in conjunction with the Pew Charitable Trusts and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The commission's report highlights the risks to the public resulting from the growth of the industrialization of farm animal production. It is the result of two and one half years of investigation centered in four areas: public health, environmental impact, effects on farm communities, and animal health and welfare.
Fifteen commissioners, each with impressive credentials, concluded that while factory animal farming and production is increasing worldwide at an exponential rate, the rates of new forms of infectious diseases have been concurrently on the increase. There is clearly a link between factory farming and human illness.
Although the number of farms producing animals for food has declined dramatically in the past five decades as small independent farmers have been pushed out of the way by the giant food conglomerates, the number of food animals produced has stayed fairly constant. It is this concentration of farm animals in larger and larger numbers in ever closer proximity to one another, along with some of the feed and animal management methods used in the industrial system that has increased the risks of pathogens and created more opportunities for disease transmission to humans. Of particular concern is the increase in antibiotic use, needed to keep animals alive under such deplorable conditions. Excessive use of antibiotics has given rise to antibiotic-resistant microbes that pose a threat to the health of humans as well as animals.
The risks fall into three categories: prolonged worker contact with animals, increased pathogen transmission within a herd or flock, and the increased opportunities for the generation of antimicrobial resistant bacteria as the result of imprudent use of antibiotics, or new strains of viruses.
Communities near industrial farms animal production facilities are seen as particularly at risk, with children, the elderly, and individuals with chronic health conditions in the greatest danger of the health threats posed by such methods of farming.
Government officials ignore threat of antibiotic-resistant infections
These warnings are nothing new. Several organizations have raised questions about the effects of antibiotic use in factory farming on land and water raised animals. The Infectious Disease Society of American has declared antibiotic-resistant infections to be an epidemic sweeping through the U.S. The Food and Agriculture Organization has recommended that agricultural use of antibiotics be restricted. They claim that the health of the world's population is threatened by the globalization of industrial animal farms and concentrated animal feeding operations.
Zoonotic pathogens are on the increase
Prior to the 20th century, many humans lived short life spans relative to their potential. Many died at young ages as the result of infections. With the implementation of better hygiene and sanitation systems people began to live longer. But it wasn't until the discovery of penicillin that the life span increased dramatically. During the golden age of America that began in the early 1950s, penicillin and its derivatives kept most Americans in the picture of health. When polio was finally conquered in the 1960s, everyone believed the threat of infectious disease was history.
That golden age was short lived. New diseases began to show up at a pace previously unknown in history of medicine. A new pathogen has sprung up almost every year for the past three decades. Most of these pathogens are zoonotic, meaning they can jump the gap from animals to infection of humans. Of the documented human pathogens, about 64 percent are zoonotic.
People have turned their backs on nature in the interest of greed
According to reporter Laura Sayre in an article for Mother Earth News, the total U.S. hog population numbered 53 million in 1965. This number was spread over more than 1 million pig farms in the United States, many of which were small family operations. Today, 65 million hogs are raised on just over 65,000 farms across the nation. Many of these factory farms are raising 5,000 hogs at any given time.
Sayer notes that broiler chicken production has risen from 366 million in 1945 to 8,400 million in 2001. Most industrialized chicken raising facilities house tens of thousands of birds together. Fifty-five billion chickens are raised each year on a worldwide basis. The global pig industry is close to 1 billion, half of which are raised in confinement. Some countries house as many as 50,000 animals together.
Raising animals in such a fashion violates the principles of animal husbandry accepted as good practice by people for thousands of years and practiced on family farms. Intensive confinement often severely restricts movement and natural behaviors, such as the ability to walk or lie on natural materials, having enough floor space to move with some freedom, and rooting behaviors in pigs. The most intensive confinement systems, such as restrictive veal crates, hog gestation pens, restrictive furrowing crates, and battery cages for poultry all prevent animals from normal range of movement and are particularly inhumane treatments.
The outcome is animals in severe distress. Animals cannot be cared for by tried and true traditional methods when they are crammed together in factory farms in confined conditions. Animals raised under the industrial model experience no quality of life and live in constant stress as the result of overcrowding. This results in weakened immune systems and susceptibility to infection. Lack of sunlight and fresh air guarantees any disease will spread like wildfire.
Good animal husbandry helps protect the safety of the food supply. Scientists have recognized that food safety is linked to the health of animals that produce meat, dairy and egg products. They know that intensive confinement production systems produce increased pathogen shedding in animals.
To prevent and treat the diseases that arise from such conditions, the lords of factory animal farms have relied on antibiotics to the point of injecting chicken eggs with them. Animal feed is laced with antibiotics and so are the tissues and organs of these animals when they appear in the butcher's case. Producers of 'natural' chickens that are claimed to be free of antibiotics can get by with that claim because the chicken embryos are soaked in antibiotics while they are inside the eggs. Today, the majority of antibiotic use is preventative.
Overuse of antibiotics in people is insignificant compared to that in animals
Some members of the medical establishment and many critics outside of the medical profession have been concerned for many years about the excessive prescribing of antibiotics for diseases that offer inconvenience as their major threat. These warnings have generally fallen on deaf ears within both the medical profession and government regulatory agencies. Antibiotics are now often the first choice treatments for diseases that are not even affected by them, like the common cold.
This excessive use of antibiotics pales in comparison with their use in the industrialized raising of animals for food. According to Sayers, "it's a simple fact that the more antibiotics are used, especially prolonged use at low doses as in factory farms, the more antibiotic-resistant microbes will become. Bacteria and viruses are also notoriously promiscuous, swapping genes across species and even across genera, creating what the Johns Hopkins researchers call reservoirs of resistance. In some pathogens, selection for resistance also results in increased virulence...In other cases, otherwise harmless microbes can transfer resistance genes to pathogenic species."
Bio-containment procedures are geared toward protecting livestock from disease outbreaks. There appears to be little concern about preventing human pathogens from escaping into the wider environment through the many routes available that include the food itself, water, and air. A worker in such facilities can carry pathogens home on his body or clothing without being aware of it, allowing microbes to be released in towns or cities miles away from the factory farm where he works. Globalization means that pathogens can be spread anywhere.
Waste systems are inadequate to neutralize pathogens
Human health is further threatened by the likelihood of animals to excrete pathogenic microbes. The tremendous quantities of waste that concentrate on the premises of industrial animal producers may exceed the capacity of the landscape to absorb the nutrients and neutralize the pathogens. The annual production of manure produced by animal confinement facilities exceeds that produced by the human population of the country by at least three times. And unlike human sewage, the majority of waste from factory farms is spread upon the ground untreated.
Such large quantities of manure carry excess nutrients and chemicals including antibiotics, hormones and heavy metals into waterways, lakes, groundwater, soils and airways. Land application of untreated animal waste on cropland contributes to excessive nutrient loading, and ultimately to plant growth so dense around water that aquatic animal life is suffocated.
Greenhouse gas emissions from livestock operations account for 18% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, exceeding emissions from the transportation sector. Air quality degradation is also a problem near industrial farm animal production because of the localized release of toxic gases, and particulates and bioaerosols that contain microorganisms including human pathogens. Livestock emission of ammonia from factory farms adds to the acidification of soil and water, while species diversity is threatened by nutrient overload.
Factory animal farms shown to be linked with food borne illness
"When dioxin-contaminated chicken feed led to the removal from the market of all chicken and eggs in Belgium for several weeks in June of 1999, doctors there noted a 40 percent decline in the number of human Campylobacter infections," according to Sayer. Most chickens sold in the U.S. are contaminated with this bacterium. Eggs from factory farm chickens contaminated with salmonella caused 2,000 hospitalizations and 60 deaths in the year 2000. A host of infections not thought of as food-related may be the result of overuse of antibiotics at factory farms.
The MRSA bacterium, responsible for difficult or impossible to treat infections in humans, seemed to come out of nowhere when it was first seen in hospitals. Now the Veterinary Microbiology study has showed that industrialized North American pig farms and farmers commonly carry MRSA, including a strain that infects humans. Around nine million Canadian raised hogs are imported into the U.S. every year.
Healthy people are developing MRSA infections. Medical, agricultural, and environmental experts have called for Congress to compel the FDA to study whether use of antibiotics in animal agriculture is contributing to the surge in MRSA deaths in the U.S., which now exceed the number of deaths from HIV/AIDS. Since the government is not systematically testing U.S. livestock for MRSA, it is not known whether farms in the U.S. are also sources.
The excessive use of antibiotics in factory farms can select for resistant bacteria, such as MRSA. A European study has documented that industrial pig farms routinely using antibiotics were more likely to have MRSA than farms with limited antibiotic use.
New infectious diseases are linked to the rise of factory animal farming
Factory farms are breeding grounds for virulent disease and disease resistant strains of antibiotics, according to the 2008 report from the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, in conjunction with the Pew Charitable Trusts and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The commission's report highlights the risks to the public resulting from the growth of the industrialization of farm animal production. It is the result of two and one half years of investigation centered in four areas: public health, environmental impact, effects on farm communities, and animal health and welfare.
Fifteen commissioners, each with impressive credentials, concluded that while factory animal farming and production is increasing worldwide at an exponential rate, the rates of new forms of infectious diseases have been concurrently on the increase. There is clearly a link between factory farming and human illness.
Although the number of farms producing animals for food has declined dramatically in the past five decades as small independent farmers have been pushed out of the way by the giant food conglomerates, the number of food animals produced has stayed fairly constant. It is this concentration of farm animals in larger and larger numbers in ever closer proximity to one another, along with some of the feed and animal management methods used in the industrial system that has increased the risks of pathogens and created more opportunities for disease transmission to humans. Of particular concern is the increase in antibiotic use, needed to keep animals alive under such deplorable conditions. Excessive use of antibiotics has given rise to antibiotic-resistant microbes that pose a threat to the health of humans as well as animals.
The risks fall into three categories: prolonged worker contact with animals, increased pathogen transmission within a herd or flock, and the increased opportunities for the generation of antimicrobial resistant bacteria as the result of imprudent use of antibiotics, or new strains of viruses.
Communities near industrial farms animal production facilities are seen as particularly at risk, with children, the elderly, and individuals with chronic health conditions in the greatest danger of the health threats posed by such methods of farming.
Government officials ignore threat of antibiotic-resistant infections
These warnings are nothing new. Several organizations have raised questions about the effects of antibiotic use in factory farming on land and water raised animals. The Infectious Disease Society of American has declared antibiotic-resistant infections to be an epidemic sweeping through the U.S. The Food and Agriculture Organization has recommended that agricultural use of antibiotics be restricted. They claim that the health of the world's population is threatened by the globalization of industrial animal farms and concentrated animal feeding operations.
Zoonotic pathogens are on the increase
Prior to the 20th century, many humans lived short life spans relative to their potential. Many died at young ages as the result of infections. With the implementation of better hygiene and sanitation systems people began to live longer. But it wasn't until the discovery of penicillin that the life span increased dramatically. During the golden age of America that began in the early 1950s, penicillin and its derivatives kept most Americans in the picture of health. When polio was finally conquered in the 1960s, everyone believed the threat of infectious disease was history.
That golden age was short lived. New diseases began to show up at a pace previously unknown in history of medicine. A new pathogen has sprung up almost every year for the past three decades. Most of these pathogens are zoonotic, meaning they can jump the gap from animals to infection of humans. Of the documented human pathogens, about 64 percent are zoonotic.
People have turned their backs on nature in the interest of greed
According to reporter Laura Sayre in an article for Mother Earth News, the total U.S. hog population numbered 53 million in 1965. This number was spread over more than 1 million pig farms in the United States, many of which were small family operations. Today, 65 million hogs are raised on just over 65,000 farms across the nation. Many of these factory farms are raising 5,000 hogs at any given time.
Sayer notes that broiler chicken production has risen from 366 million in 1945 to 8,400 million in 2001. Most industrialized chicken raising facilities house tens of thousands of birds together. Fifty-five billion chickens are raised each year on a worldwide basis. The global pig industry is close to 1 billion, half of which are raised in confinement. Some countries house as many as 50,000 animals together.
Raising animals in such a fashion violates the principles of animal husbandry accepted as good practice by people for thousands of years and practiced on family farms. Intensive confinement often severely restricts movement and natural behaviors, such as the ability to walk or lie on natural materials, having enough floor space to move with some freedom, and rooting behaviors in pigs. The most intensive confinement systems, such as restrictive veal crates, hog gestation pens, restrictive furrowing crates, and battery cages for poultry all prevent animals from normal range of movement and are particularly inhumane treatments.
The outcome is animals in severe distress. Animals cannot be cared for by tried and true traditional methods when they are crammed together in factory farms in confined conditions. Animals raised under the industrial model experience no quality of life and live in constant stress as the result of overcrowding. This results in weakened immune systems and susceptibility to infection. Lack of sunlight and fresh air guarantees any disease will spread like wildfire.
Good animal husbandry helps protect the safety of the food supply. Scientists have recognized that food safety is linked to the health of animals that produce meat, dairy and egg products. They know that intensive confinement production systems produce increased pathogen shedding in animals.
To prevent and treat the diseases that arise from such conditions, the lords of factory animal farms have relied on antibiotics to the point of injecting chicken eggs with them. Animal feed is laced with antibiotics and so are the tissues and organs of these animals when they appear in the butcher's case. Producers of 'natural' chickens that are claimed to be free of antibiotics can get by with that claim because the chicken embryos are soaked in antibiotics while they are inside the eggs. Today, the majority of antibiotic use is preventative.
Overuse of antibiotics in people is insignificant compared to that in animals
Some members of the medical establishment and many critics outside of the medical profession have been concerned for many years about the excessive prescribing of antibiotics for diseases that offer inconvenience as their major threat. These warnings have generally fallen on deaf ears within both the medical profession and government regulatory agencies. Antibiotics are now often the first choice treatments for diseases that are not even affected by them, like the common cold.
This excessive use of antibiotics pales in comparison with their use in the industrialized raising of animals for food. According to Sayers, "it's a simple fact that the more antibiotics are used, especially prolonged use at low doses as in factory farms, the more antibiotic-resistant microbes will become. Bacteria and viruses are also notoriously promiscuous, swapping genes across species and even across genera, creating what the Johns Hopkins researchers call reservoirs of resistance. In some pathogens, selection for resistance also results in increased virulence...In other cases, otherwise harmless microbes can transfer resistance genes to pathogenic species."
Bio-containment procedures are geared toward protecting livestock from disease outbreaks. There appears to be little concern about preventing human pathogens from escaping into the wider environment through the many routes available that include the food itself, water, and air. A worker in such facilities can carry pathogens home on his body or clothing without being aware of it, allowing microbes to be released in towns or cities miles away from the factory farm where he works. Globalization means that pathogens can be spread anywhere.
Waste systems are inadequate to neutralize pathogens
Human health is further threatened by the likelihood of animals to excrete pathogenic microbes. The tremendous quantities of waste that concentrate on the premises of industrial animal producers may exceed the capacity of the landscape to absorb the nutrients and neutralize the pathogens. The annual production of manure produced by animal confinement facilities exceeds that produced by the human population of the country by at least three times. And unlike human sewage, the majority of waste from factory farms is spread upon the ground untreated.
Such large quantities of manure carry excess nutrients and chemicals including antibiotics, hormones and heavy metals into waterways, lakes, groundwater, soils and airways. Land application of untreated animal waste on cropland contributes to excessive nutrient loading, and ultimately to plant growth so dense around water that aquatic animal life is suffocated.
Greenhouse gas emissions from livestock operations account for 18% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, exceeding emissions from the transportation sector. Air quality degradation is also a problem near industrial farm animal production because of the localized release of toxic gases, and particulates and bioaerosols that contain microorganisms including human pathogens. Livestock emission of ammonia from factory farms adds to the acidification of soil and water, while species diversity is threatened by nutrient overload.
Factory animal farms shown to be linked with food borne illness
"When dioxin-contaminated chicken feed led to the removal from the market of all chicken and eggs in Belgium for several weeks in June of 1999, doctors there noted a 40 percent decline in the number of human Campylobacter infections," according to Sayer. Most chickens sold in the U.S. are contaminated with this bacterium. Eggs from factory farm chickens contaminated with salmonella caused 2,000 hospitalizations and 60 deaths in the year 2000. A host of infections not thought of as food-related may be the result of overuse of antibiotics at factory farms.
The MRSA bacterium, responsible for difficult or impossible to treat infections in humans, seemed to come out of nowhere when it was first seen in hospitals. Now the Veterinary Microbiology study has showed that industrialized North American pig farms and farmers commonly carry MRSA, including a strain that infects humans. Around nine million Canadian raised hogs are imported into the U.S. every year.
Healthy people are developing MRSA infections. Medical, agricultural, and environmental experts have called for Congress to compel the FDA to study whether use of antibiotics in animal agriculture is contributing to the surge in MRSA deaths in the U.S., which now exceed the number of deaths from HIV/AIDS. Since the government is not systematically testing U.S. livestock for MRSA, it is not known whether farms in the U.S. are also sources.
The excessive use of antibiotics in factory farms can select for resistant bacteria, such as MRSA. A European study has documented that industrial pig farms routinely using antibiotics were more likely to have MRSA than farms with limited antibiotic use.
Fresh Vegetable Salads Provide Maximum Nutrition for Each Food Dollar Spent
It looks like food prices will continue to creep steadily higher throughout 2009, even in the face of an economic crisis that has reduced the purchasing power of most Americans. This makes it more important that ever to get the best nutritional value for every food dollar spent. When it is time for lunch, one of the best overall values is a salad, whether it comes from a salad bar or is made at home. But not all salads offer good nutritional value. The ingredients chosen will determine whether the salad is an energy booster full of excellent nutrition to help you sail through the afternoon, or one that deadens cellular energy and provides very little nutritional value for the money spent.
Salads that offer the most nutrition for the money are made with fresh, unprocessed vegetables. Color is the key. Those veggies with the bright, vibrant colors are trying to tell you something. The more colors added to the bowl, the more the salad can keep you looking and feeling young, and put a bounce in your step for the rest of the day. That's because vibrant colored veggies are loaded with antioxidants, plant compounds that slow the aging process and ward off disease.
Give your salad a solid foundation
Get your salad off to a good nutritional start by making a bed of leafy dark green vegetables. Lettuce is the traditional favorite, but stay away from the iceberg variety. Its lighter color gives it away as being low on nutritional value. Choose instead from romaine, green leaf lettuce, and spinach. Better yet, mix in some of each. Baby greens, sometimes called spring mix, are a good choice too.
All of these varieties are excellent sources of Vitamins A, E and K. Vitamin A supports eye and respiratory health, and makes sure the immune system is up to speed. It keeps the outer layers of tissues and organs healthy, and promotes strong bones, healthy skin and hair, and strong teeth. Vitamin E slows the aging process, maintains positive cholesterol ratios, provides endurance boosting oxygen, protects lungs from pollution, prevents various forms of cancer, and alleviates fatigue. Vitamin K keeps blood vessels strong and prevents blood clots.
Greens are also excellent sources of folate, manganese, chromium, and potassium. Folate prevents heart disease, defends against intestinal parasites and food poisoning, promotes healthy skin, and helps maintain hair color. Manganese keeps fatigue away, helps muscle reflexes and coordination, boosts memory, and helps prevent osteoporosis. Chromium helps normalize blood pressure and insulin levels. It prevents sugar cravings and sudden drops in energy. Potassium regulates the body's water balance and normalizes heart rhythms. It aids in clear thinking by sending oxygen to the brain.
Other green veggies offering big nutritional bangs are broccoli, green peppers, parsley, zucchini, asparagus, cucumber, okra, arugula, and sea vegetables.
Pile on all the colors to stay looking and feeling young
Load up your salad bowl with yellow vegetables like carrots, yellow peppers, sweet potatoes, and yellow summer squash. These are super rich in beta carotene, and vitamins A and C. They are powerful free radical scavengers that prevent damage to cells. Free radicals are thought to be responsible for clogged arteries and heart disease, cataracts, blood vessel damage, inflammatory diseases and arthritis, asthma, and even cancer. Vitamin C plays a big role in the formation of collagen, which is important for the growth and repair of body-tissue cells, gums, blood vessels, bones, and teeth. It helps keep the skin young and supple so wrinkles don't develop.
Purple cabbage, purple endive, and eggplant are rich in the phytonutrient anthocyanin, another type of flavonoid that fights the damage to cells that comes from daily living. Besides making the salad look absolutely gorgeous, purple cabbage is able to signal genes to increase production of enzymes involved in detoxification, the cleansing process that eliminates harmful compounds from the body. This means free radicals, carcinogens, and toxins are disarmed and cleared from organs and tissues. Studies have shown that people who eat the most cruciferous vegetables like purple cabbage and broccoli have a much lower risk of several cancers including breast cancer. These veggies promote gastrointestinal health, and a clean and healthy liver. They keep away ulcers, and even help prevent Alzheimer's disease through the ability of anthocyanins to protect brain cells against the damage caused by amyloid-beta protein.
Be sure to include some red in the salad. Along with being rich in vitamin C, tomatoes provide high levels of the carotenoid lycopene, known for preventing and fighting prostate cancer. Coumaric and chlorogenic acids found in tomatoes help keep lungs healthy even in smokers by blocking the effects of carcinogenic nitrosamines found in cigarette smoke. The carcinogenic effects of eating meats preserved with sodium nitrates can be blocked by adding tomatoes. Beets are another great red choice. Throughout history they have been used to detoxify and build the blood. Beets are high in folic acid, iron, and calcium. They contain betaine, a compound that detoxifies the liver and protects the liver and bile ducts from free radical damage. Studies show betaine contributes to coronary and cerebral artery health, and shrinks tumors.
Other red veggies with big nutritional powers are radishes, red bell peppers, chili peppers, red onions, and radicchio.
Many white foods are wastelands of nutrition. Not so for veggies. Cauliflower has many of the nutrients of other cruciferous vegetables. Onions and garlic are considered super foods for their potent health benefits that include high amounts of sulfur that protect collagen and connective tissues. Sulphur helps keep joints working well and hair looking shiny and healthy. Onions are considered a prebiotic, meaning they feed the probiotic bacteria and yeast in the intestinal tract. Both onion and garlic are known for lowering blood sugar levels and fighting inflammation, as well as having strong antibiotic properties that can be used to fight infections. They lower high cholesterol and blood pressure, help prevent heart attack and stroke, reduce colon cancer risk, and halt tumor growth.
Other white foods that go great in a healthy salad are mushrooms, jicama, and daikon.
Chopped salad gives the digestive system a head start
Chopped salads are popular fare in many restaurants that cater to people looking for a healthy meal. Chopping salad ingredients into very small pieces adds taste appeal because some of each ingredient is available in every bite. This means that a bit of each sweet ingredient like carrots, bell peppers and beets is included in each forkful, and all the flavors of the salad are included with each bite.
Lunch is often eaten in a rush, and big chunks of veggies can make for an afternoon of digestive unease. Chopping a salad gives the digestive system a head start on its work of breaking down all the components and releasing their nutrients. It is a waste of food dollars to buy a salad and not get the full nutritional benefit it has to offer. Chopped salad fits nicely into the mouth and allows for adequate chewing, so necessary for complete digestion.
If the salad is made at home, each ingredient can be chopped into very small pieces as it is added. If the salad is from a salad bar, chances are the veggies will be in large chunks, since chopping salad requires extra labor. After you have filled your bowl, grab a knife and fork and start chopping. As the afternoon wears on, you will probably be glad you did.
How the salad is dressed makes all the difference
What you put on your salad is just as important as what you put in it. Most dressings sold in traditional and health food grocery stores are made with polyunsaturated oil, an oil that deadens cellular energy and promotes vitamin D deficiency by decreasing the ability of vitamin D to bind with D binding proteins. Polyunsaturated oils have been linked to a variety of diseases ranging from digestive disorders to cancer. Most of these dressings also contain the excitotoxin monosodium glutamate, a compound that tricks the brain into believing cheap ingredients taste really great. Monosodium glutamate is toxic to brain cells.
Instead of reducing the nutritional punch of a salad, increase it with a dressing made from extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice or vinegar. Fresh vegetables and olive oil are part of the basics of the anti-aging and longevity-enhancing Mediterranean Diet. Instead of deadening cellular energy, olive oil actually increases it through its antioxidant capabilities. Olive oil has been around for thousands of years. It contains monounsaturated fatty acids and has a health profile that is far superior to newcomer canola oil. Choose natural vinegars without the addition of preservative sulfites. Read the label before you buy. Raw apple cider vinegar is a good choice, or squeeze on some fresh lemon juice.
Add herbs, fresh chopped garlic if you like, and a good pinch of sea salt to the dressing and mix it well. Dressing made with olive oil is so health promoting that it should be added liberally to the salad. Mix it up until dressing coats every tiny piece and the salad glistens with goodness. The salt helps release the juices from the vegetables adding even more flavor to the dressing and increasing digestibility.
What to add and what to avoid
A salad made with a large bed of dark green leafy vegetables contains some protein and a good amount of amino acids. The protein content of a salad can be beefed up by adding seeds and nuts. One ounce of pumpkin seeds or almonds boosts protein content by nine grams. Seeds and nuts add extra nutrition power and crunchy taste.
Adding sprouts is another good way to increase protein. Alfalfa sprouts are 35% protein. Broccoli sprouts are 26% protein and provide super antioxidant power as well as compounds known to prevent and fight many cancers including cancer of the breast.
Beans are another super nutritious choice, providing additional protein and nutrient power. If the salad is made at home, dried beans that have been soaked and cooked can be used. Prepared beans sold in glass jars work well too. Canned beans should be avoided unless cans are free of bisphenol-A.
Leave out the animal protein. Studies are suggesting that the polyphenols in vegetables bind with animal protein, making them inaccessible to the body. Polyphenols are largely responsible for the disease fighting capabilities of vegetables, so maintaining their integrity is important. As for cheese, it tastes really great in a salad, but studies have shown conclusively that polyphenols bind with milk protein.
If you are a salad bar visitor, those prepared salads look really tempting, but they are best left out too. They contain mayonnaise or other energy deadening dressings made with polyunsaturated oils. Many of them also contain monosodium glutamate and preservatives.
Salads that offer the most nutrition for the money are made with fresh, unprocessed vegetables. Color is the key. Those veggies with the bright, vibrant colors are trying to tell you something. The more colors added to the bowl, the more the salad can keep you looking and feeling young, and put a bounce in your step for the rest of the day. That's because vibrant colored veggies are loaded with antioxidants, plant compounds that slow the aging process and ward off disease.
Give your salad a solid foundation
Get your salad off to a good nutritional start by making a bed of leafy dark green vegetables. Lettuce is the traditional favorite, but stay away from the iceberg variety. Its lighter color gives it away as being low on nutritional value. Choose instead from romaine, green leaf lettuce, and spinach. Better yet, mix in some of each. Baby greens, sometimes called spring mix, are a good choice too.
All of these varieties are excellent sources of Vitamins A, E and K. Vitamin A supports eye and respiratory health, and makes sure the immune system is up to speed. It keeps the outer layers of tissues and organs healthy, and promotes strong bones, healthy skin and hair, and strong teeth. Vitamin E slows the aging process, maintains positive cholesterol ratios, provides endurance boosting oxygen, protects lungs from pollution, prevents various forms of cancer, and alleviates fatigue. Vitamin K keeps blood vessels strong and prevents blood clots.
Greens are also excellent sources of folate, manganese, chromium, and potassium. Folate prevents heart disease, defends against intestinal parasites and food poisoning, promotes healthy skin, and helps maintain hair color. Manganese keeps fatigue away, helps muscle reflexes and coordination, boosts memory, and helps prevent osteoporosis. Chromium helps normalize blood pressure and insulin levels. It prevents sugar cravings and sudden drops in energy. Potassium regulates the body's water balance and normalizes heart rhythms. It aids in clear thinking by sending oxygen to the brain.
Other green veggies offering big nutritional bangs are broccoli, green peppers, parsley, zucchini, asparagus, cucumber, okra, arugula, and sea vegetables.
Pile on all the colors to stay looking and feeling young
Load up your salad bowl with yellow vegetables like carrots, yellow peppers, sweet potatoes, and yellow summer squash. These are super rich in beta carotene, and vitamins A and C. They are powerful free radical scavengers that prevent damage to cells. Free radicals are thought to be responsible for clogged arteries and heart disease, cataracts, blood vessel damage, inflammatory diseases and arthritis, asthma, and even cancer. Vitamin C plays a big role in the formation of collagen, which is important for the growth and repair of body-tissue cells, gums, blood vessels, bones, and teeth. It helps keep the skin young and supple so wrinkles don't develop.
Purple cabbage, purple endive, and eggplant are rich in the phytonutrient anthocyanin, another type of flavonoid that fights the damage to cells that comes from daily living. Besides making the salad look absolutely gorgeous, purple cabbage is able to signal genes to increase production of enzymes involved in detoxification, the cleansing process that eliminates harmful compounds from the body. This means free radicals, carcinogens, and toxins are disarmed and cleared from organs and tissues. Studies have shown that people who eat the most cruciferous vegetables like purple cabbage and broccoli have a much lower risk of several cancers including breast cancer. These veggies promote gastrointestinal health, and a clean and healthy liver. They keep away ulcers, and even help prevent Alzheimer's disease through the ability of anthocyanins to protect brain cells against the damage caused by amyloid-beta protein.
Be sure to include some red in the salad. Along with being rich in vitamin C, tomatoes provide high levels of the carotenoid lycopene, known for preventing and fighting prostate cancer. Coumaric and chlorogenic acids found in tomatoes help keep lungs healthy even in smokers by blocking the effects of carcinogenic nitrosamines found in cigarette smoke. The carcinogenic effects of eating meats preserved with sodium nitrates can be blocked by adding tomatoes. Beets are another great red choice. Throughout history they have been used to detoxify and build the blood. Beets are high in folic acid, iron, and calcium. They contain betaine, a compound that detoxifies the liver and protects the liver and bile ducts from free radical damage. Studies show betaine contributes to coronary and cerebral artery health, and shrinks tumors.
Other red veggies with big nutritional powers are radishes, red bell peppers, chili peppers, red onions, and radicchio.
Many white foods are wastelands of nutrition. Not so for veggies. Cauliflower has many of the nutrients of other cruciferous vegetables. Onions and garlic are considered super foods for their potent health benefits that include high amounts of sulfur that protect collagen and connective tissues. Sulphur helps keep joints working well and hair looking shiny and healthy. Onions are considered a prebiotic, meaning they feed the probiotic bacteria and yeast in the intestinal tract. Both onion and garlic are known for lowering blood sugar levels and fighting inflammation, as well as having strong antibiotic properties that can be used to fight infections. They lower high cholesterol and blood pressure, help prevent heart attack and stroke, reduce colon cancer risk, and halt tumor growth.
Other white foods that go great in a healthy salad are mushrooms, jicama, and daikon.
Chopped salad gives the digestive system a head start
Chopped salads are popular fare in many restaurants that cater to people looking for a healthy meal. Chopping salad ingredients into very small pieces adds taste appeal because some of each ingredient is available in every bite. This means that a bit of each sweet ingredient like carrots, bell peppers and beets is included in each forkful, and all the flavors of the salad are included with each bite.
Lunch is often eaten in a rush, and big chunks of veggies can make for an afternoon of digestive unease. Chopping a salad gives the digestive system a head start on its work of breaking down all the components and releasing their nutrients. It is a waste of food dollars to buy a salad and not get the full nutritional benefit it has to offer. Chopped salad fits nicely into the mouth and allows for adequate chewing, so necessary for complete digestion.
If the salad is made at home, each ingredient can be chopped into very small pieces as it is added. If the salad is from a salad bar, chances are the veggies will be in large chunks, since chopping salad requires extra labor. After you have filled your bowl, grab a knife and fork and start chopping. As the afternoon wears on, you will probably be glad you did.
How the salad is dressed makes all the difference
What you put on your salad is just as important as what you put in it. Most dressings sold in traditional and health food grocery stores are made with polyunsaturated oil, an oil that deadens cellular energy and promotes vitamin D deficiency by decreasing the ability of vitamin D to bind with D binding proteins. Polyunsaturated oils have been linked to a variety of diseases ranging from digestive disorders to cancer. Most of these dressings also contain the excitotoxin monosodium glutamate, a compound that tricks the brain into believing cheap ingredients taste really great. Monosodium glutamate is toxic to brain cells.
Instead of reducing the nutritional punch of a salad, increase it with a dressing made from extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice or vinegar. Fresh vegetables and olive oil are part of the basics of the anti-aging and longevity-enhancing Mediterranean Diet. Instead of deadening cellular energy, olive oil actually increases it through its antioxidant capabilities. Olive oil has been around for thousands of years. It contains monounsaturated fatty acids and has a health profile that is far superior to newcomer canola oil. Choose natural vinegars without the addition of preservative sulfites. Read the label before you buy. Raw apple cider vinegar is a good choice, or squeeze on some fresh lemon juice.
Add herbs, fresh chopped garlic if you like, and a good pinch of sea salt to the dressing and mix it well. Dressing made with olive oil is so health promoting that it should be added liberally to the salad. Mix it up until dressing coats every tiny piece and the salad glistens with goodness. The salt helps release the juices from the vegetables adding even more flavor to the dressing and increasing digestibility.
What to add and what to avoid
A salad made with a large bed of dark green leafy vegetables contains some protein and a good amount of amino acids. The protein content of a salad can be beefed up by adding seeds and nuts. One ounce of pumpkin seeds or almonds boosts protein content by nine grams. Seeds and nuts add extra nutrition power and crunchy taste.
Adding sprouts is another good way to increase protein. Alfalfa sprouts are 35% protein. Broccoli sprouts are 26% protein and provide super antioxidant power as well as compounds known to prevent and fight many cancers including cancer of the breast.
Beans are another super nutritious choice, providing additional protein and nutrient power. If the salad is made at home, dried beans that have been soaked and cooked can be used. Prepared beans sold in glass jars work well too. Canned beans should be avoided unless cans are free of bisphenol-A.
Leave out the animal protein. Studies are suggesting that the polyphenols in vegetables bind with animal protein, making them inaccessible to the body. Polyphenols are largely responsible for the disease fighting capabilities of vegetables, so maintaining their integrity is important. As for cheese, it tastes really great in a salad, but studies have shown conclusively that polyphenols bind with milk protein.
If you are a salad bar visitor, those prepared salads look really tempting, but they are best left out too. They contain mayonnaise or other energy deadening dressings made with polyunsaturated oils. Many of them also contain monosodium glutamate and preservatives.
Drinking Coffee Reduces Risk of Stroke, Cancer and Dementia
It's a pleasant surprise when something questionable turns out to be full of health benefits. First chocolate was found to prevent heart disease. Then red wine was shown to increase overall longevity. Now the spotlight is on coffee. Newly released studies reveal that coffee drinking lowers risk of stroke, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and dementia. It even improves social skills and depressive symptoms. Other recent research has shown that drinking coffee reduces the risk of diabetes.
There is a reason 90 percent of the population loves coffee
Mother Nature wants people to be healthy and reproduce. She has created in them an attraction to foods that promote good health. Bright, vibrant vegetables that shimmer with energy, luscious fruits, and the dazzling aroma of coffee just can't be denied. Some of the health benefits of coffee come from its caffeine content. The ability of coffee to lower the risk for Parkinson's disease and treat asthma and headaches is linked to caffeine. Caffeine can enhance athletic performance by increasing endurance. This is why coffee was designated as a controlled substance until recently by the Olympic Games Committee.
Coffee drinking is major source of antioxidants for most people
People in the U.S. receive most of their antioxidants from the coffee they drink. Scientists have found that a typical serving of coffee contains more antioxidants than a typical serving of blueberries, grape juice, raspberries, or oranges. A cup of coffee contains up to four times as much antioxidant activity as a cup of green tea contains.
Antioxidants protect people from free radicals produced in the body and encountered in the environment and diet. Scientists believe that drinking coffee makes it possible to limit, postpone or prevent many degenerative diseases including cancer, heart disease cataracts, and diseases of the nervous system. Epidemiological studies have shown that adding antioxidant polyphenols to the diet reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Chlorogenic acid is the prominent polyphenol in coffee, although there are others. A Japanese study of 61,000 people found that coffee drinkers are less likely to develop liver cancer that those who abstain. The researchers hypothesized that chlorogenic acid was the cancer fighting agent. Robusta coffee contains up to ten percent chlorogenic acid, and Arabica coffee contains an amount up to seven percent. Caffeic acid is another polyphenol found in coffee that has been shown to protect cells from oxidation. Caffeic acid works together with cholorogenic acid to protect cerebral neurons, promote cell differentiation, and normalize colon function. The combination has been found effective at halting cell proliferation and inducing appropriate cell death in breast cancer cells.
American's coffee drinking averages more than one cup per day. Decaffeinated coffee has the same antioxidant content as regular coffee. New research findings suggest that the addition of milk to coffee binds the antioxidants and reduces their potential to be effective in the body. A recent study found that caffeic acid was unavailable to the body as the result of it binding with milk added to blueberries.
Coffee consumption and risk of stroke in women
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health assessed the association between coffee consumption and the risk of stroke over a 24 year period of follow-up in women. They analyzed data from a cohort of 83,076 women without history of stroke, coronary heart disease, diabetes or cancer who participated in the Nurses' Health Study. Coffee consumption was assessed from 1980 through 2004. They documented 2280 varied strokes. After adjusting for confounders, the correlation of coffee drinking with stroke fell by 20 percent in the group drinking the most coffee. The researchers concluded that coffee drinking moderately reduced the risk of stroke. Their study was reported in the February edition of Circulation.
High regular coffee consumption associated with reduced endometrial cancer risk
A hospital based case-control study, reported in the January International Journal of Cancer, examined the associations between endometrial cancer risk and usual consumption of regular and decaffeinated coffee among 541 women with endometrial cancer and 541 women healthy women. Women who drank four or more cups of combined coffee and tea showed a significantly reduced cancer association.
Coffee offers protection against Alzheimer's disease and dementia
Determining the long-term impact of caffeine on cognition was the aim of a study in Finland, reported in the January Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Scientists specifically looked for the association between coffee and/or tea drinking at midlife and Alzheimer's disease or dementia in late life. Participants were randomly selected from a population-based cohort previously participating in a longitudinal study. After an average follow-up of 21 years, 1409 individuals aged 65 to 79 completed the re-examination. A total of 61 cases were identified as demented, with 48 having diagnosed Alzheimer's disease. Coffee drinkers at midlife had lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer's later in life compared with those drinking none or only small amounts of coffee. An amazing 65 percent decrease was found in people who drank 3 to 5 cups of coffee per day. Tea drinking showed no association with dementia or Alzheimers' in this study.
A study reported in the Oct.-Nov. issue of American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, found that caffeine may have a protective effect on the likelihood of developing Alzheimer's disease. Antioxidants were also seen as protective through their ability to reduce inflammation.
Risk of type 2 diabetes is lower in coffee drinkers
An older study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that habitual coffee consumption was consistently associated with lower risk of diabetes. Although the exact mechanism of its action was not revealed, the scientists concluded that the antioxidants in coffee help control cell damage that can contribute to the development of the disease. The high concentration of chlorogenic acid in coffee reduces glucose concentrations. The researchers pointed out that their results were not due to caffeine, as decaffeinated coffee produced the same degree of risk reduction.
In a report that combined data from several sources, people who drank four to six cups of coffee a day had a 28 percent reduction in risk of diabetes compared with people who drank two or fewer cups a day. Those who drank even more had a 35 percent reduction.
Coffee increases cooperation and sociability, and decreases depression
A newly released study from the February issue of Nutrition and Neuroscience examined the effects of caffeinated coffee on antidepressant related cooperative behavior. Seventy-seven low level caffeine users took part in a randomized, double-blind, cross-over study of a single dose of caffeinated coffee and a single dose of decaffeinated coffee with a three day period in between. Participants were asked to play a game with an imagined person. After drinking caffeinated coffee, participants were more open to the imaginary player and displayed fewer signs of sadness. The researchers concluded that only the caffeinated coffee helped to improve social skill and depressive symptoms.
Longitudinal studies have found a significantly lower rate of suicide among men and women who drink two or more cups of coffee each day. Reasons for this were unclear.
More research reveals more benefits
Newer studies continue to add to older, impressive results revealing the benefits of coffee. Drinking two or more cups a day was found to reduce the risk of colon cancer by 25%. The likelihood of developing gallstones was decreased by nearly 50% in those drinking at least two cups of coffee a day. Liver cirrhosis was reduced by a whopping 80% in drinkers of two or more cups a day.
A compound called Trigonelline that has anti-adhesive and antibacterial properties was found to help prevent tooth decay.
There is a reason 90 percent of the population loves coffee
Mother Nature wants people to be healthy and reproduce. She has created in them an attraction to foods that promote good health. Bright, vibrant vegetables that shimmer with energy, luscious fruits, and the dazzling aroma of coffee just can't be denied. Some of the health benefits of coffee come from its caffeine content. The ability of coffee to lower the risk for Parkinson's disease and treat asthma and headaches is linked to caffeine. Caffeine can enhance athletic performance by increasing endurance. This is why coffee was designated as a controlled substance until recently by the Olympic Games Committee.
Coffee drinking is major source of antioxidants for most people
People in the U.S. receive most of their antioxidants from the coffee they drink. Scientists have found that a typical serving of coffee contains more antioxidants than a typical serving of blueberries, grape juice, raspberries, or oranges. A cup of coffee contains up to four times as much antioxidant activity as a cup of green tea contains.
Antioxidants protect people from free radicals produced in the body and encountered in the environment and diet. Scientists believe that drinking coffee makes it possible to limit, postpone or prevent many degenerative diseases including cancer, heart disease cataracts, and diseases of the nervous system. Epidemiological studies have shown that adding antioxidant polyphenols to the diet reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Chlorogenic acid is the prominent polyphenol in coffee, although there are others. A Japanese study of 61,000 people found that coffee drinkers are less likely to develop liver cancer that those who abstain. The researchers hypothesized that chlorogenic acid was the cancer fighting agent. Robusta coffee contains up to ten percent chlorogenic acid, and Arabica coffee contains an amount up to seven percent. Caffeic acid is another polyphenol found in coffee that has been shown to protect cells from oxidation. Caffeic acid works together with cholorogenic acid to protect cerebral neurons, promote cell differentiation, and normalize colon function. The combination has been found effective at halting cell proliferation and inducing appropriate cell death in breast cancer cells.
American's coffee drinking averages more than one cup per day. Decaffeinated coffee has the same antioxidant content as regular coffee. New research findings suggest that the addition of milk to coffee binds the antioxidants and reduces their potential to be effective in the body. A recent study found that caffeic acid was unavailable to the body as the result of it binding with milk added to blueberries.
Coffee consumption and risk of stroke in women
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health assessed the association between coffee consumption and the risk of stroke over a 24 year period of follow-up in women. They analyzed data from a cohort of 83,076 women without history of stroke, coronary heart disease, diabetes or cancer who participated in the Nurses' Health Study. Coffee consumption was assessed from 1980 through 2004. They documented 2280 varied strokes. After adjusting for confounders, the correlation of coffee drinking with stroke fell by 20 percent in the group drinking the most coffee. The researchers concluded that coffee drinking moderately reduced the risk of stroke. Their study was reported in the February edition of Circulation.
High regular coffee consumption associated with reduced endometrial cancer risk
A hospital based case-control study, reported in the January International Journal of Cancer, examined the associations between endometrial cancer risk and usual consumption of regular and decaffeinated coffee among 541 women with endometrial cancer and 541 women healthy women. Women who drank four or more cups of combined coffee and tea showed a significantly reduced cancer association.
Coffee offers protection against Alzheimer's disease and dementia
Determining the long-term impact of caffeine on cognition was the aim of a study in Finland, reported in the January Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Scientists specifically looked for the association between coffee and/or tea drinking at midlife and Alzheimer's disease or dementia in late life. Participants were randomly selected from a population-based cohort previously participating in a longitudinal study. After an average follow-up of 21 years, 1409 individuals aged 65 to 79 completed the re-examination. A total of 61 cases were identified as demented, with 48 having diagnosed Alzheimer's disease. Coffee drinkers at midlife had lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer's later in life compared with those drinking none or only small amounts of coffee. An amazing 65 percent decrease was found in people who drank 3 to 5 cups of coffee per day. Tea drinking showed no association with dementia or Alzheimers' in this study.
A study reported in the Oct.-Nov. issue of American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, found that caffeine may have a protective effect on the likelihood of developing Alzheimer's disease. Antioxidants were also seen as protective through their ability to reduce inflammation.
Risk of type 2 diabetes is lower in coffee drinkers
An older study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that habitual coffee consumption was consistently associated with lower risk of diabetes. Although the exact mechanism of its action was not revealed, the scientists concluded that the antioxidants in coffee help control cell damage that can contribute to the development of the disease. The high concentration of chlorogenic acid in coffee reduces glucose concentrations. The researchers pointed out that their results were not due to caffeine, as decaffeinated coffee produced the same degree of risk reduction.
In a report that combined data from several sources, people who drank four to six cups of coffee a day had a 28 percent reduction in risk of diabetes compared with people who drank two or fewer cups a day. Those who drank even more had a 35 percent reduction.
Coffee increases cooperation and sociability, and decreases depression
A newly released study from the February issue of Nutrition and Neuroscience examined the effects of caffeinated coffee on antidepressant related cooperative behavior. Seventy-seven low level caffeine users took part in a randomized, double-blind, cross-over study of a single dose of caffeinated coffee and a single dose of decaffeinated coffee with a three day period in between. Participants were asked to play a game with an imagined person. After drinking caffeinated coffee, participants were more open to the imaginary player and displayed fewer signs of sadness. The researchers concluded that only the caffeinated coffee helped to improve social skill and depressive symptoms.
Longitudinal studies have found a significantly lower rate of suicide among men and women who drink two or more cups of coffee each day. Reasons for this were unclear.
More research reveals more benefits
Newer studies continue to add to older, impressive results revealing the benefits of coffee. Drinking two or more cups a day was found to reduce the risk of colon cancer by 25%. The likelihood of developing gallstones was decreased by nearly 50% in those drinking at least two cups of coffee a day. Liver cirrhosis was reduced by a whopping 80% in drinkers of two or more cups a day.
A compound called Trigonelline that has anti-adhesive and antibacterial properties was found to help prevent tooth decay.
Morgellons: Terrifying New Disease Reaching Pandemic Status
It sounds like something from a bad sci-fi movie. People report the sensation of creatures crawling under their skin, mysterious moving fibers appear, and finally bugs and worms pop out. Unfortunately, these terrifying symptoms are all too true. The people having them are experiencing Morgellons, the latest and scariest in the series of bizarre diseases appearing in the last few years, seemingly from nowhere. Morgellons is now reaching epidemic proportions in the U.S. and abroad.
Morgellons is a multi-dimensional disease
Morgellons starts with relentless itching, stinging or biting sensations. Cotton-like balls may appear on the body with no reasonable explanation. Soon skin rash develops along with lesions that will not heal. Many sufferers report string-like fibers of varying color popping out through the skin lesions. These fibers can be black, white, red or even iridescent blue. Others report black specks falling from their bodies that litter their sheets and bathrooms. Eventually a variety of bugs and worms begin to find their way out of the body through the lesions. Other accompanying symptoms include hair loss, debilitating and chronic fatigue, hard nodules beneath the skin, and joint pain.
Morgellons also has a cognitive aspect. People with the disease experience neurological damage that manifests as difficulty concentrating, inability to process and use language effectively, and generalized brain fog. The presence of reduced cognitive ability has made it easier for doctors to dismiss Morgellons and send patients away with a diagnosis of delusional parasitosis, meaning they are imagining they are infected by parasites. After the typical eight minute visit, traditional doctors pull out their prescription pads and write these people prescriptions for antidepressants or antipsychotic medications.
As a result, Morgellons also has a psychological component. Once people become aware that symptoms such as theirs are treated as delusions they are reluctant to seek further medical attention and tend to withdraw from society with their only contact with others being through the internet. They begin living the lifestyle of the leper. Many have to give up their jobs and become dependent on public assistance. This adds to the psychological debilitation of the disease. Not being taken seriously when you know you have a terrifying and devastating disease causes permanent psychological damage.
Morgellon's victims feel the resentment other patients do when they are told it is all in their heads. As Morgellon's progresses and the neurological symptoms become more manifest, patients can become difficult to care for and deal with. Isolated with only the internet, they become less able to effectively care for themselves. Some Morgellons patients have committed suicide.
It is a sad situation that the traditional doctor's visit must often end in a diagnosis, but the doctor is unwilling or unable to take the time to make sure it is a correct diagnosis. The traditional medical set up is frequently unable to deal with patients who present with a variety of diverse symptoms affecting several body systems at one time.
Oakland A's player Billy Koch and his family all have Morgellons. They have been open about their disease and have made some attempt to educate others. Billy had to retire from his baseball career as a result of the disease. Singer Joni Mitchell also has Morgellons, and the disease has negatively impacted her career as well.
Many morgellons victims end up trying to treat themselves
Anyone with Morgellons's symptoms will probably spend a lot of time going from doctor to doctor. While the unhelpful ones simply tell them they are delusional, the helpful ones prescribe a variety of creams used for scabies, ring worm and other parasitic diseases, but nothing works for more than a few days. With no help from the medical community, people with Morgellons turn to the internet where they learn the name for their disease and the names for the parasites that are coming through their skin. As a result of desperation and the lack of information about the disease except from chat boards, many victims end up trying a variety of toxic treatments at home.
Authorities on the disease are emerging
One of the few people to take the disease seriously was Randy Wymore, a neuroscientist at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Science. He received samples from a range of people who claimed the fibers had come through their skin. Although the samples all resembled one another, to him they looked like no other synthetic or natural fiber with which he compared them. He finally asked the Tulsa police department's forensics team to examine them.
The team identified the chemical structures of the fibers and compared them to their database of 800 fibers. They found no match, so they used gas chromatography to compare the fibers to their data on 90,000 organic compounds. The fibers did not match up with any of them. They concluded that the fibers were unknown, and not contaminants from clothing sticking to scabs on the lesions as had been thought by those so ready to dismiss what their patients were saying. Wymore and the forensic team concluded that the disease producing these fibers was very real and very frightening.
Wymore then asked the chief of the pediatrics department at Oklahoma State University Hospital, Rhonda Casey, to take a look at some of the patients. At first she was tempted to dismiss them too, but she began to realize how ill the people were. They had neurological symptoms that included confusion, loss of control of their feet that resulted in difficulty walking, and their mouths sagged when they spoke. Many had been diagnosed with neurological diseases.
Dr. Casey examined the patients, took biopsies of their lesions as well as from their healthy skin. Using a dermatoscope, she was able to observe fibers under completely unbroken skin. She found them embedded in the healthy tissue of the patients as well as the diseased tissue, and admitted seeing the full range of fiber colors. She reported seeing a lesion on a young girl's thigh with black fibers just barely protruding from it, and concluded that she could not have done this to herself.
Another person taking the disease seriously is Trisha Springstead, a registered nurse in Florida who has become a beacon of light for Morgellon's patients in the area. She has seen the fibers come through their skin, and has spent hours with patients extracting parasites embedded so deeply that a needle is required to extract them. According to her, a dermatoscope does not penetrate deeply enough to reveal the full extent of parasite involvement.
CDC begins epidemiologic investigation into Morgellons
In April, 2006, the CDC recommended an epidemiological investigation of what they were then referring to as a public health concern. In January, 2008 they announced a grant to health care giant Kaiser Permanente to test and interview 150 to 500 patients suffering from Morgellons. The study is being done in the Bay Area of northern California, where many Morgellons patients live. Kaiser Permanente doctors have been among the most ready to classify Morgellons as delusional parasitosis.
The National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne, and Enteric Diseases (ZVED) provided statements posted on the CDC website regarding what the CDC now calls "Unexplained Dermopathy (aka Morgellons"). This organization was created in 2007 under CDC's Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases. ZVED promotes itself as proving leadership, expertise, and service in laboratory and epidemiological science, bioterrorism preparedness, applied research, disease surveillance, and outbreak response for infectious diseases.
The term zoonotic refers to any disease that is able to jump the divide from animals to people. Microbes created for bioterrorism are zoonotic. There are many known zoonotic diseases, such as Lyme disease and malaria. Vectors are the transmitters of disease-causing organisms that carry the pathogens from one host to another. By common usage, vectors are considered to be invertebrate animals, usually arthropods. Technically, vertebrates can also act as vectors, including foxes, raccoons, and skunks, which can all transmit disease to humans through a bite. Mosquitoes and ticks are the most notable disease vectors, although mites and gnats may also carry disease. Enteric diseases are bacterial and viral infections of the gastrointestinal tract that account for an under appreciated burden of morbidity and mortality domestically and abroad.
The involvement of ZVED in creating the CDC webpage for Mogellons clearly implies acceptance by the CDC that Morgellons is a disease involving not just fibers but parasites.
ZVED's vision statement describes three goals: accelerating prevention, control, and preparedness of ecologically mediated microbial threats; global vision, global presence, global reach, and health impact; and working at the intersection of human, animal, and ecological health to achieve healthier people, places, and a healthier world.
The Morgellons, GMO link persists
About the time that Dr. Wymore's forensic investigation of fibers was completed, a specialist in infectious disease detection, Ahmed Kilani, claimed to have broken down two fiber samples and extracted their DNA. He found that they belonged to a fungus.
Meanwhile, Vitaly Citovsky, Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University in New York, discovered the fibers contained the substance Agrobacterium Tumafaciens, the bacteria causing crown gall disease in plants (formation of tumors in more than 140 species of dicot plants). It is a genus of gram-negative bacteria capable of genetically transforming not only plants, but also other eukaryotic species, including humans.
Anonymous samples were provided to Professor Citovsky by the Morgellon's Research Foundation to use in investigating the potential presence of Agrobacterium Tumafaciens in biopsies from Morgellon's patients. Control reactions included samples provided by healthy donors. Only Morgellons, not healthy subjects, tested positive for the bacterium in these studies.
Professor Citovsky issued a statement saying his observation does not imply that Agrobacterium Tumafaciens causes Morgellons, or that Morgellons is indeed an infectious disease. However, he has called for further study to determine (1) statistical significance of data, (2) whether the bacterium is not only present extracellularly, but also causes genetic transformation of the infected tissues, and (3) whether infection of laboratory animals with the bacterium can recreate symptoms of Morgellons.
Agrobacteerium Tumafaciens is a soil bacterium. Symptoms of grown gall disease are caused by the insertion of a small segment of DNA into the plant cell, which is incorporated at a semi-random location into the plant genome. They are parasitic and detrimental to the plant.
DNA transmission capabilities of Agrobacterium have been extensively exploited by biotechnologists as a means for inserting foreign genes into plants. They discovered the gene transfer mechanism between Agrobacterium and plants, and developed methods to alter Agrobacterium into an efficient delivery system for gene engineering in plants. This is done by cloning the desired gene sequence into the transfer DNA (T-DNA) that will be inserted into the host DNA. Under laboratory conditions the T-DNA has also been transferred to human cells, demonstrating the diversity of insertion application. The mechanism through which Agrobacterium inserts materials into the host cell is very similar to mechanisms used by pathogens to insert materials (usually proteins) into human cells.
Morgellons is a multi-dimensional disease
Morgellons starts with relentless itching, stinging or biting sensations. Cotton-like balls may appear on the body with no reasonable explanation. Soon skin rash develops along with lesions that will not heal. Many sufferers report string-like fibers of varying color popping out through the skin lesions. These fibers can be black, white, red or even iridescent blue. Others report black specks falling from their bodies that litter their sheets and bathrooms. Eventually a variety of bugs and worms begin to find their way out of the body through the lesions. Other accompanying symptoms include hair loss, debilitating and chronic fatigue, hard nodules beneath the skin, and joint pain.
Morgellons also has a cognitive aspect. People with the disease experience neurological damage that manifests as difficulty concentrating, inability to process and use language effectively, and generalized brain fog. The presence of reduced cognitive ability has made it easier for doctors to dismiss Morgellons and send patients away with a diagnosis of delusional parasitosis, meaning they are imagining they are infected by parasites. After the typical eight minute visit, traditional doctors pull out their prescription pads and write these people prescriptions for antidepressants or antipsychotic medications.
As a result, Morgellons also has a psychological component. Once people become aware that symptoms such as theirs are treated as delusions they are reluctant to seek further medical attention and tend to withdraw from society with their only contact with others being through the internet. They begin living the lifestyle of the leper. Many have to give up their jobs and become dependent on public assistance. This adds to the psychological debilitation of the disease. Not being taken seriously when you know you have a terrifying and devastating disease causes permanent psychological damage.
Morgellon's victims feel the resentment other patients do when they are told it is all in their heads. As Morgellon's progresses and the neurological symptoms become more manifest, patients can become difficult to care for and deal with. Isolated with only the internet, they become less able to effectively care for themselves. Some Morgellons patients have committed suicide.
It is a sad situation that the traditional doctor's visit must often end in a diagnosis, but the doctor is unwilling or unable to take the time to make sure it is a correct diagnosis. The traditional medical set up is frequently unable to deal with patients who present with a variety of diverse symptoms affecting several body systems at one time.
Oakland A's player Billy Koch and his family all have Morgellons. They have been open about their disease and have made some attempt to educate others. Billy had to retire from his baseball career as a result of the disease. Singer Joni Mitchell also has Morgellons, and the disease has negatively impacted her career as well.
Many morgellons victims end up trying to treat themselves
Anyone with Morgellons's symptoms will probably spend a lot of time going from doctor to doctor. While the unhelpful ones simply tell them they are delusional, the helpful ones prescribe a variety of creams used for scabies, ring worm and other parasitic diseases, but nothing works for more than a few days. With no help from the medical community, people with Morgellons turn to the internet where they learn the name for their disease and the names for the parasites that are coming through their skin. As a result of desperation and the lack of information about the disease except from chat boards, many victims end up trying a variety of toxic treatments at home.
Authorities on the disease are emerging
One of the few people to take the disease seriously was Randy Wymore, a neuroscientist at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Science. He received samples from a range of people who claimed the fibers had come through their skin. Although the samples all resembled one another, to him they looked like no other synthetic or natural fiber with which he compared them. He finally asked the Tulsa police department's forensics team to examine them.
The team identified the chemical structures of the fibers and compared them to their database of 800 fibers. They found no match, so they used gas chromatography to compare the fibers to their data on 90,000 organic compounds. The fibers did not match up with any of them. They concluded that the fibers were unknown, and not contaminants from clothing sticking to scabs on the lesions as had been thought by those so ready to dismiss what their patients were saying. Wymore and the forensic team concluded that the disease producing these fibers was very real and very frightening.
Wymore then asked the chief of the pediatrics department at Oklahoma State University Hospital, Rhonda Casey, to take a look at some of the patients. At first she was tempted to dismiss them too, but she began to realize how ill the people were. They had neurological symptoms that included confusion, loss of control of their feet that resulted in difficulty walking, and their mouths sagged when they spoke. Many had been diagnosed with neurological diseases.
Dr. Casey examined the patients, took biopsies of their lesions as well as from their healthy skin. Using a dermatoscope, she was able to observe fibers under completely unbroken skin. She found them embedded in the healthy tissue of the patients as well as the diseased tissue, and admitted seeing the full range of fiber colors. She reported seeing a lesion on a young girl's thigh with black fibers just barely protruding from it, and concluded that she could not have done this to herself.
Another person taking the disease seriously is Trisha Springstead, a registered nurse in Florida who has become a beacon of light for Morgellon's patients in the area. She has seen the fibers come through their skin, and has spent hours with patients extracting parasites embedded so deeply that a needle is required to extract them. According to her, a dermatoscope does not penetrate deeply enough to reveal the full extent of parasite involvement.
CDC begins epidemiologic investigation into Morgellons
In April, 2006, the CDC recommended an epidemiological investigation of what they were then referring to as a public health concern. In January, 2008 they announced a grant to health care giant Kaiser Permanente to test and interview 150 to 500 patients suffering from Morgellons. The study is being done in the Bay Area of northern California, where many Morgellons patients live. Kaiser Permanente doctors have been among the most ready to classify Morgellons as delusional parasitosis.
The National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne, and Enteric Diseases (ZVED) provided statements posted on the CDC website regarding what the CDC now calls "Unexplained Dermopathy (aka Morgellons"). This organization was created in 2007 under CDC's Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases. ZVED promotes itself as proving leadership, expertise, and service in laboratory and epidemiological science, bioterrorism preparedness, applied research, disease surveillance, and outbreak response for infectious diseases.
The term zoonotic refers to any disease that is able to jump the divide from animals to people. Microbes created for bioterrorism are zoonotic. There are many known zoonotic diseases, such as Lyme disease and malaria. Vectors are the transmitters of disease-causing organisms that carry the pathogens from one host to another. By common usage, vectors are considered to be invertebrate animals, usually arthropods. Technically, vertebrates can also act as vectors, including foxes, raccoons, and skunks, which can all transmit disease to humans through a bite. Mosquitoes and ticks are the most notable disease vectors, although mites and gnats may also carry disease. Enteric diseases are bacterial and viral infections of the gastrointestinal tract that account for an under appreciated burden of morbidity and mortality domestically and abroad.
The involvement of ZVED in creating the CDC webpage for Mogellons clearly implies acceptance by the CDC that Morgellons is a disease involving not just fibers but parasites.
ZVED's vision statement describes three goals: accelerating prevention, control, and preparedness of ecologically mediated microbial threats; global vision, global presence, global reach, and health impact; and working at the intersection of human, animal, and ecological health to achieve healthier people, places, and a healthier world.
The Morgellons, GMO link persists
About the time that Dr. Wymore's forensic investigation of fibers was completed, a specialist in infectious disease detection, Ahmed Kilani, claimed to have broken down two fiber samples and extracted their DNA. He found that they belonged to a fungus.
Meanwhile, Vitaly Citovsky, Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University in New York, discovered the fibers contained the substance Agrobacterium Tumafaciens, the bacteria causing crown gall disease in plants (formation of tumors in more than 140 species of dicot plants). It is a genus of gram-negative bacteria capable of genetically transforming not only plants, but also other eukaryotic species, including humans.
Anonymous samples were provided to Professor Citovsky by the Morgellon's Research Foundation to use in investigating the potential presence of Agrobacterium Tumafaciens in biopsies from Morgellon's patients. Control reactions included samples provided by healthy donors. Only Morgellons, not healthy subjects, tested positive for the bacterium in these studies.
Professor Citovsky issued a statement saying his observation does not imply that Agrobacterium Tumafaciens causes Morgellons, or that Morgellons is indeed an infectious disease. However, he has called for further study to determine (1) statistical significance of data, (2) whether the bacterium is not only present extracellularly, but also causes genetic transformation of the infected tissues, and (3) whether infection of laboratory animals with the bacterium can recreate symptoms of Morgellons.
Agrobacteerium Tumafaciens is a soil bacterium. Symptoms of grown gall disease are caused by the insertion of a small segment of DNA into the plant cell, which is incorporated at a semi-random location into the plant genome. They are parasitic and detrimental to the plant.
DNA transmission capabilities of Agrobacterium have been extensively exploited by biotechnologists as a means for inserting foreign genes into plants. They discovered the gene transfer mechanism between Agrobacterium and plants, and developed methods to alter Agrobacterium into an efficient delivery system for gene engineering in plants. This is done by cloning the desired gene sequence into the transfer DNA (T-DNA) that will be inserted into the host DNA. Under laboratory conditions the T-DNA has also been transferred to human cells, demonstrating the diversity of insertion application. The mechanism through which Agrobacterium inserts materials into the host cell is very similar to mechanisms used by pathogens to insert materials (usually proteins) into human cells.
Lentils Halt Breast Cancer and Make Nutritious Meals for Pennies
Lentils are delicious, versatile, and easy to prepare. They are one of civilization's oldest foods. First cultivated in the Near East over ten thousand years ago, lentils have been a traditional food staple that provides a wealth of nutritional benefits for pennies a serving. Lentils belong to the legume family. This is a group of vegetables that are at the base of the Mediterranean diet pyramid, a diet that reduces mortality from all causes. New research is showing that a diet rich in lentils and other legumes is associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer.
Dietary patterns and breast cancer are associated
Scientists at the University of Southern California in conjunction with those at the University of Minnesota investigated the association between dietary patterns and breast cancer risk in Asian Americans. Their population-based, case-controlled study in Los Angeles Country compared dietary patterns of 1248 Asian American women with diagnosed breast cancer, and 1148 matched controls.
A scoring method was used that found adherence to a Mediterranean diet was inversely associated with breast cancer risk. This means that the more people tended to eat the Mediterranean diet, the lower was their risk of breast cancer. Three dietary patterns were identified, and labeled Western (meat/starch based), ethnic (meat/starch based), and vegetable based. Women who were high consumers of the Western and ethnic meat/starch diets and low consumers of the vegetable based diet showed the highest risk of developing breast cancer with an odds ratio that was more than doubled. In their conclusions, the scientists placed credit for these benefits primarily on higher consumption of legumes. The study was reported in the February 11 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Tiny but mighty lentils provide plenty of other health benefits
Lentils are popular in the vegetarian community because of their high levels of protein. A one hundred gram serving of lentils has around twenty-six grams of protein. However, like all vegetable protein, lentil protein is not complete. It is lacking two essential amino acids, isoleucine and lysine. The means that another food containing these missing amino acids must also be added to a meal made up primarily of lentils. This is easily accomplished by adding brown rice or another high protein grain. And for non-vegetarians it is accomplished with the addition of small amounts of cheese or meat.
Lentils are an excellent source of many B vitamins including B6 and folate, the nutrients that help lower levels of homocysteine. Homocysteine damages artery walls and is considered a serious risk factor for heart disease. When folate and B6 are present, homocysteine is converted to health promoting cysteine and methionine.
The high level of magnesium found in lentils is another cardiovascular health booster. Magnesium is a natural calcium channel blocker. It makes veins and arteries relax, and it improves blood flow that carries oxygen to the cells. Cells that are well oxygenated cannot produce cancer.
An older study, reported in the July 1999 European Journal of Epidemiology, examined food intake patterns and 25 year risk of death from coronary heart disease in 12,763 middle-aged men from seven countries. Different food-groups and combinations were considered for comparison among cohorts. Typical patterns were higher consumption of dairy products in Northern Europe; higher consumption of meat in the U.S.; higher consumption of vegetables, legumes, fish, and wine in Southern Europe; and higher consumption of cereals, soy products, and fish in Japan. When the data was analyzed it revealed that that those who ate vegetables, legumes, fish, and wine had the greatest reduction in risk of death from coronary heart disease. Legumes were associated with an amazing 82% reduction in risk.
Eating lentils keeps energy levels high
Lentils are fiber superstars, and as such are able to help lower LDL cholesterol levels. Soluble fiber grabs hold of cholesterol containing bile and escorts it out of the body. Fiber also helps prevent constipation and digestive disorders.
Lentils are also powerful blood sugar stabilizers. Anyone prone to insulin resistance, hypoglycemia or diabetes can be helped by eating lentils, since they normalize blood sugar levels while providing the body with a steady stream of energy.
In a study reported by The World's Healthiest Foods, researchers compared two groups of people with type 2 diabetes who were fed different amounts of high fiber foods. One group ate the standard diet used by diabetics in America, containing 24 grams of fiber per day. The other group ate a diet containing 50 grams of fiber per day. Their results showed the group eating the high fiber diet had lower levels of both plasma glucose and insulin. The high fiber group also reduced their total cholesterol by nearly 7%, their triglyceride levels by 10.2 percent, and their VLDL (very low density lipoprotein) cholesterol levels by 12.5%.
Lentils are a cooks dream
Dried lentils can be bought already bagged or from bulk bins. Organic dried lentils sell for about one dollar a pound. Store lentils in an airtight jar in a cool, dark place.
There are several varieties of lentils. The most common are red, green and brown. The red variety is the most delicately flavored and cooks the quickest.
Lentils are a versatile food. They have the texture of beans and a milder flavor. Unlike beans, they do not need to be soaked before they are prepared, and can be ready to eat in under 45 minutes. Lentils have a delightful flavor of their own, and easily pick up the flavor of other ingredients. Here are recipes for quick, high flavor lentil dishes
Red Lentil Dah
Ingredients:
Two cups chopped onion
Three cloves of minced garlic
Three cups water
One and one quarter cup dried red lentils
Three quarters teaspoon turmeric
Three quarters teaspoon ground cumin
One half teaspoon chopped fresh ginger or ground
One cup basmati brown rice
Two plum tomatoes, seeded, chopped
One quarter cup chopped fresh cilantro
One jalapeno chili, seeded and chopped (if desired)
Preparation:
Rinse lentils. Combine 3 cups water, lentils, onion, garlic, and spices in heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until lentils are tender, about 15 minutes. For a thicker mixture, puree 1/3 of the mixture and return to the saucepan. Season with sea salt and black pepper. Serve over rice and garnish with the chopped jalapeno.
Brown Lentils and Spinach
Ingredients:
One cup brown lentils
One bunch fresh spinach cleaned and finely chopped
One medium onion chopped
Two cloves garlic chopped
One teaspoon coriander
One tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Juice from one half lemon or lime
Preparation:
Rinse lentils. Place in large saucepan and cover with 2 inches of water. Boil for 8 minutes. Rinse and return to saucepan. Add onion, garlic, and coriander. Fill with just enough water to cover. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes. Add spinach, olive oil, lemon juice, and sea salt to taste. Serve warm.
Lentils make a great cold main dish or salad
Lentils are tiny, so they can be blended with finely chopped fresh vegetables right out of the garden to make a highly digestible and delicious spring or summer main dish or salad. Finely chop red onion, green onion, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, green bell pepper, tomato, any kind of parsley, and basil. Add to precooked green or brown lentils. Dress with red wine vinegar, olive oil, pepper, and sea salt. The salt is needed to coax the juices from the vegetables adding extra flavor to the dressing and making the dish more digestible. Toss and let marinate in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving.
Dietary patterns and breast cancer are associated
Scientists at the University of Southern California in conjunction with those at the University of Minnesota investigated the association between dietary patterns and breast cancer risk in Asian Americans. Their population-based, case-controlled study in Los Angeles Country compared dietary patterns of 1248 Asian American women with diagnosed breast cancer, and 1148 matched controls.
A scoring method was used that found adherence to a Mediterranean diet was inversely associated with breast cancer risk. This means that the more people tended to eat the Mediterranean diet, the lower was their risk of breast cancer. Three dietary patterns were identified, and labeled Western (meat/starch based), ethnic (meat/starch based), and vegetable based. Women who were high consumers of the Western and ethnic meat/starch diets and low consumers of the vegetable based diet showed the highest risk of developing breast cancer with an odds ratio that was more than doubled. In their conclusions, the scientists placed credit for these benefits primarily on higher consumption of legumes. The study was reported in the February 11 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Tiny but mighty lentils provide plenty of other health benefits
Lentils are popular in the vegetarian community because of their high levels of protein. A one hundred gram serving of lentils has around twenty-six grams of protein. However, like all vegetable protein, lentil protein is not complete. It is lacking two essential amino acids, isoleucine and lysine. The means that another food containing these missing amino acids must also be added to a meal made up primarily of lentils. This is easily accomplished by adding brown rice or another high protein grain. And for non-vegetarians it is accomplished with the addition of small amounts of cheese or meat.
Lentils are an excellent source of many B vitamins including B6 and folate, the nutrients that help lower levels of homocysteine. Homocysteine damages artery walls and is considered a serious risk factor for heart disease. When folate and B6 are present, homocysteine is converted to health promoting cysteine and methionine.
The high level of magnesium found in lentils is another cardiovascular health booster. Magnesium is a natural calcium channel blocker. It makes veins and arteries relax, and it improves blood flow that carries oxygen to the cells. Cells that are well oxygenated cannot produce cancer.
An older study, reported in the July 1999 European Journal of Epidemiology, examined food intake patterns and 25 year risk of death from coronary heart disease in 12,763 middle-aged men from seven countries. Different food-groups and combinations were considered for comparison among cohorts. Typical patterns were higher consumption of dairy products in Northern Europe; higher consumption of meat in the U.S.; higher consumption of vegetables, legumes, fish, and wine in Southern Europe; and higher consumption of cereals, soy products, and fish in Japan. When the data was analyzed it revealed that that those who ate vegetables, legumes, fish, and wine had the greatest reduction in risk of death from coronary heart disease. Legumes were associated with an amazing 82% reduction in risk.
Eating lentils keeps energy levels high
Lentils are fiber superstars, and as such are able to help lower LDL cholesterol levels. Soluble fiber grabs hold of cholesterol containing bile and escorts it out of the body. Fiber also helps prevent constipation and digestive disorders.
Lentils are also powerful blood sugar stabilizers. Anyone prone to insulin resistance, hypoglycemia or diabetes can be helped by eating lentils, since they normalize blood sugar levels while providing the body with a steady stream of energy.
In a study reported by The World's Healthiest Foods, researchers compared two groups of people with type 2 diabetes who were fed different amounts of high fiber foods. One group ate the standard diet used by diabetics in America, containing 24 grams of fiber per day. The other group ate a diet containing 50 grams of fiber per day. Their results showed the group eating the high fiber diet had lower levels of both plasma glucose and insulin. The high fiber group also reduced their total cholesterol by nearly 7%, their triglyceride levels by 10.2 percent, and their VLDL (very low density lipoprotein) cholesterol levels by 12.5%.
Lentils are a cooks dream
Dried lentils can be bought already bagged or from bulk bins. Organic dried lentils sell for about one dollar a pound. Store lentils in an airtight jar in a cool, dark place.
There are several varieties of lentils. The most common are red, green and brown. The red variety is the most delicately flavored and cooks the quickest.
Lentils are a versatile food. They have the texture of beans and a milder flavor. Unlike beans, they do not need to be soaked before they are prepared, and can be ready to eat in under 45 minutes. Lentils have a delightful flavor of their own, and easily pick up the flavor of other ingredients. Here are recipes for quick, high flavor lentil dishes
Red Lentil Dah
Ingredients:
Two cups chopped onion
Three cloves of minced garlic
Three cups water
One and one quarter cup dried red lentils
Three quarters teaspoon turmeric
Three quarters teaspoon ground cumin
One half teaspoon chopped fresh ginger or ground
One cup basmati brown rice
Two plum tomatoes, seeded, chopped
One quarter cup chopped fresh cilantro
One jalapeno chili, seeded and chopped (if desired)
Preparation:
Rinse lentils. Combine 3 cups water, lentils, onion, garlic, and spices in heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until lentils are tender, about 15 minutes. For a thicker mixture, puree 1/3 of the mixture and return to the saucepan. Season with sea salt and black pepper. Serve over rice and garnish with the chopped jalapeno.
Brown Lentils and Spinach
Ingredients:
One cup brown lentils
One bunch fresh spinach cleaned and finely chopped
One medium onion chopped
Two cloves garlic chopped
One teaspoon coriander
One tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Juice from one half lemon or lime
Preparation:
Rinse lentils. Place in large saucepan and cover with 2 inches of water. Boil for 8 minutes. Rinse and return to saucepan. Add onion, garlic, and coriander. Fill with just enough water to cover. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes. Add spinach, olive oil, lemon juice, and sea salt to taste. Serve warm.
Lentils make a great cold main dish or salad
Lentils are tiny, so they can be blended with finely chopped fresh vegetables right out of the garden to make a highly digestible and delicious spring or summer main dish or salad. Finely chop red onion, green onion, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, green bell pepper, tomato, any kind of parsley, and basil. Add to precooked green or brown lentils. Dress with red wine vinegar, olive oil, pepper, and sea salt. The salt is needed to coax the juices from the vegetables adding extra flavor to the dressing and making the dish more digestible. Toss and let marinate in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving.
Morgellons: Expert Says Awareness and Early Treatment are Paramount
Morgellons is a terrifying disease reaching pandemic status. Yet because the symptoms of the disease are so bizarre, people who have it tend to withdraw and become isolated from society. With mysterious fibers and parasites coming through lesions in their skin, Morgellons sufferers often live in fear. As a result there is no pressure on the medical establishment to become educated about the disease, and most practitioners continue to view it as isolated instances of delusional parasitosis. Because Morgellons affects cognitive functioning and the ability to communicate, its victims are often unable to advocate for themselves, and few are knowledgeable or willing to advocate for them. Trisha Springstead, a former surgical charge nurse and clinical educator who now works as an advocate for patient's rights, has stepped in to fill some of this gap. Both knowledgeable and experienced with Morgellons, Trisha agreed to be interviewed to provide the kind of insight into the disease that can only come from direct experience.
Barbara: Trisha, thank you for doing this interview. It's time for information about this disease to become widely available. Hopefully this is a start. Is incidence of Morgellons confined to the U.S.?
Trisha: Morgellons is everywhere. It's in Australia, England, Germany. The only country where people have not reported cases of Moregllons is Iceland. Dr. Neculai Dulceanu, Head of the Department of Parasitology in Romania just scraped these from the skin of a 75 year old woman there [shows slides of fibers and parasites]. He found Rotifers and Collembola in her skin using a needle aspiration biopsy. As you can see, this shows how the fibers and parasites are intermixed. When you look deep enough into the skin, this is what you find.
No one truly knows how many people have this disease, as many of the persons I have spoken with have not reported to any database. Most people with Morgellons seem to think they are the only ones who have it, so awareness is paramount. It is so important for me to let new patients know they are not alone, and that there are thousands and thousands of people with this disease.
What I have seen is that so very many people are isolating themselves. With increased awareness and validation, I am beginning to get phone calls from isolated people who have only had this disease for a short time, like five months. These people get referred to me by word of mouth and my name is all over the internet. When people with the disease peruse the internet they find my name and email me or call me. This is the best time to get patients, because at this point they just have the crawling and biting sensations. The disease is not yet full blown. Last week I had 30 calls. I have a phone number that is in my lab, and young people in their twenties and thirties are calling. This is because they are internet savvy.
I've set up an internet reporting site where people can report that they suspect they have Morgellons. I send those reports to my Congresswoman Ginny Brown Waite. Congresswoman Waite sent a letter to the head of the CDC in May of 2007. Now there is a new head at the CDC and we are back and square one tying to get them to understand what is going on.
Barbara: Tell me some numbers so we can get a feel for the scope of the disease as it is now.
Trisha: The Morgellons Research Foundation has over 13,561 reported families. Not persons, but families. Oklahoma State University has over 20,000 families registered. About 600 people have reported their disease to me, and some have reported to the CDC. My source at CDC told me that this is the most reported disease entity since the reports of HIV/AIDS. And yet so many people have not reported out of fear. The CDC wants to keep it quiet because they are afraid of mass hysteria and mass pandemonium.
There is a huge concern among many sufferers that they are going to be rounded up and put in a camp like lepers, so they don't report.
My husband is an orthopedic surgeon. He has seen six Morgellons partients come into his office, in a very small town, Brookville. These people just happened to come to him for their joint problems, and I have taught him what to look for to diagnose Morgellons. Barbara, if he has seen six right here, it means there is a huge epidemic. And since it is world wide, it is a pandemic.
The sufferers are frenzied, and scared. I can tell you with utmost certainty, at this point in the syndrome there is not a state large enough to hold all these sufferers. Look at the numbers from Oklahoma State University. The people with this disease are so secretive and opaque that this 20,000 is just the tip of the iceberg in my estimation.
I have a teleconference call every Tuesday evening with nurses from Florida to Alaska who are working with Morgellons sufferers. Last evening we went from 9 pm to 12:30 in the morning. I spoke to them regarding advocacy and how to help raise awareness. If you are interested I will see if they wouldn't mind getting you in on the next phone call. It is the nurses that are the ones who are giving out information and trying to help others and teach the doctors about this emerging pandemic.
Barbara: I'm almost afraid to ask this, but is the disease contagious?
Trisha: The jury is out on that as far as I am concerned. Many of the nurses caring for these people in hiding do not have the disease. I believe some can be contagious but I truly believe that would be the exception and not the rule. Do I believe that some were exposed to something else at the same time they contracted this...absolutely. I interviewed the captain of a boat on Monday and I spent five hours in their home. They were the most kind and decent people. The husband has the disease, but the wife and children do not. I hugged them all and did a very in depth assessment. Dr. Randy Wymore does not have the disease, and all the doctors I work with except two of them do not have the disease. Hundreds of people I have spoken with have one or two family members that have the disease, and the rest do not.
Barbara: What happens to people who are so reluctant to come forth?
Trisha: Since doctors are so unresponsive to these people, they have gone to the internet. There are boards all over where people talk about this disease. There are many videos on YouTube. They are giving each other advice and there are no medical professionals there to tell them whoa...hold on...please don't bathe in bleach, ammonia or toxic chemicals. Hold up on the dangerous advice. People who listen to this type of advice are going to have to make a decision in a few years about what type of lung cancer treatment they want. Or they will be looking for a liver transplant, because they have poisoned themselves. People with Morgellons become very desperate and understandably so, but treating themselves with chemicals they don't understand is so dangerous. Some take de-wormers and Ivermectin or Albendazole for the weight of a horse because they don't know how to calculate kilograms of body weight, and they get the stuff from a vet or a feed store.
Barbara: What is the knowledge about how Morgellons is transmitted?
Trisha: No one knows for certain how it is being transmitted. GMOs certainly have not been ruled out. Actually, nothing has been ruled out. I keep going back to water, soil, mold and pesticides. Water, soil, mold and pesticides, but I haven't as yet been able to get beyond that to a true understanding. I personally believe that it is man's misuse of the earth with Frankenscience, GMOs, and thinking they can rearrange natural ecosystems of the earth that has created this mess. I believe the disease is also vector borne in many cases. Some of the people I have spoken with distinctly remember a bite, then a red, raised area on the skin. Then it became a rash, ulcers and full blown lesions all over their bodies. Then the bugs. The bugs are the progression of Morgellons. No doubt about it. The sicker the patients become, the more the parasites build up in the body, the deeper the brain fog, and then they begin purging out bugs.
Vitaly Citovsky at Stonybrook in New York studied the fibers of 10 patients and said they had Agrobacterium Tumafaciens in their bodies (the bacterium that causes crown gall disease in plants), but what amazed him the most was that he found a biofilm on the skins of these people. It is almost like a pseudo skin. We have to penetrate that biofilm and draw this stuff out of the body or these people will never get better. If you don't, it will stay in the skin and get worse.
Dr. Kalani said the fibers from Morgellons patients were fungal. Because the body becomes like soil, fungus is attracted. The fibers are coated with the Agobacterium, which is a pathogenic fungus also known as Agent Green. Whether it is getting in the lungs, being ingested, or is vector borne or transmitted sweat to sweat is the big question.
I took slides to my friend who is an entomologist and we found fungal hyphae, alternarium, and pathogenic funguses on the slides. These are not things that grow in humans. They are organisms that grow in plants. So the human bodies of these sufferers are becoming like soil and that does that attract? Fungus, mold and parasites.
The bodies of people with Morgellons become very acidic and so we are working with pH buffers. Johns Hopkins and even Harvard have proven that many chronic diseases, especially cancer, cannot survive in a perfectly alkaline body. So, just as we raise soil alkalinity to make it more hospitable to plant life, we must alkalinize the body to fight these pathogens. If you look at my website, there is an alkaline chart and an 80% alkaline, 20% acidic diet is on there. But if you can't do it with diet, you can buffer your pH safely. There are websites that have great pH buffers and teach sufferers how to check their urine twice a day. If they are too acidic, they can take two buffers and not the whole bottle, and check their urine again in the evening.
We have so many people who worked at the Aberdeen Proving grounds (site of munitions testing in Maryland) that now have Morgellons. They were truckers for a multimillion dollar company called Horvath. I called the owner of Horvath and told her, "Do you not understand that you have truckers who are very sick because they were exposed to soil contaminants at Aberdeen?" This woman, Sheila Horvath, said, "[S]peak to my lawyer". No one wants to go up against this company in Maryland because they have power and money. The people with the disease and I want to know what was in that soil.
There are Morgellons sufferers in the Poconos and I speak with them when I can. They are having a hard time getting lost wages and disability, and have been called delusional. Barbara, they are the salt of the earth, just good, kind people. They are not delusional. I am beginning to think the doctors who label them only say "delusional" because they don't want to look at this.
Then, as you know, there are doctors with this disease. Dr. James Matthews in Maryland almost lost his license because he was trying to help people. I saw where you commented on Dr. Beverly Drottar in your earlier article. They are the tip of the iceberg. How many biologists have this disease? I know that nurses are the number one reported sufferers, and that teachers are number two. Is it because they are reporting their disease and not hiding? That is a question I have been asking in this political quagmire, but I have no answers.
I just spoke with a woman in Tampa whose husband has had Morgellons for three years. She has a drawer full of anti-psychotic prescriptions. Their home in Grand Cayman was flooded. When they went back to it two months after the storm, he contracted Morgellons. She told me you could smell the mold from the street. Now he is a full blown case because they searched for three years to get help before they finally found Dr. Susan Kolb in Atlanta. Now he has lesions all over his legs, moving into his abdomen with bugs coming out of his body. I got him in to see Dr. Cheryl Reed in Tampa. I just spoke to her and she said he is a mess. She is getting labs to determine his liver enzymes, and is doing other studies. The jury is still out on him.
Fusarium Osysporum is a pathogenic fungus that we have seen in skin scrapings from patients. This is being sprayed on crops in the war on drugs. I have guys coming back from Afganistan with the disease. What is the biggest crop there? Opium.
For more information:
Barbara: Trisha, thank you for doing this interview. It's time for information about this disease to become widely available. Hopefully this is a start. Is incidence of Morgellons confined to the U.S.?
Trisha: Morgellons is everywhere. It's in Australia, England, Germany. The only country where people have not reported cases of Moregllons is Iceland. Dr. Neculai Dulceanu, Head of the Department of Parasitology in Romania just scraped these from the skin of a 75 year old woman there [shows slides of fibers and parasites]. He found Rotifers and Collembola in her skin using a needle aspiration biopsy. As you can see, this shows how the fibers and parasites are intermixed. When you look deep enough into the skin, this is what you find.
No one truly knows how many people have this disease, as many of the persons I have spoken with have not reported to any database. Most people with Morgellons seem to think they are the only ones who have it, so awareness is paramount. It is so important for me to let new patients know they are not alone, and that there are thousands and thousands of people with this disease.
What I have seen is that so very many people are isolating themselves. With increased awareness and validation, I am beginning to get phone calls from isolated people who have only had this disease for a short time, like five months. These people get referred to me by word of mouth and my name is all over the internet. When people with the disease peruse the internet they find my name and email me or call me. This is the best time to get patients, because at this point they just have the crawling and biting sensations. The disease is not yet full blown. Last week I had 30 calls. I have a phone number that is in my lab, and young people in their twenties and thirties are calling. This is because they are internet savvy.
I've set up an internet reporting site where people can report that they suspect they have Morgellons. I send those reports to my Congresswoman Ginny Brown Waite. Congresswoman Waite sent a letter to the head of the CDC in May of 2007. Now there is a new head at the CDC and we are back and square one tying to get them to understand what is going on.
Barbara: Tell me some numbers so we can get a feel for the scope of the disease as it is now.
Trisha: The Morgellons Research Foundation has over 13,561 reported families. Not persons, but families. Oklahoma State University has over 20,000 families registered. About 600 people have reported their disease to me, and some have reported to the CDC. My source at CDC told me that this is the most reported disease entity since the reports of HIV/AIDS. And yet so many people have not reported out of fear. The CDC wants to keep it quiet because they are afraid of mass hysteria and mass pandemonium.
There is a huge concern among many sufferers that they are going to be rounded up and put in a camp like lepers, so they don't report.
My husband is an orthopedic surgeon. He has seen six Morgellons partients come into his office, in a very small town, Brookville. These people just happened to come to him for their joint problems, and I have taught him what to look for to diagnose Morgellons. Barbara, if he has seen six right here, it means there is a huge epidemic. And since it is world wide, it is a pandemic.
The sufferers are frenzied, and scared. I can tell you with utmost certainty, at this point in the syndrome there is not a state large enough to hold all these sufferers. Look at the numbers from Oklahoma State University. The people with this disease are so secretive and opaque that this 20,000 is just the tip of the iceberg in my estimation.
I have a teleconference call every Tuesday evening with nurses from Florida to Alaska who are working with Morgellons sufferers. Last evening we went from 9 pm to 12:30 in the morning. I spoke to them regarding advocacy and how to help raise awareness. If you are interested I will see if they wouldn't mind getting you in on the next phone call. It is the nurses that are the ones who are giving out information and trying to help others and teach the doctors about this emerging pandemic.
Barbara: I'm almost afraid to ask this, but is the disease contagious?
Trisha: The jury is out on that as far as I am concerned. Many of the nurses caring for these people in hiding do not have the disease. I believe some can be contagious but I truly believe that would be the exception and not the rule. Do I believe that some were exposed to something else at the same time they contracted this...absolutely. I interviewed the captain of a boat on Monday and I spent five hours in their home. They were the most kind and decent people. The husband has the disease, but the wife and children do not. I hugged them all and did a very in depth assessment. Dr. Randy Wymore does not have the disease, and all the doctors I work with except two of them do not have the disease. Hundreds of people I have spoken with have one or two family members that have the disease, and the rest do not.
Barbara: What happens to people who are so reluctant to come forth?
Trisha: Since doctors are so unresponsive to these people, they have gone to the internet. There are boards all over where people talk about this disease. There are many videos on YouTube. They are giving each other advice and there are no medical professionals there to tell them whoa...hold on...please don't bathe in bleach, ammonia or toxic chemicals. Hold up on the dangerous advice. People who listen to this type of advice are going to have to make a decision in a few years about what type of lung cancer treatment they want. Or they will be looking for a liver transplant, because they have poisoned themselves. People with Morgellons become very desperate and understandably so, but treating themselves with chemicals they don't understand is so dangerous. Some take de-wormers and Ivermectin or Albendazole for the weight of a horse because they don't know how to calculate kilograms of body weight, and they get the stuff from a vet or a feed store.
Barbara: What is the knowledge about how Morgellons is transmitted?
Trisha: No one knows for certain how it is being transmitted. GMOs certainly have not been ruled out. Actually, nothing has been ruled out. I keep going back to water, soil, mold and pesticides. Water, soil, mold and pesticides, but I haven't as yet been able to get beyond that to a true understanding. I personally believe that it is man's misuse of the earth with Frankenscience, GMOs, and thinking they can rearrange natural ecosystems of the earth that has created this mess. I believe the disease is also vector borne in many cases. Some of the people I have spoken with distinctly remember a bite, then a red, raised area on the skin. Then it became a rash, ulcers and full blown lesions all over their bodies. Then the bugs. The bugs are the progression of Morgellons. No doubt about it. The sicker the patients become, the more the parasites build up in the body, the deeper the brain fog, and then they begin purging out bugs.
Vitaly Citovsky at Stonybrook in New York studied the fibers of 10 patients and said they had Agrobacterium Tumafaciens in their bodies (the bacterium that causes crown gall disease in plants), but what amazed him the most was that he found a biofilm on the skins of these people. It is almost like a pseudo skin. We have to penetrate that biofilm and draw this stuff out of the body or these people will never get better. If you don't, it will stay in the skin and get worse.
Dr. Kalani said the fibers from Morgellons patients were fungal. Because the body becomes like soil, fungus is attracted. The fibers are coated with the Agobacterium, which is a pathogenic fungus also known as Agent Green. Whether it is getting in the lungs, being ingested, or is vector borne or transmitted sweat to sweat is the big question.
I took slides to my friend who is an entomologist and we found fungal hyphae, alternarium, and pathogenic funguses on the slides. These are not things that grow in humans. They are organisms that grow in plants. So the human bodies of these sufferers are becoming like soil and that does that attract? Fungus, mold and parasites.
The bodies of people with Morgellons become very acidic and so we are working with pH buffers. Johns Hopkins and even Harvard have proven that many chronic diseases, especially cancer, cannot survive in a perfectly alkaline body. So, just as we raise soil alkalinity to make it more hospitable to plant life, we must alkalinize the body to fight these pathogens. If you look at my website, there is an alkaline chart and an 80% alkaline, 20% acidic diet is on there. But if you can't do it with diet, you can buffer your pH safely. There are websites that have great pH buffers and teach sufferers how to check their urine twice a day. If they are too acidic, they can take two buffers and not the whole bottle, and check their urine again in the evening.
We have so many people who worked at the Aberdeen Proving grounds (site of munitions testing in Maryland) that now have Morgellons. They were truckers for a multimillion dollar company called Horvath. I called the owner of Horvath and told her, "Do you not understand that you have truckers who are very sick because they were exposed to soil contaminants at Aberdeen?" This woman, Sheila Horvath, said, "[S]peak to my lawyer". No one wants to go up against this company in Maryland because they have power and money. The people with the disease and I want to know what was in that soil.
There are Morgellons sufferers in the Poconos and I speak with them when I can. They are having a hard time getting lost wages and disability, and have been called delusional. Barbara, they are the salt of the earth, just good, kind people. They are not delusional. I am beginning to think the doctors who label them only say "delusional" because they don't want to look at this.
Then, as you know, there are doctors with this disease. Dr. James Matthews in Maryland almost lost his license because he was trying to help people. I saw where you commented on Dr. Beverly Drottar in your earlier article. They are the tip of the iceberg. How many biologists have this disease? I know that nurses are the number one reported sufferers, and that teachers are number two. Is it because they are reporting their disease and not hiding? That is a question I have been asking in this political quagmire, but I have no answers.
I just spoke with a woman in Tampa whose husband has had Morgellons for three years. She has a drawer full of anti-psychotic prescriptions. Their home in Grand Cayman was flooded. When they went back to it two months after the storm, he contracted Morgellons. She told me you could smell the mold from the street. Now he is a full blown case because they searched for three years to get help before they finally found Dr. Susan Kolb in Atlanta. Now he has lesions all over his legs, moving into his abdomen with bugs coming out of his body. I got him in to see Dr. Cheryl Reed in Tampa. I just spoke to her and she said he is a mess. She is getting labs to determine his liver enzymes, and is doing other studies. The jury is still out on him.
Fusarium Osysporum is a pathogenic fungus that we have seen in skin scrapings from patients. This is being sprayed on crops in the war on drugs. I have guys coming back from Afganistan with the disease. What is the biggest crop there? Opium.
For more information:
Eat Like the Mediterraneans and Lower Risk of Metabolic Syndrome and Cognitive Impairment
(NaturalNews) The good news about the Mediterranean diet just keeps coming. New studies have shown that eating like the Mediterraneans lowers the risk of having metabolic syndrome and stroke. It also lowers the chances for mild cognitive impairment, and the risk of progression from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease. Survivors of heart attack had lower inflammatory markers when they adhered to the Mediterranean way of eating. Scientists have even isolated one of the most beneficial components of the diet.
Study finds Mediterranean eating cuts risk of metabolic syndrome
University scientists in Spain evaluated the relationship between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and metabolic syndrome, which is defined as a combination of medical disorders that increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes. One quarter of the world's population has metabolic syndrome. These people are three times as likely to have a heart attack as those who do not have the syndrome, and twice as likely to die from their heart attacks. They have a five fold greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Up to 80% of the 200 million people with diabetes globally will die of cardiovascular disease. This puts metabolic syndrome way above HIV/AIDS in terms of morbidity and mortality, yet the syndrome is not well recognized by the medical establishment.
A cross-sectional study was conducted with 808 high cardiovascular risk participants. Metabolic syndrome was defined by the updated National Cholesterol and Education Program Adult Treatment Panel criteria. The scientists found an inverse association between quartiles of adherence to the diet and the prevalence of the syndrome. Participants with the highest adherence to Mediterranean eating had up to 54 percent lower odds of having low HDL cholesterol and high triglycerides compared to those in the lowest quartile. Components of the diet such as olive oil, legumes, and red wine were associated with lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome. The study was published in the January 26 edition of Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Disease.
Potent beneficial compound of Mediterranean eating revealed
A study in Italy considered the relationship between dietary intake of allium vegetables and cardiovascular diseases. The allium family consists of versatile vegetables high in beneficial sulfur compounds that give them their distinctive taste and aroma. Onions and garlic are allium vegetables as are shallots, leeks and chives.
Researchers analyzed the relationship between onion intake and acute myocardial infarction (AMI), or heart attack. They used data from a case-control study of 760 patients with a first episode of non fatal heart attack, and 682 controls admitted to the same hospital. Information was collected by trained interviewers using a food-frequency questionnaire. They found that compared with non-users, the odds ratio of AMI for the following categories of onion intake were .90 for less than one portion per week and .78 for greater than one portion per week. From this study, reported in the January 13 edition of the European Journal of Nutrition, the researchers concluded that a diet rich in onions has a favorable effect on heart attack risk.
Mediterranean style eating is good for the brain
Researchers at Columbia University in New York explored the association between the Mediterranean diet and mild cognitive impairment. In a multi-ethnic community study in New York, 1393 cognitively normal participants were followed for a mean period of 4.5 years. During that time, 275 of them developed mild cognitive impairment. Compared with subjects in the lowest third for adherence to the Mediterranean diet, those in the middle third had 17 percent less risk of developing mild cognitive impairment, and those in the highest third had 28 percent less risk of developing mild cognitive impairment. There were 482 subjects who had pre-existing mild cognitive impairment, 106 of whom developed Alzheimer's disease during a mean follow up of 4.3 years. Compared with subjects in the lowest third in diet adherence, subjects in the middle third had 45 percent less risk of developing Alzheimer's, and those in the highest third had 48 percent less risk. This study was reported in the February Archives of Neurology.
The Mediterranean diet is based on abundance, not deprivation
While it is common to think of diets restricting food intake, the Mediterranean diet is a way of eating that compasses a love of eating. It has nothing to do with deprivation. It is based on the glorious array of fresh foods that are products of the region.
The diet was discovered by Dr. Ancel Keys, from the University of Minnesota Public Health School, given its name by the International Conference on Diets in the Mediterranean in 1993, and promoted by Dr. Willett, Head of the Nutrition Department at Harvard University. It is the diet of the common people living in Greece, Italy and Spain.
What is thought of as the traditional Mediterranean diet has been interpreted into a pyramid with daily physical activity at its base. Regular physical activity is seen as bedrock for promoting healthy weight, fitness and well-being. This is not grueling exercise, but enjoyable activity like walking, soccer, tennis, golf, dancing, weight lifting and love making. It includes activities with immediate paybacks, like house cleaning and gardening.
The food base of the pyramid is comprised of plant sources, including fruits, vegetables, potatoes, breads and grains, beans, and nuts and seeds. Common foods on this step are pasta, rice, couscous, and polenta. Emphasis is on a variety of minimally processed, and whenever possible, seasonally fresh and locally grown foods. Foods typically grown in the region include olives, avocadoes, grapes, spinach, eggplant, tomatoes, broccoli, peppers, mushrooms, garlic, capers, onions, almonds, walnuts, chick peas, white beans, lentils and other beans, and peanuts.
Olive oil is the principle fat used in Mediterranean cuisine. Total fat consumption ranges from less than 25 percent to over 35 percent of calories, with saturated fat making up no more than 7 to 8 percent of all fat calories. Olive oil is predominantly monounsaturated fat. Mediterraneans do not generally use highly process polyunsaturated vegetable or seed oils.
Small amounts of cheese and yogurt are consumed by the Mediterraneans on a daily basis. Consumption of fish is also a traditional part of their diet, but fish is usually consumed only once a week and in small amounts. The fish is primarily shellfish or sardines. Weekly consumption of poultry is also common. Mediterraneans eat eggs too, but don't consume more than four eggs a week including those used in cooking and baking.
Sweets such as pastries, ice cream and cookies are consumed occasionally. They are not a part of the daily diet.
At the very top of the pyramid is animal meat, such as veal or lamb. This is consumed about once a month, a very different scenario that the typical American diet in which large chunks of animals are often eaten two or three times a day. The Mediterraneans are able to meet most of their protein needs by consuming vegetables, nuts and seeds, and beans. The daily small serving of cheese or yogurt makes these proteins complete, providing all the essential amino acids.
Alcohol, particularly red wine, is consumed in moderation with meals.
The Mediterranean diet provides the nutrients needed for good health
The reliance of the Mediterraneans on fruits and vegetables as the major force in their diets means they are consuming large amounts of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and antioxidants from what they eat, so supplements are not usually needed. The diet provides a high amount of health promoting polyphenols, compounds found in fruits and vegetables that protect against the ravages of aging and ward off degenerative diseases. Their red wine provides resveratrol, the compound that mimics a diet of calorie restriction, making the Mediterranean diet one that does not make its eaters overweight. Through the dairy products and occasional fish and meats, the diet provides critical nutrients for brain health.
Olive oil also helps produce many of the beneficial effects of the diet with its ability to lower cholesterol levels in the blood. Olive oil is known to lower blood sugar levels and blood pressure. Research indicates that olive oil prevents peptic ulcers and is effective in the treatment of peptic ulcer disease. It has recently been shown to protect women from HER-2 breast cancer. Olive oil, along with the nuts, seeds and fish of the diet provides beneficial omega-3 fatty acids. Studies have shown that omega-3 fatty acids lower triglycerides and have an anti-inflammatory effect that helps to stabilize blood vessel lining. Omega-3 fats promote optimal cognitive functioning.
For more information:
Study finds Mediterranean eating cuts risk of metabolic syndrome
University scientists in Spain evaluated the relationship between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and metabolic syndrome, which is defined as a combination of medical disorders that increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes. One quarter of the world's population has metabolic syndrome. These people are three times as likely to have a heart attack as those who do not have the syndrome, and twice as likely to die from their heart attacks. They have a five fold greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Up to 80% of the 200 million people with diabetes globally will die of cardiovascular disease. This puts metabolic syndrome way above HIV/AIDS in terms of morbidity and mortality, yet the syndrome is not well recognized by the medical establishment.
A cross-sectional study was conducted with 808 high cardiovascular risk participants. Metabolic syndrome was defined by the updated National Cholesterol and Education Program Adult Treatment Panel criteria. The scientists found an inverse association between quartiles of adherence to the diet and the prevalence of the syndrome. Participants with the highest adherence to Mediterranean eating had up to 54 percent lower odds of having low HDL cholesterol and high triglycerides compared to those in the lowest quartile. Components of the diet such as olive oil, legumes, and red wine were associated with lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome. The study was published in the January 26 edition of Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Disease.
Potent beneficial compound of Mediterranean eating revealed
A study in Italy considered the relationship between dietary intake of allium vegetables and cardiovascular diseases. The allium family consists of versatile vegetables high in beneficial sulfur compounds that give them their distinctive taste and aroma. Onions and garlic are allium vegetables as are shallots, leeks and chives.
Researchers analyzed the relationship between onion intake and acute myocardial infarction (AMI), or heart attack. They used data from a case-control study of 760 patients with a first episode of non fatal heart attack, and 682 controls admitted to the same hospital. Information was collected by trained interviewers using a food-frequency questionnaire. They found that compared with non-users, the odds ratio of AMI for the following categories of onion intake were .90 for less than one portion per week and .78 for greater than one portion per week. From this study, reported in the January 13 edition of the European Journal of Nutrition, the researchers concluded that a diet rich in onions has a favorable effect on heart attack risk.
Mediterranean style eating is good for the brain
Researchers at Columbia University in New York explored the association between the Mediterranean diet and mild cognitive impairment. In a multi-ethnic community study in New York, 1393 cognitively normal participants were followed for a mean period of 4.5 years. During that time, 275 of them developed mild cognitive impairment. Compared with subjects in the lowest third for adherence to the Mediterranean diet, those in the middle third had 17 percent less risk of developing mild cognitive impairment, and those in the highest third had 28 percent less risk of developing mild cognitive impairment. There were 482 subjects who had pre-existing mild cognitive impairment, 106 of whom developed Alzheimer's disease during a mean follow up of 4.3 years. Compared with subjects in the lowest third in diet adherence, subjects in the middle third had 45 percent less risk of developing Alzheimer's, and those in the highest third had 48 percent less risk. This study was reported in the February Archives of Neurology.
The Mediterranean diet is based on abundance, not deprivation
While it is common to think of diets restricting food intake, the Mediterranean diet is a way of eating that compasses a love of eating. It has nothing to do with deprivation. It is based on the glorious array of fresh foods that are products of the region.
The diet was discovered by Dr. Ancel Keys, from the University of Minnesota Public Health School, given its name by the International Conference on Diets in the Mediterranean in 1993, and promoted by Dr. Willett, Head of the Nutrition Department at Harvard University. It is the diet of the common people living in Greece, Italy and Spain.
What is thought of as the traditional Mediterranean diet has been interpreted into a pyramid with daily physical activity at its base. Regular physical activity is seen as bedrock for promoting healthy weight, fitness and well-being. This is not grueling exercise, but enjoyable activity like walking, soccer, tennis, golf, dancing, weight lifting and love making. It includes activities with immediate paybacks, like house cleaning and gardening.
The food base of the pyramid is comprised of plant sources, including fruits, vegetables, potatoes, breads and grains, beans, and nuts and seeds. Common foods on this step are pasta, rice, couscous, and polenta. Emphasis is on a variety of minimally processed, and whenever possible, seasonally fresh and locally grown foods. Foods typically grown in the region include olives, avocadoes, grapes, spinach, eggplant, tomatoes, broccoli, peppers, mushrooms, garlic, capers, onions, almonds, walnuts, chick peas, white beans, lentils and other beans, and peanuts.
Olive oil is the principle fat used in Mediterranean cuisine. Total fat consumption ranges from less than 25 percent to over 35 percent of calories, with saturated fat making up no more than 7 to 8 percent of all fat calories. Olive oil is predominantly monounsaturated fat. Mediterraneans do not generally use highly process polyunsaturated vegetable or seed oils.
Small amounts of cheese and yogurt are consumed by the Mediterraneans on a daily basis. Consumption of fish is also a traditional part of their diet, but fish is usually consumed only once a week and in small amounts. The fish is primarily shellfish or sardines. Weekly consumption of poultry is also common. Mediterraneans eat eggs too, but don't consume more than four eggs a week including those used in cooking and baking.
Sweets such as pastries, ice cream and cookies are consumed occasionally. They are not a part of the daily diet.
At the very top of the pyramid is animal meat, such as veal or lamb. This is consumed about once a month, a very different scenario that the typical American diet in which large chunks of animals are often eaten two or three times a day. The Mediterraneans are able to meet most of their protein needs by consuming vegetables, nuts and seeds, and beans. The daily small serving of cheese or yogurt makes these proteins complete, providing all the essential amino acids.
Alcohol, particularly red wine, is consumed in moderation with meals.
The Mediterranean diet provides the nutrients needed for good health
The reliance of the Mediterraneans on fruits and vegetables as the major force in their diets means they are consuming large amounts of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and antioxidants from what they eat, so supplements are not usually needed. The diet provides a high amount of health promoting polyphenols, compounds found in fruits and vegetables that protect against the ravages of aging and ward off degenerative diseases. Their red wine provides resveratrol, the compound that mimics a diet of calorie restriction, making the Mediterranean diet one that does not make its eaters overweight. Through the dairy products and occasional fish and meats, the diet provides critical nutrients for brain health.
Olive oil also helps produce many of the beneficial effects of the diet with its ability to lower cholesterol levels in the blood. Olive oil is known to lower blood sugar levels and blood pressure. Research indicates that olive oil prevents peptic ulcers and is effective in the treatment of peptic ulcer disease. It has recently been shown to protect women from HER-2 breast cancer. Olive oil, along with the nuts, seeds and fish of the diet provides beneficial omega-3 fatty acids. Studies have shown that omega-3 fatty acids lower triglycerides and have an anti-inflammatory effect that helps to stabilize blood vessel lining. Omega-3 fats promote optimal cognitive functioning.
For more information:
Supplements of DIM Stop Many Cancers in Their Tracks
(NaturalNews) An anti-cancer compound found in broccoli and cabbage stops breast cancer by lowering the activity of an enzyme associated with rapidly advancing breast cancer, according to a recent study from the University of California, Berkley. That compound was indole-3-carbinol (I3C). Today, scientists have found that diindolymethane (DIM), a molecule found in I3C, is the chemoprotective compound that gets the job done. According to them, DIM is the better choice for women wanting to halt breast cancer.
DIM remains active in the body, but I3C does not
Scientists at the Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey report that the recommendation for use of I3C as a weapon against cancer does not sufficiently consider the chemical instability of the I3C compound. They investigated whether I3C was directly active in its own right, or whether it only serves as a precursor, with all of the biological responses coming from some of the reaction products of I3C.
They found that in the body, I3C rapidly converts into DIM, and other molecules. When an oral dose of I3C is taken, very little circulating I3C is present to effect a biological response. Because DIM provides a predictable, safer response than the full range of compounds derived from I3C, DIM should be regarded as the better choice. This study is from the July-August edition of the journal In Vivo.
DIM stops breast cancer through hormone modulation
DIM regulates hormone balance and cell behavior through its ability to impact the actions of hormones. The growth promoting activity of unbalanced estrogen can be reduced by eating cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, or by taking DIM supplements. DIM is truly unique among all phytonutrients because it is the only one able to modify estrogen metabolism in the direction of greater 2-hydroxy estrogen production. Improper metabolism of estrogen allows for oxidation and damage to DNA. It also spurs the growth of estrogen sensitive cancers.
Incidence of breast cancer and other estrogen related cancers is low in societies that consume a diet high in total vegetable content. For those people, DIM is gotten by regularly eating broccoli, cabbage, kale, and other cruciferous vegetables.
When women in America have breast cancer and go to see their oncologists, they are never told about the link between eating cruciferous vegetables and halting the spread of cancer, because the Great American Cancer Machine refuses to acknowledge that such a link exists. They are also not told how easily they can halt the spread of their cancers by taking supplements of DIM. If women were told the truth, they could never be sold toxic treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy, and they would never agree to take such devastating drugs as Arimidex or Tamoxifen, because they would know that their own natural estrogen is not their enemy when it is properly balanced and metabolized.
The truth is that eating large amounts of cruciferous vegetables or regularly drinking their juices can prevent cancer and stop existing cancers in their tracks. Anyone who does not want to eat large amounts of these vegetables can achieve their effects by regularly taking DIM supplements. DIM supplements can drastically cut the chances of cancer recurrence.
Studies have shown that DIM increases the production of 2-hydroxy estrogen by 75% and decreases the production of 16-hydroxy estrone by 50%. This action creates the proper balance of estrogen to estrone so needed to halt cancer and prevent its recurrence.
Dr. John Lee will tell you what your own doctor won't
Many well established risk factors for breast cancer have been correlated with low 2-hydroxy estrogen production, such as obesity, high fat diets, and diets deficient in Omega-3 fatty acids. In his book What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Breast Cancer, Harvard Medical School Professor Dr. John Lee explains the estrogen metabolic cycle and the importance of the ratio between 2-hydroxy and 16-hydroxy estrogen in stopping and preventing breast cancer.
DIM is not a phytoestrogen
DIM does not mimic the action of any estrogen or phytoestrogen. It has no inherent estrogenic activity. DIM balances the natural response to estrogen by adjusting the activity of metabolic enzymes and specialized estrogen receptor molecules. In dividing cells, the growth promoting signal from estrogen is limited by the reduction of the activity level of the estrogen receptor system. DIM's ability to promote healthy metabolic pathways for estrogen limits cell division and growth through influence on the cell cycle which determines growth and replication.
DIM chokes off the blood supply from tumors
In order for a cancer to grow and thrive, it must have a steady blood supply. Cancers create their blood supply though a process known as angiogenesis. Researchers have shown that DIM is able to stop tumors from completing angiogenesis and creating their own blood supplies. Moreover, the level of oxygen in tumor cells was increased by the use of DIM. Oxygen is the mortal enemy of cancer. Cancer can only grow and thrive in cells that are suffocating from lack of oxygen. A study reported in the May, 2008 Biochemical Pharmacology Journal was the first to show that DIM can decrease the accumulation and activity of the key angiogenesis regulatory factor, HIF-1alpha, in hypoxic tumor cells.
DIM makes cancer cells commit suicide
Apoptosis is the appropriate death of cells. Without apoptosis, cancerous cells can continue to proliferate. In a study reported in the April 22, 2008 edition of Pharmaceutical Research, scientists found low doses of DIM induced production of a pro-apoptotic protein in prostate cancer cells. This protein, known as the prostate apoptosis reponse-4 (PAR-4), reduced cancer cell viability and caused cell growth inhibition and apoptosis.
DIM halts invasion and metastasis of cancer cells
The progression and metastasis of breast and other cancers is regulated by the interaction between a chemokine receptor and its ligand. Organs secrete a particular ligand which binds to the chemokine receptor on the surface of primary cancer cells. This process stimulates the invasive properties of the cancer cells and attracts them to the preferred organ sites, creating metastasis. Researchers found that DIM down-regulates both the ligand and the receptor in breast cancer cells as well as in ovarian cancer cells. In their study reported in the March 28, 2008 Cancer Letter, researchers demonstrated that the potential of cells for chemotaxis and invasion is inhibited by DIM.
DIM is effective against HER-2 cancers
When in vitro experiments were done with breast cancer cell lines, researchers found that DIM inhibited the growth of all four breast cancer cell lines. Because two of the lines over expressed Her-2 and lacked estrogen receptors, these were studied in depth. DIM induced expression of the tumor suppressor p27 genes before the loss of cell viability and apoptosis, and induced transcript expression within six hours. Researchers in this study concluded that the effects of DIM were independent of Her-2 or estrogen receptor status. This study was reported in the February, 2008 Molecular Cancer Therapeutics
DIM is a powerful anti-inflammatory
Recurrent and chronic inflammation has been implicated in the development of several kinds of cancers. As a result, researchers examined DIM's anti-inflammatory properties and mechanisms using stimulated macrophages. DIM was found to significantly decrease the release of nitric oxide, estradiol, tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-6, and interleukin-1beta. They concluded that DIM inhibits the release of pro-inflammatory mediators in macrophages. This study can be found in the January, 2008 Journal of Nutrition.
DIM may be nature's Viagra
Estrogen is a growth promoting hormone in men as well as women. As men age, they begin to convert more of their testosterone into estrogen, placing themselves as risk of prostate cancer. DIM works the same wonder in men as it does in women, by blocking some of the conversion of testosterone into estrogen. When men are able to keep more of their testosterone, they are able to function sexually at a more youthful level. Erectile dysfunction is a symptom that testosterone is being converted to estrogen that can fuel the growth of prostate cancer. A man taking DIM may find his pot belly receding, and his morning erections returning, along with the return of more youthful energy levels.
For more information see:
DIM remains active in the body, but I3C does not
Scientists at the Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey report that the recommendation for use of I3C as a weapon against cancer does not sufficiently consider the chemical instability of the I3C compound. They investigated whether I3C was directly active in its own right, or whether it only serves as a precursor, with all of the biological responses coming from some of the reaction products of I3C.
They found that in the body, I3C rapidly converts into DIM, and other molecules. When an oral dose of I3C is taken, very little circulating I3C is present to effect a biological response. Because DIM provides a predictable, safer response than the full range of compounds derived from I3C, DIM should be regarded as the better choice. This study is from the July-August edition of the journal In Vivo.
DIM stops breast cancer through hormone modulation
DIM regulates hormone balance and cell behavior through its ability to impact the actions of hormones. The growth promoting activity of unbalanced estrogen can be reduced by eating cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, or by taking DIM supplements. DIM is truly unique among all phytonutrients because it is the only one able to modify estrogen metabolism in the direction of greater 2-hydroxy estrogen production. Improper metabolism of estrogen allows for oxidation and damage to DNA. It also spurs the growth of estrogen sensitive cancers.
Incidence of breast cancer and other estrogen related cancers is low in societies that consume a diet high in total vegetable content. For those people, DIM is gotten by regularly eating broccoli, cabbage, kale, and other cruciferous vegetables.
When women in America have breast cancer and go to see their oncologists, they are never told about the link between eating cruciferous vegetables and halting the spread of cancer, because the Great American Cancer Machine refuses to acknowledge that such a link exists. They are also not told how easily they can halt the spread of their cancers by taking supplements of DIM. If women were told the truth, they could never be sold toxic treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy, and they would never agree to take such devastating drugs as Arimidex or Tamoxifen, because they would know that their own natural estrogen is not their enemy when it is properly balanced and metabolized.
The truth is that eating large amounts of cruciferous vegetables or regularly drinking their juices can prevent cancer and stop existing cancers in their tracks. Anyone who does not want to eat large amounts of these vegetables can achieve their effects by regularly taking DIM supplements. DIM supplements can drastically cut the chances of cancer recurrence.
Studies have shown that DIM increases the production of 2-hydroxy estrogen by 75% and decreases the production of 16-hydroxy estrone by 50%. This action creates the proper balance of estrogen to estrone so needed to halt cancer and prevent its recurrence.
Dr. John Lee will tell you what your own doctor won't
Many well established risk factors for breast cancer have been correlated with low 2-hydroxy estrogen production, such as obesity, high fat diets, and diets deficient in Omega-3 fatty acids. In his book What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Breast Cancer, Harvard Medical School Professor Dr. John Lee explains the estrogen metabolic cycle and the importance of the ratio between 2-hydroxy and 16-hydroxy estrogen in stopping and preventing breast cancer.
DIM is not a phytoestrogen
DIM does not mimic the action of any estrogen or phytoestrogen. It has no inherent estrogenic activity. DIM balances the natural response to estrogen by adjusting the activity of metabolic enzymes and specialized estrogen receptor molecules. In dividing cells, the growth promoting signal from estrogen is limited by the reduction of the activity level of the estrogen receptor system. DIM's ability to promote healthy metabolic pathways for estrogen limits cell division and growth through influence on the cell cycle which determines growth and replication.
DIM chokes off the blood supply from tumors
In order for a cancer to grow and thrive, it must have a steady blood supply. Cancers create their blood supply though a process known as angiogenesis. Researchers have shown that DIM is able to stop tumors from completing angiogenesis and creating their own blood supplies. Moreover, the level of oxygen in tumor cells was increased by the use of DIM. Oxygen is the mortal enemy of cancer. Cancer can only grow and thrive in cells that are suffocating from lack of oxygen. A study reported in the May, 2008 Biochemical Pharmacology Journal was the first to show that DIM can decrease the accumulation and activity of the key angiogenesis regulatory factor, HIF-1alpha, in hypoxic tumor cells.
DIM makes cancer cells commit suicide
Apoptosis is the appropriate death of cells. Without apoptosis, cancerous cells can continue to proliferate. In a study reported in the April 22, 2008 edition of Pharmaceutical Research, scientists found low doses of DIM induced production of a pro-apoptotic protein in prostate cancer cells. This protein, known as the prostate apoptosis reponse-4 (PAR-4), reduced cancer cell viability and caused cell growth inhibition and apoptosis.
DIM halts invasion and metastasis of cancer cells
The progression and metastasis of breast and other cancers is regulated by the interaction between a chemokine receptor and its ligand. Organs secrete a particular ligand which binds to the chemokine receptor on the surface of primary cancer cells. This process stimulates the invasive properties of the cancer cells and attracts them to the preferred organ sites, creating metastasis. Researchers found that DIM down-regulates both the ligand and the receptor in breast cancer cells as well as in ovarian cancer cells. In their study reported in the March 28, 2008 Cancer Letter, researchers demonstrated that the potential of cells for chemotaxis and invasion is inhibited by DIM.
DIM is effective against HER-2 cancers
When in vitro experiments were done with breast cancer cell lines, researchers found that DIM inhibited the growth of all four breast cancer cell lines. Because two of the lines over expressed Her-2 and lacked estrogen receptors, these were studied in depth. DIM induced expression of the tumor suppressor p27 genes before the loss of cell viability and apoptosis, and induced transcript expression within six hours. Researchers in this study concluded that the effects of DIM were independent of Her-2 or estrogen receptor status. This study was reported in the February, 2008 Molecular Cancer Therapeutics
DIM is a powerful anti-inflammatory
Recurrent and chronic inflammation has been implicated in the development of several kinds of cancers. As a result, researchers examined DIM's anti-inflammatory properties and mechanisms using stimulated macrophages. DIM was found to significantly decrease the release of nitric oxide, estradiol, tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-6, and interleukin-1beta. They concluded that DIM inhibits the release of pro-inflammatory mediators in macrophages. This study can be found in the January, 2008 Journal of Nutrition.
DIM may be nature's Viagra
Estrogen is a growth promoting hormone in men as well as women. As men age, they begin to convert more of their testosterone into estrogen, placing themselves as risk of prostate cancer. DIM works the same wonder in men as it does in women, by blocking some of the conversion of testosterone into estrogen. When men are able to keep more of their testosterone, they are able to function sexually at a more youthful level. Erectile dysfunction is a symptom that testosterone is being converted to estrogen that can fuel the growth of prostate cancer. A man taking DIM may find his pot belly receding, and his morning erections returning, along with the return of more youthful energy levels.
For more information see:
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