Palin not really pregant? Covered for 16 year old daughter? August 31, 2008
Posted by healthandsurvival in Politics and Medicine.Tags: Life, politics, news, palin
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Here’s a story that’s filled with salacious gossip, secret pregnancies and unproven sources. In other words, perfect for FameCrawler! There’s a rumor surfacing that Sarah Palin’s fifth child Trig, who was born in April, is actually the child of Palin’s 16-year-old daughter Bristol. According to sources, Sarah Palin’s announcement in early March that she was seven months pregnant came as a shock to those that had worked closely with her, since she did displayed no signs of pregnancy whatsoever during the previous seven months. Here are a couple of other pieces to this story:
- Palin does not appear to be pregnant in any photos taken during her pregnancy. Sources point mainly to the photo below, which was taken of Palin when she would have been almost 7 months pregnant. ….read rest of story here…
Flu shot does not cut risk of death in elderly August 30, 2008
Posted by healthandsurvival in Diseases, Society, Survival, Wellness, health, medicine, vaccines.Tags: elderly, flu shot, health, health news, influenza, Life, medicine, news, pneumonia, senior citizens, vaccine, Wellness
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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – While influenza vaccination does provide protection against catching the flu, it does not have a major impact on death in the elderly, contrary to what some studies have suggested, a new study suggests.
In prior studies, an impressive 50 percent reduction in death from any cause had been noted in elderly people who got a flu shot, but some researchers were skeptical of this degree of benefit, suggesting that it may have been the result of the “healthy user effect.” The new study supports this line of thinking.
The study included more than 700 elderly people, half of whom had gotten a flu shot and half of whom had not. After controlling for a variety of factors that were largely not considered or simply not available in previous studies, the researchers concluded that any death benefit “if present at all, was very small and statistically non-significant and may simply be a healthy-user artifact that they were unable to identify.”
“The healthy-user effect,” study chief Dr. Sumit Majumdar of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada explained in a statement, “is seen in what doctors often refer to as their ‘good’ patients — patients who are well-informed about their health, who exercise regularly, do not smoke or have quit, drink only in moderation, watch what they eat, come in regularly for health maintenance visits and disease screenings, take their medications exactly as prescribed — and quite religiously get vaccinated each year so as to stay healthy. Such attributes are almost impossible to capture in large scale studies using administrative databases.”
”Over the last two decades in the United Sates, even while (flu) vaccination rates among the elderly have increased from 15 to 65 percent, there has been no commensurate decrease in hospital admissions or all-cause mortality,” added co-investigator Dr. Dean T. Eurich, who is also with the University of Alberta.
“Further, only about 10 percent of winter-time deaths in the United States are attributable to influenza, thus to suggest that the vaccine can reduce 50 percent of deaths from all causes is implausible in our opinion,” he added.
The study involved 352 patients given the vaccine and 352 matched control subjects. Overall, 85 percent of patients were over 64 years of age. Severe pneumonia was seen in 29 percent of patients and 12 percent of the patients died.
Flu vaccination was, in fact, associated with reduced mortality of about 50 percent (8 percent vs. 15 percent mortality in the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups, respectively), and this finding did not change after accounting for age, gender, or co-existing illnesses.
However, after adjusting for other potential confounders, including functional and socioeconomic status, the mortality reduction was weakened and no longer statistically significant.
Prominent Neurosurgeons Fear Cell Phone Use Causes Brain Tumors August 30, 2008
Posted by healthandsurvival in Diseases, Society, Survival, Wellness, environment, health, medicine.Tags: acoustic neuroma, att, brain cancer, cancer, cell phone, communication, digital phones, electronics, emf, headache, health, Life, neuroma, neurosurgery, news, safety, sprint, telephone, verizon, Wellness
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I personally use a bluetooth headset or keep my phone on speaker phone – most of the time. However, I am going to make sure I do this more frequently. I must admit, I still place the phone next to my ear… especially when my bluetooth is not around.. This information is definitely scary!
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Prominent Neurosurgeons Fear Cell Phone Use Causes Brain Tumors
by David Gutierrez
(NaturalNews) Three prominent neurosurgeons recently said on the CNN interview show Larry King Live that they refuse to place cellular phones directly against their heads, for fear of brain tumors.
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta and Los Angeles brain surgeon Keith Black both stated that they use earpieces instead of holding the handset up against their heads.
“I think the safe practice is to use an earpiece so you keep the microwave antenna away from your brain,” said Black, who works at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
“I use it on the speaker-phone mode,” Australian National University neurosurgery researcher Vini Khurana said. “I do not hold it to my ear.”
A number of recent studies have shown that the use of cell phone handsets increases people’s risk of three kinds of tumors in particular: glioma, a tumor of the brain that can be either benign or malignant; acoustic neuroma, a benign tumor of the nerve that connects the ear and brain; and cancer of the salivary gland near the ear that is known as the parotid.
For example, one study found that heavy cell phone users had a 58 percent higher risk of parotid cancers, while another found that people who used mobile phones for 10 years experienced a 100 percent increased risk of acoustic neuroma and glioma.
Many of these studies found that tumors are more likely to occur on the side of the head or neck where the phone is most regularly held.
The FDA says that cell phone use is safe, based on three large epidemiological studies conducted after 2000. But the agency admits that those studies only followed participants for an average of three years, whereas it regularly takes brain tumors 10 years to develop enough to be detectable.
Concerned health professionals have warned that even if the risk from cellular phones is small, the scale on which the phones are used could still lead to a massive public health crisis.
An estimated three billion mobile people – 45 percent of the world’s population – use mobile phones.
Sources for this story include: www.iht.com.
Vegan Diet Reduces Risk of Arthritis, Heart Attack and Stroke August 30, 2008
Posted by healthandsurvival in Diet and Nutrition, Diseases, Society, Survival, Wellness, health, medicine.Tags: arthritis, health, heart attack, Life, medicine, news, stroke, vegan, Wellness
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Vegan Diet Reduces Risk of Arthritis, Heart Attack and Stroke
by David Gutierrez
(NaturalNews) Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, have published a study in the journal Arthritis Research and Therapy showing that eating a vegan, gluten-free diet may reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes in rheumatoid arthritis patients, as well as reducing the severity of the disease.
Rheumatoid arthritis is considered a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
The researchers studied 66 adults with rheumatoid arthritis, averaging 50 years in age. Thirty-eight of the adults were placed on a vegan, gluten-free diet in which carbohydrates provided 60 percent of daily calories, fat provided 30 percent and protein provided 10 percent.
A vegan diet is one free of any animal products, including flesh, dairy and eggs. In addition to omitting animal products, the study participants also eschewed gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, oats and rye.
Instead, participants in the vegan, gluten-free group began with a one-day, low-energy diet of berry juice and broth. Starting on the second day, they were fed grains such as buckwheat, corn, millet and rice, as well as ample quantities of nuts, sunflower seeds, vegetables and fruits. Calcium was provided with a daily serving of sesame milk.
The 28 participants in the control group were fed a diet including both animal products and gluten with a similar carbohydrate-fat-protein breakdown to the vegan diet. They were encouraged to eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day and to eat complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains and potatoes, over simpler sources.
In both diets, saturated fat was kept to a maximum of 10 percent of daily energy intake.
After three and 12 months, the researchers measured several biomarkers in all the participants. Only 58 percent of the people in the vegan, gluten-free group completed the study.
The researchers found that participants in the vegan group experienced a drop in their body mass index, total cholesterol and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. Triglyceride and HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels did not change. There was also an increase in the levels of antiPC antibodies, which are believed to help protect the body against cardiovascular disease.
None of these markers changed in the control group.
“These findings are compatible with previous results of vegetarian/vegan dietary regimens in non-rheumatoid arthritis subjects, which have shown lower blood pressure, lower body mass index and lower incidence of cardiovascular disease,” the researchers said.
High LDL and total cholesterol, as well as higher body mass index, are all risk factors for heart attack and stroke.
In addition, the researchers found that levels of the inflammation marker CRP and the number of swollen joints decreased in those on the vegan, gluten-free diet. There was no change in those on the control diet.
In contrast to the more common osteoarthritis, which is caused by damage to the cartilage and lubricating fluid in the joints, rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder caused when the body’s immune system attacks its own tissue. In addition to the pain and restricted movement caused by the destruction of joints, the inflammation caused by the immune system’s attacks increases patients’ risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Approximately 20 million people around the world suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, which affects women more than men. Early diagnosis can slow the progress of the disease, but there is no cure.
The United Kingdom’s National Health Service cautioned that the study had a small sample size and did not follow patients long enough to see if there was actually a reduction in the rate of heart attacks and strokes.
Still, Sir Muir Gray, the agency’s chief knowledge officer said that anyone interested in preserving their health should try to eat a more vegan diet.
“The evidence is mounting; if you want to stay healthy and save the planet, eat less, eat more plants and eat only food that your great grandmother would recognize if she were alive today,” Gray said.
From www.NaturalNews.com
Obese People to Blame for Accelerating Global Warming? August 30, 2008
Posted by healthandsurvival in Alternative, Diet and Nutrition, Diseases, Global Warming, Wellness, environment, medicine.Tags: environment, fat, Global Warming, health, Life, medicine, news, Obese, obesity, Wellness
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Obese People to Blame for Accelerating Global Warming?
by David Gutierrez
(NaturalNews) The weight and consumption habits of the overweight and obese are worsening the pace of global warming, said two researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in a letter to the medical journal Lancet.
It takes more fuel to transport people who are obese and therefore heavier, Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts wrote. In addition, heavier people do not just tend to eat more food: they actually require it. The researchers calculated that it takes an obese person 1,680 calories per day just to maintain their body functioning and another 1,280 to sustain their daily activities. This is 18 percent higher than the caloric intake required for a person with a normal body mass index (BMI).
BMI is a measure of weight relative to height that is used to calculate healthy body weight. A BMI of 18 to 25 is considered normal, while a BMI above 25 is considered overweight and one of 30 or more obese.
But according to Edwards and Roberts, 40 percent of the global population has a BMI in the neighborhood of 30 or more.
“We are all becoming heavier and it is a global responsibility,” Edwards said. “Obesity is a key part of the big picture.”
The production and transportation of food is a major source of greenhouse gases, the researchers noted, with agriculture responsible for a whopping 20 percent of global emissions. They also faulted the overweight for contributing to global food shortages.
“Promotion of a normal distribution of BMI would reduce the global demand for, and thus the price of, food,” the researchers wrote.
Tim Church of Louisiana State University questioned Edwards and Roberts’ focus on obesity, noting that 25 percent of the food produced in the United States is thrown away.
“We throw away far more food than the extra 460 calories per day [that Edwards and Roberts] point out,” Church said. “In other words, most of our food overproduction is due to waste, not overeating.”
Sources for this story include: www.reuters.com, telegraph.co.uk
