The California-based Environmental Law Foundation filed notices with the state's attorney general late last week that would require potato chip manufacturers to add labels to their products warning consumers about the high levels of acrylamide they contain.

Formed when starchy foods are baked or fried at high temperatures, acrylamide is considered a cancer-causing chemical by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and manufacturers that sell their products without such warnings are in violation of California Proposition 65.

From this point, Attorney General Bill Lockyer has 60 days to decide to pursue the case. If he doesn't, the foundation will file lawsuits against the companies, including PepsiCo (various Lay's baked chips brands), Proctor & Gamble (Pringles), Kettle Foods (Kettle Chips) and Lance Inc. (Cape Cod Chips). Of course, the reaction from the chip makers was predictably defensive, considering the FDA's position on acrylamide is ambivalent at best.

Perhaps, the FDA wouldn't be nearly so noncommittal if they had reviewed a report developed by the foundation that listed how far various chip brands exceeded the state's required warning levels for acrylamide. Here's a sampling of the offenders:

• Cape Cod Robust Russet: 910 times
• Kettle Chips (lightly salted): 505 times
• Kettle Chips (honey dijon): 495 times
• Pringles Snack Stacks (pizza-flavored): 170 times
• Lay's Baked: 150 times

That's why chips -- and fried foods in general -- made my popular list of some of the worst foods you can possibly eat, and should avoid at all costs.

Environmental Law Foundation June 16, 2005 Free Full Text Report

Yahoo News June 17, 2005

You know how important vitamin D is for your daily health, and that getting the right amount of sun every day enables your body to generate enough of it to optimize your health. If you're still on the fence, however, you may be glad to learn maintaining high levels of vitamin D and calcium can reduce a woman's risk of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) altogether.

University of Massachusetts researchers compared the diets of some 1,050 women with PMS with almost 2,000 women who reported no symptoms over a decade. The difference between the two groups: Those who ate more than three servings of a dairy product daily were less likely to suffer from the symptoms commonly associated with PMS.

Scientists were certainly convinced about the beneficial effect vitamin D has on PMS and emotions in general: The lead researcher recommended vitamin D as an alternative to stronger medications -- antidepressant drugs -- for PMS, that can have substantial side effects.

The trick about getting the right amount of calcium, however, is that pasteurized dairy or soy products are some of the worst things you could eat. On the other hand, raw milk is the single best source of calcium on the planet, if you can tolerate it based on your body's unique metabolic type. It is far better than any calcium supplement you can purchase, as it is in nature's original package that is designed for optimal absorption.

That said, I recommend finding an authentic raw-milk source, whose cows are pasture-fed, in your area. If you are unable to find a local dairy farmer in your area who sells raw milk, I encourage you to visit the Real Milk site to locate a source close to you.

(You can certainly eat large amounts of dark green leafy vegetables instead of raw milk too, but protein types tend not to tolerate the large volumes that are required and it is a major challenge to obtain sufficient calcium from vegetable sources.)

Archives of Internal Medicine, Vol. 165, No. 11, June 13, 2005: 1246-1252

CNN June 14, 2005

To say I was very moved by a recent commencement speech Apple Computer founder Steve Jobs gave to some 5,000 graduates on the campus of Stanford University last week would be an absolute understatement. Despite his appearance (wearing sandals and jeans under his robe), Jobs was treated like a rock star by students, and deservedly so largely due to the surge in popularity of Apple from its iPod digital music player.

What Jobs shared about his life to students, however, was priceless. It came in the form of three short and vividly candid life stories. I was especially affected by the final story about death and the unspoken subject of regret. A slice of the speech paints the picture:

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma -- which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

With the deluge of health news and research my staff and I share you with daily on my Web site, it's hard not to be discouraged for what still passes for modern health care in this country. What helps me continually stay on course, however, is the progress all of us are making toward realizing my vision for transforming the future of the modern healthcare system.

If that doesn't do the trick, I'll take a quick look at some of the many unsolicited testimonials from patients who have been helped by the natural health advice I share here.

Armed with good and lasting optimal health, I hope you'll be every bit as encouraged, as Steve Jobs was, to find that one thing that blesses your life and creates a little bit of Heaven on Earth for others too.

Newsday June 19, 2005

The Stanford (University) Report June 14, 2005

You may not have heard of Jack Kilby, but if you've ever owned a hand-held calculator, digital watch or a personal computer -- and who hasn't -- you've felt his presence in the tech world. Kilby, who created the first integrated circuit that made virtually all of tech innovations we take for granted a reality, died earlier this week at age 81 after a brief bout with cancer.

Kilby's career began almost 60 years ago, the same year Bell Laboratories introduced the transistor. A little more than a decade later, he jumped to Texas Instruments (TI) where the Dallas-based company had been wrestling with developing more complex circuit boards, but without success.

As the story goes, Kilby, as a new TI employee, had earned no vacation time, so he was left stranded in the office during the company's annual two-week summer closure. Kilby certainly put his spare time to good use, melding all those transistors and capacitors into a single part about half the size of a paperclip. After demonstrating his invention for company executives, the integrated circuit debuted in March 1959.

Funny thing is, Robert Noyce, a scientist working for a semiconductor firm, was working on the same thing, only incorporating silicon into his design, and filed a patent a half-year after Kilby did. Eventually, both inventors and companies shared the credit and royalties. Kilby received numerous honors during his career, the most prestigious of them were the National Medal of Technology in 1990 and the Nobel Prize in 2000. Noyce did OK too: He eventually co-founded Intel.

Kilby's sense of wonder seemingly never waned. He was amazed one of his many innovations -- a $500 handheld calculator he invented for TI in the early 60s -- can be routinely found just about anywhere for $5.

Makes you wonder when and where our next "Kilby" will come from...

USA Today June 22, 2005

If parents have a hard time making the right food choices that optimize their health, it's unreasonable to expect their kids to be any better at it, even when those options are in front of them, especially on TV. Along those same lines, a University of Illinois study found the more TV kids watch, the more confused they are about which foods are the healthiest.

More than 130 children in grades 1-3 responded to a questionnaire that measured their nutritional knowledge, nutritional reasoning and TV viewing, once at the beginning of the study and six weeks later. (By the way, these kids averaged 28 hours of TV viewing a week!)

Increased television viewing had a double-negative effect on the children in the study. Regardless of their initial nutritional knowledge, the more TV they watched, the less able they also were "to provide sound nutritional reasons for their food choices," according to the lead researcher. What confused kids the most: Foods being marketed to aid in weight-loss. Using the descriptors diet or fat-free made kids more prone to select fat-free ice cream or a diet soft drink over more nutritious choices.

Take those results, along with previous studies that have shown almost 98 percent of the TV food ads aired on weekend morning programs featured unhealthy foods (more than 78 percent on weekend evening shows) and you have a recipe for disaster. Namely, the childhood obesity epidemic.

If you want to get a better handle on your child's health, here's three things you can do to make an impact today:

• Limit, with plan of eliminating, the time they spend in front of the TV, especially if you're worried your child may be becoming a bully.
• Get them moving today with an exercise plan.
• Replace the soft drinks and sugary fruits juices they drink with clean water.

Yahoo News June 17, 2005

University of Illinois News Bureau June 6, 2005

You may recall a popular piece I posted earlier this year about General Mills' marketing push to add whole grains to their line of breakfast cereals. The Minnesota-based giant has taken their campaign further, petitioning the FDA to adopt a whole grains "standard." General Mills proposes foods with at least 16 grams of whole grains per serving be designated an excellent source, while products with 8-15 grams labeled a good source.

A number of processed food manufacturers -- namely bread and pasta makers -- are up in arms, arguing General Mills' proposal unfairly places cereals and crackers ahead of them by setting the whole grains bar too high, due to their water content (more water, less whole grain content). For example, 30 grams of bread contains 37 percent moisture while the same amount of cereal has at most 4 percent moisture.

A former staffer with the Grocery Manufacturers of America had the real reason for General Mills' proposal pegged just right, however: A leg up over the competition. "In a business where (profit) margins are so modest, you have to look for any marketing advantage you can. Getting a type of government approval is valuable."

As you know, "the whole grains is good for you" mantra General Mills and all the rest are hyping is nothing but a myth. Fact is, more than 75 percent of Americans would benefit from severely limiting or eliminating all grains -- refined, whole, sprouted or otherwise -- from their diets, especially if they are protein metabolic types.

And, if you want to get more fiber in your diet without relying on whole grains, I encourage you to increase your intake of vegetables, as vegetable-based fibers have better health consequences for the majority of people.

Yahoo News June 17, 2005

Here's an interesting and easy solution for asthma, particularly if you're prone to attacks while exercising: Cut down on your salt intake. In fact, tapering down over just two weeks, according to an Indiana University study, eases airway inflammation and better facilitates the flow of oxygen to the bloodstream.

Twenty-four patients with asthma and exercised-induced asthma were divided into two groups: Some followed a low-salt diet of some 1,500 mg. of salt, while others were put on a high-salt diet of nearly 10,000 mg., the typical amount many Americans consume daily.

High-salt dieters demonstrated a dramatic decline in lung function after exercise. The standard measure for lung functioning -- forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) -- taken 20 minutes after high-salt dieters exercised dropped by more than 27 percent, more than three times the 7.9 percent drop experienced by the low-salt group (a FEV1 drop of more than 10 percent is abnormal). High-salt patients also had more airway cells -- another marker of asthma -- and pro-inflammatory mediators that spur airway constriction.

The source for this excessive salt intake in the average American diet: Eating too many processed foods. Cutting down on the amount of processed foods you eat will naturally and quickly bring down your salt consumption, and do your health a world of good in other areas too.

That said, you shouldn't give up salt entirely either. The trick is to find and use real salt. The differences between processed salt and the real thing:

• Conventional processing adds harmful additives and chemicals.
• Conventional salt is dried at temperatures higher than 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit, which can change its chemical structure.

Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, June 2005, Volume 37, Issue 6: 904-914

Yahoo News June 17, 2005

Just like everything in life, if you obtain too much of something that is typically good for you, an excess of that will cause the reverse effect. The simplest analogy is water. Without water, you would not last more than a few days. But if you drank a few gallons in an hour, you would rapidly die as your heart could not sustain its electrical activity due to sodium imbalances. This actually happens to a surprisingly large number of endurance athletes who simply drink too much during a race.

Well, just like water, you can overdo it with exercise. I have been running for nearly 40 years and had long admired Grete Waitz for her amazing athletic abilities. We are both about the same age, so I admired her when I was also competing, although nowhere near her level.

She won the New York City Marathon from 1978-80, 1982-86 and 1988, the London Marathon twice (1983, 1986), was world marathon champion in 1983, a five-time world cross-country champion and won silver in the marathon at the 1984 Olympics.

So now Waitz has been diagnosed with cancer. Not too different than Lance Armstrong, one of the most talented endurance athletes of all time who came down with prostate cancer.

Exercise is absolutely necessary for high-level wellness, but if you exercise too much it is clearly harmful and cancer seems to be a possible adverse outcome. My guess is that one's antioxidant threshold is exceeded or micronutrients are consumed at a level that cannot be easily replaced. Either way, they both add up to a major problem.

Most of us will not have to struggle with exercising too much but for those that are tempted to overdo it please don't. I stopped racing in 1990 when I did the Chicago Marathon. Although this past weekend, I did jump into a local neighborhood 5K race just for the heck of it and won my age group (actually beat the number 2 finisher by over 8 minutes and also beat the number 1 person in the younger age group). I hadn't raced in over 15 years and now I remember why I stopped. It just hurts too darn much.

I don't think I'll be racing for at least another 15 years.

USA Today June 21, 2005

You know how much I love Google and all its free tools, including Picasa, Gmail and Google Scholar. Well, it seems a former graduate student at the University of Mississippi may have improved on the Google Maps by melding it with U.S. Census data.

During his last semester, one of the classes Jimmy Palmer took studied processing large amounts of data. One class assignment: Do something interesting with a large data set. Using the most current U.S. Census available (10 gigabytes) and Google Maps, Palmer developed gCensus that can tell you how many people live in any area of the country, down to the county and city block where you live.

To get started, I recommend reading the FAQ page first, then the instructions page. But, if you've used Google Maps before, it should be a breeze...

What an amazing and innovative piece of work by one of our youngest and brightest!

gCensus.com

With the energy drink fully established in the consumer marketplace, I can't say I wasn't surprised to read about the "next big thing," unveiled during the All Candy Expo in Chicago last week: Energy candy.

Some of the products introduced during the show to cater to this new market:

• Sports Beans, lemon-lime and orange flavored candies full of vitamins C and E and electrolytes.
• XLR Energy Chews, a taffy-like candy laced with caffeine, ginseng and guarana that can provide a boost equal to drinking a can of Red Bull.
• Blitz Energy Gum, a sugar-free product that contains 100 milligrams of caffeine (the same amount as a cup of coffee).

I'm sure these products will trick your body, just like sports/energy drinks do, to provide that extra burst of energy, but at a high cost. Because that "go-go effect" doesn't last very long, your body will start to feel sluggish again and want more of it.

Considering there have been cases of young people dying as a result of mixing energy drinks with alcohol, would you want to get anywhere near a candy, with no nutritional value whatsoever, that could also test the limits of your health?

About the only good use of candy and soft drinks: In a pinch, you can start a fire by combining the two.

CNN June 18, 2005

One activist believes American feed standards are no better than they were 18 months ago, when the Bush administration and the FDA promised to take steps to ensure improved food safety after a cow in Washington state was infected with spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) -- better known as mad cow disease.

After all the hoopla died down and talk of stronger regulations long forgotten, however, the feds are investigating a new positive case of BSE from a cow that had been retested after being found free of disease last November.

Former FDA commissioner Mark McClellan promised "better firewalls" in January 2004 that would've banned blood poultry litter and restaurant plate waste from cattle feed as well as requiring feed mills to use separate equipment to produce it. The FDA scrapped those once-upon-a-time restrictions about a year ago, after promising to formalize even tougher rules proposed by an international team of experts organized by the Department of Agriculture.

Not surprisingly, once the attention and the cameras went away, any chance of reform disappeared with it, said John Stauber, founder of the non-profit Center for Media & Democracy and co-author of Mad Cow USA: Could the Nightmare Happen Here? (Click this link to download a free copy of the entire text of Stauber's 1997 book.)

I can't imagine the meat industry wants anything to do with reforms that might drive up the price of their products, especially considering it produces about 50 billion pounds of meat annually -- or enough meat trucked on a convoy of 18-wheelers four lanes wide driving from New York to Los Angeles every year...

All the more reason, you should be eating grass-fed beef. Not only because it contains less fat, but it also has higher amounts of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA).

MSNBC June 17, 2005

I've devoted a number of pages to studies warning you about all the healthy reasons you and your family should be staying away from genetically modified foods, even though it's getting harder to do with crops hitting the billion mark.

If that isn't bad enough, consider this: A mistake in "engineered" crops growing too close together could breed insects that develop a resistance to all the proteins meant to kill them. Scientists and critics have been concerned the widespread use of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a soil bacterium whose genes are inserted into crop plants (maize, cotton), could create an environment in which insects develop a resistance.

Although no crop failures or insect resistance have been reported, researchers discovered the concurrent use of single- and dual-gene Bt plants can put the dual-gene plants at risk if single-gene plants are deployed in the same area simultaneously based on lab tests. In fact, cabbage loopers -- a moth whose larvae feed on plants in the cabbage family -- have already shown resistance to Bt sprays in commercial greenhouses.

Considering the amount of GM crop coverage worldwide -- more than 85 million acres -- it isn't a stretch to imagine the kind of devastation that could happen to our food supplies if toxin-resistant insects evolve and multiply. All the more reason for you to be ever vigilant about where your foods come from.

Just a reminder, the worst place to find them is your neighborhood grocery store, considering you have a 75 percent chance of choosing a processed food product made from GM ingredients there.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 102, No. 24, June 14, 2005: 8426-8430 Free Full-Text Article

Cornell University June 17, 2005

You may recall a study I posted earlier this month about 4-hydroxy-trans-2-nonenal (HNE), a toxin that collects in high amounts in polyunsaturated oils (canola, corn, soybean and sunflower) that have linoleic acid.

Researchers have found a broad range of oils can cause oxidative damage to your food, cooked conventionally at temperatures as low as about 158 degrees (Fahrenheit) and 374 degrees in a microwave. Of course, the cooking method and composition of the oil used affected the speed of the degradation as well as the nature and concentration of the compounds produced.

The degradation of lipids in foods and oils during the cooking process produced toxic oxygenated aldehydes -- markers for oxidative stress in cells and causual agents of degenerative diseases. Of the oils tested, virgin olive oil was the safest, as it took longer to produce aldehydes and a lower concentration of them, according to the study.

Although olive oil -- specifically extra-virgin olive oil -- is one of the "good oils" and doesn't upset the critical omega 6:3 ratio, it's still not the best oil to cook with, as it is highly susceptible to oxidative damage when heated.

An exceptional alternative is coconut oil, as it is abundantly nutritious and useful, not to mention it can help you prevent and fight many diseases and illnesses.

Basque Research May 25, 2005

The news of Pfizer's $1.9 billion purchase of biotechnology firm Vicuron Pharmaceuticals may have flown under the radar late last week for some, but it was nothing new or surprising to business analysts.

The Vicuron deal is a means to an end, allowing the world's largest drugmaker to replenish its line of money-making products, especially since two of their best sellers -- Diflucan and Zithromax -- have or will lose patent protection this year. (Vicuron has two new drugs in the federal pipeline, slated for FDA approval by this fall.)

Pfizer can certainly afford it, considering they sell $10 billion of Lipitor a year and have built a war chest in foreign profits -- thanks to recent changes in domestic tax code -- of some $28 billion during the first quarter of this year alone.

Just another case of a filthy rich pharmaceutical company tapping a new pipeline to drugs that do absolutely nothing for your health, and everything for their coffers.

USA Today June 17, 2005

Technology Review June 17, 2005

As you know, bisphenol-A (BPA) -- the material used in making baby bottles, food-storage containers and the lining of soda cans -- imitates the sex hormone estradiol. Leaching from common sources like these, tiny amounts of BPA can trigger harmful changes in your body, including an increased risk of breast cancer.

With all these reports surfacing, you may be very concerned just how safe any of the materials used to make the food containers in your kitchen and grocery store really are.

I stumbled across this valuable source from the International Plastics Task Force (link below) that lists more leaching chemicals suspected to be hormone disruptors and used to make containers not labeled as being recyclable. Some chemicals will be familiar to you if you read my eHealthy News You Can Use newsletter regularly, while others won't. Take a look at a sample of the list below, then click on the link at the bottom of my post for the rest.

• Polyvinyl chloride used to make Reynolds Wrap.
• Polypropylene, an opaque plastic used to make many deli soup containers, "cloudy" plastic baby bottles and ketchup bottles.
• Polyethylene Terephthalate used to bottle soft drinks, water and cooking oils.

International Plastics Task Force

Many of you, like me, are probably interested in time travel. I have always been fascinated with this topic and science fiction films reviewing it are some of my favorite ones. Now researchers speculate that time travel can occur within a kind of feedback loop where backwards movement is possible, but only in a way that is "complementary" to the present.

This new theory would allow you to go back in time but not kill either of your parents. I just love the mysteries of quantum physics.

BBC News June 17, 2005

Despite all the hype surrounding the summer "blockbusters" right now, there's one movie in particular I'm keeping my eyes peeled for: An adaptation of Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, one of my favorite books in recent memory.

Unlike the book, however, the movie is a dramatic ensemble piece of fiction, examining not only the health risks involved in the fast food industry -- think Super Size Me -- but its environmental and social consequences too. The finishing touches on the script -- cowritten by Schlosser and its director Richard Linklater -- were completed last month. Shooting begins this fall.

The film revolves around the teenagers who work at the fast-food places, the immigrant laborers who come across the border to work in the packing plants and a company executive. With Scholsser writing the script, I'm hoping the movie will be just as awesome as the book.

This gives me another opportunity to remind you one of the important keys to taming the obesity epidemic that's plagued this nation of ours is to avoid fast food restaurants. With today's fast-paced society, this can be difficult, especially for busy families on the go.

If you'd like to start eating healthier, but don't know where to start, I strongly encourage you to review Colleen Huber's excellent article for a number of practical and inexpensive tips on how to fit healthy eating into your life.

Empire Online May 26, 2005

Dark Horizons May 26, 2005

I've written before about the many ways you can relieve work-related stress right at your own desk. A British study suggests a slightly different approach to spur productivity and better job-related physical and mental health: A 30-60-minute break at lunch for exercise.

Researchers surveyed some 200 professionals in three different places -- a computer company, life insurance agency and university -- about their job performance and their moods in relation to days they exercised -- and didn't -- at work. Patients could participate in any kind of physical activity, ranging from yoga to basketball and strength training. Researchers were surprised by the results (although I wasn't):

• About 60 percent of the participants reported their mental skills and ability to meet deadlines improved on days they exercised.
• The beneficial effect on mood and performance persisted no matter how long they exercised or what they did (not surprising since it's a very healthy way to treat depression).
• Exercisers experienced far better moods, were far less likely to suffer from the typical post-lunch fatigue and felt more satisfied going home at the end of their workday.

(Interestingly, Congress is considering a bill that provides tax incentives to companies that offer to compensate employees for their monthly health club fees.)

That's in addition to all of the other benefits I've written about, including losing weight, improving your ability to sleep and lessening your pain.

MSNBC June 14, 2005

You know the mega-drug companies have Congress in their back pocket big time, spending more than $750 million on lobbying (more than any other special-interest group around). These handouts from various factions in corporate America -- aimed at legitimizing a point of view that can destroy your health -- don't end with Congress either.

A good example is the recent $1 million alliance between the American Diabetic Association (ADA) and Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages "to support the Association in its efforts to fight obesity and diabetes in America." When push came to shove, however, the ADA choked on its own double-talk in a recent exchange between Dr. Richard Kahn, its chief scientific and medical officer, and the Corporate Crime Reporter (CCR)

One particular exchange caught my attention:

CCR: But guns don't have anything to do with diabetes. Sugar does have something to do with diabetes.

Kahn: What? What is the evidence that sugar itself has anything to do with diabetes? There is no evidence.

CCR: There is no evidence that sugar has anything to do with diabetes?

Kahn: None. There is not a shred of evidence that sugar per se has anything to do with getting diabetes.

Sounds like the ADA is just as talented and nimble with its pretzel-like understanding of diabetes as The Tobacco Institute is about cigarettes when it comes to protecting their donors! Besides, wasn't diabetes was commonly known as sugar diabetes throughout the 60s? (If the ADA isn't sure about the many ways processed foods laced with sugar can devastate your health, I urge them to read all about it in a recent article I posted.)

And, apart from sugar, Kahn also mentioned early on if the ADA allows its label to appear on any Cadberry Schweppes product, it would probably be a diet soft drink, and I suspect, that would include ones sweetened with a potentially toxic and unnatural substance like Splenda -- think Diet 7Up.

Corporate Crime Reporter May 16, 2005 Full Free Text Article

There's no question how much a positive mental attitude can affect your health for the good and that social contact plays a huge role in that process. It may surprise you to learn, however, it's the contact you have with close friends -- and not your family -- that may help you live a longer life, according to Australian researchers.

To assess how economic, social, behavioral and environmental factors affected the health and well being of seniors older than 69, scientists asked some 1,500 people about the amount of personal and phone contact they had with their various social networks, including children, relatives, friends and confidants and monitored their survival at least six times over a decade. The impacts of factors influencing survival rates -- socioeconomic status, health and lifestyle -- were also considered.

Surprisingly, close contact with children and relatives had little impact on survival rate of seniors over the 10-year span of the study. But a strong network of friends and confidants significantly improved the chances of survival. In fact, those with the strongest network of friends and confidants lived longer than those with the fewest.

Moreover, that longevity persisted over the decade despite a host of life-altering changes, including the death of a spouse or the relocation of friends to faraway places.

Other advantages of having good friends as well as being one yourself:

• They can influence the decisions you make about your health -- for example suggesting my Web site as a valuable, trusted information resource so you can learn about treating a health condition safely and effectively.
• Friends may better help you cope with the challenges life throws at you from time-to-time and build better self-esteem.

Yahoo News June 16, 2005

Science Blog June 16, 2005

You know how depression -- even a mild case -- can harm your health and shorten your life, and merely being lonely takes a toll on your health too. Losing a job, especially for baby boomers, can be emotionally devastating, doubling their risks of heart attack and stroke.

Yale University researchers tracked the health of 4,300 working patients between age 51-61 for a decade. Out of some 200 patients who suffered a heart attack, 23 of them occurred after losing a job. And 13 patients had a stroke, out of 140, after losing their jobs.

One expert wisely pointed out, and I agree, that health has less to do with a date on a birth certificate and more with how well patients handle stress. If you can't find a way to accommodate stress and improve your emotional health, your body and mind may never heal properly.

And, just as importantly, the inverse is true: Happier people are often healthier, both physically and mentally. There are lots of ways to reduce stress without taking a toxic antidepressant, like meditation and yoga. One of the most effective -- the Emotional Freedom Technique -- is a form of psychological acupressure, based on the same energy meridians used in traditional acupuncture, just without the needles.

Forbes.com June 21, 2006

BBC News June 20, 2006

It's no surprise mortality rates among type 2 diabetics are rising, considering the number of new cases has doubled over the past 30 years, according to a new study. What's more, most of that increase occurred in patients with a body mass index of 30 or more.

Researchers tracked the occurrence of type 2 diabetes among some 3,100 healthy middle-aged patients over eight-year intervals in the 70s, 80s and 90s. The numbers were lowest in the 70s, with the incidence of diabetes of men and women below 3 percent. The explosion happened after the 70s, with type 2 diabetes rates climbing 40 percent in the 80s and a disturbing 105 percent during the 90s.

The only good news to report is that scientists may truly be getting it about the sedentary, fast-food lifestyles -- fueled partly by consuming sugary sweet soft drinks -- that contribute mightily to diabetes and obesity.

An important concept to understand about treating diabetes: It isn't a disease of blood sugar, but one of insulin along with your body's ability to recognize the signals relayed via the hormone leptin.

Circulation June 19, 2006

Yahoo News June 20, 2006

Next week, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a group advising federal officials on immunization policies, meets in Atlanta to formalize its recommendations on the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine that allegedly protects females from infections that cause genital warts and cervical cancer.

The vaccine, Gardasil, isn't cheap ($360 for three shots administered over six months) and it's made by Merck, the "safety-first" drugmaker that brought us Vioxx.

What's more, the HPV vaccine is completely unnecessary, based on a study in this week's New England Journal of Medicine that found young women whose male partners always used a condom during intercourse were 70 percent less likely to contract a HPV-related infection.

Despite these findings, I expect the committee will recommend adding HPV to the vaccine schedule, despite the big unknown -- it hasn't yet been tested for side effects like cancer -- and that its protection lasts less than four years.

If this news about another useless, expensive and unsafe vaccine has you worried about the health of your daughters and sons, you should be. Before you make a decision to vaccinate your children, closely examine the serious health risks, many of which I've written about on my Web site.

Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch June 17, 2006

New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 354, No. 25, June 22, 2006: 2645-2654 Free Full Text Study

USA Today June 22, 2006

Add medication overuse headache (MOH) to the list of side effects common with the overuse of prescription and over-the-counter painkillers, based on a review of 1,200 patients treated at one headache center. The primary contributors: Triptans (a class of drugs for treating migraines) and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Over the course of the 15-year study, unfortunately, the percentage of patients afflicted with this problem has been frighteningly stable, ranging from 59 percent last year to 64 percent in 1990.

A relatively new class of drugs, triptans increased the incidence of MOH by 22 percent, while taking simple analgesics quadrupled the rate of headaches over 15 years to 32 percent.

The numbers don't surprise me at all, considering all the problems associated with aspirin, a "trusted" painkiller that probably would've never have been approved by the FDA had it been launched today.

A natural, safer treatment for headaches: Following the nutritional plan outlined in my Total Health Program.

Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, Vol. 46, No. 5, May 2006: 766-772

Yahoo News June 21, 2006

I've posted a number of stories over the years urging you to drop AOL as your primary internet service provider, much of them related to their terrible customer service and abysmal privacy policies. If you're still hanging onto to your AOL, this interesting story, accompanied by a phone transcript and a video, should make you think twice about it.

Both detail a terse exchange between a now-former customer and an AOL customer service representative in which the rep burns four minutes trying to convince the 30-year-old customer to stay with AOL although he has a broadband connection and never uses the dialup "Internet-on-training wheels" service.

And, to add insult to injury, the AOL customer service rep asked the caller, as a last resort, if he could speak with his father. The one good thing you can say about AOL: They have been consistently EVIL over the past decade. Fortunately, I never had an account with AOL and can proudly say I have influenced many thousands to discontinue using them.

NBC10.com June 22, 2006 Free Video Link

The Long-Term Damage Smoking Does to Your Child in the Womb

Although many of you who read my blog daily don't smoke, most of you know someone you love who does, and many of them are parents. Based on an international study, the physical damage smoking can do to children may begin in the womb and last until age 12.

Scientists reviewed health data from some 23,000 children living in eight countries, part of the bigger Pollution and the Young study. Those declining rates of smokers you've heard on the news may ring a bit hollow, considering these disturbing numbers that speak louder than words:

• Kids whose mothers smoked before they were born were as much as 40 percent more likely to have poor lung functioning than those raised by non-smokers.
• Children exposed to cigarette smoke after they're born suffered from poor lung functioning by as much as 27 percent of the time.
• An astonishing 60 percent of children participating in the study had been exposed to smoking before they were born or early on in their young lives.

It's amazing how smokers can rationalize such an unhealthy and obscenely expensive habit that hurts their children for the long run, if not forever. If your friend or loved one decides to quit, however, there are safer solutions than taking a potentially toxic drug.

There's no safer and better way than complete abstinence, and that can tough for anyone. You have the resources on my Web site to learn one of the best and most effective tools to re-enforce new habits and get rid of old addictions: The Emotional Freedom Technique.

American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine February 16, 2006

MSNBC June 20, 2006

You may recall a study I posted a year ago about the connection between childhood obesity and serious health problems when those kids reach middle-age. A new report shows the obesity epidemic may be harming the health of teens far sooner than expected.

Researchers studied the health of 460 adolescent patients from North Dakota, South Dakota, Arizona and Oklahoma as part of the Strong Health Study. Sadly, nearly half of the teens were obese and some 110 more were overweight.

Compared to teens in a normal weight range, the left ventricle of the heart (the primary chamber where most of the pumping is done) was oversized. Even worse, 33 percent of the obese patients had ventricular hypertrophy, a condition in which either ventricle adapts to increased physical stress, in these cases brought on by obesity, that can lead to a deterioration in function.

Although researchers suggested early intervention was the key to prevention, they offered no suggestions to help children and their parents reduce the epidemic of obesity brewing at home. Fortunately, you have plenty of free tools on my Web site to help your children. Get a good head start by following these tips:

• Retooling their diets based on the foods their bodies burn best, according to their unique metabolic type.
• Addressing the emotional issues that brought your children to this low point by showing them how to use the Emotional Freedom Technique, a form of psychological acupuncture.
• Replacing those sugary soft drinks and fruit juices with clean water.

American College of Cardiology, Vol. 47, No. 11, June 6, 2006: 2267-2273

Yahoo News June 19, 2006

More evidence is emerging that the hygiene hypothesis -- a theory that argues reduced exposure to viruses and common bacteria in childhood causes health problems later on in life -- may explain why allergies remain such a persistent problem.

Duke University researchers tested the hypothesis by comparing the immune systems of wild house mice and rats to those raised in a laboratory, focusing on various antibodies associated with allergies.

Surprisingly, rodents living in the wild had one great advantage over lab animals: All produced higher levels of specific immunoglobulins (IgG and IgE) that protect them from allergies and diseases they may encounter outdoors. The same IgG immunoglobulin found in lab animals living in a cleaner environment, however, binds with the body's own cells -- not environmental allergens -- leading to autoimmune diseases and allergies, researchers said.

That's no comfort to most of you who spend as much as 90 percent of your day indoors...

Some 50 million people suffer from allergies in the United States alone. If you are among them, you should seriously consider utilizing what is perhaps the most effective preventive against allergens in your home: A high-quality air purifier. However, be very careful. Most of the models out there, especially the popular ones, don't get the job done properly.

My team and I have analyzed this, and the one home air purifier I now recommend highly is the Way Healthier Air Purifier. I encourage you to read more about it, including why the technology it uses makes it so much more reliable and effective than other types of air purifiers.

Scaninavian Journal of Immunology June 19, 2006

EurekAlert June 16, 2006

New Scientist June 16, 2006

Talk about the polar opposite of grass-fed beef, this chilling Wired piece discusses the determined development by a few researchers to mass-produce meat grown in petri dishes, bioreactors and test tubes.

Dutch researchers are learning how to grow artificial pork meat from pig stem cells in hopes of producing minced meat in a bioreactor suitable for making sausages and hamburgers in a few years.

If you aren't completely turned off yet, experts for one non-profit group that funds research on in vitro meat believe the easiest way to "create" edible meat is to grow meat sheets: Layers of animal muscle and fat stretched on long flat sheets with the help of industrial-sized bioreactors.

So it's quite possible, processed meat -- already an unhealthy choice -- may be heading to a grocery store near you some day from a far more unnatural source than farm animals fed grains (probably from genetically modified sources) and hormones.

Thank goodness, consumers are beginning to realize, in growing numbers, the value of grass-fed meats chock full of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a beneficial mixture of fatty acids.

Just a reminder, if you can't find a local source for grass-fed beef, please check out the many options available in my Web store.

Wired News June 21, 2006

Rebalancing your ratio of omega-3 and omega-6 fats by taking a high quality krill oil is one of the best, easiest and safest ways to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). An interesting Australian study shows just how effective fish oil can be on a group of 130 children (ages 7-12).

Scientists gave some children a combination of fish oil and evening primrose oil for up to seven months, while others were given placebos. Within 15 weeks, the behavior, concentration and school performance of some 40 percent of the children taking fish oil radically improved. What's more, by the end of the study, the number of children getting relief from ADHD via fish oil grew to about 50 percent.

The most striking finding: The behavior of kids who were given placebos at the beginning, then later switched to fish oil, also improved.

So why would anyone give their child a harmful drug like Ritalin that has been linked to cancer? And, why would drug companies sell adults a liver-damaging pill like Strattera to treat ADHD? Only because the adult market is three times larger than the one for kids.

The Daily Mail June 20, 2006

ABC News Online June 21, 2006

Seems the still conservative American Heart Association (AHA) has taken "bold" baby steps forward, as the group announced a near ban on trans fats and daily exercise as part of their newest dietary guidelines released yesterday.

The association capped the limit on trans fats to less than 1 percent of a patient's daily caloric intake, pretty easy if you eliminate health-harming fried foods and baked goods derived from sugar and grains from your diet. And, daily exercise certainly works well if you view it like a drug that must be precisely prescribed for you to realize any benefit.

Another concept the AHA adopted that's finally sinking in: Cutting down on the calories you consume from soft drinks and not substituting sugary fruit juices for eating more fruits and vegetables.

Unfortunately, the AHA gets it way wrong on other things:

• Limiting your intake of saturated fats.
• Eating whole grains and fish.
• Drinking fat-free or 1 percent pasteurized milk.

San Francisco Chronicle June 19, 2006

Forbes.com June 19, 2006

American Heart Association June 19, 2006

Lately, there's been a good deal of studies detailing all the great things eating vegetables can do for your health. You can also slow down atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) by almost 40 percent merely by eating five vegetables (actually four vegetables and a grain).

Wake Forest University researchers used specially bred mice that rapidly developed atherosclerosis and elevated amounts of LDL cholesterol. Mice were divided into two groups: One that ate no vegetables and the other that was fed 30 percent of their calories from a mixture of broccoli, green beans, peas, carrots and corn.

No surprise, the mice fed the vegetable diet had both 38 percent less plaque and 37 percent less inflammation in their arteries, along with lower body weights, after just 16 weeks. A lone caveat about this study: I wonder how much better the health of those mice would've been had they been fed another vegetable, instead of corn.

Remember, the amount of vegetables we need to eat every day varies depending on a patient's unique metabolic type. All of us need to eat vegetables to stay healthy, but your metabolic type should determine the type and amount.

One way to incorporate vegetables in your diet: Take 15 minutes out of your day to juice them.

Journal of Nutrition, Vol. 136, No. 7, July 2006: 1886-1889

BBC News June 18, 2006

EurekAlert June 17, 2006

As you know, heartburn is one of the easier health conditions to treat. Still, conventional medicine remains obsessed with throwing useless, toxic drugs and needless procedures in the vain hope of "curing" it.

Dutch surgeons tested a new procedure last week, that involves sliding a tube equipped with a tiny camera and tools down a patient's throat to the stomach, where robotic tools reshape the lining to create a valve at the end of the esophagus that's small enough to allow food to pass.

The procedure and tools, developed by a Seattle company, were tested on 40 patients before its first commercial use last week. And, this option will be available soon in 30 European hospitals. Nevertheless, one expert believes this approach may be too invasive, meaning the search for the perfect surgical procedure to cure heartburn is still years away.

Just remember, the term "minimally invasive" is merely a relative one and no guarantee any of these procedures won't harm your health anyway. Some natural solutions to get rid of heartburn:

• Eat the foods your body burns best according to your unique metabolic type.
• Eliminate grains and sugars from your diet.
• Drink a gallon of clean fresh water every day along with a high-quality probiotic.

Yahoo News June 18, 2006

For good reasons and bad, there's no doubt nanotechnology will change our lives. Using a toxic sunscreen chock full of titania (titanium oxide), however, is one of the bad ones that may cause neurological damage, according to EPA researchers.

Titania, the same material used to make white pigment in paints, is also found in sunscreens, touted for its ability to absorb ultraviolet light. Such "protection" comes with a price based on previous reports: Toxicity when titania is intermingled with various cell types, including skin, bone and liver.

Scientists exposed titania nanoparticies (some 30 nanometers big) to the microglia cultures (cells that protect brain neurons from harm) taken from mice. Over the short term, the mouse microglia protected neurons from titania by releasing natural chemicals to destroy them.

Because it takes more than hour for those microglia to do the job, however, scientists believe this prolonged chemical reaction sets the stage for oxidative stress, the root of terrible conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

No one knows how nanoparticles applied to the skin via conventional sunscreens, already filled with toxic chemicals, will affect your brain. If you work or play for long periods in the sun, however, look for safe, non-toxic sunblock products like the ones I sell in my Web store.

Nature.com June 16, 2006

You may recall articles I've posted here about enhancing your ability to dream. Some experts believe a fantastically short dream -- one-second long to be exact -- can tap your brain's problem-solving powers.

Hard to blame you if you're skeptical, although two very intelligent men whose work in very different arenas had a huge impact on our lives -- Thomas Edison and Robert Louis Stevenson -- benefited greatly from one-second naps into the superconscious.

The trick about making one-second naps work: Being motivated to take action on what your superconscious tells you in those short dreams. Besides, these gifts of internal inspiration will come far less frequently if you squander them.

Achieve-it June 4, 2006

You may be thinking one of the best uses for corn -- a grain people aren't adapted to consume very well -- is to produce ethanol-based fuels. There's big concerns emerging, because a new ethanol plant near you may soon be tapping your local water systems to the tune of millions of gallons a day.

For example, Illinois is the second largest producer of ethanol behind Iowa, yet plans are on the drawing board to open at least 30 new plants. A proposed ethanol facility near Champaign and Urbana, tapping the same aquifer that sustains both towns, would need nearly 2 million gallons of water every day to operate.

Although it takes some 300 million gallons of water to make 100 million gallons of ethanol, based on figures from the Renewable Fuels Association, water experts aren't concerned industry's thirst for water will drain our systems dry. Besides, newer plants require far less water than older ones and most recycle it anyway.

Perhaps, a safer, healthier solution for our environment: Building cars with hybrid engines that burn tiny amounts of water.

USA Today June 19, 2006

Did you spend last weekend worrying about your job? Perhaps, it was that crunch project you needed to finish Friday, but too many phone calls and e-mails made that goal an impossible one to reach. A failure to detach from the workplace and to relax elevates your risks of cardiovascular disease, according to a new study.

Finnish researchers tracked the health of some 800 factory workers from 1973-2000, taking into account their backgrounds and lifestyles. Workers were asked about job stress, how they recovered from it and, among other things, if having a free weekend enabled them to decompress from the previous work week.

Not surprisingly, those who believed they mostly failed to recover from the work week tripled their mortality risks, compared to those who did recover. What's more, the risk of death among those who didn't use their weekend downtime to recover was independent of other health factors, including smoking, inactivity and high blood pressure.

The lead researcher believes the higher risk of death among could be a sign of atherosclerosis, an arterial condition that leads to stroke or heart disease. Just one more study among many that matches my experiences with patients, considering stress is a huge contributor to the cause of their illnesses.

The trick about stress: It's not the presence of stress but how you deal with it, particularly during your downtime, that determines your future health. Meditation is one of many natural tools that can help you address stress, but it may take you a long time to benefit from it. That's why I recommend the Insight and Focus CD sets to improve your progress more effectively, quickly and efficiently.

Psychosomatic Medicine, Vol. 68, No. 3, May-June 2006: 398-401

Yahoo News June 16, 2006

Have you tried to open a PDF file and wondered why Adobe Acrobat Reader takes so long (at least 30 seconds) to load? Like many tech solutions, the answer is a pretty simple one for Windows users, thanks to the legwork done at the DWTips site.

What you didn't know: Acrobat automatically launches as many as 20 plugins when you open a PDF and you don't need most of them. To fix that problem requires searching Windows for your Adobe Acrobat reader plugins, then creating a new folder to move all those extra plugins, except for a very select few.

DWTips June 17, 2006

As you know, a bright source in your home -- the incandescent light bulb -- may be responsible for a variety of illnesses. Prolonged exposure to artificial light -- staying up too late or sleeping with the lights on -- may even trigger breast cancer.

American researchers grafted human breast cancer tumors onto rats, then injected them with blood from women taken three times during a 24-hour cycle: During the night, the day and after exposure to incandescent light. Blood drawn from women after they were exposed to light accelerated the growth of tumors in rats while blood taken in darkness slowed the spread by an astonishing 80 percent.

More evidence, violating your body's normal circadian rhythms by using artificial lights excessively and even working the night shift can be extremely harmful to your health. Three practical solutions:

• Replace the incandescent bulbs in your home with full spectrum lighting systems, like the ones offered in my Web store.
• Soak up vitamin D naturally by getting out in the sun every day.
• Review my detailed list of ways to get a good night's sleep.

The Independent June 18, 2006

Although there is not an online link for this data, it is taken from the July issue of the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons newsletter. I have been a member of this organization for about 15 years and believe them to be the leading organization in the United States to champion the ever-dwindling medical freedoms we have in America.

This interesting table shows just how much we are spending on health care. Interestingly, it has remained quite stable over the time frame measured. This is despite the fact that, in 1960, 56 percent of all personal medical spending was out of pocket. But today that has dropped to only 14 percent. Seems nearly everyone relies on third-party insurance carriers to food the bill for their health costs.

Unfortunately, this is a clever deception that allows the multinational drug companies to charge exorbitant fees for their products and have their true costs hidden from the end user. There is one of the reasons why drug companies are the most profitable industries on Earth.

I also found it interesting that, compared to our grandparents or great-grandparents, we are spending two-thirds less on clothes and half the cost on food. Much of the food reduction cost is related to the advent of processed foods that has also contributed to the epidemic of chronic disease that we have in this country.

Along with the reductions in spending come the increases which are restricted to our transportation and housing with transportation leading all increases as it went up by 800 percent.

American Association of Physicians and Surgeons

First, let me say I am not a golfer. More precisely, at the tender age of 51, I did play my first game earlier this year and shot a 95, but that was for the first 9 holes. However, the U.S. Open is one of the top golf tournaments in the world and I found it most extraordinary that Phil Mickelson lost the chance to be only the second person in the last 50 years to win three majors in a row.

If Mickleson had someone taping him before the last hole, he would have won, no doubt in my mind. Why? Saying he was an idiot is a CLASSIC prescription for disaster. There is no way he should have EVER made that comment. If he said it after the hole, I guarantee he was thinking about it during the hole. A few minutes of EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) tapping would have won him the championship.

On a sidenote, skilled EFT clinicians can typically reduce most people's golf scores by about 10 strokes. To learn more about what EFT can do for your emotions and golf game easily, quickly and safely, take some time to review my online manual.

USA Today June 19, 2006

Four years ago, the Institute of Medicine warned the consumption of trans fats was unsafe at any level, no matter how few Girl Scouts cookies you eat. And even when you're watching your weight and eating fewer calories, you'll still gain weight around your belly, according to a new study.

Wake Forest University researchers studied the damaging effects of trans fats by comparing the health of monkeys fed a diet containing trans fats versus foods with monounsaturated fats like olive oil over six years. The body weight of both groups increased, but the trans fatty food group really felt the gain. Their body weight climbed 7.2 percent or four times the amount of the monounsaturated group.

Both groups of monkeys were given the same amount of calories, with 35 percent coming from fat. The difference-maker: One group received 8 percent of their fat calories from trans fats (a comparable amount to patients who eat lots of fried foods).

Using CT scans, scientists determined the extra weight monkeys gained went to their abdomens and some of their existing body fat was redistributed there too. That's a real worry, considering visceral fat is the kind that accumulates around organs inside the belly and increasing amounts have been associated with insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease, among others.

As I've said often, there's no "magic pill" that will rid the world of the obesity epidemic and allow you to eat whatever you want. You have to make the conscious decision to invest some time and money to optimize your health. If you don't know where to start, take a free test to determine which foods your body burns best based on your unique metabolic type.

Nutrition Horizon June 16, 2006

Yahoo News June 13, 2006

One of the 10 most common toxins you need to avoid -- pesticides -- has been linked to, among other things, Parkinson's disease. A new Mayo Clinic study has found a new wrinkle among those risks of pesticide exposure: Men are harmed far more often than women.

Scientists looked in their own backyard (Olmsted County, Minn.) to located patients near them who had developed Parkinson's between 1976-95 (149), then compared them to 129 control patients who didn't have the disease.

Male Parkinson's patients were more than twice as likely to have been exposed to pesticides at some point in their lives. Conversely, female Parkinson's patients had a much lower frequency of pesticide exposure than males did (researchers theorize estrogen may offer women some protection). And, scientists found no additional links to other household or industrial chemicals.

By the way, if you think living in an urban area far away from gardens or farms safeguards you from any risks, forget it: Based on a report I posted two years ago, the average person carries around at least 13 harmful pesticides in their bodies, if not more. Aside from avoiding pesticides, some other simple tips you can do to reduce your exposure to pesticides:

• Stay clear of processed foods and eat as many organic foods as you can.
• Avoid conventionally raised meats, one overlooked source.
• Consider a safer alternative to conventional insect repellants.

Movement Disorders June 13, 2006

EurekAlert June 14, 2006

With all the recent reports linking Bausch and Lomb's ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens cleaner to a dangerous fungal eye infection, I suspect many of you probably believe the problem to be a short-term one. Not so, according to a pair of reports in this week's Archives of Ophthalmology.

University of Miami researchers reported 34 cases of Fusarium keratitis over a 27-month stretch between 2004-06, a huge increase compared to the 10 patients treated for the same condition from 1969-92. Unfortunately for Bausch and Lomb, patients who could identify the contact lens solution they used targeted the company's ReNu products.

So far, the CDC has reported more than 130 cases of this fungal infection just in the past six months -- some 30 percent of patients required a corneal transplant -- and experts worry many more may have occurred that haven't been reported.

Just more reasons for you to consider a healthier, safer and far less expensive option -- the Secrets of Regaining Your Vision Naturally Program -- than risking your eyesight with a contaminated contact lens cleaner.

Archives of Ophthalmology June 12, 2006 Free Full Text Article

Archives of Ophthalmology June 12, 2006 Free Full Text Article

iVillage June 12, 2006

With temperatures climbing in the Northern Hemisphere and your window of opportunity to grab some vitamin D from the sun broadening, the debate over sunscreens is escalating once again.

The FDA has put off tougher regulations for the past two decades, prompting Congress to get involved. And a San Diego law firm recently filed lawsuits against the top sunscreen producers -- Coppertone, Neutrogena, Banana Boat, Hawaiian Tropic and Bullfrog -- for making fraudulent claims.

Meantime, millions of people are endangering their health by using conventional sunscreens, poisonous concoctions loaded with harmful chemicals to guard them from skin cancer when distorted omega-6:3 ratios are the real problem.

Of course, the trick is to get enough healthy sunshine without getting burned. That's why you should limit your exposure to 5-10 minutes a day and increase it gradually over a few weeks. If you're outdoors for a long stretch of time, however, you should consider the non-toxic sunblock products I sell in my Web store.

USA Today June 16, 2006

With humidity readings climbing along with the temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere, the mold season has arrived and that could be especially bad news for very young children, according to a University of Cincinnati study.

Babies exposed to basidiospores and other airborne fungal spores -- specifically penicillium/aspergillus and alternaria -- early on were more prone to develop allergies to some foods, pet dander, pollen, mold and dust mites. (Researchers based their findings on air samples taken from the homes of some 150 infants for two days.)

If one of those species sounds vaguely familiar, you're probably remembering the warning I posted late last year about Aspergillus fumigatus, the most common species of fungus found in pillows. Nevertheless, buying high quality water-, spore- and mold-proof pillow covers you wash regularly only partially take care of the problem.

The most effective solution to reduce your child's exposure to allergens and mold at home -- and your exposure as well -- is to use the best air purifier available. I have researched and analyzed this extensively and, out of all the units out there, here's the one I recommend and offer in the Mercola.com store: The Way Healthier Air Purifier that effectively rids your home of odors, germs and fungi naturally.

University of Cincinnati June 14, 2006

Pediatric Allergy and Immunology June 14, 2006

In the continuing "war" against an imaginary flu pandemic that hasn't, and probably never will, come to pass, one retired researcher from a national vaccine producer suggested a possible alternative that's about as harmful to your health: Taking a statin drug.

The theory: Besides blocking your liver's ability to produce cholesterol naturally, statins have been associated with regulating the immune system and reducing inflammation. Because the latter two health conditions are associated with the flu, this retired medical professional believes taking a statin drug throughout the duration of a patient's illness could be beneficial.

And statins would probably be more readily available than a flu vaccine and relatively inexpensive, particularly in light of the imminent arrival of a generic version of Zocor. If all this sounds about as unimaginable to you as using a statin drug to treat erectile dysfunction, however, join the club...

Fact is, by following the principles outlined in my Total Health Program, you have all the natural tools necessary to boost your immune system and avoid the flu, without the need for any drugs.

EurekAlert June 13, 2006

Seven years after the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) officially requested the removal of thimerosal from vaccines, it still amazes me the organization remains active in fighting state bans regarding the mercury-laden preservative, albeit behind the scenes.

For example, before Illinois legislators passed a ban on thimerosal, the Illinois chapter of the AAP was planning to ask for an exemption on the grounds the supply of thimerosal-free flu vaccines for babies and young children would run out.

Another interesting factoid: The Illinois Department of Public Health failed to warn doctors about changes in vaccine laws. Why? The agency mandated the use of mercury-based vaccines for 18 months after the deadline spelled out in the law because they were able to justify a shortage of thimerosal-free jabs when there was, in reality, a surplus, according to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

These acts of omission by various ADA chapters are no less despicable, however, than the behind-the scenes antics of the CDC to kill a move to produce thimerosal-free vaccines seven years ago.

With studies like the one posted in today's eHealthy News You Can use newsletter that found traces of the measles vaccine in autistic children, let's hope this stealth lobbying by health agencies in behalf of thimerosal comes to an end very soon.

Association of American Physicians and Surgeons June 15, 2006

Considering all the heat the mega-drugmakers have been feeling from Congress as of late, due partly to the obscene amounts of cash it spends on direct-to-consumer advertising, the American Medical Association (ADA) has asked the FDA to impose an unspecified moratorium on new drug ads.

Specifically, the ADA wants a not-as-yet nailed down timeframe between the time a drug is approved by the FDA and the drugmaker begins its consumer ad campaign, particularly on TV, a decision reached by the organization's House of Delegates yesterday during the late stages of their annual meeting.

During the meeting, AMA members were upset about TV ads using actors instead of physicians whose sales pitches -- particularly one produced by Merck for its cholesterol drug Zetia -- made those drugs appear much more effective than they really were, according to this excellent Chicago Tribune story.

The sad part about all this: The FDA doesn't believe it has the authority to enforce a drug ad delay for constitutional reasons, yet it employs a staff of only 40 professionals responsible for monitoring more than 30,000 print and broadcast ads, sales brochures and Web sites produced in America.

The evidence is clear, when it comes to protecting your family from the harm drugs can do to their health, folks, you're on your own.

Chicago Tribune June 15, 2006 Registration Required

MSNBC June 14, 2006

Because laughing and having a good sense of humor is some of the easiest and best tools you