Natural Health Education and Home Business Facts Free Online Ezine

A free online Ezine aka newsletter Here to Inform and Help You Become Healthier and Happier while Achieving Quality with Longevity! The sometimes controversial healthy alternatives versus traditional medicine also pro's and con's of both. Covering all health topics.
If you received the publish notice forwarded by a friend or family member you can get your own notice for each edition simply Click To Subscribe by email

This Ezine is available by subscription only and subscriber requests are kept on file!

============================
=> IN THIS ISSUE!
============================

==> Editors' Ranting & or Warnings
==> Something To Think About
==> Thought for the day!
==> Showcase Health Spotlight
==> Monthly Spotlight Ads
==> Today's Health Tip
==> Health Today
==> Environmental Report
==> Life Changing Information

This publication should have published last week, but with the death of my father had to be put off. All the information is still very valid and things you need to know or understand!

This week's "Food of the Week" is a healthy food that peaks in consumption from November through January along with one of our favorite recipes using it.

If you have a Question or comment (good or not so good) Click Here
Lena

Health Facts archives Click Here
Ask Lena Health Q & A Archives Click Here
Home Business Informational Archives Click Here

==================================
Something To Think About
============================

The Food and Drug Administration still hasn't restructured its staff to better monitor drug safety, more than three years after experts recommended key changes in the wake of the Vioxx scandal.

That's according to congressional investigators who found that the FDA has yet to follow through on changes suggested in 2006 to help the agency detect problems with drugs taken by millions of Americans. Those recommendations came after the embarrassing and dangerous episode with Vioxx, a blockbuster pain drug the FDA approved in 1999, only to pull from the market in 2004 after linking it to heart attack and stroke.

Agency officials have made some changes to drug oversight, according to a Government Accountability Office report, but the FDA continues to give the bulk of its decision-making power to scientists who approve new drugs, rather than those who monitor the side effects of drugs on the market.

Proven Fact Of Marketing!
Takes a minimum of seven times readings an ad before the normal buyer will take advantage of your offer... GET THAT ADVANTAGE HERE! Spotlight your product or service here! Ad Information Click Here

New and latest research indicates that brain decline has a direct effect on how quickly you can perform even the most basic physical acts.

No matter how fit or toned your muscles may be, if they're not getting signals from your brain quickly, they can't act quickly. It's that simple.

For your brain cells to act quickly, they need to be well insulated with a substance called myelin. Myelin binds to the brain cells and nerve fibers and has a lot to do with how well electrical impulses are carried.

According to the study's lead researcher Dr. George Bartzokis, a neurologist from UCLA, the decline in the amount of myelin in the brain is one of the reasons why it's hard to be a world-class athlete after 40.

Most people who have a neurological disease like Alzheimer's have a buildup of amyloid plaque, a toxic protein that impairs the function of your brain cells. Bartzokis reasons that, like muscle action, memory relies on the same electrical impulses. He has done previous research that indicates that there could be a gene that's linked to Alzheimer's that could retard myelin repair.

But there's hope: there are some basic health tips that will help keep your brain full of myelin. There are no surprises here: as I'm always telling you, mind and body are inextricably linked, so maintaining physical health keeps your mind sharp:

1) Stay active; both physical and mental activity can speed myelin repair.

2) Pump yourself full of omega-3 fatty acids -- they may be as beneficial for myelin levels as they are for heart health

3) Beware of elevated stress and hormone levels, which could damage myelin.

4) Do not take Cholesterol Lowering Drugs, as they are known to dissolve and atrophy the Myelin Sheath and creates a build up of amyloid plaque!

Give your brain a healthy boost with a host of brain building minerals, nutrients and herbs that are reversing some brain insufficiencies while also stopping brain breakdowns!

Get the ultimate mix of all three at by CLICKING HERE
Or Call toll free number within the U.S.A. 9am to 9pm MST 866-605-0420

Minerals make your heart beat, your brain think, your lungs pump, your pancreas function; they make bones and new skin and nails. Minerals build the immune system, control insulin and much, much more. Our bodies are electrical machines, and guess what, minerals, ionic minerals conduct electricity. "YOU CAN TRACE EVERY SICKNESS, EVERY DISEASE, AND EVERY AILMENT TO A MINERAL DEFICIENCY" Linus Pauling, Ph. D (Two- time Nobel Prize winner) . The key to true health is Balanced Absorbable Minerals! (2/25/2010)

Solution to killer superbug found in Norway
Dec 31, 2009
By MARTHA MENDOZA and MARGIE MASON

OSLO, Norway (AP) - Aker University Hospital is a dingy place to heal. The floors are streaked and scratched. A light layer of dust coats the blood pressure monitors. A faint stench of urine and bleach wafts from a pile of soiled bedsheets dropped in a corner.

Look closer, however, at a microscopic level, and this place is pristine. There is no sign of a dangerous and contagious staph infection that killed tens of thousands of patients in the most sophisticated hospitals of Europe, North America and Asia this year, soaring virtually unchecked.

The reason: Norwegians stopped taking so many drugs.

Twenty-five years ago, Norwegians were also losing their lives to this bacteria. But Norway's public health system fought back with an aggressive program that made it the most infection-free country in the world. A key part of that program was cutting back severely on the use of antibiotics.

Now a spate of new studies from around the world prove that Norway's model can be replicated with extraordinary success, and public health experts are saying these deaths - 19,000 in the U.S. each year alone, more than from AIDS - are unnecessary.

"It's a very sad situation that in some places so many are dying from this, because we have shown here in Norway that Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can be controlled, and with not too much effort," said Jan Hendrik-Binder, Oslo's MRSA medical adviser. "But you have to take it seriously, you have to give it attention, and you must not give up."

The World Health Organization says antibiotic resistance is one of the leading public health threats on the planet. A six-month investigation by The Associated Press found overuse and misuse of medicines has led to mutations in once curable diseases like tuberculosis and malaria, making them harder and in some cases impossible to treat.

Now, in Norway's simple solution, there's a glimmer of hope.

LENA'S COMMENT: We in the Alternative truly Natural health industry has been saying stop the drugs for years and nobody listens. You can bet the pharmaceutical industry is going to do everything they can to bury this information. I didn't see it on any news, did you?

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
FOOD OF THE WEEK
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^

sassamanesh, ibimi, atoqua or cranberry
Known by all of the above names but a name settled on - cranberry...

As I munched on my cereal containing dried cranberries I thought it was time I did another food of the week column featuring the fruit/berry! The name is a berry but most consider it a fruit. You can choose which you wish to call it.

This fruit is found on many tables throughout the winter holidays! Cranberries are unlike any other fruit in the world. From Cape Cod to Washington State, the cranberry has played a role in holiday culture and family health & wellness for years. Its unique health benefits and refreshing tart taste are put in a league of its own.

Cranberries went through a variety of different names after their discovery. Eastern Indians called them "sassamanesh." Cape Cod Pequots and the South Jersey Leni-Lenape tribes named them or bitter berry. The Algonquins of Wisconsin called the fruit "atoqua." But it wasn't until German and Dutch settlers came up with "crane berry," because the vine blossoms resembled the neck, head and bill of a crane that we came to the name of cranberry.

American recipes containing cranberries date from the early 18th Century. Legend has it that the Pilgrims may have served cranberries at the first Thanksgiving in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

History of Cranberries

The cranberry, along with the blueberry and Concord grape, is one of North America's three native fruits that are commercially grown. Cranberries were first used by Native Americans, who discovered the wild berry's versatility as a food, fabric dye and healing agent. Today, cranberries are commercially grown throughout the northern part of the United States and are available in both fresh and processed forms.

The name "cranberry" derives from the Pilgrim name for the fruit, "crane berry", so called because the small, pink blossoms that appear in the spring resemble the head and bill of a Sandhill crane. European settlers adopted the Native American uses for the fruit and found the berry a valuable bartering tool.

Cranberries are considered a healthy fruit. They contain no cholesterol and virtually no fat and are low in sodium. Various cranberry products may contain substantial levels of dietary fiber and certain vitamins, as well as a variety of photochemical that may be beneficial to health.

Easy to store and stay fresh longer made it the ideal food for American whalers and mariners to carry on their voyages to prevent scurvy. In 1810, Captain Henry Hall became the first to successfully cultivate cranberries. By 1871, the first association of cranberry growers in the United States had formed, and now, U.S. farmers harvest approximately 40,000 acres of cranberries each year.

Contrary to popular belief, cranberries do not grow in water. They are grown on sandy bogs or marshes. Because cranberries float, some bogs are flooded when the fruit is ready for harvesting giving the allusion to those who pass by at harvest time?

Cranberries contain bacteria-blocking compounds that are believed to be helpful in preventing urinary tract infections, and scientists now think this same function may be useful in blocking the bacteria responsible for ulcers and certain oral bacteria that can lead to gum disease. Current research indicates that approximately 10 ounces of cranberry juice cocktail is needed daily to achieve the bacteria-blocking benefits that ward off UTIs, ulcers and gum disease. You can get these benefits in an array of cranberry products. For round-the-clock protection, snack or cook with one of these products at least once a day. Chopped cranberries with whole orange or tangerine make for a great food relish for fish or chicken or any salad.

The health-promoting properties of cranberries have been based on folkloric remedies, which have existed for centuries. The healthy giving properties of this fruit were recognized by Native American Indians, and early New England sailors are said to have eaten the vitamin C-rich wild cranberries to prevent scurvy. Recent studies confirm the idea that cranberries and cranberry products are beneficial to health.

Anti-cancer - In 1996 laboratory studies conducted by University of Illinois scientists and published in Planta Medica demonstrated the potential anticarcinogenic properties of cranberries. More recently researchers at the University of Western Ontario demonstrated, using an animal model, that human breast cancer cells showed significantly lower incidence of tumor development when the experimental group's diet was supplemented with cranberries. Although these results are very preliminary, compounds in cranberries may prove to be a potent cancer fighter.

Flavonoids have been shown to function as potent antioxidants both in vitro and in vivo and may reduce the risk of atherosclerosis. Cranberries contain significant amounts of flavonoids and polyphenolic compounds that have been demonstrated to inhibit low density lipoprotein oxidation. Ongoing research continues to suggest that cranberries may offer a natural defense against atherosclerosis.

Peptic ulcers are increasingly being attributed to infection by Helicobacter pylori bacteria, as opposed to stress and/or stomach acidity. A high-molecular-weight nondialysable constituent of cranberry juice has been shown to inhibit the adhesion of H. pylori to human gastric mucus in vitro. These preliminary results suggest that cranberry may be beneficial in the prevention of peptic ulcers through the inhibition of H. pylori adhesion to gastric mucus and stomach epithelium.

Fresh cranberries are available in stores mid-September through December. They are most abundant during peak harvest season-October and November. Cranberries may be stored in the refrigerator for up to four weeks. Before using, sort and rinse cranberries in running water. Buy fresh cranberries in season and freeze them to enjoy them all year long. To freeze fresh cranberries, double wrap them in plastic without washing. When using frozen cranberries in your recipes or formulas, no thawing is necessary. In fact, best results are obtained without thawing.

Most of the world's cranberries are cultivated on 39,000 acres in just five states: Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington. Another 8,000 acres are cultivated in the provinces of British Columbia and Quebec, Canada. Delaware, Maine, Michigan, New York, Rhode Island, as well as the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Price Edward Island also produce cranberries. Recently, cranberries have been produced in Chile, South America. Of the approximately 1,000 cranberry growers in North America, 500 are in Massachusetts. Approximately 70 percent of these growers are small family farms with less than 20 acres of bog.

One of our favorite ways of eating cranberries, beside cranberry/orange sauce is cranberry bread. I am sharing our recipe?

Cranberry Whole Wheat Bread
1 Loaf

Ingredients:
1/2 C. Butter or virgin Olive Oil
1 Tbs. Grated Orange Peel
3 Large Eggs, Beaten
1 1/2 C. All purpose flour
1 C. finely ground Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
2 C. Fresh or Frozen (thawed and drained) Chopped Cranberries
1 C. Sugar
1tsp. Vanilla
3/4 C. Buttermilk
1/4 Tsp. sea Salt
3/4 ? 1 C. Pecans, Chopped (We like lots of nuts)

Preheat oven to 350? at an altitude such as ours (5000) bake at 375?. Spray bottom only of 9" X 5" loaf pan with Olive Oil spray. Beat butter, sugar or Olive Oil, orange peel and vanilla in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. Combine flour, baking soda and salt, add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating at low speed just until blended. Fold cranberries and nuts into batter. Turn into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 50 to 60 minutes. Cool slightly in pan. Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.
Lena

NOTE: Sadly food alone cannot yield all the necessary healthy nutrients - especially balance of minerals - as they did in centuries past. BUT this one is close to a perfect prevention food! But we can't rely totally on our food intake! Because of the lack of nutrients in our soils and the pollutants added in the form of air pollution, pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers important nutrients are almost nonexistent and we know the body is not capable of producing minerals with even the healthiest of diets, as it can vitamins, and must be obtained from our foods or daily supplemented... Click Here to understand why minerals are so important to your body's health!

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
HEALTH TODAY
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Did Americans get any healthier over past decade?
By MIKE STOBBE

ATLANTA (AP) - About 10 years ago the government set some lofty health goals for the nation to reach by 2010.

So how did we do? By many measures, not so hot. There are more obese Americans than a decade ago, not fewer. We eat more salt and fat, not less. More of us have high blood pressure. More of our children have untreated tooth decay.

But the nation has made at least some progress on many other goals. Vaccination rates improved. Most workplace injuries are down. And deaths rates from stroke, cancer and heart disease are slowly dropping.

As we move into a new decade, the government is analyzing how well the nation met the 2010 goals and drawing up a new set of goals for 2020 expected to be more numerous and - perhaps - less ambitious.

"We need to strike a balance of setting targets that are achievable and also ask the country to reach," said Dr. Howard Koh, the federal health official who oversees the Healthy People project. "That's a balance that's sometimes a challenge to strike."

The Healthy People objectives were first created in the late 1970s to set an agenda for getting Americans to live longer, healthier lives. It was also an attempt to involve the public and emphasize that many health problems are preventable.

Every 10 years, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reassesses the goals, and reports on progress made in the previous decade.

Many call the effort a success. The report has been imitated by states and other nations. Because of its importance within public health circles, interest groups jockey to add their goals to the document, which is expanding to more than 1,000 targets. And health agency workers have Healthy People goals memorized.

"It is something that we think about all the time," said Dr. Lance Rodewald, a vaccination expert at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But after more than 30 years, the goals aren't well known to the public and only a modest number have been met.

About 41 percent of the 1990 measurable goals were achieved. For the 2000 goals, it was just 24 percent.

As for the 2010 goals, data is still being collected, and a final report is not due out until 2011. But it looks like the results will be in the neighborhood of 20 percent, according to a preliminary analysis by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

The CDC analysis done this fall found that just 18 percent of those goals have been met so far. Worse, the nation actually retreated from about 23 percent of the goals.

One example: Healthy People 2010 called for the percentage of adults who are obese to drop to 15 percent. That goal was set at a time when nearly a quarter of all adults were obese. Now, about 34 percent of adults are obese, according to the latest federal statistics.

Some other backslides:

_An estimated 28 percent of adults had high blood pressure in 2000. The goal was to reduce that to 16 percent. But the most recent government data say the proportion has risen to 29 percent.

_About 16 percent of young children had untreated tooth decay in 2000. The target was 9 percent. The latest statistic is about 20 percent.

_The proportion of births by cesarean section increased despite a 2010 goal of lowering them, and the percentage of infants born very small and fragile also increased.

The nation has had better luck raising childhood vaccination rates, lowering cancer death rates, increasing smoking laws and reducing most types of work injuries.

To many health officials, simply making progress is a victory. An analysis of 635 of the nearly 1,000 targets for the past decade shows only 117 goals have been met. But progress was made toward another 332. In other words, there was improvement in 70 percent of the measures.

"That's evidence of a healthier nation," Koh said.

The Healthy People effort could be better if it included more information about how to reach the goals, and how much it would cost, said David Holtgrave, a health policy expert at Johns Hopkins University.

The program lays out the goals, but looks to others - and the public - to find ways to achieve them. Healthy People does not provide funding to meet the goals, either.

"It's all carrot and no stick," said Dr. Richard Riegelman, founding dean of the George Washington University School of Public Health, who has been part of the Healthy People planning.

Right now, health officials are developing goals for 2020. The details are far from settled, but an advisory panel of experts has recommended that the new goals be more realistic. They also hope to make it more inviting to the public.

In the past, Healthy People reports have been released as a book the size of a James Michener epic.

"They have a lot of good information. They can also give you a backache," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health who heads a committee working on the new goals.

He and others are pushing for Healthy People 2020 to be an online document that links to Web sites and sources for nutrition and exercise advice and other ways people can improve their own health.

"We want to make 2020 a blueprint everyone can rally behind," Fielding said.

Healthy People: http://www.healthypeople.gov/

Feds mull regulating drugs in water
By JEFF DONN

Federal regulators under President Barack Obama have sharply shifted course on long-standing policy toward pharmaceutical residues in the nation's drinking water, taking a critical first step toward regulating some of the contaminants while acknowledging they could threaten human health.

A burst of significant announcements in recent weeks reflects an expanded government effort to deal with pharmaceuticals as environmental pollutants:

- For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency has listed some pharmaceuticals as candidates for regulation in drinking water. The agency also has launched a survey to check for scores of drugs at water treatment plants across the nation.

- The Food and Drug Administration has updated its list of waste drugs that should be flushed down the toilet, but the agency has also declared a goal of working toward the return of all unused medicines.

- The National Toxicology Program is conducting research to clarify how human health may be harmed by drugs at low environmental levels.

The Associated Press reported last year that the drinking water of at least 51 million Americans contains minute concentrations of a multitude of drugs. Water utilities, replying to an AP questionnaire, acknowledged the presence of antibiotics, sedatives, sex hormones and dozens of other drugs in their supplies.

The news reports stirred congressional hearings and legislation, more water testing and more disclosure of test results. For example, an Illinois law goes into effect Jan. 1 banning health care institutions from flushing unused medicine into wastewater systems.

The EPA's new study will look for 200 chemical and microbial contaminants at 50 plants that treat drinking water. The list includes 125 pharmaceuticals or related chemicals. This research will help federal water officials decide if regulations are needed.

In the first move toward possible drinking-water standards, the EPA has put 13 pharmaceuticals on what it calls the Contaminant Candidate List. They are mostly sex hormones, but include the antibiotic erythromycin and three chemicals used as drugs but better known for other uses.

They join a list of 104 chemical and 12 microbial contaminants that the EPA is considering as candidates for regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. No pharmaceutical has ever reached the list in its 12-year history, but medicines now make up 13 percent of the target chemicals on the latest list "based on their potential adverse health effects and potential for occurrence in public water systems," the EPA said.

They take a place beside such better-known contaminants as the metal cobalt, formaldehyde, the rocket fuel ingredient perchlorate, and the disease germ E. coli.

"I think this does signal a change in the regulatory and research approaches," said Conrad Volz, a University of Pittsburgh scientist whose research raises questions about the risk of eating fish from waters contaminated with sex hormones. "What's happening is pretty amazing."

Several scientists within and outside government tied the stronger focus on human health to the Obama administration and the president's appointment of Lisa Jackson, a highly regarded former head of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, to run the EPA.

"I think we are trying to be as aggressive as we can. We understand it's a major national issue. We understand it's a major public concern," said Peter Silva, the new water administrator at the EPA.

However, making the candidate list provides no assurance that a chemical will reach full-blown regulation. In fact, no chemical on the list has ever been made subject to a national water quality standard, EPA officials acknowledge. They intend to make preliminary decisions on some of the latest contaminants by mid-2012.

"They've made a lot of good first steps, so now were waiting to see those carried through," said Nneka Leiba, a researcher at the Environmental Working Group in Washington.

Water utilities and drug makers are wary of the federal moves. Difficult scientific questions remain over the possible threat posed to humans by minuscule concentrations in drinking water, where drugs are typically found in parts per billion or trillion. That's way below medical doses.

However, some researchers fear that very small daily amounts of unwanted drugs in water could do cumulative harm to people over decades, possibly in combination with other drugs or in sensitive populations like children or pregnant women.

Alan Goldhammer, a vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said such trace amounts "really do not pose a human health issue."

"We do get concerned if we think that somebody is going to require that the consumers spend money and not get any health benefit," added Tom Curtis, a lobbyist for the Denver-based American Water Works Association.

The U.S. Geological Survey first began taking notice of pharmaceutical contamination several years ago. But until now the federal government has focused on the presence of pharmaceuticals in rivers and streams.

A recently released EPA study found more than 40 pharmaceuticals - everything from antibiotics to heart medicine to antidepressants - at nine publicly owned wastewater treatment plants. The drugs appeared in concentrations measured in parts per billion and trillion. Many passed right through the plants.

Linda Birnbaum, who is director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and also oversees the National Toxicology Program, said some program research is focusing on how much environmental pharmaceuticals can reach animal blood and tissues and how that might compare with humans.

Waste pharmaceuticals reach the environment when people take medicine and excrete the unmetabolized portion. Millions of pounds of waste drugs also escape into waterways from hospitals, drug plants and other factories, farms and the drains of American homes, the AP has reported.

On its new list, the FDA, which regulates medicines, says only 10 active ingredients in controlled-substance drugs need to be flushed to keep them away from children, abusers and pets.

At the same time, the agency announced it is working with partners to develop programs to return unused drugs instead of flushing them down the drain. The agency wants "to encourage their development and future use for all drugs," declared Dr. Douglas Throckmorton, deputy director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Returned drugs are usually incinerated, which destroys most active ingredients. Community drug takeback programs have increased considerably since the AP's PharmaWater reports.

The recent announcements have been striking in their speed and breadth. Just last year, Ben Grumbles, Silva's predecessor at the EPA Office of Water under President George W. Bush, said only one pharmaceutical was under consideration for the list of candidates for water standards. And it was the heart medicine nitroglycerin, better known as an explosive.

Yet some environmentalists say the government should take even bolder action. "Identifying the nature and scope of the problem is not the same thing as addressing the causes of the problem," said George Mannina, an environmental lawyer in Washington.

He said the EPA should do more to keep drugs out of the nation's water supplies and not rely on expensive filtering systems at water treatment plants.

Jon Holder, a vice president at Vestara, a seller of equipment to manage waste drugs, said the EPA should be more aggressive about enforcing hazardous waste laws that already apply to some drugs used by hospitals.

"We applaud the light that's being shined on it, but we also recognize that the simple enforcement of existing law would go a long way," he said.

EPA Contaminant Candidate List

FDA Flush List

=======================================
Antibiotic Alternatives Naturals has not asked the FDA to evaluate statements made here nor do we ask that you use our judgment for yours when it comes to treating your illness or disease we are here to give you information and alternatives!
======================================

* FREE Health, Business & Motivational Articles for Your Ezine -
CLICK HERE
======================================
We have accepted all advertisements in good faith, but the advertisers are completely responsible for the content and accuracy of their advertisements. We do not give any warranties and accept no responsibility. The editor and publisher suggest that you exercise due diligence and check out all claims!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Remember! We stand behind all our Health Products with a 30 day Money-Back Satisfaction Guarantee! Some conditions apply! Check with company before returning product!