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Painful week.
Job cuts exceed 100,000 for the week
U.S. job losses continued to mount this week, with Pfizer, Caterpillar and Boeing reporting massive reductions.
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By Aaron Smith, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: January 30, 2009: 2:27 PM ET
AMERICA'S MONEY CRISIS
* California's cash crunch: IOUs coming
* Three regional banks fail
* New York - the next housing bust?
* Who needs a big raise? SEC staffers
* $4B shortfall - NYC may cut 23,000 jobs
NEC slashes 20,000 jobsvideo
NEC slashes 20,000 jobs
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Money Summit 2009
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How does he fix it and where does he start?
CNN’s Ali Velshi and a panel of experts analyze his rescue plan.
Panelists include David Gergen, CNN Sr. Political Analyst and Andy Serwer, Managing Editor of Fortune Magazine.
Tune in Friday at 11 p.m. ET and Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- In a brutal week for the job market, an assortment of companies across various industries announced more than 100,000 job cuts.
The bulk of the job loss news occurred on Monday, when several major U.S. companies announced sweeping job cuts, pushing the day's total to more than 70,000.
"The picture is still pretty glum out there," said David Wyss, chief economist for Standard & Poor's, noting that January is often a bad month for the job market, because companies want to include the reductions in their annual tax returns.
Pfizer (PFE, Fortune 500), the leading drugmaker in terms of annual pharma sales, and Caterpillar (CAT, Fortune 500), a heavy equipment manufacturer based in Peoria, Ill., each said they would cut 20,000 jobs. These are the biggest reported eliminations among U.S.-based companies.
New York-based Pfizer said the cost-saving restructuring would occur before and after its merger with Wyeth (WYE, Fortune 500), to be completed later this year.
Caterpillar Chief Executive Jim Owens blamed the "rapidly deteriorating global economy" in his quarterly earnings report. Later, on Friday, Caterpillar added another 2,110 job cuts to its previously announced reductions, bringing its tally to more than 22,000.
Boeing (BA, Fortune 500) announced its massive layoffs on Wednesday. The Chicago-based airplane manufacturer said 10,000 workers, including 4,500 previously announced reductions, would lose their jobs. The company blamed this on dwindling demand for its aircraft.
Chico's (CHS), a retailer of women's clothing based in Fort Myers, Fla., said on Friday that it was cutting 180 positions. The retail industry has been hard-hit in recent months by a slow-down in consumer spending, partly because so many people have lost their jobs.
Also on Friday, the newspaper publisher A.H. Belo (AHC) said it was cutting 500 jobs. Chief Executive Robert Decherd, in a letter to colleagues, blamed the "rapid deterioration in the U.S. economy."
The U.S. economy lost 2.6 million jobs in 2008, according to government reports. This includes 21,137 mass layoffs, a seven-year high. In a mass layoff, 50 or more workers are laid off at a time.
2009 job loss tally
The job market isn't expected to get any better any time soon. The Council Board forecast two million job losses for 2009.
"[The job losses] are going to continue until sales stabilize and that might not become apparent until the summer," said Moody's chief economist John Lonski. "There's every reason to believe that the magnitude of job destruction will rise yet again in February and March."
Not everyone agrees that job losses will continue at their current pace. Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics, said that "when the pace of the loss is this severe, the period of severity isn't very long." He said companies might be overzealous in reporting their eliminations, lessening the need for further cuts down the road.
While opinions differ about the severity of cuts, nobody's talking about job growth for the foreseeable future.
"There's no reason to anticipate a hiring frenzy any time soon," said Rich Yamarone, director of economic research at Argus Research, in an email to CNNMoney.com. "Labor usually accounts for about 75% of a company's costs, and if the outlook remains bleak, they slash jobs. There is no reason to believe this trend will stop any time soon."
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Fighting hunger with flood-tolerant rice
If every scientist hopes to make at least one important discovery in her career, then University of California-Davis professor Pamela Ronald and her colleagues may have hit the jackpot.
Scientists have bred a new strain of flood-tolerant rice that could help feed millions.
Scientists have bred a new strain of flood-tolerant rice that could help feed millions.
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Ronald's team works with rice, a grain most Americans take for granted, but which is a matter of life and death to much of the world. Thanks to their efforts to breed a new, hardier variety of rice, millions of people may not go hungry.
About half the world's population eats rice as a staple. Two-thirds of the diet of subsistence farmers in India and Bangladesh is made up entirely of rice. If rice crops suffer, it can mean starvation for millions.
"People [in the United States] think, well, if I don't have enough rice, I'll go to the store," said Ronald, a professor of plant pathology at UC-Davis. "That's not the situation in these villages. They're mostly subsistence farmers. They don't have cars."
As sea levels rise and world weather patterns worsen, flooding has become a major cause of rice crop loss. Scientists estimate 4 million tons of rice are lost every year because of flooding. That's enough rice to feed 30 million people.
Rice is grown in flooded fields, usually to kill weeds. But rice plants do not like it when they are submerged in water for long periods, Ronald said.
"They don't get enough carbon dioxide, they don't get enough light and their entire metabolic processes are thrown off. The rice plant tries to grow out of the flood, but when it does, it depletes its sugar reserves. It starts to break down its chlorophyll, important for photosynthesis. It grows really quickly, and then when the flood recedes, it just dies. It's out of gas."
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Normal rice dies after three days of complete flooding. Researchers know of at least one rice variety that can tolerate flooding for longer periods, but conventional breeding failed to create a strain that was acceptable to farmers.
So Ronald and her colleagues -- David Mackill, senior scientist at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and Julia Bailey-Serres, professor of genetics at the University of California-Riverside -- spent the last decade working to find a rice strain that could survive flooding for longer periods.
Mackill identified a flood-resistant gene 13 years ago in a low-yielding traditional Indian rice variety. He passed along the information to Ronald, who isolated the gene, called Sub1, and introduced it into normal rice varieties, generating rice that could withstand being submerged in water for 17 days.
The team relied on something called precision breeding, the ability to introduce very specific genes into plants without the associated baggage of other genes that might tag along in conventional breeding.
"This can be a problem for farmers," Ronald said. "The varieties that were developed from conventional breeding were rejected by farmers because they didn't yield well or taste good."
Using precision breeding, scientists introduced the Sub1 gene three years ago into test fields in Bangladesh and India. The subsequent rice harvests were a resounding success.
"The results were really terrific," said Ronald. "The farmers found three- to five-fold increases in yield due to flood tolerance. They can plant the normal way. They can harvest the normal way and it tastes the same. Farmers had more food for their families and they also had additional rice they could sell to bring a little bit of money into the household."
"The potential for impact is huge," agreed Mackill in a statement on the IRRI Web site. "In Bangladesh, for example, 20 percent of the rice land is flood prone and the country typically suffers several major floods each year. Submergence-tolerant varieties could make major inroads into Bangladesh's annual rice shortfall."
The researchers anticipate that the flood-tolerant rice plants will be available to farmers in Bangladesh and India within two years. Because the plants are the product of precision breeding, rather than genetic modification, they are not subject to the same regulatory testing that can delay release of genetically modified crops.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture conferred one of its highest research awards last December on Ronald, Mackill and Bailey-Serres for their work on submergence-tolerant rice.
But Ronald has no plans to rest on her laurels.
"I feel a great sense of gratitude that I was able to contribute in this way," she said. "But the farmers have asked us, 'Can you develop varieties that are drought tolerant, salt tolerant? Can you develop varieties that are insect resistant?' There are always more things to work on."
Source
5 Tips on Budgeting
1.
Think of a budget as a useful tool—a written financial plan that helps you set goals and measure progress.
2.
Start by coming up with a sales revenue target. Make it your best estimate.
3.
Based on past experience, estimate your cost of goods sold (e.g., 70 percent of sales) and subtract it from the sales revenue to come up with your estimated gross margin.
4.
Forecast variable expenses (items such as travel and commissions that vary according to the level of sales) and fixed expenses (items like taxes and rent that stay the same, regardless of sales). Subtract these expenses from your gross margin to arrive at your estimated net income (before federal taxes).
5.
Break your annual budget into quarters and monitor your progress every three months to detect problems and make corrections
Source
Vitamin D Deficiency Causes Mental Decline
A new study published in the Journal of Geriatric Psychology and Neurology reveals that vitamin D deficiency leads to significant mental decline as people age.
The study followed 2,000 people aged 65 and above, comparing their vitamin D levels to their degree of cognitive impairment. Those with the highest vitamin D levels had the least cognitive impairment while those with the lowest vitamin D levels had the greatest cognitive impairment.
AdsSpy: 12 sites by this AdSense ID
If allowed to progress, cognitive impairment is usually diagnosed as dementia or Alzheimer's disease. Modern medicine has no real answers for treating either one: Their pharmaceuticals don't work and they still refuse to teach patients about the importance of vitamin D.
Notably, vitamin D is also the most impressive anti-cancer vitamin of all: It has been shown to halt nearly 4 out of 5 cancers all by itself. (http://www.naturalnews.com/021892.html)
The population of advanced nations is universally vitamin D deficient due to spending most of their time indoors, resulting in a sunlight deficiency. This study correlating vitamin D with cognitive impairment may explain why the people of these nations have become so mentally impaired over the last few generations.
One or two generations ago, when their parents or grandparents used to work outside on their own farms, sunlight exposure was much higher. Cancer rates were low and mental function was much higher. But as societies "advanced," their workers moved indoors, into offices with fluorescent lights. Vitamin D deficiency skyrocketed while IQs plummeted.
That's why today we have the most cognitively impaired population any advanced nation has ever seen (a fact that should be obvious by observing the way people vote). The remedy, of course, is supplementary vitamin D through various fish oil products or straight vitamin D3 supplements. But medical experts are still trying to keep vitamin D a secret, hoping that the population won't catch on and start taking vitamin D supplements (which would largely put the cancer industry out of business).
From News.bbc.co.: They found that compared to those with the highest vitamin D levels, those with the lowest were more than twice as likely to have impaired understanding....
Click here to read more
Study Shows Acai Berries May Kill Cancer Cells
Acai has only recently become an internationally popular super food. Yet it has been cherished by the native people of the Amazon for hundreds of years as a healing fruit. Modern Brazilians eat the acai berry because it tastes nice and is highly nutritious. The famous Gracie Jiu-Jitsu family recommended eating acai before workouts, and soccer players have been using the fruit as a natural energy booster. With its popularity skyrocketing, acai's anti cancer potential is being researched.
Acai berries grow on palm trees in floodplain areas of the Amazon River. The berries are dark purple and about the size of a blueberry. Like blueberries, they are potent antioxidants.
What Makes Acai a Cancer Fighting Super Food?
Free radicals are harmful molecules caused by everything from pesticides and cigarette smoke to exercising. They can damage cells and even DNA. Free radical damage has been shown to be associated with a range of diseases such as arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, and Cancer.
Nature's antidote to free radicals come in the form of fruits and vegetables known as antioxidants, which strengthen cells and defends against free radicals. The amount of antioxidant power that a food has is known as its ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity score).
The Acai berry is one of the highest. Its ORAC score is 167, compared with 32 for blueberries and 14 for apples. The increase in high antioxidant foods is essential to combating the skyrocketing rate of cancer and other diseases.
Acai May Kill Cancer Cells
A study at The University of Florida discovered that acai berries caused human cancer cells to self destruct 86% of the time in a culture. While this research has only been shown in a cell culture model, it is likely that it will have the same effect on human beings.
The researchers plan to continue identifying how acai berries can prevent cancer. The assistant professor Talcott says "We are just beginning to understand the complexity of the acai berry and its health-promoting effects." Studies at the University of Florida are also underway to determine the acai berry's benefits on blood pressure, cholesterol levels, heart health and related health indicators.
While the acai berry hasn't been proven to cure cancer, the research certainly looks promising and at the very least it is helpful in preventing cancer and other illnesses. Plus, it tastes delicious.
http://news.ufl.edu/2006/01/12/berries/
http://www.acaiberrystudies.com/
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Bank bailout: Get ready for next phase
Economy is getting worse and banks' books are still weighed down with junk. Washington is looking at new solutions that sound familiar.
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By Tami Luhby, CNNMoney.com senior writer
Last Updated: January 17, 2009: 4:17 PM ET
AMERICA'S MONEY CRISIS
* Wall Street: Here come the earnings
* Bank bailout: Get ready for next phase
* First bank failures of '09
* FDIC encourages banks to lend more
* Brutal job losses continue in 2009
BofA's 'shotgun wedding' regretvideo
BofA's 'shotgun wedding' regret
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Banks not shying from TARPvideo
Banks not shying from TARP
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Tracking the bailout
Who's getting the bank bailout money Who's getting the bank bailout money Who's getting the bank bailout money
Economy rescue: Adding up the dollars
The government is engaged in an unprecedented - and expensive - effort to rescue the economy. Here are all the elements of the bailouts.
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- It's back to square one.
The deepening financial crisis, which is undermining the government's rescue efforts so far, is prompting federal officials to revisit its original bailout measures. These include taking toxic assets off institutions' balance sheets by moving them into a so-called "bad bank", according to published reports.
As long as these assets remain on banks' books, there's no telling how long their losses will continue and how deep they will be.
Addressing these assets was the original purpose of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the formal name of the $700 billion bailout plan the Bush administration unveiled as the credit crunch spun out of control. It was later abandoned in favor of taking equity stakes in banks, which was seen as a more direct and rapid way to help.
But as the economy worsens and banks continue to rack up multi-billion dollar losses, the incoming Obama administration will face tough choices in deciding what to do with the $350 billion remaining in the bailout plan. There are many who want a piece of the pie, and there may not be enough money to go around.
David Axelrod, a top adviser to Obama, told Reuters that the administration, which takes office Tuesday, would make an announcement in "the next few days."
Figuring out the next phase
Outgoing Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Friday that "a lot of work" has been done on creating a "aggregator bank" and other ideas to leverage the remaining bailout funds to deal with banks' illiquid assets, according to reports. Such a "bad bank" might buy up financial institutions' bad assets, such as mortgage-backed securities, which could stem losses and help rebuild confidence. This is how the federal government first intended to address the credit crisis in mid-September.
Paulson also talked of having the Federal Reserve expand a program to back consumer credit, scheduled to begin next month, and of letting the Fed accept riskier assets, such as commercial mortgage-backed securities. Also, the government could expand its backstop of bank assets as it did for Bank of America, as well as Citigroup.
Meanwhile, Sheila Bair, head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. who will remain in office under Obama, told the Wall Street Journal that federal agencies would like to have "something in place in the not too distant future."
"Everybody agrees it's important to provide some troubled asset relief, because I think it's key to getting private equity capital bank into banks," she told the Journal. "They need to have some certainty about what the tail risk is on some of these assets."
The bank, which would be capitalized with TARP funds, would be similar to the Resolution Trust Corp., which liquidated hundreds of savings and loans in the late 1980s and 1990s, Bair said.
On Tuesday, Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn voiced a similar view. And the congressional panel overseeing the TARP wrote last Friday in a report to Congress that events such as November's federal bailout of Citigroup highlight how the toxic asset problem has continued to fester.
Government officials are coming under renewed pressure from financial industry lobbyists, who are pushing them to do more to help banks deal with their bad assets.
"We need to get the markets moving again," said Tim Ryan, head of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. "We have no problem with capital injections, but if you do capital injections without taking care of the bad assets, it just causes the problem to go into hibernation."
Bank losses mounting
The weakening economy is throwing a wrench into the government's efforts to aid the banks. As job losses mount, a growing number of consumers are falling behind on their mortgages, credit cards and other loan payments.
On Friday, Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), the nation's largest bank, reported a net loss of $1.79 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, compared to earnings of $268 million a year earlier. Analysts expected earnings of 8 cents per share.
The loss did not include Merrill Lynch's results. The recently acquired investment bank reported a loss of $15.31 billion, or $9.62 per share. Bank of America cited "severe capital markets dislocations" for Merrill's huge loss, especially late in the quarter.
Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), meanwhile, reported a much bigger-than-expected $8.3 billion quarterly loss Friday, while the beleaguered banking icon also revealed plans to split up into two businesses.
A day earlier, JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) reported net income fell 76% to $702 million, or 7 cents a share during the fourth quarter, from $2.97 billion, or 86 cents a share, during the same period a year ago.
Losing the public's support
Convincing the American public to support more rescue measures may be tough.
A majority of those polled say the government's financial bailout for troubled banks has not worked so far and six in 10 don't want Washington to spend more money on the rescue, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday.
President-elect Barack Obama will have to decide how to parcel out the remaining $350 billion to all the jockeying interests.
In a nod to congressional Democrats, Obama's officials have already committed to spending up to $100 billion on assisting homeowners facing foreclosure, while Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Tuesday that banks will need more capital injections.
However, Obama said it's crucial to help the banks and get them lending to consumers and small businesses again.
"There's no doubt that we needed to stabilize the banking system," Obama told CNN's John King Friday.
CNN Money
Improve Cardiovascular Health Naturally
The best way to ensure a healthy cardiovascular system is to eliminate unhealthy fats from one's diet, eat whole foods, and engage in regular aerobic exercise activity. The cardiovascular system is also affected by stress and emotional health, so making an effort to reduce sources of stress is important for a healthy heart. There are many options for taking charge of cardiovascular health in natural, holistic ways that will enable people to lead healthy, active lifestyles. The best course of action is to strive for a healthy heart by making healthy choices before symptoms become apparent. Everyone can maintain a good cardiovascular health in effective, all-natural ways.
Be very careful what kinds of fats and oils are consumed. Olive Oil and Rice Bran Oil are excellent choices for cooking. Sesame Oil and Coconut Oil are good choices for salad dressings. Grape seed Oil is a nice all-purpose oil for baking. Avoid oils made from GMO crops like soybeans, corn, and canola oils.
Be aware that food labels can be misleading. Even if a food product is labeled "Trans Fat Free" it does not necessarily mean that the item does not contain Trans Fats. The government requires all food companies to list Trans Fats on their nutrition labels. Companies can list Trans Fats at 0 grams if the total amount found in one serving is less than 0.5 grams. While this may seem like a small amount, most people eat more than one serving of these kinds of foods. If more than a serving of these foods is consumed, then the Trans Fat amount will quickly add up. To be certain that foods purchased do not contain Trans Fats, read the ingredient list. If there are any ingredients that are either hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated then the food product contains Trans Fats and should be avoided.
Another diet modification that should be made for a healthy cardiovascular system is to eliminate all refined sugars.
When people were compared who had diets high in sugar and diets high in starches, the people who were consuming more refined sugar had blood levels higher in lipids (blood cholesterol, triglycerides) and higher levels of blood glucose and insulin (and higher insulin response). All of these are considered to be undesirable metabolic changes and all contribute to a person's susceptibility to heart disease and diabetes.
High glucose levels appear to be a significant risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Diabetes is well-recognized to be associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Elevated glucose levels are now well-established risks for future heart attacks and strokes and even death from cardiovascular disease.
New research indicates that blood glucose levels should be considered in the same way as cholesterol levels or blood pressure.
Cayenne has long been used for promoting good cardiovascular health. In fact, years ago hot cayenne tea was even thought to be able to stop a heart attack. Cayenne is a popular supplement for heart health and cayenne tea is effective for improving poor circulation.
If a cayenne formula is selected that is under 40,000 units then the supplement won't be an unpleasant addition to the diet. For a simple cayenne tea, add a small amount of cayenne to hot water and add in a dash of lemon and honey to taste. Another beneficial use of cayenne is to sprinkle a small amount in one's socks on a cold winter day to help keep feet warm.
Source
How Birds Can Down a Jet Airplane
away from an Airbus 320 US Airways aircraft that has gone down …
* US Airways plane crashes into Hudson River Slideshow: US Airways plane crashes into Hudson River
* Flight 1549 Apparently Crippled By Bird Strikes Play Video Video: Flight 1549 Apparently Crippled By Bird Strikes CBS 2 New York
* Disabled jet ditches into NYC river; all rescued Play Video Video: Disabled jet ditches into NYC river; all rescued AP
Early reports suggest that a bird strike caused a jet plane to crash in the Hudson River near Manhattan today, leaving questions about how a little flying animal could down a big airliner.
More than 200 people have been killed worldwide as a result of wildlife strikes with aircraft since 1988, according to Bird Strike Committee USA, and more than 5,000 bird strikes were reported by the U.S. Air Force in 2007. Bird strikes, or the collision of an aircraft with an airborne bird, tend to happen when aircraft are close to the ground, which means just before landing or after take-off, when jet engines are turning at top speeds.
The incidents are serious particularly when the birds, usually gulls, raptors and geese, are sucked into a jet engine and strike an engine fan blade. That impact displaces the blade such that it strikes another blade and a cascade can occur, resulting in engine failure.
A 12-pound Canada goose striking an aircraft going 150 mph at lift-off generates the force of a 1,000-pound weight dropped from a height of 10 feet, according to Bird Strike Committee USA.
Today's incident, which occurred just after US Airways flight 1549 (an Airbus 320) had taken off with more than 150 passengers and crew
Click here to read the rest
No need for condoms – GE corn can do the job
Greenpeace
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
India — New research from Austria shows that a commercial strain of Monsanto-made GE corn causes mice to have fewer and weaker babies. What is this doing to human fertility?
Regulators around the world said Monsanto’s GE corn was as safe as non-GE strains.
It has been approved in many countries and regions including the US, the EU, Argentina, Japan, Philippines and South Africa.
China approved the GE corn for animal feed back in 2005.Until this research, under the Austrian Ministries for Agriculture and Health, none of the regulators had seriously questioned the safety of Monsanto’s GE corn.
The biotech industry is playing a game of genetic roulette with our food and with our health.
The GE corn research
Austrian scientists fed mice over a course of 20 weeks a mixture of 33 percent Monsanto GE corn (NK 603 x MON 810) and non-GE corn.
These mice gave birth to less babies and lighter babies in their third and fourth litters. Mice fed on non-GE corn had babies as normal.
These differences are statistically significant.
India and GE food
The GEAC(Genetic Engineering Approval Committee), a government body, has approved large scale field trials for BT corn in three agricultural universities in India. This corn is the same corn that according to a study by the Austrian government leads to infertility in the females of the rats that it was tested upon.
In the light of this latest research, Greenpeace India is urging the government to put the brakes on GE food.
“Genetic Engineering as a technology cannot be taken as safe without adequate safety tests” said Dr. Sujatha Byravan, Molecular biologist and former President of The Council for Responsible Genetics.
GE Brinjal is also in the pipeline, and being considered for approval.
Monsanto’s GE corn hurts mouse reproduction. So what is it doing to human reproduction?Considering the severity of the potential threat, Greenpeace is demanding a recall of genetically-engineered food and crops from the global market.
Source
Skin Pigment Disease Reversed with Piperine Nutrient From Black Pepper
An extract derived from black pepper may be able to help reverse the effects of the skin pigmentation disease known as vitiligo, according to research conducted by scientists from Kings College London and published in the Ridge Journal of Dermatology.
Vitiligo is a disease in which sections of the skin lose their pigmentation and turn white, often leading to a blotchy, mottled look. Because melanin, the chemical that gives skin its pigmentation, also protects against the ultraviolet radiation causes skin cancer, people with vitiligo may be at increased risk for that disease.
The current study focused on piperine, the chemical that gives black pepper its spiciness. Researchers applied piperine and its synthetic derivatives to the skin of mice, and found that doing so caused the animals' skin to turn an even light brown after only six weeks.
When combined with ultraviolet radiation treatment, piperine caused the mice's skin to become darker faster. The effect was also more long-lasting
The researchers noted the advantages of piperine over the current methods used to treat vitiligo. While ultraviolet radiation alone does cause repigmentation of the skin, the color produced is patchy, and the use of frequent radiation treatments increases a patient's risk of skin cancer. Corticosteroid treatments, on the other hand, only work in 25 percent of patients.
"Vitiligo is a highly visible disease that can greatly affect patients psychologically and emotionally," said Nina Goad of the British Association of Dermatologists. "Any breakthrough in treatments of this disease is most welcome. These findings could potentially lead to the development of treatments that not only provide improved results, but could also reduce the need for ultraviolet radiation in vitiligo treatment, in turn lowering the risk of skin cancer."
Approximately one in 100 people in the United States suffer from vitiligo, which is believed to result from a combination of autoimmune, environmental and genetic factors. Among most well-known sufferers is pop musician Michael Jackson.
Source
New teen grog alarm over food essences
TEENS are raiding supermarket shelves to get drunk on food essences, sparking calls for tougher clamps on high-alcohol food products.
Concerned parents are calling for a ban on sales to minors in Victoria.
A ban was introduced in NSW from January 1.
The father of a teenager who died after drinking food essences has joined the call for bans to be looked at again.
He successfully campaigned for large essence bottles to be banned from sale in 2001.
Alcohol experts say teens could swallow deadly amounts of alcohol from food additives without realising the risks they were taking.
Some of the cooking materials have as much as 40 per cent alcohol content - about the same as most vodkas and whiskies - and cost as little as $3.
In 2001, sales of essence bottles in shops were restricted to 50ml or 100ml bottles.
But parents have told the Herald Sun their children have been mixing those bottles of food essence with cans of soft drink to get drunk.
David Carpenter, from Gordon, near Ballarat, said he and his wife had found several bottles of vanilla and lime essence under their 15-year-old son's pillow and were worried about the potentially harmful consequences.
"There could be brain damage," Mr Carpenter said.
"My concern is that there's a new wave out there of kids getting their hands on alcohol.
"Even with all the new taxes, the kids are finding ways of getting alcohol."
Mr Carpenter said a security guard from a shopping centre in Ballarat had rung his family because their son was found drunk in the area.
Bruce Clark, whose son Leigh died after consuming a large amount of food essence in 1999, said the issue needed to be looked at again by experts.
Bans on sales to minors should be considered, he said.
NSW liquor and gaming director Albert Gardner called for restrictions last year, prompting the ban on sales of food essences to minors.
But Liquor Licensing Victoria spokeswoman Mirjana Jovetic said no new complaints about essences had come through its office, and it was the responsibility of consumers to decide what they bought.
"Parents and sales staff should always be alert to the dangers of alcohol consumption by minors, and exercise common sense and caution," Ms Jovetic said.
Australian Drug Foundation chief executive John Rogerson said essences could be dangerous in the hands of young people and could be lethal if taken in large doses.
Source
Apple Pectin Helps Prevent Colorectal Cancer
The pectin from apple peels and extracts of apple juice appear to increase the production of a chemical associated with protection from colon cancer, according to a new study conducted by German researchers and published in the journal Nutrition.
The researchers fermented fecal slurry from healthy volunteers with either apple pectin, apple juice extract, or a combination of the two. They found that the concentrations of a short chain fatty acid (SCFA) known as butyrate were higher in the samples that had been fermented with apple pectin. Concentrations of other SCFAs were also elevated.
"Butyrate not only serves as a major nutrient for the colon epithelia [lining] but is also thought to play an important role in the protective effect of natural fiber against colorectal cancer," the researchers wrote.
Butyrate appeared to inhibit the production of histone deacetylases (HDAC), which have been linked to the development of precancerous cells and tumors. When the researchers tested the fermented fecal slurries on both healthy and cancerous colon cells, they found that the production of HDAC was significantly inhibited.
The slurries fermented with apple juice did not have butyrate levels as high as those fermented with pectin, but they inhibited HDAC production just as effectively. A combination of pectin and apple juice, however, was no more effective than pectin alone. This led the researchers to hypothesize that while apple juice contains still-unknown HDAC inhibitors other than butyrate, butyrate is the most significant inhibitor for the human body.
The study is part of a growing interest in the cancer-suppressing qualities of fruits and vegetables. Another recent study found that freeze-dried grape powder appears to hamper the development of colorectal cancer cells. This effect is believed to arise from the chemical resveratrol, rather than from pectin. But researchers have noted that the cancer-fighting properties of fruits and vegetables often arise from complex interactions between different ingredients.
Sources for this story include: www.foodnavigator-usa.com.
Why You Should Avoid Fast Food at All Costs
Most people today are usually aware that fast food is not the healthiest or "best" food to eat. Typically, the majority of people eat it several times a week or more. People generally eat fast food for a few main reasons, mostly because it's convenient, cheap and usually tastes pretty good.
The cost factor is certainly an understandable reason given the current state of the world economies and everyone's need to tighten up on their spending. But even this is really no excuse to be pumping the tons of toxic chemicals and "dead" food into you or your families' bodies.
Nearly all books and documentaries that have come out in recent years showing how bad fast food is mostly focuses on it's high fat/ high sodium content. Very few of them truly reveal the real dangers of consuming fast food and just why it is totally unfit for human consumption.
Hopefully this article will help you to truly begin to understand why it's not just a "less healthy" food, but something so terrible, so disgusting, and so horrible that you are far better off eating nothing at all than to consume fast food. If most people truly knew what it is that they're putting into their bodies when they go up to that drive through window and place their order, surely the vast majority would rarely if ever consume it again.
Certainly anyone who is interested in overcoming illness and disease and attaining higher levels of health and internal purity must vastly limit or completely eliminate their consumption of these so called foods.
So just what is in fast foods today and why is it really so bad for you? Come along as we cover some main reasons for such a strong stance against fast foods and just why they are to be avoided at all cost. Be warned that some of this information may be quite disturbing to some readers.
Fast Food Nation
In 2002, author Eric Shlosser, a correspondent for the Atlantic Herald, came out with a ground breaking book called "Fast Food Nation" which takes us through a sordid maze of deception, cover up, lies, fraud and both animal and human cruelty that has unfortunately become all too common in the meat packing industry today. This was even turned into a 2006 movie release of the same name.
If you only saw the movie, then you missed virtually all of the "meat and potatoes" of this story because the movie was but a pale shadow of the mind blowing information contained in the book.
The movie mostly focused on the plight of the immigrant laborers who work in the meat packing plants. These plants are the main suppliers of the meat, chicken and other foodstuffs sold in the fast food industry.
The book covers every aspect of the fast food industry. From the truly horrible and inhumane conditions of the animals themselves from birth till death, to the often slave like conditions of the plants where the mostly immigrant and poor workers toil in 12 hour shifts or longer each day and more.
Fast Food nation is a thoroughly well researched book that has won worldwide praise for its author Eric Shlosser. Eric was able to gain access to feed lots, slaughter houses and even the J.R. Simplot plant in Aberdeen, Idaho where millions upon millions of French fries are made on a daily basis. The majority of which are mostly destined for area McDonald`s restaurants.
The fast food industry came out in strong protest against his book saying that they don't agree with his conclusions. At the same time when asked if there were any errors in the book the same industry said "no" that they could not find any errors in his facts or figures at all.
The Processing Line
Twenty years ago the standard number of cattle processed per hour in a typical meat packing plant was 175. The older meatpacking plants in Chicago slaughtered about 50 per hour. Today the workers at many plants are required to kill up to 400 cattle per hour. At the rate worker injuries are all too common as the workers stand close together in one spot for hours a day performing the same task over and over again. Mostly this involves swinging a large sharp knife over and over again to carve up the animal into smaller pieces for processing. Mistakes and injuries to other workers are common as they struggle to keep up with the fast pace of the line in constant fear of falling behind or being fired.
The pace of the line that these workers are forced to work at is a major cause of many serious injuries to workers and has even led to several deaths. How do these workers die exactly...well this is where the story gets downright grizzly. Many times these workers are near the meat grinders when some get limbs caught in them or simply fall into the larger machines completely. By the time the machine can be shut down, there is nothing of the worker left to recover.
That means that along with the meat from the cattle, there is at times, human meat mixed in with the animal meat itself. Fortunately it doesn't occur all that often, but the author is surely not taking any chances on putting such meat into his body or that of his family and I strongly suggest that you don't either. There are other things mixed into with the meat as well which we'll cover shortly.
The speed of the cattle line not only producers a danger to the workers themselves, but it causes them to make a much higher percentage of mistakes in the cutting of the meat itself. What this means is that, because these workers are being forced to do the same motion up to 10,000 times per day, they can and do make mistakes and end up cutting the wrong part of the animals.
Instead of cutting the meat parts that are to be sold, they can end up hitting the bowels which often causes a "mixing" of the animals waste to be mixed in with the meat that is eventually sold to restraints and the public. This is a main source of various E-coli outbreaks that we hear about on the news from time to time. How many more people get sick from such "food" but never report it?
Animal Cruelty
With the terrible and inhumane way in which the animals themselves are treated which causes the meat to lose any of it's health benefits, coupled with the contamination of the meat itself during processing, you now have a situation where this meat is not only providing very little nutrition or bio-energy, but it can be quite dangerous and deadly.
"Every day in the United States, roughly 200,000 people are sickened by a food borne disease, 900 are hospitalized and fourteen die. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), more than a quarter of the American population suffers a bout of food poisoning each year. Most of these cases are never reported to authorities or properly diagnosed" - Fast Food Nation, page 195
Not only are these animals often killed while they're in poor health, as a recent investigative film by the human society showed that even animals that are too sick or weak to walk are being picked up by forklifts and led to the slaughter anyway. This is against current animal welfare policies but is rarely enforced due to a loophole in the laws.
Aside from the obvious reasons for animals to be sick and weak such as hormone injections and cramped feedlots which stresses animals out just as it does humans, there are other more stomach churning reasons for their ill health.
The animals are not only unhealthy due to how they're treated in terms of actual abuse or crowded and stressed conditions, but what they're being fed is absolutely disgusting a crime against nature itself. These cattle are ruminants, meaning that they're designed to eat grass and perhaps some grain. They have four stomachs because they're meant to eats things with high cellulose content.
So what is it that these animals are being fed that further contributes to their being in such ill health and overweight? Until 1997, about 75% of the cattle in the US were being fed livestock wastes, the rendered remains of dead sheep and cattle. They were also fed millions of dead pets from animal shelters. The FDA banned such practices after evidence from Great Britain suggested that this might be responsible for a widespread outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) also known as "mad cow disease"
However, current FDA regulations do allow dead pigs and horses to be turned into cattle feed, along with dead poultry too. They also allow the poultry to be fed to dead cattle. Other constituents of cattle feed include cattle blood, metal fragments and sawdust.
Is it any wonder then that these poor animals are sick and weak and some are unable to even walk to their own slaughter?
Many such animals go to the slaughter with their bodies wracked with tumors, viruses, infections and some reports indicate that a majority of them have cancer throughout their bodies. Meat packers are taught how to cut around the cancers and tumors to avoid infecting the meat itself. But this means that even the "uninfected" parts are so weakened of nutrients, oxygen, energy and life force that it is still unfit for human consumption.
Because of their low nutrient content, higher levels of diseased tissues, bacteria, weak and impure electromagnetic and life force energies along with little to no exercise and not being allowed to eat the grasses that they are designed to eat and other reasons constitute why these animals are unfit for human consumption and a horrible choice of food to be putting into your body.
The Chicken is No Better
If you think the chickens that are sold at fast food places are treated any better, then please take a look at this 48 minute video recently featured on Mercola.com
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic...
How Science is used to Deceive
The meat and other foods sold at fast food restaurants bears little to no resemblance to actual freshly cut meat. Food scientists employ a number of very deceptive and clever techniques to fool the senses into thinking that such foods are tasty and healthy. Science has discovered many chemicals that can exactly emulate the smells of fresh foods found in nature.
For example; Ethyl-2-methyl butyrate smells just like an apple. Adding methyl-2-peridylketone makes something taste like popcorn. Ethyl-3- hydroxybutanoate makes something taste like marshmallow. On and on these combinations go and it can all be done without effecting the appearance or nutritional value of the processed foods. These ingredients can be listed as "natural flavors" on the labels, even on foods that are listed as "organic"
At the Lamb Weston plant in American falls, Idaho, Eric Shlosser saw how the French fries undergo an amazing amount of scientific testing and chemical tweaking to attain just the right taste, consistently, mouthfeel, cooking time and even after taste. At one point they had him close his eyes and he was asked to identify various foods just from their smell. When the first sample was brought him he said "hmm… apples". When the next sample was brought to him he said "French fries", the third smelled just like a hamburger. Upon opening his eyes and expecting to see each of the foods present, all he saw was a scientist in a lab coat holding small white pieces of paper under his nose. These were the samples of the chemicals used to make fast food taste and smell so good.
This process is certainly not limited merely to fast food or French fries. At the IFF (International Flavor and Fragrances) plant in Dayton, NJ, Eric saw how chemicals that make nearly every single food or product sold on the market today taste and smell just as they do. Some of these products include; toothpastes, colognes, pop tarts, frozen and restaurant foods, ice cream, snack cakes, cookies, mouthwashes, antacids, potato chips, corn chips, breakfast cereals, soft drinks, sports drinks, bottled teas, beer, wine coolers, all natural juice drinks, frostings, dishwashing detergents, floor waxes, shampoo, soaps, furniture polish, and the list goes on and on.
Why such a focus on the aroma of food, because up to 90% of the taste of a food is actually linked to its aroma. Of course if the food is healthy and fresh, why do they need to add aroma and taste back into the food? Simple, because the food sold at most if not all fast food restaurants is so degraded, so old and of such poor quality that if you actually were to see it's color and smell it before all of this chemical processing, you would never put such foods into your stomach. This is especially true of the meats that are sold at fast food restaurants.
This is a major reason why reading those labels and eating as much organic, unpackaged and unprocessed foods as possible is so incredible vital to health and longevity. Too often even foods that are labeled as "natural" or "organic" will contain many of these chemical potions. Eating as much raw real foods such as fruits, vegetables and locally grown meats is about the only way to make sure that you're not consuming foods with these myriad of chemicals in them.
What Color is the Food?
Aroma is not the only tweaking that goes into fast foods. The color of food also has a lot to do with it's perception of flavor. This is by design because we know that color often indicates whether a food is ripe or rancid. In the early 1970's an experiment was done where people were given an "oddly tinted" meal of steak and French fries that appeared normal under the colored lights they were subjected to. Everyone thought that the food tasted fine that is until the lighting was changed. As soon as people saw that the steak was actually blue and the fries were green, people were shocked and several even became ill.
If you have bought stand supermarket meats at anytime, you probably noticed that it has that bright red "healthy" looking color in it. Well that meat is not much better than your typical fast food meats. The bright red color is from the same kind of chemical food coloring and chemical wizardry of sight and aroma as the food colorings used in the fast food industry.
The processing of these foods whether it's the beef, chicken, other meats or French fries has not only destroyed its chemical and nutritional value, but the energetic and phytonutrient or light energy of these foods long before they get to the dinner table.
Understanding how this food is processed, what the animals are eating, how they're treated and what effect all of this has on the animals that you're consuming is critical to understanding why fast food is something that you want to avoid at all costs.
The Quick and the Dead
At the very least you want to limit your consumption of this convenient food to no more than once a week, making sure to take digestive enzymes with every meal to ensure proper digestion. Since these foods are enzymes, nutrient and energy dead, that means that you will use up far more of your own digestive enzymes to process this food. This is why fast food equals dead food and the more dead foods we consume, the faster we end up dead ourselves. We truly are what we eat.
Most natural raw foods contain their own natural enzymes which helps the food to digest itself in the stomach and intestines. This takes a big load off of the pancreas which makes most of our digestive enzymes. This is very important since digestion is the number one drain on our store of enzymes. What's not well known is that enzymes are also a major part of our immune system and are responsible for every process that occurs in the human body, even the beating of your heart.
This is why eating foods high in natural enzymes, which means eating raw, fresh and minimally processed foods as much as possible along with sufficient enzyme supplements, can go a long way to not only aiding in digestion and absorption of nutrients, but can even help boost the immune system and ward off disease.
When enzymes are not busy digesting our last meal, they travel around the body dissolving tumors, killing bacteria, viruses and germs, absorbing dead tissues and rebuilding new ones along with strengthening the entire system. This is the main reason why juicing is so effective at helping people at overcoming and eliminating their serious diseases
We get a plethora of these natural vitamins, nutrients and enzymes when juicing or making natural smoothies with plenty of raw, fresh ingredients. Their natural enzymes are released in the juicer or the blender in the same way that cutting up a fresh salad also releases and activates the nutritional and enzymatic contents in the leaves.
Hopefully you can now see more clearly why it's vital to avoid fast foods. This truth extends to just about all packaged and processed foods. Food that is packaged and processed is almost totally enzyme, nutrient and energy dead. These foods use up and drain the human body of tremendous amounts of enzymes required to digest and assimilate their nutrient content while giving very little in the way of true life giving energies back.
The longer we keep putting these denatured and energy dead processed foods into our bodies, the faster we're using up our own limited stores of these life sustaining substances. This can not only hasten the onset of disease, but can accelerate the arrival of our own demise. It for these and other reasons why you should avoid fast food at all costs.
If you want to read more about this, the author highly recommends the book "Fast Food Nation".
Sources;
"Fast Food Nation", Eric Schlosser
"The Complete Book of Chinese Health and Healing" Daniel Reid
SOurce
The Proven Cure and Prevention for Cancer the Medical Establishment Doesn't Want You to Know
The Budwig protocol is the food treatment and cure for cancer and other major debilitating diseases created by Dr. Johanna Budwig. It was designed for use with extremely ill and wasted cancer patients who had been sent home by their doctors to die. These were patients so ill that many were unable to take any food at all in the beginning, and had to be initially treated with enemas. The protocol is so simple that it can be tailored to fit whatever situation is encountered, from use with someone at death's door to use as a preventative and part of a healthy lifestyle. Part I this article reveals the Budwig protocol as the only well recognized and highly documented cure and prevention for cancer in existence today. In part II the mechanics of the protocol are elaborated and discussed.
There are only two essential foods in the protocol, flax oil and cottage cheese or some other sulphurated protein such as yogurt or kefir. The oil provides electron-rich fats, and the cottage cheese provides the sulphurated protein to bind with the oil and render it water soluble. In this state, the oil is able to carry immense amounts of oxygen straight into the cells. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygen rich environment.
Creating the mixture
The quality of these ingredients should be the best you can find. The flax oil should be organic and from the refrigerated section of a health food store. Flax oil that has lignans has added benefits. Do not buy flax oil capsules or non-refrigerated oil in bottles because it will almost undoubtedly be rancid and compromise what you are trying to do. The cottage cheese should be organic and low fat. Organic Valley is a very good brand if you can find it. There are others. Try to avoid Horizon Organic because its integrity has been compromised since its ownership by Walmart.
You may want to use a mixer to break up the curds and make sure the cottage cheese mixes completely with the oil. Or you can whip it in a cup and mash up the large curds with a spoon. Whip it until there are no pools of oil standing in the cup. Then you will know that the mixture is now water soluble and able to enter into your cells. You can mix up a batch of this at one time. Although flax oil is highly volatile and can easily become rancid, once it is bonded with the cottage cheese it becomes stable.
The ratio is one tablespoon of oil with two tablespoons of cottage cheese. This translates to two tablespoons of oil with four tablespoons of cottage cheese and so on. If you are using yogurt or kefir you will need to double or triple the amount of it you use. If you want a creamier mixture you can add a bit of milk.
The mixture has a very pleasant taste. If you want to you can add some fruit or freshly squeezed juice, honey or herbs. Turmeric, cumin, dill or garlic along with some cayenne adds a flavor punch and added health benefits. If you are administering the mixture to someone who is very ill, it's best not to embellish it except with honey or fruit juice.
People who are suffering from chronic or terminal disease should work themselves up to consuming 6 to 8 tablespoons of the oil daily. Johanna noted that people with pancreatic or liver cancer need to work up very slowly and may need to start with only a teaspoon at first to allow for their bodies to adjust.
Many people who want to prevent cancer including many who have had cancer and want to prevent its returning add the mixture to their healthy, unprocessed, whole food diets, usually consuming it once a day for prevention and to prevent recurrence, and significantly more if their cancers are active. Since this is not medicine but food, the amount taken is not strictly prescribed. Rather, it becomes an issue of assessing your health status as you go along. Others choose to use the guidelines of the Budwig diet described below while also continuing to use the mixture.
Treating the extremely ill
According to Johanna's protocol, patients too ill to consume the mixture at first were treated with a retention enema using ½ to 1 cup of oil daily. The patient would try to hold the oil for as long as possible, aiming for 15-20 minutes. When the patient retained enough strength to be fed by mouth, he was switched to the mixture. Johanna also used body rubs of oil on the very ill. She rubbed oil into the skin over the entire body, particularly on the armpits, breasts and groin where the lymphatic vessels were, and also on the affected organs or areas. The oil was left on the skin for about 15-20 minutes and then the body was sponged with warm water. The patient then rested for a short period while the warm water drove the last of the oil deeper into the opened pores of the body. This was followed by a soap and water sponge to clean up the oil.
When the patient regained the strength to eat, he was gradually given the mixture until he was able to consume about 8 ounces of it per day. No other nourishment was given during this period, with the exception of honey or freshly squeezed fruit juices which were given with the mixture. If this was too much for the patient, Johanna gave champagne, which is even more easily assimilated by the body than honey or juice.
As Johanna's patients improved and were able to tolerate more of the mixture, they entered a period of intense therapy lasting for an average of about 3 months. This period was then followed by a period of slowly declining amounts of the mixture as good health was regained.
As soon as her patients had achieved fortification with oil by mouth, they were told to sit in the sun for short periods.
Once the overt manifestations of the disease had vanished, Johanna insisted that her patients be kept on a maintenance dose to prevent recurrence. This would be the dose needed by a healthy person who wishes to prevent catastrophic disease, or a person whose cancer symptoms have disappeared. The maintenance dose prescribed by Johanna was one tablespoon of oil per one hundred pounds of body weight.
The Budwig Diet
Johanna also designed an eating plan that she recommended to all of her patients. The diet stressed fresh, whole foods. She advocated the avoidance of sugar, animal fats and meats, margarine, foods containing preservatives, and salad oils except for extra virgin olive oil. These foods lower the voltage field in the cells.
The diet emphasizes freshly squeezed vegetable juices such as carrot, celery and red beet. Johanna also insisted that her patients drink three cups of warm tea each day, preferably peppermint or rose hips. One of these cups could be black tea.
Here is the outline of her daily plan:
Before breakfast – a glass of cultured milk or sauerkraut juice is taken
Breakfast – Muesli (a cereal) is overlaid with 2 tablespoons of flax oil along with honey and fresh fruit in season. Nuts may be added.
Mid morning – glass of fresh carrot juice, apple celery, or beet juice.
Lunch – Green salad or other raw vegetables which can be dressed with some of the mixture. Ground horseradish, chives or parsley may be added. Steamed vegetables, potatoes, or grains such as brown rice, buck-wheat or millet may also be served. Add the mixture to baked potatoes for an exceptionally filling meal. Fresh fruit for dessert.
Afternoon tea – a small glass of natural wine (no preservative) or champagne or fresh fruit juice with 1-2 tablespoons of honey coated flax seeds.
Dinner – Have a hot meal using oat cakes, or grits from buckwheat. Grits can be added to vegetable soup, or done in the form of cakes with herbal sauce. Sauces and soups can be sweetened only with honey or grape juice.
The mixture may be taken throughout the day, added to the meals or in between them. Flax seeds may also be eaten at any time. They can be cracked in a food processor or ground in a coffee grinder.
Johanna also had a recipe for a mayonnaise that could be used with food in place of the mixture. Here it is:
Mix together 2 tablespoons flax oil, 2 tablespoons milk, and 2 tablespoons yogurt. Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, and 1 teaspoon mustard. Add herbs such as marjoram or dill as you choose. Then add 2 or 3 slices of pickles chopped up (use only pickles from a health food store with no preservative). Herbal salts may be added.
For optimal health after you have recovered from cancer or to prevent it, this diet or variations based on plant based eating and avoidance of processed foods should continue for the rest of your life.
Johanna's research and clinical findings
Johanna published a wealth of research and clinical findings. Only three of her books have so far been translated into English. They are available at Amazon.com and other online retailers. For more information about her diet plan, see the book The Oil Protein Diet Cook Book.
Sources used in these articles and recommended for your further education are:
Chronic Pain and Fatigue Associated With Vitamin D Deficiency
People who are vitamin D deficient are more likely to suffer from chronic pain and fatigue, and those with the conditions may improve or even recover entirely when treated with vitamin D supplementation, according to a new study.
Researchers analyzed 22 clinical studies of patients with various kinds of chronic fatigue and pain, repeatedly finding that the conditions were correlated with vitamin D deficiency. Between 48 and 100 percent of those who had back pain, for example, had less than the 20 nanograms per milliliter that is considered an adequate blood level of the vitamin.
In one study, for example, 93 percent of those who suffered from chronic musculoskeletal pain turned out to be vitamin D deficient. A full 25 percent of participants turned out to have severe vitamin D deficiency, with blood levels of less than eight nanograms per milliliter.
Many of the studies found that vitamin D supplementation caused chronic fatigue and pain symptoms to vanish. In one study, for example, 95 percent of those treated with supplements for three months reported improvements in chronic back pain, including 100 percent of those who were severely deficient at the study's start.
"Taken as a whole, the research evidence supports vitamin D supplementation as a potentially important therapy for helping to ameliorate muscle, bone, and joint aches and pains," said researcher Stewart B. Leavitt, editor of Pain Treatment Topics.
The researchers noted that vitamin D deficiency is widespread around the world and added their support to the growing sentiment that the current recommended daily amount of vitamin D (600 IU) are too low. Healthy adults should take 1,000 IU per day, they said, while those suffering from chronic musculoskeletal pain should probably take 2,000. They emphasized that vitamin D supplements interact with very few drugs or other medical products, and are not harmful except in extraordinarily high doses.
Vitamin D can also be synthesized naturally by the body upon exposure to sunlight.
Source
Indonesia earthquake kills at least four
JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- A major earthquake struck Sunday near the north coast of West Papua, Indonesia, killing at least four, a government official said.
The magnitude-7.6 tremblor occurred about 4:43 a.m. (2:43 p.m. Saturday ET), about 95 miles (150 kilometers) west-northwest of Manokwari and about 105 miles (170 kilometers) east-northeast of Sorong, two cities in the Indonesian province of West Papua.
Two hotels collapsed in West Papua's Manokwari, killing at least four and injuring five others, said Untung Sarosa, spokesman for the National Disaster Coordinating Agency. Rescuers were sifting through the rubble, but it wasn't clear whether other victims were trapped.
Dozens of military personnel were called up for rescue operations, Untung said.
The quake was centered at a depth of 21.7 miles (35 kilometers).
A tsunami warning was initially issued but lifted within an hour of the quake.
CNN Indonesia Quake
New for '09: GPS tour guides
Today's penny-pinching travelers actually benefit tourism entrepreneur Lee Little, founder and CEO of BarZ Adventures in Austin. Business is booming for his three-year-old company, which sells Palm (PALM)-like GPS-enabled tour-guide devices. Called Rangers, they play audio and video keyed to points of interest at the user's location, such as a national park.
More travelers are now going lean and green on vacation, hiking and taking adventure trips closer to home instead of going abroad. A survey by TripAdvisor found that 73% of Americans say they plan to visit a national park in 2009, up from 62% a year ago.
This is where the Ranger comes in.
"During a trip to Yellowstone, I was astounded by how little information there was at national parks," says Little, who positions the BarZ service as a replacement tour guide. "All I wanted was to understand why some geysers shoot straight up and some bubble out."
His Rangers are currently in use in 18 U.S. parks, zoos and historic sites. Little says his 15-employee company is growing at an annual rate of 300% and has raised more than $2 million in funding to date. He would not specify revenues, however.
Little is also selling the Ranger as a money-making opportunity for entrepreneurs in the travel business. Bill Lilley, co-owner of Go GPS Tours in Key West, Fla., invested about $35,000 to buy 50 BarZ Rangers. He then filmed his own tour content. A year ago, Lilley started to rent Ranger units out of Lazy Dog Island Outfitters, the clothing store he co-owns. Since then Lilley has seen the number of $29 rentals rise to 20 per day (other BarZ tours rent for $9.95) and has sold 18 advertising deals for $250 to $1,000 apiece.
"We wanted something that could deliver stories with speed and accuracy and be small enough to carry," Lilley says. As of November 2008, he had almost recouped his investment.
A year ago, brothers Jeff and Trevor Swyers invested $300,000 to buy 300 Rangers to launch GeoQuest Tours, a service offering GPS tours of Utah's Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. After filming their own content and having BarZ weave it together, GeoQuest launched two tours - each in six languages - in August 2008. During the first few months - going into slow park season - they found they were getting only about 10 daily rentals of the $25 tours, but they are shooting for 150 per day by 2009.
Chris Jones, principal analyst at high-tech market research firm Canalys, praises BarZ's Ranger device as unique and a "neat thing." But he cautions that to reach the next level, BarZ will need to add many more locations and figure out a way for customers to take the tours using other GPS-enabled devices, such as cell phones and PDAs.
Says Jones: "There's a lot of opportunity here, but it's only as good as the content they deliver." To top of page
Have you filed for first-time unemployment benefits in the past month? Or have you accepted a significant pay cut - 20%, 30% - in order to start working again? If so, e-mail realstories@cnnmoney.com and tell us your story.
Next Little Thing 2009: Entrepreneurs whose cutting-edge ideas will keep us talking for the next 12 months.
CNN MONEY
Smoking ban leads to major drop in heart attacks
ATLANTA – A smoking ban in one Colorado city led to a dramatic drop in heart attack hospitalizations within three years, a sign of just how serious a health threat secondhand smoke is, government researchers said Wednesday. The study, the longest-running of its kind, showed the rate of hospitalized cases dropped 41 percent in the three years after the ban of workplace smoking in Pueblo, Colo., took effect. There was no such drop in two neighboring areas, and researchers believe it's a clear sign the ban was responsible.
The study suggests that secondhand smoke may be a terrible and under-recognized cause of heart attack deaths in this country, said one of its authors, Terry Pechacek of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At least eight earlier studies have linked smoking bans to decreased heart attacks, but none ran as long as three years. The new study looked at heart attack hospitalizations for three years following the July 1, 2003 enactment of Pueblo's ban, and found declines as great or greater than those in earlier research.
"This study is very dramatic," said Dr. Michael Thun, a researcher with the American Cancer Society.
"This is now the ninth study, so it is clear that smoke-free laws are one of the most effective and cost-effective to reduce heart attacks," said Thun, who was not involved in the CDC study released Thursday.
Smoking bans are designed not only to cut smoking rates but also to reduce secondhand tobacco smoke.
Read the rest of the article here
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