Dr. Rob M. Russell Receives Recognition for Carotenoid Research

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Friday, September 30 2005

Dr Rob M. Russell, a scientist specializing in carotenoid metabolism, last week won DSM's €25,000 prize for his major influence on furthering understanding of beta-carotene's role in cancer.

The professor based at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston received the award at the International Congress of Nutrition in Durban, South Africa last week.

Congratulations Dr. Russell!

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
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New Study Suggests Further Benefits of Phytoestrogens

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Friday, September 30 2005

Researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have completed a clinical trial which suggests eating foods containing phytoestrogens – like soya products, plant oils and a range of different fruits and vegetables - appears to reduce the risk of developing lung cancer --- even in smokers.

In a trial comparing 1,674 patients treated for lung cancer and 1,735 healthy 'control' volunteers, the researchers found that those who reported eating the highest amount of foods containing phytoestrogens were much less likely to have developed lung cancer.

The scientists believe that phytoestrogens may help protect against lung cancer development by latching on to oestrogen receptors that are present in both normal and malignant lung tissue.

This binding could play a role in the regulation or deregulation of cancer growth.

The investigators caution that much more research is needed to prove a definitive chemoprevention effect. The current trial relied on subjects' memories to remember the food they ate months before and is therefore limited.

Click here for further details of this clinical trial.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
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Fun Facts: Removing the Caffeine from the Bean

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Friday, September 30 2005

According to one legend, an Arabian goatherder named Kaldi found his goats dancing joyously around a dark green leafed shrub with bright red cherries in the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.

Kaldi soon determined that it was the bright red cherries on the shrub that were causing the peculiar euphoria and after trying the cherries himself, he learned of their powerful effect. The stimulating effect was then exploited by monks at a local monastery to stay awake during extended hours of prayer and distributed to other monasteries around the world. Coffee was born.

Despite the appeal of such a legend, recent botanical evidence indicates that Coffea arabica originated on the plateaus of central Ethiopia and some how must have been brought to Yemen where it was cultivated since the 6th century. Upon introduction of the first coffee houses in Cairo and Mecca coffee became a passion rather than just a stimulant.

Have you ever wondered how they remove the caffeine from the coffee bean?

Here are a few facts on coffee that I uncovered recently:

"The caffeine molecule is a bitter alkaloid, so it contributes to acidity as well as the bitter properties of coffee. Removing this molecule will alter those taste factors. Other flavor compounds are also diminished or removed in the decaffeination process. This means that the taste of decaffeinated coffee is usually inferior to that of caffeinated coffee."[2]

So how do they remove the caffeine from the bean?

Almost all the methods of decaffeinating coffee consist of soaking the beans in water to dissolve the caffeine, extracting the caffeine with either a solvent or activated carbon, and then re-soaking the beans in the decaffeinated water to reabsorb the flavor compounds that were lost in the initial extraction.

The first decaf processes in the early 20th century used chloroform and benzene solvents to dissolve the caffeine. When they were found to be toxic, methylene chloride was used for several decades. When that chemical was discovered to be a suspected carcinogen in the 1980s, other decaf methods were employed, including the use of yet another chemical called ethyl acetate.

Many experts in the field of health and wellness believe the safest method for removing caffeine from the coffee bean is the water decaf technique -- often called the Swiss water process.

Swiss Water Process

In the Swiss Water Process the green beans are soaked in hot water to remove the caffeine and compounds responsible for much of the flavor of the coffee. The first batch of beans is then discarded, while the caffeine is stripped from the solution by means of activated carbon filters. This leaves a solution saturated with flavor compounds, which is then used to soak a new batch of green coffee. The principle is that the solution is saturated with all components soluble in water other than caffeine, and therefore only the caffeine in the bean is allowed to escape whereas the rest of the compounds are in equilibrium.

Done properly, this organic method successfully removes 94 - 96% of the caffeine while it retains more of the flavor compounds present in the essential oils than the chemical methods, however... flavor can vary greatly among different manufacturers/brands.

A few other methods of removing caffeine from the coffee bean are also worth noting.

CO2 Process

In the carbon dioxide process green beans are soaked in highly compressed CO2, which extracts the caffeine. The caffeine is then removed from the CO2 using activated carbon filters and is reused to extract more caffeine from the coffee.

Sparkling Water Process

The sparkling water process is similar to the CO2 method, but instead of removing the caffeine with activated carbon filters, it is washed from the CO2 with water in a secondary tank and is then recycled to extract more caffeine from the coffee. The solvent consists of approximately 99.7% compressed carbon dioxide and 0.3% water.

Sources:
CoffeeResearch.org
INeedCoffee.com
HSI e-Alert Sept. 29/2005

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
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The Top 5 Children's Menu Items As Surveyed By Mintel

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Wednesday, September 28 2005

In 2002, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) cited that 16 percent of children aged 6-11 were overweight, with the same percentage holding true for 12-19 year olds, according to a recent report by NutraIngredients.

In a recent survey by Mintel, more than 77 percent of adults surveyed cited that parents are to blame for the national crisis -- indicating that most parents/families are time-starved, spending more time commuting from jobs, to schools and activities leaving less and less time for sitting down to well-balanced home-cooked nutritious family meals. Approximately 42 percent of Mintel's respondents surveyed identified someone in their households as being overweight.

However, a whopping 93% of surveyed respondents felt that junk food continues to play a strong role in childhood obesity issues.

"Children's eating habits are suffering due to the lack of structured meal time, and this is as big a challenge as the lack of balanced meals," said Amanda Archibald, analyst and registered dietitian for Mintel. "Compressed schedules and cramped time availability for both children and parents may play a more important role than previously thought in making healthy food choices."

Then, when you add television into the mix -- of the estimated 40,000 television commercials children view a year, 32 percent are for candy, 31 percent for cereal, and 9 percent for fast food.

According to Mintel's Menu Insights, a menu-tracking system, more than 47 percent of children's menu items were fried. Here's a look at the top five menu items (listed in order of most often eaten) for what most children are eating these days:

1. Chicken fingers
2. Grilled cheese sandwiches
3. Burgers
4. Macaroni and cheese, and
5. Hot dogs

Any of those items sound familiar on your child's menu?

I have a confession to make -- they also top the list of our son's favorite foods. Our family doesn't get home-cooked well-balanced meals as often as we should -- even though both my husband and I only work part time, not commuting like many other parents, but from home running our businesses by phone and through the Internet. I can't even imagine how poor our diets would be if we had to commute like so many other parents are forced to do these days.

It's one of the main reasons we go through 3 cases of Goji Juice per month in our home... because I know our 5 year old son is at the very least, getting the benefits of the 4 "master" LPB polysaccharides and the nutritional value from the juice that we can't get through our irregular eating schedule.

Considering the poor condition of "fresh" produce in our area, it's doubtful a well-balanced meal could even give us what we need.

Both my son and I are quite slim ...and my husband's large frame maybe could stand to lose a pound (or three)... but it isn't anywhere near the weight problems that seem to exist in our area.

It's not our diets keeping us slim. Is it the Goji Juice?

Who knows for certain. I'm just happy our son prefers Goji Juice way above any of the sugary soda's and other far inferior juice products flooding the market these days. The convenience of grabbing a delicious glass of goji whenever we feel the need for a boost in our day also makes it so easy to fit into our often hectic unstructured lifestyle. For us, at least, it appears to be working well.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
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Kiwi Fruit Added To List Of Known Allergens In The UK

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Tuesday, September 27 2005

In other news from FoodQuality, UK food analysis firm RSSL has added kiwi fruit to the list of allergens it can detect by PCR (polymerase chain reaction) methods.

Allergies happen when a person's body perceives a normally harmless substance, such as pollen, mold, dust, or a particular food, as an invader.

In its own defense, the body produces large amounts of the antibody immunoglobulin E (IgE). When the antibodies come in contact with the substance the body perceives as dangerous, they attach themselves to tissue and blood cells. These cells then release powerful inflammatory chemicals, called mediators: histamines, prostaglandins, and leukotrienes. These in turn affect mucous glands, capillaries, and smooth muscles, causing the sufferer to experience allergic symptoms.

Symptoms are usually found in more than one body system and can be contradictory.

Allergic reactions to food most commonly cause symptoms in the gastrointestinal system, including spitting up, diarrhea (in a breastfed infant, this means stools are looser, more watery, and greater in number and volume than usual), cramping, constipation, gas, malabsorption of nutrients (which could result in poor weight gain), and colitis. The respiratory system, skin, eyes, and central nervous system may also be involved in allergic reactions to food.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
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E. coli outbreak in Wales calls for Investigation

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Tuesday, September 27 2005

The UK's Food Standards Agency [FSA] has widened the investigation into the outbreak of E. coli food poisoning illness in Wales as parents start calling for a public inquiry, according to a report at FoodQualityNews.

The majority of the current cases (numbering 115) are among schoolchildren from 32 schools across four health authority areas in the region -- and experts fear the number of cases could increase.

"FSA Wales is advising any food businesses that have received cooked meat from John Tudor and Son to withdraw it from sale immediately and to contact their local authority, although there has been no conclusive evidence that Tudor's was the source of the infection."

For full details from this report, click here.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
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Bird Flu Has Scientists On Alert Around The World

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Thursday, September 22 2005

Every now and then I like to take a "virtual trip" around the world to find out what health concerns are floating about. The latest threat isn't floating... it's flying... and it's called Influenza A (H5N1) -- better known as avian influenza or bird flu.

On Sept. 21, 2005 environment and health authorities in Abu Dhabi have placed a large order of four million pills for victims of bird flu, according to Gulf News, a news service in the Middle East. "Ali Al Marzouqi, head of preventive medicine at the General Authority for Health Services (GAHS), said that an order of four million pills for bird flu has been placed to cover 400,000 citizens."

And if you think that's a rather high "prevention" measure, the USA Government has ordered 2 million doses of a new vaccine (which has seemed to have positive results fighting this flu strain) from Sanofi-Aventis (from France) for a national stockpile and is negotiating with the company to order more, according to a Reuters, Washington news release reported in USAToday in August. The vaccine is grown in chicken eggs and production can take months.

U.S. scientists say they have successfully tested a human vaccine against H5N1, but it could be several more months before it is approved for manufacture and distribution here.

On August 30, 2005, "Voice Of America" reported that Vietnam, the country hardest hit by bird flu, is starting to target the virus at its source by vaccinating its entire poultry population.

The outbreak of avian flu in Vietnam has forced the country to slaughter some 50 million chickens and ducks.

A few months back, the World Health Organization stated that since 2003, at least 112 people have contracted the bird flu in four Southeast Asian countries, and 90 of them have been Vietnamese. The majority of human deaths have occurred in Vietnam.

Other cases have occurred in Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia. Tens of millions of chickens and other birds have died or been culled in Asia because of the virus.

The epidemic devastated Vietnam's chicken farmers last year. The government ordered the culling of chickens in infected areas so they could not pass the virus on to humans, and the economic cost has been estimated at more than 200 million dollars. Vietnam is seeking to control avian flu at the source by injecting chickens and ducks throughout the country with vaccines imported from China.

"The head of the program, Van Dang Ky, chief of epidemiology at the Ministry of Agriculture, says the goal is to have all chickens vaccinated before the winter flu season starts." -- according to the Voice of America article

What health officials around the world fear most is that the H5N1 virus may change to a form that can spread as easily among people as it now does among poultry. If that happens, health experts say, the result could be as deadly as the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, which killed between 20 and 40 million people. That virus was a highly infectious avian flu much like H5N1.

H5N1 quickly destroys a patient's lungs. Most flu has a fatality rate of less than five percent, but H5N1 has so far killed half the people who contracted it in Southeast Asia.

Public health experts say the virus is mutating and could develop the ability to spread easily from person to person and kill millions in a flu pandemic. The "Nature Weekly Journal of Science" reported in May of this year that the spread of avian flu to, and probably between, humans, has already started across Asia.

There are conflicting reports as to how many people the H5N1 flu has killed ... some sources state more than 60 people have died from it in Asia since 2003, but the actual numbers could be far higher since exact figures have not been fully reported in China, according to "recombinomics" ...however, they have an unofficial report that estimates over 8,000 birds AND ANIMALS have already died from the virus in China. They indicated in June of this year that the machine translated list of animal deaths linked to H5N1 bird flu in and around the Qinghai Lake Nature Reserve in Gangcha County is more than 10 fold higher than the official report of May 21 by China to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

Since the reserve is a breeding ground for bar-headed geese (Anser indicus) that migrate over the Himalayas, scientists warn the birds could carry the virus to India, Australia, New Zealand and eventually Europe.

"The occurrence of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus infection in migrant waterfowl indicates that this virus has the potential to be a global threat," Jinhua Liu of China Agricultural University and colleagues wrote in the journals Science and Nature.

One rumor claims that as many as 120 people have already died of the avian flu in China alone... but this is just a rumor at this time.

About Bird Flu:
(Adapted from The Center For Disease Control Website)

Influenza A (H5N1) -- better known as avian influenza or bird flu -- occurs naturally among wild birds worldwide. The virus is very contagious among birds and can be deadly to them -- especially to domesticated birds like chickens.

Infection:

The virus doesn't typically infect humans. But in 1997, the first instance of direct bird-to-human infection resulted in six deaths in Hong Kong. Since then, there have been other instances of bird flu infection among humans. Since January 2004 at least 53 people are known to have died of the virus - in Cambodia, Vietnam or Thailand.

Meanwhile, bird flu has claimed the lives of four Indonesians since July, and three children who died this week are suspected of having had the disease. Laboratory test results are expected within days, doctors said, noting that 13 other patients were under observation, according to an Associated Press report earlier today. "With the high human population density, we can expect to see more cases here, more perhaps than even in Vietnam and Thailand," says WHO representative Georg Petersen. Currently Tamiflu tablets are the only treatment so far proven effective against bird flu in humans.

Spread:

Infected birds shed H5N1 in their saliva, nasal excretions and feces. Bird flu viruses spread among birds when the animals come into contact with contaminated excretions. Scientists believe most cases of human (and other animal) infection have resulted from contact with infected poultry or contaminated surfaces.

The virus kills chickens but rarely ducks, according to one source. At the Chinese reserve, it infected wild brown-headed gulls (Larus brunnicephalus) and great black-headed gulls (Larus ichthyaetus), causing symptoms such as tremors, diarrhea, head tilt and paralysis.

Athough the World Health Organization claims that so far humans have only contracted bird flu after coming into contact with infected animals, some experts believe H5N1 has mutated and is now able to jump from human to human.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
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UK Alert - glass and needles found in bread

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Tuesday, September 20 2005

Allied Bakeries informed the police and the UK's food agency of deliberate contamination of its Kingsmill sliced bread, of which 2.5 million loaves are produced each week. The bread was contaminated with glass or sewing needles. For the moment, no recall has been issued.

The firm had received five complaints of "quite a serious nature," which prompted them to contact the police and the Food Standards Agency (FSA). According to Allied Bakeries the foreign objects were clearly visible once the bread bag was opened, and were not embedded in the bread.

An investigation is underway to find out whether the harmful ingredients contaminated the products at the plant, or once they had left the Orpington plant in Kent.

The Orpington bakery distributes to retailers across the South East of England, including Iceland, Londis, Sainsbury's, Spar and Tesco. Security at the Orpington plant has been increased.

Food makers are on the alert for contamination risks.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
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Fun Facts: What is Tibetan Medicine?

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Sunday, September 18 2005

Tibetans traditionally were considered the first and earliest healers developing a "system" of medicine that is to this day considered as a science, art and philosophy that provides a holistic approach to health care.

The Institute of H. H. Dalai Lama describes Tibetan medicine in further detail. Briefly, here are some of its elements:

Tibetan medical theory states that everything in the universe is made up of the five proto-elements sa (Earth), chu (Water), me (Fire), rLung (Wind), and Nam-mkha (Space).

Although all five proto-elements are responsible for the formation of each tissue cell, each element has a specific influence:

1. sa exerts a greater influence over the formation of muscle cells, bones, the nose and the sense of smell;

2. chu is responsible for the formation of blood, body fluids, tongue and the sense of taste;

3. me is responsible for body temperature, complexion, the eyes and the sense of sight;

4. rLung is responsible for breathing, skin and the sense of touch; and

5. nam-mkha is responsible for body cavities, the ears and the sense of hearing.

There are also three Principle Energies in Tibetan medicine, as follows:

1. rLung is one of the three principle energies of the body which manifests the the nature of Air element. It is characterised by rough, light, cold, subtle, hard and mobile. It is responsible for the physical and mental activities, respiration, expulsion of urine, faeces, fetus, menstruation, spitting, burping, speech, gives clarity to sense organs, sustains life by means of acting as a medium between mind and body.

2. mKhris-pa basically has the nature of fire. It is characterised by oily, sharp, hot, light, fetid, purgative and fluidity. mKhris-pa is responsible for hunger, thirst, digestion and assimilation, promotes bodily heat, gives lustre to body complexion and provides courage and determination.

3. Bad-kan is cold in nature and is characterised by oily, cool, heavy, blunt, smooth, firm and sticky. Bad-kan is responsible for firmness of the body, stability of mind, induces sleep, connects bodily joints, generates tolerance and lubricates the body.

If the proper alignment of --- the 3 humors, 7 bodily constituents and 3 excretions --- into a state of equilibrium is accomplished, then the body is said to be in a state of health or free from psycho-physiological disorders; whereas a disequilibrium in any of these energies constitutes a state of disorder or ill-health.

Interestingly, the first form of treatment in Tibetan medicine is not medicines. Instead, changing a patient's diet and/or lifestyle is the first course. Only if this fails to remedy an ailment is the use of medicines considered.

Tibetan healers believe a disorder is primarily caused by an improper diet and/or lifestyle.

In fact, one of the most important aspects of "diagnosis" in Tibetan medicine involves the doctor asking the patient about the sort of food and drink s/he has been consuming, and what kind of physical and mental behavior s/he has been experiencing.

Quoting from the Institute of H. H. Dalai Lama website, Tibetan medicines take various forms, from decoctions, powders, general pills, precious pills, and syrups, and are prescribed in small doses -- a fact that reflects the emphasis Tibetan medicine places on gentle treatment.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
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Fact or Fiction?

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Thursday, September 15 2005

When you start surfing blogs, you come across some strange stories as well as some startling reports. Here are a few articles/stories I found recently:

1. The National Library of Medicine's Profiles in Science Site

Through one blog I discovered the National Library of Medicine (NLM) Profiles in Science® web site which contains archival collections of leaders in biomedical research and public health. The site, launched in September 1998, promotes the use of the Internet for research and teaching in the history of biomedical science. Many of the collections have been donated to NLM and contain published and unpublished items, including books, journal volumes, pamphlets, diaries, letters, manuscripts, photographs, audiotapes, video clips, and other materials. Learn more about it here.

2. An investigative report by the Guardian in the UK

"A Chinese cosmetics company is using skin harvested from the corpses of executed convicts to develop beauty products for sale in Europe."

The article goes on to report:

Agents for the firm have told would-be customers it is developing collagen for lip and wrinkle treatments from skin taken from prisoners after they have been shot. The agents say some of the company's products have been exported to the UK, and that the use of skin from condemned convicts is "traditional" and nothing to "make such a big fuss about". Click here for the full story.

3. Human Genetic Engineering Gets Green Light In The UK

BRITISH scientists have been given permission to create human embryos that will have three genetic parents. A controversial subject in many circles. Full story here.

4. The National Geographic Predicted Hurricane Katrina?

Check out this Oct. 2004 article in the National Geographic and you might be surprised at how close to the actual destruction in the wake of hurricane Katrina.

5. Missing Mice Infected With Bubonic Plague

The mice were injected as part of an inoculation and vaccination experiment, investigators said. The mice were unaccounted-for at the Public Health Research Institute, which is on the campus of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and conducts bioterrorism research for the federal government. Click here for the full story.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
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The Confusion Surrounding Clinical Studies

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Wednesday, September 14 2005

Before I dive into this article, keep in mind that I'm not a fan of the flimsy ORAC scale --- a relatively inexpensive test performed by some manufacturers on their own products in order to elevate their products' perceived health benefits (anti-oxidant content).

You see... if the manufacturers have no way of standardizing their product, meaning they can't guarantee the same health values/content in each and every bottle/package (like we do with our Goji Juice), then the results of their testing remains suspect at the very least --- and completely unreliable at worst --- since results will vary depending on the quality/nature of the sample used to perform the test. (Added to the fact, that the ORAC test itself is weak in what it is capable of reporting, but that's another full-length article coming your way soon.)

Scientists only really respect studies published in peer-reviewed journals. There are 65 such peer-reviewed published studies completed thus far on goji (lycium barbarum) following rigorous clinical testing by independent 3rd parties (not our company)... with many more such studies underway.

Essentially, there is nothing wrong with companies carrying out their own research and communicating their findings in their marketing efforts....

...BUT...

Companies should never take advantage of their target audience's respect for science by using poor methodology or over-emphasizing/tweaking unremarkable results. Rather, they need to carry out the research as rigorously as if the consumer had all the know-how of the leading scientist in their field.

For example, Connecticut-based beverage company SoBe - South Beach Beverage Company - paid a $219,000 penalty earlier this year for falsely claiming that its drinks protect against colds and other illnesses and increase energy levels. SoBe, which was bought by PepsiCo in 2001, was pulled up by the Connecticut attorney general's office and department of consumer protection over the claims on advertising and packaging.

In a separate incident, PepsiCo also had to change the labeling on two of its fruit-flavored Tropicana beverages to reflect the fact that they actually contain little or no fruit juice.

In another example, PepsiCo-owned Tropicana Products reached a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission earlier this year over claims that its Healthy Heart orange juice could reduce blood pressure, cholesterol and homocysteine levels. The FTC alleged that there was no clinical data to back up these claims.

What surprises me is that the company could even make those claims in the first place, with the current FDA legislations regarding marketing and advertising. After all, there are 34 known and clinically proven health benefits for the lycium barbarum bloodline we use in Goji Juice, and yet only 4 of them are we legally entitled to use in our advertising with links to their related peer-reviewed clinical studies.

Chances are... based on the historical evidence in our industry... if we were to advertise publicly all 34 health benefits for goji, we'd be shut down in a heart-beat. However, the soft-drink industry giant gets away with a relatively small fine/settlement (in comparison to revenues and percieved "healthy image" publicity this form of advertising was able to generate for them).

It's a juice --- far better than orange juice with a much wider range of nutrition and health benefits and far more delicious, too in my personal humble opinion --- and yet, I can't tell anyone what the full 34 third-party peer-reviewed clinically proven health benefits are for goji unless someone asks me. (Sure, go ahead and ask me. I'll be happy to send a list of the 34 benefits to you.)

So, ummmmm... what's up?

Is it because we're a supplement supplier producing products designed to help everyone live longer, healthier, happier lives ... and NOT a multi-billion-dollar general food or soft-drink producer?

If you're on our "customer-only private newsletter list" you'll be finding out some of the answers soon.

Until then, live long and be healthy!

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
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Food for Thought - Depletion of Our Food Supply

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Wednesday, September 14 2005

Drying out of croplands and the growth of continental and Indonesian fires on a rising scale and the rising frequency and ferocity of storms, cyclones, flooding and rising sea level, increasingly put at risk feeding of up to 9 billion people on this planet by 2050.

And climate changes are just the beginning of the troubles we face for sustaining our food supply according to The Institute of Science In Society.

In fact, they list five reasons why our current food system is not sustainable:

• First, the increasingly mechanised agriculture depends on oil, but the supply of oil is beginning to run out. If you think the price at the pumps was bad when oil rose to over $70/barrel... just wait to see what happens when it rises to over $100/barrel. The speed at which nations such as China, India and other developing countries are industrialising is already producing sharp increases in demand.


• Second, the growing shortage of water means that half a billion people now already live in water-stressed areas, and the UN expects this to rise 5-6 fold to half the world population by 2025. It's no surprise to see the explosive demand for bottled water, and this is expected to rise significantly according to industry experts.


• Third, the intensification of climate change has led to a ten-fold increase in the incidence and ferocity of climatic catastrophes in the past 40 years. Now, my father has a theory that the earth goes through cycles, and every 40 years, if we look back in history, there appear to be severe weather changes ...don't they seem to be increasing in intensity?


• Fourth, the loss of biodiversity from monocultures imposed by industrialised farming, particularly Genetically Modified crops. I'll be bringing you more on GM crops in future articles. Yes, there is a cause for concern here.


• Fifth, not nearly enough is being done for the requirement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent by 2050. Yes, planes and cars are the fastest rising causes of greenhouse gas emissions... and yet, the longer distances required to get food to markets is also on the rise.

Are we running out of food?

Here's something to consider...

Between 1968-88, world food production increased 84 percent and the world population 91 percent.

Half a billion of the world population now do not have croplands on which they can maintain themselves.

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimates 160,000 now die every year from climate-change induced malnutrition, dysentery and malaria, according to ISIS.

The latest UN report says one sixth of countries in the world (up to 30 nations) now face food shortages because of climate change.

I'm generally a very optimistic person, but these kind of numbers scare even me.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
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What's The Weather Like On The Moon?

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Saturday, September 10 2005

On Wednesday, September 7/2005, the sun unleashed one of the largest solar flares on record, according to CNET News.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) said the powerful flare that emerged from region 808 on the sun Wednesday afternoon rated the fourth-largest in the last 15 years. Intense radio emissions were associated with the flare.

Here on earth, our planet's thick atmosphere and magnetic field protects us from protons and other forms of solar radiation coming at us from the sun when larger solar flares occur.

The Moon is a different story.

"The Moon is totally exposed to solar flares," explains solar physicist David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center. "It has no atmosphere or magnetic field to deflect radiation." Protons rushing at the Moon simply hit the ground --- or whoever might be walking around outside.

If an astronaut were to be caught outside on the moon's surface when such a storm hits, at first he'd feel fine, but a few days later symptoms of radiation sickness would appear: vomiting, fatigue, low blood counts. These symptoms might persist for days.

One rem, short for Roentgen Equivalent Man, is the radiation dose that causes the same injury to human tissue as 1 roentgen of x-rays. A typical diagnostic CAT scan, the kind you might get to check for tumors, delivers about 1 rem [ref].

To die, you'd need to absorb, suddenly, 300 rem or more.

The key word is suddenly, according to NASA. You can get 300 rem spread out over a number of days or weeks with little effect. Spreading the dose gives the body time to repair and replace its own damaged cells. But if that 300 rem comes all at once ... "we estimate that 50% of people exposed would die within 60 days without medical care," says Francis Cucinotta, NASA's radiation health officer at the Johnson Space Center.

Such doses from a solar flare are possible. For example, the large solar storm of August 1972. A large sunspot appeared on August 2, 1972, and for the next 10 days it erupted again and again... Researchers have been studying it ever since.

Cucinotta estimates that a moonwalker caught in the August 1972 storm might have absorbed 400 rem.

An Apollo command module with its aluminum hull would have attenuated the 1972 storm from 400 rem to less than 35 rem at the astronaut's blood-forming organs. That's the difference between needing a bone marrow transplant ... or just a headache pill, according to Cucinotta.

Back in January 20th of 2005, a giant sunspot named "NOAA 720" exploded. The blast sparked an X-class solar flare, the most powerful kind, and hurled a billion-ton cloud of electrified gas (a "coronal mass ejection") into space. Solar protons accelerated to nearly light speed by the explosion reached the Earth-Moon system minutes after the flare --- the beginning of a days-long "proton storm."

A powerful solar flare on July 14/2000 triggered an ongoing radiation storm around our planet. The eruption also sent a fast-moving coronal mass ejection toward Earth.

As for last Wednesday's solar flare, what happened here on earth?

"This event created a complete blackout of high-frequency communications on the day-lit side of Earth, which included the entire U.S. and basically anywhere the sun was shining at this time," Larry Combs, solar forecaster at the NOAA Space Environment Center, said referring to Wednesday's solar flare in a prepared statement.

"Communications used by emergency services along the Gulf Coast may have experienced problems due to this flare. Low-frequency navigation systems may also have experienced a period of significant degradation," he added.

It rated an R-4, or severe, on NOAA's space weather scale for radio blackouts.

Who faces the most health risk when solar flares/storms occur? Both astronauts and high-altitude airline pilots/crew. Airline pilots that fly at great altitude, and especially near the poles, are exposed to more radiation from solar storms reaching our atmosphere. The same goes for astronauts. This results in a higher incidence of cancer among airline pilots and cabin crew. Astronauts have even reported seeing flashes of light because of high energy protons hitting their eyes.

Last Wednesday's solar flare is not the end for this year... more are expected. Click here to see the current Space Weather Alerts directly from NOAA.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
Click Here To Visit Website

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Soy Protein In The News Again

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Friday, September 9 2005

By now we all know about the benefits of soy protein for the heart and cholesterol... but a new study appears to suggest it may also have benefits for the liver.

In a new study conducted at the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición in Mexico and published in the Journal of Lipid Research, the researchers set out to investigate whether soy protein may also regulate the transcription factors involved in lipid metabolism, and thus prevent the development of fatty liver.

Although further research is needed on the subject, particularly insofar as it relates to humans since the study was conducted using rats, the researchers believe that their results indicate that consumption of soy protein could reduce insulin resistance, renal damage and fatty liver.

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Disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. Products on this site are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Information presented in our news articles and elsewhere on this website are presented for educational purposes.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
Click Here To Visit Website

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New Secret To Success For Losing Weight - Vinegar??

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Friday, September 9 2005

Vinegar may help you eat less?

Okay, when I first read the article about this new clinical study by Swedish scientists from Lund University, I was a bit surprised, too.

Lead author of the study, Elin Ostman, said her team "saw a significant dose-response relationship between the amount of vinegar consumed by 12 healthy subjects and their glucose and insulin responses to white bread." But she reported that the most interesting finding was the effect on satiety.

In other words, the study appears to reveal that vinegar reduces the body's insulin response to a carbohydrate meal and increases satiety (the feeling of being "full" or having had too much after eating).

"There was a direct relationship between increased acetic acid and satiety," she said.

The significant dose−response relationship between levels of acetic acid and blood glucose and serum insulin responses confirmed the results of a previous trial by the group.

However, satiety is notoriously difficult to measure. It wouldn't surprise me to see further studies on the relationship of vinegar to satiety.

Olstrom said her study could explain why some people feel a benefit from drinking a glass of vinegar and water before a meal.

While few vinegar makers in Europe allude to health benefits, in Japan vinegar-based drinks have taken off in recent months, owing to beliefs in their medicinal properties, according to NutraIngredients.

Earlier this year, the Japan Times reported that the country's largest vinegar maker, Mizkan Group, had seen the market for drinking vinegar nearly triple to 21.46 billion yen between March and August 2004 from 7.57 billion yen in the same period in 2000.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
Click Here To Visit Website

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He Who Controls The Food Supply, Controls The Earth?

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Tuesday, September 6 2005

Gravity existed before Newton "discovered" it and the Earth revolved around the sun for hundreds of thousands of years before Galileo. And plants on our tiny blue planet 3rd from the sun have existed for... well, that would depend on which theory of "existance" you subscribe to... but certainly it's somewhere near the beginning of life on our planet, right?

Then it kinda makes enquiring minds like mine wonder why, in recent years, certain companies have been acting like they invented the process of growing plants.

I'm referring to the Big Three: Monsanto, AstraZeneca, and Novartis.

Actually, according to ETC Group, the top 10 multinational seed firms control half of the world's commercial seed sales (a total worldwide market of approximately US$21,000 million per annum).

In spring of 2005, I happened to trip across an interesting editorial written by "Science In Society" that led me to further investigation of the Big Three.

Some items listed in this editorial led me to do a search which uncovered another shocking article, titled "Poison for Profit - What A Business Plan!"

What I've been uncovering since that time has all the ingredients of a fiction thriller novel ...filled with conspiracy theories, hype, half-truths, lies, and even bribery.

In some cases, the lines between the pharmaceutical companies, the seed companies and the pesticide companies are so blurred, it's difficult to know for certain where one relationship ends and another begins.

Here is just one tiny example in the chain...

Monsanto is owned by Pharmacia, according to the "Poison for Profit" article referenced above. The Pharmacia Corporation was created through the merger of Pharmacia Upjohn with Monsanto Company and its G.D. Searle unit. Pharmacia employs 59,000 people worldwide and has research, manufacturing and administrative sales operations in more than 60 countries (as of the date of the above referenced article).

Now, this information alone is enough to make enquiring minds wonder what is really going on.

Well, permit me to add some more intrigue to the puzzle here. Quote from "Global Seed Industry Concentration – 2005":

"With a total worldwide market of approximately US$21,000 million [$21 billion] per annum, the commercial seed industry is relatively small compared to the global pesticide market ($35,400 million), and it's positively puny compared to pharmaceutical sales ($466,000 million)."

Who leads the pack of the world's top-ranking seed supply firms? The perennial kingpin, Dupont's Pioneer Hi-Bred International, was dethroned from the top spot when Monsanto
acquired Seminis in January 2005 for $1,400 million. With the acquisition of Seminis, Monsanto became the world's leading seed company – and the world's biggest commercial vegetable seed company.

Here's just a few market share numbers for total seed sales provided in the recent ETC report:

GM Soybeans – Monsanto accounted for 91% of the worldwide GM soybean area in 2004.
GM Maize – Monsanto accounted for 97% of the worldwide GM maize area in 2004.
GM Cotton - Monsanto accounted for 63.5% of the worldwide GM cotton area in 2004.
GM Canola - Monsanto accounted for 59% of the worldwide GM canola area in 2004.
Corn/Maize – Monsanto controls 41% global market share.
Soybeans – Monsanto controls 25% global market share.
Cotton - In April 2005 Monsanto acquired Emergent Genetics for $300 million. Emergent is the third largest
cotton seed company in both India and the US, with approximately 12% of the US cotton seed market and
10% of the Indian hybrid cotton seed market.
Beans - Monsanto controls 31% of the global seed market
Cucumbers - Monsanto controls 38% of the global seed market
Hot Pepper - Monsanto controls 34% of the global seed market
Sweet Pepper - Monsanto controls 29% of the global seed market
Tomato - Monsanto controls 23% of the global seed market
Onions - Monsanto controls 25% of the global seed market

Who leads the pack of the world's top-ranking pesticide firms? Here's a short list (there are more): Monsanto, Dupont, Syngenta.

Given the pace of industry consolidation (re. seed, pesticide, pharmaceutical), some of the information in this article is probably already out of date.

However, a quick glance at the figures above, and you can guess who one of the major players in genetically modified seed is, right?

Well, this is where things get even more curious for those of us with enquiring minds...

The biotech industry, since its early days, has been promising (or hoping?) that genetically modified seeds would reduce the use of pesticides in agriculture. A 2004 study by Charles M. Benbrook looks at GM crops and pesticide use in the US from 1993-2004 (the US accounts for 60% of the total GM crop area worldwide). The study concludes that overall the use of agrochemicals [read pesticides] on GM crop acreage has risen about 4.1% since 1996. The findings contradict the industry's oft-repeated claim that biotech crops reduce pesticide use in agriculture.

According to Benbrook, "reliance on a single herbicide, glyphosate, as the primary method for managing weeds on millions of acres planted to HT varieties" is the primary factor that requires farmers "to apply more herbicides per acre to achieve the same level of weed control."

Oh boy... a new word has entered the picture now: glyphosate

Glyphosate, the world's most commonly used agricultural chemical, is typically considered less hazardous than other chemical weedkillers.

But new studies on glyphosate, and Monsanto's proprietary
formulation, RoundUp, raise serious concerns about the safety of the chemical for human health and the environment.

About three-quarters of the worldwide area devoted to GM crops last year was planted with crops engineered to tolerate spraying of glyphosate.

Why should this concern us?

Three Reasons:

1. The effects on our environment (particularly the soil).
2. The effects on our health (more on this in a future article).
3. The effects of cross-contamination through pollinization.

I'll be writing some future articles on items 2 and 3 from the list. For now, I'd like to give you some "food for thought" on item 3 in the list (no pun intended).

What few people realize is that farmers across the globe have been battling for their livelihood and their traditional democratic right to plant, harvest, and sell the seeds of their choice against Monsanto and its subsidiaries pushing Genetically Modified (GM) crops.

In Indonesia alone, some farmers have been driven into debt and suicide after three successive years of failed harvests from planting GM cotton since three varieties were approved for commercial growing in 2002.

This is not news...

Independent researchers and film-makers have documented the failures, and exposed Monsanto's trail of propaganda, including a doctored report attempting to exaggerate the yields of its GM cotton, thereby substantially reducing the compensation it owes to farmers for crop failures in Andhra Pradesh.

Farmers who choose not to grow GM crops are faced with loss of markets if their crops are contaminated, or lawsuits if unauthorized patented genes are found on their property.

How will society deal with social costs imposed by GM crops and GM contamination? Who will decide? Who will pay?

The better question, perhaps, is: Who should pay?

Now... here comes some sad sordid facts in the wake of very legitimate questions.

Here is just one scenario of what could happen when a non-GM farmer finds his fields contaminated by GM seed through cross-pollinization.

According to SIS, Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser learned the hard way when he discovered his fields contaminated by Monsanto's GM canola. He has had to spend years locked in a harrowing battle with the company accusing him of infringing its patent rights in a legal system that's on the side of the corporation. He was not alone in being persecuted by Monsanto, although he was unique in not giving up the fight to the very end.

To-date, Monsanto has filed 90 lawsuits against American farmers involving 147 farmers and 39 small businesses, with an estimated $15m gained from judgments granted in its favour. Again, according to SIS, "since 1999, some 500 farmers have been investigated and harassed by Monsanto every year."

Don't think the problems are only the USA (or India, for that matter). According to SIS, a recent study found that of the five scientific committees advising the UK government on food and safety, 40 percent of the committee members had links with the biotech industry, and at least 20 percent were linked to one of the Big Three: Monsanto, AstraZeneca, or Novartis.

So, when the little non-GM farmer goes to court, what do you think will happen to him?

I ask again: Who should pay?

This story goes deeper. There are so many facets to it, including food safety, long-term research (or lack thereof) for GM food/seed, the money trail (including pharmaceutical and pesticide company connections), the health implications, the control of food pricing and the quickly evolving ologopoly in our food supply chain.

Stay tuned to BLV Health Watch. I'm sure you'll be hearing more from me on the subject.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
Click Here To Visit Website

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Second-Hand Smoke and Benefits of Fruits and Soy Fiber

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Thursday, September 1 2005

"A new study finds early life exposure to second-hand smoke can produce life-long respiratory problems. The study of 35,000 adult non-smokers in Singapore found that those who lived with a smoker during childhood had more respiratory problems, including chronic cough.

Study participants who reported eating more fruit and soy fiber as adults seemed to be protected against some of the negative health effects often associated with early tobacco exposure."

Click here to read the entire press release.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
Click Here To Visit Website

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Fun Facts: I Know That Smell

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Thursday, September 1 2005

News on how humans smell --- from Food Navigator/Europe:

Fundamental research into smell finds that although humans may never match the tracking ability of dogs, they apparently have the ability to sniff out and locate odours.

According to a new small study by scientists from the University of California, Berkeley the brain is set up to pay attention to the difference between what the left and right nostrils sense, much the way it can localise sounds by contrasting input from the ears.

The researchers say that it has been ”very controversial” whether humans have the ability to do egocentric localisation, that is, keep their head motionless and identify the spatial source of an odour.

"It seems that we have this ability and that, with practice, you could become really good at it," says study co-author Noam Sobel, associate professor of psychology at UC Berkeley.

For the experiment student volunteers were presented with odours to one nostril or the other. They could reliably discern where the odour was coming from, report the researchers, that tracked developments using functional magnetic resonance images of their brains.

The co-authors Porter and Sobel used two odours with minimal trigeminal (nasal sensory) stimulation - essence of rose (phenyl ethyl alcohol) and cloves (eugenol) - as well as two trigeminal odorants - propionic acid, which smells like vinegar, and amyl acetate, that resembles a banana smell.

They delivered the odours through a mask with an artificial septum that provided separate air flow to each nostril.

In addition, they conducted similar experiments on five volunteers who had no olfactory nerves and therefore could not smell at all, a condition known as anosmia.

The ‘normal subjects', 16 in total, were able to tell which nostril was receiving a squirt of scent, but anosmic volunteers could only localise the trigeminal odorants, reported Sobel. This shows that humans are able to localise odours through the olfactory nerves alone.

"One possible objection is that the experimental set-up, with a mask that provides separate air flow to each nostril, is artificial. How behaviorally relevant is that?" said Porter.

But they underline that subsequent experiments not yet reported, however, provide additional support for their hypothesis that the ability to localise odors to one nostril or the other is realistic.

In future experiments, UC Berkeley biophysics graduate student Jess Porter and Sobel plan to train volunteers to track odours in the field and test the limits of odour localisation in humans.

Full findings are published in the 18 August issue of the journal Neuron.

Research on chocolate smells reported onearlier this month found that olfaction is uniquely a "dual" sense, in that the brain perceives the same smell molecule differently if it arrives through the nose rather than the mouth.

Researchers at Yale University in the US report the smell of chocolate activated different brain regions according to whether the odour was sniffed or tasted.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
Click Here To Visit Website

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Here's How You Can Help Hurricane Katrina Victims

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Thursday, September 1 2005

Some are calling it the worst natural disaster in our country's history... an entire city flooded, coastlines wiped out... loved ones lost, homes lost and more.

For a list of charities seeking donations and volunteers to help vicitims of Hurricane Katrina, click here.

Here's how we are doing our part: beginning September 1/2005 through to the end of this year (and possibly beyond), we are donating 50% of all retail profits received through our Best Liquid Vitamins website to charities helping in the long road to recovery in the Gulf states.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
Click Here To Visit Website

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