“Our findings suggest that the rewards of a vibrant small business sector are multi-dimensional,” Blanchard said. “In addition to job creation, small businesses yield important non-economic rewards to communities that may improve the health of local residents.”

Source for Story:

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/an-entrepreneur-in-the-neighborhood-improves-your-health/

 

A newly published study in the Journal of Virology adds additional weight to the case against routine influenza vaccinations. Researchers have found that vaccinating children annually against the flu virus interferes with the development of virus-specific killer T cells. This means that the annual flu vaccine may protect children against the actual viruses in the vaccine; but, at the same time, it makes them more vulnerable to other viruses they are exposed to.

Support Your Immune System Naturally

As an integrative medical doctor, I believe you can support your immune system naturally with a combination of healthy lifestyle choices and targeted supplements for immune support. It is generally not necessary to introduce viruses, chemicals and heavy metals into our bodies in the form of a vaccination. Natural solutions that enhance immune activity while also promoting overall health are always my top recommendation for supporting immunity and vitality in both adults and children.

Common sense and scientific research tell us that one of the most important strategies for staying well is to wash your hands frequently. Washing with soap and running water for 20 seconds is the most effective way to cleanse your hands of all kinds of germs.

It is also important to get enough sleep (more than seven hours per night), get moderate exercise and do not overwork.

Adequate hydration with pure, filtered water is also critical for keeping your immune system healthy and flushing out toxins and harmful invaders. This is one important factor often overlooked in our busy lives.

Nutritional approaches to a healthy immune system include eating plenty of green vegetables; reducing or eliminating consumption of refined sugars and processed/fried foods; and supplementing with immune-boosting vitamins, minerals, herbs and botanicals.

Some of the most widely recommended immune nutrients also offer critical support for overall health and vitality. These include vitamin C, zinc, vitamin D-3, B vitamins with minerals and co-factors, selenium, vitamin A and probiotics. By combining these critical nutrients with other powerful immune-supporting supplements and following a healthy lifestyle, you can protect and support health from multiple angles.

Immune Support Supplements

In addition to immune supporting vitamins and minerals, some of the most powerful immune enhancers are natural formulas and compounds that combine cutting-edge science with traditional botanical wisdom. These powerful immune supplements also offer comprehensive health support and can provide protection against both acute and chronic illnesses, increase vital energy and promote longevity, naturally. Following are some of my top recommended supplements that offer powerful support for immune and overall health, during the winter and year round.

One of my top recommendations is a blend of six medicinal mushrooms with additional immune-boosting beta glucans. The mushrooms in this formula have been used for thousands of years to promote optimal functioning of the immune system and support overall health. However, this formula is unique because the mushrooms are cultivated in the United States on a blend of powerful immune-supporting herbs that enhance the mushrooms’ natural immune-boosting properties. When combined in a comprehensive formula with additional beta-glucans, medicinal mushrooms are an excellent way to boost your body’s natural defenses and combat infection, especially on a long-term basis. Mushrooms are also of great benefit during times of acute stress or infection and they can be taken in frequent doses with no known side effects.

Another recommendation is Padma Basic, which is a Tibetan Herbal Formula, made with a blend of 19 rare and powerful botanicals that contain a multitude of health-promoting tannins, polyphenols, flavonoids and essential oils. This traditional formula has cooling properties that support balanced immune function, increased circulation, healthy responses to inflammation and powerful antioxidant activity.

Last, but most importantly, is modified citrus pectin, the first natural galectin-3 blocker. Scientists are now finding that blocking harmful excess galectin-3 molecules in the body is critical in promoting cellular health and long-term wellness. In addition to binding and blocking galectin-3 throughout the body, research demonstrates that regular use of modified citrus pectin offers powerful immune support and also safely detoxifies harmful heavy metals and environmental toxins without side effects.

Integrative medicine treats the whole person, rather than the symptom or illness. As a result, these and other natural health solutions offer substantiated immune support while simultaneously promoting overall health and protecting against chronic illness over the long term. And that’s an area where many conventional solutions fall short.

Source for Story:

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/do-you-really-need-a-flu-shot/

neuromuscular and cardiovascular gains in elderly men”.

The results confirm the hypotheses raised in recent decades by various researchers with respect to the capacity of power training to prevent or reduce their loss in older people. As Mikel Izquerdo explains, “It has been established how people between 60 and 70 years of age who participated in a four-month training programme to develop muscular strength and mass regained the functional capacity and muscle power of twenty years previously; in other words, they were the same as their peers who started the same training programme at the age of 40.”

In his view, there are two good reasons why we should encourage people to undertake regular physical exercise from the age of 50 onwards: “Firstly, because it is a cornerstone in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and other chronic diseases; and secondly, because it plays a crucial role in preventing and treating the decline in functional capacity, which tends to emerge in a highly significant way at this age.” In this respect, the researcher insists that physical exercise would be a plausible measure for improving the functional capacity of older people and for reducing healthcare expenditure.

The interest in ageing has grown exponentially over the last few decades and some of its aspects, like disability or fragility, have become the centre of attention in basic, clinical and population research. In Spain during the last century the population doubled, the number over 65 increased sevenfold, and the number of octogenarians thirteenfold.

The loss in muscular mass and muscular qualities in ageing is directly related to the reduction in mobility and the capacity to perform the activities regarded as basic or instrumental for daily life. “This loss of muscular mass and qualities (peripheral muscular dysfunction) has manifested itself in cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, within the multifactorial process of these diseases and delimits the participation of the patients in activities in daily life, and also contributes towards mortality risk.”

In this context the interventions that have proved to be the most effective in delaying disability and other situations that arise with ageing are the multi-component physical exercise programmes and, above all, power training. These exercises have also shown themselves to be useful in events frequently associated with falls, cognitive deterioration and depression.

Specific training

Relatively intense physical training has to be adapted to the patient’s functional capacity and is accompanied by significant increases in muscular strength, aerobic physical condition, joint mobility, motor skill, self-esteem and longevity, irrespective of age or sex, as long as the intensity and duration of the training period are sufficient.

The initial increases in strength can be as high as 10-30% during the first weeks or 1-2 months of training, both in middle-aged and elderly people.

A second study has been able to show how in older people the prescribing of a training programme that combines muscular strength and endurance exercises is one of the best strategies for improving neuromuscular and cardiovascular function, while improving functional capacity and promoting the enhancement of health and qualify of life.

Likewise, it has been observed that the carrying out of muscular strength exercises before cardiovascular endurance exercises is the best sequencing for obtaining the maximum benefits from a physical exercise programme.

“These results,” concludes Professor Izquierdo, “are of great practical interest for promoting health and quality of life through the participation of older people in exercise programmes.”

Source for Story:

http://www.basqueresearch.com/berria_irakurri.asp?Berri_Kod=3764&hizk=I

As an added bonus, there was a significant decrease in triglycerides and total cholesterol.

Glucose tolerance was improved, and the immune-reaction of pancreatic islet beta cells (beta cells store and release insulin) was boosted. The research team concluded that isoquercetin helped regulate blood glucose level and lipids. They suggested that isoquercetin may be useful in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Buckwheat is often sold as flour. It is darker in color than wheat flour and has a distinctive nutty taste. You can find buckwheat included in a variety of types of flour mixes, like pancake and waffle mix. You can also buy plain buckwheat for making bread if you are allergic to gluten.

You might think that buckwheat is a cereal grain, but it is actually a fruit seed that is related to rhubarb. This is one of the reasons for its gluten-free status amongst the grains.

Look for buckwheat in whole or cracked form for use in breakfast cereals or to add some texture (and isoquercetin!) to breads and other baked products. You can even buy cookies and other baked snacks on the go — many specialty stores now have foods made from buckwheat flour to cater to those with gluten allergies.

Source for Story:

doctorshealthpress@lombardipublishing.com

and medical experts be wrong about the heart disease-cholesterol myth so long? The answer is MONEY!

Amino Acid Problem

Homocysteine is a renegade amino acid present in our bodies that has been identified as THE cause of heart disease as well as blood clots, stroke and gangrene. What’s more, keeping homocysteine levels in the safe range does not require expensive medication or any drugs at all, only adequate amounts of certain vitamins i.e., B6, B12 and folic acid. This has all been proven.

Since the therapy for high homocysteine requires no drugs, we can begin to see why nobody knows about it. No money. Homocysteine is intimately involved in the aging process, Alzheimer’s, arthritis and cancer. Also, lowering homocysteine causes weight loss, lower blood pressure and, of course, reduced heart disease symptoms and improved general health.

How simple is health, without spending huge amounts of money? I recommend that every one of you read The Heart Revolution by Dr. Kilmer S. McCully, and then read it again.

Take Action

So check your homocysteine level now. Start vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid today.

Further, for those age 60 and over, your B12 intake should be by injection because, as we age, we have no intrinsic factor to enable B12 assimilation. This makes B12 in pill, tablets, etc., useless and unabsorbable. B12 liquid and 100 cc needles are available by prescription. It is very easy to do yourself.

Experts believe that 25 percent of those over age 60, especially vegetarians, are very low in vitamin B12. Plus, the older we get the more likely we are to have a vitamin B12 deficiency because we lose the ability to absorb it. Further, the older we get the more our digestive system breaks down, especially with the standard American diet.

The lining of the stomach gradually loses its ability to produce hydrochloric acid which releases vitamin B12 from our food. The use of antacids or ulcer drugs also lowers stomach acid secretion and decreases the ability to absorb vitamin B12.

In fact, adequate hydrochloric acid in the stomach is critical to life and health. Americans’ hydrochloric acid has been under attack by pharmaceuticals for decades. There is thousands of prescription and non-prescription drugs that Americans consume with wild abandon in order to reduce stomach acid. The final insult is the “purple pill,” which actually shuts down the proton (acid) pump. Wonder how much stomach cancer has been caused by these so-called acid stomach relievers?

By getting off of antacids, paying attention to your homocysteine and getting these vitamins, you can improve your health in a big, big way.

Source for Story:

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/what-you-know-about-cholesterol-is-wrong/

and it helped reduce LDL levels by a whopping 42% and raise HDL levels by 26%. Patients here also had a reduced number of heart attacks, strokes, and death.

Finally, a 2004 study examined 167 patients with heart disease, who had low HDL levels. One gram of niacin a day added to statin treatment increased HDL levels by 21%, and improved their hardened arteries as well.

2. Raynaud’s Disease, Intermittent Claudication: For this, the preparation of niacin is called “inositol hexaniacinate”, as it contains both nicotinic acid and inositol. Most studies show that this is an effective treatment in the aforementioned two conditions. Raynaud’s causes poor blood flow in fingers, toes, ears, nose, nipples or knees. Pain and skin discoloration ensue. Claudication is a symptom of blocked arteries, causing leg pain during exercise.

A good study on 23 Raynaud’s patients treated with four grams a day found that they had significantly improved symptoms.

In a three-month study of 100 patients with intermittent claudication, those getting four grams a day of inositol hexaniacinate showed major improvement in being able to walk pain-free.

3. Type 1 Diabetes: Many quality studies have tried to see if niacin can prevent or delay this condition. The results are mixed. Good news came out of two studies that showed niacinamide alone, or with vitamin E, could prolong the “honeymoon period”” in newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes. Thus, it delays it for some time.

And there you have the three-pronged disease-fighting nature of niacin.

Source for Story:

doctorshealthpress@lombardipublishing.com

The study is published in the “International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health.” It highlights fruit, vegetables, whole-grain foods such as muesli and porridge, and the entire bean family as foods rich in dietary fiber. And foods we should all strive to get more of in our daily diets. (Not surprisingly, these are also the healthiest foods to eat, period.)

Dietary fiber is sometimes referred to as “roughage.” It means the non-digestible parts of the fruit and vegetables. Soluble fiber is readily broken down or fermented in the colon. Insoluble fiber absorbs water as it passes through the digestive system, providing bulk for the intestinal muscles to work against and making digestion slow and healthy.

Research has shown that modern food habits have led to an increase in obesity, heart diseases, and type 2 diabetes. This is a common refrain in Doctors Health Press. Western eating habits are even flowing into developing nations, where processed foods high in sugars and saturated fat, beef, and dairy products are replacing more traditional options that are naturally high in fiber.

A loss of dietary fiber is a major risk factor for health problems — but one of the simplest to solve. It is not hard to choose foods wisely, particularly when grocery stores have so much available to us.

Fiber has a vast array of actions in the body. Among them are lowering cholesterol, moderating blood glucose levels, keeping your gastrointestinal tract healthy, boosting your immune system, and ensuring calcium is properly absorbed and used. Getting more fiber could single-handedly protect you from heart disease, colon cancer, diabetes, weight gain, and many more serious health concerns.

Source for Story:

doctorshealthpress@lombardipublishing.com

DMBA is a powerful toxin which is commonly used to initiate cancer tumors in laboratory animals for cancer research purposes. Four different concentrations of holy basil leaf extract were fed to rats over a five day period, then were injected with DMBA. When cancer symptoms were positively identified, the scientists measured the ability of holy basil to combat cancer. At a dosage of 300mg per kilgram of body weight, holy basil leaf extract significantly reduced the formation of cancerous micronuclei, enzymes which metabolize toxins in the body, and oxidation in both proteins and fats. Antioxidant and healthy enzymatic activity was increased.

Scientists prove that holy basil heals neuropathy caused by surgery

The October 2008 issue of the Journal of Ethnopharmacology reports a clinical study which was performed on rats that had sciatic nerve neuropathy. The researchers severed the sciatic nerve in the rats’ paws, then measured the resulting neuropathy. Ocimum sanctum (holy basil) extract was then administered for ten days following the surgeries. The scientists observed that holy basil extract reduced the effects of nerve degeneration, helped to make nerve receptors more sensitive to stimuli, and aided in motor control after the surgery. The herb also curbed a rise in TBARS, an indicator of oxidative stress, and increased the amount of calcium and glutothione in the body of the rats.

Holy basil oil may be useful in the treatment of acne

The International Journal of Cosmetic Science published a 2006 study performed in Thailand which evaluated the effectiveness of three different kinds of Thai basil oil in the treatment of acne. Researchers wanted to study the anti-bacterial activity of oils made from sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum), holy basil (Ocimum sanctum), and hoary basil (Ocimum americanum). Hoary basil had no anti-microbial effects against acne at all in vitro. However, both sweet basil oil and holy basil oil did. While sweet basil oil was found to be more effective against acne than holy basil oil, both herbs were found to be suitable for a skin care treatment of acne.

Source for Story:

http://www.naturalnews.com/034870_Holy_Basil_tulsi_antioxidants.html#ixzz1ljTN459a

while an excellent measurement of compressive strength, does not reveal tensile strength, i.e. whether or not your bone will resist breaking from being pulled or stretched, as commonly occurs in a fall or similar trauma.

Moreover, “osteoporosis,” as presently defined by bone scans (DXA scan) using the T-score, inappropriately defines “normal bone density” according to the standard of a 25-year old, young adult.

In other words, if you are 40, 50, or even 100, the T-score-based system says your bones are not normal, or even diseased if they are not as dense as they were when you were a young adult.

If in fact they used the age-appropriate Z-score, most cases of “osteopenia,” and many cases of “osteoporosis,” would suddenly disappear because they were inappropriately classified from the start.

Do Calcium Supplements Predispose You to Breast Cancer?

Ultimately, the “calcium is good for your bones” mantra is yet another example of a good theory gone wrong, and represents how broadly deluded the mainstream medical community is about bone health and the nature of osteoporosis, and its highly fabricated twin condition “osteopenia.”

There are actually a number of studies indicating that mass market calcium supplements increase your risk for cardiovascular incidents and other problems, while offering little benefit to your bones. Only because something can increase your bone density: eating what amounts to chalk or pulverized bone meal, or worse, chemicals like the drugs Fosamax and Evista, does not mean this will translate into improved health for your bones, or any of your other organ systems.

Indeed, before jumping off the lemming-like cliff of conventional medical wisdom, consider there is a solid body of research indicating that higher bone density may actually increase the risk of malignant breast cancer by 300% or more! Considering that close to 1 in 4 women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lives, with breast cancer top on the list, isn’t the neurotic fixation on increasing bone density with calcium supplements misplaced, especially when it may increase the overall risk of dying from cancer and, as we will see, cardiovascular disease (the #1 killer), as well?

Taking Calcium Might Increase Your Heart Attack Risk

Heart attacks may be caused by supplemental calcium from elemental sources, which include limestone, oyster shell, and bone meal, according to two meta-analyses of available research (a meta-analysis is a review and summary of the results of many clinical studies on the same subject).

The first, conducted in 2010 and involving over 8,000 people, showed that taking this kind of inorganic calcium supplement in amounts of 500 mg or more would increase your relative risk of heart attack by 27 percent.

Critics of the study pointed out that it only looked at calcium supplementation without vitamin D administered at the same time (vitamin D helps you absorb and utilize calcium). However, the second analysis showed that even when co-administered with vitamin D, elemental calcium still increased heart attack risk by 24 percent, with researchers concluding:

“Calcium supplements with or without vitamin D modestly increase the risk of cardiovascular events, especially myocardial infarction … A reassessment of the role of calcium supplements in osteoporosis management is warranted.”

In fact, the second analysis was even more disturbing, as it found the calcium supplementation (in addition to vitamin D) increased the composite risk of heart attack and stroke by15%!

Calcium Can be Beneficial or Deadly Depending on Where it Ends Up in Your Body

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in your body, necessary for not only bone health but also regulating your heartbeat, conducting nerve impulses, clotting blood and stimulating hormone secretions. Your body does not make calcium, and in fact loses calcium daily through your skin, nails, hair, sweat and elimination, which is why you must replace it via your diet.

It has been estimated, however, that your body excretes as little as 100 mg a day, making the current recommendations by the National Osteoporosis Foundation for women over 50 to take 1200 mg a day, a bit troubling.  When we compare our calcium-rich diet to the traditional calcium-poor Chinese peasant diet, which was free of cow’s milk and calcium supplements, approximately 250 mg a day of plant-based calcium was all that was needed to fulfill their bodily needs – and this is a culture with no word for “osteoporosis” in its 3,000+ year old language!

Due to the fact that about 99 percent of your body’s calcium is stored in your bones and teeth, if you don’t get enough calcium, your body will take calcium from your bones to perform necessary functions. This is where the idea that supplementing with calcium could prevent calcium loss from your bones comes from — but it is an overly simplified theory that lacks solid evidence to back it up, especially in Western, modernized cultures which consume unprecedentedly large amounts of dairy-derived, fortification-based and supplemental calcium.

For instance, one 2010 article presented evidence for a total lack of support in the research for calcium supplements reducing fracture risk!

Moreover, in the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study, a review tracking 78,000 nurses for 12 years found that the relative risk of hip fracture was 45% higher in those women who drank two or more glasses of milk per day versus those who drank one glass or less. Indeed, in countries where both dairy consumption and overall calcium levels in the diet are the lowest, bone fracture rates are also the lowest; conversely, in cultures like the United States where calcium consumption is among the highest in the world, so too are the fracture rates among the highest (see: The China Study).

The truth is that taking any calcium in excess or isolation, without complementary nutrients like magnesium, vitamin D and vitamin K2, which help keep your body in balance, can have adverse effects, such as calcium building up in coronary arteries and causing heart attacks. Even taking calcium with vitamin D does not appear to be enough to prevent these types of adverse effects.

So when you take a biologically foreign form of calcium (such as limestone, oyster shell, egg shell and bone meal (hydroxylapatite), or when your body’s ability to direct calcium to the right places becomes impaired (as when you are deficient in vitamin K2), calcium may be deposited where it shouldn’t be, which can lead to multiple health problems.

Often, much of the burden of removing the excess calcium falls on the kidneys, which is why it has been proven on numerous occasions that calcium carbonate rapidly calcifies arteries in those with compromised kidney function, especially hemodialysis patients.  Calcium deposits are, in fact, major contributors and even causative factors in many conditions, including the following:

Cellulite and scar tissue	Coronary artery disease and atherosclerosis	Dental plaque and gum disease	Hypothyroidism
Obesity and diabetes	Alzheimer’s disease	Breast cancer and cysts (fibrocystic breasts)	Gallstones, colon cancer and Crohn’s disease
Kidney stones	Ovarian cysts	Cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration	Bone spurs, stiff joints, osteoarthritis, tendonitis and bone cancer

Too Much Calcium May Create Mineral Deficiencies that Promote Disease

Robert Thompson, M.D. wrote a book on this subject called The Calcium Lie, which explains that bone is comprised of at least a dozen minerals, and the exclusive focus on calcium supplementation is likely to worsen bone density and actually increase your risk for osteoporosis. Dr. Thompson believes overconsumption of calcium creates other mineral deficiencies and imbalances that will increase your risk of heart disease, kidney stones, gallstones, osteoarthritis, hypothyroidism, obesity and type 2 diabetes.

If your calcium supplement is being turned into “little rocks” that are being deposited in your soft tissues and arteries, you can begin to understand how this could be increasing your risk for a heart attack, stroke or other health condition.

Many believe that arterial plaque is simply a buildup of cholesterol. But in reality, more than 90 percent of these fatty plaques are calcified. Cholesterol is soft and waxy and does not impair the elasticity of your arteries. But calcium deposits are like concrete, “hardening” your arteries and impairing their ability to expand. It is calcium — not cholesterol — that induces arterial stiffness and makes the plaque less stable and more prone to chipping off and subsequently inducing a life-threatening clot.

This is particularly important for postmenopausal women because hormone balance is necessary for proper calcium signaling — directing your body to deposit calcium into your bones. When hormones fall out of balance, this signaling causes calcium to slowly exit your bones and become deposited in your arteries instead. Simply taking a calcium supplement will not solve the problem because if your body cannot direct the calcium to the right spot, it will cause far more harm than good.

Why Vitamin K2 is Crucial if You Take Vitamin D and Calcium …

Vitamin K2 engages in a delicate dance with vitamin D; whereas vitamin D provides improved bone development by helping you absorb calcium, there is new evidence that vitamin K2 directs the calcium to your skeleton, while preventing it from being deposited where you don’t want it — i.e., your organs, joint spaces, and arteries. As mentioned, a large part of arterial plaque consists of calcium deposits (atherosclerosis), hence the term “hardening of the arteries.”

Vitamin K2 has also actually been found to decalcify certain tissues undergoing pathological (also known as ectopic) calcification.

Vitamin K2 activates a protein hormone called osteocalcin, produced by osteoblasts, which is needed to bind calcium into the matrix of your bone. Osteocalcin also appears to help prevent calcium from depositing into your arteries. In other words, without the help of vitamin K2, the calcium that your vitamin D so effectively lets in might be working AGAINST you — by building up your coronary arteries rather than your bones. This is why if you take calcium and vitamin D but are deficient in vitamin K, you could be worse off than if you were not taking those supplements at all.

Food is the Best Source of Calcium

In order for calcium to do your body good, it must be in a bio available form and balanced out with vitamins D and K and other important trace minerals, as part of a total nutritional plan.

It’s more likely your body can use calcium correctly if it’s food-based calcium. Good sources include raw milk and cheese from pasture-raised cows (who eat the plants), leafy green vegetables, the pith of citrus fruits, carob, sesame seeds and wheat-grass, to name a few. It’s worth mentioning that the studies done about calcium from dairy products are all done with pasteurized dairy, rather than raw dairy products that have more of their nutrients intact, and this muddies the results of these studies.

Calcium from dietary sources is typically better absorbed and utilized than calcium from supplements, which is why studies involving calcium from natural food sources have shown favorable results, including a 25 percent lower risk of dying from all causes, and a 23 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease.

You also need sources of silica and magnesium, which some researchers say is actually enzymatically “transmuted” by your body into the kind of calcium your bones can use. This theory was first put forth by French scientist Louis Kevran, a Nobel Prize nominee who spent years studying how silica, calcium, magnesium, and other minerals are related and transmutable into one another through low-energy nuclear transformation only found within living systems.

His theory explains how cows and chickens produce far more calcium in their milk and eggs than is found in their diet, or why, workers exposed to extremely high temperatures (130 degrees F) in the Middle East are known to consume salt tablets, which their bodies convert to potassium (as measured by their excreta), resulting in a reduction in their bodily temperature.

Good sources of bone-strengthening silica are cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and a number of herbs including horsetail, nettles, oat straw, alfalfa, and raw cacao, which is also extremely rich in highly bioavailable magnesium.

Dr. Thompson recommends the use of natural unprocessed salt as a far better alternative to calcium supplements because it provides the trace minerals you simply cannot get from food grown in today’s mineral-depleted soils. My favorite source of trace minerals is pure, unprocessed Himalayan salt, which contains 84 elements needed by your body.

The bottom line is, optimize your vitamin D levels through sun exposure and consume a variety of fresh, local organic whole foods, including vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, organic meats and eggs, unprocessed salt, and raw organic unpasteurized dairy, which will give you the bio available calcium your body needs along with the trace minerals and other co factors it needs to be absorbed and properly utilized by your body.

Source for Story:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/01/30/calcium-supplement-on-heart-attack.aspx?e_cid=20120130_DNL_art_1

the Grocery Manufacturers of America has estimated that as much as 80 percent of processed food on US shelves contains GM ingredients. This includes breakfast cereals and other products labeled “natural” or “all natural.” (http://www.naturalnews.com/033838_breakfast_cereals_GMOs.html)

GM crops are simply unsafe. They expose people to novel and potentially dangerous allergens and to higher levels of pesticides. Animals grazing on GM crops have died from ruptured internal organs. Yet this is the type of food making up 80 percent of packaged food today, and the only way to avoid it is to buy organic food or grow your own.

Tip: Foods labeled USDA Organic do not contain any substantial level of genetically engineered ingredients, but due to cross-contamination of crops, even organic products almost always contain trace levels of GMOs.

Source: 25 Amazing Facts About Food, authored by Mike Adams and David Guiterrez. This report reveals surprising things about where your food comes from and what’s really in it! Download the full report (FREE) by clicking here. Inside, you’ll learn 24 more amazing but true facts about foods, beverages and food ingredients. Instant download of the complete PDF. All 25 facts are documented and true.

Additional Sources:
http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/agri_biotechnology/gmo_planting/341.ge…
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_18445.cfm
http://www.calgefree.org/facts_on_ge.html
http://www.ResponsibleTechnology.org
http://www.naturalnews.com/NoGMO.html

Source for Story:

http://www.naturalnews.com/034812_GMO_corn_soy.html#ixzz1kxm7GiqR

 

The trick for you is to make sure you have enough antioxidants in your body to hunt down free radicals before they can accumulate and cause damage.

Now — back to citrus fruit and its neuroprotective effects in the brain. Oxidative stress is associated with many diseases, including brain degenerative disorders. Researchers have discovered that one particular group of antioxidants called “flavonoids” are particularly good at protecting the brain from oxidative stress. And citrus flavonoids, which exert little adverse effect and have low or no cytotoxicity to healthy, normal cells, can actually cross the blood-brain barrier, making them all the more effective.

To add some citrus fruits to your diet and to get some brain protection, try eating these three fruits every week:

1. Oranges. One orange nets you about 100% of the daily value for vitamin C. Vitamin C is the main water-soluble antioxidant in your body, disarming free radicals, and preventing damage in the watery liquid both inside and outside your cells.

2. Limes. Limes contain special flavonoids called “flavonol glycosides.” Not only are these flavonoids powerful antioxidants that help stop free radical damage, but they also potentially have the power to stop cancer cells from dividing and spreading.

3. Grapefruit. Not only are grapefruits high in free-radical- scavenging vitamin C, but they also contain a healthy dose of lycopene. Among all the dietary carotenoids, lycopene has the greatest capacity to help fight oxygen free radicals in your brain cells and elsewhere.

Source for Story:

doctorshealthpress@lombardipublishing.com

a good safety record for using bio-identical hormones in these circumstances, especially if you apply them transdermally (on your skin) instead of taking them as pills.

The use of bio-identical hormone therapy is becoming more popular with the increasing awareness of its potential benefits for a range of age and hormone related conditions. At the same time, people have been searching for ways to make this therapy as safe as possible. A promising approach is to look closely at how hormones are metabolized in each person, using advanced urine analysis. Once we obtain an accurate view of an individual’s hormone metabolism, we can help to optimize hormone therapies with appropriate food choices as well as lifestyle habits and supplementation.

Test Your Body’s Hormone Metabolism

We can increase the safety of hormone use by supporting healthy hormone breakdown. A relatively new 24-hour urine hormone test being offered by several laboratories has made it possible to look at how hormones are being processed by the body. This is an important strategic tool for evaluating hormone usage in both men and women, and provides insight into possible risk factors for breast, prostate and other hormone related cancers.

This information has value for anyone who wants to be proactive in healthy aging and cancer prevention, those who are taking hormones or those who have hormone-dependent cancers. The information can help guide treatment strategies and determine individual supplement and dietary guidelines. Some of the intermediate compounds produced as the body breaks down hormones can promote the growth of cancer and cause damage to DNA. But each person’s metabolism differs. By using this test, we can tell if an individual is having problems with hormone breakdown and provide more support for these important processes. This can greatly improve the safety of taking hormone preparations for both men and women.

Recommendations For Healthy Hormone Breakdown

A number of nutrients, foods and lifestyle interventions can support healthy hormone metabolism and breakdown. Beneficial supplements include:

• Activated forms of B vitamins such as methylcobalamin (B12), 5 methyltetrahydrofolate (folic acid), pyridoxyl-5-phosphate (B6),
• Trimethylglycine (TMG)
• Sulfur donors (SAM-E, whey protein, MSM)
• DIM
• Zinc
• Flax lignans
• Cruciferous vegetables
• Medicinal mushrooms
• Compounds such as quercetin and curcumin
• Integrative formulas for women that include herbs, flavonoids, reishi, and astragalus
• Integrative formulas for men that include minerals and medicinal mushrooms

Diet and Lifestyle Factors for Hormone Health

Healthy lifestyle habits can also have a positive impact in helping to balance and breakdown hormones. Minimizing alcohol intake, eating an organic unprocessed diet, getting enough sleep, reducing stress, increasing regular exercise and improving the omega-3 to omega-6 ratio in the body with balanced omega or essential fatty acid supplements also help to promote normal hormone balance.

By taking a deeper and broader approach to using bio-identical hormones, we can improve the safety of this popular and valuable therapy. If you are taking hormones or are considering this area of treatment, ask your doctor about urine hormone testing to help evaluate and guide your hormone treatment plan.

Source for Story:

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/using-hormones-what-you-need-to-know/

examining the level of mercury in their toenails and their hair. They found that higher levels of mercury were abundant in heart attack victims — boosting the risk of heart disease by 50%.

So what is the best plan of action? Cutting out fish is not advisable. Knowing the species that are typically high in mercury is the way to go. The first thing to know is that fish high in mercury are large predators. They live for a long time and eat lots of smaller fish, which could be carrying trace amounts of mercury. Mercury is also naturally present in ocean water and all throughout the food chain that operates beneath the waves. The type, called “methyl mercury,” binds to proteins in fish tissue. For this reason, most fish have small amounts of mercury. Thus, large fish that eat lots of small fish may be high in mercury.

The problem fish go like so:

• Shark, king mackerel, tilefish, and swordfish: You should avoid these entirely.
• Escolar: Member of the mackerel family. In Japanese restaurants, it might be sold raw as “sashimi” or “sushi.” Elsewhere it might be referred to as white tuna, oilfish, or butterfish. It is sold in stores in steak form. Try to avoid this fish if you can. Also, if you do eat this fish, be sure to cook it in a way that allows oil to run off, because it is not digestible in the body.
• Marlin: This large ocean fish is notoriously high in mercury. It is actually more of a game fish than one we’d regularly eat.
• Orange roughy: The U.S. is the world’s biggest market for this deep-sea fish that is easily processed into boneless filets. Frozen orange roughy is commonly found in supermarkets. Try to avoid this one or eat it only once in a while.
• Tuna: Either fresh or frozen, tuna can be high in mercury. In cans, choose light tuna rather than albacore (“white”) tuna. You don’t have to avoid tuna steaks by any means, but they generally have more mercury than their canned counterparts.

Source for Story:

doctorshealthpress@lombardipublishing.com

against the influenza virus that often enters through the mouth or nasal cavities. Additionally, green tea polyphenols can be used as a natural remedy to treat bad breath, or halitosis as the medical community calls it. The sulfur compounds in green tea are thought to be responsible for its breath-freshening effect.

Smokers could also benefit from drinking green tea, the researchers say. Cigarette smoke, which is at its most concentrated when first breathed into the mouth, contains many harmful compounds such as nicotine that can lead to infections and more serious conditions like oral cancer. Green tea polyphenols could help to offset the negative health effects of cigarette smoke.

Green tea has an ability to defend healthy cells from transforming into malignant cells. The research team suggests that green tea could help induce death in oral cancer cells. They conclude by saying that green tea could be used as part of the prevention and treatment of oral health complaints.

Source for Story:

doctorshealthpress@lombardipublishing.com

• Vitamin A: A powerful antioxidant, important in the prevention of cancer and immune function; reduces the risk of heart attack, stroke, and macular degeneration; a deficiency is uncommon. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables containing carotenoids, including beta-carotene or pro-vitamin A, and organ meats, milk, oysters, and mackerel is recommended.
• Vitamin B1 (thiamin): Essential for carbohydrate digestion, a healthy nervous system, strong muscles, and proper functioning of the heart; a deficiency occurs alongside other B-vitamins, with poor intake of dairy products, meat and cereals; deficiency symptoms include weight loss, apathy, weakness, confusion, and loss of appetite.
• Vitamin B2 (riboflavin): Important in the synthesis of amino acid and fatty acids, as well as tissue repair; deficiency occurs with other B-vitamins; symptoms of deficiency include sore mouth and tongue or cracked lips, irritability, moodiness, depression and nervousness.
• Vitamin B6: Critical for metabolizing amino acids and essential fatty acids, and for the formation of neurotransmitters in the brain; deficiency occurs with other B-vitamins, especially in those with dementia, stroke, or rheumatoid arthritis, as well as anyone living in a nursing home; symptoms of deficiency include nervousness, insomnia, dizziness, confusion, depression, and irritability. Good food sources include banana, leafy greens, beef, chicken, fish, and avocado.
• Folate: Plays a role in reducing the risk of heart attacks and stroke; deficiency is often seen with poor nutrition, alcoholism, or certain medications; deficiency symptoms include depression and anemia. Dietary sources of folate include leafy greens, orange juice, liver, legumes, and brewer’s yeast.
• Vitamin B12: Important in the efficient use of fats, carbohydrates and protein; helps maintain a normal nervous system; helps body form and make red blood cells; also breaks down homocysteine (thus lowering the risk of heart disease); deficiency can be due to impaired absorption (which occurs in 15% of the elderly), a “Helicobacter pylori” infection in the stomach, gastric resection, or long- term use of acid suppression treatment (e.g. proton-pump inhibitors); symptoms of deficiency include anemia, numbness in the extremities, difficulty walking, mental confusion, and even dementia.
• Vitamin C: Functions as an antioxidant; important in recycling vitamin E; major role in collagen formation; lowered intake of this vitamin is associated with memory loss, lung disease, senile cataracts, cancer, and hardening of the arteries; deficiency is more common in nursing homes; deficiency readily responds to increased intake of fruits, fruit juice and vegetables or to vitamin supplements.
• Vitamin D: Produced by sun exposure; dietary sources include fortified dairy products, fatty fishes, and shrimp; deficiency symptoms include muscle weakness, functional impairment, and increase in fractures and falls.

Source for Story:

doctorshealthpress@lombardipublishing.com

• Bisphenol-A (BPA): A chemical found in plastic that may mimic estrogen in the body, disrupting endocrine system functions. Each year in the United States, nearly 90 million plastic bottles are produced and purchased, burdening both the environment and your health. BPA from these containers seeps into your beverages at high temperatures, especially in hot weather. To minimize damage to both the planet and your health, try glass or stainless steel bottles and containers, which can be safely re-used by everyone in the family.
• Phthalates: Chemicals that bind other chemicals together and soften plastics. Sources include shampoo, perfumes, soaps, shower curtains and vinyl flooring. Phthalates also may harmfully disturb the endocrine system. Try to avoid using personal care products that contain fragrances which frequently contain phthalates.
• Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA): Substance applied to the surfaces of non-stick products. It’s believed that heating non-stick pans and cookware releases PFOA vapors that you may inhale. PFOA has also been found in drinking water sources. Avoid non-stick cookware and opt for stainless steel or cast iron instead.
• Formaldehyde: A glue resin found heavily in constructed wood products, such as particle board, plywood and fiberboard. This chemical is released in vapor through a process known as “off-gassing.” To reduce exposure, purchase exterior-grade pressed-wood products, which release much lower amounts of formaldehyde. Increasing ventilation in your home can also help reduce indoor air levels.
• Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs): Flame retardants. Although they are in many different products, they get into our bodies primarily from the dust in our homes. Items like televisions and computers contain these chemicals and gradually expel them, letting them concentrate in dust. Breathing in or touching this dust is indeed dangerous, so make sure you regularly clean and dust your house.
• Dioxins: Chemicals produced during combustion, in industrial settings as well as in common incineration and burn processes such as wood fires, backyard waste, diesel exhaust and others. Dioxins also form during bleach processes like paper pulp bleaching, as well as in the manufacture of chemical pesticide/herbicides. Your main route of exposure to dioxins is probably from dioxin-contaminated food. Dioxin  accumulates in fat tissues and can increase the risk of cancer, autoimmune disease, cardiovascular illness, reproductive/developmental problems and other degenerative conditions.
• Harmful Heavy Metals: Lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, nickel and other metals are industrial byproducts. These are alarmingly present in a large number of everyday sources including food (especially mercury in seafood), medicines, water, bath and household products. Unlike beneficial metals such as copper, zinc and iron, harmful heavy metals are not processed by the body. They accumulate in soft tissues, where they eventually wreak havoc by damaging DNA and disrupting critical biological functions.

Detoxify

Safely detoxifying heavy metals and environmental toxins is critical for long-term health and wellness. As an integrative practitioner, I have witnessed many people improve their clinical symptoms and regain their health with a comprehensive, gentle and long-term detoxification program. My top recommendations for the safe removal of toxins and heavy metals have been well researched and shown to reduce toxic body burden without affecting essential minerals:

• Modified Citrus Pectin: First used in Chernobyl to remove heavy metals and radioactive particles, modified citrus pectin is a gentle yet effective chelator of heavy metals and dangerous toxins from the circulation and digestive tract. It also provides a wide range of additional cellular health benefits.
• Modified Alginates: These seaweed-derived alginates help to bind with heavy metals and environmental toxins and allow the body to safely excrete them.
• Medicinal mushrooms: Medicinal mushrooms, in particular reishi and Cordyceps, can help protect against and repair some toxin-induced damages in the body, boost immunity, detoxify tissues, regulate healthy cell replication and boost overall health.
• Antioxidants for Detoxification and Cellular Protection: High-powered antioxidants are crucial for protecting against toxin-related damage. Antioxidants protect DNA integrity, soothe inflammation from toxins, boost immunity, detoxify the body and promote overall health. Glutathione, one of nature’s most potent antioxidants, is produced by the body and is known to detoxify and protect against heavy metals and radioactive toxins. The best way to supplement glutathione is to take nutrients and herbs which act as precursors to glutathione. These include cilantro, garlic, milk thistle, dandelion, lipoic acid, N-Acetyl cysteine (NAC) and whey powder. I recommend taking a synergistic blend of glutathione precursors and other botanicals and nutrients specifically shown to remove heavy metals and toxins from deep within the body.

However you plan to detoxify from harmful pollutants, a fresh, healthy diet with a focus on organic fruits and vegetables and plenty of pure water and hydration should be your foundation. Don’t neglect this aspect of health. Otherwise, you leave your body virtually defenseless against a world saturated with toxic substances.

Source for Story:

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/defend-your-health-in-a-toxic-world/

” said lead investigator Cay Anderson-Hanley, Ph.D.

Study participants who used a “cyber cycle,” a stationary bike equipped with a virtual reality screen experienced more cognitive improvements than those who used only a traditional piece of exercise equipment. Both groups exercised for the same amount of time and at the same level of intensity, yet experienced different mental results.

Source for Story:

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/powering-up-a-video-game-with-an-exercise-bicycle-powers-up-the-brain/

 

As the head bookkeeper for a large beef boning house, I was privy to numerous incidents that allowed microorganisms to breed in meat that was sold to consumers. Adding to the problem is the fact that livestock consume antibiotics that are designed to make them put on extra weight. But an unintended side effect of these antibiotics is that they foster the growth of so-called “superbugs,” microorganisms that are resistant to antibiotics. If you become infected with a superbug, it can be deadly if no antibiotic can be found that can control the infection.

Antibiotics that are permitted for use in food animals include bacitracin, bambermycins, chlortetracycline, lasalocid, lincomycin, monensin, penicillin, salinomycin, tylosin and virginiamycin.

One Small Step

On Jan. 4, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Veterinary Medicine issued an order prohibiting certain extra-label uses of the cephalosporin class of antimicrobial drugs (not including cephapirin) for most food-producing animals, including cattle, pigs, chickens and turkeys. This was done out of concern that these antibiotics are contributing to the development of cephalosporin-resistant strains of certain bacterial pathogens. Since these drugs are used to fight pneumonia, skin and tissue infections, pelvic inflammatory disease and other conditions, it’s important to limit their use in food animals.

Steroids

A few weeks before slaughter, animals are often given veterinary steroids which are also designed to make them gain weight. This includes a drug called Finaplix (Trenbolone acetate), an androgen that beefs up a cow’s size. When residues of these substances remain in the livestock, they can be present in meat made from those animals. Consequently, meat eaters may be scarfing down steroids with each meal that contains hamburger, steak or roast beef.

Other animals similarly receive these types of drugs. For instance, pigs get rounds of antibiotics that help them increase their weight by up to 9 percent. Avoparcin, an antibiotic, has been used to induce growth in chickens and pigs. Unfortunately, researchers have found that those animals produced more antibiotic-resistant bacteria. And since Avoparcin is similar to the drug vancomycin (a very important antibiotic in human pharmacology), microorganisms that resist this class of pharmaceuticals can produce serious consequences. In addition, goats farmed as food animals receive antibiotics to enhance their meat.

In addition to the difficulties resulting from the use of all these drugs, chicken feed may contain arsenic and copper to boost the production of poultry meat.

Fortunately, there are safer ways to increase animal size with less of a danger to human health. These include acidifiers, enzymes, oligosaccharides and directly fed probiotics. However, giving cattle oligosaccharides which are simple sugars, may increase the growth of E. coli in cows.

Natural Design

Nature designed cattle and animals with hooves to be grass-fed and browsers. Meat producers, however, have switched the diets of these animals from grass to corn and soy laced with antibiotics and other drugs. In all likelihood, that process has reprogrammed the animals’ guts to produce allergy-producing reactions within their digestive tracts.

In addition, when these animals take in glysophate residues from GMO soy and Bacillus thuringiensis from bt-corn (a form of GMO corn), these chemicals probably interfere with the animal’s capability to produce prebiotics. Without prebiotics, natural substances that promote beneficial bacteria in the large intestine, harmful bacteria may reproduce in the animals, leading to the current spate of E.coli found in today’s beef.

The producers of our meat have excessively interfered with nature’s original design of the animals we consume.

Taking Action

As a consumer, you can make an effort to purchase organic meat. Animals raised organically have not received hormones and antibiotics to fatten them. And organically produced milk and cheeses come from cows that are have not been injected under their tails daily with the milk-producing recombinant bovine growth hormone, rBGH. Consider consuming lamb which is relatively free of chemical residues. (This is especially true of Icelandic or New Zealand lamb.)

If you buy organic meats, you are purchasing beef that has been pasture-raised or fed organic grass. There are numerous farmers who employ sustainable agriculture methods to bring delicious and healthful meat to your dining table.

Search the Internet for “pasture raised beef brand names,” and you will find a wide range of palatable choices.

And the next time you’re in the supermarket, talk with the manager and encourage him to carry a line of grass-fed meat products. As a consumer, you possess the power of the purse. The way you spend your food dollar makes a difference in how your food is produced.

Make your shopping mantra, “What’s in the beef?” and soon the answer may be more reassuring than alarming.

Source for Story:

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/whats-in-your-beef/

Many people experience central nervous system disorders, cramping, nervous twitches and abnormal reflexes. (http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/)

It all started when Ronald Reagan took office in 1980. He immediately fired the head of the FDA, under advisement from Donald Rumsfeld (CEO of Searle Pharmaceutical at the time), and hired Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr., who auspiciously approved aspartame. It was the decade of the diet craze, and Rumsfeld and his constituents made a fortune off the artificial sweetener which had been banned for decades due to laboratory testing results proving it was carcinogenic. The same FDA tainted approval process gave way to sucralose in 1991, and then sorbitol in 2003. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robbi…)

Gulf War Syndrome mainly ASD

It is not a coincidence that a wave of fibromyalgia cases hit the American troops during the Gulf War. Studies revealed that drinking diet sodas in the 120 degree heat lead to serious health repercussions. It was cleverly chalked up under the umbrella term “Gulf War Syndrome,” but the same problems are occurring for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan now. (http://www.militaryspot.com/resourc…)

It is also no coincidence that 4 out of 5 fibromyalgia cases affect women, who are more likely to eat diet foods and consume diet drinks than men. Nearly all chewing gum and breath mints are loaded with artificial sweeteners. (http://healthwyze.org/index.php/com…)

The popular saying that “there’s not enough artificial sweetener in any specific product to cause health concerns” is a lie, especially now that in 2011 there are synthetic sweeteners in over 25% of all food, drink, gum and candy available. This cumulative effect has created ASD, and thanks to little or no regulation of chemical agents in food, it’s not going away any time soon.

There is no prescription drug, and there never will be one, that cures the problems that artificial sweeteners create. In fact, over 70 percent of reported cases of fibromyalgia, chronic depression, IBS and acid reflux are caused by consuming chemical agents which have been approved by the FDA for consumption. (http://www.foodintol.com/food_intol…)

Cancer may be the distant, long term result of consuming chemicals, but ASD is the short term consequence, and it is very serious. If you look to prescription drugs to cure these “chronic ailments,” then you will experience even more side effects from the prescription medicines, and maybe worse ones than you already have.

The good news is the cure for Artificial Sweetener Disease is absolutely free and involves no doctor, no health insurance co-pays, and has zero side effects. Here is the secret cure for ASD: throw away your sugar free gum and candy, and then trash all foods and drinks you have that are labeled “light” and “zero.” Read the labels on everything, so you can filter out all artificial sweeteners from your products, including aspartame, sucralose, sorbitol, acesulfame-k, aspartic acid, and saccharine.

As an alternative to poisoning yourself, try Xylitol or Stevia in order to cut calories, or simply eat more organic vegetables! If problems persist, take a list of everything you ate this week to your Naturopath or Nutritionist to analyze. Remember, if you’re getting sick from moldy bread, don’t look for a prescription drug to cure you, just stop eating moldy bread.

Source for Story:

http://www.naturalnews.com/034378_artificial_sweetener_disease_ASD_aspartame.html#ixzz1jNPfNhyn

It may aggravate disorders of the heart, kidneys or liver. Its effects worsen when subjected to heat.

• A-Terpineol: Causes Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders, meaning problems relating to the brain and spine such as Alzheimer’s disease, ADD, dementia, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, seizures, strokes, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Early symptoms of CNS problems include aphasia, blurred vision, disorientation, dizziness, headaches, hunger, memory loss, numbness in face, pain in neck and spine. A-Terpineol also irritates the mucous membranes and, if aspirated into the lungs, can cause respiratory depression, pneumonia or fatal edema.

• Benzyl Alcohol: This upper respiratory tract irritant can cause central nervous system (CNS) disorders, headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and dramatic drops in blood pressure.

• Benzyl Acetate: This substances has been linked to pancreatic cancer. Its vapors can be irritating to eyes and respiratory passages and it can also be absorbed through the skin.

• Ethanol: Another fabric softener ingredient which is on the EPA’s Hazardous Waste list and linked to CNS disorders.

• Pentane: A chemical known to be harmful if inhaled.

• Ethyl Acetate: This substance, which is on the EPA’s Hazardous Waste list, can be irritating to the eyes and respiratory tract. It may also cause severe headaches and loss of consciousness, as well as damage to the liver and kidneys.

• Camphor: Another substance on the EPA’s Hazardous Waste list. It is easily absorbed through body tissue, causing irritation of eyes, nose and throat. Camphor can also cause dizziness, confusion, nausea, twitching muscles and convulsions.

• Linalool: A narcotic known to cause respiratory problems and CNS disorders. In animal testing, exposure to linalool has resulted in death.

• Phthalates: Used in scented products to help the scent last longer, phthlates have been linked to breast cancer and reproductive system problems.

• Limonene: This known carcinogen can cause irritation to eyes and skin.

• Also, if you follow a vegan lifestyle, you should be aware that many fabric softener sheets are made using tallow, a form of animal fat.

Manufacturers are aware that the products contain toxic chemicals. The packaging on many brands includes a warning that the product should not be used on children’s sleepwear. Since some of the same brands also have large images of children and toys, however, consumers may miss the small print message.

Breathing and wearing poison

If you use fabric softener, these toxic chemicals coat your towels, sheets and clothing so that you absorb toxins through your skin, the largest organ of the body. When you wear chemically “softened” clothes, you inhale these chemicals with every breath. Even if you do not use fabric softener, you can ingest these chemicals through dryer exhaust sending them into the air or simply by working with someone whose clothes have been chemically treated in this way. Fabric softeners are designed to remain in fabric for a long period of time, slowly releasing into the air.

Fabric softeners were invented to hide the unpleasant smells of synthetic fabrics, whose odors tend to become stronger when heated, whether on a sweating, active body or in the dryer. The chemicals in fabric softeners include those meant to eliminate static cling, as well as perfumes to disguise both the other chemicals and the odor of synthetic fabrics.

Alternatives

Fabrics air dried outside on a line do not develop static cling and are more likely to have a natural pleasant smell. If weather or other factors make natural line drying of your clothes an impractical choice, try using more other natural means to eliminate static cling and impart a fresh smell to your laundry.

If possible, install a water softener. You can also eliminate many clothing odors by thoroughly dissolving a cup of baking soda in the water before putting your clothes in the washing machine.

There are several types of dryer ball products on the market. The ones made of rubber may not be the most eco-conscious means of reducing static as these may off-gas. Instead, try the variety made of felted wool. Some natural retailers offer dryer bags, like large tea bags, containing dried lavender. You can also make your own version of these bags by sewing laundry sachets using cotton muslin and filling them with your favorite dried herbs.

Source for Story:

http://www.naturalnews.com/034617_fabric_softeners_toxic_chemicals_laundry.html#ixzz1jB2YEwHo