Markedly higher vitamin D intake needed to reduce cancer risk, researchers say

Researchers have reported that markedly higher intake of vitamin D is needed to reach blood levels that can prevent or markedly cut the incidence of breast cancer and several other major diseases than had been originally thought.

Vitamin supplements could save children from measles and diarrhea deaths

(NaturalNews) According to UNICEF, about two million children die each year from diarrhea. And according to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 200,000 people — mostly children — also die annually from measles. But there’s an effective way to reduce childhood sickness and death from these diseases. A new study by Cochrane researchers strongly endorses the promotion and use of vitamin A supplements, based on an extensive review of research that shows the vitamin slashes the incidence of measles and diarrhea and ultimately saves lives. The researchers pointed out that vitamin A deficiency is commonly found among people in low and middle income countries. The result can be impaired body functions, an increased risk of blindness, infections and premature death. WHO currently recommends vitamin A supplements for pregnant mothers and children. However, according to the new study, which was just published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews , critics of vitamin A supplementation programs have argued that the use of the vitamin isn’t effective in developing countries. But the new review, which investigated 43 trials involving 15,633 children between six months and five years of age, shows the vitamin is clearly a lifesaver. In all, giving vitamin A capsules reduced the risk of death from any cause by 24% compared to placebos or usual medical treatment without vitamin A. Bottom line: this equates to saving the lives of almost a million vitamin A deficient children each year. The review found that much of the benefit of vitamin A supplementation in developing countries appears to be related to the prevention of measles and diarrhea. “Giving vitamin A is associated with a reduction in the incidence of diarrhea and measles, as well as the number of child deaths due to these diseases,” Zulfiqar Bhutta, Chairman of the Division of Women and Child Health at Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan and the senior reviewer of the project, said in a statement to the media. “However, the effects of supplementation on disease pathways are not well understood, so this could be a focus for further studies.” The researchers strongly recommend continuing vitamin A supplementation programs in children under five. However, they noted this is not a permanent solution to the problem of vitamin A deficiency. “Fortification, dietary diversification, food distribution programs and horticultural developments such as home gardening and bio-fortification may provide more permanent relief,” said Bhutta. “For example, vitamin A content could be increased in staples such as rice or growers may aim to promote use of biofortified foods such as orange sweet potato.” For more information: http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/14651858.CD008524.pub2

Vitamin supplements reduce deaths caused by measles and diarrhea, study finds

Vitamin A supplements are still an effective way to reduce childhood death and disease. A new study strongly endorses the continuation of vitamin A supplementation programs, which reduce the incidence of measles and diarrhea and ultimately save lives.

Synthetic HRT linked once again to causing breast cancer

(NaturalNews) A Canadian Cancer Society study has discovered what many other studies from around the world have found: that synthetic hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drugs increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer. Researchers observed that among women who had stopped taking HRT drugs, there was a 10 percent decrease in breast cancer compared to women still taking the drugs. “The drop in breast cancer incidence was fairly significant,” said Prithwish De, an epidemiologist with the Canadian Cancer Society, and author of the study. “We saw a 10 percent drop in the incidence rate of breast cancer from 296 per 100,000 women to about 278 per 100,000.” In 2002, a large Women’s Health Initiative clinical trial in the U.S. revealed not only that HRT drugs increase women’s risk of breast cancer, but they can also cause heart attack, stroke and blood clots in the lungs. The results of this study led to a more than 60 percent drop in the number of women willing to take HRT drugs. Another U.S. study published in 2007 found that in 2003, the year after millions of American women stopped taking HRT drugs due to the findings about their harm, breast cancer rates dropped significantly. However, the new study is the first of its kind in Canada to have come to this same conclusion. “It certainly gives a Canadian perspective to the growing international evidence around the association between breast cancer incidence and HRT,” said De. “It also supports the Canadian Cancer Society position (that) women should avoid using HRT for any reason other than managing severe menopausal symptoms.” Bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, on the other hand, was not included in the study. Millions of women successfully use bio-identicals instead of synthetics to treat post-menopausal symptoms because they are safer and more natural. Sources for this story include: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Health/20100924/Breast-Cancer-Study-100924/

Moms can reduce risk of eczema in their babies by taking probiotics

(NaturalNews) About 20 percent of babies and toddlers have the condition known as eczema which causes red, swollen and intensely itchy skin. It usually develops on the forehead, cheeks, and scalp, but it can spread to the arms, legs, chest and other parts of the body. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 65 percent of eczema cases develop in the first year of life and 90 percent develop symptoms before the age of five. While many babies with eczema get better before they are two, others have cases of eczema that persist into adulthood. Evidence has accumulated over the past decade that this common skin problem is connected to something going on in the gut — and that probiotics, beneficial microorganisms similar to the “friendly” bacteria found naturally in the body’s digestive system, can help. For example, a review of 21 studies, published last year in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology , concluded probiotics were most useful in preventing atopic dermatitis, the most common type of eczema, from developing in the first place. And a groundbreaking new study, just published in the British Journal of Dermatology , found that when moms drank a probiotic supplement during their pregnancy and after their babies were born, the rate of eczema in their offspring was slashed by about half. This research, conducted by researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), is especially convincing because it was a randomized, double-blind study comparing mothers who drank one glass of probiotic milk daily to women who drank milk containing a placebo. The research subjects drank the probiotic or placebo-laced milk beginning at week 36 in their pregnancy and continued consuming the drinks for three months after giving birth. The results were dramatic: the women who received the probiotic drink reduced the incidence of eczema by 40 percent in their offspring. “The taste of both products was similar, and the milk was delivered in unmarked milk cartons. This means that neither the participants in the study nor the researchers knew who had received probiotic milk or placebo milk,” NTNU scientist Torbjorn Oien said in a statement to the press. “We can therefore say with great certainty that it was the probiotic bacteria alone that caused the difference in the incidence of eczema between the two groups.” In fact, although earlier studies have provided evidence that ingestion of some probiotics by children may prevent eczema, this is the first study to show that probiotics given to mothers during pregnancy and breast-feeding prevents eczema. As NaturalNews has previously reported, probiotics in dietary supplements or in food such as yogurt, have also been found to be useful and safe in treating antibiotic-associated diarrhea children (http://www.naturalnews.com/026037_Chi_alternative_therapies_health.html). For more information: http://www.ntnu.edu/probiotic-use-in-pregnancy http://www.naturalnews.com/probiotics.html http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/762045-overview

Lactose Intolerance Rates May Be Significantly Lower Than Previously Believed

Prevalence of lactose intolerance may be far lower than previously estimated, according to a new study. These new findings indicate that previous estimates of lactose intolerance incidence — based on the incidence of lactose maldigestion — may be overestimated by wide margins.