Big doses of vitamin C may lower blood pressure

Taking large doses of vitamin C may moderately reduce blood pressure, according to an analysis of years of research. But the researchers stopped short of suggesting people load up on supplements.

Parasitic fly creates "zombie bees" — a new factor explaining Colony Collapse Disorder

Researchers at a California university have found a parasitic fly which causes honeybees to become disoriented and abandon their hives before dying, behavior which made one of the researchers compare them to zombies. Scientists believe this may be a contributing factor…

New study reveals expensive MRIs pushed on women for breast cancer screening have no medical benefit

(NaturalNews) The use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, better known simply as MRI, for breast cancer screening is increasing and so is its use in guiding breast surgery when cancer is discovered. Obviously, that means healthcare costs are soaring, too, as more and more women are advised to get MRIs in addition to mammograms. The push started in 2007. At that time, the New York Times reported a breast MRI cost $1,000 to $2,000, and sometimes more — at least 10 times the cost of mammography. So for every million breast MRIs performed each year, healthcare costs spike by at least a billion dollars. Sometimes, but not always, these test are covered by Medicare and insurance. Of course, despite this enormous cost, the only reason doctors and medical centers would be urging women to have these expensive tests is because there must be convincing proof breast MRIs are excellent for spotting breast cancer and/or for directing cancer therapy. But this is not true. Although it may be hard to believe, here comes the shocking truth, as just reported in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet . Monica Morrow from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, and colleagues meticulously reviewed research from the past decade to examine the belief that breast MRIs are effective at finding and treating breast cancer. What they found was just the opposite. There is little to no evidence breast MRIs benefit the vast majority of women. In fact, there’s not even evidence showing breast MRIs are particularly effective at helping direct breast-conserving surgery. Selling women on breast MRIs with no proof the tests increase survival The new study did indicate breast MRI can be valuable in screening women at very high risk for breast cancer due to their genetic heritage. However, let’s take a closer look at that finding. According to a media statement, the researchers noted that while a breast MRI can identify tumors missed by mammograms and ultrasound in women at risk of breast cancer due to a known gene mutation or their family history, “little is known about whether or not this improved detection has any impact on survival.” “MRI has, over recent years, been widely adopted into clinical practice based on the assumption that its increased sensitivity at detecting cancer will improve outcomes for patients,” the authors noted in a media release. Bottom line: they found there’s no actual evidence having a breast MRI that spots cancer in a high risk woman means they will live any longer than they would have if they’d never had the test. According to the research team, that fact that breast MRIs produce more sensitive images does not translate into better surgical treatment or prognoses when used to evaluate women before surgery, either. “The available data does not support the idea that MRI improves patient selection for breast-conserving surgery or that it increases the likelihood of obtaining negative margins [no cancer cells found in margins of resection] at the initial surgical excision,” they wrote. Sources for this article include: http://www.thelancet.com/ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/health/28mri.html

In ‘universal’ flu shot push, medical industry admits current flu shots are useless

(NaturalNews) The medical community is in the process of unveiling a “universal” influenza vaccine that it claims will prevent all flu strains with a single jab. The only problem is that, in the process, the system has inadvertently admitted that current flu shots are medically useless because they fail to target the correct flu strain in many cases, and they do not stimulate a natural flu-fighting immune response even when the strain is a match. A recent report by CBS 11 News in Dallas / Fort Worth explains that researchers from the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas have identified a compound they say spurs the growth of a key protein known as REDD-1, which prevents cells from becoming infected. By injecting this compound into patients, REDD-1 will increase, say the researchers, and thus effectively prevent any strain of flu from taking hold. But what about current flu vaccines? Dr. Beatrice Fontoura, one of the head researchers involved with the new universal flu shot, explained to CBS 11 that it works differently than current flu shots because it “stimulates our own (immune) response which is already there and boost[s] it to fight an infection.” In other words, flu shots being sold today at pharmacies across the country do not actually promote natural immunity at all, which begs an important question. If current flu shots do not boost the immune response, then what, exactly, are they good for? Not much, according to a recent study published in The Lancet . Though the mainstream media widely reported that the study’s findings showed an effectiveness rate of 60 percent for flu shots, actual data in the study reveal that flu shots help about 1.5 out of every 100 adults. This, of course, translates into a measly 1.5 percent effectiveness rate (http://www.naturalnews.com/033998_influenza_vaccines_effectiveness.html). And yet, for years, medical professionals everywhere have been hounding the public to get their flu shots or else face horrific sickness and even death. And those who continue to avoid the flu shot based on concerns about its safety and effectiveness have been routinely dubbed “anti-science,” or worse. Ironically, the CBS 11 piece about the universal flu shot also contains an interview with a woman who admits that she stopped getting the flu shot because it made her sick every single year. Once she stopped getting flu shots, she stopped getting the flu . So why, again, do we even need a universal flu shot? Sources for this article include: http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/11/04/north-texas-researchers-creating-ultimate-flu-shot/

Truth comes out: 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic ‘deaths’ of children were actually caused by MRSA

(NaturalNews) Remember two years ago when every news show featured hysterical reports about the so-called H1N1 pandemic and how the supposed killer flu was striking down healthy kids? True, many previously healthy children became critically ill, developing severe pneumonia and respiratory failure. And some tragically died after being diagnosed with H1N1. But was that really the accurate explanation of what caused their death? According to the largest nationwide investigation to date of the flu in children who became critically ill, scientists from Children’s Hospital Boston have found another reason to explain the severity of the youngsters illness. It turns out that it most likely wasn’t H1N1 alone that caused healthy children to become so ill many died. Instead, these kids were unknowingly infected with something else. That additional infection, the superbug known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) , spiked the risk for flu-related deaths 8-fold in children who were otherwise believed to be totally healthy before they became ill. Almost all of these children who were found to be infected with the superbug were immediately treated with vancomycin, considered to be best treatment for MRSA. Yet they died despite being administered this powerful antibiotic and their deaths were blamed on the flu . But the new research suggests it was the MRSA that played a huge role in killing these children. “There’s more risk for MRSA to become invasive in the presence of flu or other viruses,” study leader Adrienne Randolph, MD, MsC, of the Division of Critical Care Medicine at Children’s Hospital Boston. Said in a statement to the media. “These deaths in co-infected children are a warning sign.” He added this is especially alarming given the rising rates of MRSA infections being carried widely among children. “It is not common in the U.S. to lose a previously healthy child to pneumonia,” Randolph said. “Unfortunately, these children had necrotizing pneumonia eating away at their tissue and killing off whole areas of the lung. They looked like immunocompromised patients in the way MRSA went through their body. It’s not that flu alone can’t kill – it can – but in most cases children with flu alone survived.” MRSA risk continues to spread Sixty percent of the youngsters investigated for the new study already had sometimes serious health problems before contracting the flu. But of the 251 children (30 percent) previously healthy children included in the research, the only risk factor that was identified which likely contributed to their increased risk of dying was a diagnosis of a MRSA infection in the lung. The researchers expressed surprise that the antibiotic used to treat the MRSA-infected children didn’t work and suggested the drug couldn’t penetrate the lungs or the disease moved too rapidly. Recent studies have shown a worrisome rise in the number of youngsters who are carriers of MRSA. A 2010 study published in Pediatrics found that the number of children hospitalized for MRSA infections increased from 2 in 1,000 admissions in 1999 to 21 in 1,000 admissions by 2008. The cause appears to be the never-ending and growing use of antibiotics in people and animals. “The more antibiotics we take, the more we colonize ourselves with antibiotic-resistant organisms such as MRSA,” Randolph noted. Curiously, the researchers are not emphasizing going after the cause and spread of MRSA infections as much as they are using their findings to push for flu shots. Their study, just published in the journal Pediatrics , promotes flu vaccination among all children aged 6 months and older. Sources for this article include: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/current http://www.childrenshospital.org/newsroom/Site1339/mainpageS1339P1.html

Half of all hospital rooms contaminated with deadly superbugs

(NaturalNews) Many people still assume that hospitals are generally clean, sanitized places where harmful pathogens would have a difficult time surviving. But a new study published in the American Journal of Infection Control says otherwise, having found that nearly half of all hospital rooms tested were contaminated with a deadly, drug-resistant superbug known as Acinetobacter baumannii (MDR-AB). For their study, researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine tested bed rails, tables, supply carts, door knobs, nurse call buttons, infusion pumps, various equipment touch pads, and floors for the bacteria. They found that in 48 percent of rooms tested, nearly 10 percent of surface samples contained MDR-AB. Leading the pack were cart handles, which were found to be contaminated 20 percent of the time. Floors around hospital beds were second, representing a 16 percent contamination rate. Following these were infusion pumps at 14 percent, ventilator touch pads at 11.4 percent, and bed rails at just over ten percent. “For patients with MDR-AB, the surrounding environment is frequently contaminated, even among patients with a remote history of MDR-AB,” said the researchers in their journal release. “In addition, surfaces often touched by health care workers during routine patient care are commonly contaminated and may be a source of (hospital-based) transmission. The results of this study are consistent with studies of other important hospital pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus and Clostridium difficile .” Because MDR-AB infections typically only take hold in people who are already ill or who have weakened immune systems, those admitted to hospitals have the highest risk of infection. In fact, a 2010 study published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine found that 48,000 hospital patients die every year from infection with hospital superbugs (http://www.naturalnews.com/028441_superbugs_infections.html). But the solution is not to pump more drugs into patients with the hopes that they will somehow gain better protection from infection. On the contrary, boosting a patients immune systems naturally through improved nutrition and superfoods, for instance, is one way to help them stave off deadly infection. Another way is to disinfect hospitals naturally with things like copper solution, which has been shown to kill 97 percent of hospital superbugs, rather than conventional chemical solutions that are only increasing the prevalence and severity of existing superbugs (http://www.naturalnews.com/033398_superbugs_copper.html). Sources for this article include: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/boomer-health/articles/2011/11/02/hospital-rooms-crawling-with-drug-resistant-germs-study

Flu shots often result in delayed side effects and long-term injury

(NaturalNews) You may have seen recent articles on how different retail outlets and pharmacies are pushing in-house flu shots. Maybe you’ve experienced the push yourself. Lately, even more reasons have been discovered for avoiding flu shots. Getting a flu shot is fraught with health risks. Delayed vaccine injury You may think occasional cases of paralysis or a lifetimes of seizures after flu shots are too rare to consider flu shots hazardous. But let’s focus on delayed reactions and long term health downturns, you know, the kind of adverse reactions vaccine pushers easily dismiss. Flu vaccines can’t even guarantee protection, because they may not have the right viral strain for that year’s flu bug. Yet there are those who have bragged about how their annual flu shots left them flu free every year. One wonders how many of them will soon be getting familiar first hand with Alzheimer’s disease. Recently, Dr. Hugh Fudenberg, a world renowned immunogeneticist announced that you have a ten-fold increased chance of Alzheimer’s after receiving five flu shots. That’s ten times more likely than no flu shots or one, not ten percent more likely. Dr. Fudenberg did his study covering the years 1970 through 1980. He and other researchers consider this increased risk of Alzheimer’s has resulted from the combination of mercury (thimerosal) and aluminum that builds up over time in the brain. Interestingly, Alzheimer’s has been on a steep rise over the last few decades, coinciding with the advent and increased promotion of flu shots for senior citizens. A 1998 John Hopkins newsletter predicted a quadrupling of Alzheimer’s cases over the next decade. Flu vaccines clear and present danger According to the CDC, “The following substances are found in vaccines: aluminum,(brain toxin) antibiotics, egg protein, formaldehyde (now listed as carcinogenic), MSG or monosodium glutamate (a known neurotoxin),and thimerosal(neurotoxic mercury).” Not all of these additives are used in all vaccines all the time, but many flu vaccines do contain most of them most of the time. Some flu vaccines contain other toxins not mentioned, such as Triton X 100, a detergent. Neurosurgeon/author Dr. Russell Blaylock says that many attenuated (weakened) viruses in flu shots remain in the body, mutating to possibly turning virulent. The nasal spray flu vaccines for kids contain live viruses. There have been many vaccine injury reports for the H1N1(swine flu) shots. Recently, Finland agreed to pick up the lifelong medical tabs for treating several children with narcolepsy, characterized by uncontrollably falling asleep at any time. Their cases were conclusively linked to their swine flu shots. Just in case you’re thinking the swine flu shot is the only dangerous flu shot out there, remember the Washington Redskin cheerleader Desiree Jennings from a couple of years ago? Desiree’s words (with author’s emphasis) that she wrote defending the authenticity of her condition against claims her condition was psychogenic (in her head): “On August 23, 2009, I received a seasonal flu vaccine at a local grocery store that drastically, and potentially irreversibly, altered my future. In a matter of a few short weeks I lost the ability to walk, talk normally, and focus on more than one stimuli at a time.” Her drastic Dystonia (uncontrollable muscle spasms) condition from vaccine toxicity was confirmed by John Hopkins and another hospital. She was eventually cured by Dr. Rashid Buttar, who used chelation and orthomolecular (massive supplementation) medicines to nurse her back to health after some months. Her case got lots of media attention and slanderous attacks from vaccine advocates. But hers wasn’t the only flu vaccine injury. There are much better ways to stay healthy during flu seasons. Natural News covers them all. Sources for this article include http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/additives.htm http://preventdisease.com/news/11/101111_Flu-Vaccine-Ingredients-As-Lethal-As-Ever-Dont-Risk-Your-Health.shtml http://healthfreedoms.org/2011/10/10/flu-shots-have-more-than-250x-epa-mercury-safety-limit/ Interview of Dr, Battar RE Desiree Jennings (the comments section was invaded by quackbuster type vaccine shill trolls, they were really desperate!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL0VJ7F34Hk

Chocolate and cocoa polyphenols vindicated in the war against heart disease

(NaturalNews) Researchers from the University of Cambridge in England have finally published solid evidence to demonstrate the consumption of chocolate is associated with improved heart and vascular health. Writing in the prestigious BMJ (British Medical Journal) , Dr. Oscar Franco and his team determined several factors including diet, exercise, body weight control and lifestyle changes could help reduce the risk of heart disease, a condition expected to claim the lives of nearly 24 million people worldwide by the year 2030. The study authors found that the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of cocoa from chocolate consumption could reduce heart disease risk by one-third and could also reduce the risk of sudden death from a heart attack and stroke incidence. The study included an analysis of seven detailed research bodies that included more than 114,000 participants. All studies independently pointed to the conclusion that different levels of chocolate consumption were associated with a substantial reduction in the risk of cardio-metabolic disorders. Researchers found that the flavonoids passed to chocolate from the cocoa bean have a positive impact on health and were found to regulate insulin sensitivity and maintain blood pressure in the normal range. Researchers ranked chocolate consumption among participants in the seven studies from highest to lowest to determine the effect of the cocoa flavanols on human health risk factors. Five of the seven studies showed that eating the highest amount of chocolate significantly reduced the number of cardiac events. In particular they found those who ate the most chocolate had a 37% lower risk of having a cardiovascular incident compared to those who ate the least. When assessing other risk factors, the study authors found that the highest chocolate consumers had a 29% lower incidence of stroke compared to the lowest chocolate eaters. Interestingly the researchers found that high levels of chocolate consumption specifically lowered the risk of a cardiac or stroke event but did not impact heart failure, another very serious form of heart disease and death. The studies examined did not differentiate between milk and dark chocolate, and included chocolate desserts, biscuits, chocolate bars and drinks. Prior research has indicated maximum benefit from eating dark, bitter chocolate with a high cocoa content. The authors did provide a word of caution regarding excess consumption of chocolate particularly because commercially available chocolate is very caloric and eating too much of it could in itself lead to weight gain, risk of diabetes and heart disease. They concluded, “Based on observational evidence, levels of chocolate consumption seem to be associated with a substantial reduction in the risk of cardio-metabolic disorders.” Individuals looking to take advantage of the health benefits of chocolate may want to use a cacao bean extract supplement (25 to 50 mg per day) to reap the cardiovascular and stroke risk reduction benefits. Article References: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-08/esoc-io082811.php http://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d4488 http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Systematic-review-Chocolate-can-reduce-heart-disease-risk-by-a-third/ http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/233486.php

Want to prevent diabetes? Take more omega-3, says new research

(NaturalNews) Consuming omega-3 fatty acids may help lower your risk of diabetes, according to two recent studies. The studies, one based in the US, the other in Singapore, found adults with higher levels of omega-3 fats were less likely to develop diabetes. Researchers suggest people avoid interpreting the study as evidence of omega-3′s as a “magic bullet” health solution. They note that omega-3 fats may only be markers for some other dietary or lifestyle aspect which helps protect against the diabetes. Rather than stocking up on fish oil tablets, they suggest a better way to avoid this disease is a diet based on whole foods. “Approaching your dietary intake with this ‘big picture’ approach should take care of the small things, like essential nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids,” notes Andrew Odegaard of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, one of the researchers on the Singapore study. Although previous lab research has suggested that omega-3s, especially alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) , may enhance body cells’ sensitivity to insulin (the hormone which regulates blood sugar), this link has not been conclusively proven. It may be that people who consume a lot of ALA — found in flaxseeds and soy, as well as other plant sources– also have overall better health habits, including regular exercise. Neither of the 2 recent studies found a link between fish-derived omega-3′s and lowered diabetes risk. Researchers speculate this may because people do not always consume fish as part of a healthy meal. For example, the omega-3 benefits of fish may be cancelled out if it is deep-fried, slathered with tartar sauce, and eaten with a side of French fries. Natural News applauds Dr. Odegaard’s emphasis on a holistic approach to avoiding diabetes rather than stressing the use of fish oil supplements. The Many other soft-gel nutritional supplements, contain hydrogenated oils as fillers. Hydrogenated oils have been linked in many studies cardiovascular disease and heart attacks. These oils also interfere with the absorption of essential fatty acids, so that, like that fried fish dinner, these kind of fish oil supplements may at best negate any omega-3 benefits, and at worst increase your health risks. Unfortunately, less expensive vitamins are especially likely to contain filler, adding to the already high health burden of lower income people. Many vitamin companies are owned entirely or in part by Big Pharma companies. Natural Health strongly urge our readers to obtain as much nutrition as possible from whole food sources and to research carefully any vitamin company whose products you buy. Sources for this article include: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/03/us-omega-3-diabetes-idUSTRE7526MS20110603 http://www.naturalnews.com/012427_hydrogenated_oils_nutritional_supplements.html

Expensive, risky surgery for periphery artery disease pushed by doctors who ignore better alternatives

(NaturalNews) Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a slow and progressive circulation disorder most often affecting arteries in the legs. Atherosclerosis, the same plaques of fat, calcium and other related gunk that clogs up arteries and cause heart attacks usually cause it. If you have PAD of the legs, you know it can be a miserable condition, causing pain and numbness. You might think the study just announced at the 2011 American Roentgen Ray Society’s annual meeting of radiologists, currently underway in Chicago, is reason to rejoice. After all, the researchers found that a large growth in screening for PAD has resulted in many more surgical procedures, especially angioplasty (which pushes open the plaques using catheters carrying tiny balloons and is often used in conjunction with stents to keep the arteries propped open) to treat the condition. So if PAD is being diagnosed and treated, that must mean progress in treating the disease is being made, right? That’s the first impression you might get from a quick look at the new study. But here’s a breaking research story that shows the importance of looking – really looking – at all the facts and not relying on mainstream media’s shallow coverage or someone simply rewriting a press release. The basic facts: the study was performed at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, Rhonde Island, where researchers studied data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Physician/Supplier Procedure Summary Master files over an eight year span from 2000 – 2007. The researchers found that PAD screening has increased dramatically, particularly among cardiologists. Not surprisingly, with more and more PAD being diagnosed, vascular surgery for PAD has skyrocketed. Because PAD often goes hand-in-hand with coronary and carotid arterial disease and carries the risk of arteries becoming totally stopped up (occluded) and possibly resulting in eventual limb amputation, recognizing PAD and having vascular surgery performed to open up arteries would seem to make sense. But let’s take a closer look at the issue. Vascular surgical approaches to PAD are not only expensive; they come with a host of potential dangers including the risk of stroke-causing blood clots. And the bottom line is this: the researchers themselves admitted there is no good evidence that the increase in vascular procedures such as angioplasty and stenting work any better than natural lifestyle changes. That’s right. Despite all the pain PAD causes, all the expensive and potentially dangerous treatments that are increasingly being performed as supposedly necessary therapies in order to open up blocked arteries — plain old exercise and healthy diet can accomplish the same results. In fact, as NaturalNews has previously reported (http://www.naturalnews.com/025129_exercise_blood_pain.html), University of Missouri scientists have found that exercise causes the collateral blood vessels to become larger and less likely to contract. That’s important because vascular constriction is known to be a problem with PAD. Exercise also makes blood vessels downstream from the blockage become healthier and more efficient. “There has been a marked increase in volume of non-invasive physiologic testing, particularly within cardiology, a self-referring specialty, and this has been associated with tremendous growth in endovascular therapy for peripheral arterial disease,” Tyler Harris, MD, lead author of the study, said in a statement to the media. “However, non-invasive therapies such as supervised exercise programs have shown equivalent outcomes versus stenting and angioplasty in this population across multiple trials.” He concluded that the growth of the surgical treatments of PAD has occurred “… in the absence of any major advance in the understanding of morbidity and mortality of peripheral arterial disease.” Simply put, countless people are being subjected to expensive surgical interventions for PAD and yet the medical community doesn’t even have a clear picture of the disease that’s being treated. For more information: http://www.arrs.org/Education/Meetings/AN11/index.aspx

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