"Here is what we have confirmed with Dr. Dwyer:
1. There is no paper as we suspected. (The USC team's
paper is in "peer review" and not available.)
2. The USC team used a new "B-mode" imaging technique which
is still undergoing clinical trial for accuracy at the NIH.
3. This B-mode imaging technique has three indicators. The USC
team only studied one; carotid arterial "thickening" or "IMT". (Dr.
Dwyer tells us there will be no reference in their paper to the other two
occlusion indicators; plaque index and velocity ratio.)
4. According to correspondence, Dr. Dwyer and the USC team is
unaware that arteries might get thicker with increased vitamin C intake,
and that this is entirely predicted by theory. (Increased Vitamin C stimulates
collagen production, but this is not well taught or well known in medical
school.)
5. Last year, the same USC research team (Dwyers, et. al) wrote
a paper with the opposite findings. Last year they found that
stress (some would say a vitamin C deficiency) leads to early atherosclerosis
in men (March 1999).
Bottom line: There is no evidence of occlusion, only thickening. "
Part of a press release from the Vitamin C Foundation, March 2000
Global
warming is partly offset by cooling to solar radiation being reflected
back into space by atmospheric particulates from pollution- but particulates
also reduce rainfall.
"New observations with space-borne instruments by Daniel Rosenfeld
of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem showing that
aerosols over land can modify clouds, suppress precipitation and reflect
light is a "huge leap forward" in understanding the
interplay among pollutants, clouds and greenhouse warming, said University
of Colorado Professor Owen B. Toon.."
Americans
getting fatter year on year, exercise more imortant than diet
Inactivity coupled with snacking is the major cause of the American
obesity epidemic, acording to a Cornell University nutrtionist. We might
add that high carbohydrate loads of nutrient stripped idustrial food plays
its part.
31
reported cases of Mad Cow Disease in France in 1999, 5 so far this year
The reliability of assuring BSE (Mad Cow Disease) freedom in herds
is still under question. Swiss results of national herd testing reveal
more cases than thought, including several animals that would otherwise
have gone into the food chain: France is about to embark on indicative
testing on some of it's national herd.
Damaged brain structure predisposes
some men to violence
Damaged frontal cortex has been linked to antisocail and remorsless
behaviour, according to to new study.
http://www.usc.edu/ext-relations/news_service/releases/stories/36042.html
Good
nutrition means a healthy immune system as you age
A study at Penn State reveals that your immune function can be as good
as any middle aged persons if your nutritional status is up to scratch.
http://www.psu.edu/ur/2000/nutritionaging.html
Greens
and meat vital in cancer prevention
Researchers believe between 5 and 10% of people don't eat enough folic
acid and B12 to repair damage to DNA. Damaged DNA is suspected as a cause
for cancers. Green leafy veg are a prime source of folic acid, and meat,
fish, liver, kidney and chicken are good sources of B12.
http://www.csiro.au/page.asp?type=mediaRelease&id=Folatecancer
Macular hole
is the leading cause of blindness in many countries, including the US.
"Lutein is found in dark leafy green vegetables like spinach and kale.
Research concerning lutein has centered around its antioxidant properties.
Lutein can build density of the macular pigment, and higher intake of
lutein from the diet may play a role in reducing the risk
of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD)."
Macular degeneration is on the alarming increase in the West. This
may be related to a pathetic intake of lutein rich green leafy vegetables
amongst the general population. Besides greens, lutein can also be found
in kiwifruit.
Powering
homes and commercial buildings directly from the sun
" Nov. 1, 1999 - A solar cell that can convert sunlight to electricity
at a record-setting 32 percent efficiency has been developed by the
U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL) and (Hughs Corporations subsidiary) Spectrolab...the photovoltaic
cell was measured this month at an efficiency of 32.3% at the laboratory's
Solar Energy Research Facility. The efficiency of a solar cell is
the percentage of sunlight it converts to electricity" So says
the NREL press release. What does it mean?
Until now, the primary market for this type of solar cell has been for
use by satellites. The addition of a low cost germanium substrate to the
conventional "gallium indium phosphide on gallium arsenide" design, plus
inexpensive mirrors to concentrate the sunlight on the cells may
open the door for affordable mass production for use on earth. Whether
the Hughes Electronics and the DOE's collaberation actually bears
affordable fruit remains to be seen. We can only hope its potential is
realized.
Otherwise we may have to look to other energy sources. Such as fermenting
waste parts of plants to make ethanol for fuel.
Biomass
to make ethanol - does it use more energy than it creates?
July 29, 1999 - The 'vision' of Americas Department Of Energy
is "Growing Energy to Power America" - helping develop and grow a
domestic biomass industry to produce not just power, but fuels and chemicals
from crop residues, trees and biological waste.
A stated goal is to make a "ton of biomass"produce the equivalent value of a barrel of imported oil. A bill has been introduced to set aside $300 million over six years for bioenergy research and development. The benefits the bills proponents are touting are-
Nov. 10, 1999 - The USA Department Of Energys (DOE) 'National Renewable
Energy Laboratory' (NREL) has signed an agreement with a Californian
Business - which plans to ferment waste rice straw to produce ethanol -
to license the use of the NREL's patented strains of bacteria. These genetically
engineered organisms (Zymomonas mobilis) ferment not just the 6
carbon sugar glucose, the norm for most 'biocatalysts' as these fermentaion
organisms are known, but also simultaneously ferment 5 carbon sugars. This
added capability expands the amount of biomass that the organism can break
down to ethanol -by 'up to' 40% more, in fact. The pilot production plant
will be based in Sacremento, California.
And as routine use of biomass to make ethanol to power vehicles is
some way off, the rapidly increasing and increasingly unpredictable
price of oil make make us look at the oldest 'motorized tecnology' - steam.
Steam
is back - but clean this time
11 November 1999- "Australian scientists have perfected a new-age combustion
technology, which is poised to clean up greenhouse gas emissions, slash
energy costs and significantly boost productivity." says the media release.
What have the aussies done? Invented a way of 'pulsing' flames with
sound waves to burn fuel highly efficiently, creating high temperatures,
but with low fuel consumption. And best of all, the noxious gas emission
levels are far below the strictest environmental satndards. According to
the researchers, "zero levels of total hydrocarbon (THC) and carbon
monoxide (CO) are attainable."
The current thinking is that it is ideal for industrial boilers and
steel foundries. But it wouldn't take much to harness the concept to new
generation steam locomotives, or, once miniaturised, the old steam bicycle....
Mad
Cow Disease Update
The UK is still slaughtering 2,400 suspected BSE ('bovine spongiforme
encephalitis' - 'mad cow disease') affected cattle a year.
2, 419 BSE positives were diagnosed in the UK cattle herd in 1999.
France has had 21 new cases of affected herds this year.
So far, since BSE was first diagnosed (1986), 175,000 UK cattle have
been identified as affected, and 46 people have died of the human variant
of the disease (vCJD). A diagnostic test (the 'Schmerr' test) is currently
being evaluated in the UK to confirm the initial findings that it can detect
the causal agent ( a 'prion') in the blood of possibly infected animals.
And people. Once infected, it may be decades before the disease expresses
itself and kills its host. There is no cure, so many people may prefer
not to know. There is also a possiblity that millions of children may
have been given vaccinations against common diseases such as polio that
were prepared with serum derived from BSE infected cattle.
France continues to ban British beef, in spite of its own small outbreaks,
and the UK continues to contend that since the banning of feeding meat
and bone meal to cattle, plus removal of brain and spinal tissue from carcases,
British beef is safe.
However, the head of the public enquiry into the outbreak, veterinary
epidemiologist Professor Roger Morris, has recently suggested that either
the amount of infective agent became very large rather quickly around 1981
- which he considers difficult to account for - or the disease started
in the early to mid seventies in small numbers, probably in the dairy herds
of Southwest England.
In the meantime, an examination of 1,009 randomly selected cattle brains has confirmed that New Zealand is free of this supposedly human induced, tragic disease.
USA
can produce superior grass fed beef
- Appalachia is the place to do it. Grass fed beef has no 'hidden fat'
(marbling, to you), has a superior essential omega-3 oil profile as a result
of not being fed grains and soya, and while isn't usually as tender as
grain fed meat, it can be. A challenge for farmers already under challenge
in Appelachia USA. The long term payoff may be worth it.
Blueberry
extract reverse aging related loss of motor co-ordination (balance) - in
rats
A diet enriched with blueberry extract has been shown to some of the
natural loss of balance and co-ordination that comes with aging. And also
improves...um...er...Ah! short term memory! Blueberries have the highest
'oxygen radical absorbance capacity' of any fruit or vegetable tested so
far. Oxygen free radicals are believed to be responsible for some of the
mechanism of aging. It works in rats, but does it work in humans?
Scientists
hypothesises that humans evolved on the Omega 3 rich seashore
Human brains need a lot of a particular form of Omega-3 fatty acids
when they are growing. This is amply supplied in mothers (human,
not bovine) milk. A canadian scientists has forwarded the hypothesis that
the large human brain could not have evolved unless we had access to the
large omega-3 resources of shellfish and other sealine marine resources.
Another particularly good article on this subject appears in 'Nutrition
Science News', March
1999 [file missing as at April 2001]
Genes,
diet, activity, and heart disease
The Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts
University strikes again - some of us have agenetic predispostion to heart
disease that is suppressed by an active lifestyle and a natural diet, but
comes into play with a vengance when we sit on our fat butts in front of
a computer screen. (Ahem!) The "four main components under genetic
control" are-
Press Release from John Hopkins 27 June 1999
For years, physicians have avoided red meat
when designing heart-healthy diets for their patients. Turns out that's
a
bum steer, according to a study published
in the June 28 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
With a grant from the National Cattlemen's
Beef Association, researchers at Johns Hopkins, the Chicago Center
for Clinical Research and the University of
Minnesota Hospital and Clinics put 191 adults with elevated cholesterol
levels on a comprehensive low-fat, low-cholesterol
diet that included lean meat. Patients were randomly assigned
to consume 80 percent of their meat intake
from lean red meats (beef, veal or pork) for five to seven days a week
for nine months, or to eat lean white meats
(fish or poultry) for the same length of time.
At study's end, subjects in both groups had
nearly identical changes in their cholesterol levels. All saw an average
decrease of 1 to 3 percent in low-density
lipoproteins, or "bad cholesterol"; an average increase of 2 percent in
high-density lipoproteins, or "good cholesterol";
and an average decrease of 6 percent in triglycerides, molecules
needed to make fats.
"Chicken and fish traditionally have been considered
healthier than red meat because many cuts of red meat can
have too much saturated fat," says Peter O.
Kwiterovich, M.D., director of The Johns Hopkins University Lipid
Clinic. "Now, lean cuts of red meat are readily
available to consumers. If you follow a heart-healthy diet, it doesn't
make a difference whether you eat red meat
or white meat, as long as you choose lean cuts."
'Organically'
produced meat in the USA may now be labelled 'Organically produced'
In the USA, a Government Department has, until now, been developing
a programme to define the word 'organic', set an official standard for
what practises are 'organic' and what materials may be used on an 'organic'
farm. In the interim, it outlawed the use of the word 'organic' on any
meat product sold in the USA. So while you could buy 'organic' fruit and
vegetables, you could not buy 'organic' meat. Or rather, you could not
buy meat labelled as 'organic'. Not suprisingly, this got right
up the noses of the people going to the time and trouble to produce 'organic'
meat, and especially upset the official arms of the 'organic' movement,
who invented, fostered, and promoted the 'organic' ideal. People who have
historically faced disparagement and dismissal from official channels now
found that their detractors were going to tell them how they must define
their own idea!
In the face of massive backlash from USA citizens, who elect the politicians
who promoted this programme, the government has backed down.
The ban on using the words "certified organic" on the meat packaging
has now been lifted.
There are about 40 public and private certifying agencies which allow
a producer to 'prove' their meat is produced in the organic way, and is
'certified organic'. The 40 or so agencies all have their own idea of what
is and isn't 'organic', but they are all variations on a central theme
of 'safe' organic sprays, no antibiotics, hormones, no 'artificial' chemicals.
No doubt, in time, after almost interminable wrangling, a single standard
will be recognised. This will, of course, take decades, but it is the province
and right of those whose philosophical outlook-because there are large
elements of philosophy and belief in this movement-it is. It is not the
right or province of Government Departments to 'explain' to a movement
what that movement believes in. The USDA plans to still continue to develop
an 'organic programme', but they will have to tread warily.
USDA officials admitted the decision was also driven in part to help
struggling small, family farms. Organic meat receives a premium in the
market, and may be a key strategy to keep the family farm in existance.
With pork prices, in particular, at 1932 levels, many small farmers face
forced sale of the farm unless they can receive better market driven prices.
The 'organic ban' was an astonishing kneecapping of the embattled small
farmer.
There is now a window of opportunity for the 'natural
meat' producers to set clear standards, both within and outside the
USA. At the moment, 'natural meat' production is dominated by only a few
big players, unlike the huge number of players in the 'organic' scene.
If 'natural' meat can be made easily understood, the production methods
transparent, the certification third party and credible, we, the buying
public, would almost certainly give it tremendous support.
Dark cherries,
arthritis, and the eye of a needle
New laboratory assays on sour cherries have established that the anthocyanins
that cause the cherries dark color are as effective "as compounds in commercial
antioxidants". They don't elaborate on which antioxidants these may be.
To take in 12-25 milligrams of anthocyanins, you would need to eat 20 cherries.
The cherry anthocyanins also inhibited certain enzymes reponsible for
inflammation in conditions such as arthritis. The cherry anthocyanins were
"...as good ibuprofen and some of the nonsteriodal anti-inflammatory
drugs," according to the researchers.
Just how many cherries you would need to eat to achieve the same result
as the standard dose of such anti-inflammatories can only be imagined...!
The reaction of the chemists, of course, is to make a pill containing a
standard dose of anthocyanins, rather than eating huge amounts of cherries.
The moral? Eat dark cherries rather than light cherries; and, protect
your health with ALL the compounds in natural food by replacing more and
more of your usual diet with anthocyanin and antioxidant rich unprocessed,
or minimally processed, natural food. We are all under stress, and need
additional antioxidants. But we need to eat naturally for greatest benefits,
as well as supplement with pills. And those school cherry
burgers are great for your children's health!
Vitamin E Vindicated-it's
officially official, nearly 40 years on
Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center have for
the first time 'conclusively' demonstrated that vitamin E confers potent
protection from cardiovascular disease.
The scientists gave mice genetically manipulated to develop atherosclerosis
doses of vitamin E for 4 months. When the cardiovascular tissue of the
mice receiving the vitamin E was compared to the tissues of those that
didn't receive it, a 40% reduction in damage was found in the vitamin treated
group. The researchers were also able to demonstrate that the reduced damage
was due to the antioxidant action of vitamin E, and not due to any effect
on blood cholesterol levels. This evidence is strongly suggestive that
antioxidants-or lack of them in the standard western diet-have a pivotal
role in the developement of heart disease. Well, in 1960 Dr.Evan Shute
was pointing to studies done as long ago as 1946 that showed that vitamin
E was "of value in cardiovascular disease". His statements were labelled
as "wild claims". Perhaps cardiovascular disease will now be recognised
as one of the symptoms of vitamin E deficiency, in the same way that bleeding
gums can be a symptom of scurvy?
TO ALL OUR READERS-IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER-We
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but the information in this newsletter should be looked at critically,
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