Every Now and Then It Really feels Good...

...to hear that (albeit slowly) establishment medicine is hearing and speaking what I've been talking about for ten years now.
In the book, Building Bone Vitality released this May, Amy J. Lanou, Ph.D and Michael Castleman say,

"Calcium pills don't work. Dairy products don't strengthen bones. Drugs may be dangerous." The answer is balance."

Oh yes. Thank you. and for my 'take' on this, click here and download my white paper "Is a 20 Minute Read Worth Five Years of Life?"

Salads get a pasting.

'Which" is a UK magazine rather like the Australian Choice mag. It looks at whether consumer goods measure up to their health cliams.

Which? has found that the average pre-prepared salad sold in UK supermarkets is almost as loaded with calories and fat as a burger – largely because of their dressings.

Health-conscious office-workers may plump for salads over sandwiches, which are perceived to be more calorific. But the survey of 20 pre-prepared salads in the UK found the average had 412 calories and 20.3 fat.

By contrast, a Big Mac has 490 calories and 24 grams of fat.

"Many of the salads we looked at were surprisingly high in calories and fat,” said editor Martyn Hocking. “Mainly this was because they had mayonnaise or creamy sauces. The ingredient lists showed these were often added generously."

Which brings me to my latest visit to the Golden Arches.
I admit it: if I'm on the road in a strange town and I feel like a coffee, the McCafe concept gets me a good cup of 'Joe' to the same standard every time. And having drunk Joe, I leave.

However last time I noticed their latest 'health' product. Slices of apple! Oh! What a lovely idea! Good fresh fruit! ...in a sealed prepacked plastic bag... Does this mean they don't even trust their staff to cut up an apple?

Good News For Drinkers

As you know, I am a fan of the Mediterranean diet - ever since I spent time in Crete as a 20-something adventurer. It seems to be a constant in a changing sea of diets, but what was never clear was what in the Mediterranean diet was the driving force for health and longevity. The fish perhaps, with its wonderful omega 3's? Or was it the greens, with the alkalizing effect, antioxidants and phytonutrients?

Nope. it's the booze.
Here's the report from the British medical journal, but here's the summary.

Researchers at Harvard and Athens University studied the lives and diets of no less than 20,000 Greek men and women over eight years.

They assessed participants’ adherence to nine components of the Mediterranean diet. They found that overall, people who adhered more closely to the diet were less likely to die during the study. They also parsed the data to see which elements of the diet were most strongly associated with this benefit. Here, in descending order of importance, are the keys:

• A moderate amount of alcohol (usually wine)
• A small amount of meat
• Lots of vegetables
• Lots of fruits and nuts
• A high ratio of monounsaturated to saturated fats
• Lots of legumes

How much grain, dairy products people ate didn’t seem to make much difference in terms of mortality. The authors suggested that this might be because grains and dairy products are broad categories of foods, where different products can have different health effects (skim milk versus ice cream, for example). Fish consumption also didn’t seem to have much of an effect — perhaps because fish plays a small part in the diet of the population included in the studies, which could make its health effects difficult to detect, the authors wrote.

Hallelujah!

Green Tea and Prostate Cancer

I've been hearing talk about the benefits of green tea for some time. Now there's results. It may well decrease levels of compounds linked to this male cancer. However don't get too excited.. the study was of just 26 men and the green tea was in a concentrated form. Here's the facts.

A concentrated extract consumed daily for an average of 34 days was associated with significant reductions in the blood levels of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and prostate specific antigen (PSA), say the new results from Louisiana State University (LSU).

Grey hair and Cancer

Here's one more completely useless facts brought to you by the team of scientists at Tokyo Medical and Dental University. New Scientist reports:

The processes that produce grey hair are now better understood and could be protecting us from cancer.

Cells called melanocytes produce the pigments that colour hair and their numbers are kept topped up by stem cells. Hair goes grey when the number of stem cells in hair follicles declines. Now Emi Nishimura of Tokyo Medical and Dental University in Japan and colleagues have found what causes this decline in mice.

When the researchers exposed mice to radiation and chemicals that harm DNA, damaged stem cells transformed permanently into melanocytes. This ultimately led to fewer melanocytes, as it meant there were fewer stem cells capable of topping up the melanocyte pool. The mice also went grey (Cell, vol 137, p 1088). Nishimura's team proposes that the same process leads to the reduction in stem cells in the follicles of older people, especially as DNA damage accumulates as we age.

Kidney Stones

I just finished reading a blog from Dr Joe Mercola about kidney stones. He says the out-and-out right way to avert them is to drink lots of water!

Coincidentally, I had a visit from Ken Smith, our NZ associate, who had recently experienced a kidney stone, and he passed on an amazing method of handling them.
First, should point out a few small points.
1. The male urethra is 1mm in circumference.
2. Kidney stones are very often larger than 1mm.
3. Passing items larger than 1mm can be very very painful!
4. laser stone breakup is not as popular now they have realised that stones 'smashed' by non-invasive laser may pass through said 1mm urethra in a jagged form.
5. Ouch!

So when Ken told me this folk remedy apparently (he said) recommended by doctors, I pricked up my ears.

Kids, don't try this at home.

1. No Breakfast
2. At 11am begin drinking 7 cans of flat Coke. Continue until 1pm.
3. Eat 2 cans of asparagus spears.

Apparently the Coke breaks up the stone and the alkaline asparagus restores balance.

Hmm. Anyone heard of this one?

Save BIG

Until the end of this month you can create and enjoy your own a complete healthy lifestyle kitchen for far, far less.

I've instructed the team to give deep discounts on the amazing lotus sanitizer, winner of the Time Magazine Invention of the Year, and allround food and home sanitizer - when purchased with the deep discounted AlkaWay Water ionizer or Juicer.

We have a limited number of these in stock so if you're after a big bargain, check it out! We're talking:

$99 saving on the lotus Sanitizer,
$200 saving on the Angelia Juicer
$125 saving on the AlkaWay juicer and
$200 saving on the mighty Alphion water alkalizer
Go here to learn more

Vinegar and Fat

Ordinary vinegar – acetic acid – may prevent the build up of fat, and therefore weight gain, according to results of a study with mice from Japan.

Animals fed a high-fat diet and supplemented with acetic acid developed about 10 per cent less body fat than mice just eating the diet, according to findings published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

If the results can be repeated in further studies, particularly in human studies, it could see vinegar establish itself in the burgeoning weight management category.

Tomoo Kondo from the Central Research Institute of the Mizkan Group Corporation, found that vinegar was working at a genetic level, by influencing genes linked to fatty acid oxidation and heat-generating (energy burning) proteins.

“We intend to perform further clinical studies to confirm fat pad reduction and energy consumption enhancement by vinegar intake. Moreover, we will investigate the effect of acetic acid on fatty oxidative activation in other organs, particularly skeletal muscles,” wrote the researchers.

This is not the first time vinegar has been linked to weight control. In 2005 scientists from Lund University reported that increasing intake of the common flavouring could help dieters eat less and reduce cravings brought on by sugar peaks after meals (European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 59, pp 983-988).

HOME: an amazing video. Note; over an hour and a half long, and needs good download speed

Find it here.
There's no doubt we are living in exceptional times. Scientists tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth's climate. The stakes are obviously high for every single human that breathes oxygen, not to mention our uncomplaining fellow creatures.

HOME has, I read, been conceived to take a message of mobilization out to every human being. It's non-profit and corporate supported; a worthy project of awakening. I hope you have the download speed to watch it.

Shampoo or Coconut Oil?

As you know, we are lucky enough to distribute the world's best coconut oil from Tropical Traditions. I recently heard from Brian at TT about a study on the effectiveness of coco oil for hair health. Here's what Brian has to say;

"Coconut oil has been used for hair treatment in coconut producing countries such as India and the Philippines for thousands of years. Studies in India have been done on how effective various oils are on treating damaged hair. The study compared mineral oil, sunflower oil, and coconut oil because these were the three most commonly used oils in hair treatment products used in India. The aim of this study was to cover different treatments, and the effect of these treatments on various hair types using these three oils. The number of experiments to be conducted was a very high number, and a technique termed as the "Taguchi Design of Experimentation" was used. Their results:

The findings clearly indicate the strong impact that coconut oil application has to hair as compared to application of both sunflower and mineral oils. Among three oils, coconut oil was the only oil found to reduce the protein loss remarkably for both undamaged and damaged hair when used as a pre-wash and post-wash grooming product. Both sunflower and mineral oils do not help at all in reducing the protein loss from hair. This difference in results could arise from the composition of each of these oils. Coconut oil, being a triglyceride of lauric acid (principal fatty acid), has a high affinity for hair proteins and, because of its low molecular weight and straight linear chain, is able to penetrate inside the hair shaft. Mineral oil, being a hydrocarbon, has no affinity for proteins and therefore is not able to penetrate and yield better results. In the case of sunflower oil, although it is a triglyceride of linoleic acid, because of its bulky structure due to the presence of double bonds, it does not penetrate the fiber, consequently resulting in no favorable impact on protein loss. (Rele AS, Mohile RB. "Effect of mineral oil, sunflower oil, and coconut oil on prevention of hair damage." Journal Cosmetology Science 2003 Mar-Apr;54(2):175-92.)"

From my own experience, I agree completely. Now if it could only restore hair!

If you still follow the dominant paradigm that insists we use polyunsaturated or trans fatty oils, I'm sure you'd be interested in the book Cassie and I wrote on Coco oil, titled 'The Untold truth About Coconut Oil". We've been using it since we found it and are head over heels in love with it. Cassie insists it has halted her age spots - an interesting observation, given that several researchers have said that trans fats are the cause of skin degradation as they are locked in under the skin, basically turning our epidermis into deep fryers when we are in the sun.

If you decide to order a bottle of our Gold label Tropical traditions Organic coco oil, just ask for our book when you order and I'll ensure you get a copy of our book. It has changed many, many people's minds about the role of fats in our lives by exposing the role of big business in politicising and 'spindoctoring' their unhealthy oil products.

Stay in the Loop

As you probably know, I've moved my entire file of readers across to a new database.

Or.. I would have, if everything went as it was supposed to.. (deep sigh) So.. because I like to treat problems as opportunities, this is an OPPORTUNITY to ensure you continue to get my updates, special deals and general news about the world of alternative and cutting edge health technology.

If you do want me to keep you in the loop. Click here and sign on in our newsletter sign-on section to the right of our homepage.

You need to know that you'll get an email asking you to confirm your subscription, just to keep the dreaded spammers at bay. Just click on the link in the email and the world will be yours.

Gratitude is in Order

We often hear of polluted water in many parts of the world. indeed, the previous post was pics of such water sources. But when you get to know a little about water and see an actual news item with pH quoted, you (after picking yourself off the floor) can indulge in a touch of gratitude for where you live. This Times Of India report on a river in Goa has people drinking water with a pH of Coke!

World's Dirtiest Lakes and Rivers.

Treehugger is a wonderful Web resource. Just look at this pic of a river! More amazing pics here

Plastic Ocean

This youtube clip was sent to me by a very happy client who recently received one of our new stainless steel water bottles. She was dismayed by the images of the seabirds especially. The burden we place on the earth by our use of disposable plastic is simply too heavy, and yes, I know, the temptation is to say 'Well, what can I do about it? How could one person possibly make a difference?'



Well, check out these statistics.

Americans purchase over 30,000,000,000 plastic bottles of water per year.
Less than 14% are recycled.
26,000,000,000 bottles ended up in lanfill where they will take up to 400 to 1000 years to degrade.
Those that are burned emit chlorine and heavy metals into the air.
16,500,000,000,000 gallons of water were wasted in the manufacture of plastic bottles.
17,000.000 barrels of crude oil were used in the process.
2,500,000 tons of carbon dioxide was emitted during manufacture.

The answer won't lie in telling the bottlers to stop. It will come from a personal and collective change of , linked with a plan of personal action. When I fill up my own Alkaway bottle, I know I'm involved. I know I am assisting with the solution, rather than the problem. And every time I refill it, I congratulate myself of one less bottle being produced and sold and consumed and dumped.

There's no stopping the 'golden arches'.. now in Pakistan!

Alphion Deal

My friend Olivier has a preloved Alphion water alkalizer for sale at $995. Interested? take a look

Gout: It looks as painful as it is!

The usual diagnosis method for gout is invasive; doctors are required to draw fluid from the gout area and check for the presence of uric acid crystals.

Now computer assisted tomography can actually 'see' the crystals, as in this pic. Unfortunately so far, unless you live in Canada, the new technique is not much good to you.

Also, one wonders the real use of such a wonderful technique when gout is pretty darn self-evident, and easily diagnosable. So is the therapy; alkalize!
More about the technique here

Paralytic over Softdrinks!

'Ostrich farmer requires emergency care for lung paralysis after consuming too much cola. Ostriches OK.'

Excessive cola consumption can lead to anything from mild weakness to profound muscle paralysis. It can cause your blood potassium to drop dangerously low.

Dr. Clifford Packer says that, “We have every reason to think that it is not rare. With aggressive mass marketing, super-sizing of soft drinks, and the effects of caffeine tolerance and dependence, there is very little doubt that tens of millions of people in industrialized countries drink at least 2-3 liters of cola per day. It follows that the serum potassium levels of these heavy cola drinkers are dropping, in some cases, to dangerously low levels."

Perhaps that's why Coke and Pepsi are switching to bottled water so strongly!

Poobags for the third world.

There has, over the years, been no shortage of solutions for third world problems, designed by 'first-worlders' that never took off. You decide whether the Peepoople is another. Me? I just shake my head in disbelief.

Cocaine in Red Bull !!!??? No worries, it's 'decocainized'.

This news report explains a lot. yes, yes, I know, I was a CocaCola addict at High school, but the addiction to Red Bull is - from my observations - something else.

Long the favourite of all night computer gamers and programmers, now we hear that the German government has found cocaine in Red Bull.

" Red Bull Cola has been banned in at least six German states after the newest offering from the world’s leading energy drink maker was found to contain cocaine.

The controversy blew up on Friday after the food safety agency in North Rhine-Westphalia (LIGA) state found 0.4 micrograms per litre in the drink.

While Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) and the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection both said the level did not pose a threat to public safety, it was thought more states may join the ban.

"The institute examined Red Bull Cola in an elaborate chemical process and found traces of cocaine," said Bernhard Kuehnle, head of the food safety department at the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection.

Decocainised

Austria-based Red Bull issued a statement yesterday that said the problem had arisen out of its “use of a decocainised coca leaf extract in the product.”

“Decocainised coca leaf extracts are used as flavouring in foodstuffs around the world and are considered to be safe (eg FDA Gras Status, Council of Europe). Red Bull Cola and other foodstuff containing such extracts may therefore be sold legally.”

Red Bull said an assessment commissioned by the Austrian Belan Institute was unable to detect any trace of cocaine, “and consequently clearly contradicts the assessment furnished by LIGA.”

It said it met yesterday with the Bavarian Ministry for Environment, Health, and Consumer Protection.

“Based on this meeting, the Ministry has decided to officially investigate the existing examination results. In this way, we are sure that we will be able to clear up the facts very soon.”

BfR said it would produce a detailed report on the matter on Wednesday.

One German retail group, Rewe, stated it would remove Red Bull Cola from its shelves.

The use of coca leaves is something that industry is understandably coy about given its links to cocaine, even if decocainised leaves are legal in most countries.

According to a story in Time magazine, Coca-Cola refused to confirm or deny whether it used either regular or decocainised coca leaves in its products.

Link:

New Early Warning test for Lung Cancer

With 40,000 deaths per year in the UK alone, lung cancer sure needs an early warning. This simple blood test may be the one that does it.