New research shows that to get an optimal vitamin D supplement from the sun at a minimal risk of getting cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM), the best time of sun exposure is noon.

That means that common health recommendations given by authorities in many countries — that sun exposure should be avoided for three to five hours around noon and postponed to the afternoon — could be wrong and may even promote CMM.

This is in part because the action spectrum for CMM is likely to be centered at longer wavelengths than that of vitamin D generation.

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Scientists are still trying to unravel the many mysteries of the brain. But although there is still a lot to learn, several studies have indicated a few ways to help keep your thinking organ in shape, now and as you age.

1. Eat Your Brain Food

A diet of junk food can also junk up your brain. Fake “foods” like trans fats can negatively affect the brain’s synapses. But a balanced diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids can give the synapses a boost and help fight against mental disorders from depression to dementia.

2. Hit the Gym

Since exercise is a mild stressor to your body, eating up the energy needed by your brain, it triggers the release of chemicals called growth factors that make the brain’s neurons stronger and healthier. Half an hour every other day will do it, according to experts.

3. Mind Benders

Give your brain a workout, too, with brainteasers, crossword puzzles and memory games. Studies have shown that using these tools to stay mentally active can reduce the risks of developing dementia by building and maintaining a reserve of stimulation in your brain.

4. Memory Tricks

Keeping information stored in your memory banks and retaining that memory with age may also be a simple matter of mind control. Confidence in your cognitive abilities could actually affect how well your memory functions, particularly for the elderly.

5. Give it a Rest

Sleep gives your brain a chance to replay the memories of the day and consolidate them for long-term storage. One study suggested that the brain can do its reviewing much faster when you’re asleep than when you’re wide awake.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9L5MJYfi2A

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(NaturalNews) A clinical study on patients who have suffered a heart attack found that a partially purified extract of Chinese red yeast rice, Xuezhikang (XZK), reduced the risk of repeat heart attacks by 45%; revascularization (bypass surgery/angioplasty), cardiovascular mortality, and total mortality by one-third; and cancer mortality by two-thirds.

The multi-center, randomized, double-blind study, was conducted on almost 5,000 patients, ranging in age from 18-70 over a five-year period at over 60 hospitals in the People’s Republic of China. Corresponding author David M. Capuzzi, M.D., Ph.D, director of the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Program at Jefferson’s Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine and Zonliang Lu, M.D., Ph.D, from the Fuwai Hospital at the Chinese Academy of Medical Science report their findings in the June 15th edition of the American Journal of Cardiology.

“It’s very exciting because this is a natural product and had very few adverse side effects including no abnormal blood changes,” said Capuzzi. “People in the Far East have been taking Chinese red yeast rice as food for thousands of years, but no one has ever studied it clinically in a double-blind manner with a purified product against a placebo group until now and we are pleased with the results. However, people in the United States should know that the commercially available over-the-counter supplement found in your average health food store is not what was studied here. Those over-the-counter supplements are not regulated, so exact amounts of active ingredient are unknown and their efficacy has not been studied yet.”

The study looked at patients who had suffered a heart attack in the previous year. Study participants were given two 300-milligram XZK capsules or a placebo and tracked over a five-year period. The XZK capsules contained a combination of lovastatin, lovastatin hydroxyl acid, ergosterol and other components.

“I think it is surprising that a natural product like XZK would have this great an effect,” said Capuzzi. “If further testing and study prove true, my hope is that XZK becomes an important therapeutic agent to treat cardiovascular disorders and in the prevention of disease whether someone has had a heart attack or not. But it is important to recognize the fact we do not know exactly how Chinese red yeast rice works. The exact ingredients from the XZK capsules have not been isolated and studied yet. Still the results were so profound, even out performing statins prescribed in numerous western populations, that further study should certainly be investigated.”

The study was sponsored by Beijing Peking University WBL Biotech Co. Ltd (WPU), in Beijing, People’s Republic of China. Dr. Capuzzi has no financial interest in this company.

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Maj. Gen. Bert Stubblebine (USA ret.) and Dr. Rima E. Laibow, MD, Natural Solutions Foundation, provide their analysis of the potential for a weaponized avian flu pandemic.

Health News avian flu, Health, pandemic

(NaturalNews) Men’s risk of gout increases along with consumption of sweetened soft drinks and fructose, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of British Columbia and Harvard Medical School, and published in the British Medical Journal.

In the disease known as gout, excess uric acid accumulates in the blood and is then deposited in the form of uric acid crystals around the body’s joints, leading to swelling and extreme pain. It particularly tends to affect men over the age of 39.

The incidence of gout in the United States has doubled over the course of the last several decades. According to the recent study, this increase might be linked with a corresponding increase in fructose and soft drink consumption.

Researchers gave food frequency questionnaires to 46,393 men who had no signs of gout, then followed those men for 12 years. In that time, 755 cases of gout developed.

Men who consumed five or six servings per week of sugar-sweetened soft drinks had a 29 percent higher chance of developing gout when compared with men who consumed less than one serving per month. Men who consumed one serving per day had a 45 percent higher risk, while men who consumed two or more servings per day had an 85 percent higher risk of developing gout.

The researchers also observed that as the contribution of fructose to the diet increased, so did the risk of gout. Compared with men who acquired less than 4.5 percent of their calories from fructose, men who acquired between 4.5 and 5.3 percent had a 41 percent higher risk of developing gout. Men who got between 5.4 and 6.6 percent of their calories from fructose had in 84 percent higher risk, while men who got more than 6.6 percent of their calories from the sugar had a 102 percent higher risk of developing the disease.

The researchers noted that fructose is known to increase uric acid production within the body.

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(NaturalNews) I recently received great news from the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) that after a long fourteen year battle between OCA, public interest and family farmer groups against Monsanto’s Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), Monsanto has announced on August 6th that they will sell off their controversial rBGH. This is very good news since rBGH has been fed to cattle since the early 1990’s and has been implicated in a wide array of health issues, some very serious ones for both the animals themselves and anyone who consumes anything from the animals who are fed rBGH.

rBGH is said to be responsible for a number of health issues ranging from premature puberty in children to colon, prostate and breast cancer to increased antibiotic residues and elevated levels of a potent cancer tumor promoter called IGF-1.

rBGH is a genetically engineered variant of the natural growth hormone produced by cows. It is manufactured by Monsanto and sold to dairy farmers under the trade name Posilac. This hormone forces cows to increase milk production by about 10%, but it also increases the incidences of mastitis, lameness as well as reproductive issues.

Another health concern, especially in regards to women is how this genetically modified hormone can interfere with a woman’s sensitive hormonal system and could also affect human reproduction as it is currently doing to cow’s reproductive systems. Could rBGH be at least partly responsible for the greatly increase in human fertility in the past thirty years? It certainly seems possible given the current evidence of reproductive issues in cows fed rBGH. Countries like Canada and many European nations have banned the import of U.S. milk unless it specifically says “No rBGH”

The fight is not over yet as Monsanto has been pressuring state legislatures to force dairies to use Posilac (rBGH). They also want to prevent these dairies from telling the public that they’re rBGH free.

Here is an announcement from the Organic Consumers Association:

“Monsanto has been lobbying state legislatures and departments of agriculture around the country to harass dairies that won’t use Posilac. Monsanto wants to take away dairies’ right to tell consumers they’re rBGH-free. Please go to the following OCA state action centers to learn more and take action: (http://www.organicconsumers.org/rbghlink.cfm) .”

Man made chemicals and genetically modified foods pose very serious health issues to your family. This is why it’s very important to learn what chemicals and ingredients are being put into packaged and processed foods in order to take greater control of your health and life and to help avoid serious health issues.

My Chinese Health and Fitness video goes into more details about some other dangerous food ingredients and chemicals that are being put into packaged and processed foods that you definitely want to avoid and keep out of your body as much as possible. It also contains much more information on nutrition, breathing, meditation, physical training and more. Click on the link below to visit the video website and learn more about other chemicals to avoid and more.

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You might expect a shampoo labeled “pure, natural and organic” to be, well, pure, natural and organic. So you may have been shocked — and not a little ticked off — to learn that many of your favorite natural body care products contain a nasty petrochemical linked to cancer.

The bad news broke in March at the Natural Products Expo in Anaheim, California, with the release of product tests that found 1,4 dioxane, a probable human carcinogen, in 46 out of 100 personal care products marketed as “organic” or “natural,” including top-selling brands such as JASON Pure Natural & Organic, Giovanni Organic and Nature’s Gate Organics. The tests were conducted by author David Steinman and the non-profit organization Organic Consumers Association (OCA).
The timing of the release — in the midst of the world’s largest natural-products trade show — was no doubt calculated for maximum splash to capture the industry’s attention. That it did. And the waves haven’t stopped since.

After the press conference, lawyers for Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps — makers of products that tested clean of 1,4 dioxane (and financial backers of the tests conducted by Steinman and OCA) — threatened legal action against several companies. After discussions ended in a stalemate, Dr. Bronner’s filed lawsuits in April against 10 manufacturers and three organic certifiers for their use of alleged “fraudulent organic claims.”

In May, the California Attorney General’s office filed suit against four manufacturers of products that tested highest for 1,4-dioxane, for failing to warn consumers about exposure to a chemical known to the state of California to cause cancer, as required by the state’s Proposition 65 law (see sidebar).
Two separate questions are swirling in the tempest: Should “natural” body care products contain toxic petrochemicals? And how organic should “organic” personal care products really be? Opinions are aligned on the first question and run the gamut on the second. But one thing is certain: the storm that has been brewing behind the scenes in the natural products industry for years is now out in the open, forcing manufacturers to confront some difficult issues that will define the future of the burgeoning $15 billion industry.

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(NaturalNews) On the heels of Olympian Michael Phelps’ deal with Kellogg’s to promote sugary breakfast cereals — a move for which he was widely criticized — NaturalNews has learned that Phelps is also involved in a deal with McDonald’s to introduce Chinese children to American junk food. According to Xinhuanet.com, a mainstream news source in China, Michael Phelps is serving as an ambassador for a program sponsored by McDonald’s to bring Chinese children to the Olympics and serve them American fast food.

But keep reading, and see why Michael Phelps may deserve another chance at being a true hero, and why I’ve personally volunteered to be his nutrition coach.

Pushing junk foods is an American tradition, it seems. Introduce a nation to our processed foods and junk foods, and in just one generation, its population will need our high-profit pharmaceuticals and chemotherapy drugs, too. Because once a nation starts eating American junk foods, degenerative disease is not far behind: Cancer, diabetes, depression, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, osteoporosis, infertility, behavior disorders and a whole lot more. These are the debilitating health conditions caused by eating fast food and junk food on a regular basis. (Just ask Morgan Spurlock of Supersize Me.)

Coke, Pepsi, McDonald’s… these are the food industry ambassadors of the United States, it seems, and in my opinion they only bring disease and death to the countries they target. Olympian Michael Phelps is currently an active participant in this “junk food imperialism” that’s sweeping through China, ensnaring hundreds of millions of children in a junk food diet that may doom many of them to deadly diseases later in life.

Of course, if you ask Coke, Pepsi and McDonald’s, all their products are perfectly healthy and there’s no relationship between fast food and poor health. Perhaps that’s what Michael Phelps believes, too. But no informed consumer (or even doctor) believes that anymore. It is now common knowledge that sugary soda pop contributes to obesity, diabetes and bone loss. It is also common knowledge that eating at McDonald’s on a regular basis is extremely unhealthy. Just look at the nutrition facts on a Big Mac: An incredible 29 grams of fat, 10 grams of heart-clogging saturated fat, virtually no fiber and over a thousand milligrams of sodium! And that doesn’t even count the fries and Coke that usually accompany it.

If we want to see China become a meat-eating, environment-destroying, health-suppressing, disease-infested cattle-factory abyss like much of America, then rounding up Chinese children and bringing them to McDonald’s is certainly the way to accomplish that.

Michael Phelps introduces Chinese children to McDonald’s

To see Michael Phelps serving as an ambassador to McDonald’s, actively engaged in recruiting Chinese children to become McDonald’s customers, is downright disturbing. Sipping sugary sodas, chewing on unhealthful, inhumane meat products and eating French fries loaded with acrylamides is not exactly the kind of habit a champion should encourage in others. And this doesn’t even mention the brainwashing and child behavior conditioning pursued by McDonald’s to imprint happiness on children’s impressionable young brains, even while they’re being fed extremely unhealthful foods that may ultimately harm them.

See the picture here of Michael Phelps bringing Chinese children to McDonald’s:

Sad, isn’t it? Here’s an Olympic champion using his fame to recruit innocent Chinese children into an American junk food restaurant. I guess the only saving point in all this is that when those children need organ transplants later in life, they will have easy access to them thanks to the organ harvesting black market in China which suddenly seems to have a whole lot of kidneys and livers available following the arrest and rounding up of free speech protestors and Falun Gong members.

If Michael Phelps is an ambassador of McDonald’s, in my opinion he is an ambassador of disease, death and bankruptcy. America is the world’s largest exporter of disease, and Michael Phelps appears to be right at the forefront of this effort.

But it’s not too late… can Phelps redeem himself? Keep reading…

What would Michael Phelps’ mother think of him pushing junk foods?

Astoundingly, Michael Phelps’ own mother has been teaching nutrition to local schoolchildren at the middle school where she works. NaturalNews has learned that Phelps’ mother, Deborah Phelps, “…designed and implemented an interdisciplinary, award-winning nutrition and food science curriculum, created a state-of-the-art food science lab and was a member of a variety of school improvement committees.”

This is reported on the Windsor Mill Middle School website in Baltimore, Maryland, where Deborah Phelps is the Principal of the school. You can read it yourself here:

http://schools.bcps.org/schools/cms/win…

What would Deborah Phelps think of Michael Phelps pushing McDonald’s and Frosted Flakes to children? If she cares about the health of children, she would likely be outraged at Michael’s actions, but we haven’t interviewed Deborah, so we can’t say for sure. What we can say, however, is that Michael Phelps’ promotions of McDonald’s and sugary breakfast cereals directly contradicts his own mother’s publicly-stated nutrition programs designed for schoolchildren.

Then again, Deborah Phelps probably isn’t being paid ten million dollars to design healthy food choices for schoolchildren. She’s simply doing it because she has a professional responsibility to her school’s children and it’s the right thing to do.

In the next article, I announce my willingness to volunteer as Michael Phelps’ nutritionist, helping him exceed his eight gold medals by preparing for the 2012 Olympics using the world’s most powerful superfoods and nutritional know-how. With superfoods nutrition boosting his performance to even higher levels, Phelps would truly be the greatest champion in the history of Olympic swimming.

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What is Lead?

Lead is symbol Pb, atomic number 82 on the periodic table. Its elemental traits are a soft, heavy toxic, poor metal. When first cut, its color is bluish-white, and tarnishes becoming dull gray after air exposure, and when melted into its liquid form, it becomes shiny silver chrome in appearance. Lead is a potent “neurotoxin” that accumulates in bones and soft tissues over time.

Lead is used in a variety of industries, including building construction, bullets, weights, lead-acid batteries used in cars, coloring element in ceramic glazes, fishing sinkers, candle treatments, sound-deadening layers for studios and organ pipes. It is also used in solder for electronics, combined with brass in reducing machine tool wear, used in ballast keel of sailboat and in high-voltage power cables. Lead is also widely used in sculptures and statues.

Before the harmful effects of lead were recognized in 1978, lead was used in many products and materials such as paint and gasoline. However, even though laws now prevent lead from being used in various products, lead hazards can still be present in and around homes by getting into the water, food, soil and dust, causing serious health problems, especially in young children.

How am I Exposed to Lead?

Most people are exposed to some amount of lead in their lifetime.

One of the most common lead exposures is from lead-based paint used in homes, which were built before 1978. Traces of lead can be found both indoors and outdoors of apartments, single-family homes, public and private housing in the city, suburbs or in country. Lead can sometimes be traced in the soil around a house, since the lead from exterior paint or leaded gas in cars could easily transfer to soil. When lead-based paint deteriorates, it turns into dust, which can work it’s way into households.

Some homes still have plumbing with lead solder. Unfortunately, drinking water with lead is invisible, odorless and tasteless. It is undetectable in water without special testing. In addition, boiling lead-contaminated water cannot get rid of lead.

People can also be exposed to lead from their jobs and hobbies. People who work with lead or use lead in pottery making, shooting ranges, refinishing furniture or other hobbies are more likely to bring lead particles on their clothes.

Other examples of lead exposure, include eating food and drinking liquid stored in containers made with lead, alternative medicines that uses lead and through contaminated air.

What are the Symptoms of Lead Exposure?

Lead is a toxic or poisonous metal that can cause nervous system damage, especially in children, possibly leading to blood and brain disorders.

Long-term exposure to lead and its salts could cause nephropathy and abdominal pains.

Lead exposure in children is usually left untreated because it does not show outward symptoms. However, high levels of lead undetected in their bodies, could in time, result in damages to the nervous system and brain, lethargy, nausea, headaches, hearing problems, slowed growth, sleeping troubles, constipation, stomachaches, irritability as well as learning and behavioral problems.

Symptoms of lead exposure in adults are more evident. Adults often suffer from headaches, severe abdominal pain, irritability and mood swings, memory loss, concentration problems, muscle and joint pains, high blood pressure, hypertension, nerve disorders, loss of motor coordination and reproductive problems in both men and women.

How do I Test Myself for Lead Exposure?

The Lead Testing Kit

The Lead Heavy Metals Test Kit is available to determine the levels in your body. Should the test determine that your levels are high, you may want to use Dr. Group’s Chemical & Heavy Metals Cleanse to reduce your levels. Cleansing can take a long time, sometimes as long as months. It’s recommended that you test your body levels periodically throughout the cleansing process to determine your progress.

Homes should also be checked for lead exposure by paint inspection and risk assessment, wherein qualified professionals determine the lead content of both indoor and outdoor spaces in homes.

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