The Importance of Being in The Sun

Posted on May 11, 2014 by marcia

Why avoiding sunshine could kill you

Researchers followed 30,000 women for 20 years and found that those who avoided the sunshine were twice as likely to die

Too little sunshine dramatically increases the risk of dying from all causes because the body is deprived for vitamin D, scientists have found

Too little sunshine dramatically increases the risk of dying from all causes because the body is deprived of vitamin D, scientists have found Photo: REX FEATURES

By Sarah Knapton, Science Correspondent

Women who never sunbathe during the summer are twice as likely to die than those who sunbathe everyday, a major study has shown.

Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden claim guidelines which advise people to stay out of the sun unless wearing sunscreen may be harming the population, particularly in countries like Britain.

Exposure to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight is often cited as a cause of skin melanoma. The NHS currently recommends avoiding overexposure to the sun to prevent all types of skin cancer.

But the new research, which followed nearly 30,000 women over 20 years, suggests that women who stay out of the sun are at increased risk of skin melanomas and are twice as likely to die from any cause, including cancer.

“The results of this study clearly showed that mortality was about double in women who avoided sun exposure compared to the highest exposure group,” said lead author Dr Pelle Lindqvist.

“Sun exposure advice which is very restrictive in countries with low solar intensity might in fact be harmful for women’s health.

“The mortality rate was increased two-fold among avoiders of sun exposure as compared to those with the highest sun exposure habits.”

It is thought that a lack of vitamin D may to be blame. Vitamin D is created in the body through exposure to sunshine and a deficiency is known to increase the risk of diabetes, tuberculosis, multiple sclerosis and rickets.

Cases of rickets have risen fourfold in the last 15 years as sunscreen has increased in popularity.

Previous studies have shown that vitamin D can increase survival rates for women with breast cancer while deficiencies can signal prostate cancer in men. Low levels of vitamin D have also been linked to more aggressive forms of skin cancer.

Prof Dorothy Bennett, Professor of Cell Biology at St. George’s, University of London, said: “The findings support the consensus that the ideal amount of sun exposure for Northern Europeans is ‘a little’, rather than zero.

“As the authors comment, our bodies need sunlight to make essential vitamin D, which can help us resist some cancer types. Those who normally avoid the sun and/or cover most of their skin are advised to take vitamin D supplements.”

The study looked at 29,518 Swedish women who were recruited from 1990 to 1992 and asked to monitor their sunbathing and tanning salon habits.

After 20 years there had been 2,545, deaths and researchers were surprised to find that women who never sunbathed during the summer months were twice as likely to have died from any cause.

1.5 women in a 100 who had the highest exposure to UV were found to have died, compared with 3 in 100 for women who had avoided sunbathing.

Women who sunbathed in the summer were also 10 per cent less likely to die from skin cancer although those who sunbathed abroad were twice as likely to die from melanoma.

Public Health England says it would be considering the research carefully.

A spokesman said: “Public Health England constantly reviews scientific research and our experts will consider this paper along with other peer reviewed research into this issue as part of that process.”

Dr Andrea Darling, Post-doctoral Research Fellow from the University of Surrey, said there was still strong evidence that skin cancer is caused by sunbathing.

“The findings from Dr Lindqvist’s team are interesting, but it is possible that the women in the study who had high sun exposure differed from the women who had low sun exposure in ways that may explain their reduced cancer risk.”

Yinka Ebo, senior health information officer at Cancer Research UK, said striking a balance was important.

“The reasons behind higher death rates in women with lower sun exposure are still unexplained, as unhealthy lifestyle choices could have played a part,” she added.

“Overexposure to UV radiation from the sun or sunbeds is the main cause of skin cancer.

“We all need some sunshine to make vitamin D for healthy bones. Enjoying the sun safely while taking care not to burn should help most people strike a good balance.”

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: “Skin cancer can have devastating consequences and it is vital that people take steps to protect themselves.

“However, we also recognise the importance of Vitamin D for good health. Most people in the UK can get enough vitamin D from sunlight, but those at risk of vitamin D deficiency should take daily supplements.

“We are working to raise awareness of the symptoms of cancers through the Be Clear on Cancer campaigns. Anybody concerned about symptoms should visit their GP.”

The research was published in The Journal of Internal Medicine.

from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10811734/Why-avoiding-sunshine-could-kill-you.html

That Amazing Vitamin D

Posted on February 28, 2014 by marcia

Canadian Researchers Discover New Evidence That Vitamin D Shuts Down Cancer Cells

The Mind Unleashed

on 26 February, 2014 at 10:04

Researchers at McGill University have discovered a molecular basis for the cancer preventive effects of vitamin D, whereby its active form essentially shuts down cancer cells.

People with higher blood levels of vitamin D live significantly longer than people who have low blood levels of the vitamin.

The team, led by McGill professors John White and David Goltzman, of the Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Physiology, discovered that the active form of vitamin D acts by several mechanisms to inhibit both the production and function of the protein cMYC. cMYC drives cell division and is active at elevated levels in more than half of all cancers. Their results are published in the latest edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

For the past several years, there has been considerable interest in the role vitamin D plays in improving health and preventing disease. Previous finding show that low levels of vitamin D have been directly associated with various forms of cancer and cardiovascular disease. Stephen B. Kritchevsky, PhD, Professor of Internal Medicine and Transitional Science at the Wake Forest School of Medicine found a signficant correlation.

“We observed vitamin D insufficiency (defined as blood levels <20 ng/ml), in one third of our study participants. This was associated with nearly a 50 percent increase in the mortality rate in older adults,” said Kritchevsky. “Our findings suggest that low levels of vitamin D may be a substantial public health concern for our nation’s older adults.”

Although vitamin D can be obtained from limited dietary sources and directly from exposure to the sun during the spring and summer months, the combination of poor dietary intake and sun avoidance has created vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency in large proportions of many populations worldwide. It is known that vitamin D has a wide range of physiological effects and that correlations exist between insufficient amounts of vitamin D and an increased incidence of a number of cancer. These correlations are particularly strong for cancers of the digestive tract, including colon cancer, and certain forms of leukemia.

“For years, my lab has been dedicated to studying the molecular mechanisms of vitamin D in human cancer cells, particularly its role in stopping their proliferation,” said Prof. White. “We discovered that vitamin D controls both the rate of production and the degradation of cMYC. More importantly, we found that vitamin D strongly stimulates the production of a natural antagonist of cMYC called MXD1, essentially shutting down cMYC function”.

The team also applied vitamin D to the skin of mice and observed a drop in the level of cMYC and found evidence of a decrease in its function. Moreover, other mice, which lacked the specific receptor for vitamin D, were found to have strongly elevated levels of cMYC in a number of tissues including skin and the lining of the colon. The finding suggests that topical vitamin D may be just as effective as ingested to prevent cancer.

Chemoprevention Through Vitamin D Without The Side Effects

“Taken together, our results show that vitamin D puts the brakes on cMYC function, suggesting that it may slow the progression of cells from premalignant to malignant states and keep their proliferation in check. We hope that our research will encourage people to maintain adequate vitamin D supplementation and will stimulate the development of large, well-controlled cancer chemoprevention trials to test the effects of adequate supplementation,” said Dr. White.

It’s been known that vitamin D can prevent that genetic damage. When vitamin D binds to specific receptors, it sets off a chain of events by which many toxic agents including cancer cells are rendered harmless. However, if there is not enough vitamin D the system can become overwhelmed and cancer can develop. “This is one of the reasons that people living closest to the equator have a much lower incidence (or absence) of specific cancers which consequently increase in locations further from the equator.”

The link between vitamin D intake and protection from cancer dates from the 1940s when Frank Apperly demonstrated a link between latitude and deaths from cancer, and suggested that sunlight gave “a relative cancer immunity”.

Both D3 and D2 precursors are hydroxylated in the liver and kidneys to form 25- hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), the non-active ‘storage’ form, and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25(OH)2D), the biologically active form that is tightly controlled by the body.

There is growing evidence that 1,25(OH)2D has anticancer effects, but the discovery that non-kidney cells can also hydroxylate 25(OH)D had profound implications, implying that higher 25(OH)D levels could protect against cancer in the local sites.

Theories linking vitamin D deficiency to certain cancers have been tested and confirmed in more than 200 epidemiological studies, and understanding of its physiological basis stems from more than 2,500 laboratory studies, according to epidemiologist Cedric Garland, DrPH, professor of family and preventive medicine at the UC San Diego School of Medicine. “This is the number one chemopreventive substance on the planet and its natural without side effects.”

Dr. Garland’s findings only lend further credence to the mountain of growing evidence that optimal levels of vitamin D are essential for your health. Here are just a few highlights into some of the most noteworthy findings:

* Some 600,000 cases of breast and colorectal cancers could be prevented each year if vitamin D levels among populations worldwide were increased, according to previous research by Dr. Garland and colleagues. And that’s just counting the death toll for two types of cancer.

* Optimizing your vitamin D levels could help you to prevent at least 16 different types of cancer including pancreatic, lung, ovarian, prostate, and skin cancers.

* A large-scale, randomized, placebo-controlled study on vitamin D and cancer showed that vitamin D can cut overall cancer risk by as much as 60 percent! This was such groundbreaking news that the Canadian Cancer Society has actually begun endorsing the vitamin as a cancer-prevention therapy.

* Light-skinned women who had high amounts of long-term sun exposure had half the risk of developing advanced breast cancer (cancer that spreads beyond your breast) as women with lower amounts of regular sun exposure, according to a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

* A study by Dr. William Grant, Ph.D., internationally recognized research scientist and vitamin D expert, found that about 30 percent of cancer deaths — which amounts to 2 million worldwide and 200,000 in the United States — could be prevented each year with higher levels of vitamin D.

Inflammation is likely at the root of many cases of vitamin D deficiency, and all chronic degenerative diseases.

Stay Away From Sunscreen

Skin color adapts to sunlight intensities which produce vitamin D or ultraviolet light damage to folic acid. Researchers at the University of Leeds suggest that people with very pale skin may be unable to spend enough time in the sun to make the amount of vitamin D the body needs — while also avoiding sunburn. The key is to stay away from conventional subscreen and use non-toxic alternatives to extend exposure time.

The further you live from the equator, the longer exposure you need to the sun in order to generate vitamin D. Canada, the UK and most U.S. states are far from the equator and the logic of using sunscreen is quickly becoming illogical even in scientific circles.

Unlike fads that sizzled and fizzled, the evidence for Vitamin D’s health benefits is now strong and keeps growing. If it bears out, it will challenge one of medicine’s most fundamental beliefs: that people need to coat themselves with sunscreen whenever they’re in the sun. Doing that may actually contribute to far more cancer deaths than it prevents, some researchers think.

The vitamin is D, nicknamed the “sunshine vitamin” because the skin makes it from ultraviolet rays. Sunscreen blocks its production, but dermatologists and health agencies have long preached that such lotions are needed to prevent skin cancer. Now some scientists are questioning that advice. The reason is that vitamin D increasingly seems important for preventing and even treating many types of cancer.

Comprehensive scientific reviews indicate that 83% of 785 sunscreen products offer inadequate protection from the sun, or contain ingredients with significant safety concerns. Only 17% of the products on the market are both safe and effective, blocking both UVA and UVB radiation, remaining stable in sunlight, and containing few if any ingredients with significant known or suspected health hazards. The assessment is based on a review of nearly 400 scientific studies, industry models of sunscreen efficacy, and toxicity and regulatory information housed in nearly 60 government, academic, and industry databases.

Many products lack UVA protection. Fully 12% of high SPF sunscreens (SPF of at least 30) protect only from sunburn (UVB radiation), and do not contain ingredients known to protect from UVA radiation, the sun rays linked to skin damage and aging, immune system problems, and potentially skin cancer. FDA does not require that sunscreens guard against UVA radiation.

Sunscreens break down in the sun. Parodoxically, many sunscreen ingredients break down in the sun, in a matter of minutes or hours, and then let UV radiation through to the skin. Our analyses show that 54% of products on the market contain ingredients that may be unstable alone or in combination, raising questions about whether these products last as long as the label says. FDA has not proposed requirements for sunscreen stability.

About the Author

Mae Chan holds degrees in both physiology and nutritional sciences. She is also blogger and and technology enthusiast with a passion for disseminating information about health.

from: http://themindunleashed.org/2014/02/canadian-researchers-discover-new-evidence-vitamin-d-shuts-cancer-cells.html

More Reasons to Eat Black Seed

Posted on December 8, 2013 by marcia

Written By:

Sayer Ji, Founder

16 More Reasons Black Seed Is 'The Remedy For Everything But Death'

A year ago, we wrote an article about nigella sativa (aka black seed) titled, ‘The Remedy For Everything But Death.’ It described the research on the many ways in which black seed (nigella sativa) is a potentially life-saving medicinal food, and is one of our most popular articles, with over 225K social media shares.

Opening with, “This humble, but immensely powerful seed, kills MRSA, heals the chemical weapon poisoned body, stimulates regeneration of the dying beta cells within the diabetic’s pancreas, and yet too few even know it exists,” the article summarized the peer-reviewed and published research on 10 of the seed’s remarkable health benefits:

Type 2 Diabetes: Two grams of black seed a day resulted in reduced fasting glucose, decreased insulin resistance, increased beta-cell function, and reduced glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in human subjects.[ii]

Helicobacter Pylori Infection: Black seeds possess clinically useful anti-H. pylori activity, comparable to triple eradication therapy.[iii]

Epilepsy: Black seeds were traditionally known to have anticonvulsive properties. A 2007 study with epileptic children, whose condition was refractory to conventional drug treatment, found that a water extract significantly reduced seizure activity.[iv]

High Blood pressure: The daily use of 100 and 200 mg of black seed extract, twice daily, for 2 months, was found to have a blood pressure-lowering effect in patients with mild hypertension.[v]

Asthma: Thymoquinone, one of the main active constituents within Nigella sativa, is superior to the drug fluticasone in an animal model of asthma.[vi] Another study, this time in human subjects, found that boiled water extracts of black seed have relatively potent antiasthmatic effect on asthmatic airways.[vii]

Acute tonsillopharyngitis: characterized by tonsil or pharyngeal inflammation (i.e. sore throat), mostly viral in origin, black seed capsules (in combination with Phyllanthus niruri) have been found to significantly alleviate throat pain, and reduce the need for pain-killers, in human subjects.[viii]

Chemical Weapons Injury: A randomized, placebo-controlled human study of chemical weapons injured patients found that boiled water extracts of black seed reduced respiratory symptoms, chest wheezing, and pulmonary function test values, as well as reduced the need for drug treatment.[ix]

Colon Cancer: Cell studies have found that black seed extract compares favorably to the chemoagent 5-fluoruracil in the suppression of colon cancer growth, but with a far higher safety profile.[x] Animal research has found that black seed oil has significant inhibitory effects against colon cancer in rats, without observable side effects.[xi]

MRSA: Black seed has anti-bacterial activity against clinical isolates of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus.[xii]

Opiate Addiction/Withdrawal: A study on 35 opiate addicts found black seed as an effective therapy in long-term treatment of opioid dependence.[xiii]

Since then, the biomedical research on black seed has continued to flourish, with another 78 studies published and cited on the National Library of Medicine’s biomedical database MEDLINE over the past 11 months.

Here are 16 additional potential health benefits to add to the growing list:

Prevents Radiation Damage: Nigella sativa oil (NSO) and its active component, thymoquinone, protect brain tissue from radiation-induced nitrosative stress.[i]
Protects Against Damage from Heart Attack: A thymoquinone extract from nigella sativa has a protective effect against damage associated with experimental heart attack.[ii]
Prevents Morphine Dependence/Toxicity: An alcohol extract of nigella sativa reduces morphine-associated conditioned place preference, an indication of morphine intoxication, dependence and tolerance.[iii]
Prevents Kidney Damage Associated with Diabetes: A thymoquinone extract from nigella sativa has protective effects on experimental diabetic nephropathy.[iv]
Prevents Post-Surgical Adhesions: Covering peritoneal surfaces with Nigella sativa oil (NSO) after peritoneal trauma is effective in decreasing peritoneal adhesion formation in an experimental model.[v]
Prevents Alzheimer’s Associated Neurotoxicity: A thymoquinone extract from nigella sativa has protective effects on experimental diabetic prevents neurotoxicity and Aβ1-40-induced apoptosis in the cell model.[vi]
Suppresses Breast Cancer Growth: : A thymoquinone extract from nigella sativa inhibits tumor growth and induces programmed cell death (apoptosis) in a breast cancer xenograft mouse model.[vii] [viii]
Exhibits Anti-Psoriasis Properties: The alcohol extract of nigella sativa seeds exhibit anti-psoriatic activity, consistent with its medicinal use in traditional medicine.[ix]
Prevents Brain Pathology Associated with Parkinson’s Disease: A thymoquinone extract from nigella sativa protects cultured neurons against αSN-induced synaptic toxicity, a pathology observed in the brains of patients with Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies.[x]
Kills Highly Aggressive Gliobastoma Brain Cancer Cells: A thymoquinone extract from nigella sativa exhibits glioblastoma cell killing activity. [xi]
Kills Leukemia Cells: A thymoquinone from nigella sativa induces mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in vitro.[xii]
Suppresses Liver Cancer Growth: A thymoquinone extract from nigella sativa prevents chemically-induced cancer in a rat model.[xiii]
Prevents Diabetic Pathologies: A water and alcohol extract of nigella sativa at low doses has a blood-sugar lowering effect and ameliorative effect on regeneration of pancreatic islets, indicating its value as a therapeutic agent in the management of diabetes mellitus.[xiv]
Suppresses Cervical Cancer Cell Growth: A thymoquinone extract from nigella sativa exhibits anti-proliferative, apoptotic and anti-invasive properties in a cervical cancer cell line.[xv]
Prevents Lead-Induced Brain Damage: A thymoquinone extract from nigella sativa ameliorates lead-induced brain damage in Sprague Dawley rats.[xvi]
Kills Oral Cancer Cells: A thymoquinone extract from nigella sativa induces programmed cell death (apoptosis) in oral cancer cells.[xvii]

Why is such a powerful seed not yet on the radar of most medical and nutrition communities? We know sesame seed can beat Tylenol in reducing arthritis pain and can reduce cardiovascular disease risk factors in a manner that makes statin drugs envious, and we know flaxseeds shrink breast and prostate tumors, but black seed’s benefits are still largely under reported and underutilized.

Interestingly, despite this blind spot, and as if to confirm black seed’s immense potential as a healing agent, Nestlé, the Switzerland-based global food giant, filed a patent on patent on the use of nigella sativa to “prevent food allergies” in 2010 (Nestlé’s international patent publication WO2010133574). This obvious attempt to appropriate traditional knowledge and use claimed the plant seed or extract should be Nestlé’s intellectual property when used as a food ingredient or drug. According to a Third World Network Briefing Paper from July, 2012:

“The Swiss giant’s claims appear invalid, as traditional uses of Nigella sativa clearly anticipate Nestlé’s patent application, and developing country scholarship has already validated these traditional uses and further described, in contemporary scientific terms, the very medicinal properties of black seed that Nestlé seeks to claim as its own “invention”.

“Nestlé claims any use of an opioid receptor-stimulating compound to treat or prevent allergies, specifically thymoquinone and, more specifically, administration of thymoquinone in the form of Nigella sativa plant material (seeds).3 The type of food allergy of greatest focus is upset stomach and diarrhea.”

The good news is that no such patent has yet to win approval, and for now, this food is still freely available. For additional research updates, simply go to Pubmed.gov, and sign up for an automatic email update for the keyword “nigella sativa,” and you’ll be one of the first to learn about the new research being done on this amazing seed as it comes directly through the biomedical research pipeline.

from: http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/16-more-reasons-black-seed-remedy-everything-death2

Questioning Cancer Diagnoses

Posted on October 21, 2013 by marcia

Millions Wrongly Treated for ‘Cancer,’ National Cancer Institute Panel Confirms

Wednesday, July 31st 2013 at 7:00 am

Written By:

Sayer Ji, Founder

Millions Wrongly Treated for 'Cancer,' National Cancer Institute Panel Confirms

A devastating new report commissioned by the National Cancer Institute reveals that our 40-year long ‘War on Cancer’ has been waged against a vastly misunderstood ‘enemy,’ that in many cases represented no threat to human health whatsoever.

If you have been following our advocacy work on cancer, particularly in connection with the dark side of breast cancer awareness month, you know that we have been calling for the complete reclassification of some types of ‘breast cancer’ as benign lesions, e.g. ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), as well as pointing out repeatedly that x-ray based breast screenings are not only highly carcinogenic but are also causing an epidemic of “overdiagnosis” and “overtreatment” in US women, with an estimated 1.3 million cases in the past 30 years alone.

This week, a National Cancer Institute commissioned panel’s report published in JAMA online confirmed that we all – public and professionals alike – should stop calling low-risk lesions like DCIS and high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN) ‘cancer.’

There are wide-reaching implications to this recommendation, including:

Millions of women in this country have been diagnosed with DCIS, and millions of men with HGPIN, and subsequently [mis]treated. Are they now to be retroactively reclassified as ‘victims’ of iatrogenesis, with legal recourse to seek compensation?
Anyone engaged in a cancer screening will now need to reconsider and weigh both the risks and benefits of such a ‘preventive’ strategy, considering that the likelihood of being diagnosed with a false positive over 10 years is already over 50% for women undergoing annual breast screening.
The burgeoning pink ribbon-bedecked ‘breast cancer awareness’ industry will be forced to reformulate its message, as it is theoretically culpable for the overdiagnosis and overtreatment of millions of US women by propagating an entirely false concept of ‘cancer.’

As reported by Medscape:

The practice of oncology in the United States is in need of a host of reforms and initiatives to mitigate the problem of overdiagnosis and overtreatment of cancer, according to a working group sanctioned by the National Cancer Institute.

Perhaps most dramatically, the group says that a number of premalignant conditions, including ductal carcinoma in situ and high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, should no longer be called “cancer.”

Instead, the conditions should be labeled something more appropriate, such as indolent lesions of epithelial origin (IDLE), the working group suggests. The Viewpoint report was published online July 29 in JAMA.

Fundamentally, overdiagnosis results from the fact that screen-detected ‘cancers’ are disproportionately slower growing ones, present with few to no symptoms, and would never progress to cause harm if left undiagnosed and untreated.

As you can see by the graph above, it is the fast-growing tumors which will be more difficult to ‘detect early,’ and will progress rapidly enough to cause symptoms and perhaps even death unless treated aggressively. But even in the case of finding the tumor early enough to contain it through surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation, it is well-known that the minority subpopulation of cancer stem cells within these tumors will be enriched and therefore made more malignant through conventional treatment. For instance, radiotherapy radiation wavelengths were only recently found by UCLA Jonnsson Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers to transform breast cancer cells into highly malignant cancer stem-cell like cells, with 30 times higher malignancy post-treatment.

hat this means is that not only are millions of screen-detected abnormalities not ‘cancer’ in the first place but even those which can be considered fast-growing are often being driven into greater malignancy by the conventional chemotherapy, radiation and surgery-based standard of cancer care itself.

Our entire world view of cancer needs to shift from an enemy that “attacks” us and that we must wage war against, to something our body does, presumably to survive an increasingly inhospitable, nutrient-deprived, carcinogen- and radiation-saturated environment, i.e. Cancer As An Ancient Survival Mechanism Unmasked.

When we look at cancer through the optic of fear and see it as an essentially chaos-driven infinitely expanding mass of cells, we are apt to make irrational choices. The physiological state of fear itself has been found to activate multidrug resistance proteins within cancer cells, explaining how our very perception of cancer can influence and/or determine its physiological status and/or trajectory within our body.

The NCI panel report opined:

“The word “cancer” often invokes the specter of an inexorably lethal process; however, cancers are heterogeneous and can follow multiple paths, not all of which progress to metastases and death, and include indolent disease that causes no harm during the patient’s lifetime.”

For more details on what our founder Sayer Ji calls the “Cancer Malignancy Meme,” see his video presentation at the Mind Body Week DC conference, wherein he discuss the ‘Rise of Biomedicine’ within the context of the mind-body connection, and breast cancer overdiagnosis in particular.

We must keep in mind that this proposed redefinition of cancer is no small academic matter, but will affect the lives of millions of women. Consider that every year, approximately 60,000 women in this country are diagnosed with DCIS, a diagnosis so traumatic that it results in significant psychiatric depression 3 years after even a ‘false positive’ diagnosis. For those less fortunate women, numbering in the millions over the past 30 years, who were told they had ‘cancer’ and needed to undergo lumpectomy, radiation, chemotherapy and/or mastectomy, the NCI panel’s recommendation is a hard pill swallow after the damage has already been irrevocably done.

So, what’s the solution? There is a growing movement towards the use of thermography as a primary diagnostic tool, as it uses no ionizing radiation, and can detect the underlying physiological processes that may indicate inflammation, angiogenesis, cancer-specific metabolic changes, etc., many years before a calcified lesion would appear within an x-ray mammogram. Also, the mainstay of any truly preventive strategy against cancer is diet, nutrition, exercise and avoiding chemical and radiation exposures – the things that we can do in our daily lives to take back control of and responsibility for our health.

For related research read ‘Hidden Dangers’ of Mammograms Every Woman Should Know About

from: http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/millions-wrongly-treated-cancer-national-cancer-institute-panel-confirms?page=2

The Benefits of Garlic

Posted on October 17, 2013 by marcia

How Garlic Can Save Your Life

17th October 2013

By Sayer Ji

Contributing Writer for Wake Up World

Research on garlic indicates that it may provide an ideal low-cost and safe alternative to drugs and vaccines in reducing the three most common causes of death in the world.

In a world mesmerized by the false promises of pharmaceutical industry marketing copy, as well as inundated with aggressively marketed dietary supplements, many of which are manufactured by the same companies making a killing off patented chemicals (Bayer owns One A Day, Pfizer owns Centrum), it is reassuring to know that the kitchen pantry will never fail us…

Inexpensive, time-tested, safe and delicious, many spices are attaining recognition for being, quite literally, ‘life saving,’ which is likely one reason why, in ancient times, many were worth their weight in gold.

This time around, the health benefits of ancient ‘folk remedies’ like garlic are being confirmed by straight-laced men and women in lab coats. Which, when it comes to the conventional medical establishment, blighted as it is by the epistemological disease known as myopia, is considered the only valid way to ascertain the truth. Never mind the countless millions of people who, since the beginning of time, have used a different standard of proof: if it works and it is safe, then its true.

We all know that garlic is not shy to make its presence known. The smallest culinary dose is enough to suffuse the entire body with its aroma. Garlic also permeates the research literature: the biomedical database known as MEDLINE, provided by the National Library of Medicine, contains 4245 study abstracts on garlic, a number of which we have indexed and organized for your use on our site: Health Benefits of Garlic.

A cursory perusal of the literature there indicates that garlic has a significant role to play in preventing or treating well over 150 health conditions, ranging from cancer to diabetes, infection to plaque buildup in the arteries, DNA damage to mercury poisoning.

In fact, a strong argument can be made (pun intended) that expanding the availability of garlic around the world as both a food and a medicine could prevent millions of deaths annually. According to World Health Organization statistics, the populations of poorer countries die manly from causes directly connected to communicable infectious diseases, which incidentally are not caused by a lack of vaccines, rather, primarily through under-nutrition and malnourishment, lack of sanitation and hygiene, as well as the adverse physiological consequences of the depression and stress associated with poverty. The greater use and availability of garlic might provide a perfect alternative to global vaccine initiatives, the use of which are driven less by compelling scientific research, and more by political and economic forces. Garlic is easier to acquire and distribute, and can often be grown by the affected persons or communities affected, making it essentially free.

Garlic Versus #1 Cause of Death for the Poorest Countries

As far as the research goes, garlic has immensely powerful anti-infective properties, experimentally confirmed to kill the following:

Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA)[1], [2]
Thrush (Fungal overgrowth in oral cavity)[3]
Pseudomonas Aerigonosima, including drug-resistant strains.[4][5][6]
Cytomegalavirus Infections[7] [8] [9] [10]
Mycotoxin-associated aflatoxicosis[11] [12]
Helicobacter Pylori infection[13]
Candida (Yeast) infection[14] [15] [16]
Klebseilla infection[17] [18]
HIV-1 infection[19] [20]
Vibrio infection [21] [22]
Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, multi-drug resistant[23]
Clostridium infections[24]
Viral Infections: Herpes Simplex 1 and 2, Parainfluenza virus type 3, vaccinia virus, vesicular stomatitis virus and human rhinovirus type 2.
Group B Streptococcus Infection[25] [26]

This is an impressive smattering of research, but it is likely only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to garlic’s ability to fight infection. Remember, a lack of scientific proof does imply a lack of efficacy. Given that conventional antibiotics are not only failing, but driving bacteria and viruses into greater lethality, we can’t wait around for the multi-billion dollar clinical trial-based drug approval process to turn its attention to a non-patentable natural substance. Such a profit-oriented approach would be highly unethical.

Garlic Versus the Developed World’s #1 and #2 Killers

The research on Greenmedinfo.com shows garlic has value in 167 health conditions or disease symptoms, but the greatest density of research indicates garlic’s role in preventing and/or treating Cardiovascular Disease and Cancers, the two primary causes of death within high-income countries.[27]

This is an interesting finding. The drug industry has been fantasizing about a so-called ‘polypill’ for quite some time, an idea involving mixing various patented medicines together for a condition like heart disease (e.g. blood pressure, cholesterol, blood thinner), but to no avail. Patented chemicals have far too many side effects, so when you mix them together, you only compound their multitudinous chemical toxicities. Natural substances, on the other hand, and especially those which play a role in culinary traditions as “spices,” appear to have the opposite karma. Namely, they have far more ‘side benefits’ than ‘side effects.’

Garlic’s cardioprotective effects include:

Retards progression of arterial plaque[28] [29] [30]
Beneficially decreases white adipose tissue, increases white adipose tissue around heart muscle.[31]
Protects against clotting[32] [33]
Positively modulates blood lipids[34],[35],[36]
Vasodilator[37]
Reduces blood pressure[38]
Antioxidant[39]
Endothelial Dysfunction[40] [41]
Vascular Inflammation[42]

Here is a quick review of the cancers that garlic has been found to kill:

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia[43]
Acute Myeloid Leukemia[44]
Basal Cell Carcinoma[45]
Breast Cancer[46],[47]
Cervical Cancer[48]
Colon Cancer[49]
Endometrial Cancer[50] [51]
Gastric Cancer[52] [53]
Leukemia: Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL)[54]
Liver Cancer[55] [56] [57] [58]
Lymphoma[59] [60]
Melanoma[61
Osteosarcoma[62]
Pancreatic Cancer[63]

Garlic, like so many other complex foods, contains a wide range of phytocompounds that articulate at least 150 distinct physiological responses in the mammalian body (see our 157 pharmacological actions list on the Garlic Research page).

How can this be so?

One explanation is that all foods contain not only physical building blocks, e.g. carbs, proteins, lipids, and are not only a source of energy (caloric content), but contain gene and epigene regulatory information. There are ‘packets’ of energy and information contained within the conformational state of the biomolecules found within these plant tissues. Our co-evolution with the plant kingdom for the past half a billion years has resulted in the very genetic/molecular fabric of our body depending on certain key compounds from plants in our diet, delivered in natural form, not irradiated, overly-cooked, petrochemically-farmed. Garlic’s ability to fit like a key, into many different types of locks (an impossible feat for monochemical ‘magic bullets’), reflects an likely infinitely complex intelligence in the relationship between plant and animal species. Which speaks to how important foods are not simply as ‘medicine,’ but that from which our bodily health grows organically, and without which disease is a natural consequence.

from: http://wakeup-world.com/2013/10/18/how-garlic-can-save-your-life/

Supplements & Cancer Care

Posted on September 22, 2013 by marcia

Available for a limited time:

Free Access: Seminal Paper on Integrating Top 10 Dietary Supplements Into Cancer Care

Posted on:

Sunday, September 15th 2013 at 4:15 pm

Written By:Glenn Sabin

ICT Cover

A new paper titled Integrating Dietary Supplements Into Cancer Care, authored by the Clinical Practice Committee of the Society for Integrative Oncology, will be published in the October/November 2013 edition of SAGE’s Integrative Cancer Therapies, edited by Keith I Block, MD.

SAGE has graciously made the article available, accessible here for 30 days, starting September 1, 2013.

A significant portion of cancer patients are now using dietary supplements. However, patients often don’t report their use of supplementation to their providers. Moreover, physicians have varying levels of understanding and experience with supplements and their use with oncology patients.

“Today’s informed patients truly value physicians who appreciate them as equal participants in making their healthcare choices.” ~Moshe Frenkel, MD

This important paper, written by leading researchers and clinicians with extensive experience using supplements, features the following 10 natural agents as having some of the strongest suggested benefits and evidence of effectiveness for cancer care:

1. Curcumin
2. Glutamine
3. Vitamin D
4. Maitake Mushrooms
5. Fish Oil
6. Green Tea
7. Milk Thistle
8. Astragalus
9. Melatonin
10. Probiotics

As the article states, “The information was constructed to provide an up-to-date base of knowledge, so that physicians and other healthcare providers would be aware of the supplements and be able to discuss realistic expectations and potential benefits and risks.” Read the entire paper here.

This article will be discussed during session conducted by lead author Dr. Moshe Frenkel during 10th International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) in Vancouver.

For registration information on the 10th International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology, click here.

An excerpt from the Conference website is as follows….

Multidisciplinary oncology practitioners from around the globe, including stakeholders from virtually every major cancer center in the US and Canada, will convene to discuss the translation and evolution of evidence-based integrative oncology in practice, the steadily growing science base, and its continued rise in popularity as patients demand a whole person approach to cancer care that addresses the mind, body and spirit.

Keynotes by
Kerry S. Courneya, PhD
Victoria Sweet, MD, PhD
Frank Meyskens, MD, FACP

Program highlights include a moderated debate on the controversial topic of the role of cannabis in the treatment and management of cancer and related side effects, led by Dr. Donald Abrams from the University of California San Francisco’s Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. And, be sure to join us for our annual SIO Gala on Monday, October 21.

Media and marketing veteran Glenn Sabin is a 22-year cancer “thriver” who created a comprehensive, integrative oncology approach to achieve a complete pathological remission of his CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia)—considered an “incurable” disease—without conventional intervention. Glenn’s case has been chronicled through Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and his personal oncologist, Lee M. Nadler, MD, Dean of Clinical and Translational Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Read More at his website FON Therapeutics.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of GreenMedInfo or its staff.

from: http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/free-access-seminal-paper-integrating-top-10-dietary-supplements-cancer-care

Un-Fortify Your Foods

Posted on September 20, 2013 by marcia

Fortifying the explosion of cancer – A study

Friday, September 20, 2013 by: S. D. Wells

NaturalNews) Some things in nature simply work, because they are a part of a whole, an integral part and some specific function which contributes to the underlying naturalistic state. The word “fortified,” when referring to food, is often misleading because people are led to believe that food scientists simply “add back in” some vitamins by magically “inserting” them into food that “needs nutritional help.” This fortification can create the exact opposite effect and cause damage to the human body, which often cannot assimilate these “individual”and separate fortifications. How many foods are “fortified” with things your body can’t even use, and even worse, contain synthetic additives that wreak havoc on your cells? Since cancer is the mutation of cells that multiply and divide uncontrollably, this form of food and vitamin “processing” is adding to the cancer “explosion” we see taking place in the U.S., where every third person is fighting the “c” word right now.

The English dictionary defines “fortified” as “to strengthen (a place) with defensive works so as to protect it against attack”; e.g., “The whole town was heavily fortified.” So if we put this into “action” with food, it sounds like we’re getting a real boost of immunity with every bite! So what are people really “fortifying” when they’re eating GMO corn flakes and drinking hormone-laden milk? Could it be cancer? (http://www.naturalnews.com)

Corporations often make WILD nutritional claims about junk food and get away with it, like most cereal after they “fortify” it and add back in some DEAD vitamins. To the contrary, live organic herbs, tinctures and healing foods that REALLY do help you get healthy and stay healthy cannot legally state those truths. Why? FDA regulations prevent it. Why? The answer is that there’s not much money to be made off healthy folk. Bottom line: JUNK science makes things worse. Ask yourself right now, “What part of my daily intake is ‘fortified’ with a lie, with a hoax, with food and vitamins my body can’t use and fights to expel?” (http://agriculturesociety.com)

The Great Fortification Hoax

Take an inside look at some typical characteristics of fortified foods. This is where you find the synthetic “Trojan horses” of the food industry, showing up in places you thought were safe:

• Fortified foods are often sold in boxes, cans, plastic or foil wrap or artificial containers.

• They are heavily advertised – many companies who sell these foods spend more on advertising budgets than on food quality.

• They are often altered from their original state – some type of chemical alteration like heat (such as boiling), pressure (pulsing), oxidation, osmotic inhibition (use of syrups), ultra high water pressure (a type of pasteurization) or toxin inhibition (such as smoking, use of carbon dioxide).

• Synthetic and isolated nutrients are added that are not naturally occurring.

Fortified iodized salt is bad!

One of the first foods to become fortified was salt. Iodized salt was first introduced in 1924 in Michigan. As scientists began to study the importance of nutrients, minerals and micro-nutrients in health, they began creating synthetic forms of these elements in laboratories for application in foods; however, this reductionist approach disregards the necessity of the elements in their natural state in whole foods, which is the only place where synergistic complexes that are necessary for health can be found. After World War II, more than half of the food for sale in America was processed, and the scientists figured out exactly what additives, preservatives and “fortifiers” helped Big Pharma get bigger. Fast forward to today.

Fortifying disease and illness

Although discussions in health communities about “nutrient toxicity” and warnings of “overdoses” are abundant, the vast differences between synthetic nutrients produced in a laboratory and real nutrients in whole foods are seldom discussed. When people consume artificially produced vitamins and minerals, the risk of overdose and toxicity increases exponentially. Why is that? Nutrients contained in whole foods from nature are balanced correctly, and overdosing from those important elements would be nearly impossible. Here is where “fortified” fools the mainstream consumers. “To quantify nutrient amounts in an artificial supplement to meet a “minimum daily requirement” where those elements are without their co-factors and naturally-occurring enzymes is a health disaster waiting to happen.” (http://agriculturesociety.com)

The bottom line is that “in order for the human body to recognize and use nutrients, they cannot be produced artificially in a lab and isolated to be added into foods where they do not normally occur.” The key words here are “recognize and use,” not fortify and confuse.

Cereal and milk both “fortified” synthetically

Cereal and milk are two of the best examples of fortified foods. Most boxed cereals are produced through a process called extrusion, where grains are forced through a small hole in a machine and then subjected to high temperatures. The grains are then fortified with synthetic nutrients to “replace” what was lost during processing. Milk goes through a similar process. It is heated or pasteurized to kill harmful bacteria, but as this occurs, good bacteria and vitamins are also denatured or compromised. Denatured is defined as to “take away or alter the natural qualities of.” Yet the outlandish claim about pasteurization that nutrients are not significantly destroyed is still made. So then, if that’s the case, why fortify with vitamin D? This is done to trick the general public into believing the food is good for them and gives them the chance to keep their customers for life. You see, synthetic vitamin D cannot be properly assimilated into the human body without many other co-factors and enzymes, including vitamin A, all of which are damaged during pasteurization. There is plenty of scientific evidence about this lack of REAL vitamin D adversely affecting your DNA and overall health. (http://www.naturalnews.com)

Organic Consumers warns people against synthetic vitamins, as they build up in the fat tissues, fat deposits and the liver. In fortified milk, you may not know even how much synthetic vitamin D you are getting. Plus, who’s adding up all the hormones you are consuming? (http://www.naturalnews.com) Are those fortifying your blood and your “immunity?” If you must drink milk, consider organic or raw fresh milk. (http://www.naturalnews.com)

Stay informed, not “fortified”

A fortified food is always a processed food, because processed foods are those that are altered from their naturally occurring states. Food companies produce processed and fortified foods to extend the shelf-life of products, but it shortens human life. It’s all about the money! Plus, synthetic foods usually contain the cheapest ingredients and are available just about anywhere. Incessant advertising and marketing of the lowest quality foods fuel the epidemics of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s. The good news is that you have the power of choice! Keep your body healthy. Shop wisely. Watch for hoaxes and myths and stay tuned to the organic world of whole food. Don’t fall for the fortification hoax. (http://programs.webseed.com)

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/042133_cancer_explosion_food_fortification_processed_foods.html#ixzz2fSeOoo1j

The Power of a Question

Posted on June 18, 2013 by marcia

Question Everything!

14th June 2013

By Jan Fox

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

There can be many reasons why you don’t question everything.

1) Because you have always taken for granted all that is around you is true.

2) Because it is the ‘norm’.

3) Because everyone else does it, or believes it to be true.

4) Because that’s the way it’s always been.

5) Because some “authority” person, be it your parents, a teacher or professor, a doctor or a lawyer, a political figure, a minister, or the television news tells you it’s so.

Did you ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, ‘they’ were wrong?

The majority of people used to believe the world was flat and only a few believed it to be round, and the minority who thought the world was round were laughed at.

Or that the Earth was the center of the Universe – Galileo taught the Sun was the center of the [known] Universe. Following mounting controversy he was tried in 1633, and found “gravely suspect of heresy,” and was sentenced to indefinite imprisonment. This was subsequently commuted to house arrest, under which he remained for the rest of his life – for stating a truth. But we now know what he proposed was absolutely true.

Let’s start with some simple questions

Have you ever asked why the directions on certain shampoo bottles instructs you to shampoo, rinse and shampoo and rinse again? Could it be because you are using twice as much shampoo so you have to buy it twice as often and double the profits of the corporation that is selling the shampoo? Or is it because the shampoo is inadequate, not strong enough to clean your hair the first time?

Why does your tube of toothpaste state you must call Poison Control Center if you swallow more than a toothbrush full of toothpaste? Because it’s poison, that’s why! It has sodium fluoride in it, and that is the poison.

This leads to the next question. Why do the water treatment plants add sodium fluoride to your drinking water if it’s a poison? You were told it would help reduce tooth decay but there are no studies proving that the fluoridation of drinking water prevents tooth decay. None, zilch, nana.

In 1986, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a report in which concern was expressed about the incidence of dental problems caused by there being too much fluoride in public drinking water supplies.

To all this we must add the fact that since drinking water supplies already contain a number of chemicals such as nitrates which accumulate because of the use of fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, chlorine and aluminum sulphate which are added deliberately, and lead or copper from the pipes which are used to supply the water to our homes – adding fluoride to the mixture increase the risk of a dangerous interaction between the various chemicals in the water.

Dr. Dean Burk, PhD, with 34 years at the National Cancer Institute said:

“In point of fact, fluoride causes more human cancer than any other chemical.”

Follow that question with this one. Why, and who recommended we drink eight, 8-ounces of water daily? The most commonly cited source for the 8×8 myth is the U.S. government-sponsored Food and Nutrition Board from 1945. And what year did they start putting fluoride in the water? 1945. Coincidence? And is it a coincidence that in 1942-45, the Nazis put fluoride in the drinking water of those in the concentration camps to keeps the prisoners docile?

If a toothbrush full of toothpaste is swallowed and you are warned to contact Poison Control, why are they recommending eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily – that is full of fluoride? Why no warning to call Poison Control when drinking fluoridated water? You’re getting more fluoride in 64 ounces of fluoridated water than you are in a toothbrush full of toothpaste.

It stands to reason that if sodium fluoride is a poison, along with all the other chemicals, the more water you drink, the more poison (fluoride) you bring into your system. Why would a 5’2″ female weighing 107 pounds need the same amount of water as a 6’3″ male weighing 220 pounds? The report doesn’t specify size and weight, just that we should all drink eight x 8-ounces of water per day. Could it be because ‘they’ want you to drink more water so you will get more sodium fluoride (poison) in your system? It has even been recommended that tranquillizers be added to drinking water supplies to calm people down… although I doubt that will ever happen.

Try questioning where the water goes when you take a shower or a bath. The fluoridated water that doesn’t go down the drain is absorbed into your body. Some of you may be thinking, “No, it doesn’t”. But think about it; why would nicotine patches be sold to help you stop smoking or why would the medical profession give you a patch that releases pain medication if it isn’t absorbed into the body through the skin?

Now you are asking yourself:

Now why would ‘they’ want to poison us? Why would ‘they’ do that? And who are “they” anyway.

The ‘why’ is for money, greed, and power. “They” are the huge corporations that are running the world. Let’s talk about Monsanto for example, which is a gigantic corporation. They spent 40 million dollars in preventing the labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). You should question why Bill Gates (the Microsoft Gates) purchased 500,000 shares of Monsanto stock.

Now why would a huge corporation spend that amount preventing citizens of the United States and many other countries from knowing what they are eating? Why hide it unless it is something Monsanto doesn’t want you to know.

Did you know that those who produce organic foods MUST purchase an expensive organic certification? Certification is handled by state, non-profit and private agencies that have been approved by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Ask yourself why an organic farmer has to pay big bucks for a certification to let people know they are getting organic foods and Monsanto doesn’t even have to label their artificial food?

What’s wrong with this picture? And by the way, “organic” and “natural” labels are not the same. In the U.S., this “natural” label means “minimally processed”.

Let’s step up our questions!

Why do you pay the state to get a marriage license? Because that’s the way it’s done; everyone does it; that’s the way it is.

Ask yourself why you must pay the government/state to get a marriage license to get married. From the beginning of time no one had to get a marriage license to get married, not even ex-presidents such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln had to obtain a marriage license. It wasn’t until 1856 in Shawnee, Kansas that the first person had to ‘purchase’ a license and get ‘permission’ from the government to get married.

Getting a license is the same as getting ‘permission’ from the government to do what we have every God-given right to do in the first place. At one time interracial marriages were not allowed – the government didn’t give them ‘permission’ to marry. Gays cannot marry because the government won’t give them ‘permission’ – won’t issue them a license.

Why is no there no maximum wage? The government gave us a minimum wage but they have not given themselves a maximum wage? They can vote in their own wage. Why are men paid more than women for the same identical job? Why do the citizens of the United States pay into the social security system (whether we want to or not) and collect a small amount when we retire, if we live that long, yet our elected officials don’t pay into social security and can receive their annual income for life when they retire?

Why must we wear a seat belt if we have an airbag? The airbag is released on impact, yet we must wear a seat belt by law and if stopped by the police and you aren’t wearing one, you will get a ticket and fined?

Why must we get ‘permission’ from the government to purchase a license plate for our car, and then renew it every year? Who made that rule up? Who voted on it? Did you get to vote?

Ask why you must purchase a hunting or fishing license from the government/state just to go fishing or hunting. It used to be that anyone could hunt or fish anytime they wanted. Does the government own all the fish and animals in the world? Do they own all the land? And who did they buy the land, the animals and the fish from? God? Who are they to tell us we can’t hunt or fish without their permission? Or that if we do that we must ‘purchase’ a license from them. Ask yourself why you must purchase a dog license from the government.

They are like the school yard bully.

Question inequity

Why must you get a license (permission) from the government to carry a firearm to protect yourself and your family? You have to have a license to sale, to buy, and to repair firearms. The President has secret service men around him at all times (who carry guns) and a bullet-proof vehicle and a private plane. He is well protected but they want everyday citizens to be on our own with no way to protect ourselves unless we get ‘permission’, a license from the government to carry a firearm. Even the Pope has a Popemobile with 3″ bulletproof windows, surrounded by security.

In most cases you even need a license to work, to earn a living. For example, you go to automotive/mechanical school for two years and you learn how to repair vehicles. The school gives you a certificate. Why do you need to go to the government and purchase a license (obtain permission) to work in that field?

Ask yourself why an illegal immigrant mother of seven is given food stamps, meds, housing, and Social Security for 20 years and we have so many people starving and living on the streets here in America? Senior citizens with barely enough to eat, eating cat food, or starving. Can’t afford to pay the electric bill so they freeze during the winter? I’ve seen citizens arrested for feeding the homeless in a park.

Ask why it is illegal to sell raw milk? To grow a garden on your own property? To save rain water in a rain barrel on your own property? Does the government now think they own the rain water? Ask why you must pay personal property tax on your home when the bank actually owns your house until it is completely paid for? If the bank owns your house and can foreclose, why aren’t they paying the property taxes on the house?

Question 911

Let’s look at one of the worst days in American history – 9/11. Why did Building 7 implode like the Twin Towers when it was not even hit with a plane? Why did the newscaster announce that Building 7 fell 20 minutes BEFORE it actually fell? Why did Larry Silverstein buy all three buildings (The Twin Towers and Building 7) on July 24, 2001 and why did he purchased terrorists insurance a couple of months before the so-called terrorists flew into the Twin Towers? Who in the hell buys “terrorist insurance”?

[Silverstein was interested in acquiring the entire World Trade Center complex, and put in a bid when the Port Authority put it up for lease in 2000. Silverstein won the bid when a deal between the initial winner and the Port Authority fell through, and he signed the lease on July 24, 2001.]

Why were the Twin Towers the only buildings to implode in history, to come crashing down because of the fire. No other building in known history has ever fallen down (imploded) due to a fire. Why did firemen and police say they heard explosions in the Twin Towers before the buildings imploded? Why did engineers state that metal will not melt until it reaches a certain temperature and fire does not cause metal to reach the temperatures high enough to bring down a building?

[See: Journal of 911 Studies report “Extremely high temperatures during the World Trade Center destruction“]

Why were all the camera’s confiscated from the surrounding buildings and business around the Pentagon and why didn’t we ever get to view those videos? Why were there only fire trucks and no ambulances at the supposed plane crash into the Pentagon? Why were there no plane parts or people or luggage at the supposed plane crash in Pennsylvania on 9/11?

Question “disaster” events

Why do many major explosions, bombings, and massacres happen in and around mid-April?

April 19, 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing
April 20, 1999 Columbine High School Massacre
April 16, 2007 Virginia Tech Massacre
April 20, 2010 Gulf Oil Spill
April 17, 2013 West, Texas Fertilizer Co. Explosion
April 18, 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings

Take the Columbine High School Massacre. Are you aware that in addition to the shootings, there was a complex and highly-planned attack involving a fire bomb to divert firefights, propane tanks converted to bombs placed in the cafeteria, 99 explosive devices, and bombs rigged in cars? Ask yourself, did two high school students really do all this? Were they really capable of doing all this? Where did these two high school students get the money to purchase all these bombs, propane tanks sawed-off shotguns, and other incendiary items?

Have you asked yourself why most of the perpetrators of these explosions/bombings/massacres commit suicide at the scene or are captured almost immediately afterwards? With the Boston Marathon bombings one was shot and killed and the other shot in the throat so he can’t speak. Coincidence?

Question war

Why has the United States been at war with countries in the Middle East Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, and Jordan? They go from one country to another. Why? We are told the other countries have nuclear power. So what, we have nuclear power. We can have nuclear power but other countries can’t? Why are they using drones to kill civilians, women, children, and babies in those Middle Eastern countries? What are our American boys/men going to foreign countries and fighting for? Certainly not for our freedoms because we are losing more and more freedoms on a daily basis. So what are they fighting for?

Why is it that we, the United States, have built 82 military bases in 18 countries? How would you feel if Russia or China came into the United States and built military bases in your neighborhood? You would be outraged (or should be), but we have built military bases in other countries. Ask yourself why we have all those military bases in other countries.

Question media

Ask why just a few corporations own and control most of the television and radio stations, major newspapers and magazines If they own the news, they control what information you receive and what you don’t. But they don’t own the internet and that is really the only place you can get alternative news. But they are working to control what you can see or not see on the world wide web. China is already controlling what their citizens may view on the internet with the use of a firewall. Ask yourself why they want to control what you see on the world-wide web? What are they afraid you will find out?

Question history

We have not been taught the true history of mankind on Earth. Why not? We have been taught that our world is roughly 6,000 years old. The Koran states 6,000 and yet the Sphinx is much older. How could it have been built before the beginning of mankind?

We now have the accepted evidence that there absolutely had to have been a race of intelligent people on Earth who were highly civilized as early as 10,000 years ago. Most of the ancient history has been destroyed, libraries destroyed, ancient documents destroyed.

The Nag Hammadi Codices were found in 1946, yet a facsimile edition in twelve volumes was not available for all interested parties to study in some form until about 30-40 years later. Why did it take 30 to 40 years to make them available? What were they hiding? What did they change? Did it disagree with the accepted Biblical gospels?

Instead of asking what time that reality show is on, what time the basketball game starts, or what the Kardashians are doing, ask what is happening in your world.

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored

What we are experiencing isn’t new, it’s been happening for thousands of years. It’s just that the internet has brought it to the public’s eyes. That’s another reason why the “powers that be” want to control the internet like they do the television programs (called programs because they are “programming” you), news, newspapers, magazines, movies, the sports and music industry.

Ask yourself… are you really free, living in a free country like you were taugh?

Free to drink raw milk?

Free to get married without the government’s permission?

Free to know what’s in the food and water you are eating and drinking?

Free to go fishing if you wish?

Free to own a firearm to protect your family?

Free to decide if you want to vaccinate your child with over 30 different vaccines before (s)he starts school?

Free to work without being forced to take vaccinations? (Some healthcare workers and nurses have been fired because they refused to be vaccinated)

Ask yourself, is this freedom?

Personally, I am free because I say I am. Government can pass legislation and laws and have the police/military enforce them all they want, but my freedoms are not negotiable. I don’t know about you but my God-given rights are not theirs to take away, or to give me if I pay them a fee.

from: http://wakeup-world.com/2013/06/17/question-everything/

Cancer, Inflammation, Chemo, and Questions

Posted on October 25, 2012 by marcia

How Tumors Exploit Gut Flora to Fuel Growth, and the Surprising Finding that Chemotherapy Boosts Resistant Cancer

October 24 2012

By Dr. Mercola

Could your gut flora play a role in cancer growth? According to recent research, the answer is a tentative yes.

Findings published in the journal Nature¹ report the discovery of microbial-dependent mechanisms through which some cancers mount an inflammatory response that fuels their development and growth. These findings provide new insight into how cancer cells can hijack your body’s inflammatory reaction by exploiting microbial-dependent immune cells.

tory at-a-glance

Researchers have found a microbial-dependent mechanism through which some cancers mount an inflammatory response that fuels their development and growth. They suggest inhibiting the inflammatory cytokines produced might slow cancer progression and improve response to chemotherapy
Probiotics tend to downregulate at least one of several cytokines involved in inflammatory processes, so probiotics may turn out to be an important player in helping to inhibit cytokine production
New research shows chemotherapy can damage healthy cells in such a way that they begin secreting a protein that not only protects cancer cells and promotes their survival, but also causes the tumors to be resistant to further chemotherapy treatment
Despite the 40-year “war on cancer”, drug-based “advances” are not making a dent in the rise of cancer prevalence, as the conventional approach fails to address lifestyle-related issues such as optimizing food intakes, lack of sun exposure, DNA-disrupting wireless technologies, lack of sleep, obesity, and chemical exposures of all kinds

from: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/10/24/tumors-exploit-gut-flora.aspx?e_cid=20121024_DNL_art_1

Where Traditional and Alternative Medicine Agree

Posted on October 12, 2012 by marcia

Laura Schocker Laura.Schocker@huffingtonppost.com Become a fan of this reporter

Traditional Doctors, Alternative Treatments: An Intersection?

Sometimes it can seem as though complementary/alternative treatments and traditional medicine live in two silos — never the twain shall meet, as the saying goes. We go to the doctor when we’re sick or for regular wellness checks. And we go to the yoga studio or a meditation class. Yet we don’t talk to our doctors about how one can support the other.

But the tide may be turning — a recent study in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine has found that three percent of people seeking out mind/body treatments, such as yoga, meditation, tai chi, deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation, are doing so based on a referral from a medical provider.

And while that number may not seem to be particularly high, consider a yoga or meditation class, of say, 30 people — on average, one of them is there because their provider told them to be, explains lead author and HuffPost blogger Aditi Nerurkar, M.D., M.P.H, a physician and integrative medicine fellow at Harvard Medical school and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “We weren’t expecting it to be that high,” she says. “Forty-one million Americans are using mind-body therapies. Of those, 6.4 million are using mind-body therapies because they were recommended to by their provider.”

Looking at a nationally representative sample size of 23,000 survey participants, the researchers found that the most commonly prescribed treatments were deep breathing exercises (84 percent of the respondents), meditation (49 percent), yoga (23 percent), progressive muscle relaxation (20 percent) and guided imagery (14 percent). These numbers were similar to those who sought out the treatments on their own.

“For years and years this has been a patient-driven phenomenon,” Nerurkar says. As people discover what works best for themselves and loved ones, yoga studios, for instance, have popped up to fill a need that patients haven’t always discussed with their doctors.

So why are some physicians ready to hand out an Rx for a little “Om” time?

One reason may be the relatively recent body of research on how various mind-body treatments can be helpful, healthy additions to traditional treatment programs for certain conditions, including anxiety and depression, headaches, chronic pain, cardiac disease, insomnia and treatment-related symptoms of cancer, Nerurkar says.

The researchers also found that the patients who were seeking out mind-body treatments at the recommendation of a medical provider were those who typically had more diagnosed conditions and used the health-care system more often. Nerurkar says one reason that may be is that providers are referring their more complex patients once other treatments have failed — and this concept may lead to future research studies about what would happen if these complementary programs were offered earlier on in the treatment process.

Of course, not all complementary and alternative treatments have evidence behind them, Nerurkar points out. But when the research that is out there is coupled with patients’ success stories, some providers are opening up to the possibilities. “Ultimately you just want your patients to feel better,” she says. “At the end of the day, if my patients are using these therapies and they’re feeling good, I encourage them to do it.”

Here are some starting points for each of the mind-body treatments most commonly suggested by the medical community:

Deep breathing: Regular deep breathing — taking slow breaths in and out — has been linked to regulation of the cardiovascular and nervous systems and easing symptoms of anxiety, among other benefits. To start out a deep breathing exercise, focus on your breath coming in and out as it would normally and then begin deeper breaths, spending longer on inhalations and exhalations, according to the University of Rochester:

Breathe deeply and slowly, focusing all of your attention on each breath. Don’t rush it or breathe quickly. As you exhale naturally, allow any tension to leave you with the breath. Imagine the tension draining from your body and mind as you exhale. Notice the feeling of calm and relaxation that comes with exhalation.

Meditation: Studies have linked regular meditation to, among many other benefits, a decrease in fatigue and depression in multiple sclerosis patients, boosts in cellular health and a reduction in the severity of various mental and physical side effects from certain types of cancer treatment. Check out this primer for do-it-yourself meditation from the Mayo Clinic, or find a class near you.

Yoga: Of the many potential benefits of yoga, certain forms have been associated with improving recovery from breast cancer, lessening anxiety and counteracting fibromyalgia. Yoga has many different forms — you can practice poses alone, attend a local class or even do a yoga video at home.

Progressive muscle relaxation: This technique has been found to benefit people with Alzheimer’s disease, patients in the midst of cancer treatment, older people suffering from chronic pain and insomnia sufferers. The basic theory is to focus on groups of muscles in the body, often tensing them up, as you breathe in and then slowly relaxing them as you breathe out.

Guided imagery: Guided imagery has been associated with increased immunity and reduced feelings of depression. This process helps you to relax by taking you through a series of visualizations and direct suggestions, according to the Academy For Guided Imagery. You can find a certified instructor through the academy, practice guided imagery with a therapist or buy a tape to try the technique at home.

from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/25/complementary-treatments_n_866555.html?utm_hp_ref=meditation