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On Vaccines & Health

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The Vaccine Illusion: How Vaccination Compromises Our Natural Immunity and What We Can Do To Regain Our Health

The Vaccine Illusion: How Vaccination Compromises Our Natural Immunity and What We Can Do To Regain Our Health

Available for Immediate Download

This is the introduction to the new vaccine book by Tetyana Obukhanych (Ph.D. in immunology from Rockefeller University, New York, NY) Vaccine Illusion. The book is available in pdf e-book form for immediate download here.  

Tetyana Obukhanych, Ph.D.

I know of many alternative health practitioners and even of a few pediatricians who have embraced the non-vaccination approach to health. However, I have yet to encounter one among my own kind: a scientist in the trenches of mainstream biomedical research who does not regard vaccines as the greatest invention of medicine.

I never imagined myself in this position, least so in the very beginning of my Ph.D. research training in immunology. In fact, at that time, I was very enthusiastic about the concept of vaccination, just like any typical immunologist. However, after years of doing research in immunology, observing scientific activities of my superiors, and analyzing vaccine issues, I realized that vaccination is one of the most deceptive inventions the science could ever convince the world to accept.

As we hear more and more about vaccine injuries, many individuals are starting to view vaccination as a necessary evil that has helped us initially to overcome raging epidemics but now causes more damage than benefit to our children.

As an immunologist, I have a different and perhaps a very unique perspective. I have realized that the invention of vaccination in the 18th century has precluded us from seeking to understand what naturally acquired immunity to diseases really is. Had we pursued a different route in the absence of that shortcut, we could have gained a thorough understanding of naturally acquired immunity and developed a truly effective and safe method of disease prevention compared to what vaccines can possibly offer.

The biological term immunity refers to a universally observed phenomenon of becoming unsusceptible to a number of infectious diseases through prior experience. Because of the phonetic similarity between the words immunology and immunity, it is tempting to assume that immunology is a science that studies the state of immunity, but this is not the case. Immunology is a science that studies an artificial process of immunization – i.e., the immune system’s response to injected foreign matter. Immunology does not attempt to study and therefore cannot provide understanding of natural diseases and immunity that follows them. Yet, the “knowledge” about the function of the immune system during the natural process of disease is recklessly inferred from contrived immunologic experiments, which typically consist of injecting laboratory-grown microorganisms (live or dead) or their isolated parts into research animals to represent the state of infection. Because immunologic experiments are unrealistic simulations of the natural process, immunologists’ understanding of nature is limited to understanding their own experimental models. Immunologists have confined the scope of their knowledge to the box of experimental modeling, and they do not wish to see beyond that box. Thinking within the box only reinforces the notion of vaccination and cannot provide any other solution to the problem of diseases.

Despite the fact that the biological basis of naturally acquired immunity is not understood, present day medical practices insist upon artificial manipulation of the immune response (a.k.a. immunization or vaccination) to secure “immunity” without going through the actual disease process. The vaccine-induced process, although not resembling a natural disease, is nevertheless still a disease process with its own risks. And it is not immunity that we gain via vaccination but a puny surrogate of immunity. For this reason, vaccination at its core is neither a safe nor an effective method of disease prevention. Yet, immunologists have nothing better to offer because they can only go as far as their deeply rooted immunologic dogma allows them.

Three important factors have contributed to my gradual disillusionment with immunologic paradigms and their applications – vaccines. First, several significant inconsistencies within immunologic theory made me quite unsatisfied with its attempted explanation of immunity. Second, I observed how some seasoned immunologists would omit mentioning the outcome of crucial experiments to make their publication on new vaccine development strategies look very promising. This made me suspicious about the vaccine development process in general and eager to take a look at the other side of the vaccination debate.

The third factor was the birth of my child. This event compelled me to take a break from laboratory research for a few years. I completely shed my identity of an immunologist and became a parent determined to raise a healthy child. I was amazed at how clueless I was about what really matters for health despite my proficiency in all those fancy immunologic theories amassed in the Ivory Tower. For the sake of my child, I had to reconsider everything I knew in immunology. I searched deeper and deeper for the root of vaccine problems we face today and it all came back to me in clear light.

This book is intended to give parents essential immunologic background for making vaccination decisions for their children. Making vaccination decisions is an important personal responsibility that should not be left to any medical or scientific authority. Parents should educate themselves about vaccines and diseases to the extent that they feel absolutely confident and well prepared for taking full responsibility for the consequences of their decisions.

It is important to estimate risks of vaccine injuries versus risks of exposure to vaccine-targeted microorganisms. But the analysis should not stop there. I urge every parent to consider how vaccines achieve their effects, and if the desired vaccine effects truly benefit our children and our society. The implications of vaccination were not acceptable to me, neither as a parent nor as a scientist, and this book is my effort to tell other parents why.

Another goal of this book is to raise awareness in our society about the urgent necessity to change basic immunologic research in a way that will finally bring us understanding of naturally acquired immunity. It is up to future generations of immunologists to rescue this science and put it on the right track. The benefits for humankind will be enormous, as this would make both vaccine injuries and fear of diseases a matter of the past. But to make this happen, the field of immunology must first be cleared from the weeds of immunologic dogma.

And finally, this book is my attempt to heal the schism in our society between those who oppose vaccines due to vaccine safety concerns and those who oppose the anti-vaccine movement due to the fear of diseases. This schism has brought us enormous suffering by dividing families, friends, and health provider communities. But we all have the same goal: we all want the best for our children. Only by uniting our efforts will we be able to find a solution to the problem of diseases without compromising our health by means of vaccines.

Download the book now and learn the following: 

  • Why do vaccines fail to give us lasting immunity from viral diseases?
  • Why do vaccines provide no guarantee of protection from bacterial diseases?
  • Why is vaccine-based herd immunity not achievable

from:    http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/vaccine-illusion-how-vaccination-compromises-our-natural-immunity-and-what-we-can

Pro-GMO Scientist Retracts Studies

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GMO-Science Takes a Blow as Studies Are Retracted

March 11, 2014 | 227,702 views

By Dr. Mercola

GMO Study

Story at-a-glance

  • Leading scientist for pro-GMO lobby, Dr. Pamela Ronald, recently retracted two studies. Her retracted research has in turn been cited by more than 120 other papers, causing a massive snowball effect of potentially invalidated research
  • The two now retracted studies formed the basis of her research program into how rice plants detect certain pathogenic bacteria
  • With the loss of her credibility, and the domino effect these retractions are likely to cause within the scientific field, the entire industry of biotechnology stands to suffer a great blow to its scientific integrity
  • Genetically engineered foods have never been proven safe for consumption, and there are definitive correlations between the results from GMO animal-feeding studies and the patterns of human disease we’re now seeing

The pesticide producers are one of the most powerful industries on the planet, the influence they possess is enormous. You have probably heard that an Elsevier journal has retracted the Seralini study which showed evidence of harm to rats fed a GMO diet, despite admitting they found no fraud or errors in the study.

This journal had also just recently appointed an ex-Monsanto employee as an editor – one could only guess the value of this strategy for the pesticide industry. Expect Seralini to sue as this story develops, as it appears he has a very strong case.

Alas, the scientific ground on which the genetic engineering of plants is built may now be shakier than ever, thanks to GMO promoting scientists like Dr. Pamela Ronald.  A recent article in Independent Science News1 questions whether she’ll be able to salvage her career, as two of her scientific papers (published in 2009 and 2011 respectively) were recently retracted.

With the loss of her credibility, and the domino effect these retractions are likely to cause within the scientific field, the entire chemical technology industry stands to suffer a great blow to its scientific integrity.

“Her media persona… is to take no prisoners,” Jonathan Latham, PhD writes.2 “After New York Times chief food writer Mark Bittman advocated GMO labeling, she called him ‘a scourge on science’ who ‘couches his nutty views in reasonable-sounding verbiage.’ His opinions were “almost fact- and science-free” continued Ronald.

In 2011 she claimed in an interview with the US Ambassador to New Zealand: ‘After 14 years of cultivation and a cumulative total of two billion acres planted, GE crops have not caused a single instance of harm to human health or the environment.’“

She may have to turn down her criticism a notch, considering the fact that not one but two of her own studies were found to contain sizeable scientific errors, rendering her findings null and void. Questions have also been raised about a third study published in 2011, according to the featured article.

Public Face of GMOs Loses Scientific Credibility

Ronald’s research group claimed to have identified a molecule used by rice plants to detect pathogenic rice blight, as well as a quorum sensing molecule (meaning a molecule that can coordinate gene expression according to the density of the local population).

These two studies, both of which are now retracted,3, 4 formed the basis of her research program at the University of California in Davis, which is investigating how rice plants detect certain pathogenic bacteria.

Ronald blamed the erroneous work by long gone lab members from Korea and Thailand, referring to the errors as a “mix-up.” She didn’t name her bungling colleagues, however. And while media coverage applauded Ronald for “doing the right thing” by retracting the studies, the featured article5 questions whether she really deserves such accolades:

“[S]cientific doubts had been raised about Ronald-authored publications at least as far back as August 2012… German researchers had been unable to repeat Ronald’s discoveries… and they suggested as a likely reason that her samples were contaminated.

Furthermore, the German paper also asserted that, for a theoretical reason, her group’s claims were inherently unlikely. In conclusion, the German group wrote: ‘While inadvertent contamination is a possible explanation, we cannot finally explain the obvious discrepancies to the results…’

Pamela Ronald, however, did not concede any of the points raised by the German researchers and did not retract the Danna et al 2011 paper. Instead, she published a rebuttal.

The subsequent retractions, beginning in January 2013, however, confirm that in fact very sizable scientific errors were being made in the Ronald laboratory. But more importantly for the ‘Kudos to Pam’ story, it was not Pamela Ronald who initiated public discussion of the credibility of her research.

… Ronald’s footnotes [in the explanation that accompanied the retraction of her second article6 admit two mislabelings, along with failures to establish and use replicable experimental conditions, and also minimally two failed complementation tests. Each mistake appears to have been compounded by a systemic failure to use basic experimental controls.

Thus, leading up to the retractions were an assortment of practical errors, specific departures from standard scientific best practice, and lapses of judgment in failing to adequately question her labs’ unusual (and therefore newsworthy) results.”

The Snowball Effect of Retracted Studies

According to data from Thomson Reuters,7 the numbers of scientific retractions have climbed more than 15-fold since 2001. What many don’t realize is that even a small number of retracted studies can wreak absolute havoc with the science-based paradigm. Other scientists who have based their research on the results from studies that, for whatever reason, end up being retracted, are now perpetuating flawed science as well. In one example, two retracted medical studies led to the retraction of another 17.

In this case, the first of Dr. Ronald’s retracted studies has been cited eight times.8 The second? 113 times.9 That sounds like an awfully large cleanup job in a field that’s already heavily criticized for its preponderance of “lousy science,” to use the words of award-winning geneticist Dr. David Suzuki.

The Problem with GMO Plant Science

It’s important to realize that genetically engineered plants and animals are created using horizontal gene transfer (also called horizontal inheritance). This is in stark contrast to vertical gene transfer, which is the mechanism in natural reproduction. Vertical gene transfer, or vertical inheritance, is the transmission of genes from the parent generation to offspring via sexual or asexual reproduction, i.e., breeding a male and female from one species.

Horizontal gene transfer, on the other hand, involves injecting a gene from one species into a completely different species, which yields unexpected and often unpredictable results. Proponents of genetically engineered crops assume they can apply the principles of vertical inheritance to horizontal inheritance, but according to Dr. David Suzuki, this assumption is flawed in just about every possible way and is “just lousy science.”

Genes don’t function in a vacuum — they act in the context of the entire genome. Whole sets of genes are turned on and off in order to arrive at a particular organism, and the entire orchestration is an activated genome. It’s a dangerous mistake to assume a gene’s traits are expressed properly, regardless of where they’re inserted. The safety of genetically modified food is based only on a hypothesis, and this hypothesis is already being proven wrong.

The kind of horizontal gene transfer that is currently used to create new crop seeds tends to produce highly inflammatory foreign proteins. As one would expect, were there a connection, inflammation-based chronic diseases have indeed increased right alongside with the proliferation of GMO foods in the US. Clearly, Dr. Ronald never bothered to look at such data, and her declaration that “GE crops have not caused a single instance of harm to human health or the environment”10 is as lacking in scientific support as her retracted research.

Results from Animal-Feeding Studies Correlate with Human Disease Patterns

According to Jeffrey Smith, who is one of the leaders in educating people about the concerns and dangers of GMOs, there are definitive correlations between the results from animal-feeding studies and the patterns of human disease we’re now seeing. For example, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine has done a number of animal-feeding studies on GMOs and specifically enumerated the particular categories of diseases and disorders found in these controlled environments. These include:

Gastrointestinal problems Immune problems Reproductive problems
Organ damage Dysfunction and dysregulation of cholesterol Dysfunction and dysregulation of insulin

 

“You look at the three different corresponding factors: (1) what humans are getting better from, (2) what livestock is getting better from, (3) what afflictions are afflicting the lab animals fed with GMOs, and then you look at what diseases are really taking off in the United States – they’re the same categories,” Smith says.

For example, kidney problems have been demonstrated in 19 different animal-feeding studies, and kidney diseases are on the rise in the US. Could there be a connection? Smith and I both believe this to be the case. According to Smith:

“We heard from two people at a meeting in Arizona, someone whose husband was nearly on dialysis and someone else who had three kidney transplants – both situations reversed when they changed their diet. You see things like the animal-feeding study out of Russia where the babies were a lot smaller after being fed GE soy, and you see the incidence of low-birth-weight babies is going up in the United States… Deaths from senile dementia moved along at a certain pace, and then when GMOs or Roundup were introduced, it shot up… So, you see these correlations between these four things now: (1) the animal-feeding studies, (2) people getting better [when removing GMO], (3) livestock getting better [when removing GMO], and (4) changes in the disease rates.”

GMO Foods Have Never Been Proven Safe for Long-Term Consumption

In 2009, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine called for a moratorium on genetically modified foods, and said that long-term independent studies must be conducted, stating: “Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food, including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. …There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation…”

Despite this sound warning, genetically engineered foods continue to be added to the US food supply with no warning to the Americans buying and eating this food. Genetic manipulation of crops, and more recently food animals, is a dangerous game that has repeatedly revealed that assumptions about how genetic alterations work and the effects they have on animals and humans who consume such foods are deeply flawed and incomplete. Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant claims genetically engineered crops are “the most-tested food product that the world has ever seen.” What he doesn’t tell you is that:

  1. Industry-funded research predictably affects the outcome of the trial. This has been verified by dozens of scientific reviews comparing funding with the findings of the study. When industry funds the research, it’s virtually guaranteed to be positive. Therefore, independent studies must be done to replicate and thus verify results.
  2. The longest industry-funded animal feeding study was 90 days, which recent research has confirmed is FAR too short. In the world’s first independently funded lifetime feeding study, massive health problems set in during and after the 13th month, including organ damage and cancer.
  3. Companies like Monsanto and Syngenta rarely if ever allow independent researchers access to their patented seeds, citing the legal protection these seeds have under patent laws. Hence, independent research is extremely difficult to conduct.
  4. There is no safety monitoring. Meaning, once the genetically engineered item in question has been approved, not a single country on Earth is actively monitoring and tracking reports of potential health effects.

Vote with Your Pocketbook, Every Day

 

Remember, the food companies on the left of this graphic spent tens of millions of dollars in the last two labeling campaigns—in California and Washington State—to prevent you from knowing what’s in your food. You can even the score by switching to the brands on the right; all of whom stood behind the I-522 Right to Know campaign. Voting with your pocketbook, at every meal, matters. It makes a huge difference.

I-522 poster

As always, I encourage you to continue educating yourself about genetically engineered foods, and to share what you’ve learned with family and friends. Remember, unless a food is certified organic, you can assume it contains GMO ingredients if it contains sugar from sugar beet, soy, or corn, or any of their derivatives.

 

If you buy processed food, opt for products bearing the USDA 100% Organic label, as organics do not permit GMOs. You can also print out and use the Non-GMO Shopping Guide, created by the Institute for Responsible Technology. Share it with your friends and family, and post it to your social networks. Alternatively, download their free iPhone application, available in the iTunes store. You can find it by searching for ShopNoGMO in the applications. For more in-depth information, I highly recommend reading the following two books, authored by Jeffrey Smith, the executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology:

from:   http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/03/11/retracted-gmo-studies.aspx?e_cid=20140311Z1_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20140311Z1&et_cid=DM40701&et_rid=452684942

Links: Body Parts & Emotional Stuff

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Every Part of Your Body Is Linked To An Emotion – Here’s How Your Body Responds To What You Think and Feel

When we go to a doctor we expect to be told what is wrong with us. We receive a diagnosis and then wonder what we will do about it. It’s becoming obvious more and more that drugs are not, and never have been the answer to health. So why do we keep taking them at the advice of a doctor who might not have a clue what the side effects are? We have put our lives in the hands of doctors instead of taking back the power that sits within each of us to discover…if only we trust it.

“To me the greatest challenge has been understanding the illusion of all that we perceive as “reality.” Someday when all of us reach that Galactic Stage of development and awareness, then perhaps all of us will understand the big illusion. Meanwhile, Mona presents you a path that should be exciting and ultimately help you reach Enlightenment.”

The above statement is an endorsement from Norm Shealy, M.D., Ph.D and President of Holos Institutes of Health. It was written for my book “The Sacred Language of the Human Body.” Writing this book was a fulfillment to me to be able to share with all of you the most profound reasons why we get sick, why we develop conditions in the body, and what is the actual cause. By knowing this, we are more than capable of reversing it. The phrase, “As Above, So Below” is important to conceive of because the body reflects the “So Below.” The “As Above” in life is our mental, emotional, and spiritual bodies. They are our thought forms that create who we are. The “So Below” is the bodies way of expressing it.

Recently on the Syfy channel, Stephen Hawking talked about stem cell research and the possibilities of science being able to cure even paralysis in the future. Spinal cord injuries are the hardest to heal, yet researchers are suggesting that stem cell research will prove to be positive as miraculous results in rats have already been observed. Hawking stated there was a danger in this as well. He said stem cells are bionic cells in the body that carry more than we know…even cancer. So his concern is that science needs to work out the bugs before he would feel confident in this whole heartedly.

In the meantime, I have information from the work I’ve done for over 30 years with energy and reading conditions for individuals as well as groups with certain conditions looking for answers. It’s time to move forward in a changing world and learning the benefits you were born with. In my book I have been asked to share certain reasons for particular forms of illness and disease. Again, I prefer the word “condition” over “diagnosis” to avoid labels. Not every condition responds the same to any one cure. That’s because based on who you are and your past experiences, a “fall out” of energy that the body has had enough of, will leak into the physical form after a period of time.

Each body area has a language as to what the organs do, the muscles, the nerves, etc. When a condition occurs in the body in a localized area, it’s to help us discover what we might need to change in order to keep “homeostasis” in our emotions, mental reasoning, and spiritual living.

I have designed the book to teach you what body parts are for, and which emotion or thought contributes to the condition. Left is the receiver as right is the giver. From there you will be able to identify a cause by going back and being honest with yourself. If you are having difficulties in these areas, here are some examples based on the overall job of the area:

ARMS: What are you carrying…or who?

ARMPITS: Storage unit of what we don’t want to see anymore (Emotional)

BACK: Questioning life’s relation to support (who supports us,etc.). Confrontation for supporting yourself through love.

BLADDER: Emotional resistance to life.

BREASTS: Nurturing the Self (or lack of)

CALVES: Moving forward. Not dealing with past issues or patterns.

COLON: Not going with the flow of life..emotional resistance to change.

EYES: How do you see life? Is it according to your true self?

FEET: How we walk in this world. In which direction are we walking?

JOINTS: Flexibility or not in your situations and your attachments to them.

HANDS: Represent holding on or letting go.

HEART: Not listening to our true self through our feelings

HIPS: General support. When they slip out, it generally relates to an imbalance in how you are relating to life. Feeling the lack of love and support.

JOINTS: Flexibility to or in your situations

KIDNEYS: Holding on to angers or resentments. Being pissed off.

KNEES: Seeing life as unsupported. Inside knee; Community, job, friends. Outside knee; personal issues.

NERVES: Sensitivity towards a situation not acknowledged in the conscious mind.

OVARIES: Very sensitive past issues about creativity. Guilt.

SINUS:  Confusion. Needing to let go or make decisions on a mental level. (Sinus infections are anger in the situation. Headaches are contributed to not making a decision. Migraines are the daddy of headaches of knowing what decision to make and not making it.)

STOMACH: Carries recognition of digesting life, or not.

SWELLING: Tears unshed

Blockages, such as the effects of our insecure actions, restrict the body’s potential for healing. The can include blood, nerve, oxygen, and any forward motion toward a goal. These obviously cause dysfunction and discomfort as well:

ALLERGIES: Blockages in the stomach and intestines. What are we not digesting?

ACHING: Craving love so bad it hurts! (Depending on where the ache is, the language speaks for itself.)

ANXIETY: Fear generated by past experiences not yet released.

ARTHRITIS: Joints determine flexibility. How flexible are we willing to be? Not letting go.

ASTHMA: Fear from past lives, somewhat acknowledged in this life. Feeling alone, not safe.

BLOOD PRESSURE: What pressures stand in our way to freedom?

BONES: Past lives and memories stored there. Marrow is the meat of our past

BOWELS: The “outcome” of the day. Pressures either building or releasing.

BRONCHITIS: Feeling that you can’t change a situation happening that is close to your heart. Inner congestion.

CANCER: This brings up inner upset. Deep hurts unresolved.

CANDIDA: “Can anybody hear me?” Lack of trust. Deep frustrations not recognized

CARPAL TUNNEL: “Why can’t I make this life work?” It’s a form of outward frustration relating to the nerves held deep under the armpit. This is also where we keep our deepest secrets so other’s can’t see them.

COLD HANDS AND FEET: Not trusting yourself. Believing you may never “live up to…”

COLDS: We simply don’t catch colds. Colds are mental confusion. Not sure if you should choose one way or another

FAT: Oversensitivity. Sadness. A need for a way of protection. Where is all this weight coming from? (Can also be holding onto others’ or your own emotions in the body.)

FATIGUE: Boredom, resistance, and denying what it takes to move forward, “What’s next?”

FIBROIDS: Questioning if you are loved. Nursing pains from the past.

FLU: Time out. This is your body’s way of making yourself slow down.

GUM PROBLEMS: Not making a decision for yourself and not sticking to it if you did. Be clear, and go for it!

HAY FEVER: Not feeling that you deserve to be happy. A form of self-persecution.

INSOMNIA: Fear, guilt and a feeling that “I just can’t control life…”

MUSCLES: Representing our ability to move in life. How flexible are we?

NAIL BITING: Not liking yourself and wondering if you really have anything to offer. Questioning your worth.

PNEUMONIA: I’m so tired. Trying isn’t necessary anymore.

SACRUM: What are you sitting on? Let’s get to the bottom issue.

SPASMS: Holding onto old thoughts when old thoughts are ready to be released.

TEETH: Not liking your situation. (Because they are bone, it could be past life pain coming up for release.)

ULCERS: Not feeling fulfilled. Leaving a hole and causing grief.

These are just examples of how the body speaks for itself. It knows not good or bad, it only reacts. No one has random effects in a physical body. All things are energy, and we are in charge. This is a time of recognition and reconciliation of our own spirit. We live in a time when our human awareness is poised to experience a more fulfilling connection to the greater universe as we journey back to who we truly are. Oneness within ourselves guides and produces oneness in the world. This is how true health is created and shared. It is the Shaman’s path, an integrated way of living, where simplicity and knowledge shall lead the way towards a planet of balance and harmony.

May you stay healthy in these times of constant change and resilience. We are the trailblazers for the future of healthcare.

~ Blessings, Mona Delfino~

Mona Delfino is a teacher, leader and healer, starting with being born Shaman. She has found her passion in seeing people heal from the depths of their soul, being able to assist them through the process with reading their souls energy from lifetimes that have created blockages in their freedom for todays times. Mona is a National Speaker and a leader in the field of Medical Intuition. She works on individuals through Skype, phone, and hands on sessions. Visit her website www.sacredreconnections.com.

from:    http://preventdisease.com/news/14/020514_Every-Part-of-Body-Linked-To-Emotion-How-Your-Body-Responds-To-What-You-Think-Feel.shtml

Changing Views on Healthy Foods, etc.

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In health and nutrition, what’s old is suddenly new again

 

(NaturalNews) When it comes to health and nutrition, it seems like everything old is new again. Many foods or health protocols that used to be commonly enjoyed were later attacked and discredited by industry-funded “scientists” trying to sell toxic substitutes like vegetable oil or aspartame.

But as health awareness has radically increased over the last two decades, many “old” things are new again. In this article, I share my list on many of these “old” things which are suddenly back in vogue.

What’s old is suddenly new

• Local food – Before the rise of factory foods, nearly all food was local. As a result, it was also far healthier and more nutritious than today’s centrally-manufactured, distributed foods (think McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets).

Now, thanks to the rise of the local food movement, CSAs and farmers markets, local food is popular again. It also happens to be ecologically sustainable. If humanity is to survive the next century, it must do so by learning how to produce local decentralized food.

• Sunlight – Once praised as a health treatment all by itself, sunlight has been relentlessly attacked by dermatologists and the cancer industry who have encouraged massive vitamin D deficiencies across the population. But now, as the importance of vitamin D is coming back to light, more and more people are turning to sensible sunshine exposure as a powerful, genuine health treatment with remarkable anti-cancer benefits.

• Eggs – The vicious campaign attacking eggs — waged throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s — was based entirely on junk science and deceptive dietary advice. Whole eggs, it turns out, are very healthy when produced by truly free-range chickens that aren’t fed GMOs, pesticides and chemicals. Today, people recognize this again, and more people are not just buying eggs but even raising their own chickens (like I do).

• Butter – Like eggs, butter was also maligned by prostitute-scientists spreading Big Food propaganda to sell partially hydrogenated oils and “buttery spreads” or margarine. Today, however, society has finally come to realize that hydrogenated oils are poison. Real butter, it seems, is actually a whole lot better for you than fake butters. And margarine is now largely seen as cheap food eaten by low-income people who can’t afford real butter.

• Neti pots and nasal rinses – Used throughout human history, nasal rinsing is a practice traced back to the dawn of civilization. But during the rise of the antibiotics era, personal hygiene took a back seat to the more “scientific” protocol of taking antibiotics instead of just rinsing your sinuses. But the age of antibiotics is now coming to an end as physician-assisted abuse of antibiotics spurred the development and spread of deadly superbugs. Suddenly, rinsing your nasal passages with salt water seems a whole lot wiser than popping superbug-inducing chemical pills.

• Sugar – Cane sugar has been relentlessly attacked as the enemy of health. But it turns out that artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose are a lot more worrisome than sugar — especially if the sugar is minimally processed (evaporated cane juice crystals). High-fructose corn syrup is also now widely believed to be far more disease-promoting than cane sugar, and many people actually seek out sodas sweetened with real sugar rather than corn syrup.

• Eyeglasses – Contacts involve the use of cleaning chemicals which have preservatives that lead to eye irritation with long-term use. That’s why some people experience eye irritation and are now returning to using eyeglasses. Even though contacts made glasses “old fashioned” for a while, glasses are coming back into their own as many people find them more natural and comfortable than contact lenses.

• Natural hair color – For many people, the age of poisoning yourself with toxic hair dyes is over. Natural colors are back in style, and in many ways natural gray shows wisdom rather than a desperate, contrived effort to feign youth.

• Face-to-face conversations – During the rise of social media giants like Facebook, people thought it would be cool to connect with each other online. But now the truth has become obvious to nearly everyone: “connecting” online isn’t much of a connection at all. What people really crave is human interaction, not meaningless, electronically-fabricated social circles.

In addition, here’s a short list of a few other foods and health that are suddenly back in style:

• Red wine (and resveratrol)
• Raw milk
• Cloth diapers
• Plant-based diets
• Home schooling
• Full-spectrum healthy salts
• Avocados (which were long attacked as containing too much fat)
• Vitamin C
• Organic coffee

CHocolate & Body Fat

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The Higher The Consumption of Chocolate, The Lower The Level of Body Fat

Yes ladies, it’s time to crack open the bubbly and toast the University of Granada researchers from the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences. They have scientifically disproven the outdated belief that eating chocolate is fattening. If you don’t enjoy exercising, you may also appreciate that the research was independent of diet and physical activity.

Virtually everyone likes chocolate, and no other food resembles chocolate in flavour, aroma and texture. Chocolate is also highest on the list of foods subject to cravings which leads to guilt when we consume an excess.

In an article published this week in the journal Nutrition, the authors have shown that higher consumption of chocolate is associated with lower levels of total fat (fat deposited all over the body) and central fat (abdominal), independently of whether or not the individual participates in regular physical activity and of diet, among other factors.

The researchers determined whether greater chocolate consumption associated with higher body mass index and other indicators of total and central body fat in adolescents participating in the HELENA (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) study. This project, financed by the European Union, studies eating habits and lifestyle in young people in 9 European countries, including Spain.

The pleasurable experience of eating chocolate can alter mood by directly producing a feeling of well-being and by distracting us from feelings such as anxiety and depression. In turn, relief from distressing mood states could reinforce liking for chocolate. These changes in mood could be related to any of the previous theories.

In a recent study by Dr. Penny Kris-Etherton of Pennsylvania State University, subjects who followed a diet rich in cocoa butter saw no rise in their blood cholesterol levels.

Independent of diet and physical activity

The study involved 1458 adolescents aged between 12 and 17 years and results showed that a higher level of chocolate consumption associated with lower levels of total and central fat when these were estimated through body mass index, body fat percentage–measured by both skinfolds and bioelectrical impedance analysis–and waist circumference. These results were independent of the participant’s sex, age, sexual maturation, total energy intake, intake of saturated fats, fruit and vegetables, consumption of tea and coffee, and physical activity.

As the principle author Magdalena Cuenca-Garcia explains, although chocolate is considered a high energy content food–it is rich in sugars and saturated fats–“recent studies in adults suggest chocolate consumption is associated with a lower risk of cardiometabolic disorders”.

In fact, chocolate is rich in flavonoids–especially catechins–which have many healthy properties: “they have important antioxidant, antithrombotic, anti-inflammatory and antihypertensive effects and can help prevent ischemic heart disease”.

Recently, another cross-sectional study in adults conducted by University of California researchers found that more frequent chocolate consumption also associated with a lower body mass index. What’s more, these results were confirmed in a longitudinal study in women who followed a catechin-rich diet.

The effect could be partly due to the influence of catechins on cortisol production and on insulin sensitivity, both of which are related with overweight and obesity.

Calorie impact is not the only thing that matters

The University of Granada researchers have sought to go further and analyse the effect of chocolate consumption at a critical age like adolescence by also controlling other factors that could influence the accumulation of fat. The research, which is both novel and, perhaps, the largest and best-controlled study to date, is the first to focus on the adolescent population. It includes a large number of body measures, objective measurement of physical activity, detailed dietary recall with 2 non-consecutive 24-hour registers using image-based software, and controls for the possible effect of a group of key variables.

In Nutrition, the authors stress that the biological impact of foods should not be evaluated solely in terms of calories. “The most recent epidemiologic research focuses on studying the relation between specific foods–both for their calorie content and for their components–and the risk factors for developing chronic illnesses, including overweight and obesity”.

Despite their results, the authors insist that chocolate consumption should always be moderate. “In moderate quantities, chocolate can be good for you, as our study has shown. But, undoubtedly, excessive consumption is prejudicial. As they say: you can have too much of a good thing”.

The University of Granada researchers stress that their findings “are also important from a clinical perspective since they contribute to our understanding of the factors underlying the control and maintenance of optimal weight”.

Some things to keep in mind when selecting a chocolate bar:
1) The darker the better
2) stay away from chocolate with soy, soy lecithin, palm oil, natural flavor, whey, yeast, polyglycerols and other nasty chemicals that don’t belong in the ingredient list
3) No refined sugar is necessary to make a great tasting chocolate bar 4) Cacao should be preferably stone ground and preferably organic (if it’s not raw the lower the antioxidant value)
5) cacao beans should NOT be gas dried (know your source).

Source:
nutritionjrnl.com

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://preventdisease.com/news/13/111113_The-Higher-The-Consumption-of-Chocolate-The-Lower-Level-of-Body-Fat.shtml

That Amazing Vitamin D

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

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

Dangers of Fluoride

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Nine Shocking Dangers of Fluoride Exposure

fluoride-small

5th February 2014

By Dr. Edward F. Group

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

Exposure to fluoride is a contentious topic, mostly because exposure is everywhere. Not only is fluoride a common ingredient in toothpaste, many municipalities have a fluoridated water supply. Why? Well, the reason we’re given is that it encourages oral health… even though it’s not known to prevent harmful oral bacteria. [1] What is known is that fluoride is toxic. In fact, the number one reason for poison control calls concerning fluoride are for children who’ve eaten toothpaste. [2] [3] Long-term ingestion is harmful to the brain, digestive system, heart, bones… even the tooth enamel it’s supposed to help. [4] [5] [6] These next 9 shocking facts will make you take a second look at your exposure to fluoride.

1. Weakens Skeletal Health

Skeletal fluorosis is a condition resulting from fluoride consumption. The liver is unable to process fluoride, thus it passes into the bloodstream where it combines with calcium that’s been leeched from the skeletal system. You’re left with weak bones, otherwise known as skeletal fluorosis. The risk has been known about for decades yet it’s not been established how much exposure will trigger skeletal fluorosis… and the impact it has on quality of life is horrendous. [7] [8] [9] The best way to protect yourself is to avoid fluoride. Recently, Chinese authorities established a link between reductions in fluoride exposure and the incidence of fluorosis. [10]

2. Causes Arthritis

Fluoride has been shown to cause calcification of cartilage, the essential tissue for joint health. [11] Degenerative osteoarthritis has been linked to skeletal fluorosis. [12] And in a study of individuals suffering from fluorosis, osteoarthritis knee conditions occurred frequently. [13]

3. Toxic to the Thyroid

Iodine and fluoride belong to a family of compounds known as halogens. Although iodine is beneficial to the thyroid, fluoride is not. However, because of the similarities, the thyroid can absorb fluoride instead of iodine. This is bad. Fluoride is toxic to thyroid cells; it inhibits function and causes cell death. [14] For decades, fluoride was used to reduce thyroid function in individuals suffering from an overactive thyroid. [15] Now — and pay attention to this — the range used in water fluoridation matches the levels typically used to reduce thyroid function. [16]

4. Calcifies the Ultra-Important Pineal Gland

Although the full capabilities of the pineal gland have been the subject of debate for centuries, it’s known for certain that, at a minimum, the pineal gland regulates body rhythms and wake-sleep cycles; two extremely important functions. Fluoride is especially toxic to the pineal gland, where it accumulates and calcifies the gland. In fact, by the time the average person reaches old age, their pineal gland will have higher calcium density than their bones. [17]

5. Accelerates Female Puberty

It also deserves mention that the pineal gland plays an integral role in the onset of puberty. Research has shown that girls living in areas prone to more fluoride exposure experience puberty earlier than girls exposed to less. [18] Fluoride’s damaging effect on sexual function only begins here…

6. Harmful to Male and Female Fertility

A direct link exists between fertility rates and fluoridated drinking water. Higher levels of fluoride correspond to lower fertility rates, particularly with drinking water levels of 3 ppm. [19] Animal models show that fluoride reduces reproductive hormones in females. [20] Men have it just as bad; those suffering from fluorosis have lower testosterone and fertility than men with limited fluoride exposure. [21]

7. Bad for Kidney Health

Fluoride is toxic to the kidneys and a higher rate of chronic kidney disease has been reported in areas where the water contains high levels of fluoride. [22] [23] According to Chinese researchers, a fluoride level of 2 mg/L is all it takes to cause renal damage in children. [24] While water fluoridation levels are often much lower than this, the fluoride bombardment continues with toothpaste and other sources.

8. Harmful to the Cardiovascular System

Research suggests that exposure to fluoride causes cardiovascular inflammation and atherosclerosis. [25] [26] Other research has examined its effect on blood pressure but had mixed results. Regardless, despite that cardiovascular disease can have many causes, the evidence, and history show its incidence increases with exposure to fluoride.

9. Negative Cognitive Effects

The Fluoride Action Network reports that, as of May 2013, 43 studies have examined the effect of fluoride on human intelligence. The results should motivate anyone to minimize their fluoride exposure. One observation is that fluoride negatively impacts children’s neural development. [27] Another is that children living in highly fluoridated areas have up to five times greater chance of developing a low IQ compared to those who do not. [28]

Reducing Your Exposure to Fluoride

Using non-fluoride toothpaste can immediately reduce your fluoride exposure. Maintaining healthy iodine levels can help protect the thyroid from fluoride. Fluoridated water is the largest concern and most water filters are not adequate for removing fluoride; instead look to a reverse osmosis water purification systems.

Have you made efforts to reduce your exposure and minimize the dangers of fluoride? What tips do you have? Please leave a comment below and share with us.

-Dr. Edward F. Group III, DC, ND, DACBN, DCBCN, DABFM

from:    http://wakeup-world.com/2014/02/05/nine-shocking-dangers-of-fluoride-exposure/

On Biophotons

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Biophotons: The Human Body Emits, Communicates with, and is Made from Light

Jun 28     By Sayer Ji     Greenmedinfo.com

biophoton_human_bodyIncreasingly science agrees with the poetry of direct human experience:  we are more than the atoms and molecules that make up our bodies, but beings of light as well. Biophotons are emitted by the human body, can be released through mental intention, and may modulate fundamental processes within cell-to-cell communication and DNA.

Nothing is more amazing than the highly improbable fact that we exist. We often ignore this fact, oblivious to the reality that instead of something there could be nothing at all, i.e. why is there a universe (poignantly aware of itself through us) and not some void completely unconscious of itself?

Consider that from light, air, water, basic minerals within the crust of the earth, and the at least 3 billion year old information contained within the nucleus of one diploid zygote cell, the human body is formed, and within that body a soul capable of at least trying to comprehend its bodily and spiritual origins.

Given the sheer insanity of our existential condition, and bodily incarnation as a whole, and considering that our earthly existence is partially formed from sunlight and requires the continual consumption of condensed sunlight in the form of food, it may not sound so farfetched that our body emits light.

Indeed, the human body emits biophotons, also known as ultraweak photon emissions (UPE), with a visibility 1,000 times lower than the sensitivity of our naked eye. While not visible to us, these particles of light (or waves, depending on how you are measuring them) are part of the visible electromagnetic spectrum (380-780 nm) and are detectable via sophisticated modern instrumentation.[1],[2]

The Physical and “Mental” Eye Emits Light

The eye itself, which is continually exposed to ambient powerful photons that pass through various ocular tissues, emit spontaneous and visible light-induced ultraweak photon emissions.[3] It has even been hypothesized that visible light induces delayed bioluminescence within the exposed eye tissue, providing an explanation for the origin of the negative afterimage.[4]

These light emissions have also been correlated with cerebral energy metabolism and oxidative stress within the mammalian brain.[5] [6] And yet, biophoton emissions are not necessarily epiphenomenal.  Bókkon’s hypothesis suggests that photons released from chemical processes within the brain produce biophysical pictures during visual imagery, and a recent study found that when subjects actively imagined light in a very dark environment their intention produced significant increases in ultraweak photo emissions.[7]  This is consistent with an emerging view that biophotons are not solely cellular metabolic by-products, but rather, because biophoton intensity can be considerably higher inside cells than outside, it is possible for the mind to access this energy gradient to create intrinsic biophysical pictures during visual perception and imagery.[8]

Our Cells and DNA Use Biophotons To Store and Communicate Information

Apparently biophotons are used by the cells of many living organisms to communicate, which facilitates energy/information transfer that is several orders of magnitude faster than chemical diffusion. According to a 2010 study, “Cell to cell communication by biophotons have been demonstrated in plants, bacteria, animal neutriophil granulocytes and kidney cells.”[9] Researchers were able to demonstrate that “…different spectral light stimulation (infrared, red, yellow, blue, green and white) at one end of the spinal sensory or motor nerve roots resulted in a significant increase in the biophotonic activity at the other end.” Researchers interpreted their finding to suggest that “…light stimulation can generate biophotons that conduct along the neural fibers, probably as neural communication signals.”

Even when we go down to the molecular level of our genome, DNA can be identified to be a source of biophoton emissions as well. One author proposes that DNA is so biophoton dependent that is has excimer laser-like properties, enabling it to exist in a stable state far from thermal equilibrium at threshold.[10]

Technically speaking a biophoton is an elementary particle or quantum of light of non-thermal origin in the visible and ultraviolet spectrum emitted from a biological system.   They are generally believed to be produced as a result of energy metabolism within our cells, or more formally as a “…by-product of biochemical reactions in which excited molecules are produced from bioenergetic processes that involves active oxygen species,”  [11]

The Body’s Circadian Biophoton Output

Because the metabolism of the body changes in a circadian fashion, biophoton emissions also variate along the axis of diurnal time. [12]  Research has mapped out distinct anatomical locations within the body where biophoton emissions are stronger and weaker, depending on the time of the day:

Generally, the fluctuation in photon counts over the body was lower in the morning than in the afternoon. The thorax-abdomen region emitted lowest and most constantly. The upper extremities and the head region emitted most and increasingly over the day. Spectral analysis of low, intermediate and high emission from the superior frontal part of the right leg, the forehead and the palms in the sensitivity range of the photomultiplier showed the major spontaneous emission at 470-570 nm. The central palm area of hand emission showed a larger contribution of the 420-470 nm range in the spectrum of spontaneous emission from the hand in autumn/winter. The spectrum of delayed luminescence from the hand showed major emission in the same range as spontaneous emission.

The researchers concluded that “The spectral data suggest that measurements might well provide quantitative data on the individual pattern of peroxidative and anti-oxidative processes in vivo.”

Meditation and Herbs Affect Biophoton Output

Research has found an oxidative stress-mediated difference in biophoton emission among mediators versus non-meditators. Those who meditate regularly tend to have lower ultra-weak photon emission (UPE, biophoton emission), which is believed to result from the lower level of free radical reactions occurring in their bodies. In one clinical study involving practitioners of transcendental meditation (TM) researchers found:

The lowest UPE intensities were observed in two subjects who regularly meditate. Spectral analysis of human UPE has suggested that ultra-weak emission is probably, at least in part, a reflection of free radical reactions in a living system. It has been documented that various physiologic and biochemical shifts follow the long-term practice of meditation and it is inferred that meditation may impact free radical activity.[13]

Interestingly, an herb well-known for its use in stress reduction (including inducing measurable declines in cortisol), and associated heightened oxidative stress, has been tested clinically in reducing the level of biophotons emitted in human subjects.  Known as rhodiola, a study published in 2009 in the journal Phytotherapeutic Research found that those who took the herb for 1 week has a significant decrease in photon emission in comparison with the placebo group.[14]

Human Skin May Capture Energy and Information from Sunlight

Perhaps most extraordinary of all is the possibility that our bodily surface contains cells capable of efficiently trapping the energy and information from ultraviolet radiation. A study published in the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology in 1993, titled, “Artificial sunlight irradiation induces ultraweak photon emission in human skin fibroblasts,” discovered that when light from an artificial sunlight source was applied to fibroblasts from either normal subjects or with the condition xeroderma pigmentosum, characterized by deficient DNA repair mechanisms, it induced far higher emissions of ultraweak photons (10-20 times) in the xeroderma pigmentosum group.  The researchers concluded from this experiment that “These data suggest that xeroderma pigmentosum cells tend to lose the capacity of efficient storage of ultraweak photons, indicating the existence of an efficient intracellular photon trapping system within human cells.“[15]  More recent research has also identified measurable differences in biophoton emission between normal and melanoma cells.[16]

Human Skin and Light

In a previous article, Does Skin Pigment Act Like A Natural Solar-Panel, we explored the role of melanin in converting ultraviolet light into metabolic energy:

Melanin is capable of transforming ultraviolet light energy into heat in a process known as “ultrafast internal conversion”; more than 99.9% of the absorbed UV radiation is transformed from potentially genotoxic (DNA-damaging) ultraviolet light into harmless heat.

If melanin can convert light into heat, could it not also transform UV radiation into other biologically/metabolically useful forms of energy? This may not seem so farfetched when one considers that even gamma radiation, which is highly toxic to most forms of life, is a source of sustenance for certain types of fungi and bacteria.

The Body’s Biophoton Outputs Are Governed by Solar and Lunar Forces

It appears that modern science is only now coming to recognize the ability of the human body to receive and emit energy and information directly from the light given off from the Sun. [17]

There is also a growing realization that the Sun and Moon affect biophoton emissions through gravitational influences.  Recently, biophoton emissions from wheat seedlings in Germany and Brazil were found to be synchronized transcontinentally according to rhythms associated with the lunisolar tide.[18]  In fact, the lunisolar tidal force, to which the Sun contributes 30 % and the Moon 60 % of the combined gravitational acceleration, has been found to regulate a number of features of plant growth upon Earth.[19]

Intention Is a Living Force of Physiology

Even human intention itself, the so-called ghost in the machine, may have an empirical basis in biophotons.

A recent commentary published in the journal Investigacion clinica titled “Evidence about the power of intention” addressed this connection:

Intention is defined as a directed thought to perform a determined action. Thoughts targeted to an end can affect inanimate objects and practically all living things from unicellular organisms to human beings. The emission of light particles (biophotons) seems to be the mechanism through which an intention produces its effects. All living organisms emit a constant current of photons as a mean to direct instantaneous nonlocal signals from one part of the body to another and to the outside world. Biophotons are stored in the intracellular DNA. When the organism is sick changes in biophotons emissions are produced. Direct intention manifests itself as an electric and magnetic energy producing an ordered flux of photons. Our intentions seem to operate as highly coherent frequencies capable of changing the molecular structure of matter. For the intention to be effective it is necessary to choose the appropriate time. In fact, living beings are mutually synchronized and to the earth and its constant changes of magnetic energy. It has been shown that the energy of thought can also alter the environment. Hypnosis, stigmata phenomena and the placebo effect can also be considered as types of intention, as instructions to the brain during a particular state of consciousness. Cases of spontaneous cures or of remote healing of extremely ill patients represent instances of an exceedingly great intention to control diseases menacing our lives. The intention to heal as well as the beliefs of the sick person on the efficacy of the healing influences promote his healing. In conclusion, studies on thought and consciousness are emerging as fundamental aspects and not as mere epiphenomena that are rapidly leading to a profound change in the paradigms of Biology and Medicine.

So there you have it. Science increasingly agrees with direct human experience: we are more than the atoms and molecules of which we are composed, but beings that emit, communicate with, and are formed from light.
Read more at http://www.realfarmacy.com/biophotons-the-human-body-emits-communicates-with-and-is-made-from-light/#z2joJywGjy5bLeKK.99

Yoga & Health

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9 Health Benefits of Yoga

yoga man

We’ve all heard at one time or another about how yoga is great for our holistic well-being and some of us have a daily yoga practice we do with that in mind. What you may not know is that the list of life enriching benefits of yoga just keeps on growing and here we look at several new discoveries about the wonderful benefits of yoga that have emerged in recent years. If you don’t incorporate some form of yoga into your daily life you may reconsider after reading this and become a yogi or yogini yourself!

Yoga gives an immune boost to breast cancer survivors

In breast cancer survivors, the Iyengar method of yoga not only promotes psychological well-being, but seems to offer immune system benefits as well, according to new research. The Iyengar method, created by B. K. S. Iyengar, “is considered to be one of the more active forms of yoga,” says lead researcher and presenter Pamela E. Schultz
“It still has the meditative component, but it’s been shown to have a physical output equivalent to a moderate-intensity exercise.” –Source

Yoga reverses the risk of heart disease

Ycan reverse the clinical and biochemical changes associated with metabolic syndrome, according to results of studies from Sweden and India. Waist circumference, blood pressure, blood sugar, and triglycerides were significantly lower, and “good” HDL cholesterol levels were higher in the yoga group as compared to controls, Agrawal’s team reports in the journal Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice. –Source

Yoga proven to help back pain

Research shows that regular yoga sessions may be an effective way to combat back pain. In one study, those who practised weekly 75-minute yoga classes made greater progress than those who took part in strengthening and stretching classes. The researchers found that at the end of 12 weeks patients in the yoga group were better able to do daily activities involving the back. After another 14 weeks they also reported less pain, and used less pain relieving drugs. –Source

Yoga enhances sexual performance

A study published in the December 2008 edition of The Journal of Sexual Medicine showed women who were not satisfied with their sex life experienced heightened arousal and better orgasms when they practiced yoga. Another study published in the same journal in 2007 showed yoga was the most effective solution for men dealing with premature ejaculation in comparison to Prozac and non-prescription drugs. –Source

Yoga can help heal in PTSD recovery

Recently Yoga has begun to be used as a treatment to aid in healing those with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In a recent study, a group of female patients suffering from PTSD were taught Hatha Yoga in eight sessions while another group of female patients underwent eight sessions of group therapy. Those who finished the Yoga training showed a substantial improvement in symptoms such as “the frequency of intrusive thoughts and the severity of jangled nerves” in comparison to those who underwent group therapy. –Source

Yoga helps in weight control through mindfulness

According to a new study headed by researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, people who practice yoga regularly are less likely to be obese. The reason isn’t necessarily the exercise part of yoga but the mindfulness part that promotes a slim body. It was found that middle-age people who practice yoga gained less weight over a ten year period than those who did not. This was independent of physical activity and dietary patterns. –Source

Yoga helps in stopping binge eating

According to research conducted at the University of The Rockies, binge eaters were encouraged to take part in a 10-week yoga therapy program. These participants saw a dramatic drop in their binge-eating episodes towards the end of the program. Every week, the program included an hour of yoga and group discussion afterwards that lasted half an hour. –Source

Yoga improves mood and reduces anxiety

Yet another study has confirmed that yoga can assist in the treatment of a wide range of psychological disorders, including depression, anxiety, and cardiac disease. Chris Streeter, MD, and his colleagues from Boston University School of Medicine discovered that it may be because of yoga’s ability to increase levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an endogenous antidepressant neurotransmitter present in the brain. –Source

It’s well known yoga reduces stress; now we know why

Research has suggested for some time that psychosocial interventions like meditation reduce the adverse effects of caregiver stress on physical and mental health. However, the pathways by which such psychosocial interventions impact biological processes are poorly understood. –Source

Source: “9 Life Enriching Benefits of Yoga”, from shift.is, by Paul Lenda

from:   http://theunboundedspirit.com/9-health-benefits-of-yoga/

Eating Away Inflammation

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Inflammation: Tame This Silent Killer With Simple Food-Based Solutions

Inflammation31st January 2014

By Carolanne Wright

Contributing Writer for Wake Up World

The bane of health, chronic inflammation, is at the root of most disease. Cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, obesity, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cardiovascular troubles and periodontal issues are all influenced by an overactive inflammatory response.

Fortunately, we have a powerful ally against inflammation residing in our kitchen. Through select foods and dietary adjustments, we can subdue this unruly beast and create a solid foundation for a healthy future.

The Primary Culprit: Poor Food Choices

Inflammation is the body’s natural response to injury, helping to heal damage throughout the system. And yet, this mechanism can lead to serious illness when left unchecked.

Dietary choices are the number one trigger for an exaggerated inflammatory reaction – especially sugary, high-glycemic and processed carbohydrates. Poor-quality fats like those found in meat and dairy, as well as trans fats in refined vegetable oils, are also problematic.

In the scholarly paper “Control of Systemic Inflammation and Chronic Diseases – The Use of Turmeric and Curcuminoids”, researcher Stig Bengmark observes:

“The world suffers an epidemic of both critical illness (CI) and chronic diseases (ChDs), and both groups of diseases increase from year to year, and have done so for several decades. It is strongly associated to the modern, so-called Western, lifestyle: stress, lack of exercise, abuse of tobacco and alcohol, and the transition from natural unprocessed foods to processed, calorie-condensed, and heat-treated foods.

“There is a strong association between reduced intake of plant fibers and plant antioxidants and increased consumption of industrially produced and processed products especially dairy, refined sugars, and starch products and ChDs. Heating up foods such as milk (pasteurization) and production and storage of milk powder produce large amounts of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and advanced lipid oxidation end products (ALEs), known as potent inducers of inflammation.”

Be that as it may, just as the diet can exacerbate inflammation, specific foods can also heal it.

Edible solutions

A number of foods offer exceptional protection against inflammatory reactions. For instance, sulfur compounds found in garlic, and polyphenol antioxidants in green tea, both successfully discourage excessive inflammation. [1][2]

Golden-hued turmeric is another example. In laboratory tests, the anti-inflammatory characteristics of turmeric are effective in mitigating skin, lung and neurodegenerative disorders, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, cataracts and intestinal diseases. [3]

Healthy fats are also important. As an outstanding source of omega-3 fatty acids, sardines, fish oil supplements and wild-caught salmon, or vegetarian options like hemp seed, flaxseed and walnuts, provide the building blocks for healthy inflammation levels. [4][5][6] Moreover, oleic acid in olive oil supplies a good measure of anti-inflammatory omega-9 fatty acids. [7]

Don’t forget to add a bit of spice to your life. Over 25 years of research on ginger has established the herb as one of the foremost anti-inflammatory foods around. A study in the Journal of Medicinal Food discovered that two ginger extracts, Zingiber officinale and Alpina galanga, inhibit several genes responsible for inflammatory reactions. [8]

And Karen Lamphere, MS, CN, recommends a dash of heat. “Some of the most potent anti-inflammatory vegetables are peppers and the spices derived from them, such as cayenne pepper. All chili peppers include capsaicin (the hotter the pepper, the more capsaicin it has), which is a potent inhibitor of substance P, a neuropeptide associated with inflammatory processes.”

Over and above dietary choices, lifestyle options such as reducing stress, detoxifying and exercising regularly contribute to lower inflammation levels too. In the end, sidestepping the risks of this silent killer is a straightforward daily task when armed with whole foods and healthy habits.

from:    http://wakeup-world.com/2014/01/31/inflammation-tame-this-silent-killer-with-simple-food-based-solutions/