The Herbs Place News - Nature's Sunshine

On SALE: Blood Pressurex, Dark Chocolate & Vit. D3

2012-02-12T03:06:00.001-05:00

ON SALE - 02/12 - 02/18

Expires Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 11:15 PM MST

BLOOD PRESSUREX - Buy Now
Buy 4 Get 1 FREE - $87.80
$2 OFF - $19.95

Blood Pressurex is an excellent blend of essential and natural ingredients that can help your body maintain proper blood pressure levels.

NATURE'S SWEET LIFE PLAIN / DARK CHOCOLATE BARS - Buy Now
Buy 2 Get 1 Free - $97.90

Indulge in delicious chocolate without the calories and oral detriment of sugar. Unlike typical candy bars, these chocolate bars provide nutrients that benefit the body. Our plain dark chocolate bar is packed with antioxidants and sweetened with all-natural xylitol.

VITAMIN D3, 2000 IU - Buy Now
Buy 4 Get 1 FREE - $34.00
$1 OFF - $7.50

Vitamin D is vital to the health of your skeletal and immune System. The body manufactures this essential vitamin through sun exposure, making it difficult to obtain adequate amounts of vitamin D during the cloudy winter months or when sunscreen is used.

Health News

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The Healing Power of Sweet Potatoes

2012-02-08T10:36:00.000-05:00

by June Mims

The healing power of the sweet potato: another good food that has received a bad name, taking blame for weight gain. The sweet potato is one of the most nutritious foods you can eat.

It can help preserve your memory, control diabetes and reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. Sweet potatoes are more than just a filling food.

Scarlet O'Hara had a 19-inch waist, which she kept by eating the sweet potato her nanny prepared for her before filling up on party fare. She could truthfully say, "Why I can't eat a thing!" Read the entire article.

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The Invisible Diseases

2012-02-08T09:59:00.001-05:00

by Richard M. Cohen

If you don't believe that health is life's most precious gift, go to one who does not know if he or she will sit at the table with those they love next year. The sick may have learned to live in the moment in ways few others understand. We have no choice. We have nowhere else to go, no matter who or where we are.

Life is precious. The sick understand that as well as anyone. Nothing lasts forever. We have figured that out, too. What is gone in my life, even with all the uncertainty and hardship, helps me focus on what is still there ... Read the entire article.

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Anger Used As a Weapon

2012-02-08T06:03:00.005-05:00

Keep Cool Flower Essence Blend
By Steven Horne

Anger is a natural emotional response to something that threatens our safety and well-being. For many people, however, anger becomes a weapon they use to try to control other people through threats and intimidation. They feel that if others don’t conform to their wishes, they have a right to be angry and irritated.

Using anger in this manner is always a sign of a lack of love and respect for the rights of others. Used in this way anger destroys relationships, drives people away and ultimately becomes a self-destructive force in a person’s life.

The Keep Cool remedy is a blend of seven flower essences that are helpful for people who are easily irritated, impatient with others and tend to lose their temper. It helps a person be more receptive to other people’s points of view and work for cooperation, rather than competition, in relationships. It promotes forgiveness of past hurts, tolerance for differences, acceptance of others, and facilitates more open and loving communication.

Here are the seven flower essences in this blend and what they do to help a person not to “lose their cool.”

Purchase "Keep Cool" at wholesale prices.

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On SALE: Hawthorn Berries & Vitamin E

2012-02-05T02:29:00.000-05:00

ON SALE - 02/05 - 02/11

Expires Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 11:15 PM MST

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HAWTHORN BERRIES (100 CAPSULES) - Buy Now
$1 OFF - $8.35
Buy 4 Get 1 FREE - $37.40

Hawthorn is especially popular in Europe, where it is used in a number of herbal tinctures, herbal combinations and teas. The berries' effects on the circulatory system have been researched in Europe.

Certain chemical constituents in the berries seem to enhance enzyme metabolism and oxygen utilization in the heart muscle.

VITAMIN E COMPLETE W/ SELENIUM (60 GEL CAPS) - Buy Now
Buy 4 Get 1 FREE - $69.80
$2 OFF - $15.45

Vitamin E and selenium are antioxidants. They work together to help quench free radicals that form as byproducts of metabolic activity and as a result of exposure to damaging environmental chemicals. Both nutrients play key roles in the production of certain enzymes that are needed to maintain overall health, prevent premature aging and keep tissue supple.

Health News

Immune Health and the Gut

2012-02-02T09:33:00.000-05:00

by Dr. William J. Keller

If you have done some reading on the immune system lately, you know that immunity involves a complex network of specialized cells and organs that evolved to defend the body against attacks by foreign invaders such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and other parasites.

The two basic kinds or types of immunity are termed innate and acquired. Innate immunity, also known as genetic or species immunity, represents a wide range of immune protective factors that a person is born with. In contrast, acquired immunity becomes part of the host defenses by means other than heredity. Within this category, immune protection can be acquired naturally or artificially.

Natural acquired immunity is developed through the recovery from a specific infectious disease while artificial acquired immunity occurs when the host receives a vaccine or antitoxin. This category can be further subdivided by using the terms
active (the host actively produces antibodies in response to a solution of antigens such as those in a vaccine) and passive (the host passively accepts preformed antibodies present in products such as an antitoxin).

When our immune system malfunctions, the consequences can range from microbial infections to cancer. Many nutritional supplement ingredients are effective in supporting immune system health. Some of the more popular and scientifically substantiated ingredients include:

1. Echinacea has been shown to stimulate the immune system by increasing the activity of certain immune cells and by promoting the release of cytokines (cellular communication and regulatory molecules) from these immune cells (1).

2. Elderberry contains flavonoid derivatives called anthocyanidins that appear to have immunomodulatory effects. These compounds in elderberry extract have been found to bind to viruses and block their ability to invade host cells (2). In this way, elderberry is thought to reduce the severity of viral flu symptoms.

3. Vitamin D3 has been known for quite some time as being important in supporting bone health. However, recently Vitamin D3 has also been shown to be a key component in enhancing the immune system. Sophisticated experiments have demonstrated that Vitamin D3 is essential for the activation of immune cells needed to seek out and destroy infectious invading microbes (3). Without this activation, infections such as influenza and the common cold appear to be more severe and longer lasting.

4. Scientific studies on ingredients such as zinc, Korean ginseng, Vitamin C, beta-glucans and arabinogalactans show that all of these enhance and improve the effectiveness of the immune system by increasing the protective activity of certain immune cells. Macrophages, neutrophils, NK (natural killer) cells and T-cells (T-lymphocytes) are responsible for attacking and neutralizing foreign, disease-causing microbes. Without the proper function of these immune cells, infectious diseases such as colds and the flu usually occur more frequently, are more severe, and have a longer duration.

As a pharmacy student and during my graduate school days, I was always interested in the concepts of immunology. However, back in those days, the association of immune function and the gut was either not mentioned or was discussed very superficially. Now that we understand how important a properly functioning gut is to the immune system, I’m fascinated by reading the many excellent scientific papers on this topic. A particularly intriguing aspect focuses on how gut bacteria may influence various disease processes while being involved with their beneficial role in digestion and metabolism.

In a previous Hot Topic paper, I described how the “Western diet”—high in fats and simple sugars—can reshape the gut microbial community (microbiome) and predispose humans to obesity and all of the health problems that accompany the obese state. Dietary fibers escape host digestion, but resident microbes in the distal gut (large intestine) metabolize these indigestible leftovers to yield short-chain fatty acids such as acetic, propionic and butyric acids. Not only do these acids contribute about 10% to our daily energy supply but they also impact the immune system.

Gut microbe-generated acetate interacts with immune cells to quiet an overactive immune system while propionic acid appears to promote the acquired immune response by acting on T-lymphocytes (4). Butyric acid is known to serve as an important energy source for gut endothelial cells thereby enhancing innate immunity.

We’re all familiar with the benefits of the polyphenolic antioxidants. Recently, it has been found that the well-known ellagic acid, present primarily in berries and nuts, is metabolized by gut microbes to a class of compounds known as the urolithins. Specific urolithins are thought to reduce inflammation and thus protect against cancer (5).

We have focused on a few important aspects of gut health as they relate to a properly functioning immune system. However, keep in mind that our gut microbes have long been known to be part of other processes such as food digestion and the production of essential micronutrients.

On the downside, our gut bacteria can be directly linked to medical conditions such as obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes and cancer. Therefore, I believe that it’s imperative that we continue toward a better understanding of this huge population of microbes that live in our gastrointestinal tract and other parts of our body. Another way of looking at this situation is that we are outnumbered. Believe it or not, the vast majority of cells that make up the human body are microbial cells.

References:
1. Echinacea. Pharmacist’s Letter/Prescriber’s Letter Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database. 8th ed. Stockton, CA: Therapeutic Research Faculty ; 2010. p. 605.
2. Elderberry. Pharmacist’s Letter/Prescriber’s Letter Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database. 8th ed. Stockton, CA: Therapeutic Research Faculty ; 2010. p. 615.
3. Von Essen MR, et al. Vitamin D controls T cell antigen receptor signaling and activation of human T cells. Nature Immunology. 2010; 11(4):344-349.
4. Fukuda S, et al. Bifidobacteria can protect from enteropathogenic infection through production of acetate. Nature. 2011 Jan 27;469(7331):543-547.
5. González-Sarrías A, et al. NF-kappaB-dependent anti-inflammatory activity of urolithins, gut microbiota ellagic acid-derived metabolites, in human colonic fibroblasts. British Journal of Nutrition. 2010 Aug;104(4):503-12.

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Parkinson's Disease and Pesticide Link

2012-02-02T09:01:00.000-05:00

Parkinson's Alley in Sierra Club Magazine, Jan/Feb. 2012

Recent studies have found statistical links between pesticide use and an outbreak of Parkinson's disease in California farm towns. Researchers even know which chemicals are the likely culprits. What's the government doing about it? Not much. Read the entire article.

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Berries Hold Amazing New Health Potential

2012-02-02T05:28:00.000-05:00

They’re finding that berries of all varieties—from strawberries and raspberries to goji and acai berries—may hold the key to combating cancer, dementia and other diseases.

Scientists recently reported the first human evidence that blueberries can boost memory and may even help ward off dementia.

Nine older adults with early memory decline drank two cups of a commercial blueberry juice every day for two months, while a control group drank a beverage without blueberry juice.

Tests taken before and after revealed that those who drank the blueberry juice showed improvement in learning and memory, leading researchers to conclude that blueberries may offer neurocognitive benefits. Read the entire article.

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On SALE: SmartMeal - Chai, Vanilla and Chocolate

2012-01-29T06:16:00.000-05:00

ON SALE - 01/29 - 02/04
Expires Saturday, February 04, 2012 at 11:15 PM MST

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SMARTMEAL - CHAI (15 SERVINGS) - Buy Now
$2 OFF - $21.95
Buy 4 Get 1 FREE - $95.80

But new SmartMeal Nutritional Shake Mixes in three great flavors give you a delicious, healthful drink that's only 130-140 calories, much less than most breakfasts or lunches. And it's chock full of nutrients to vitalize your body and give you energy.

SMARTMEAL - CHOCOLATE (15 SERVINGS) - Buy Now
$2 OFF - $21.95
Buy 4 Get 1 FREE - $95.80

But new SmartMeal Nutritional Shake Mixes in three great flavors give you a delicious, healthful drink that's only 130-140 calories, much less than most breakfasts or lunches. And it's chock full of nutrients to vitalize your body and give you energy.

SMARTMEAL - VANILLA (15 SERVINGS) - Buy Now
$2 OFF - $21.95
Buy 4 Get 1 FREE - $95.80

But new SmartMeal Nutritional Shake Mixes in three great flavors give you a delicious, healthful drink that's only 130-140 calories, much less than most breakfasts or lunches. And it's chock full of nutrients to vitalize your body and give you energy.

Health News

Internal Cleansing for the Body

2012-01-27T10:15:00.000-05:00

Keeping Clean: An Inside Job
by Steven Horne, RH(AHG)

Most of us spend a lot of time keeping things clean. We bathe, wash dishes, vacuum our carpets, sweep our floors, take our cars to the car wash, and launder our clothes. However, very few of us ever give thought to the idea of internal cleanliness. But, it isn’t just the outside of the body and our environment that must be kept clean. We also need to be clean on the inside.

Every day, as we consume foods and beverages and burn them for energy, the body creates waste products. Eliminating these by-products of metabolism is so important that the body has many different systems for breaking them down and eliminating them. Were it not for the incredible efficiency of the lymphatic system, the liver, the kidneys, the sweat glands and oil ducts in our skin, our colon, and the mucus membranes of our sinuses and lungs, our body would suffocate in its own waste in a couple of days.

Just because we aren’t dead, however, doesn’t mean that our eliminative organs are working at peak efficiency. When a furnace, automobile, or any other mechanical device starts to get dirty, its efficiency diminishes. The same is true for the body. If the efficiency of one or more eliminative channels drops just 10-20% it won’t be enough to kill us, but it certainly will have a gradual, and cumulative effect on our energy level and health.

That’s why traditional herbalism and naturopathy have always placed a heavy emphasis on hygiene, not just external hygiene, but internal hygiene as well. Therapies dedicated to opening up and strengthening eliminative channels have been collectively known as cleansing.

Cleansing is especially important in modern society. While public sanitation and attention to external cleanliness have helped to ensure we don’t have plagues or get diarrhea from contaminated water, we have a new problem on our hands—environmental pollution.

Every day we are exposed to hundreds (if not thousands) of chemicals, many of which did not even exist 100 years ago. These chemicals are present in the air we breathe, in the water we drink, in the food we consume and products which come in contact with our skin. We have air pollutants from automobiles and industry. We have water pollutants from agricultural runoff, industrial contamination, and even from the water treatment delivery systems that bring treated water into our homes.

The foods we eat also contain chemicals. There are traces of agricultural chemicals, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides that are used on crops. Processed foods are also laced with additives—preservatives, artificial flavorings and colorings, emulsifiers, anti-caking agents, texture enhancers, and so forth. My personal health regime involves avoiding as many of these chemicals as I can by purchasing foods in as natural a state as I can, and using organically-grown foods whenever possible.

Click here to read the rest of this article online...

Another view of why we should cleanse and specific information on various popular cleanses.

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Digestive Health

2012-01-27T08:27:00.000-05:00

Created by Dr. William J. Keller

Properly balanced diet
The digestive process and maintaining good health depends on a properly balanced diet. The digestive system essentially converts the foods that we eat into the energy needed to support life. The anatomy of the digestive system process involves a complex series of organs and glands that work in concert to break down our consumed foods into smaller molecules that can be utilized by the body.

The digestive process
The digestive process begins in the mouth where food is partially broken down by the process of chewing and by the enzymatic action of the carbohydrate-digesting amylase enzymes present in the saliva. Food is then swallowed and makes its way down the esophagus to the stomach.

In the stomach, food is mixed, ground and digested by gastric acid and a protein-digesting enzyme called pepsin. Gastric acid is an important part of the digestive process, consists mainly of hydrochloric acid (HCl), and it very efficiently breaks down food material, particularly protein. If production of gastric acid decreases (as is often the case with advancing age), the digestive process is less efficient. Researchers in the U.S. found that over 30 percent of men and women past the age of 60 suffer from atrophic gastritis, a condition marked by little or no gastric acid secretion (1).

Fortunately, natural approaches and nutritional supplements can help support an optimal digestive process in the stomach. (Digestive System Products)

The partially digested food leaves the stomach and continues through the digestive process by entering the small intestine, a tubular structure composed of three segments: the duodenum, jejunum and ileum. The duodenum continues the digestive process of breaking down food with the aid of bile from the gallbladder and enzymes released by the pancreas and the duodenal walls. Bile causes a breakdown of fat from large to smaller globules. Further digestion of fats, protein and carbohydrates takes place with the help of the pancreatic enzymes lipase, trypsin and amylase, respectively. Nutritional supplements can help support small intestinal digestive action.

The digestive process is basically complete once food passes through the duodenum. Absorption of nutrients into the bloodstream takes place in the jejunum and ileum segments of the small intestine. After absorption of food molecules into the bloodstream, the blood is purified by the liver to remove harmful substances. The liver also stores fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E and K) and excess glucose for future use. Digestive supplements can be used to support these valuable liver functions.

The importance of fiber and friendly bacteria
The large intestine receives mostly indigestible material and water from the small intestine. Excess water and any residual minerals are absorbed in the large intestine. Fiber aids the process of moving the remaining debris through the large intestine, thus easing the passage of waste known as a stool. In addition to promoting elimination, fiber also helps to support friendly bacteria. About 100 trillion bacteria contribute to the digestive system process. These bacteria in the large intestine perform several essential functions.

Probiotics, as these bacteria are called, promote an efficient digestive process, support the immune system, inhibit the growth of pathogenic microorganisms, and produce several vitamins. Many supplement products consist of soluble and/or insoluble fiber from a variety of plant sources. Additionally, many different bacterial species found in nutritional supplements are capable of functioning as probiotics.

Probiotics
Probiotics have long been known to provide many benefits to the digestive system process and overall human health as mentioned in the previous paragraph. I have read with great interest several recent research reports on some additional actions that are very different from what you would expect.

One example is an experiment where mice, fed broth containing Lactobacillus rhamnosus, behaved less anxiously than mice fed broth without bacteria. These behavioral changes were partially explained by differences in brain chemical receptors and stress hormone (corticosterone) levels.

The overall observation was that a change in the mix of intestinal bacteria provided by L. rhamnosus influenced mouse behavior by way of the vagus nerve. The vagal impulses induced by the microbes resulted in an increase in GABA (gamma amino butyric acid, which is a neurotransmitter or brain chemical) receptors in the brain and lower levels of stress hormone. The net result was a significant decrease in anxiety observed in the mice receiving the bacteria-containing broth (2).

Just a few years ago, most scientists were of the opinion that probiotics only acted locally in the gut. However, this study suggests that gut bacteria could play a role in various brain and psychiatric disorders as well as individual behavioral differences.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
Another fairly intense research area involves how intestinal microbes contribute to or counteract chronic inflammation and affect the digestive system process. As we all know, chronic inflammation is associated with many disease states. Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is one of these conditions that appears to be directly influenced by specific probiotic species. It was interesting to read that those probiotic strains that specifically keep IBD in remission do not function normally in the presence of an iron-rich environment (3).

Species of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium were found to be inhibited by high iron levels and this resulted in a failure to reduce inflammation. These research data suggest plausible explanations as to why IBD becomes established. As this probiotic research continues, valuable therapies will eventually emerge. Of equal importance here is that we will have a greater understanding of the digestive system process and health.

References
(1) Krasinski SD, Russell RM, Samloff IM, Jacob RA, Dallal GE, McGandy RB, Hartz SC. Fundic atrophic gastritis in an elderly population. Effect on hemoglobin and several serum nutritional indicators. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 1986 Nov;34(11):800-6.

(2) Bravo JA, et al. Ingestion of Lactobacillus strain regulates emotional behavior and central GABA receptor expression in a mouse via the vagus nerve. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2011 Sep 20;108(38):16050-5.

(3) Bailey JR, Probert CS, Cogan TA. Identification and characterisation of an iron-responsive candidate probiotic. PLoS One. 2011;6(10):e26507.

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School Turns Abandoned Field Into Organic Garden

2012-01-27T07:03:00.000-05:00

Denver Green School (DGS), an urban "innovation" school, has brought new life to an unused, one-acre athletic field by turning it into an organic garden -- and the garden has been such a success in just eight months that the school is able to serve fresh produce from it to students in the cafeteria.

"We have harvested over 3,000 pounds of produce from this ground," said Megan Caley, the programs and outreach coordinator for Sprout City Farms (SCF), which partnered with DGS to create the garden. "Lots of salad greens and root vegetables, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers."

The goal of SCF is to transform unused or underused urban land into thriving agricultural space, which can then be used to grow food for local residents. And the group's partnership with DGS has been landmark in that it not only produces a plethora of fruits and vegetables, but it has also sparked a renewed interest among children in growing and eating them. Read the entire article.

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On SALE: HistaBlock, Olive Leaf, Children's Antioxidants

2012-01-22T03:00:00.000-05:00

ON SALE - 01/22 - 01/28

Expires Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 11:15 PM MST

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HISTABLOCK - Buy Now
$2 OFF - $12.95
Buy 4 Get 1 FREE - $59.80

Mast cells are responsible for the drastic reactions that occur during seasonal respiratory attacks. HistaBlock is a unique formula that helps stabilize these cells and inhibits swelling that occurs in the mucous membranes.

OLIVE LEAF EXTRACT CONCENTRATE - Buy Now
$2 OFF - $15.95
Buy 4 Get 1 FREE - $71.80

When it's time to assist immune function or strengthen the circulatory system with help from powerful nutrients, Olive Leaf Extract stands ready to help.

ON SALE - 01/22 - 02/04

Expires Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 11:15 PM MST

SUNSHINE HEROES WHOLE FOOD-ANTIOXIDANT - Buy Now
50% OFF - $7.48

Sunshine Heroes Whole Foods Antioxidant offers the antioxidant power equivalent to two average servings of fruit or vegetables (based on ORAC values)

Health News

Treadmill Stress Tests Not Recommended for Women

2012-01-21T09:07:00.000-05:00

Treadmills as a screening tool for diagnosing heart disease are accurate in men but not so in women. In one study comparing the accuracy of treadmill tests in women and men, misleading treadmill results occurred in 35 percent of the women studied. When combined with nuclear imaging using thallium (a low-dose radioisotope), the accuracy rate improved in women, provided the interpreter was trained to take breast tissue and valve plane artifacts into account.

Abnormal treadmill tests have been related to phases of the menstrual cycle and to oral contraceptive use, implicating sex hormones as a factor. It may be estrogen's effect on cardiocytes - the cells of the heart muscle.

Another explanation for the variations in test results may be the effect of catecholamines (stress hormones i.e. adrenaline) on the vasomotor tone and the higher prevalence of mitral valve prolapse among women. Read the entire article.

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Beans and Gas: Clearing the Air

2012-01-21T08:01:00.000-05:00

From NutritionFacts.org

Let me start off by saying that intestinal gas is normal and healthy. When patients present to physicians complaining of too much gas, they are typically instructed to go home and keep track for a week. “Although this may sound complicated,” wrote researchers in a gastroenterology journal, “we have found that patients rather enjoy keeping such a record.”

Americans report passing gas an average of 14 times a day, with the normal range extending up to a frequency of 22 times daily. Many people who think they have too much gas fall well within the normal range, concludes famed flatologist Michael Levitt, M.D., “and they simply have to be informed of their ‘normality.’”

Wondering who funded this research? You may be surprised that the real ground-breaking work in this area was done by NASA in the 1950s—our grandparents’ tax dollars hard at work. NASA was genuinely concerned that astronauts might suffocate, or some spark would ignite the methane. So papers with names like “Recent Advances in Flatology” represent space age research! As one NASA research scientist recommended, “it may prove advantageous to select astronauts…who do not normally produce large quantities of flatus.” Read the entire article.

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School Lunches and The Food Industry

2012-01-21T06:48:00.000-05:00

An increasingly cozy alliance between companies that manufacture processed foods and companies that serve the meals is making students — a captive market — fat and sick while pulling in hundreds of millions of dollars in profits.

At a time of fiscal austerity, these companies are seducing school administrators with promises to cut costs through privatization. Parents who want healthier meals, meanwhile, are outgunned.

Each day, 32 million children in the United States get lunch at schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program, which uses agricultural surplus to feed children. About 21 million of these students eat free or reduced-price meals, a number that has surged since the recession. The program, which also provides breakfast, costs $13.3 billion a year.

Sadly, it is being mismanaged and exploited. About a quarter of the school nutrition program has been privatized, much of it outsourced to food service management giants like Aramark, based in Philadelphia; Sodexo, based in France; and the Chartwells division of the Compass Group, based in Britain.

They work in tandem with food manufacturers like the chicken producers Tyson and Pilgrim’s, all of which profit when good food is turned to bad. Here's how it works .....

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Google+ Circles Now Available

2012-01-18T14:24:00.000-05:00

If you're using the Google+ social network, you'll be happy to know that you can stay in touch with The Herbs Place through it.

You can add The Herbs Place to your Circles by visiting this Google Page.

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Kids Drinking Raw Milk Have 40% Less Asthma and Allergies

2012-01-16T08:31:00.000-05:00

Reuters, Fox and other media outlets reported September 13 about a large European raw milk study published at the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, online August 29, 2011, showing kids who drink raw milk are 41% less likely to suffer from asthma and allergies.

The study included 8334 school-aged children, and 7606 of them provided serum samples to assess specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels. Over 800 cow’s milk samples were collected at the participants’ homes. Reuter’s article stated .....

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Medicare Offers Help for Smokers

2012-01-16T08:22:00.000-05:00

In the past, Medicare has covered antismoking counseling only for those who have already developed health problems from tobacco use. These sessions require a 20 percent copayment and are subject to the annual Part B deductible.

But the new benefit at last puts the horse before the cart: It's for people who have no symptoms of tobacco-related diseases but want to quit smoking before it harms their health.

And there's no copay or deductible for this counseling, provided that you see a doctor or other qualified practitioner who accepts the Medicare-approved payment as full reimbursement. Read the entire article.

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Statins Linked to Diabetes Risk - ABC News

2012-01-16T05:10:00.000-05:00

From ABC News

A new side effect seems to be emerging for those cholesterol-lowering wonder drugs called statins: They may increase some people's chances of developing Type 2 diabetes.

"What I fear here is that people who need and will benefit from statins will be scared off of using the drugs because of reports like this," says Dr. Steven Nissen, cardiology chairman at the Cleveland Clinic, who wasn't involved with the research.

But more and more doctors are urging otherwise healthy people to use the pills as a way to prevent heart disease. For them, the findings add another potential complication as they consider whether to tackle their cholesterol with diet and exercise alone or add a medication. Read the entire article.

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7 Reasons Kale Is New Beef

2012-01-16T05:02:00.000-05:00

The healthiest choice is making vegetables and fruit the biggest part of every meal by reducing consumption of animal proteins. Kale is far more nutritious than other leafy greens, but these seven reasons why it is such an important futurefood may just surprise you.

1. Anti-inflammatory: Inflammation is the number one cause of arthritis, heart disease and a number of autoimmune diseases, and is triggered by the consumption of animal products. Kale is an incredibly effective anti-inflammatory food, potentially preventing and even reversing these illnesses.

2. Iron: Despite the myth that vegetarians are anemic, the number of non-vegetarians with iron-deficiencies is on the rise. Per calorie, kale has more iron than beef.

3. Calcium: Dairy and beef both contain calcium, but the U.S. still has some of the highest rates of bone loss and osteoporosis in the world. Kale contains more calcium per calorie than milk (90 grams per serving) and is also better absorbed by the body than dairy. Read the entire article.

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On SALE: Gentle Move & Liver Cleanse

2012-01-15T03:17:00.000-05:00

ON SALE - 01/15 - 01/21
Expires Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 11:15 PM MST

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GENTLE MOVE COMBINATION - Buy Now
Buy 4 Get 1 FREE - $47.00
$1 OFF - $10.75

Gentle Move features a proprietary blend of magnesium hydroxide and herbs. Triphala extract is an Ayurvedic combination of dried fruits used as a "health harmonizer." Traditionally, triphala is considered a gentle laxative that supports digestive and intestinal health. Magnesium hydroxide is a natural salt of magnesium, an essential mineral that specifically attracts and retains fluid within the colon. Gentle Move's herbal blend also contains yellow dock root, ginger rhizome, marshmallow root and slippery elm bark to aid digestion and provide soothing action to the digestive tract.

LIVER CLEANSE FORMULA - Buy Now
$2 OFF - $10.75
Buy 4 Get 1 FREE - $51.00

Liver Cleanse Formula consists of herbs historically used to cleanse, detoxify and nourish the liver and provide support to the gastrointestinal tract.

Health News

Mediterranean Diet for Sleep Apnea

2012-01-09T08:09:00.000-05:00

A Mediterranean diet combined with physical activity may benefit adults with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), according to a new study.

Sleep apnea is a serious condition that occurs when an individual stops breathing for short periods of time during sleep.

There are two main types of sleep apnea: obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common form that occurs when the muscles in the throat relax. These muscles support the soft palate, the small piece of tissue that hangs from the soft palate (called the ulva), the tonsils, and the tongue. When these muscles relax, the patient is unable to breathe.

In a new study, after evaluating 900 OSAS patients ... Read the entire article.

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Resveratrol Keeps Hearts Young

2012-01-09T07:00:00.008-05:00

Even Low Doses – Found To Keep Hearts Young

How, scientists wonder, do the French get away with a clean bill of heart health despite a diet loaded with saturated fats?

The answer to the so-called "French paradox" may be found in red wine. More specifically, it may reside in small doses of resveratrol, a natural constituent of grapes, pomegranates, red wine and other foods, according to a new study by an international team of researchers.

Writing the week of June 3 in the online, open-access journal Public Library of Science One, the researchers reported that low doses of resveratrol in the diet of middle-aged mice has a widespread influence on the genetic levers of aging and may confer special protection on the heart.

Specifically, the researchers found that low doses of resveratrol mimic the effects of what is known as caloric restriction diets with 20-30 percent fewer calories than a typical diet-that in numerous studies has been shown to extend lifespan and blunt the effects of aging.

"This brings down the dose of resveratrol toward the consumption reality mode," said senior author Richard Weindruch, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of medicine and a researcher at the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital. "At the same time, it plugs into the biology of caloric restriction."

Previous research has shown that resveratrol in high doses extends lifespan in invertebrates and prevents early mortality when given a high-fat diet. The new study, conducted by researchers from academia and industry, extends those findings, showing that resveratrol in low doses and beginning in middle age can elicit many of the same benefits as a reduced-calorie diet.

"Resveratrol is active in much lower doses than previously thought and mimics a significant fraction of the profile of caloric restriction at the gene expression level," said Tomas Prolla, a UW-Madison professor of genetics and a senior author of the new report.

In the new study-which compared the genetic crosstalk of animals on a restricted diet with those fed small doses of resveratrol-the similarities were remarkable, explained lead author Jamie Barger of Madison-based LifeGen Technologies. In the heart, for example, there are at least 1,029 genes whose functions change with age, and the organ's function is known to diminish with age. In animals on a restricted diet, 90 percent of those heart genes experienced altered gene expression profiles, while low doses of resveratrol thwarted age-related change in 92 percent. The new findings, according to the study's authors, were associated with prevention of the decline in heart function associated with aging.

A glass of wine or food or supplements that contain even small doses of resveratrol are likely to represent "a robust intervention in the retardation of cardiac aging," the authors noted.

Products Containing Resveratrol

That finding may also explain the remarkable heart health of people who live in some regions of France where diets are soaked in saturated fats but the incidence of heart disease, a major cause of mortality in the US, is low. In France, meals are traditionally complemented with a glass of red wine. The new resveratroI study is also important because it suggests that caloric restriction, which has been widely studied in animals from spiders to humans, and resveratrol may govern the same master genetic pathways related to aging.

"There must be a few master biochemical pathways activated in response to caloric restriction, which in turn activate many other pathways," explained Prolla. "And resveratrol seems to activate some of these master pathways as well."

The study, according to Weindruch and Prolla, provides strong evidence that resveratrol can improve quality of life through its influence on the different parameters of aging such as cardiac function. However, whether the agent can extend lifespan in ways similar to caloric restriction will require further study, according to the new report's authors.

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Acid Rain, Meet Roundup Rain

2012-01-09T03:00:00.000-05:00

A recent study discovers high levels of glyphosate, also known as Roundup, in rain and rivers in the Mississippi River watershed.

Even though Monsanto holds the research reins, interested groups are breaking through to study the effects of Monsanto's pesticides and seeds. Read the entire article.

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