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Health Updates

How Suzanne Somers got Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals and the AMA hopping mad! >

Brain scans are making us smarter. >

15 year study shows a daily cup of phytonutrients reduces ovarian cancer. >

SSRIs prescribed to seniors associated with high risk of fractures.

Addiction and faulty brain chemistry >

Amino Acid Supplements affect Muscle Soreness and Damage >

Low Fat, High Carb Diet Makes Americans Sick, Sicker, Sickest >

How Suzanne Somers got Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals and the AMA hopping mad!
In 2002, the study initiated by the leading manufacturer of synthetic hormones backfired when data collected in mid 7th year clearly indicated a deadly consequence to women taking the drugs. Initially, doctors were directed to stop writing prescriptions for Premarin and Provera.

But in November, 2006 Wyeth- Ayerst Pharmaceuticals and the North American Menopause Society retaliated against media coverage of bioidentical therapies, and appealing to the AMA, claiming that bioidenticals are a "marketing term." And Somers' second book on the subject titled "Ageless, the Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones" added fuel to the fire. The AMA passed a resolution in support of Wyeth asking for more regulation from the FDA in the area of compounded bioidenticals.

According to Somers, doctors in Europe have been prescribing bioidentical hormones for 50 years. She encourages all women to tell their doctors they want this option to hormone therapy, or contact one of the doctors in her book that specialize in BHT. Read more about Ageless >

Brain scans are making us smarter. . . helping women understand their behavior and why they feel like they do.
Advances in medical technology in the past 20 years give scientists the ability to examine the brain in action, instead of relying on dissection of non-living brains. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Positive Emission Topography (PET) scans are providing new information about female brains, giving us insight into the many biological differences between the male/female brain. A 2006 book The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine, M.D. discusses the history of research into the brain and explores the significance of new discoveries about the female brain.

15 year study shows a daily cup of phytonutrients reduces ovarian cancer.
The 2006 July/August issue of Alternative Medicine magazine reported on a published Swedish study that tracked 61,000 women ages 40 to 76 for 15 years. Researchers determined the women who drank one cup of tea a day lowered their risk of ovarian cancer by 24 percent. Those who drank 2 or more cups a day lowered risk by 46 percent. Until these results were published all we had to go on was cell cultures and animal tests that showed a link to cancer. All teas have phytonutrients, but Green Tea has the most. Read Green Tea Healing Miracle >

SSRIs prescribed to seniors associated with high risk of fractures.
A new study has associated daily use of SSRIs with a two-fold increased risk of fragility fractures. "Elderly persons are at increased risk of developing osteoporosis and depression," says Dr. Goltzman of the Bone and Calcium Research Laboratories at Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, Quebec. "Daily SSRI use in this population to treat depression may increase the risk of subsequent fracture." "Recent research reveals a potentially important role for serotonin in bone physiology." For those wanting to find alternatives to SSRIs see Break Your Prescribed Addiction.
Arch Intern Med 2007;167:188-94

Addiction and faulty brain chemistry.
A growing number of addicts and alcoholics are turning to alternative therapies to address what clinicians understand as physiological basis of addiction. In the late 1980s, Texas brain researcher Kenneth Blum coined the phrase "reward deficiency syndrome" describing the lack of "feel good" chemicals in the brain of addicts. Today, experts accept the theory that faulty brain chemistry plays a role in the tendency to chemical addiction. For example, alcoholics lack the calming neurotransmitter GABA and cocaine addicts have been known to obtain relief with excitatory amino acids. Read Control Alcoholism with Amino Acids >

Amino Acid Supplements affect Muscle Soreness and Damage.
International Journal for Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, December 2006, Vol. 16, Iss. 6

A study by IJSNEM investigated the effect of a supplement containing 9 essential and 3 nonessential amino acids on muscle soreness/damage in a double blind crossover test. Exercise subjects performed two sets of elbow flexors ingesting either amino acid or placebo before, immediately after and over a period of 4 days after exercise. Plasma creatine kinase, aldolase, myoglobin, and muscle soreness were significantly lower for the amino acid vs placebo. The Journal reports the results suggest that amino acid supplementation reduces muscle soreness and damage when taken for 4 days after exercise. Read more about amino acids in Heal with Amino Acids and Nutrients >

Low Fat, High Carb Diet Makes Americans Sick, Sicker, Sickest.
In a nutshell--without healthy fats from fish, nuts, avocado, and olive oil, the body can't absorb critical fat-soluble nutrients. Here's how missing good fat in your diet can make you sick:

Low fat = poor nutrient absorption = imbalance in blood sugar = inflammation = disease.

Just about every scientific study over the past few years on the cause of chronic diseases points toward inflammation. Over-consumption of beef creates an omega 3/omega 6 imbalance that is now known to be pro-inflammatory. High blood sugar levels encourage more glycation reaction in the body between sugar and proteins, producing compounds that encourage inflammation and hasten aging. Alzheimer's disease is now thought to begin with inflammation in the brain. This "Inflammation Syndrome" also paves the way for diabetes, obesity, arthritis, asthma, and heart disease. Find out what your doctor isn't telling you about inflammation >