Harvard Scientist: Stop Drinking This Type of Milk Immediately

Have Vegans had it right all along…?

Maybe.

While raw, organic milk offers numerous health benefits, a Harvard researcher and pediatrician argues that these kind conventional milk and dairy products alike are a detriment to your health.

In this article we’ll learn what the research shows and discuss his recommendations and alternatives.

David Ludwig’s Research

As David Ludwig mentioned in his research, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics, there have been countless pieces of research concluding the ill effects of sugar-sweetened beverages.

The over-consumption of sugar has been tied to obesity, diabetes, inflammatory-related pain, and much more.

And because of sugar’s negative effects on our health, even the United States Department of Agriculture, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other organizations are recommending against consuming calories from sugary drinks.

The one calorie-containing beverage they still heavily promote, however, is reduced-fat milk, where the organization recommends drinking 3 cups daily.

This is where Ludwig questions the scientific rationale for such recommendations.

Bad Recommendation?

As far as Ludwig is concerned, if the USDA is recommending to drink reduced-fat milk, it is also inadvertently encouraging the consumption of added sugars – a piece of advice that goes against all the research saying not to consume sugar and sugar-sweetened beverages.

The idea of consuming low-fat milk or chocolate milk cancels out the whole reasoning for the recommendation in the first place since the fats are simply being replaced with dangerous sugars.

“The worst possible situation is reduced-fat chocolate milk: you take out the fat, it’s less tasty. So to get kids to drink 3 cups a day, you get this sugar-sweetened beverage,” Ludwig says. “…we can get plenty of calcium from a whole range of foods. On a gram for gram basis, cooked kale has more calcium than milk. Sardines, nuts seeds beans, green leafy vegetables are all sources of calcium.”

The Case Against Low-Fat Dairy, and Other Dangers of Milk

Harvard researcher David Ludwig certainly has a point in analyzing and ultimately criticizing the USDA’s recommendations, but there is much more to the full-fat vs reduced-fat argument for milk and dairy products.

There are plenty of reasons to avoid certain fats such as trans-fats and refined polyunsaturated fats in vegetable oils (like corn, soy, sunflower, and canola), but the evidence for moderate consumption of saturated fat, which is found in milk, coconut oil, and grass-fed land animals, is coming to the surface. While saturated fat was villainized for decades, a 2010 analysis published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded that “there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of [coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease].”

Further, there are numerous benefits to drinking full-fat dairy products. In it’s most pure state (raw, organic, and coming from grass-fed cows), full-fat dairy has been found in research to potentially promote heart health, control diabetes, aid in vitamin absorption, lower bowel cancer risk, and even aid in weight loss. But while pure dairy could promote your health, conventional dairy may prove damaging.

Before you consume more conventional dairy, please educate yourself as to what’s in your dairy. You’d be surprised that there could be 20+ painkillers, antibiotics, and much more lurking in your milk.

How Pasteurized Dairy Destroys Your Bones From the Inside

How Pasteurized Dairy Destroys Your Bones From the Inside

Milk is the only beverage still aggressively pushed on children as a health promoting food when it is the exact opposite – a disease promoting food. Drinking pasteurized milk is not nearly as good for general health or bones as the dairy industry has made it out to be. In fact, this fairy tale of “milk doing a body good” is being exposed more frequently by many independent scientists and researchers who have had just about enough of the propaganda.

According to a large scale study of thousands of Swedish people, cow’s milk has a deteriorating effect on health when consumed in the long-term. The research was published in The British Medical Journal (BMJ).

The study, which tracked 61,433 women aged 39 to 74 over 20 years, and 45,339 men of similar age for 11 years, found that the more cow’s milk people drank, the more likely they were to die or experience a bone fracture during the study period.

The risks were especially pronounced for women, a group advised to drink milk to help avoid bone fractures that result from osteoporosis.

Women who said they drank three or more glasses of milk a day had almost double the chance of dying during the study period as those who reported drinking only one. A glass is defined as a 200 milliliter serving. They also had a 16 percent higher chance of getting a bone fracture anywhere in the body.

Why Does Milk Cause Osteoporosis and Bone Fractures

The dairy industry has been hard at work the last 50 years convincing people that pasteurized dairy products such as milk or cheese increases bioavailable calcium levels. This is totally false. The pasteurization process only creates calcium carbonate, which has absolutely no way of entering the cells without a chelating agent. So what the body does is pull the calcium from the bones and other tissues in order to buffer the calcium carbonate in the blood. This process actually causes osteoporosis.

Pasteurized dairy contains too little magnesium needed at the proper ratio to absorb the calcium. Most would agree that a minimum amount of Cal. to Mag Ratio is 2 to 1 and preferably 1 to 1. So milk, at a Cal/Mag ratio of 10 to 1, has a problem. You may put 1200 mg of dairy calcium in your mouth, but you will be lucky to actually absorb a third of it into your system.

Over 99% of the body’s calcium is in the skeleton, where it provides mechanical rigidity. Pasteurized dairy forces a calcium intake lower than normal and the skeleton is used as a reserve to meet needs. Long-term use of skeletal calcium to meet these needs leads to osteoporosis.

Dairy is pushed on Americans from birth yet they have one of the highest risk of osteoporosis in the world. Actually, people from the USA, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand have the highest rates of osteoporosis.

The test for pasteurization is called the negative alpha phosphatase test. When milk has been heated to 165 degrees (higher for UHT milk) and pasteurization is complete, the enzyme phosphatase is 100 percent destroyed. Guess what? This is the enzyme that is critical for the absorption of minerals including calcium! Phosphatase is the third most abundant enzyme in raw milk and those who drink raw milk enjoy increased bone density. Several studies have documented greater bone density and longer bones in animals and humans consuming raw milk compared to pasteurized.

The message that estrogen builds fracture-resistant bones (prevents osteoporosis) has been hammered into women’s minds over the past 4 decades by the pharmaceutical industry, selling HRT formulas, such as Premarin and Prempro. Food also raises estrogen levels in a person’s body–and dairy foods account for about 60 to 70% of the estrogen that comes from food. The main source of this estrogen is the modern factory farming practice of continuously milking cows throughout pregnancy. As gestation progresses the estrogen content of milk increases from 15 pg/ml to 1000 pg/ml.

The National Dairy Council would like you to believe, “There is no evidence that protein-rich foods such as dairy foods adversely impact calcium balance or bone health.” But these same dairy people know this is untrue and they state elsewhere, “Excess dietary protein, particularly purified proteins, increases urinary calcium excretion. This calcium loss could potentially cause negative calcium balance, leading to bone loss and osteoporosis. These effects have been attributed to an increased endogenous acid load created by the metabolism of protein, which requires neutralization by alkaline salts of calcium from bone.”

The More Milk You Drink, The More Inflammatory Molecules

The most likely explanation of the negative health effects of milk are the damaging inflammation caused by galactose, a breakdown product of lactose, the main sugar in milk. In a separate group of people, the team found that the more milk that people drink, the more inflammatory molecules were present in their urine.

What’s more, women who reported eating a lot of cheese and yogurt had a lower chance of fracturing a bone or dying during the study than women who ate low amounts of the dairy products. This supports the inflammation hypothesis because yogurt and cheese contain much less lactose and galactose than milk.

Cancer Fuel

Of the almost 60 hormones, one is a powerful GROWTH hormone called Insulin- like Growth Factor ONE (IGF-1). By a freak of nature it is identical in cows and humans.

The foods you eat can influence how much IGF-I circulates in the blood. Diets higher in overall calories or in animal proteins tend to boost IGF-I, and there seems to be an especially worrisome role played by milk.

Consider this hormone to be a “fuel cell” for any cancer… (the medical world says IGF-1 is a key factor in the rapid growth and proliferation of breast, prostate and colon cancers, and we suspect that most likely it will be found to promote ALL cancers). IGF-1 is a normal part of ALL milk… the newborn is SUPPOSED to grow quickly! What makes the 50% of obese American consumers think they need MORE growth? Consumers don’t think anything about it because they do not have a clue to the problem… nor do most of our doctors.

Studies funded by the dairy industry show a 10% increase in IGF-1 levels in adolescent girls from one pint daily and the same 10% increase for postmenopausal women from 3 servings per day of nonfat milk or 1% milk.

IGF-1 promotes undesirable growth too–like cancer growth and accelerated aging. IGF-1 is one of the most powerful promoters of cancer growth ever discovered. Overstimulation of growth by IGF-1 leads to premature aging too–and reducing IGF-1 levels is “anti-aging.”

A review published by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research in 1997 found that cancer risk paralleled milk consumption in numerous studies.

Pasteurization Masks Low-Quality Milk and Destroy Nutrients and Enzymes

Why do humans still drink milk? Because they think it’s safe due to pasteurization. However, heat destroys a great number of bacteria in milk and thus conceals the evidence of dirt, pus and dirty dairy practices. It’s cheaper to produce dirty milk and kill the bacteria by heat, that to maintain a clean dairy and keep cows healthy. To combat the increase in pathogens milk goes through ‘clarification’, ‘filtering’, ‘bactofugation’ and two ‘deariation’ treatments. Each of these treatments uses heat ranging from 100-175 degrees Fahrenheit. Dairies count on many heat treatments to mask their inferior sanitary conditions: milk filled with pus, manure and debris. Consumer Reports found 44% of 125 pasteurized milk samples contained as many as 2200 organisms per cubic centimeter (fecal bacteria, coliforms)

Pasteurization also destroys vitamin C, and damages water soluble B vitamins diminishing the nutrient value of milk. Calcium and other minerals are made unavailable by pasteurization. The Maillard reaction, a chemical reaction between proteins and sugars, occurs at higher heats and causes browning, discoloring the milk.

Milk enzymes, proteins, antibodies as well as beneficial hormones are killed by pasteurization resulting in devitalized ‘lifeless’ milk. Milk enzymes help digest lactose and both enzymes and milk proteins help to absorb vitamins. Protective enzymes in milk are inactivated, making it more susceptible to spoilage.

Overall, pasteurized milk is not a beverage that can be recommended to either maintain or advance health. It has no significant nutritional value and there is a far greater risk in consuming it than not. There are also plenty of alternatives including coconut milk, nut milks (i.e. almond, cashew), and hemp milk which far exceed conventional cow’s milk in terms of nutrition and health promoting properties.

Moringa – The Herb That Kills Cancer And Stops Diabetes

If you need to be healthier, have no problems with the body, have energy and live longer, this is the herb! Moringa oleifera is the magical plant of South Asia. It was used in tradition and medicine for many years. It’s also known as drumstick and is powerful with antioxidant amount.

It is proven to be healthy, yet there is still time to examine its benefits more.

These are the 7 reasons for consuming its fruits and leaves.

VALUE OF NUTRITION

The fruits and leaves of this herb have many minerals and vitamins. Also, 1 cup of pods gives you 157% RDA vitamin C.

One cup also has:

• Vitamin B6- 19% daily needs
• Vitamin A-9%                   
• protein-2 g
• vitamin C-12%
• vitamin B2 riboflavin- 11%
• iron- 11%
• magnesium- 8%

THE DRY LEAVES CAN BE FOUND AS SUPPLEMENTS. BUT, A NATURAL PLANT IS BETTER.

STRONG BONES

Consuming this plant makes bone density better. It has calcium and iron that stops bone loss. Also, give it to adolescent in growing to boost their stamina and health.

NO CANCER

This herb has antioxidants and fights free radicals. It stops cancer in forming. It also has vitamin C and beta carotene, but chlorogenic acid and quercetin too. They are the best shield to these radicals.

HEADACHE RELIEF

Take the roots of this herb and make juice. Mix it with jiggery equal parts and sip it.

EYE ISSUES

This can soothe issues like conjunctivitis. Take the leaves and grind them well, and this pasty cream should be put on the eyes. If you make this juice with honey, you can use it as eyeliner and resolve corneal issues. Also, it reduces swelling of the eyes.

LOWERING THE BLOOD SUGAR

In case you’re diabetic, this herb can help with that. If the blood sugar is abnormal for some time, get this plant. Studies showed that this positively resolves this issue and it was tested on animals. Some human studies are in progress too. A study having 30 females showed that when they were given 7g leaf powder for 3 months, their blood sugar leveled by 13.5%.

PURE BLOOD

These moringa pods and leafs are also great for cleansing the blood. Make it in soup for example, and this will also cleanse acne and skin problems. The juice can be used topically on the acne and pimples and it will heal them since it is antibiotic.

ANTI-AGING

Due to the amounts of vitamin A, aging is slowed down. Also vision is improved and immunity strengthened.

Still, moringa is yet to be explored. One thing is for sure, it is healthy and you can freely include it in your diet.

Когато човек се бори с болестта диабет, той трябва да разчита и на природни способи!

Един от еликсирите, които помагат в битката с коварното заболяване, наречено диабет, е измислено от Николай Шевченко. То е просто и само от две съставки, но облекчава организма бързо и много ефективно.

Става въпрос за разтвор, който представлява комбинация от нерафинирано слънчогледово олио и 40-градусова водка. Смесват се по 30 мл. и от двете.

Двете трябва да се разбъркат идеално. Преди да се смесят, и двете се разклащат добре. Бъркането им после трябва да трае поне 5 минути. След това се изпива веднага и наведнъж.

Специфичното тук е, че за разлика от много смеси, които престояват известно време, при този лек няма подобно нещо, тъй като водката ще изветрее, ако престои.

Важно е да се отбележи, че и двете съставки трябва да бъдат точно такива, каквито описахме по-горе. Слънчогледовото олио трябва да бъде задължително нерафинирано. Водката пък не бива да бъде нито по-слаба, нито по-силна от 40 градуса.

Природното лекарство за диабет се взима 3 пъти в деня, но това трябва да се случва винаги 20 минути преди хранене.

Лечението продължава няколко седмици. Първо се пие в 10 поредни дни, след което се почива 5 дни. После пак се пие 10 дни. След това обаче се почива 14 дни и пак се пие 10 дни. Това е целият курс на лечение.

Голямата ефективност на тази напитка идва от високия процент антивирусно действие, което тя оказва на организма. Освен това убива бързо всякакви бактерии.

Ето защо, освен срещу диабет, методът Шевченко (както го наричат) се прилага и срещу рак, цироза на черния дроб, хипертония, панкреатит, сарком, всички видове язви, стенокардия, астма и различни алергии.

Николай Шевченко е измислил лечебния разтвор с цел не само лечение на болести, но и предотвратяване появата на такива. Затова този лек може да бъде приеман и от здрави хора.

Неподозираните лечебни свойства на листата от смокиня

Може би и през ум не ви е минавало колко много лечебни свойства притежават листата от смокиня.

В Индия например наричат всяко дърво смокиня „Дървото на бедните”, тъй като има плодове почти целогодишно.
Оказва се обаче, че не само плодът е здравословен, а и листата. Нещо повече – листата дори притежават много повече лечебни свойства от плодовете.

С листа от смокиня например се лекува успешно диабет. Отварата от смокинови листа понижава значително нивата на кръвната захар в организма. Екстрактът от тях оказва благоприятно влияние на инсулина и не се налага допълнително стимулиране с инжекции при диабетиците от втори тип.

Полезните свойства на чая от листа от смокиня не се изчерпват дотук. Той може да понижи нивото на триглицеридите, които са доста опасни. Именно те оказват влияние за изграждането на също толкова опасния холестерол в кръвта.
В този ред на мисли можете да приемате чая от смокинови листа като превантивна мярка срещу едни от най-опасните сърдечносъдови заболявания като инфаркт или инсулт.
Този чай е полезен и за хората, които страдат от наднормено тегло, тъй като има отслабващо действие.

Отварата може да излекува бронхит и астма. Необходими са ви само три добре измити смокинови листа, които трябва да се залеят с литър вода и да се варят за 15 минути.
След това отварата се оставя да кисне три часа, прецежда се и се пие вместо вода.

Другият вид отвара от смокини, която можете да си направите е със сушени листа.
Необходими са ви три супени лъжици изсушени смокинови листа. Поставяте ги в термос с половин литър вряла вода и ги оставяте да престоят 4-5 часа.
Количеството се изпива на четири приема в рамките на деня по половин чаена чаша.
Много е ефикасно при камъни в бъбреците.

В случай, че страдате от колит, ентероколит или дизентерия, вземете една супена лъжица стрити смокинови листа и ги запарете с 1 ч.ч. вряла вода. Оставете ги да киснат един час и ги прецедете. Течността разпределете на 2-3 равни части и я изпийте в рамките на деня.

Листата от смокиня са много ефективни и при болестта на Бюргер, язви и колити. За последните две заболявания, е необходимо да консумирате листата в сурово състояние.

Ако се е появил кокоши трън или цирей, можете да се избавите от този проблем като го наложите със сок от смокинови листа.
Силата им не се изчерпва дотук.
Те са толкова мощни, че могат да се използват и за премахване на татуировки. За целта просто трябва да изцедите млечния сок от листата и да мажете татуировките до пълното им заличаване.

Разбира се плодът смокиня също не е за пренебрегване, тъй като той също лекува доста заболявания.
Дори не сте предполагали колко важни и полезни за организма вещества се съдържат в този сладък плод, който е любим на мнозина.

При все, че смокинята е сезонен плод, тя може да бъде открита на пазара целогодишно, тъй като се предлага и сушена.
Те не само са доста сладки, а и засищащи. Съдържат сериозно количество фибри, витамин В и К, калций, желязо, магнезий и фосфор.
Вероятно, след като научите истината за този плод ще го превърнете в неизменна част от трапезата си под една или друга форма.

Вкусните и сладки смокини допринасят за прилива на енергия, добрия метаболизъм и поддържането на добрия тонус на сърцето.
Малките плодчета са богати на пектин, който подпомага храносмилателните процеси и това ги превръща в особено полезни за хора със затруднено храносмилане и други стомашни проблеми.

Бързо разтворимите фибри пък подпомагат изхвърлянето на натрупалото се количество холестерол в организма ви и са невероятен лек за проблемите със сърцето.
Сушените смокини се препоръчват горещо на хората със сърдечни проблеми, тъй като съдържат завидно количество Омега-3 и Омега-6 мастни киселини.

Смокините лекуват успешно високото кръвно (хипертония)
В състава на смокините има малко количество натрий и повече калий, което подпомага предотвратяването на този здравословен проблем. Обикновено хипертонията се появява заради големия прием на натрий.

Има укрепващо костите действие
Като отличен източник на калций, тези малки сладки плодчета вършат чудеса за укрепването на костната система при малки и големи.

Регулират нивото на кръвната захар
Както вече споменахме, те са идеално средство за регулиране на нивото на кръвната захар. За това помага съдържащият се в тях калий, който е от огромно значение за хората с диабет.

При болки в гърлото
Съдържащият се в смокините клей успокоява бързо и ефикасно болките в гърлото.

Полова немощ
Накиснатите в прясно мляко смокини за една нощ се използват като лек за полова слабост.

Анемия
Заради високите нива на желязо в този плод, той е изключително ефикасен и при анемия.

При акне и различни кожни проблеми
Необходими са ви няколко пресни смокини, които се намачкват (без люспата) и с получената каша се маже лицето.
Маската подпомага отстраняването на неприятните кожни проблеми.

За отслабване
Ако ви измъчва наднормено тегло, смокините са идеалният плод за вас. В тях се съдържа сериозно количество фибри като в същото време не съдържат мазнини, пише delo.bg. 

What Is Molybdenum?

By Dr. Mercola

What's found in unfiltered water, cheese, grains, leafy greens, nuts and liver? If you said molybdenum, you're right, but few realize that this little-known trace element is crucial to nearly every life form on earth.

Molybdenum is an essential catalyst for enzymes to help metabolize fats and carbohydrates and facilitate the breakdown of certain amino acids in your body.1 Its role is crucial to your health.

In humans, a molybdenum deficiency, albeit a rarity (and usually exclusive to those who have to be fed intravenously), can be the source of such maladies as headache, rapid heartbeat, mental health problems, and even coma.

Signs of deficiency might include problems with uric acid production and decreased metabolism of sulfur-containing amino acids. Tooth enamel contains high amounts of molybdenum, and the mineral might even help decrease tooth decay.

It's a good thing it's in all those foods listed above. However, the amount found in plant-based foods is in direct relation to how much is found in the soil in which they grow. Molybdenum is available as a supplement in liquid and capsule form.

Tetrathiomolybdate is a form of molybdenum that lowers copper levels in the body, so it's effective in treating fibrotic, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

As reported by Livestrong, molybdenum is a necessary element in soil to prevent the production of cancer-causing agents known as nitrosamines in plant foods, and it's been shown in animal studies that it:

"Dramatically inhibits pulmonary and liver fibrosis, which is thickening and scarring of tissue, helps prevent liver damage from acetaminophen and reduces heart damage from doxorubicin, a bacterial antibiotic. Tetrathiomolybdate also shows a partially protective effect against diabetes."

In technical terms, for humans molybdenum is known to function as a cofactor (a compound needed for an enzyme to do its job) for four enzymes:

• Sulfite oxidase, crucial for human health, brings about the rapid change from sulfite to sulfate, a reaction that is necessary for the use in your body of sulfur-containing amino acids, the "building blocks" of proteins methionine and cysteine
•  Xanthine oxidase catalyzes the breakdown of nucleotides, precursors to DNA and RNA, which then form uric acid, helping to retain clotting factors in plasma and resist reactive oxygen species (ROS) for antioxidant capacity of the blood
• Aldehyde oxidase and xanthine oxidase, enzymes that involve a number of molecules with similar chemical structures and help metabolize drugs and toxins
• Mitochondrial amidoxime reducing component (mARC), relatively new in terms of discovery of its role in the body, accelerates the removal of certain toxic substances4

Molybdenum and Supplemental Amounts

One way molybdenum helps you stay healthy is by breaking down what you eat, including proteins. What's not used immediately can be stored for future use but most of it leaves your body through urination.

Interestingly, grazing animals known as ruminants have multiple stomachs. In their digestive tracts, compounds containing sulfur and molybdenum form thiomolybdates, which prevent copper absorption and can trigger fatal copper-dependent disorders.

A similar problem can happen in humans, so thiomolybdate therapy is sometimes used as a promising treatment for a genetic disorder called Wilson's disease, which causes copper to build up and eventually damage your liver and brain.

It's also used for inflammatory diseases and certain types of cancer. According to the Linus Pauling Institute:

"Copper is also a required cofactor for enzymes involved in inflammation and angiogenesis, known to accelerate cancer progression and metastasis.

Copper depletion studies employing TM [thiomolybdate] have been initiated in patients with advanced malignancies with the aim of preventing disease progression or relapse.

These pilot trials showed promising results in individuals with metastatic kidney cancer, metastatic colorectal cancer and breast cancer with high risk of relapse."

Most people in the U.S. obtain the molybdenum they need exclusively through their diets, which is preferable, but if this isn't possible supplementation is another option. According to the National Institute of Medicine, the recommended daily allowances (RDA) of molybdenum, per day, are:

Adults	45 micrograms
Teenagers age 14 to 18	43 micrograms
Children age 9 to 13	34 micrograms
Children age 4 to 8	22 micrograms
Under age 4	17 micrograms
Pregnant or lactating women	50 micrograms

However, while these amounts will likely prevent a deficiency, there's currently no scientific evidence that taking more is healthy; and too much has been proven to be harmful.

Soil Lacking Molybdenum Linked to Cancer of the Esophagus

In areas where there is little access to molybdenum-rich foods, minimal dietary molybdenum is associated with esophageal and stomach cancer.

For instance, in a small region of Northern China, cancer of the esophagus and stomach is 10 times higher than China's national average and 100 times higher than the average in the U.S. According to one study:

"The soil in this region is low in molybdenum and other mineral elements; therefore, dietary molybdenum intake is also low.

Studies conducted in other areas of low and high incidence of esophageal cancer showed that content of molybdenum and zinc in hair and nails is significantly lower in inhabitants of high-risk regions compared to cold spots.

Moreover, esophageal cancer patients display reduced content of the trace elements compared to healthy relatives."

It's thought that by adding ammonium molybdate to the soil, the cancer cases will decrease. However, dietary supplementation of minerals, including molybdenum, and vitamins in the Linxian area of China did nothing to decrease the cancer mortality rates over a five-year period.

At the same time, Rugao, a county in the Chinese province of Jiangsu, is known for its octogenarian residents. Dietary habits, traditions and lifestyles are similar to surrounding areas, with this one difference: Rugao has a "large number" of different soil types, which may have something to do with the remarkable longevity of its residents. According to a study published in the journal Environmental Geochemistry and Health:

"The ratio of people over 90 years old per 100,000 inhabitants (90-rate) based on village (about 4,000 residents in 4 km(2)) was correlated with trace elements in soil, drinking water, and rice by means of correlation analysis …

Similar relationships between the available elements in soils and elements in water and rice were found.

These results suggest that: (1) the available forms of elements in soil were more crucial to elemental bio-availability in the ecosystem and human health than total elements in soil; and (2) the element association above might have affected the 90-rate positively and could be an important environmental geochemical factor influencing the longevity of humans."

Nitrosamines and NMMG — Known Carcinogens

Scientists believe high incidences of certain cancers are linked to dietary or environmental factors including increased intake of nitrosamines, which are known carcinogens that are found more often in plant foods grown in molybdenum-deficient soils. Livestrong notes that:

"When there's a deficiency of molybdenum uptake in plants, nitrosamines are produced because nitrate reductase — an enzyme — can't perform properly without its molybdenum co-factor."

According to a National Toxicology Program report of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in the case of tobacco use, saliva can reduce nitrates to nitrites to form these harmful compounds in the gastrointestinal tract, an internal formation that is a "major cause of human exposure to N‑nitrosamines."

Further, a derivative, MNNG (N-Methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine) was shown to be "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen based on sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity from studies in experimental animals." It caused tumors in several different animals through different types of exposure.

According to the U.K.'s Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, nitrosamines are toxic in more animal species than any other category of chemical carcinogen. Health concerns from nitrosamines include cancer, organ system toxicity, endocrine disruption and more. Molybdenum's antioxidant properties may help to break down toxins in your body, including cancer-causing nitrosamines from foods and other sources.

Omega-3s Can Help Lupus

By Dr. Mercola

Scientists at Michigan State University (MSU) recently reported encouraging news for people suffering from lupus, an autoimmune disease that affects about 1.5 million people in the U.S.

Lupus attacks your immune system and destroys healthy cells (aka macrophages), tissues and other organs. The most common target is your skin, although your brain, kidneys, lungs and other organs and tissues can also be damaged.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the form seen in 70 percent of cases. Patients often experience unexplained fever, shortness of breath and chest pain, heart or kidney problems, swollen, painful joints, unsightly skin rashes, incapacitating headaches and debilitating fatigue.

One of the biggest problems with lupus is that the medical community isn't sure what causes it. There's no cure, per se, so in most cases, doctors simply treat it. Steroids and other drugs are a popular, albeit side-effect-ridden, remedy. Over the past few years, clinical research has looked at a diet-based approach.

The MSU study, reported in the journal PLOS One, showed that docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, a type of omega-3, an essential fat, prevented lesions from forming on the lungs of mice predisposed to lupus by stopping a toxic mineral called crystalline silica from triggering the disease.

Causes of Lupus: Occupational, Environmental and Otherwise

Exposure to crystalline silica (cSiO2) is just one of the environmental causes of lupus. It's found in substances such as brick, mortar and concrete, and was placed in a class of carcinogens when scientists discovered that exposure to its miniscule, airborne particulates raised peoples' lung cancer risk.

What makes someone vulnerable to lupus? A Canadian study examined many different ways people can be exposed to crystalline silica, often an occupational hazard, some with higher levels of exposure than others:

Work in a dental office or laboratory	Cosmetics and other beauty products	Artists working with paints or dyes	Artists making pottery or ceramics
Photographers developing film	Nail polish or nail applications	Solvents used to clean metal parts

Another study, posted by the National Cancer Institute (NIH), showed that this substance, mainly quartz dust, is created when hand-held masonry tools are used to cut concrete or brick. Breathing in silica contained in cleansers, pet litter, caulk, paint and talcum powder can also be dangerous.

"The strongest link between human lung cancer and exposure to respirable crystalline silica has been seen in studies of quarry and granite workers and workers involved in ceramic, pottery, refractory brick, and certain earth industries."

When particles are breathed in, they can penetrate deep into your lungs, potentially raising your lung cancer risk. There are regulations and standards in place by the Mine Safety and Health Administration and the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), specifically related to silica exposure.

PLOS One study co-author Jack Harkema, from the Institute for Integrative Toxicology at MSU, noted:

"Cells in the lung can gobble up the silica, but it's so toxic, it kills these cells. When they die, signals are sent out to the immune system that something is wrong. The body then produces such a strong response that it also starts to target healthy cells."

That's why the study showing the dramatic turn-around omega-3s can make in turning lupus and other diseases around is so remarkable.

The Importance of Omega-3 Fats, DHA and EPA

The best sources of animal-based omega-3 fats come from the DHA and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) provided in krill oil and certain fatty, cold-water fish, produced by the algae that fish eat and store in their bodies.

This doesn't refer to plant-based ALA (alpha-linolenic acid), found in flaxseeds, chia seeds and hemp. Those foods are good for you, but it's best to get omega-3s from animal sources.

Your body can convert ALA to EPA and DHA, but only when there are enough enzymes (which is seldom the case) and even then only a minimal amount, so it would require ingesting much more.

The American diet is sadly deficient in healthy fats, including EPA and DHA. Optimal amounts are important for the healthy function of neurotransmitters in your brain, insulin levels, and your heart and bones. Ingesting the right amount can even lower your cancer risk.

If you consume a lot of omega-6 fats, you need more omega-3s. Unfortunately, most people in the U.S. eat 10 times more omega-6s than omega-3s, and often it's highly processed.

The Role of DHA in Preventing Lupus and other Diseases

When the MSU study team investigated the possibilities of DHA being able to protect against lupus and other dangers of crystalline silica, the members were already aware of the anti-inflammatory aspects of omega-3 fats. In fact, DHA is one of the three foremost types of omega-3.

Female mice predisposed to lupus were given one of four types of diets, each containing different percentages of DHA: .4 percent, 1.2 percent, 2.4 percent (equivalent to humans taking 2, 6 or 12 grams of DHA daily) or a control diet.

After two weeks, all four groups of mice were exposed to 1 milligram of crystalline silica per week for four weeks. The lowest DHA amount in the mice diet showed no affect on lung lesions, but according to Harkema in an MSU press release:

"Ninety-six percent of the lung lesions were stopped with DHA after being triggered by the silica. I've never seen such a dramatic protective response in the lung before … Our next step is to figure out exactly what's happening."

Lead study author James Pestka commented that the study made it clear that ingesting DHA may prevent environmental lupus triggers by suppressing the signaling pathways of the disease.

He added that while drugs are currently being marketed for this purpose, fish containing DHA and obtained from a reliable, non-polluted source can be low in contaminants, which sometimes pose a hindrance to people looking to obtain omega-3s from dietary sources. Those fish include:

• Sardines and anchovies
• Menhaden (a type of herring usually low in contaminants)
• Wild-caught Alaskan salmon

It's crucial to note that, in terms of salmon, only wild-caught Alaskan sockeye salmon is good for you, the main reasons being widely contaminated fishing waters, and that the omega-3s are greatly diminished in farmed salmon.

Studies on DHA Supplementation

People on Western diets often consume far more omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids from plant oils than omega-3 fats from healthy sources of seafood or krill oil.

However, omega-3 supplementation is a reliable way to obtain healthy amounts. This is especially true if you're unable to eat the fish listed above, or it's unavailable to you. A number of studies indicate that DHA supplementation may not only suppress inflammation in compromised organs, it might even reverse it. According to Pestka:

"While it should be emphasized that that our study was performed in the mouse, a 'preclinical' model, we believe our research provides new insight into how omega-3s could block environmental triggering of other autoimmune or inflammatory diseases.

For example, occupational exposure to silica has been linked to rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Consumption of omega-3s have been shown to benefit persons with RA."

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recommends taking 250 milligrams of EPA, plus DHA, with no more than 5 grams per day.

While one of the best ways to get omega-3s is by eating non-polluted wild-caught fatty fish at least twice a week, if you don't, you may benefit from taking a supplement. Authority Nutrition recommends making sure the supplement contains adequate amounts of EPA and DHA.

"There is no set standard for how much omega-3 you should get each day. Various mainstream health organizations have released their own expert opinions, but they vary considerably. Overall, most of these organizations recommend a minimum of 250-500 mg combined EPA and DHA each day for healthy adults. However, higher amounts are often recommended for certain health conditions."

The amounts are different if you're pregnant or breastfeeding, because then you'll most likely need more. While the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada say to take at least 500 mg of omega-3s, including EPA and DHA, per day, the European Commission recommends a minimum of 200 mg of DHA alone, per day. Additionally, before you choose a supplement, make sure you know how much it actually contains.

A Last Note on Fish Oil Supplements

At the University of Ulster, Dr. Emeir Duffy from the School of Biomedical Sciences recently examined the effects of fish oil supplements on 52 lupus patients. Participants divided into four groups were given either three doses of fish oil supplements a day, a copper supplement, copper as well as fish oil, or a placebo.

Those who took the fish oil "saw improvements in quality of life, inflammation and fatigue, which is one of the most debilitating symptoms of lupus." The copper had no benefit one way or the other. Duffy was quoted in Epic 4 Health:

"Some found it fantastic, and they went from being severely affected in their daily life to actually joining the gym and having a huge difference in what they could do. Others saw a mild improvement, being able to go out and do the shopping which is a big bonus to some people who can't even leave the house." 

Please note there are many advantages of krill oil over fish oil, which you can read about in detail here. For instance, when you consume fish oil, your liver has to attach it to phosphatidylcholine in order for it to be utilized by your body. Krill oil already contains phosphatidylcholine, which grants it superior bioavailability.

Even if you don't work in a job where you're likely to handle or breathe in silica particles, consuming omega-3 fats is essential for health.