The 2008 Baseline of Health® Newsletter
December 2008
- Juggling Health Care in Today's World - 12/22/2008
The only way that health care can survive -- the only way you can survive -- is if you take back control of your health and start doing those things that allow your body to stay healthy without the need for health care. Or to put it another way, the only way to save health care is to stop using it. - Cancer Rates Decline - 12/08/2008
The American Cancer Society released a report showing that cancer rates and cancer deaths declined in the latest census, which covers the years 1975 to 2005. But all is not as it seems.
November 2008
- PHS-II: Vitamins E, C, Beta Carotene, and Cancer - 11/24/2008
What is it about vitamin E that seems to bring out the worst in medical researchers? Once again, I find myself compelled to defend it -- for the umpteenth time. There have been three studies in the last month alone “proving” that vitamin E offers no health benefits. They're seriously flawed, of course. - Probiotics Revisited, Part 2 - 11/10/2008
In our last newsletter, we talked about what probiotics are and what the benefits of supplementation might be. In this issue, we conclude our examination of probiotics by exploring: when not to supplement, why probiotic strains matter, how to choose a supplement, and how to maximize the benefits.
October 2008
- Probiotics Revisited, Part 1 - 10/27/2008
In Part 1 of the series, we'll explore exactly what probiotics are and what benefits you can expect from supplementation. - Cut Your Mortality Rates in Half - 10/13/2008
A recent study out of the Harvard School of Public Health concluded that 55% of deaths from all causes (44% of deaths from cancer and 72% of deaths from heart disease) could be avoided if people never smoked, engaged in regular physical activity, avoided becoming overweight, and ate a healthy diet.
September 2008
- High Fructose Corn Syrup, Oh Boy! - 09/29/2008
This month, the Corn Refiners Association launched a series of television ads to "make-over" the image of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). The ads are priceless in their misrepresentation of facts and in their total lack of respect for the intelligence of the viewing public -- although experience says they are, nevertheless, likely to win over large numbers of people. - Pancreatic Cancer, Brain Cancer, and Prostate Cancer - 09/15/2008
A series of new studies just announced major breakthroughs in brain cancer, pancreatic cancer, and prostate cancer. If you were to believe the media, it would appear that we're finally seeing the long-promised light at the end of the tunnel in the war on cancer. Ah, if only that were true. - Protein, Part 3 - 09/01/2008
Allergies, food intolerances, aminoacidemia, and intestinal toxemia are all problems that can accompany protein supplementation. They are also all factors to consider when choosing a protein supplement. The bottom line is that choosing the right protein supplement is not necessarily as simple as comparing product labels in a store.
August 2008
- Protein, Part 2 - 08/18/2008
Many people think that the usability of protein is a question of animal versus vegetable. In fact, that's one of the least important determiners when it comes to protein usability. - Protein, Part 1 - 08/04/2008
There are a number of questions that need to be addressed when you're thinking about what protein to supplement with such as bioavailability, speed of uptake, the size of the protein molecule, allergies, etc.
July 2008
- World's Greatest Medical Failures - 07/21/2008
There is great failure in health care today -- and, as a result of that failure, great pain and unnecessary suffering. There is much that modern medicine has to apologize for. And if doctors ever truly want to be the all around healers they claim to be, they will have to change some fundamental paradigms. - World's Greatest Medical Advancements - 07/07/2008
In this issue of the newsletter, we examine some of medicine's greatest achievements and see how they stack up when viewed with a skeptical eye.
June 2008
- FDA Cracks the Amalgam Filling Cabal - 06/23/2008
For years, the FDA has marched arm in arm with the American Dental Association and unflinchingly maintained the joint position that mercury fillings are perfectly safe, despite ever increasing evidence to the contrary. But on June 3rd, they finally broke ranks. - GlaxoSmithKline Petitions the FDA - 06/09/2008
On April 17th, GlaxoSmithKline submitted a citizen petition to the Food and Drug Administration asking them to prohibit claims associated with any dietary supplements that promote a connection weight loss unless those supplements are pre-approved by the FDA. The impact of this petition goes FAR beyond the immediate issue and could ultimately affect your ability to intelligently purchase every single health and nutrition product on the market!
May 2008
- Alternative Health - Risk Versus Safety - 05/26/2008
When it comes to supplements, as with CAM visits, North Americans (and the US in particular) are more daring than the rest of the world, and Europeans in particular. But governments throughout the world are trying to narrow that gap by removing the few options we have left. - Blood Transfusions May Have Killed Millions - 05/12/2008
Blood transfusions have been used as a standard medical procedure for over 100 years. And now it turns out they may be responsible for many millions of unnecessary deaths worldwide during that time. How could this be?
April 2008
- Alcohol and Breast Cancer - 04/28/2008
Alcohol, consumed even in small amounts, may significantly increase the risk of breast cancer -- particularly estrogen-receptor/progesterone-receptor positive breast cancer. Further, studies reveal that there may be an association between breast cancer risk and two genes (ADH1B and ADH1C) involved in alcohol metabolism. - Don't Stop Drinking Water - 04/14/2008
If you are to believe what the media has been saying over the last couple of weeks, there are no health benefits to drinking 8 glasses of water a day. Drinking water or cola are pretty much the same thing. And dehydration is a myth.
March 2008
- Vaccination, Immunization, and Children - 03/31/2008
On average, in the United States, children are now required to receive some 33 doses of 9 different vaccines in order to attend school. I'm not saying vaccines should be eliminated (besides, that's not going to happen anyway) -- just that we should use a lot more discrimination than we are at the moment in their application. - What to do About Pharmaceutical Drugs in Your Water - 03/17/2008
The prevalence of pharmaceuticals in drinking water is nothing new. Their presence was first identified in a 1999-2000 U.S. Geological Survey that found pharmaceutical drugs, along with hormones and other organic contaminants in over one hundred streams in some thirty states. - Is Tuberculosis in Your Future? - 03/03/2008
The World Health Organization estimates that there are nearly half a million new cases of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis each year, and 110,000 people a year are dying from this form of TB.
February 2008
- Who Said Low Blood Sugar Kills Diabetics? - 02/18/2008
In 2005, UCLA researchers showed that advanced heart failure patients with diabetes who were treated with insulin faced a mortality rate four times higher than heart failure patients with diabetes treated with oral medications. - Fish Food Follies - 02/04/2008
Tests, conducted by the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, in Piscataway NJ, found that there was so much mercury in tuna and swordfish in 20 Manhattan restaurants and stores that eating just six pieces of sushi a week would exceed acceptable levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
January 2008
- The Cost of a Strong Immune System - 01/21/2008
When it comes to the immune system, more is not always better. Improving the strength of the immune system comes at a cost. Optimizing the immune system, then, comes down to "cost benefit analysis." - Doctors: See No Evil - 01/07/2008
Although 96% of doctors surveyed "agreed that physicians should report impaired or incompetent colleagues to relevant authorities, 45% of respondents who encountered such colleagues had not reported them.
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Health Blog
Alcohol Plus Energy Drink Spells Disaster
Combining energy drinks and alcohol can trick the brain, making people think they're sober -- or sober enough -- when they're not.
An evolved strain of rabies has been found in skunks and foxes in suburban areas of Arizona.
Fire Retardant Retards Pregnancy
A recent study found that chemicals commonly used to fire-proof furniture, textiles, plastics and electronics manage to get into the bloodstream and apparently, exert a powerful influence on fertility.
