(NaturalNews) A new study pre-published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives confirms that fluoridated water causes brain damage in children. The most recent among 23 others pertaining to fluoride and lowered IQ levels, the new study so strongly proves that fluoride is a dangerous, brain-destroying toxin that experts say it could be the one that finally ends water fluoridation.
"This is the 24th study that has found this association," explained Paul Connett, Ph.D., director of the Fluoride Action Network (FAN). "[B]ut this study is stronger than the rest because the authors have controlled for key confounding variables and in addition to correlating lowered IQ with levels of fluoride in the water, the authors found a correlation between lowered IQ and fluoride levels in children's blood."
For the study, researchers evaluated 512 children ages 8-13 in two Chinese villages, one village with higher than average fluoride levels and the other with lower than average fluoride levels. After accounting for external variables like lead exposure, iodine deficiency and other conditions that might affect brain health, the team still found that the number of higher intelligence children in the low fluoride community was 350 percent higher than the number in the high fluoride community.
"In this study we found a significant dose-response relation between fluoride level in serum and children's IQ," wrote the study authors.
Though there have been numerous studies over the years the identify fluoride as a neurotoxin, most mainstream medical professionals in the U.S. have ignored them and continue to support water fluoridation. But the evidence continues to mount, and sooner or later the medical community will have to come to grips with the truth about fluoride.
"This should be the study that finally ends water fluoridation," explained Tara Blank, Ph.D., Science and Health Officer at FAN. "Millions of American children are being exposed unnecessarily to this neurotoxin on a daily basis. Who in their right minds would risk lowering their child's intelligence in order to reduce a small amount of tooth decay, for which the evidence is very weak."
To learn more about the dangers of fluoride, visit: www.fluorideaction.org
Sources for this story include:
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fluoride-in-water-linked-to-lower-iq-in-children-112261459.html
25 December 2010
Health organizations urge more sun exposure, less suncreen
(NaturalNews, by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer) Seven U.K. health organizations, including Cancer Research U.K. and the National Osteoporosis Society, recently made a joint announcement that the population needs to get more sun. Reversing decades of warnings about the supposed dangers of sun exposure, the groups now cooperatively agree that humans need regular sun exposure without sunscreen in order to maintain adequate blood levels of vitamin D.
Government warnings about the sun have kept millions of people out of it, or at least lathered in chemical-ridden sunscreens that block the necessary vitamin D-producing ultraviolet (UV) rays from penetrating the skin. But myriads of research brought forth over the past several years has bucked the misnomer that the sun is dangerous, showing instead that it is necessary to maintain health.
"Some of the messages about sun exposure have been too negative," explained Professor Rona Mackie, from the British Association of Dermatologists, to BBC News. "[W]e're now saying that exposure of ten to 15 minutes ... without suncream, several times a week is probably a safe balance between adequate vitamin D levels and any risk of skin cancer."
Vitamin D deficiency is linked to numerous diseases including osteoporosis, heart disease, autism, diabetes, muscle degradation and cancer. Most people in the industrialized world, and now even in the developing world, are deficient because they spend very little time outdoors in natural sunlight. And when they do, many use copious amounts of sunscreen.
Studies have found that roughly 70 percent of whites and 97 percent of blacks are woefully deficient in vitamin D. And even though vitamin D prevents 77 percent of all cancers, U.S. health authorities have been slow to recommend that Americans up their vitamin D intake (http://www.naturalnews.com/030598_vitamin_D_Institute_of_Medicine.html).
Sources for this story include:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12013332
Government warnings about the sun have kept millions of people out of it, or at least lathered in chemical-ridden sunscreens that block the necessary vitamin D-producing ultraviolet (UV) rays from penetrating the skin. But myriads of research brought forth over the past several years has bucked the misnomer that the sun is dangerous, showing instead that it is necessary to maintain health.
"Some of the messages about sun exposure have been too negative," explained Professor Rona Mackie, from the British Association of Dermatologists, to BBC News. "[W]e're now saying that exposure of ten to 15 minutes ... without suncream, several times a week is probably a safe balance between adequate vitamin D levels and any risk of skin cancer."
Vitamin D deficiency is linked to numerous diseases including osteoporosis, heart disease, autism, diabetes, muscle degradation and cancer. Most people in the industrialized world, and now even in the developing world, are deficient because they spend very little time outdoors in natural sunlight. And when they do, many use copious amounts of sunscreen.
Studies have found that roughly 70 percent of whites and 97 percent of blacks are woefully deficient in vitamin D. And even though vitamin D prevents 77 percent of all cancers, U.S. health authorities have been slow to recommend that Americans up their vitamin D intake (http://www.naturalnews.com/030598_vitamin_D_Institute_of_Medicine.html).
Sources for this story include:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12013332
23 December 2010
Scans prove that acupuncture induces clear metabolic brain changes that eliminate pain
(NaturalNews) New research adds more evidence proving that acupuncture is effective at reducing and eliminating pain. Presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), the new findings include functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans that clearly show a positive change in the metabolic activity of patients' brains receiving acupuncture treatment.
"Functional MRI gives us the opportunity to directly observe areas of the brain that are activated during pain perception and see the variances that occur with acupuncture," explained lead researcher Nina Theysohn, MD, from the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology at University Hospital in Essen, Germany. "Activation of brain areas involved in pain perception was significantly reduced or modulated under acupuncture."
Eighteen volunteers agreed to participate in the study, and all were observed using fMRI technology. Researchers applied electrical pain stimuli to the participants' left ankles and observed their brain activity both with and without acupuncture treatment. The team found that the pain activation centers in the participants' brains became less active and even deactivated in the presence of acupuncture treatment.
The findings also challenge some notions that acupuncture works primarily as a placebo. While certain brain responses to acupuncture indicate facets of a placebo response, others clearly highlight specific mechanical activities in the brain that demonstrably reduce pain symptoms.
"Acupuncture is supposed to act through at least two mechanisms -- nonspecific expectancy-based effects and specific modulation of the incoming pain signal," said Theysohn. "Our findings support that both these nonspecific and specific mechanisms exist, suggesting that acupuncture can help relieve pain."
Acupuncture has also been found to help improve fertility, increase heart function, and assist in helping people sleep.
To learn more about acupuncture, visit: http://www.naturalnews.com/acupuncture.html
Sources for this story include:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-11/rson-acb112410.php
"Functional MRI gives us the opportunity to directly observe areas of the brain that are activated during pain perception and see the variances that occur with acupuncture," explained lead researcher Nina Theysohn, MD, from the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology at University Hospital in Essen, Germany. "Activation of brain areas involved in pain perception was significantly reduced or modulated under acupuncture."
Eighteen volunteers agreed to participate in the study, and all were observed using fMRI technology. Researchers applied electrical pain stimuli to the participants' left ankles and observed their brain activity both with and without acupuncture treatment. The team found that the pain activation centers in the participants' brains became less active and even deactivated in the presence of acupuncture treatment.
The findings also challenge some notions that acupuncture works primarily as a placebo. While certain brain responses to acupuncture indicate facets of a placebo response, others clearly highlight specific mechanical activities in the brain that demonstrably reduce pain symptoms.
"Acupuncture is supposed to act through at least two mechanisms -- nonspecific expectancy-based effects and specific modulation of the incoming pain signal," said Theysohn. "Our findings support that both these nonspecific and specific mechanisms exist, suggesting that acupuncture can help relieve pain."
Acupuncture has also been found to help improve fertility, increase heart function, and assist in helping people sleep.
To learn more about acupuncture, visit: http://www.naturalnews.com/acupuncture.html
Sources for this story include:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-11/rson-acb112410.php
21 December 2010
Video: What's wrong with our food system
11-year-old Birke Baehr presents his take on a major source of our food -- far-away and less-than-picturesque industrial farms. Keeping farms out of sight promotes a rosy, unreal picture of big-box agriculture, he argues, as he outlines the case to green and localize food production.
Video: A Call to Men
At TEDWomen, Tony Porter makes a call to men everywhere: Don't "act like a man." Telling powerful stories from his own life, he shows how this mentality, drummed into so many men and boys, can lead men to disrespect, mistreat and abuse women and each other. His solution: Break free of the "man box."
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