Statin use can lead to heart failure: research

(NaturalNews) Promoters of statin drugs for high cholesterol often claim that this particular class of pharmaceutical is no more harmful than a placebo, providing vast benefits without inflicting any harm. But credible scientific research suggests otherwise, having determined in multiple instances that taking statins tends to deplete levels of a key coenzyme responsible for protecting against heart failure.

This coenzyme is known as coenzyme Q10, or CoQ10, and the medical establishment is reluctant to ever talk about it in relation to statins. In fact, the mainstream media is constantly gushing about statins as if they are some kind of miracle "nutrient" for preventing heart attacks and strokes, failing all the while to warn consumers about the incredible risks associated with their use.

In this case, science has shown that the cholesterol-lowering effects of taking statins come at a price. As explained by Dr. John Briffa on his blog, statins work by lowering levels of the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme, which is produced in the liver. This enzyme is responsible for producing CoQ10, which produces fuel for the body to function.

"[HMG-CoA reductase] 'drives' cholesterol production but it also facilitates the production of a substance known as 'coenzyme Q10' -- an essential player in the production of what is known as 'adenosine triphosphate' (ATP) -- the most basic unit of energy 'fuel' in the body," explained Dr. Briffa. "We know that giving statins to people does indeed have the capacity to lower levels of CoQ10 in the body."

Substantiating this is a 2003 study published in the journal BioFactors, which found that statins lower both blood plasma and lymphocyte levels of ubiquinol and ubiquinone, two active forms of CoQ10 used by the body in the production of energy. A separate study published the same year in BioFactors also confirmed that statins deplete CoQ10 levels directly.

"We are currently in the midst of a congestive heart failure epidemic in the United States, the cause or causes of which are unclear," wrote the authors of the first study. "As physicians, it is our duty to be absolutely certain that we are not inadvertently doing harm to our patients by creating a wide-spread deficiency of a nutrient critically important for normal heart function."

Doctors who prescribe statins put their patients at serious risk

But this is exactly what many old-school physicians who lack knowledge in nutrition and progressive medicine are doing by gratuitously prescribing statins as if they were candy. As you may recall from an earlier report by Natural News, some doctors from Imperial College London actually suggested several years ago that statins be handed out for free at fast food restaurants as if they were nothing more than a condiment like ketchup or mustard.

In truth, statins are extremely dangerous and have the potential to cause a host of adverse effects not often mentioned by the establishment. Among the most prominent adverse effects is heart failure due to a lack of CoQ10, as well as myopathy, a type of disease that affects muscle tissue. These and other conditions are documented in the independent literature as being linked to statin use, and consumers need to beware.

In a separate study documented by Dr. Briffa, statin use without supplemental CoQ10 was found to reduce the heart's "ejection fraction," or the amount of blood that it pumps with each beat. Statin use without added CoQ10 was also determined to increase levels of a substance known as "N-terminal B-type natriuretic peptide," which is known to decrease heart function.

In other words, statin use alone will slowly inhibit your body's ability to produce energy, potentially resulting in heart failure.

"CoQ10 depletion is a genuine potential issue in those who take statins, and... CoQ10 supplementation should at least be considered by those who take statins or have taken them (particularly if they suffer from heart failure or other symptoms linked to CoQ10 depletion)," concluded Dr. Briffa.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.drbriffa.com

http://www.naturalnews.com

http://www.nytimes.com

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

http://science.naturalnews.com

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/045938_statin_use_heart_failure_CoQ10.html#ixzz374gkGfzO

Glyphosate decreases yield, seedling quality of Roundup Ready soybeans; increases rate of fungal disease

Glyphosate decreases yield, seedling quality of Roundup Ready soybeans; increases rate of fungal disease

(NaturalNews) The blockbuster herbicide glyphosate (marketed as Roundup) causes toxic effects even to plants supposedly engineered to resist it, according to a study conducted by Brazilian researchers and published in the journal Planta Daninha. The researchers found that use of glyphosate on Roundup Ready soybeans led to an increase in fungal infections and to lower crop yields.

The study offers another blow to herbicide-resistant crops, which are increasingly coming under fire for promoting increased use of toxic chemicals without actually benefiting farmers through increased crop yields.

Even resistant crops are poisoned

Following their introduction in the 1990s, herbicide-resistant crops were widely adopted by farmers in a variety of countries, including the United States and Brazil. The new study was carried out over two seasons in Roundup Ready soybean fields in Mandaguari, Parana, Brazil. It was a randomized trial consisting of five separate applications of glyphosate.

The researchers found that glyphosate treatment led to increased infection with a fungus that causes leaf blight. In addition, increased doses of glyphosate led to a reduction in the proportion of seedlings that came up normal. The study also suggested that soybean yield decreased as glyphosate dose increased.

"The results indicate that there is potential for damage by glyphosate... which are most likely related to or arise from potential injuries or the deleterious action of glyphosate," the researchers wrote.

"[C]hanges in the nutritional balance and physiology of the plant as a whole, as well as in photosynthesis and other biosynthetic processes, can lead to decreased biomass accumulation in the tissues of agronomic interest, with potential negative effects in not only plant development but also the productivity and quality of seed harvested."

Herbicide "arms race"

Another recent study also concluded that glyphosate use did not increase crop yield in Roundup Ready crops. This finding came from a joint scientific report by the environmental agencies of Austria and Switzerland and the German nature conservation agency, BfN, which reviewed the existing research on the safety and effects of herbicide-resistant genetically engineered (GE) crop cultivation.

Rather than increasing yields, the report said, the primary motivation for using herbicide-resistant crops is to reduce costs for farmers. This benefit is largely enabled by the current low prices of herbicides.

Although herbicide-resistant crops are also touted as reducing use of toxic chemicals, the report found that the opposite was the case. In the first few years after the adoption of herbicide-resistant crops, herbicide use did decrease. Since 2000, however, herbicide use in GE fields has increased every single year.

This is because the use of herbicide-resistant crops encourages farmers to rely exclusively on just one or two herbicides for weed control, and to apply those chemicals in ever larger does. This, in turn, creates selective pressure for the evolution of new Roundup-resistant weeds, which leads farmers to use even higher doses of glyphosate, and so on.

Herbicide-resistant crops have also been in the news more because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering approval of new GE corn and soy varieties engineered for resistance not just to glyphosate but also to the Agent Orange ingredient 2,4-D.

"This is part of a growing problem, an escalating chemical arms race going on across America's heartland," wrote the Center for Food Safety at Dow-Watch.org. "Dow Chemical is hyping GE 2,4-D corn and soy as the solution to resistant weeds, but GE crop systems caused the 'superweeds' in the first place. Like Roundup before it, 2,4-D is only a temporary solution that will require more and more toxic chemicals leaching into our environment and food supply."

Sources for this article include: 

http://www.scielo.br

http://www.gmwatch.org

http://www.bfn.info [PDF]

http://www.nature.com

http://dow-watch.org

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/045940_glyphosate_Roundup_Ready_soybeans_fungal_disease.html#ixzz374fm5l37

Four foods that truly deserve the title of 'superfood'

(NaturalNews) Let's face it: The word superfood has become overused. This title, which was originally intended for foods whose nutritional value considerably exceeded that of the average fruit or vegetable, seems to be attached to almost any natural food these days. Mainstream health magazines are particularly guilty of this abuse, often preferring to use superfood as a marketing term rather than an objective declaration of nutritiousness.

That said, there are a small number of foods that truly deserve to be called superfoods. These tend to be exotic foods that are seldom found in the average Westerner's home, but which are packed with so many naturally occurring, bioavailable nutrients that they put most multivitamin supplements to shame. This article lists four of the best of them.

Moringa oleifera

Arguably the king of superfoods is Moringa oleifera, a fast-growing Himalayan tree whose leaves are bursting with so much goodness that researchers have nicknamed it "The Miracle Tree" and "The Tree of Immortality." Moringa leaves contain over 90 different types of nutrients in high quantities, including seven times the vitamin C of oranges, four times the vitamin A of carrots, four times the calcium of milk and three times the potassium of bananas. The leaves are also a complete protein source, since they contain all eight essential amino acids. (1) Given this nutritiousness, it's unsurprising that studies have linked Moringa consumption to the treatment of diabetes, anti-inflammatory diseases, cancer and much more.

Moringa powder is easy to purchase online, and makes an excellent natural vitamin and mineral supplement. You might also like to try Ben oil, a sweet-tasting oil made from the tree's pods that is rich in disease-fighting antioxidants.

Wheatgrass

Wheatgrass is a gluten-free food prepared from the young shoots of the wheat plant. It was popularized in the 1930s by the American chemist Charles L. Schnabel, who claimed that 15 pounds of wheatgrass is equal in nutritional value to 350 pounds of regular garden vegetables! (2) While this claim is now considered to be exaggerated, it is true that wheatgrass is one of the most nutrient-dense foods known to science.

According to spectral analysis, a mere 4 grams of wheatgrass powder supplies us with 1,600 percent of our recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamin E, 7,000 percent of our RDA of manganese, 15,293 percent of our RDA of riboflavin, 413 percent of our RDA of zinc and similarly astounding concentrations of other essential nutrients. (3) It is also one of the world's finest sources of chlorophyll, a powerful blood builder and cleaner. This makes wheatgrass a potent detox food as well as a superb nutrient supplement.

Chlorella and spirulina

Chlorella and spirulina are two single-celled algae that thrive in the sunniest parts of freshwater bodies. Though both of them probably qualify as superfoods individually, they become something truly special when consumed together. This is because chlorella and spirulina possess complementary rather than identical nutrient profiles. For example, chlorella tends to contain more chlorophyll and iron than spirulina. Chlorella is also better at chelating heavy metals from the body than spirulina and at repairing cell damage due to its unique growth factor. Spirulina, on the other hand, contains more protein, gamma-linoleic acid (a beneficial fat that is essential for brain function) and cancer-fighting phycocyanin than chlorella. (4) Consequently, consuming these two foods together supplies our bodies with an extremely well-rounded infusion of nutrients -- far more than the average fruit or vegetable could possibly provide!

Sources for this article include:

(1) http://www.villagevolunteers.org

(2) http://www.wheatgrasscan.com

(3) http://nutritiondata.self.com

(4) http://www.detoxyourworld.com

http://science.naturalnews.com

http://science.naturalnews.com

http://science.naturalnews.com

About the author:
Michael Ravensthorpe is an independent writer whose research interests include nutrition, alternative medicine, and bushcraft. He is the creator of the website, Spiritfoods, through which he promotes the world's healthiest foods.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/045936_superfoods_moringa_chlorella.html#ixzz374ejREaN

Antibiotics in chicken causing new infections

Superbugs causing bladder infections

Antibiotics are routinely given to factory farmed chickens, even healthy birds, to increase their growth rate. New research show a direct link between a superbug, resulting from eating chicken raised on antibiotics, and bladder infections. Eight million women suffer from bladder infections. These infections are becoming more common, lasting longer, and are more expensive to treat due to the resistance to antibiotics.

The Video!

Garlic

Garlic

and heart disease

The video!

Another great benefit of garlic

It wards off vampires and would-be kissers. But it also wards off heart disease. Garlic is known for a whole list of beneficial properties: anticancer, antimicrobial, antibacterial and antioxidant to name a few. A University of Connecticut study also found that fresh, raw garlic can reduce heart disease by relaxing blood vessels and allowing more blood to flow through the heart.

BPA

BPA

- What is it? How it has been

hidden in our food supply

The Video!




Dangers in Packaged Foods

BPA is a plastic used extensively in food packaging. 

For one thing, it lines the inside of every can sold in America. It's an endocrine disrupter implicated in breast and prostate cancer and is particularly dangerous for small children and developing fetuses. 

This video is the story of how information about the dangers of BPA has been continually suppressed by its manufacturers (including General Electric) with the help of corrupt scientists, politicians and government officials. 

This is why we've always said: "If it comes it a box, a bag, a bottle or a can it's automatically suspect. The only safe place in the supermarket is the produce section."

Why are Americans getting sick? Without proper nutrition . . .

. . . the body has to break down

The Video...