|
No
Deaths from Vitamins or Minerals
Bagged
Salads
Gardasil
- the Cervical Cancer Vaccine?
Folate
and risk of cognitive and functional deficits
Viruses
on lunch meats
|
|
14
October 2009
No
Deaths From Vitamins or Minerals
Poison Control
Statistics Prove Supplements' Safety
(OMNS,
October 14, 2009) There was not even one death caused by a vitamin or
dietary mineral in 2007, according to the most recent statistics
available from the U.S. National Poison Data System. The 132-page annual
report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers published
in the journal Clinical Toxicology shows zero deaths from multiple
vitamins; zero deaths from any of the B vitamins; zero deaths from
vitamins A, C, D, or E; and zero deaths from any other vitamin. (1)
Furthermore,
there were zero deaths in 2007 from any dietary mineral supplement. This
means there were no fatalities from calcium, chromium, zinc, colloidal
silver, selenium, iron, or multimineral supplements. There was one death
from chronic overdose of magnesium hydroxide, commonly known as the
laxative/antacid milk of magnesia, and it was inappropriately listed in
the "dietary supplement" reporting category. Nutritional
supplements do not contain magnesium hydroxide.
Over
half of the U.S. population takes daily nutritional supplements. Even if
each of those people took only one single tablet daily, that makes
154,000,000 individual doses per day, for a total of over 56 billion
doses annually. Since many persons take more than just one vitamin or
mineral tablet, the numbers are considerably higher, and the safety of
nutritional supplements is all the more remarkable.
61
poison centers provide coast-to-coast data for the U.S. National Poison
Data System, which is then reviewed by 29 medical and clinical
toxicologists. In 2007, NPDS reported 1,597 fatalities from drugs and
other ingested materials. Not one death was due to a vitamin or dietary
mineral supplement.
If
nutritional supplements are allegedly so "dangerous," as the
FDA and the news media so often claim, then where are the bodies?
References:
(1)
Bronstein AC, Spyker DA, Cantilena LR Jr, Green JL, Rumack BH, Heard SE;
American Association of Poison Control Centers. 2007 Annual Report of
the American Association of Poison Control Centers' National Poison Data
System (NPDS): 25th Annual Report. Clin Toxicol (Phila). 2008
Dec;46(10):927-1057. Full text article available for free download at
http://www.aapcc.org/DNN/Portals/0/NPDS%20reports/2008%20AAPCC%20Annual%20Report.pdf
Vitamins statistics are found in Table 22B,
journal pages 1027-1028. Minerals are in the same table, page 1024.
Orthomolecular
Medicine News Service, October 14, 2009
2
April 2009
Bagged
Salads
Bagged
salads are convenient but not nutritious. Researchers tested blood
samples of healthy volunteers after eating fresh lettuce and the same
lettuce after three days in MAP (modified atmosphere packaging) storage.
Plasma levels of healthful antioxidants such as Vitamin C and
beta-carotene rose significantly after ingestion of fresh lettuce but
there was no change after eating MAP stored lettuce. Serafini M and
others, Effect of acute ingestion of fresh and stored lettuce (Lactuca
sativa) on plasma total antioxidant capacity and antioxidant levels in
human subjects. Br
J Nutr. 2002; 88(6): 615-23.
14
May 2007
Gardasil
- the Cervical Cancer Vaccine?
How
effective is Gardasil in decreasing the incidence of cervical cancer?
100%? 50%? No one really knows because this question has not yet been
answered. As of today, the
Gardasil vaccine has never been proven to decrease the actual incidence
of cervical cancer. In the studies that led to the vaccine's
approval, the incidence of cervical cancer was not measured. Instead CIN
(cervical intraepithelial neoplasia) 2/3 and AIS (adenocarcinoma in situ)
were used as the surrogate markers for prevention of cervical cancer
because according to the vaccine's insert "CIN 2/3 and AIS are the
immediate and necessary precursors of squamous cell carcinoma and
adenocarcinoma of the cervix, respectively." While
this is true it is also true that CIN 2/3 and AIS usually do not lead to
cancer. For example, according to published data, CIN2 only leads to
invasive carcinoma 5% of the time and CIN3 only leads to invasive
carcinoma 12% of the time.
Read
the full
article.
12
April 2007
Low
serum folate increases risk of cognitive and functional deficits.
Cognitive
functioning declines and the incidence of dementia rises with advancing
age. Folate has been found to be an important nutrient for the normal
functioning of the CNS. One study investigated the association of serum
folate concentrations with cognitive and functional ability in 471
subjects aged 80 years and over. Results of this population-based study
suggest that subclinical folate deficiency is a risk factor for
cognitive decline associated with aging. In the lowest folate
percentile, subjects were found to have a 5 times greater risk for
dementia, a risk increasing to 20 times with folate concentrations lower
than the reference value.
Low
folate and the risk of cognitive and functional deficits in the very
old: the Monzino 80-plus study. J Am Coll Nutr, 2006, vol 25, no. 6, pp.
502-508.
12
March 2007
Viruses
on lunch meats
WASHINGTON
- A mix of bacteria-killing viruses can be safely sprayed on cold cuts,
hot dogs and sausages to combat common microbes that kill hundreds of
people a year, federal health officials said Friday in granting the
first-ever approval of viruses as a food additive.
The combination of six viruses is designed to be sprayed on ready-to-eat
meat and poultry products, including sliced ham and turkey, said John
Vazzana, president and chief executive officer of manufacturer
Intralytix Inc.
The special viruses called bacteriophages are meant to kill strains of
the Listeria monocytogenes bacterium, the Food and Drug Administration
said in declaring it safe to use on ready-to-eat meats prior to their
packaging.
The viruses are the first to win FDA approval for use as a food
additive, said Andrew Zajac, of the regulatory agency's office of food
additive safety.
The bacterium the viruses target can cause a serious infection called
listeriosis, primarily in pregnant women, newborns and adults with
weakened immune systems. In the United States, an estimated 2,500 people
become seriously ill with listeriosis each year, according to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those, 500 die.
Luncheon meats are particularly vulnerable to Listeria since once
purchased, they typically aren't cooked or reheated, which can kill
harmful bacteria like Listeria, Zajac said.
The preparation of bacteriophages — the name is Greek for
"bacteria-eater" — attacks only strains of the Listeria
bacterium and not human or plant cells, the FDA said.
"As long as it used in accordance with the regulations, we have
concluded it's safe," Zajac said. People normally come into contact
with phages through food, water and the environment, and they are found
in our digestive tracts, the FDA said.
Consumers won't be aware that meat and poultry products have been
treated with the spray, Zajac added. The Department of Agriculture will
regulate the actual use of the product.
The viruses are grown in a preparation of the very bacteria they kill,
and then purified. The FDA had concerns that the virus preparation
potentially could contain toxic residues associated with the bacteria.
However, testing did not reveal the presence of such residues, which in
small quantities likely wouldn't cause health problems anyway, the FDA
said.
"The FDA is applying one of the toughest food-safety standards
which they have to find this is safe," said Caroline Smith DeWaal,
director of food safety for the Center for Science in the Public
Interest, a consumer advocacy group. "They couldn't approve this
product if they had questions about its safety."
Intralytix, based in Baltimore, first petitioned the FDA in 2002 to
allow the viruses to be used as a food additive. It has since licensed
the product to a multinational company, which intends to market it
worldwide, said Intralytix president Vazzana. He declined to name the
company but said he expected it to announce its plans within weeks or
months.
Intralytix also plans to seek FDA approval for another bacteriophage
product to kill E. coli bacteria on beef before it is ground, Vazzana
said.
Scientists have long studied bacteriophages as a bacteria-fighting
alternative to antibiotics.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060818/ap_on_he_me/edible_viruses
Now
we have the ultimate - something to kill off the last poor remaining
good bacteria in our guts that have managed to survive the onslaught of
antibiotics!!!
For
advice or to book a consultation, call
(03) 8802 7687 or email
me. |
