w h o a r . c o . n z

“..Horror films are simply a disconcerting watch for the majority of us ..

.. but for Jane Barrett they are literally torturous.

She writhes in agony whenever the actors on the screen feel pain.

“When I see violence in films I have an extreme reaction,” she says.

“I simply have to close my eyes.

I start to feel nauseous and have to breathe deeply.”

She is just one of many people who suffer from a range of disorders that give rise to “extreme empathy”.

Some of these people, like Barrett, empathise so strongly with others that they experience the same physical feelings -

- whether it’s the tickle of a feather .. or the cut of a knife.

Others, who suffer from a disorder known as echopraxia ..

.. just can’t help immediately imitating the actions of others .. even in inappropriate situations.

Far from being mere curiosities, understanding these conditions could have many pay-offs for neuroscience ..

.. such as illuminating conditions like phantom pain.

They may even help answer the age-old question of whether empathy really is linked to compassion..”

go to source/story>>We feel your pain: Extreme empaths - 10 March 2010 - New Scientist

“..It starts with a painful blister - a very painful blister.

It feels, people say, like being stabbed with a red-hot needle.

When the blister bursts, the head of a worm pops out, thin, white and very much alive.

The rest of the worm, about a metre long, remains inside your body.

It can take up to two months to pull it out, inch by agonising inch, during which time it may be impossible to walk.

In extreme cases, you may host up to sixty of them, anywhere on your body.

The worms can cause paralysis or lethal bacterial infections .. and even if you survive mostly unscathed .. next year it can happen all over again.

The guinea worm (Dracunculus, or little dragon) is probably the closest living equivalent to the monsters in the Alien movies -

- except we’re beating this enemy.

Guinea worm was once widespread in Africa, the Middle East and many parts of Asia.

In 1986, there were nearly 4 million cases a year in 20 countries across south Asia and Africa.

Last year, there were just 3142 in four countries in Africa.

The worm could be extinct by 2012, making dracunculiasis the second human disease ever to be eradicated -

- the first being smallpox..”

go to source/story>>Parasite lost: Exterminating Africa’s horror worms - 10 March 2010 - New Scientist

“..Obesity kills, everyone knows that.

But is it possible that we’ve been looking at the problem in the wrong way?

It seems getting fatter may be part of your body’s defence against the worst effects of unhealthy eating .. rather than their direct cause.

This curious insight comes at the same time as several studies distancing obesity itself from a host of diseases it has long been blamed for, including heart disease and diabetes.

Instead, these studies point the finger at excess fat in the bloodstream ..

.. either when the fat cells of obese people finally get overloaded .. or when lean people who can’t store a lot of fat eat too much.

This seems to have a destructive effect by provoking the body’s immune response.

None of this changes the fact that too much rich food and too little exercise is bad for you.

But viewing obesity as a symptom of an unhealthy diet, rather than the direct cause of disease and death ..

.. plus a better appreciation of the immune system’s reaction to fat ..

.. should radically change our understanding of what is shaping up to be one of modern society’s biggest health scourges.

The findings also point to new ways to treat diabetes, heart disease and other diet-linked conditions.

In recent years, most rich countries, and some poorer ones, have seen a massive rise in so-called “metabolic syndrome” ..

.. whose symptoms can include insulin resistance, high blood cholesterol .. and an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

That the syndrome goes hand in hand with obesity is well known .. but exactly how all these conditions are linked is unclear..”

go to source/story>>Obesity: Food kills, flab protects - health - 10 March 2010 - New Scientist

“.. Nanoparticles used to make some sunscreens transparent, making them popular with consumers .. might also be toxic ..

.. according to Australian research .. which adds to uncertainty about the safety of some sunscreens.

A study by Amanda Barnard, from the CSIRO’s materials science and engineering division, found the nanoparticles that provided the best transparency and sun protection .. also represented the highest for production of free radicals.

Using computer modelling, Dr Barnard analysed the properties of the man-made titanium dioxide nanoparticles found in some sunscreens, testing them in three areas: sun protection, transparency and potential for free radical production.

Studying various sizes of particles, she found it was a case of the smaller the nanoparticle the better the sun protection and transparency.

“Unfortunately the small ones also have a high surface-to-volume ratio and the surfaces are where the free radicals are produced through a photochemical, or light induced reaction,” she said.

Dr Barnard won the 2009 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for physical scientist of the year for her work on nanoparticles — tiny particles used in many products including sunscreens, cosmetics and paints.

Her latest research, published next month in the journal Nature Nanotechnology ..

.. found only particles less than 13 nanometres in size minimised free radical production .. while retaining other desirable properties.

The titanium dioxide nanoparticles in sunscreens range in size from three to 200 nanometres.

The results add to questions about the safety of such sunscreens.

The main concern is whether the nanoparticles interact with sunlight to produce free radicals .. that damage tissues or DNA..”

go to source/story>>Suncreen nanoparticles ‘might be toxic’ - science | Stuff.co.nz

“.. A tobacco giant has been told there should be a statue to commemorate dead Maori smokers killed by “the enemy that lies within our midst”.

Maori Party MP Hone Harawira told British American Tobacco’s managing director Graeme Amey at a select committee hearing on the tobacco industry yesterday ..

..that as many Maori died each year because of tobacco as died in World War II.

He said a submission to the committee on Wednesday spoke of the 600 Maori Battalion soldiers who died in World War II.

“We recognise that contribution every year.

“Six hundred Maori die every single year from tobacco yet there is no recognition of that anywhere.”

He said a friend had suggested a giant statue was needed to commemorate the “unknown smoker” as “a way of recognising that the losses in the battalion are replicated every single year ..

.. by an enemy that lies within our midst .. and continues to kill our people”.

Mr Amey repeatedly rejected Mr Harawira’s questions saying: “We sell a product that is legal.”

The tobacco firm controls about 75 per cent of all cigarette sales in New Zealand.

Mr Amey told the MPs that tobacco was an already highly regulated product, and any further regulation or ban would only increase an already active black market.

“We believe that a black market exists already.” He then offered to provide evidence to the panel outside of the meeting.

Mr Amey said the illicit trade of tobacco in Ireland made up 30 per cent of the market and 12 per cent in Australia.

Under current legislation, it was legal to grow up to 15 kilograms of tobacco for personal use each year.

That equated to about 25,000 cigarettes per individual, or 60 cigarettes a day.

British American Tobacco accepted there were significant risks with smoking but adult consumers were making adult choices, Mr Amey said.

He admitted he had quit smoking after 10 years.. saying he did so as a personal choice..”

go to source/story>>Harawira fires a volley for the smoking battalion | Stuff.co.nz

“..People sensitive to the taste of fat tend to eat less of it and are less likely to be overweight ..

.. according to Australian research that found human tongues can detect fatty tastes.

Researchers at Deakin University, working with colleagues at the University of Adelaide among others, found that fat was the sixth taste people can identify in addition to the five others — sweet, sour, salty, bitter and protein-rich.

In a statement, Deakin researcher Russell Keast said the findings built on previous research in the United States that used animal models to discover the taste for fat.

“Interestingly, we also found that those with a high sensitivity to the taste of fat consumed less fatty foods and had lower BMIs (body-mass indices) than those with lower sensitivity,” Keast added..”

go to source/story>>Salty, sweet: study says fat is the sixth “taste” - Yahoo! News

“..Survey reveals a startling increase in libido among the ‘Viagra generation’

The feminist academic Camille Paglia once described sex at age 90 as “like trying to shoot pool with a rope”.

But despite her coruscating verdict sexual life expectancy is increasing, researchers say.

A study published today shows that among 75 to 85 year olds, four out of 10 men and two out of 10 women are still having sex – or they claim to, at least.

All sex surveys based on self reports are bedevilled by the accuracy of measurement.

It is hard to be sure whether the gender imbalance shows the resilience of male interest in sex ..

.. or the resilience of their propensity to boast about it..”

go to source/story>>Four in 10 men over 75 say they are still having sex (but only two in 10 women) - Consummation, Love & Sex - The Independent

“.. Nicotine builds up gradually in smokers’ brains rather than spiking after each puff, according to a study that might help point to new ways to help people quit smoking.

Dr. Jed E. Rose of Duke University reports in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that nicotine buildup in the brain was gradual over several minutes.

Scientists have theorized that there is a spike of nicotine in the brain about seven seconds after each puff, but almost no measurements had been taken until now, Rose said in a telephone interview.

“We were surprised to find that the rate of uptake was much different from what one commonly hears,” said Rose, who directs the Duke Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research, a part of the university’s School of Medicine.

Rose used brain scans to measure the nicotine levels in 13 regular smokers and 10 people who smoke only occasionally, an indication they were not addicted to nicotine.

Maximum brain levels of nicotine were reached in 3 to 5 minutes, and built up slower in addicted smokers than in casual ones, the researchers found.

“This slower rate resulted from nicotine staying longer in the lungs of dependent smokers ..

.. which may be a result of the chronic effects of smoke on the lungs,” Rose suggested..”

go to source/story>>Nicotine builds up gradually - study - life-style | Stuff.co.nz

“..For more than half her life, Charlotte Philby has been devoted to cigarettes, even after watching her father die of lung cancer.

Then a friend persuaded her to see a hypnotherapist – and something extraordinary happened:..

The whale music isn’t playing yet, but I sense it’s on its way.

At this point I’m still in sitting position in a hypnotherapy treatment room above a healthy living shop in north London, and Meira Shore, my therapist for the next hour, is taking me through a series of increasingly surreal questions.

The aim is for her to find out as much as she can about my relationship with cigarettes .. before helping me kick my 14-year addiction (that’s more than half my lifetime) by waving a watch in front of my face and chanting positive affirmations.

Or something to that effect.

To start us off, Shore wants me to tell her what it is I like about smoking, which is rather an extensive list.

In fact, apart from having to stand outside pubs in the rain, I can’t think of one thing I don’t like –

- and in any case, I have an umbrella so I don’t even mind that bit too much.

I don’t even resent the cost – which at £6.20 a packet, a minimum of one packet (20 fags) a day, and significantly more at weekends, amounts to a fair portion of my disposable income –

- because I genuinely believe that they make my life a little bit better.

At least I’m in good company.

Last week, the results of Barack Obama’s recent health check were published, revealing that the President has still not managed to kick the habit, despite vowing that he would stop after his inauguration more than a year ago.

Obama’s been admirably frank about his habit and, given just how much pressure he’s under to quit, his must be quite an addiction.

“OK, now describe what it is that you like,” Shore is saying: “How does it make your life better?”

I close my eyes and cast my mind back: ..

.. Ten minutes earlier and I’m huddled in a doorway, soaked to the bone, feeling the soft barrel of the cigarette between my fingers; ..

.. wistfully, I recall the thick black smoke as it rolls down my throat;..

.. the smell lingering on my skin and clothes as I ascend the stairs to my appointment..”

(disclaimer:..i used to smoke at least 20 a day..

..i went to a hypnotherapist..and said i wanted to stop smoking tobacco..but that i didn’t want to stop smoking pot..

..i also had decided i wanted to stop..

(i practiced aversion therapy..not emptying ashtrays..and spending a deal of time contemplating/meditating on their contents..)

so..what worked..?..was it my desire to quit..?..or the hypnotherapy..?

i reckon it was a mix of the two..and would recommend those trying to quit to give hypnotherapy a go..eh..?

..i can’t see how it would hurt..

..just..if you still want to smoke pot..make sure you tell the hypnotist beforehand..eh..?

go to source/story>>Clean break: ‘How my habit went up in smoke’ - Features, Health & Families - The Independent

“..U.N. highlights the struggles of developing countries in the fight against drug addiction

While celebrities earn notoriety from publicly going into rehab, millions of impoverished drug addicts are being ostracized, do not have access to doctors and are often imprisoned, a senior U.N. official said Monday.

Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, also said the developing world — already struggling to deal with health, education and unemployment problems — lacks the treatment facilities and law enforcement to control narcotics.

“Poor addicts — and there are millions of them — have been pushed to the margins of society, deprived of medical attention, often exposed to conditions, including imprisonment, that exacerbate their illness,” Costa said according to a copy of a speech he delivered at a Vienna meeting of the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

“Strikingly, the addicted rich, singers, models and bankers alike, enter posh private clinics in a deluge of camera flashes — and amuse themselves in the role of trend setters,” he added.

Costa said his office is working with the World Health Organization to achieve universal access to drug treatment and urged governments around the world to protect and respect the human rights of imprisoned addicts and drug users in general..”

(gee..!..going on the criterea cited here..new zealand is most definitely in the ‘developing-country’ grouping..eh..?..

..wot with our barbaric attitudes towards/non-treatment of .. the health issue that is drug addiction ..eh..?..

..our ostracising/denial-of-treatment/imprisonment of our addicts..eh..?..

..all the cited-hallmarks of the ‘developing-country’..eh..?..)

go to source/story>>Plight of the impoverished drug addict - Drugs - Salon.com

“..The greener we become, the more we have to scrutinize.

I for one have cleaned up my home, my diet, my cleaning products and ““ of utmost importance ““ the products I put on my skin.

I’m an avid ingredient reader and do the research ““ after all, my skin is the largest organ in my body!

Here’s a list of some common skin and hair care chemicals we all need to avoid.

Coal Tar: Coal tar is used to treat eczema, psoriasis and other skin disorders and can be found in anti-itch creams and scalp treatments.

It’s also a known carcinogen.

Diethanolamine (DEA): A lathering agent in soaps and shampoos, DEA isn’t carcinogenic by itself ..

.. but can react with other chemicals in products to create a carcinogen readily absorbed into the skin.

Look for DEA in many forms, such as Cocamide DEA, Oleamide DEA and Lauramide DEA.

Formaldehyde: A frighteningly common ingredient in a variety of beauty products.

Formaldehyde can irritate your eyes, nose and throat, dry out and irritate your skin ..

.. and even cause asthma and cancer with repeated exposure..”

go to source/story>>Safe Products, Cosmetics, Personal Care, Skincare, Plus Ingredients to Avoid | EcoSalon

“..When you get hungry, and I mean hungry, it’s your body calling out for protein.

.. many people are surprised to learn that simply cutting back on meat consumption is one of the most significant ways to help the planet.

And it doesn’t require subsistence on tofu.

(Personally, I find tofu delicious, but it’s one of those vegetarian protein sources people either really love or really don’t.)

There are so many delicious options available that slipping out of meat mode is breeze.

Try one meat-free dinner a week, and build from there:..”

go to source/story>>More Than Tofu: Delicious Meat Alternatives for Vegetarian Recipes | EcoSalon

“.. Visitors to Monticello don’t learn how Jefferson cultivated poppies .. and his personal opium use may as well never have happened.

Thomas Jefferson was a drug criminal.

But he managed to escape the terrible sword of justice by dying a century before the DEA was created.

In 1987 agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency showed up at Monticello, Jefferson’s famous estate.

Jefferson had planted opium poppies in his medicinal garden, and opium poppies are now deemed illegal.

Now, the trouble was the folks at the Monticello Foundation, which preserves and maintains the historic site ..

.. were discovered flagrantly continuing Jefferson’s crimes.

The agents were blunt:..

The poppies had to be immediately uprooted and destroyed or else they were going to start making arrests ..

.. and Monticello Foundation personnel would perhaps face lengthy stretches in prison.

The story sounds stupid now, but it scared the hell out of the people at Monticello, who immediately started yanking the forbidden plants.

A DEA man noticed the store was selling packets of “Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Poppies.”

The seeds had to go, too.

While poppy seeds might be legal, it is never legal to plant them.

Not for any reason..”

(that was an excerpt from:..”Opium for the Masses: Harvesting Nature’s Best Pain Medication”..)

go to source/story>>How the DEA Scrubbed Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Poppy Garden from Public Memory | | AlterNet

“.. Lawmakers have a chance to learn from the failures of marijuana prohibition and respond to K2 with enlightened policy.

The recent emergence in the United States of “K2,” sometimes called synthetic marijuana, is testing lawmakers to see if they’ve been paying attention to the failures of marijuana prohibition and will respond to K2 with enlightened policy.

The first stories on K2, or “Spice,” broke out with headlines labeling the mixture of herbs and spices ..

.. which are treated with a synthetic compound, as “fake pot.”

K2 was virtually unknown until the media hyped up its presence at tobacco and novelty shops.

Under U.S. law, and in all 50 states, the herbal product is legal, and also unregulated.

People who have tried K2 often report psychoactive effects that are comparable to marijuana .. but notably less pleasurable..”

go to source/story>>Let’s Be Smart and Regulate Synthetic Marijiuana ‘K2,’ and Drop the Prohibitionist Attitude | | AlterNet

“.. The idea of sexual pleasure as a harmful addiction parallels the most perverse aspects of Western religious history.

American befuddlement over matters of sex is on the increase, in spite of the fact that one can hardly imagine the subject becoming more befuddling to the people of this country than it already is.

Sex addiction is the latest star in America’s sexual burlesque.

Sex addiction has of course been a malaprop from its first usage.

Addiction was originally and properly defined as a physiological dependence on a substance to which the body had grown accustomed, such as alcohol, nicotine, heroin and various other drugs.

The cure was to end the dependency and abstain from further use of the substance in order to avoid a recurrence of the physiological dependency.

These treatments do work .. and many people have been cured of their addictions .. and never returned to the addictive substance.

Applying such a metaphor to sexual pleasure creates a misleading and ominous innuendo.

Sex is not an addictive substance.

It’s a human interaction on which the survival of the species is dependent.

It is also possibly the most pleasurable and sought after activity known to humankind ..

.. and arguably an experience no one should be deprived of.

Most normal people consider more rather than less sexual pleasure to be a major objective in life.

Following the substance abuse mode implies that the only cure for an addiction to sexual pleasure would be a celibate or monastic life ..

.. a complete renunciation of the alleged addictive sexual pleasure.

The very idea of sexual pleasure as a harmful addiction plays precisely into the hands of one of the most perverse aspects of Western religious history..

.. namely the teaching that sex is a work of the devil .. redeemed only by the act of procreation itself.

Reliance on the notion of sex addiction in counseling and psychiatric treatment is ominous.

Christianity as a world religion has much to commend it on balance.

Nevertheless, its posture toward sexual pleasure has been abysmal.

In that respect it should be noted that Christianity, of all the major world religions ..

.. is the only one to cast sexual pleasure in such a negative light..”

go to source/story>>Too Much Sex? No Such Thing — Why Sex Addiction Is Total B.S. | | AlterNet

“..It’s not meat, but it looks like meat.

It’s not meat, but it tastes like meat.

It’s not meat, but it feels like meat.

It’s not meat, but the more it looks and tastes and feels like meat, the more eating it is like having sex with rubber blow-up dolls: ..

..Both are the simulacra of primal adventures for which we are born and built.

For very different reasons, in each case we choose the version without flesh and blood.

One skill that sets apart our species from all others is counterfeiture: ..

.. We excel at fashioning imitations, simulations, analogues.

Whatever we don’t or can’t — or tell ourselves that we don’t or can’t — possess, we make a fake to replicate.

We are so good at this as to have changed the very meaning of reality.

So just as sex with blow-up dolls — and, to be all-inclusive, latex rods — is sex, and sounds and feels and looks (just squint) like sex, fake meat is real.

It’s real fake meat.

When we quit eating animals, why keep eating what looks/tastes/feels like animals?

What is it that we still yearn for from meat, about meat, in fake meat?

Lifetimes of barbecues and baseball games and beach parties and holidays have programmed our nostrils to flare at the sweet-salt smell of seared fat before our consciences kick into gear and holler No.

When bacon curls, our salivary glands perk up unbidden, just like being publicly aroused in middle school.

When we choose fakes, what battles rage inside our bodies and our heads?

What of sex with live partners is absent when we have it with lifelike replicas?

Let’s see: Emotions. Microbes. A response.

What of eating animals is missing when we eat Tofu Pups?

Gristle.

Guilt over farms and slaughter.

Fear of cancer, heart disease, global ruin..”

go to source/story>>Why Eating Meat-Shaped Vegetarian Food Is Like Having Sex with a Blow-up Doll | | AlterNet

“..Pain intensity, the most personal of experiences, can now be measured from the outside, say researchers who scanned the brains of young men who were fresh out of the operating theatre.

Their claim reopens the debate over whether pain can be measured objectively.

It might even be possible to gauge the pain felt by newborn babies, fetuses, “locked-in” patients, who can’t communicate with the outside world ..

.. and animals.

“The definition of pain is that it is subjective, and until now an objective measurement has remained elusive,” says Morten Kringelbach of the University of Oxford, who has previously worked on a method of objective pain measurement and was not involved in the most recent work.

Functional MRI scans have been used before to identify brain areas that “light up” when someone is in pain.

Because oxygenated and deoxygenated blood have different levels of magnetisation they look different under MRI.

A technique for analysing fMRI scans called BOLD, for blood-oxygen-level dependent, exploits this difference to determine which areas are most active: ..

.. high oxygen is a sign that a brain region is particularly active.

While BOLD can reveal if the amount of oxygen flowing to a particular region has increased or decreased, it doesn’t measure by how much.

Now Tara Renton of King’s College London has used an alternative way of analysing fMRI scans called arterial spin labelling (ASL) to measure how much oxygenated blood is flowing through particular areas.

ASL is not new but has only recently been applied to the study of pain..”

go to source/story>>The brain scanner that feels your pain - life - 03 March 2010 - New Scientist

“.. A psychotherapist says depression can be debilitating — but that it’s also been largely created by doctors and drug companies as a medical condition.

Is depression manufactured?

Two decades after the introduction of antidepressants, it’s become commonplace to assume that our sadness can be explained in terms of a disease called depression.

The National Institute of Mental Health estimates more than 14 million Americans suffer from major depression every year and more than three million suffer from minor depression.

Some 30 million Americans take antidepressants at a cost of over $10 billion a year.

My next guest argues while depression can be debilitating ..

.. it’s also been largely manufactured by doctors and drug companies as a medical condition with a biological cause that can be treated with prescription medication..”

go to source/story>>‘Manufacturing Depression’: Are Doctors Over-Prescribing Antidepressants to a Tune of $10 Billion a Year for Drug Companies? | | AlterNet

“..Our homes and workplaces, we’re told, are trying to kill us.

Recently, a University of Arizona microbiologist named Charles Gerba, author of hundreds of scientific papers about household microbes, gave a terrifying lecture at the offices of the Food and Drug Administration.

Gerba—who, incidentally, has a child with the middle name Escherichia—that’s what the “E” in E. coli stands for—

– explained that a kitchen sponge and sink are home to thousands of times more bacteria than a toilet seat.

Plus, 10 percent of household dishrags contain salmonella.

After playing with other children, toddlers have more fecal bacteria on their hands than does a person exiting a public toilet stall.

Those toilets, by the way, aerosolize so many droplets with each flush that Gerba compares their dispersion to “the Fourth of July.”

And every public swimming pool he’s ever tested has contained disease-causing viruses..”

In response to these kinds of data, more than 700 products promise to help consumers kill bacteria, molds, and viruses in their homes and workplaces, from ultraviolet lights meant to kill toothbrush bacteria, to dishwashers that superheat silverware, to specially treated doormats.

Three-quarters of all Americans use six or more antimicrobial products each day..”

go to source/story>>Can hand sanitizers like Purell really stop people from getting the flu? - By Darshak Sanghavi - Slate Magazine

“.. What is a vegan?

What is veganism?

Veganism is a type of vegetarian diet that excludes meat, eggs, dairy products and all other animal-derived ingredients.

Many vegans also do not eat foods that are processed using animal products, such as refined white sugar and some wines.

Most vegans also avoid the use of all products tested on animals, as well as animal-derived non-food products, such as leather, fur and wool.

Vegan refers to either a person who follows this way of eating, or to the diet itself.

See also: Types of Vegetarians

Although there is some debate as to whether certain foods, such as honey, fit into a vegan diet ..

.. if you are cooking for other vegans, it is best to err on the side of caution and avoid these foods.

What do vegans eat?

This is perhaps the most common question about veganism.

A vegan diet includes all grains, beans, legumes, vegetables and fruits and the nearly infinite number of foods made by combining them.

Many vegan versions of familiar foods are available, so you can eat vegan hot dogs, ice cream, cheese and vegan mayonnaise.

How can I become vegan?

So you’ve decided to become vegan.

But now what?

Some people easily go from eating meat to vegan right away .. while others struggle with their new commitment ..

.. or choose to go vegetarian first and then slowly omit eggs and dairy.

There’s no right or wrong way to do it, but you may want to learn about what’s worked for other people.

However you do it .. keep your goals in mind ..

.. and remember why you are choosing to adopt a vegan diet..”

go to source/story>>Vegan - What is a vegan? - What do vegans eat?

“..In 2007, New York Times writer Mark Bittman likened the cow to the atom bomb .. when speaking on the demands of our meaty diets on the planet…”

go to source/story>>Three TED Talks That Will Change How You Think About Food

“..Ever feel like you were playing checkers and the other guy was playing chess?

That’s the impression I get when watching many of the recent spate of food documentaries.

Activists announce that this or that is wrong with the food system;..

.. on the rare occasion when something appears to be getting done about it, the folks who are doing things badly simply change their tactics, not their strategy.

That’s how it’s gone with the British 2009 documentary film Pig Business.

I watched this film in several 10-minute segments via YouTube (Part One) because it hasn’t been released in the U.S., primarily due to legal pressure brought upon the director (Tracy Worcester, who spent four years making the film) by the film’s main villain, Smithfield Foods.

The world’s largest pork producer, Smithfield has 52,000 employees processing 27 million pigs per year in 15 countries, accruing annual sales around $12 billion.

The UK’s Channel 4 ran the film last summer despite four letters from Smithfield threatening litigation ..

.. but since no U.S. insurer would back the film’s release here, it has become essentially a black-market film.

Score another one for corporate censorship.

Smithfield does, in one sense, have cause for concern:..

.. this film certainly doesn’t show their company in the most favorable light.

Right off the bat, the viewer is struck with some rather gruesome images of pigs being brutally mistreated ..

.. apparently at the hands of workers in Smithfield-run facilities.

We hear from farmers and neighbors complaining of health problems that they tie to the fumes and water contamination from Smithfield hoglots..”

(Watch the trailer:..)

go to source/story>>hPig Business: Who owns your food owns you | Grist

“.. Eating meat may be a much more common trigger for anaphylaxis - a severe and potentially deadly allergic reaction - than previously thought, US researchers said.

A study of 60 patients who had unexplained severe allergic reactions suggests that a compound in meat known as alpha-galactose may be the culprit, according to research presented at a meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology in New Orleans.

They found immune system proteins called IgE antibodies in 25 out of 60 patients who had unexplained allergic reactions.

“We believe that the presence of IgE antibody to this sugar is wider spread in the human population as a whole than we had initially expected,” Dr. Scott Commins of the University of Virginia, who led the research, said in a telephone interview.

“What we’re finding is that this traditional notion of allergy to meat being very rare may, in fact, not be true,” Commins added.

Alpha-galactose is produced in most mammals but humans and great apes make an antibody to the sugar, Commins said.

“So the problem becomes when people make IgE antibody to this sugar and then they eat meat or dairy products that contain the sugar then they get a delayed reaction,” Commins said.

The anaphylaxis may seem to appear out of the blue .. because the meat or dairy may have been eaten four to six hours earlier, Commins said..”

go to source/story>>Meat can trigger severe allergies | Stuff.co.nz

“.. More and more of the nation’s 78 million boomers are discovering they’d rather smoke marijuana than reach for a pharmaceutical.

Conventional wisdom dictates that as younger generations slowly replace the old, conservative social traditions are jettisoned.

This may be true for issues such as gay marriage, where there are clear divisions among younger and older voters ..

.. but when it comes to marijuana reform, the evidence indicates that simplistic divisions of opinion along age lines don’t apply for pot.

Earlier this week, an AP wire article picked up a lot of buzz in the news-cycle, with a title and premise meant to shock the mainstream: ..

.. “Marijuana Use by Seniors Goes up as Boomers Age.”..

go to source/story>>Why Growing Numbers of Baby Boomers and the Elderly Are Smoking Pot | | AlterNet

“.. Having your own vegetable garden is now trendy, 38 percent of people planted a vegetable garden in 2009, but there are a host of other reasons, too.

Not that being part of a trend is ever a good reason to start or learn something new ..

.. but if it helps you move forward by being part of the “in” crowd ..

.. then you really need to plant your own edible garden this year..”

go to source/story>>7 Reasons Why You Should Grow Your Own Food | | AlterNet

“.. Dairy giant Fonterra is not providing any direct compensation to Chinese victims of the contaminated milk scandal ..

.. despite a new study which shows many of the affected children have ongoing health problems.

The company has, however, donated $7.2 million to improving health services in rural China.

A study published last week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal showed that more than one in 10 children sickened in the contaminated milk scandal showed signs of kidney damage six months afterward.

The study is the first to look at the long-term effects of China’s massive food safety scandal, which saw at least six children die and nearly 300,000 fall ill in 2008 after consuming infant formula deliberately contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine.

The melamine was added to the watered-down milk to fool inspectors testing for protein content .. and to increase profits.

The milk formula was produced at the San Lu dairy factory in which Fonterra held a 43% stake.

The study results point to the possibility that as many as 30,000 children could have suffered health complications for months after drinking the contaminated milk.

Researchers from Peking University studied ultrasound images of infants who fell ill in the 2008 contamination ..

.. and found that 12% still showed kidney abnormalities six months later.

“The potential for long-term complications after exposure to melamine remains a serious concern,” the researchers said.

A spokesman for Fonterra told the Sunday Star-Times the company had not provided any direct compensation to victims as the Chinese government had undertaken to do that ..

.. and to undertake regular monitoring of the children’s health..”

go to source/story>>Melamine: the toxic legacy | Stuff.co.nz

“..A young mother of two, tired of spending her evenings in the kitchen hammering out slow, “sustainable” recipes, recently embarked on an interesting experiment:

She and her husband would try one month of quick-and-dirty dinners—“if it came frozen, wrapped in cellophane, in a plastic tub or with a pop top . . . we would buy it and eat it”—followed by one month of “the locavore’s dream,” complete with herb-growing, bean-soaking, and trash-composting.

“This would be a battle between the frozen chicken piccata with 38 ingredients and the BLT made from Prather Ranch bacon, hand-kneaded bread, farm-fresh veggies and home-blended mayonnaise,” Sierra Filucci explains in the Sacramento News & Review.

“But more than that, it would be a test of what it means to be a mother—a mother who wants to feed her family and keep them healthy..

.. but who also wants more from life than kneading dough and a sink full of dishes.”

go to source/story>>One Family’s Experiment: Crap Food vs. Sustainable Food

“.. People who complain they have no time to exercise may soon need another excuse.

Some experts say intense exercise sessions could help people squeeze an entire week’s workout into less than an hour. Intense exercise regimens, or interval training, was originally developed for Olympic athletes and thought to be too strenuous for normal people.

But in recent years, studies in older people and those with health problems suggest many more people might be able to handle it.

If true, that could revolutionize how officials advise people to exercise - and save millions of people hours in the gym every week.

It is also a smarter way to exercise, experts say.

“High-intensity interval training is twice as effective as normal exercise,” said Jan Helgerud, an exercise expert at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

“This is like finding a new pill that works twice as well … we should immediately throw out the old way of exercising.”

Studies on intense training have been published in various sports medicine journals and have largely been based on young, healthy people.

Experts say more data are needed on how older and less fit populations handle this type of exercise before it can be recommended more widely.

Intense interval training means working very hard for a few minutes, with rest periods in between sets.

Experts have mostly tested people running or biking .. but other sports like rowing or swimming should also work.

Helgerud recommends people try four sessions lasting four minutes each, with three minutes of recovery time in between.

Unless you’re an elite athlete, it shouldn’t be an all-out effort.

“You should be a little out of breath, but you shouldn’t have the obvious feeling of exhaustion,” Helgerud said..”

go to source/story>>Benefits of intense exercise - life-style | Stuff.co.nz

“..Surveys in America suggest that 16 per cent of university students are using “smart drugs”, such as Ritalin and Modafinil, to make them more alert and able to perform better academically.

Do we need to have a debate on the ethics of such drugs on the argument that they give students an unfair advantage over their peers?

Barbara Sahakian, professor of clinical neuropsychology at Cambridge, thinks so.

She has even called for universities to investigate measures such as random dope testing to tackle the issue.

We think she may have a point.

But we need more research into the effects of these drugs on healthy adults.

The drugs may give students an unfair advantage because of the way in which they improve alertness and attention and they may thereby put pressure on them to feel that they have to use these drugs when they don’t really want to.

They may help students to perform well in completing puzzles and remembering long chains of digits.

They may also help soldiers to complete all-night operations, as they are reputed to do.

But we need to know more about the long-term effects of these mind-altering substances .. before we can consider dope tests..”

go to source/story>>Leading Article: Smart drugs: facts needed - Higher, Education - The Independent

“.. The Obamas are taking on childhood obesity by tackling problems with the National School Lunch Program.

But will their fixes be enough?

Michelle Obama launched her “Let’s Move” campaign to fight obesity with a flood of media attention and a Presidential Memorandum, signed by her husband, establishing a new Task Force on Childhood Obesity.

But how does the rhetoric of the Let’s Move campaign stack up against what President Obama’s administration is actually doing to address childhood obesity?

While many of the president’s priorities have lost steam in Congress, tackling childhood obesity is thankfully not one of them.

But are the administration’s efforts on the right track?

While the First Lady has been a champion for healthy, sustainable food since the creation of her historic garden in her first days in the White House ..

.. the title of her campaign, Let’s Move, rings of food industry influence.

After all, junk food manufacturers have long advocated that Americans can eat whatever they want, so long as they work out afterward.

(The industry-favored term for this is “energy balance.”)

Such an outlook carelessly ignores nutrients that contribute to good health, putting 100 calories of French fries on par with 100 calories of fruit.

It also ignores the simple fact that, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture numbers, Americans today eat more than they did in the past —

– over 500 calories more per day, if you compare 1970 with 2006.

So, just moving is not going to solve our obesity epidemic, especially in kids.

While there are many factors that contribute to children being overweight ..

.. the big kahuna of the child obesity debate is our National School Lunch Program..”

go to source/story>>Are School Lunches Setting Kids Up for Obesity and Poor Nutrition? | | AlterNet

“..Great blog entry from food safety lawyer Bill Marler about meat recalls that have occurred since President Obama took office.

Looking just at E. Coli and antibiotic-resistant salmonella ..

.. already in 2010 there has been a staggering 7,176,563 pounds of meat recalled.

Meat Industry Hall of Fame President Chuck Jolley has tweeted in response:

Is the meat industry trying to put itself out of business?..”

go to source/story>>Meat Recalls Under Obama

“.. Interested in improving your attention skills after reading stories like “A Nation Distracted” and “The Focused Life” in our March-April 2010 issue?

Evidence suggests that meditation is a good place to start—and, as luck would have it, the alternative press is chock full of assistance.

Here’s a smattering of stories and resources to get you started:

In 2008, Utne Reader reprinted Brad Warner’s “Learn to Sit Still,” a humble and humorous explanation of the state of non-thinking from the Buddhist review Tricycle.

Warner, a Zen Buddhist monk, is the author of Hardcore Zen and Sit Down and Shut Up.

“Got seat?” Jonathan Kaplan asks. Writing for Psychology Today, the clinical psychologist and founder of Urban Mindfulness ..

.. describes how to get contemplative during your (not-car-driving) commute.

“Meditating on the subway is probably not ideal,” he writes, “but it sure beats playing Brick Breaker on your Blackberry, messing with your iPhone . . .

.. or skipping a meditation session altogether.”

Shambhala Sun has an excellent collection of meditation and mindfulness resources available online, culled from the venerable bimonthly’s archives.

Yoga Journal offers an equally fine assortment of meditation stories and articles..”

go to source/story>>How to Meditate

“..Living in the trees may be the secret to longevity – in the evolutionary long run, at least.

Tree-dwelling mammals live nearly twice as long as their ground-bound cousins.

Evolutionary biologists have long predicted that natural selection should favour extending the lifespan of animals that live relatively safe lifestyles.

And in fact, birds and bats, whose ability to fly helps them escape from predators, do have particularly long lives.

Like fliers, tree-dwelling mammals can easily escape many predators.

To see if this might also help them live longer, biological anthropologists Milena Shattuck and Scott Williams at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign gathered data on the lifespans of 776 species representing all the major groups of mammals.

They discovered that the maximum lifespans of tree-dwellers were almost twice those of terrestrial species of similar sizes.

It is well established that larger mammals tend to live longer than smaller ones.

The kinkajou (pictured), however, is clearly not aware of this: it is a tree-living relative of the racoon and it lives longer than the tiger, even though it is just 1/40th the size.

The team is now setting its sights on burrowing mammals..”

go to source/story>>The secret of long life is up in the trees - life - 22 February 2010 - New Scientist

“..Cigarette smokers have lower IQs than non-smokers and the more a person smokes, the lower his IQ, according to a new international study.

The study of more than 20,000 Israeli military recruits found young men who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day or more had IQ scores that were 7.5 points lower than non-smokers.

The research has been backed by Auckland University expert Dr Marewa Glover..

.. who said it was proof of a successful campaign by the tobacco industry to target those with lower IQs by using devices such as cartoons and free samples.

“They already know that people with poorer cognitive functioning, and populations where that is concentrated, are going to be more vulnerable to marketing tactics that are not dependent upon literacy skills,” said Dr Glover, the director of the Centre of Tobacco Control Research at the university.

The study, by Dr Mark Weiser and colleagues from Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, found the average IQ for non-smokers was about 101..

.. while it was 94 for men who had started smoking before entering the military..”

go to source/story>>Smokers have lower IQs, says study - Life & Style - NZ Herald News

“..In her 88 years, Florence Siegel has learned how to relax:..

.. A glass of red wine. A crisp copy of The New York Times, if she can wrest it from her husband. ..

.. Some classical music, preferably Bach.

And every night like clockwork, she lifts a pipe to her lips and smokes marijuana.

Long a fixture among young people, use of the country’s most popular illicit drug is now growing among the AARP set..

.. as the massive generation of baby boomers who came of age in the 1960s and ’70s grows older.

The number of people aged 50 and older reporting marijuana use in the prior year went up from 1.9 percent to 2.9 percent from 2002 to 2008, according to surveys from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The rise was most dramatic among 55- to 59-year-olds, whose reported marijuana use more than tripled from 1.6 percent in 2002 to 5.1 percent.

Observers expect further increases as 78 million boomers born between 1945 and 1964 age. For many boomers, the drug never held the stigma it did for previous generations, and they tried it decades ago.

Some have used it ever since, while others are revisiting the habit in retirement, either for recreation or as a way to cope with the aches and pains of aging.

Siegel walks with a cane and has arthritis in her back and legs. She finds marijuana has helped her sleep better than pills ever did. And she can’t figure out why everyone her age isn’t sharing a joint, too.

“They’re missing a lot of fun and a lot of relief,” she said.

Politically, advocates for legalizing marijuana say the number of older users could represent an important shift in their decades-long push to change the laws..”

go to source/story>>Marijuana use by seniors goes up as boomers age - Yahoo! News

“..Friends have regaled me with horrifying tales of marathon-training Minties’ moments which, without going into too much detail, have involved squatting in stranger’s gardens or removing their T-shirts to hide the effects of soiled derrieres (from slipping in the mud of course).

I still recoil at the memory of a schoolmate who was so desperate to get out of the school cross country that she extracted her own tooth.

Aside from all that stress and strain on the body, self-inflicted or otherwise, a study conducted at the University of London recently found that 20 per cent of those tested gained no benefit from aerobic exercise.

Not to add too much weight to these findings, which suggest some of us are better packing in the running shoes ..

.. but it does get you thinking about why we run.

Cue the Evermore anthem.

A lot of us are doing it.

The Active New Zealand survey for 2007-08 shows that 80 per cent of Kiwis did some sort of sport or recreation activity ..

.. and almost half surveyed achieved the recommended 30 minutes a day, five times a week.

For me, it’s running.

Why?

Is it for the mental and physical stamina, the self-empowerment, the challenge, the fitness, the runner’s high, the freedom, the lack of gym membership fees, the fact that you can do it pretty much anywhere, anytime?

No, it’s because everyone else is doing it.

It’s time to start a new trend, and I propose luging.

No offence to lugers, who I’m sure have intensive training regimes that allow them to withstand the insane G-forces their bodies are put under -

- not to mention the mental intensity involved in steering such a dangerous ride -

- but having watched copious amounts of luge at the Winter Olympics ..

.. and become addicted to the idea of travelling at 140km/h on a bobsled ..

.. it looks a lot less sweaty and a lot more fun than a fun run..”

go to source/story>>Rebecca Barry: Kiwis’ passion for running defies logic - page 2 - Opinion - NZ Herald News

“..Attaining that “Feel Good” State the Natural Way: Finding Emotional Sobriety

Our thoughts, emotions and our behavior ALL effect our body chemistry.

Just climbing out of bed in the morning and getting into a hot shower or bath, for example, elevates our levels of serotonin –

– “nature’s natural anti- depressant” — and makes it easier for us to get into a positive frame of mind.

.. In fact, extensive research studies reveal that taking a brisk walk four times a week can be as effective in managing depression as medication becuase it gets that serotonin going in our bodies.

It is remarkably easy, actually, to attain that “feel good” state .. if we just adopt a few proactive habits .. and keep them going.

Here’s what these “natural antidepressants” can do for us.

Serotonin keeps our moods balanced and up beat.

It calms anxiety and improves our sleep.

Touching releases oxytocin, that bonding chemical that mediates emotional closeness.

It paradoxically helps us to feel close and connected AND to set boundaries.

Hot baths or showers give us a shot of prolactin (and serotonin) which is associated with that serene state that nursing mothers enter.

These are nature’s mood stabilizers; they act in the brain and body in the same way that anti depressants act.

They manage our moods.

When we don’t make use of the medicine chest nature put inside of us and learn how to calm and soothe ourselves through daily, health enhancing activities ..

.. we may want to turn to synthetic or artificial solutions to achieve a state of well being.

We might grab a substance like alcohol, drugs, or food to unwind, calm down or de-stress.

Or maybe we turn to addictive behaviors like gambling or sexual acting out to jump start that high feeling.

Some try to regulate their moods with food .. maybe under-eating to regain a sense of control or over eating to feel centered and peaceful.

Emotional sobriety is about establishing a routine of healthy activities that elevate our moods naturally so that we can activate the medicine chest inside of us to smooth out our stressed out emotions and manage our moods..”

go to source/story>>Dr. Tian Dayton: How To Achieve Natural Highs

“..The Nova Smoke looks like a rechargeable cigarette pack and has a flip-out plug in the base.

The e-cig inside weighs slightly more than a regular cigarette because it contains a small rechargeable battery.

The part that looks like the filter is a cartridge containing nicotine and an atomizer.

Lighting up an e-cig is simple: The “vaper” — the e-cig smoker — just presses the cartridge onto the battery and takes a puff.

A small bulb on the end lights up, almost like a real cigarette.

What’s missing is smoke, ash and smoldering tobacco.

There’s no noticeable odor.

What’s inhaled is mainly water vapor, which gives off a mist and delivers varying amounts of nicotine, depending on what type of cartridge is in the cigarette.

There are several brands available.

Chris Guebert, 30, of St. Louis tried “blu” brand e-cigs last year, but decided to go back to tobacco cigarettes after several weeks.

“It was kind of a pain,” he said..”

go to source/story>>Ex-smoker hopefuls plug in to ‘e-cigs’ - Columbia Missourian

“.. Olympics advertising is an orgy of sugar and empty calories .. thanks to the athletes who shill fast food for cash.

Maybe you thought that junk food and soft drinks would take a hike during the Olympics, the world’s largest celebration of bodies at the peak of health and fitness.

But if you thought that, you’d be wrong.

McDonald’s and Coca Cola are almost as ubiquitous as the five rings up here in Vancouver.

We’re drowning in evidence of the detrimental effects of soft drinks, and being crushed under the weight of research about the consequences of junk food.

Yet these Olympics seem to be setting records for the number of billboards and TV commercials selling sugar-filled and empty calorie food and drink.

And also for the number of athletes shilling them, and even equating them with national pride.

If you believe what you see and hear, you’d think junk food and soft drinks are the stuff Olympic and other dreams are made of.

In one McDonald’s TV commercial, played dozens of times, for example, snowboarder Brad Martin says he “gives into temptation” to eat French fries every chance he gets.

To him, that’s a “golden moment.”

Martin is sponsored by McDonald’s..”

go to source/story>>The Olympics and Its Stars Pimp for Junk Food | | AlterNet

“..Learning an instrument enhances the brain’s sensitivity to all sounds, including speech, say researchers

Parents may not appreciate the screeching of violins and recorders during the hours of practice, but new evidence suggests music lessons help children improve their language skills.

Scientists have discovered that playing an instrument significantly enhances the brain’s sensitivity to speech.

Schools which fail to make music a core subject are making a mistake, because it has advantages for the growing brain and would help all children, including those with dyslexia and autism, neuroscientist Professor Nina Kraus said yesterday.

“Playing an instrument may help youngsters better process speech in noisy classrooms and more accurately interpret the nuances of language that are conveyed by subtle changes in the human voice,” she told the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego, California.

“Cash-strapped school districts are making a mistake when they cut music from the curriculum,” she warned.

Professor Kraus’s team at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, have shown that the nervous system responds to the acoustic properties of speech and music with sub-millisecond precision.

The effectiveness with which the nervous system interprets sound patterns is linked to musical ability..”

go to source/story>>Music has the power to shape a child’s mind - Science, News - The Independent