Saturday, November 14, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Media Pigs Misinforming about so-called "Epidemic"
Dr. W.C. Douglas
Those filthy swine... The swine flu "epidemic" is only a few days old, and Big Pharma is already plotting to make a fortune. European drug maker Roche announced it was scaling up production of Tamiflu, giving a boost to its stock price and sending millions into the Roche coffers.
GlaxoSmithKline, which makes the anti-flu drug Relenza, is also seeing its stock price climb, as investors hope this swine flu is the biggest thing since the bubonic plague. There's only one problem here – it's not going to happen. You read the Daily Dose because I always give you the straight scoop, and because I'm not afraid to tell you when the mainstream has it wrong. And they have it wrong on swine flu. It won't be an epidemic – it'll barely even be a ripple. I've run medical clinics in Africa – I know what an epidemic looks like. And this isn't it. The media is blowing swine flu out of proportion so it can feed its 24-hour news cycle – the same media, mind you, that had us convinced that avian flu was going to destroy the planet a few years ago. But here are the facts about swine flu – it has affected so few people in America that it's hardly worth discussing. There are 64 confirmed cases in America as I'm writing this – not 6,000 or even 600. There are 64. Of course, the media is fixated on the 100 or so people who have died in Mexico from the swine flu. But let me clue you into something that no one seems to be discussing – health care in Mexico is ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE. I know – I've been there more times than I can count. Disease spreads rapidly through Mexico because large areas of the country lack clean water and basic sanitation. Seeing a doctor – let alone a qualified doctor – is a luxury unavailable to most of the population. Of course the flu is killing people in Mexico – so are a lot of other diseases that are successfully treated in America. People in Mexico still die from diarrhea, for Pete's sake! Yes, they have apparently had some cases of bad swine flu in Mexico. They've had lots of dengue fever and chagas, too, but you don't need to stay up at night worrying about it. Beating the swine flu isn't any different from beating the regular flu. Wash your hands. Avoid large crowds if you can. Get plenty of rest and fluids if you start getting sick. And don't be afraid to eat pork or any other meat, for that matter, as it's not the pigs who are getting sick. Of course, I'm not recommending you eat Mexican pork – or any food produced in Mexico, for that matter.
Hopefully the tainted peppers outbreak of 2008 taught us that. But don't change your diet because of some so-called swine flu epidemic. It's no epidemic. It's no public health catastrophe.
It's good theatre – and nothing more.
Critical Alert: The Swine Flu Pandemic - Fact or Fiction?
Dr. Mercola
American health officials declared a public health emergency as cases of swine flu were confirmed in the U.S. Health officials across the world fear this could be the leading edge of a global pandemic emerging from Mexico, where seven people are confirmed dead as a result of the new virus.
On Wednesday April 29th, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised its pandemic alert level to five on its six-level threat scale,1 which means they've determined that the virus is capable of human-to-human transmission. The initial outbreaks across North America reveal an infection already traveling at higher velocity than did the last official pandemic strain, the 1968 Hong Kong flu.
Phase 5 had never been declared since the warning system was introduced in 2005 in response to the avian influenza crisis. Phase 6 means a pandemic is under way. WHO now openly states it is not possible to contain the spread of this infection and recommends mitigation measures, not restricting travel or closing borders.
However, a pandemic does not necessarily mean what you think it does, it is NOT black-plague carts being hauled through the streets piled high with dead bodies. Nor does it mean flesh eating zombies wandering the streets feeding on the living. All a pandemic means is that a new infectious disease is spreading throughout the world.
The number of fatalities, and suspected and confirmed cases across the world change depending on the source, so your best bet -- if you want the latest numbers -- is to use Google Maps' Swine Flu Tracker.
Several nations have imposed travel bans, or made plans to quarantine air travelers2 that present symptoms of the swine flu, such as:
· Fever of more than 100
· Coughing
· Runny nose and/or sore throat
· Joint aches
· Severe headache
· Vomiting and/or diarrhea
· Lethargy
· Lack of appetite
Top global flu experts are trying to predict how dangerous the new swine flu strain will be, as it became clear that they had little information about Mexico's outbreak. It is as yet unclear how many cases occurred in the month or so before the outbreak was detected. It's also unknown whether the virus was mutating to be more lethal, or less.
Much Fear Mongering Being Promoted
I suspect you have likely been alarmed by the media's coverage of the swine flu scare. It has a noticeable subplot - preparing you for draconian measures to combat a future pandemic as well as forcing you to accept the idea of mandatory vaccinations.
On April 27, Time magazine published an article which discusses how dozens died and hundreds were injured from vaccines as a result of the 1976 swine flu fiasco, when the Ford administration attempted to use the infection of soldiers at Fort Dix as a pretext for a mass vaccination of the entire country.
Despite acknowledging that the 1976 farce was an example of “how not to handle a flu outbreak”, the article still introduces the notion that officials “may soon have to consider whether to institute draconian measures to combat the disease”.
Fortunately some respectable journalists recognize this and are seeking to spread a voice of reason to the fear that is being promoted in the majority of the media
WHO and CDC Pandemic Preparedness Seriously Broken
The pandemic warning system has failed as it simply doesn't exist, even in North America and Europe. To improve the system, massive new investments in surveillance, scientific and regulatory infrastructure, basic public health, and global access to common sense interventions like vitamin D optimization are required.
According to the Washington Post, the CDC did not learn about the outbreak until six days after Mexico had begun to impose emergency measures. There should be no excuses. The paradox of this swine flu panic is that, while totally unexpected, it was accurately predicted. Six years ago, Science dedicated a major story to evidence that "after years of stability, the North American swine flu virus has jumped onto an evolutionary fasttrack".
However, maybe this is precisely what public health authorities desire.
This is NOT the First Swine Flu Panic
My guess is that you can expect to see a lot of panic over this issue in the near future. But the key is to remain calm -- this isn't the first time the public has been warned about swine flu. The last time was in 1976, right before I entered medical school and I remember it very clearly. It resulted in the massive swine flu vaccine campaign.
Do you happen to recall the result of this massive campaign?
Within a few months, claims totaling $1.3 billion had been filed by victims who had suffered paralysis from the vaccine. The vaccine was also blamed for 25 deaths.
However, several hundred people developed crippling Guillain-Barré Syndrome after they were injected with the swine flu vaccine. Even healthy 20-year-olds ended up as paraplegics.
And the swine flu pandemic itself? It never materialized.
More People Died From the Swine Flu Vaccine than Swine Flu!
It is very difficult to forecast a pandemic, and a rash response can be extremely damaging.
To put things into perspective, malaria kills 3,000 people EVERY DAY, and it's considered "a health problem"... But of course, there are no fancy vaccines for malaria that can rake in billions of dollars in a short amount of time.
One Australian news source,3 for example, states that even a mild swine flu epidemic could lead to the deaths of 1.4 million people and would reduce economic growth by nearly $5 trillion dollars.
Give me a break, if this doesn't sound like the outlandish cries of the pandemic bird-flu I don't know what does. Do you remember when President Bush said two million Americans would die as a result of the bird flu?
In 2005, in 2006, 2007, and again in 2008, those fears were exposed as little more than a cruel hoax, designed to instill fear, and line the pocketbooks of various individuals and industry. I became so convinced by the evidence AGAINST the possibility of a bird flu pandemic that I wrote a New York Times bestselling book, The Bird Flu Hoax, all about the massive fraud involved with the epidemic that never happened..
What is the Swine Flu?
Regular swine flu is a contagious respiratory disease, caused by a type-A influenza virus that affects pigs. The current strain, A(H1N1), is a new variation of an H1N1 virus -- which causes seasonal flu outbreaks in humans -- that also contains genetic material of bird and pig versions of the flu.
Interestingly enough, this version has never before been seen in neither human nor animal, which I will discuss a bit later.
This does sound bad. But not so fast. There are a few reasons to not rush to conclusions that this is the deadly pandemic we've been told would occur in the near future (as if anyone could predict it without having some sort of inside knowledge).
Why a True Bird- or Swine Flu Pandemic is HIGHLY Unlikely
While in my opinion it is highly likely factory farming is responsible for producing this viral strain, I believe there is still no cause for concern.
You may not know this, but all H1N1 flu's are descendants of the 1918 pandemic strain. The reason why the flu shot may or may not work, however, from year to year, is due to mutations. Therefore, there's no vaccine available for this current hybrid flu strain, and naturally, this is feeding the fear that millions of people will die before a vaccine can be made.
However, let me remind you of one very important fact here.
Just a couple of months ago, scientists concluded that the 1918 flu pandemic that killed between 50-100 million people worldwide in a matter of 18 months -- which all these worst case scenarios are built upon -- was NOT due to the flu itself!4
Instead, they discovered the real culprit was strep infections.
People with influenza often get what is known as a "superinfection" with a bacterial agent. In 1918 it appears to have been Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Since strep is much easier to treat than the flu using modern medicine, a new pandemic would likely be much less dire than it was in the early 20th century, the researchers concluded.
Others, such as evolutionary biologist Paul Ewald,5 claim that a pandemic of this sort simply cannot happen, because in order for it to occur, the world has to change. Not the virus itself, but the world.
In a previous interview for Esquire magazine, in which he discusses the possibility of a bird flu pandemic, he states:
"They think that if a virus mutates, it's an evolutionary event. Well, the virus is mutating because that is what viruses and other pathogens do. But evolution is not just random mutation. It is random mutation coupled with natural selection; it is a battle for competitive advantage among different strains generated by random mutation.
For bird flu to evolve into a human pandemic, the strain that finds a home in humanity has to be a strain that is both highly virulent and highly transmissible. Deadliness has to translate somehow into popularity; H5N1 has to find a way to kill or immobilize its human hosts, and still find other hosts to infect. Usually that doesn't happen."
Ewald goes on to explain that evolution in general is all about trade-offs, and in the evolution of infections the trade-off is between virulence and transmissibility.
What this means is that in order for a "bird flu" or "swine flu" to turn into a human pandemic, it has to find an environment that favors both deadly virulence and ease of transmission.
People living in squalor on the Western Front at the end of World War I generated such an environment, from which the epidemic of 1918 could arise.
Likewise, crowded chicken farms, slaughterhouses, and jam-packed markets of eastern Asia provide another such environment, and that environment gave rise to the bird flu -- a pathogen that both kills and spreads, in birds, but not in humans.
Says Ewald:
"We know that H5N1 is well adapted to birds. We also know that it has a hard time becoming a virus that can move from person to person. It has a hard time without our doing anything. But we can make it harder. We can make sure it has no human population in which to evolve transmissibility. There is no need to rely on the mass extermination of chickens. There is no need to stockpile vaccines for everyone.
By vaccinating just the people most at risk -- the people who work with chickens and the caregivers -- we can prevent it from becoming transmissible among humans. Then it doesn't matter what it does in chickens."
Please remember that, despite the fantastic headlines and projections of MILLIONS of deaths, the H5N1 bird flu virus killed a mere 257 people worldwide since late 2003. As unfortunate as those deaths are, 257 deaths worldwide from any disease, over the course of five years, simply does not constitute an emergency worthy of much attention, let alone fear!
Honestly, your risk of being killed by a lightning strike in the last five years was about 2,300 percent higher than your risk of contracting and dying from the bird flu.6 I'm not kidding! In just one year (2004), more than 1,170 people died from lighting strikes, worldwide.7
So please, as the numbers of confirmed swine flu cases are released, keep a level head and don't let fear run away with your brains.
So is the Swine Flu Getting More or Less Dangerous?
On Sunday, April 26, The Independent reported that more than 1,000 people had contracted the swine flu virus in Mexico, 8 but by the afternoon that same day, Mexican President Calderon declared that more than two-thirds of the 1,300 thought to have contracted the disease had been given a clean bill of health and sent home.9
Additionally, the number of actual confirmed cases appears to be far lower than reported in many media outlets, leading me to believe that many reporters are interchanging the terms "suspected cases" and "confirmed cases."
Interestingly Mexico is the ONLY country in the world where someone has actually died from this disease.Mexico has reported 159 fatalities in flu-like cases in recent days, seven of which have been confirmed as swine flu. Another 19 patients have been confirmed as having swine flu but surviving. Although some insiders at WHO believe these numbers are seriously inflated and could be as low as single digits.
By contrast, the United States has had 109 confirmed cases, five hospitalizations and no deaths from US Citizens. On April 29th CNN reported the first swine fatality in the US, however this was actually a child from Mexico that died in Texas.
According to the World Health Organization's Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response site; as of April 27 there are:
· 109 laboratory confirmed cases in U.S. -- 1 death (reported by CDC as of April 30)
· 26 confirmed cases in Mexico -- 7 deaths
· 6 confirmed cases in Canada -- 0 deaths
· 1 confirmed case in Spain -- 0 deaths
Additionally, nearly all suspected new cases have been reported as mild.
Personally, I am highly skeptical. It simply doesn't add up to a real pandemic.
But it does raise serious questions about where this brand new, never before seen virus came from, especially since it cannot be contracted from eating pork products, and has never before been seen in pigs, and contains traits from the bird flu -- and which, so far, only seems to respond to Tamiflu. Are we just that lucky, or... what?
Your Fear Will Make Some People VERY Rich in Today's Crumbling Economy
According to the Associated Press at least one financial analyst estimates up to $388 million worth of Tamiflu sales in the near future10 -- and that's without a pandemic outbreak.
More than half a dozen pharmaceutical companies, including Gilead Sciences Inc., Roche, GlaxoSmithKline and other companies with a stake in flu treatments and detection, have seen a rise in their shares in a matter of days, and will likely see revenue boosts if the swine flu outbreak continues to spread.
As soon as Homeland Security declared a health emergency, 25 percent -- about 12 million doses -- of Tamiflu and Relenza treatment courses were released from the nation's stockpile. However, beware that the declaration also allows unapproved tests and drugs to be administered to children. Many health- and government officials are more than willing to take that chance with your life, and the life of your child. But are you?
Remember, Tamiflu went through some rough times not too long ago, as the dangers of this drug came to light when, in 2007, the FDA finally began investigating some 1,800 adverse event reports related to the drug. Common side effects of Tamiflu include:
· Nausea
· Vomiting
· Diarrhea
· Headache
· Dizziness
· Fatigue
· Cough
All in all, the very symptoms you're trying to avoid.
More serious symptoms included convulsions, delirium or delusions, and 14 deaths in children and teens as a result of neuropsychiatric problems and brain infections (which led Japan to ban Tamiflu for children in 2007). And that's for a drug that, when used as directed, only reduces the duration of influenza symptoms by 1 to 1 ½ days, according to the official data.
But making matters worse, some patients with influenza are at HIGHER risk for secondary bacterial infections when on Tamiflu. And secondary bacterial infections, as I mentioned earlier, was likely the REAL cause of the mass fatalities during the 1918 pandemic!
Where did This Mysterious New Animal-Human Flu Strain come from?
Alongside the fear-mongering headlines, I've also seen increasing numbers of reports questioning the true nature of this virus. And rightfully so.
Could a mixed animal-human mutant like this occur naturally? And if not, who made it, and how was it released?
Not one to dabble too deep in conspiracy theories, I don't have to strain very hard to find actual facts to support the notion that this may not be a natural mutation, and that those who stand to gain have the wherewithal to pull off such a stunt.
Just last month I reported on the story that the American pharmaceutical company Baxter was under investigation for distributing the deadly avian flu virus to 18 different countries as part of a seasonal flu vaccine shipment. Czech reporters were probing to see if it may have been part of a deliberate attempt to start a pandemic; as such a "mistake" would be virtually impossible under the security protocols of that virus.
The H5N1 virus on its own is not very airborne. However, when combined with seasonal flu viruses, which are more easily spread, the effect could be a potent, airborne, deadly, biological weapon. If this batch of live bird flu and seasonal flu viruses had reached the public, it could have resulted in dire consequences.
There is a name for this mixing of viruses; it's called "reassortment," and it is one of two ways pandemic viruses are created in the lab. Some scientists say the most recent global outbreak -- the 1977 Russian flu -- was started by a virus created and leaked from a laboratory.
Another example of the less sterling integrity of Big Pharma is the case of Bayer, who sold millions of dollars worth of an injectable blood-clotting medicine to Asian, Latin American, and some European countries in the mid-1980s, even though they knew it was tainted with the AIDS virus.
So while it is morally unthinkable that a drug company would knowingly contaminate flu vaccines with a deadly flu virus such as the bird- or swine flu, it is certainly not impossible. It has already happened more than once.
But there seems to be no repercussions or hard feelings when industry oversteps the boundaries of morality and integrity and enters the arena of obscenity. Because, lo and behold, which company has been chosen to head up efforts, along with WHO, to produce a vaccine against the Mexican swine flu?
Baxter!11 Despite the fact that ink has barely dried on the investigative reports from their should-be-criminal "mistake" against humanity.
According to other sources,12 a top scientist for the United Nations, who has examined the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Africa, as well as HIV/AIDS victims, has concluded that the current swine flu virus possesses certain transmission "vectors" that suggest the new strain has been genetically-manufactured as a military biological warfare weapon.
The UN expert believes that Ebola, HIV/AIDS, and the current A-H1N1 swine flu virus are biological warfare agents.
In addition, Army criminal investigators are looking into the possibility that disease samples are missing from biolabs at Fort Detrick -- the same Army research lab from which the 2001 anthrax strain was released, according to a recent article in the Fredrick News Post.13 In February, the top biodefense lab halted all its research into Ebola, anthrax, plague, and other diseases known as "select agents," after they discovered virus samples that weren't listed in its inventory and might have been switched with something else.
Factory Farming Maybe Source of Swine Flu
Another theory as to the cause of Swine Flu might be factory farming. In the United States, pigs travel coast to coast. They can be bred in North Carolina, fattened in the corn belt of Iowa, and slaughtered in California.
While this may reduce short-term costs for the pork industry, the highly contagious nature of diseases like influenza (perhaps made further infectious by the stresses of transport) needs to be considered when calculating the true cost of long-distance live animal transport.
The majority of U.S. pig farms now confine more than 5,000 animals each. With a group of 5,000 animals, if a novel virus shows up it will have more opportunity to replicate and potentially spread than in a group of 100 pigs on a small farm.
With massive concentrations of farm animals within which to mutate, these new swine flu viruses in North America seem to be on an evolutionary fast track, jumping and reassorting between species at an unprecedented rate.
Should You Accept a Flu Vaccine -- Just to be Safe?
As stated in the New York Times14 and elsewhere, flu experts have no idea whether the current seasonal flu vaccine would offer any protection whatsoever against this exotic mutant, and it will take months to create a new one.
But let me tell you, getting vaccinated now would not only offer no protection and potentially cause great harm, it would most likely be loaded with toxic mercury which is used as a preservative in most flu vaccines..
I've written extensively about the numerous dangers (and ineffectiveness) of flu vaccines, and why I do not recommend them to anyone. So no matter what you hear -- even if it comes from your doctor -- don't get a regular flu shot. They rarely work against seasonal flu...and certainly can't offer protection against a never-before- seen strain.
Currently, the antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza are the only drugs that appear effective against the (human flu) H1N1 virus, and I strongly believe taking Tamiflu to protect you against this new virus could be a serious mistake -- for all the reasons I already mentioned above.
But in addition to the dangerous side effects of Tamiflu, there is also growing evidence of resistance against the drug. In February, the pre-publication and preliminary findings journal called Nature Precedings published a paper on this concern, stating15:
The dramatic rise of oseltamivir [Tamiflu] resistance in the H1N1 serotype in the 2007/2008 season and the fixing of H274Y in the 2008/2009 season has raised concerns regarding individuals at risk for seasonal influenza, as well as development of similar resistance in the H5N1 serotype [bird flu].
Previously, oseltamivir resistance produced changes in H1N1 and H3N2 at multiple positions in treated patients. In contrast, the recently reported resistance involved patients who had not recently taken oseltamivir.
It's one more reason not to bother with this potentially dangerous drug.
And, once a specific swine flu drug is created, you can be sure that it has not had the time to be tested in clinical trials to determine safety and effectiveness, which puts us right back where I started this article -- with a potential repeat of the last dangerous swine flu vaccine, which destroyed the lives of hundreds of people.
Topping the whole mess off, of course, is the fact that if the new vaccine turns out to be a killer, the pharmaceutical companies responsible are immune from lawsuits -- something I've also warned about before on numerous occasions.
Unfortunately, those prospects won't stop the governments of the world from mandating the vaccine -- a scenario I hope we can all avoid.
How to Protect Yourself Without Dangerous Drugs and Vaccinations
For now, my point is that there are always going to be threats of flu pandemics, real or created, and there will always be potentially toxic vaccines that are peddled as the solution. But you can break free of that whole drug-solution trap by following some natural health principles.
I have not caught a flu in over two decades, and you can avoid it too, without getting vaccinated, by following these simple guidelines, which will keep your immune system in optimal working order so that you're far less likely to acquire the infection to begin with.
· Optimize your vitamin D levels. As I've previously reported, optimizing your vitamin D levels is one of the absolute best strategies for avoiding infections of ALL kinds, and vitamin D deficiency is likely the TRUE culprit behind the seasonality of the flu -- not the flu virus itself.
This is probably the single most important and least expensive action you can take. I would STRONGLY urge you to have your vitamin D level monitored to confirm your levels are therapeutic at 50-70 ng.ml and done by a reliable vitamin D lab like Lab Corp.
For those of you in the US we hope to launch a vitamin D testing service through Lab Corp that allows you to have your vitamin D levels checked at your local blood drawing facility, and relatively inexpensively. We hope to offer this service by June 2009.If you are coming down with flu like symptoms and have not been on vitamin D you can take doses of 50,000 units a day for three days to treat the acute infection. Some researchers like Dr. Cannell, believe the dose could even be as high as 1000 units per pound of body weight for three days.
However, most of Dr. Cannell's work was with seasonal and not pandemic flu. If your body has never been exposed to the antigens there is chance that the vitamin D might not work. However the best bet is to maintain healthy levels of vitamin D around 60 ng/ml.
BUT to keep this in perspective the regular flu, not the swine flu, has killed 13,000 in the US since January. But there is strong support that these types of figures are grossly exaggerated to increase vaccine sales. However, the fact remains that the regular flu at this point in time is FAR more dangerous than the swine flu and were you worried about the regular flu before the media started talking this up?
· Avoid Sugar and Processed Foods. Sugar decreases the function of your immune system almost immediately, and as you likely know, a strong immune system is key to fighting off viruses and other illness. Be aware that sugar is present in foods you may not suspect, like ketchup and fruit juice.
· Get Enough Rest. Just like it becomes harder for you to get your daily tasks done if you're tired, if your body is overly fatigued it will be harder for it to fight the flu. Be sure to check out my article Guide to a Good Night's Sleep for some great tips to help you get quality rest.
· Have Effective Tools to Address Stress . We all face some stress every day, but if stress becomes overwhelming then your body will be less able to fight off the flu and other illness. If you feel that stress is taking a toll on your health, consider using an energy psychology tool such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), which is remarkably effective in relieving stress associated with all kinds of events, from work to family to trauma.
· Exercise. When you exercise, you increase your circulation and your blood flow throughout your body. The components of your immune system are also better circulated, which means your immune system has a better chance of finding an illness before it spreads. You can review my exercise guidelines for some great tips on how to get started.
· Take a good source of animal based omega-3 fats like Krill Oil. Increase your intake of healthy and essential fats like the omega-3 found in krill oil, which is crucial for maintaining health. It is also vitally important to avoid damaged omega-6 oils that are trans fats and in processed foods as it will seriously damage your immune response.
· Wash Your Hands. Washing your hands will decrease your likelihood of spreading a virus to your nose, mouth or other people. Be sure you don't use antibacterial soap for this -- antibacterial soaps are completely unnecessary, and they cause far more harm than good. Instead, identify a simple chemical-free soap that you can switch your family to.
· Eat Garlic Regularly. Garlic works like a broad-spectrum antibiotic against bacteria, virus, and protozoa in the body. And unlike with antibiotics, no resistance can be built up so it is an absolutely safe product to use. However, if you are allergic or don't enjoy garlic it would be best to avoid as it will likely cause more harm than good.
· Avoid Hospitals and Vaccines In this particular case, I'd also recommend you stay away from hospitals unless you're having an emergency, as hospitals are prime breeding grounds for infections of all kinds, and could be one of the likeliest places you could be exposed to this new bug. Vaccines will not be available for six months at the minimum but when available they will be ineffective and can lead to crippling paralysis like Guillain-Barré Syndrome just as it did in the 70s.
American health officials declared a public health emergency as cases of swine flu were confirmed in the U.S. Health officials across the world fear this could be the leading edge of a global pandemic emerging from Mexico, where seven people are confirmed dead as a result of the new virus.
On Wednesday April 29th, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised its pandemic alert level to five on its six-level threat scale,1 which means they've determined that the virus is capable of human-to-human transmission. The initial outbreaks across North America reveal an infection already traveling at higher velocity than did the last official pandemic strain, the 1968 Hong Kong flu.
Phase 5 had never been declared since the warning system was introduced in 2005 in response to the avian influenza crisis. Phase 6 means a pandemic is under way. WHO now openly states it is not possible to contain the spread of this infection and recommends mitigation measures, not restricting travel or closing borders.
However, a pandemic does not necessarily mean what you think it does, it is NOT black-plague carts being hauled through the streets piled high with dead bodies. Nor does it mean flesh eating zombies wandering the streets feeding on the living. All a pandemic means is that a new infectious disease is spreading throughout the world.
The number of fatalities, and suspected and confirmed cases across the world change depending on the source, so your best bet -- if you want the latest numbers -- is to use Google Maps' Swine Flu Tracker.
Several nations have imposed travel bans, or made plans to quarantine air travelers2 that present symptoms of the swine flu, such as:
· Fever of more than 100
· Coughing
· Runny nose and/or sore throat
· Joint aches
· Severe headache
· Vomiting and/or diarrhea
· Lethargy
· Lack of appetite
Top global flu experts are trying to predict how dangerous the new swine flu strain will be, as it became clear that they had little information about Mexico's outbreak. It is as yet unclear how many cases occurred in the month or so before the outbreak was detected. It's also unknown whether the virus was mutating to be more lethal, or less.
Much Fear Mongering Being Promoted
I suspect you have likely been alarmed by the media's coverage of the swine flu scare. It has a noticeable subplot - preparing you for draconian measures to combat a future pandemic as well as forcing you to accept the idea of mandatory vaccinations.
On April 27, Time magazine published an article which discusses how dozens died and hundreds were injured from vaccines as a result of the 1976 swine flu fiasco, when the Ford administration attempted to use the infection of soldiers at Fort Dix as a pretext for a mass vaccination of the entire country.
Despite acknowledging that the 1976 farce was an example of “how not to handle a flu outbreak”, the article still introduces the notion that officials “may soon have to consider whether to institute draconian measures to combat the disease”.
Fortunately some respectable journalists recognize this and are seeking to spread a voice of reason to the fear that is being promoted in the majority of the media
WHO and CDC Pandemic Preparedness Seriously Broken
The pandemic warning system has failed as it simply doesn't exist, even in North America and Europe. To improve the system, massive new investments in surveillance, scientific and regulatory infrastructure, basic public health, and global access to common sense interventions like vitamin D optimization are required.
According to the Washington Post, the CDC did not learn about the outbreak until six days after Mexico had begun to impose emergency measures. There should be no excuses. The paradox of this swine flu panic is that, while totally unexpected, it was accurately predicted. Six years ago, Science dedicated a major story to evidence that "after years of stability, the North American swine flu virus has jumped onto an evolutionary fasttrack".
However, maybe this is precisely what public health authorities desire.
This is NOT the First Swine Flu Panic
My guess is that you can expect to see a lot of panic over this issue in the near future. But the key is to remain calm -- this isn't the first time the public has been warned about swine flu. The last time was in 1976, right before I entered medical school and I remember it very clearly. It resulted in the massive swine flu vaccine campaign.
Do you happen to recall the result of this massive campaign?
Within a few months, claims totaling $1.3 billion had been filed by victims who had suffered paralysis from the vaccine. The vaccine was also blamed for 25 deaths.
However, several hundred people developed crippling Guillain-Barré Syndrome after they were injected with the swine flu vaccine. Even healthy 20-year-olds ended up as paraplegics.
And the swine flu pandemic itself? It never materialized.
More People Died From the Swine Flu Vaccine than Swine Flu!
It is very difficult to forecast a pandemic, and a rash response can be extremely damaging.
To put things into perspective, malaria kills 3,000 people EVERY DAY, and it's considered "a health problem"... But of course, there are no fancy vaccines for malaria that can rake in billions of dollars in a short amount of time.
One Australian news source,3 for example, states that even a mild swine flu epidemic could lead to the deaths of 1.4 million people and would reduce economic growth by nearly $5 trillion dollars.
Give me a break, if this doesn't sound like the outlandish cries of the pandemic bird-flu I don't know what does. Do you remember when President Bush said two million Americans would die as a result of the bird flu?
In 2005, in 2006, 2007, and again in 2008, those fears were exposed as little more than a cruel hoax, designed to instill fear, and line the pocketbooks of various individuals and industry. I became so convinced by the evidence AGAINST the possibility of a bird flu pandemic that I wrote a New York Times bestselling book, The Bird Flu Hoax, all about the massive fraud involved with the epidemic that never happened..
What is the Swine Flu?
Regular swine flu is a contagious respiratory disease, caused by a type-A influenza virus that affects pigs. The current strain, A(H1N1), is a new variation of an H1N1 virus -- which causes seasonal flu outbreaks in humans -- that also contains genetic material of bird and pig versions of the flu.
Interestingly enough, this version has never before been seen in neither human nor animal, which I will discuss a bit later.
This does sound bad. But not so fast. There are a few reasons to not rush to conclusions that this is the deadly pandemic we've been told would occur in the near future (as if anyone could predict it without having some sort of inside knowledge).
Why a True Bird- or Swine Flu Pandemic is HIGHLY Unlikely
While in my opinion it is highly likely factory farming is responsible for producing this viral strain, I believe there is still no cause for concern.
You may not know this, but all H1N1 flu's are descendants of the 1918 pandemic strain. The reason why the flu shot may or may not work, however, from year to year, is due to mutations. Therefore, there's no vaccine available for this current hybrid flu strain, and naturally, this is feeding the fear that millions of people will die before a vaccine can be made.
However, let me remind you of one very important fact here.
Just a couple of months ago, scientists concluded that the 1918 flu pandemic that killed between 50-100 million people worldwide in a matter of 18 months -- which all these worst case scenarios are built upon -- was NOT due to the flu itself!4
Instead, they discovered the real culprit was strep infections.
People with influenza often get what is known as a "superinfection" with a bacterial agent. In 1918 it appears to have been Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Since strep is much easier to treat than the flu using modern medicine, a new pandemic would likely be much less dire than it was in the early 20th century, the researchers concluded.
Others, such as evolutionary biologist Paul Ewald,5 claim that a pandemic of this sort simply cannot happen, because in order for it to occur, the world has to change. Not the virus itself, but the world.
In a previous interview for Esquire magazine, in which he discusses the possibility of a bird flu pandemic, he states:
"They think that if a virus mutates, it's an evolutionary event. Well, the virus is mutating because that is what viruses and other pathogens do. But evolution is not just random mutation. It is random mutation coupled with natural selection; it is a battle for competitive advantage among different strains generated by random mutation.
For bird flu to evolve into a human pandemic, the strain that finds a home in humanity has to be a strain that is both highly virulent and highly transmissible. Deadliness has to translate somehow into popularity; H5N1 has to find a way to kill or immobilize its human hosts, and still find other hosts to infect. Usually that doesn't happen."
Ewald goes on to explain that evolution in general is all about trade-offs, and in the evolution of infections the trade-off is between virulence and transmissibility.
What this means is that in order for a "bird flu" or "swine flu" to turn into a human pandemic, it has to find an environment that favors both deadly virulence and ease of transmission.
People living in squalor on the Western Front at the end of World War I generated such an environment, from which the epidemic of 1918 could arise.
Likewise, crowded chicken farms, slaughterhouses, and jam-packed markets of eastern Asia provide another such environment, and that environment gave rise to the bird flu -- a pathogen that both kills and spreads, in birds, but not in humans.
Says Ewald:
"We know that H5N1 is well adapted to birds. We also know that it has a hard time becoming a virus that can move from person to person. It has a hard time without our doing anything. But we can make it harder. We can make sure it has no human population in which to evolve transmissibility. There is no need to rely on the mass extermination of chickens. There is no need to stockpile vaccines for everyone.
By vaccinating just the people most at risk -- the people who work with chickens and the caregivers -- we can prevent it from becoming transmissible among humans. Then it doesn't matter what it does in chickens."
Please remember that, despite the fantastic headlines and projections of MILLIONS of deaths, the H5N1 bird flu virus killed a mere 257 people worldwide since late 2003. As unfortunate as those deaths are, 257 deaths worldwide from any disease, over the course of five years, simply does not constitute an emergency worthy of much attention, let alone fear!
Honestly, your risk of being killed by a lightning strike in the last five years was about 2,300 percent higher than your risk of contracting and dying from the bird flu.6 I'm not kidding! In just one year (2004), more than 1,170 people died from lighting strikes, worldwide.7
So please, as the numbers of confirmed swine flu cases are released, keep a level head and don't let fear run away with your brains.
So is the Swine Flu Getting More or Less Dangerous?
On Sunday, April 26, The Independent reported that more than 1,000 people had contracted the swine flu virus in Mexico, 8 but by the afternoon that same day, Mexican President Calderon declared that more than two-thirds of the 1,300 thought to have contracted the disease had been given a clean bill of health and sent home.9
Additionally, the number of actual confirmed cases appears to be far lower than reported in many media outlets, leading me to believe that many reporters are interchanging the terms "suspected cases" and "confirmed cases."
Interestingly Mexico is the ONLY country in the world where someone has actually died from this disease.Mexico has reported 159 fatalities in flu-like cases in recent days, seven of which have been confirmed as swine flu. Another 19 patients have been confirmed as having swine flu but surviving. Although some insiders at WHO believe these numbers are seriously inflated and could be as low as single digits.
By contrast, the United States has had 109 confirmed cases, five hospitalizations and no deaths from US Citizens. On April 29th CNN reported the first swine fatality in the US, however this was actually a child from Mexico that died in Texas.
According to the World Health Organization's Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response site; as of April 27 there are:
· 109 laboratory confirmed cases in U.S. -- 1 death (reported by CDC as of April 30)
· 26 confirmed cases in Mexico -- 7 deaths
· 6 confirmed cases in Canada -- 0 deaths
· 1 confirmed case in Spain -- 0 deaths
Additionally, nearly all suspected new cases have been reported as mild.
Personally, I am highly skeptical. It simply doesn't add up to a real pandemic.
But it does raise serious questions about where this brand new, never before seen virus came from, especially since it cannot be contracted from eating pork products, and has never before been seen in pigs, and contains traits from the bird flu -- and which, so far, only seems to respond to Tamiflu. Are we just that lucky, or... what?
Your Fear Will Make Some People VERY Rich in Today's Crumbling Economy
According to the Associated Press at least one financial analyst estimates up to $388 million worth of Tamiflu sales in the near future10 -- and that's without a pandemic outbreak.
More than half a dozen pharmaceutical companies, including Gilead Sciences Inc., Roche, GlaxoSmithKline and other companies with a stake in flu treatments and detection, have seen a rise in their shares in a matter of days, and will likely see revenue boosts if the swine flu outbreak continues to spread.
As soon as Homeland Security declared a health emergency, 25 percent -- about 12 million doses -- of Tamiflu and Relenza treatment courses were released from the nation's stockpile. However, beware that the declaration also allows unapproved tests and drugs to be administered to children. Many health- and government officials are more than willing to take that chance with your life, and the life of your child. But are you?
Remember, Tamiflu went through some rough times not too long ago, as the dangers of this drug came to light when, in 2007, the FDA finally began investigating some 1,800 adverse event reports related to the drug. Common side effects of Tamiflu include:
· Nausea
· Vomiting
· Diarrhea
· Headache
· Dizziness
· Fatigue
· Cough
All in all, the very symptoms you're trying to avoid.
More serious symptoms included convulsions, delirium or delusions, and 14 deaths in children and teens as a result of neuropsychiatric problems and brain infections (which led Japan to ban Tamiflu for children in 2007). And that's for a drug that, when used as directed, only reduces the duration of influenza symptoms by 1 to 1 ½ days, according to the official data.
But making matters worse, some patients with influenza are at HIGHER risk for secondary bacterial infections when on Tamiflu. And secondary bacterial infections, as I mentioned earlier, was likely the REAL cause of the mass fatalities during the 1918 pandemic!
Where did This Mysterious New Animal-Human Flu Strain come from?
Alongside the fear-mongering headlines, I've also seen increasing numbers of reports questioning the true nature of this virus. And rightfully so.
Could a mixed animal-human mutant like this occur naturally? And if not, who made it, and how was it released?
Not one to dabble too deep in conspiracy theories, I don't have to strain very hard to find actual facts to support the notion that this may not be a natural mutation, and that those who stand to gain have the wherewithal to pull off such a stunt.
Just last month I reported on the story that the American pharmaceutical company Baxter was under investigation for distributing the deadly avian flu virus to 18 different countries as part of a seasonal flu vaccine shipment. Czech reporters were probing to see if it may have been part of a deliberate attempt to start a pandemic; as such a "mistake" would be virtually impossible under the security protocols of that virus.
The H5N1 virus on its own is not very airborne. However, when combined with seasonal flu viruses, which are more easily spread, the effect could be a potent, airborne, deadly, biological weapon. If this batch of live bird flu and seasonal flu viruses had reached the public, it could have resulted in dire consequences.
There is a name for this mixing of viruses; it's called "reassortment," and it is one of two ways pandemic viruses are created in the lab. Some scientists say the most recent global outbreak -- the 1977 Russian flu -- was started by a virus created and leaked from a laboratory.
Another example of the less sterling integrity of Big Pharma is the case of Bayer, who sold millions of dollars worth of an injectable blood-clotting medicine to Asian, Latin American, and some European countries in the mid-1980s, even though they knew it was tainted with the AIDS virus.
So while it is morally unthinkable that a drug company would knowingly contaminate flu vaccines with a deadly flu virus such as the bird- or swine flu, it is certainly not impossible. It has already happened more than once.
But there seems to be no repercussions or hard feelings when industry oversteps the boundaries of morality and integrity and enters the arena of obscenity. Because, lo and behold, which company has been chosen to head up efforts, along with WHO, to produce a vaccine against the Mexican swine flu?
Baxter!11 Despite the fact that ink has barely dried on the investigative reports from their should-be-criminal "mistake" against humanity.
According to other sources,12 a top scientist for the United Nations, who has examined the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Africa, as well as HIV/AIDS victims, has concluded that the current swine flu virus possesses certain transmission "vectors" that suggest the new strain has been genetically-manufactured as a military biological warfare weapon.
The UN expert believes that Ebola, HIV/AIDS, and the current A-H1N1 swine flu virus are biological warfare agents.
In addition, Army criminal investigators are looking into the possibility that disease samples are missing from biolabs at Fort Detrick -- the same Army research lab from which the 2001 anthrax strain was released, according to a recent article in the Fredrick News Post.13 In February, the top biodefense lab halted all its research into Ebola, anthrax, plague, and other diseases known as "select agents," after they discovered virus samples that weren't listed in its inventory and might have been switched with something else.
Factory Farming Maybe Source of Swine Flu
Another theory as to the cause of Swine Flu might be factory farming. In the United States, pigs travel coast to coast. They can be bred in North Carolina, fattened in the corn belt of Iowa, and slaughtered in California.
While this may reduce short-term costs for the pork industry, the highly contagious nature of diseases like influenza (perhaps made further infectious by the stresses of transport) needs to be considered when calculating the true cost of long-distance live animal transport.
The majority of U.S. pig farms now confine more than 5,000 animals each. With a group of 5,000 animals, if a novel virus shows up it will have more opportunity to replicate and potentially spread than in a group of 100 pigs on a small farm.
With massive concentrations of farm animals within which to mutate, these new swine flu viruses in North America seem to be on an evolutionary fast track, jumping and reassorting between species at an unprecedented rate.
Should You Accept a Flu Vaccine -- Just to be Safe?
As stated in the New York Times14 and elsewhere, flu experts have no idea whether the current seasonal flu vaccine would offer any protection whatsoever against this exotic mutant, and it will take months to create a new one.
But let me tell you, getting vaccinated now would not only offer no protection and potentially cause great harm, it would most likely be loaded with toxic mercury which is used as a preservative in most flu vaccines..
I've written extensively about the numerous dangers (and ineffectiveness) of flu vaccines, and why I do not recommend them to anyone. So no matter what you hear -- even if it comes from your doctor -- don't get a regular flu shot. They rarely work against seasonal flu...and certainly can't offer protection against a never-before- seen strain.
Currently, the antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza are the only drugs that appear effective against the (human flu) H1N1 virus, and I strongly believe taking Tamiflu to protect you against this new virus could be a serious mistake -- for all the reasons I already mentioned above.
But in addition to the dangerous side effects of Tamiflu, there is also growing evidence of resistance against the drug. In February, the pre-publication and preliminary findings journal called Nature Precedings published a paper on this concern, stating15:
The dramatic rise of oseltamivir [Tamiflu] resistance in the H1N1 serotype in the 2007/2008 season and the fixing of H274Y in the 2008/2009 season has raised concerns regarding individuals at risk for seasonal influenza, as well as development of similar resistance in the H5N1 serotype [bird flu].
Previously, oseltamivir resistance produced changes in H1N1 and H3N2 at multiple positions in treated patients. In contrast, the recently reported resistance involved patients who had not recently taken oseltamivir.
It's one more reason not to bother with this potentially dangerous drug.
And, once a specific swine flu drug is created, you can be sure that it has not had the time to be tested in clinical trials to determine safety and effectiveness, which puts us right back where I started this article -- with a potential repeat of the last dangerous swine flu vaccine, which destroyed the lives of hundreds of people.
Topping the whole mess off, of course, is the fact that if the new vaccine turns out to be a killer, the pharmaceutical companies responsible are immune from lawsuits -- something I've also warned about before on numerous occasions.
Unfortunately, those prospects won't stop the governments of the world from mandating the vaccine -- a scenario I hope we can all avoid.
How to Protect Yourself Without Dangerous Drugs and Vaccinations
For now, my point is that there are always going to be threats of flu pandemics, real or created, and there will always be potentially toxic vaccines that are peddled as the solution. But you can break free of that whole drug-solution trap by following some natural health principles.
I have not caught a flu in over two decades, and you can avoid it too, without getting vaccinated, by following these simple guidelines, which will keep your immune system in optimal working order so that you're far less likely to acquire the infection to begin with.
· Optimize your vitamin D levels. As I've previously reported, optimizing your vitamin D levels is one of the absolute best strategies for avoiding infections of ALL kinds, and vitamin D deficiency is likely the TRUE culprit behind the seasonality of the flu -- not the flu virus itself.
This is probably the single most important and least expensive action you can take. I would STRONGLY urge you to have your vitamin D level monitored to confirm your levels are therapeutic at 50-70 ng.ml and done by a reliable vitamin D lab like Lab Corp.
For those of you in the US we hope to launch a vitamin D testing service through Lab Corp that allows you to have your vitamin D levels checked at your local blood drawing facility, and relatively inexpensively. We hope to offer this service by June 2009.If you are coming down with flu like symptoms and have not been on vitamin D you can take doses of 50,000 units a day for three days to treat the acute infection. Some researchers like Dr. Cannell, believe the dose could even be as high as 1000 units per pound of body weight for three days.
However, most of Dr. Cannell's work was with seasonal and not pandemic flu. If your body has never been exposed to the antigens there is chance that the vitamin D might not work. However the best bet is to maintain healthy levels of vitamin D around 60 ng/ml.
BUT to keep this in perspective the regular flu, not the swine flu, has killed 13,000 in the US since January. But there is strong support that these types of figures are grossly exaggerated to increase vaccine sales. However, the fact remains that the regular flu at this point in time is FAR more dangerous than the swine flu and were you worried about the regular flu before the media started talking this up?
· Avoid Sugar and Processed Foods. Sugar decreases the function of your immune system almost immediately, and as you likely know, a strong immune system is key to fighting off viruses and other illness. Be aware that sugar is present in foods you may not suspect, like ketchup and fruit juice.
· Get Enough Rest. Just like it becomes harder for you to get your daily tasks done if you're tired, if your body is overly fatigued it will be harder for it to fight the flu. Be sure to check out my article Guide to a Good Night's Sleep for some great tips to help you get quality rest.
· Have Effective Tools to Address Stress . We all face some stress every day, but if stress becomes overwhelming then your body will be less able to fight off the flu and other illness. If you feel that stress is taking a toll on your health, consider using an energy psychology tool such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), which is remarkably effective in relieving stress associated with all kinds of events, from work to family to trauma.
· Exercise. When you exercise, you increase your circulation and your blood flow throughout your body. The components of your immune system are also better circulated, which means your immune system has a better chance of finding an illness before it spreads. You can review my exercise guidelines for some great tips on how to get started.
· Take a good source of animal based omega-3 fats like Krill Oil. Increase your intake of healthy and essential fats like the omega-3 found in krill oil, which is crucial for maintaining health. It is also vitally important to avoid damaged omega-6 oils that are trans fats and in processed foods as it will seriously damage your immune response.
· Wash Your Hands. Washing your hands will decrease your likelihood of spreading a virus to your nose, mouth or other people. Be sure you don't use antibacterial soap for this -- antibacterial soaps are completely unnecessary, and they cause far more harm than good. Instead, identify a simple chemical-free soap that you can switch your family to.
· Eat Garlic Regularly. Garlic works like a broad-spectrum antibiotic against bacteria, virus, and protozoa in the body. And unlike with antibiotics, no resistance can be built up so it is an absolutely safe product to use. However, if you are allergic or don't enjoy garlic it would be best to avoid as it will likely cause more harm than good.
· Avoid Hospitals and Vaccines In this particular case, I'd also recommend you stay away from hospitals unless you're having an emergency, as hospitals are prime breeding grounds for infections of all kinds, and could be one of the likeliest places you could be exposed to this new bug. Vaccines will not be available for six months at the minimum but when available they will be ineffective and can lead to crippling paralysis like Guillain-Barré Syndrome just as it did in the 70s.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Lowering Triglycerides: Don't Be Misguided
By Laura LaValle, RD, LD
While the Corn Refiners Association and the Sugar Association continue to sponsor studies and media campaigns to promote their "safe, natural sweeteners," whether people know it or not, headlines are running concurrently that attest to the dangers of the over- consumption of sugars.
It was just reported that 1 in 3 American adults has elevated triglycerides,1 a condition that is now known to significantly raise risk for heart disease. Even children can have high triglycerides, and Heartwire just reported that elevated triglyceride levels in childhood were found to significantly increase the rates of cardiovascular events like heart attack and stroke in adulthood.
I chose to write about this today because the preferred way to lower triglycerides by far, is diet and lifestyle. The diet that is most effective for lowering triglycerides however, is not the one that is typically recommended in conventional medicine today.
For instance, the current American Heart Association recommendations for lowering triglycerides are to lose weight; to reduce intake of trans fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and alcohol; to increase intake of omega-3 fats; and to exercise. Removing trans fat from the diet and increasing omega-3 via fish oil are both crucial, but in our experience at LMI, these measures will have limited impact if a person's carbohydrate intake (not fat intake) remains too high.
Elevated triglycerides are seen frequently in people with diabetes. Diabetics have elevated triglycerides because when blood glucose is elevated, the liver converts the excesses to fat. But you don't have to be diabetic to have high triglycerides. Anytime you take in carbohydrates in amounts that exceed the body's requirements for energy, you can start to raise triglycerides.
The research is pretty clear -- it is carbohydrates that have the biggest impact on triglycerides. Here's a quick rundown:
1. Researchers compared the rate of triglyceride production in the liver with high fat/low carb diets and conversely with low fat/high carb diets (the diet that is currently recommended by the AHA) and found that two factors increase triglycerides: hyperinsulinemia and low fat diets.2
2. In human subjects consuming more than 30% of their calories from fat, triglyceride synthesis was greatly reduced. When fat was replaced with carbohydrates, triglyceride production increased.3
3. Several studies looking at low-carb diets compared to low-fat diets for weight loss have found that low-carb diets led to slightly more weight loss than low-fat diets. Low-carb diets also led to significant lowering of triglycerides compared to low-fat diets. In fact, low-fat diets didn't lower triglycerides at all, and sometimes led to increases in triglycerides.-4-6
I cannot explain why the dietary recommendations aren't being updated based on these studies. But I can tell you that in practice we find low sugar and starch diets to be the most effective for lowering triglycerides.
Glucose and fructose are the simple sugars that most affect triglycerides. Glucose is found in high amounts in starchy foods like potatoes, rice, and grains. It is also found in high amounts in sugar beets and sugar cane from which granulated sugar is made. Fructose is highest in fruits and fruit juices. Corn starch can be dissolved to make corn syrup (which is high in both fructose and glucose) and further broken down with enzymes and lye to create high fructose corn syrup.
As Jim's article explained, a recent study found that sweetened beverages that had more fructose than glucose had the worst impact on triglyceride production. This is the combination of sugars that you would find in beverages like soft drinks, sweetened teas, and fruit juices that are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
So, if you have high triglycerides, the first step to take is to eliminate all sweets and sweetened soft drinks, teas, and fruit juice. Watch for hidden sugars like sucrose, dextrose, corn syrup and HFCS on labels in other foods. Increasing your activity can be a big help, but if your triglycerides still don't come down to optimum levels of well under 150 mg/dL, you should also reduce your intake of starchy foods like potatoes, rice, and pasta.
If your carb restriction has to be severe in order to lower triglycerides, it is an indication that your insulin receptors could use some nutritional support. Chromium, magnesium and alpha-lipoic acid are nutrients that we find to be very effective for lowering insulin and thus triglycerides.
Alpha-lipoic acid was recently found to lower triglyceride production in mice, and not only that, it went on to reduce atherosclerotic plaques in the arteries. The researchers noted that these results were obtained with what would be the human equivalent dosage of 2000 mg per day.7
References
1. http://www.lipidsonline.org/news/article.cfm?aid=7608.
2. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 Jan;77(1):43-50.
3. Proc Nutr Soc. 2002 May;61(2):281-6.
4. NEJM. May 22, 2003. 348(21): 2092-90.
5. JAMA. 2007;297:969-977.
6. Nutrition & Metabolism. 2005, 2:31doi:10.1186/1743-7075-2-31.
7. Circulation. 2008;117:421-428.
[Ed. Note: Laura B. LaValle, RD, LD is presently the director of dietetics nutrition at LaValle Metabolic Institute. Laura and her husband, Jim LaValle, R.Ph, CCN, ND have developed the powerful and life-changing Metabolic Code Diet – containing step-by-step, easy to follow recommendations for harnessing optimal metabolic energy and turning your body's chemical make up into a fat-burning furnace.]
Direct You Focus on Health and Wealth
By Bob Livingston
Apr 6th, 2009 • Category: Bob Livingston, Health, Personal Liberty Articles, Wealth
The materialistic-instant gratification-pop culture mentality of many people today is truly astonishing.
If they see it they want it… now. What’s important? Who is the next to leave on American Idol, who is kicked off the island in Survivor, what is my favorite actor up to today?
What’s not important? What are you reading, what are you eating, what medicines are you taking, what is your government doing today to take more of your hard-earned fiat money and perpetuate the fraud that is the government finance system?
The difference in people is how they think. The difference in what people think is what they read. The difference in what they read is how much they read. How much they read is how close to reality they are.
It is so planned that billions of people should live and die and never know or experience reality.
The crowd can be described with one word—frivolous. The people are little children whose existence is prescribed by the system. Yes, our parameter of existence is prescribed because our parameters of thought are prescribed.
Who are the people of the system? They are almost everybody. They are the common folk. They are the professional class. They are, for the most part, the financial class.
A few get through the net to reality.
And most people who climb the economic scale are decoyed and diverted with materialism. Their existence becomes totally dominated by the desire to accumulate material wealth.
Riches are wonderful. They please the flesh but they are a blinder that most often blocks escape to reality. Materialism, properly placed, brings balance and quality time to life. Materialism is a tool, not an end, lest we worship at the altar of mammon.
There is an appalling difference between reality people and people of the system. Frivolous people have their existence on frivolous thoughts and frivolous talk.
My focus is on health and wealth—properly balanced. It is impossible to have one without the other.
Good health is where you can find it. It is seldom found within the sickness system or "orthodox medicine." It is most likely to be found in alternatives.
People can be measured by their proclivity toward alternative health. This is the same as saying their disbelief of pharmaceutical medicine. The more we progress to alternative health the closer we come to reality.
Pharmaceutical medicine is by no definition a health system. It is in every way a commercial business based on profits. Not one doctor in 10,000 suspects this. So tight is the psychological control of the medical system that no amount of persuasion or logic can dislodge it.
The professional medical class is money-motivated and it lusts after the pharmaceutical system, totally unconscious of the realism of human health. A drug system is incompatible with the health of man and animal.
Wealth is long-term value. It most definitely is not the diminishing, deflating paper money system that everyone thinks of as money and wealth.
Silently, a new war has been declared on all people who hold paper money assets. The paper money monster called depreciating paper is consuming more and more while we sleep.
He who builds his fortune, his savings and retirement upon a paper money foundation builds his house upon the sands. This syndrome is no different from the drug addict who plans his existence upon acquiring the next fix.
Think of transferring your existence from pharmaceutical drugs and paper money to life and reality above the "madness of the crowd" while you can.
A Growing Movement Against Mandatory Vaccines
April 8, 2009
By Melanie Segala
Managing Editor, Total Health Breakthroughs
I used to think that only people with ultra-conservative religious beliefs or anti-establishment opinions home-schooled their kids. But after reading an October 2008 article in USA Today,1 I learned differently. Debra and Curtis Barnes are part of a growing number of Americans who home-school their three children solely to avoid having them vaccinated.
Debra Curtis is hardly a fringe member of society. She has a busy chiropractic practice in Mississippi and is president of the Mississippi Vaccination Information Center, a group of 159 concerned parents who believe that mandatory vaccinations for school-aged children are a dangerous over-reach by state governments.
This group is not alone in their concerns. Surprisingly perhaps, they have the support of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), whose thousands of members are not anti-vaccine, but believe that the government and individual school districts do not have the right to mandate vaccines without parental informed consent. The AAPS factsheet says that “42 states have mandatory vaccine policies, and many children are required 22 shots by first grade."2
New Jersey has the highest requirement of mandatory childhood vaccines in the US-- 35 doses of 13 different vaccines,3 most of them administered to children between the ages of 1 and 7. Parents must comply with the vaccine schedule if their children will be attending school or daycare unless they have received a religious or medical exemption.
Perhaps not surprisingly, New Jersey also has the highest rate of autism among 14 states that were analyzed in 2007 by the CDC4 -- 10.6 cases of autism per 1,000 children (or 1 in 94), compared to an average of 6.6 per 1,000 (1 in 152) children overall.5
Like the AAPS and the parents of many home-schooled children, citizen groups all over the country are speaking out against the ever increasing number of government-mandated vaccines and mobilizing to do something about it.
The New Jersey Coalition for Vaccination Choice (NJCVC), an expanding group of parents, physicians, holistic organizations, autism support groups, and other concerned citizens is currently lobbying for a Conscientious Belief Exemption that will allow parents to refuse mandatory immunizations for their children on the basis of sincerely held moral objections.
Among its top 10 reasons for a conscientious exemption bill, the NJCVC cites the manner in which mandatory vaccines are decided and scheduled. A seven-member advisory panel appointed by the governor determines the state's mandatory vaccine program which is then approved by the health commissioner and governor. The state legislature is bypassed in the process and the concerns of the public are typically ignored6 -- parents and children, the individuals most affected by the vaccine decision-makers have no representation in the matter.
Enter Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, a physician and vocal advocate against mandatory vaccines. Dr. Tenpenny, with a thriving integrative medical practice in Cleveland, Ohio says she has seen far too many devastated parents whose children developed serious medical problems after they were vaccinated. Many of them had to make on the spot decisions in the doctor's office about whether to proceed with a vaccination. Armed with the proper information, they would have said no.7
To help parents faced with increased pressure to vaccinate their children before they can enter school or daycare, Dr. Tenpenny has recently written a book called Saying NO To Vaccines. The book advises them on how they can legally avoid mandatory vaccinations for their children -- and provides them with powerful arguments based on the scientific literature to refute doctors and administrators who insist that vaccines don't harm the immune system or cause chronic disease.8
According to Dr. Tenpenny, the anti-vaccine movement is gaining momentum at the grassroots level because of the strong scientific evidence that proves they do more harm than good. And perhaps for the rest of us, it's not a moment too soon.
A new group called People for Immunization (PFI) headed by Dr. Paul Offit (co-inventor and co-patent holder of the rotavirus vaccine) and backed by the CDC, plans to crisscross the US speaking to the public, health professionals, and organizations to promote the science-based value of immunizations.
One of their stated goals is to advocate strongly to improve the appalling low adult vaccination rates in the United States.9 They also tell us to watch for plans for more mandatory vaccines for adults.9
Unless I'm missing something, PFI seems to conveniently overlook the fact that the vast majority of adults are not falling ill from communicable diseases. What do we need to be vaccinated against?
If PFI's goals alarm you as much as they do me, you can log on to Dr. Tenpenny's website and join the Coalition Against Mandatory Vaccines. And on the website of the American Association of Health Freedom you can find out more about the Coalition and how to offer your support. As Dr. Tenpenny advises, we must stand up and be heard if we want to preserve our right to refuse mandatory vaccines.
References
1. http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-10-21-home-school-vaccinate_N.htm.
2. http://www.aapsonline.org/testimony/mandvac.htm.
3. http://njvaccinationchoice.org/.
4. http://www.umdnj.edu/about/news_events/releases/07/r020807_CDCReleases_Study ofAutismRates.htm.
5. http://www.childrens-specialized.org/press/pdf/Star%20LedgerNJshowshighrateofautism.pdf.
6. http://njvaccinationchoice.org/topten.html.
7. http://drtenpenny.com/eye_opener.aspx.
8. http://www.healthtruthrevealed.com/articles/1303027903/article.
9. http://drtenpenny.com/camv.aspx.
Herbs and Spices
by: Dr. Mercola
Are You Ready to Add More Spice to Your Life --and Your Health*?
Why I Traveled 15,000 Miles to Uncover More about this Ayurvedic Super Spice…
If you're a subscriber to the site you already know I place a strong emphasis on eating as much unprocessed, organically grown food as possible for your optimal health.
One interesting way that many people overlook on improving their health is by taking advantage of unprocessed, organic herbs and spices.
Interestingly most of these herbs add virtually no calories to your diet. You'll find that herbs and spices:
• Maximize your nutrient density -- They contain healthful vitamins and minerals.
• Help speed up your metabolism -- Because spices are nutrient dense, they are thermogenic. This means they naturally increase your metabolism to help you burn calories.
• May increase your overall feeling of fullness and satiety -- So you'll eat less. Studies show consuming certain herbs and spices prior to each meal can potentially reduce your calorie intake.
• Provide you healthful properties -- Help boost and enhance your overall wellbeing with antioxidants that can be more potent than many fruits and vegetables.
• Benefit your "whole person" -- Herbs and spices tend to enhance your entire body, and not just focus on a particular area.
And this "whole person" approach is where I've focused a great deal of my attention.
Why?
Because my primary focus in making health recommendations for you and your family that address the cause of your health concerns. Don't Waste Your Time and Health with Synthetically Processed Herbs and Spices.
Just as it's very important for you to select and consume wholesome, unprocessed organic foods, the same applies to herbs and spices. You want to avoid breezing down the spice aisle of your local grocery store to pick up any old herb or spice. It is important that you are very selective.
If the herb or spice you're looking for is processed or not organically grown, then you risk missing out on their greatest benefits. You need their most potent active ingredients to provide you with optimal benefits.
If the herb or spice is not cultivated, harvested, produced, and packaged using certified organic processes, you could be robbed of the healthful active ingredients.
In fact, I would recommend you totally avoid herbs and spices not based on 100% certified organic ingredients. Why waste your time -- and risk potential health consequences from artificial ingredients and questionable chemical processes?
India is the home of Ayurveda, recognized as an authoritative source of knowledge and truth in natural health promotion -- with herbs and spices lying at the very heart of Ayurvedic practice. So it would make perfect sense to consider using herbs that were grown in India if you are considering Ayurvedic herbs.
How this Ancient Spice Originated Thousands of Years Ago
That is one of the reasons I traveled over 15,000 miles to India last year -- to find a high quality source of these herbs. During this trip to India, I witnessed firsthand how this Ayurvedic holistic approach and organic processes work in unison.
And of the many herbs and spices I studied, one in particular caught my immediate attention. The herb is called turmeric, and it can provide you whole person health benefits:
• Supports your healthy joint function*
• Promotes your radiant skin*
• Helps improve your digestion*
And much more...
Now, there is some debate about the timing of turmeric's first use as a healthy spice. But one thing is certain. Thousands of years ago, people in India and China used the spice. In fact, some stories suggest usage dates back 10,000 years in India when they say Lord Rama walked the earth.
And the ancient Polynesians carried turmeric with them on their incredible voyage across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii. Today, Hawaiians still use this spice -- known to them as Olena.
While in China, Marco Polo in 1280 AD recorded information on turmeric in his diary:
"There is also a vegetable which has all the properties of true saffron, as well the smell as the color, and yet it is not really saffron."
So, turmeric has been used as a substitute for saffron (an old world spice) in Europe for over 700 years.
One of the main healthful ingredients in turmeric is curcumin (a curcuminoid), which gives turmeric its yellow color.
Western scientists first isolated the curcumin molecule in 1815, obtained its crystalline form in 1870, and determined its overall structure in 1910. Curcumin can potentially benefit you by:
- Promoting your immune system against stress*
• Helping maintain your healthy digestive system*
• Supporting your healthy bones, joints, and overall skeletal system*
• Helping you maintain cholesterol levels that are already within the normal range*
• Promoting your healthy blood and liver functions*
How Turmeric Provides Antioxidant Nutrients*
You probably know that antioxidants are important nutrients in supporting your health. They help you slow down free radical damage that can seriously damage your cells, organs and DNA
Turmeric helps protect your cells -- and helps you counteract this process with its antioxidant content.*
The antioxidant content within turmeric comes from active compounds called curcuminoids.
These curcuminoids deliver antioxidants that may be:
• 5 to 8 times stronger than vitamin E -- and also stronger than vitamin C
• 3 times more powerful than grape seed or pine bark extract
• Strong enough to scavenge the hydroxyl radical -- considered by many to be the most reactive of all oxidants*
I believe antioxidants are your body's #1 way to neutralize free radicals and help you potentially slow down the signs of normal aging.*
Oxidation by free radicals can damage cells and DNA -- and thus impact your aging process* -- something we all would like to put the brakes on.
Antioxidants are also key nutrients in:
• Supporting your memory function*
• Promoting your heart health*
• Boosting your immune system*
So, I can't say enough about the importance antioxidants play in promoting your overall health.* And turmeric is another excellent source of antioxidants for you.
Why this Herb Can Help Enhance Your Outer Beauty*
Speaking of antioxidant nutrients and their potential to impact the aging process, some of the first aging signs you may see as you get older are changes to your skin.
Well, the organic ingredients found in turmeric can help promote your healthy skin.*
How does it work?
Curcuminoids support important blood and liver functions, healthy joints, and your overall well-being.* This in turn helps promote your radiant, supple skin.* Turmeric has been considered to be ‘skin food' for thousands of years in India and other cultures.*
Turmeric helps you:
• Cleanse your skin and maintain its elasticity*
• Provide nourishment to your skin*
• Balance the effects of skin flora*
So, turmeric can act as your one-two punch against normal aging with its skin promotion and antioxidant capabilities -- outer beauty and inner purity.*
Your Triple-Action Cellular Booster and Adaptogen*
Another potential advantage from turmeric usage involves the smallest living things within you -- your cells. Turmeric can assist your cells in three ways, by:
Helping you neutralize substances that can cause cellular stress*
• Maintaining your cells' integrity when threatened by occasional environmental stressors*
• Providing the antioxidants you need to help support your cells against excessive oxidation and free radicals*
And turmeric is also recognized as an adaptogen -- helping to support your body against stress and providing immune system support.* How this Ancient Spice has Become Embedded in India's Ayurvedic Practice
Turmeric, like other herbs and spices, is a principle herb in Ayurveda -- India's ancient holistic health system. Ayurveda means "knowledge of life" -- with herbs lying at the very heart of Ayurvedic practice.
And turmeric has multiple uses within Ayurveda, including blood cleansing and maintaining healthy skin.*
In Ayurvedic terminology, turmeric includes the following:
• Verdana sthapana -- promotes your healthy nervous system and helps you with occasional discomfort*
• Sangrahani -- supports your absorption of vitamins and minerals*
• Anulomana -- helps you in purging out wastes and building healthy blood*
• Rakta stambhaka -- promotes the wellness of your circulatory system*
And this is pretty much the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Ayurvedic turmeric uses.
What does all this mean to you?
Simply, turmeric has been used in Indian culture for thousands of years for a multitude of health-promoting reasons.* And an estimated 500 million Indians still use the spice today.
What are Your Sources for Turmeric?
So by now, you might be wondering about potential sources of turmeric. Well, you could already know you can find it in the spice aisle of your local grocery store. But as I mentioned earlier, I would not recommend you use your local grocery store as a high-quality source of organic herbs and spices.
Even though there may be some good spices available there, it is very difficult to verity their purity and potency. And also, the turmeric powder you buy in your store is a spice. It doesn't necessarily come from high-quality organic herbs -- and is not produced using certified organic processes. So you risk missing out on its healthful benefits. Plus, with store-bought turmeric powder, you'll probably just use it once in awhile to cook with -- and not on a daily basis to consistently take advantage of the benefits it offers.
So, what are your other choices?
I would recommend searching for a high-quality, 100% organic-based turmeric supplement.
However, there are some things you need to watch out for when choosing a turmeric supplement.
Avoid Unnecessary Fillers, Additives, and Excipients
When I did my own research on available turmeric supplements, I found a surprising number of choices.
In addition to the curcumin and curcuminoid ingredients, I r found many products that had other questionable ingredients in the form of fillers, additives, and excipients. An excipient is a substance added to the supplement as a processing or stability aid.
One ingredient, magnesium stearate (also know as stearic acid), is a potentially toxic metal additive from pill production.
Another ingredient I found in many turmeric supplements, Dibasic Calcium Phosphate (DCP), may even inhibit the absorption of essential minerals within your system.
There are others you may find as well, but the bottom line here is... you don't want or need these ingredients in your turmeric supplement. Some pose potential health risks -- and really are unnecessary. In fact, the only "other ingredient" you should accept in your turmeric supplement is the capsule itself.
What You Should Look for in a Supplement Capsule
Okay, it's just a capsule containing your supplement, right?
Well, not exactly.
See, most supplements use gelatin capsules. And you might not be aware these capsules are made from animal by-products -- which include cow, horse and/or pig hides, and various kinds of connective tissues such as tendons, bones, ligaments, organs and some intestines.
Now, there is a better alternative to a gelatin capsule. And that's a vegetarian capsule -- which I highly recommend you look for.
And besides, your best source of turmeric should come from 100% organic ingredients. Using a capsule made from animal by-products does not seem to make sense. Wouldn't you agree?
Make Sure Your Herbal Supplement Comes from a Certified Organic Producer Committed to Quality Processes
The key to delivering an organic-based turmeric supplement rests in the manufacturer's commitment to quality and excellence.
In fact, I believe that without these quality processes in place, it really doesn't matter what organic herbs are harvested. You simply won't end up with a top-notch consistent organic formula. And in turn, you won't receive the maximum potential value of the herb.
So, it's important for you to highly scrutinize and research the manufacturer's credentials. And you may not be able to stop with the manufacturer alone. Keep in mind, the total organic process involves planting, cultivation, selective harvesting, and then producing and packaging the final formula.
Here's the type of certifications I recommend you look for:
• Hazards and Critical Control Points (HACCP) -- International food safety certification that World Health Organization (WHO) standards are met
• Safe Quality Food (SQF) -- HACCP-based food safety and risk management system covering the identification of food safety, quality risks, and the validation and monitoring of control measures
• Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) -- International certification verifies all required practices necessary for an effective food safety program are followed
• International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001:2000 -- International standard for quality, safety, ecology, economy, reliability, compatibility, inter-operability, efficiency, and effectiveness
• Orthodox Union (OU) Kosher -- Certifies compliance for Kosher observers and followers
• International organic certificationssuch as: USDA, EU, and NSOP (India)
Use This Checklist When Sourcing Turmeric
To take advantage of all the great benefits turmeric has to offer you, I've created a checklist on what you should look for in a turmeric supplement. Whatever you do, don't settle for second best.
Now, here's my checklist to help you find the best turmeric source:
• Contains only 100% certified organic ingredients -- Turmeric extract with at least 95% curcuminoids
• Comes in supplement form -- Don't rely on your typically low quality and unpredictable local grocery store spice. Additionally when you heat the spice during cooking many of the beneficial properties are lost.
• Avoids fillers, additives, and excipients -- No need for questionable "other ingredients" in the formula
• Provides a vegetable capsule -- Avoid gelatin-based capsules whenever possible
• Is produced by a certified organic manufacturer with high-quality organic and safe production practices -- Don't settle for second best here!
13 Ways this Ancient Herb Can Help You Spice Up Your Life (and Your Health*)
Let me summarize a few of the ways this 100% certified organic-based Turmeric can spice up your whole person:
• Boosts your antioxidant protection against free radicals*
• Helps promote your healthy skin*
• Supports your overall eye health*
• Provides you immune system support*
• Aids your skeletal system and joint health*
• Encourages your healthy liver function*
• Helps you maintain healthy cells with support against free radicals*
• Balances the health of your digestive system*
• Aids you in support of healthy blood and your circulatory system*
• Helps you maintain normal cholesterol levels to support your cardiovascular system*
• Assists your neurological system's healthy response to stress*
• Promotes a healthy female reproductive system*
• Helps you maintain blood sugar levels already within the normal range*
And more...
Millions of people use turmeric on a daily basis in their lives today. In India alone, up to 500 million people use it in one form or another every day.
Isn't it time you gave your body what it deserves?
The Scientific Death of Jesus
I thought that this article from Time magazine would be interesting in light of the one from Newsweek that stated:
"According to the American Religious Identification Survey the percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 percentage points since 1990, from 86 to 76 percent.
Fewer people now think of the United States as a "Christian nation" than did so when George W. Bush was president (62 percent in 2009 versus 69 percent in 2008).
Two thirds of the public (68 percent) now say religion is "losing influence" in American society, while just 19 percent say religion's influence is on the rise.
The proportion of Americans who think religion "can answer all or most of today's problems" is now at a historic low of 48 percent. During the Bush 43 and Clinton years, that figure never dropped below 58 percent."
So, who is Jesus?
Why did he choose to die, and how did he meet his historical demise?
Jesus of Nazareth, a Galilean Jew who was regarded as a teacher and a healer, was charged with sedition against the Roman Empire for claiming to be the Holy Son of God.
At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to the death penalty – He was crucified.
At this time in history, death by crucifixion was reserved for only the worst of criminals. Large sharp nails, about 15 to 20 cm long each with a point of 6 cm, were carved into the pulses -- not into the palms as you’re typically told, as the flesh of your palm would simply tear from the weight of your body.
In the pulse, there’s a tendon that extends to your shoulder, and when the nails were hammered in, it would break that tendon.
This forced Jesus to use all the muscles of his back in order to breathe, as the air was forced from his lungs by the weight of his torso. In this way, Jesus had to support himself onto the single nail carved into his feet, which was bigger than those driven into his pulses, as both feet were carved together.
Since his feet could not endure for a long time without tearing, Jesus was forced to alternate that “cycle” in order to breathe.
It is believed the process of crucifixion took several hours to complete. Jesus endured this cruelty for 3 hours.
A few minutes before He died, Jesus was no longer bleeding, for he had no blood left in his body. He was simply pouring water from his cuts and holes.
The human body is composed of nearly 3.5 liters of blood (for adults). Jesus shed every drop of His blood. He had three nails hammered into his members; a crown of thorns on his head and a spear plunged into his chest by a Roman soldier insured his demise.
Added to his suffering was the burden of carrying his own cross for almost 2 kilometers, weighing 30 kilograms while the crowd spat on his face and threw stones.
Why Did Jesus Choose to Die?
Christians believe that Jesus had to pass this excruciating experience so that all the sins of the world could be forgiven. New Testament writers claim that Jesus’ death fulfills the Old Testament prophecies, which point to a servant who would be punished for the sins of others.
Isaiah 53:5, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Christians believe that Jesus willingly sacrificed himself in the same way that lambs were once sacrificed as a symbolic way of atoning for sin.
Centuries later, it remains the most beautiful and poignant expression of love, humility and sacrifice.
Share This Story With People You Care About
It’s so easy to forward jokes and amusing stories by e-mail. Why not send a different kind of message for a change?
This Easter, take a minute to forward this rare message of love to the people who are closest to you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)