Monday, 13 July 2015
Dazed And Abused: The Ups And Downs Of Marijuana Research
Texas Court Upholds Unalienable Right To Groomed Eyebrows
Apple Pay Has Officially Launched In The U.K.
The Eagle has landed. An accidental tweet told us that the U.K. wouldn’t have to wait for Apple Pay much longer, and that tweet was right. Apple Pay has officially launched in the U.K. Finally! It has been available to customers here in the US since last October, so your time has finally come, U.K. Hopefully your bank is one of the launch participants: American Express, First Direct,… Read More
Turn your iPhone into a Super 8 camera with the Lumenati CS1
Old-school film cameras are trying to claw their way back to relevance by mating with our digital devices
But none do it quite like the Lumenati Cinematic Smartcase (CS1), a smartphone housing that turns an iPhone 6 into an old-timey Super 8 camera.
The CS1 launched on Kickstarter on Monday, with a fundraising goal of $75,000. The device is designed to help budding filmmakers shoot better video with their iPhone 6 — thanks to its handle, its real-time viewfinder and support for different lenses.
Essentially, this is the ultimate throwback to 8mm film cameras. To start recording, just pop your iPhone 6 into the CS1, pull the trigger and hold it; release it to stopReal buttons! Read more...
More about Iphone, Kickstarter, Super 8, Tech, and Gadgets
Non-Sequiturs: 07.13.15
Research Reveals the Importance of Your Microbiome for Optimal Health
By Dr. Mercola
Fifteen years ago, it was anticipated the Human Genome Project (HGP) would allow modern medicine to leapfrog into groundbreaking gene-based therapies for virtually every disease known to man—experts were that sure health and disease was governed by genetic predisposition.
Much to everyone's surprise, the HGP discovered genetics are only responsible for about 10 percent of human disease.1 The remaining 90 percent are induced by environmental factors, be they nutrients, toxins, or thoughts and emotions.
In more recent years, we've come to realize that your microbiome is one of the environmental factors that drive genetic expression, turning genes on and off depending on which microbes are present.
Your body's microbiome—colonies of various microbes that reside in your gut and elsewhere in and on your body—is as unique to you as your fingerprint, and can be rapidly altered based on factors such as diet, lifestyle, and exposure to toxins and antibiotics.
You have approximately 1,000 different species of bacteria living in your body, and these bacteria actually outnumber your body's cells by 10 to 1. But that's not all. You also harbor viruses (bacteriophages), and they in turn outnumber bacteria 10 to 1.
So not only is your body the home of 100 trillion bacteria, you also house about one quadrillion viruses. All of these organisms perform a multitude of functions, and need to be properly balanced and cared for in order to maintain good health.
There are no good or bad bacteria per se. Potentially harmful microbes only become dangerous once they start to take up too much real estate, outnumbering the more beneficial ones.
This also means that living in a sterile environment is by no means ideal, as health-promoting microbes are adversely affected along with potentially harmful bacteria when we wage war against bacteria with hand sanitizers and antibiotics as our prime weapons.
Your Microbiome Appears to Dictate Health and Disease Onset
Research shows that some microbes specifically help prevent certain disease states. For example, simply by eradicating four species of bacteria (Lactobacillus, Allobaculum, Rikenelleceae, and Candidatus arthromitus), researchers were able to trigger metabolic changes in lab animals that led to obesity.2
Studies3,4 have also found that autistic children have distinctly different microbiome compared to healthy children. Notably, they tend to have fewer beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacterium.
Importantly, your gut bacteria influence your immune responses.5 The inflammatory response starts in your gut and then travels to your brain, which subsequently sends signals to the rest of your body in a complex feedback loop.
Mounting research suggests your microbiome may actually be one of the preeminent factors determining your overall longevity.
Recent findings even make us reevaluate our view of a "healthy diet," as one of the primary mechanisms of action that explains how a healthy diet "works" is that it upregulates and improves the quality of your gut microbiome.
So it's not just about getting specific nutrients from your food; your food also needs to support a healthy microbiome—as it turns out though, foods known for their value to health also tend to promote beneficial gut bacteria.
Examples include traditionally fermented foods and raw foods, especially those high in fiber. Certain gut microbes actually specialize in fermenting soluble fiber found in legumes, fruits, and vegetables, and the byproducts of this fermenting activity help nourish the cells lining your colon.
Some of these fermentation byproducts also help calibrate your immune system to prevent inflammatory disorders. Sugar, on the other hand, is a preferred food source for fungi that produce yeast infections and sinusitis.
Diseases Linked to Your Microbiome
So far, a number of health conditions and chronic diseases have been linked to the makeup of your microbiome, as has several specific benefits, including the following:
Elimination of chemical toxins Production of vitamins and amino acids (protein precursors), and the absorption of minerals Behavior, mood control, and mental health: Beneficial bacteria may serve the same role as antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs. In one study,6 people who took a multi-strain probiotic for at least four weeks reported a lessening of rumination—recurring, persistent thoughts about something distressing that has or may happen, which tends to create anxiety.
Insufficient amounts of gut bacteria has been linked to "high-risk behavior," and 90 percent of the neurotransmitter serotonin is also manufactured in your gut, which is thought to play an important role in mood control and depressionObesity: Infants exposed to antibiotics within the first three years of life may be predisposed to obesity. Mice given antibiotics during infancy grew up to be 25 percent heavier, and had 60 percent more body fat than the controls.7,8,9
Four species of gut bacteria in mice found to be of particular importance with regards to metabolism are Lactobacillus, Allobaculum, Rikenelleceae, and Candidatus arthromitus—the first three of which are also found in the human gutCrohn's disease. Patients with Crohn's have been found to have lower than normal levels of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii in their guts10 Type 1 diabetes (an autoimmune disease) in young children tends to be preceded by a change in gut bacteria. Research has also found that certain microbes can help prevent type 1 diabetes, suggesting your gut flora may indeed be an epigenetic factor that plays a significant role in this condition Type 2 diabetes: Certain types of bacteria and body fat produce a heightened inflammatory response that contributes to the metabolic dysfunction associated with type 2 diabetes11 Autism may be exacerbated or even caused by certain bacteria. Autistic children have distinctly different microbiome compared to healthy children, with notably fewer healthy bacteria such as Bifidobacterium. Autistic children also have markedly higher levels of toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs)12,13 Brain diseases. Dr. David Perlmutter explores the compelling connection between the microbiome and brain health in his book, Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your Brain for Life, connecting it to a number of neurological diseases, including Alzheimer's Food allergies. Clostridia helps prevent sensitization to food allergens, recent research14,15 shows. Immune responses to food allergens were reversed once Clostridia bacteria were recolonized.
Using genetic analysis, it was determined that Clostridia instructs immune cells to produce a signaling molecule called interleukin-22 (IL-22), which reduces the permeability of the intestinal lining, thereby preventing leaky gut syndrome—a condition that allows allergens to enter your bloodstream, thereby producing an immune response
Gut Microbes May Influence Your Immune Response to Vaccines
The influence of your microbiome doesn't end there. In an effort to tease out the reason why there are so many "non-responders" to the rotavirus vaccine in Asia and Africa, a research team in Amsterdam devised a study to find out whether gut microbes might play a role in how people respond to vaccines. As reported by Scientific American:16
"Harris and her colleagues, including collaborators in South Asia, studied 66 Pakistani infants and 66 matched Dutch control subjects, all of whom received the oral rotavirus vaccine. Most of the children in the Netherlands mounted the expected immune response, but only 10 of those in Pakistan did the same.
A genetic scan of fecal samples taken from each infant before the vaccine revealed that the responders harbored a higher diversity of microbes in their intestinal tract. They also carried more organisms from the group Proteobacteria."
Interestingly, many Proteobacteria have a tail that helps propel them forward, and this tail, called a flagella, contains flagellin—a protein that heightens the activity of immune cells. Thus a preponderance of these bacteria may act as a natural vaccine booster.
In a previous study,17 mice without any intestinal bacteria, and mice inoculated with nonflagellated bacteria only, both failed to raise antibodies in response to the influenza vaccine, rendering the vaccine completely useless. Mice with normal gut flora and those inoculated with nothing but flagellated bacteria all responded to the vaccine with robust immune activity. A small-scale human follow-up study is planned to see whether the same pattern can be found in humans. Research also suggests there may be a link between the microbiome and adverse vaccine reactions. As noted by Scientific American:18
"Research published in 2014 in Pediatrics showed that varying compositions of gut bacteria in Bangladeshi infants correlated with reactions to the tetanus, tuberculosis and oral polio vaccines. Taken together, these lines of research indicate that our body's native bacteria may help determine our individual immune response to vaccines."
Contact Lenses Found to Change Your Eyes' Microbiome
Another surprise was recently delivered by researchers claiming you may alter the microbiome of your eyes by wearing contact lenses. This may explain why contact lens wearers are more prone to certain kinds of eye infections. The study, which has not yet been accepted for publication, was presented at the 2015 American Society for Microbiology's meeting. Bacteria collected from the eyeball and the skin below the eye was analyzed and compared, and in people who wore contacts, the two areas were more similar in their bacterial makeup than in those who did not wear contacts, in whom the two areas showed a greater diversity of bacteria.
As reported by The Atlantic:19
"Specifically, contact-wearers had higher numbers of four species: Lactobacillus, Acinetobacter, Methylobacterium, and Pseudomonas. This microbiome disruption could explain why people who wear contacts are more likely to get some kinds of eye infections, including corneal ulcers, which, incidentally, have been linked to Pseudomonas bacteria... Infections often come when people don't take proper care of their lenses—sleeping in them overnight, or not cleaning them well or often enough."
The researchers suggest using daily wear contact lenses rather than bi-weekly or monthly lenses, as there could potentially be bacteria lurking in the cleaning solution. Also carefully wash your hands before handling your contacts to avoid transferring bacteria from your fingers to your eyeball.
The Easiest Way to Decimate Your Microbiome
Your diet can make or break your microbiome, and the easiest way to decimate the health-promoting microbes in your gut is to eat processed foods, and meats from animals raised in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), for the reasons discussed in this previous article.20 Processed foods are typically high in added sugars—high fructose corn syrup in particular—which feeds fungi, yeast, and detrimental bacteria. But that's not all. Recent research21,22 has also found that emulsifiers found in processed foods have a very detrimental effect on your microbiome, and may contribute to obesity, metabolic syndrome, and inflammatory bowel disease by altering your gut bacteria. This includes ingredients such as:
- Polysorbate 80
- Carrageenan
- Polyglycerols
In this study, widely used food additives caused chronic colitis in mice with already abnormal immune systems. In mice with healthy immune function, they resulted in mild intestinal inflammation and subsequent metabolic dysfunction that led to obesity, hyperglycemia, and insulin resistance. Most notably, the emulsifiers were fed at levels that an average person would be exposed to if eating a lot of processed foods, suggesting these additives may indeed affect the health of many Americans.
Food additives such as these are all approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), again highlighting the severe limitation of our current regulatory system. A 2013 study23 published in the journal Reproductive Toxicology found that nearly 80 percent of the food additives approved by the FDA lack testing information that would help the agency estimate the amount people can safely consume before suffering health consequences. Processed non-organic foods also tend to contain glyphosate residues, which also take a drastic toll on your microbiome, as this commonly used herbicide is also patented as an antibiotic.
Optimizing Your Microbiome Is a Potent Disease Prevention Strategy
I believe optimizing your gut flora may be one of the most important things you can do for your health, and here you can wield your personal power to the fullest by making healthy food and medical choices. Not only can optimizing your gut health help normalize your weight and ward off diabetes, it's also a critical component for a well-functioning immune system, which is your primary defense against virtually all disease.
The good news is that supporting your microbiome isn't very complicated. However, you do need to take proactive steps to implement certain key strategies while actively avoiding other factors. To optimize your microbiome both inside and out, consider the following recommendations:
Do: Avoid: Eat plenty of fermented foods. Healthy choices include lassi, fermented grass-fed organic milk such as kefir, natto (fermented soy), and fermented vegetables. If you ferment your own, consider using a special starter culture that has been optimized with bacterial strains that produce high levels of vitamin K2. This is an inexpensive way to optimize your K2, which is particularly important if you're taking a vitamin D3 supplement. Antibiotics, unless absolutely necessary (and when you do, make sure to reseed your gut with fermented foods and/or a probiotics supplement). And while some researchers are looking into methods that might help ameliorate the destruction of beneficial bacteria by antibiotics,24,25 your best bet is likely always going to be reseeding your gut with probiotics from fermented and cultured foods and/or a high quality probiotic supplement. Take a probiotic supplement. Although I'm not a major proponent of taking many supplements (as I believe the majority of your nutrients need to come from food), probiotics is an exception if you don't eat fermented foods on a regular basis Conventionally-raised meats and other animal products, as CAFO animals are routinely fed low-dose antibiotics, plus genetically engineered grains loaded with glyphosate, which is widely known to kill many bacteria. Boost your soluble and insoluble fiber intake, focusing on vegetables, nuts, and seeds, including sprouted seeds. Chlorinated and/or fluoridated water. Especially in your bathing such as showers, which are worse than drinking it. Get your hands dirty in the garden. Germ-free living may not be in your best interest, as the loss of healthy bacteria can have wide-ranging influence on your mental, emotional, and physical health. Exposure to bacteria and viruses can serve as "natural vaccines" that strengthen your immune system and provide long-lasting immunity against disease. Getting your hands dirty in the garden can help reacquaint your immune system with beneficial microorganisms on the plants and in the soil. According to a recent report,26 lack of exposure to the outdoors can in and of itself cause your microbiome to become "deficient." Processed foods. Excessive sugars, along with otherwise "dead" nutrients, feed pathogenic bacteria. Food emulsifiers such as polysorbate 80, carrageenan, and polyglycerols also appear to have an adverse effect on your gut flora.27 Unless 100% organic, they may also contain GMOs that tend to be heavily contaminated with pesticides such as glyphosate. Open your windows. For the vast majority of human history the outside was always part of the inside, and at no moment during our day were we ever really separated from nature. Today, we spend 90 percent of our lives indoors. And, although keeping the outside out does have its advantages it has also changed the microbiome of your home. Research28 shows that opening a window and increasing natural airflow can improve the diversity and health of the microbes in your home, which in turn benefit you. Agricultural chemicals, glyphosate (Roundup) in particular is a known antibiotic and will actively kill many of your beneficial gut microbes if you eat and foods contaminated with Roundup Wash your dishes by hand instead of in the dishwasher. Recent research has shown that washing your dishes by hand leaves more bacteria on the dishes than dishwashers do, and that eating off these less-than-sterile dishes may actually decrease your risk of allergies by stimulating your immune system. Antibacterial soap, as they too kill off both good and bad bacteria, and contribute to the development of antibiotic-resistance.
Saturday, 11 July 2015
“The Organic Life” Chronicles a Year in the Life of One Organic Farmer
By Dr. Mercola
Do you know what goes into the growing of those beautiful organic tomatoes that appear at the farmer’s market every summer? The documentary “The Organic Life” shows what it takes to sustain an organic farm and puts a face to your local farmer.
Unless you grew up on a farm or do a fair amount of backyard gardening, chances are you really don’t know what transpires in the 200-some days it takes to produce that heirloom tomato.
The film, produced by filmmaker Casey Beck, is a yearlong chronicle of the life of one young farmer, Austin Blair, whom Casey has since married.
Farmers like Austin are an increasingly rare breed, as fewer and fewer young men and women are choosing to make farming their livelihood. And given today’s challenges, it’s really no surprise that so few are returning to work the land.
In 1945, the average age of the American farmer was 39; today, it’s 55. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the number of farmers under the age of 45 dropped 14 percent between 2002 and 2007.1
“The Organic Life” is a look at sustainable farming—not merely in terms of how they make the farm viable, but also how the farm sustains its keepers.
Organic Farming Can Only Be Described as a Labor of Love
Small organic farmers certainly don’t do it for the money—many live at or below the poverty line. Instead, they are driven by their passion for the organic lifestyle, real food, and their love of the earth.
When you work extraordinarily long hours for a pittance, being sustained by a deep passion for your work is an essential prerequisite.
California has been a major hub for young sustainable farming pioneers who seek to reclaim American soil. These farmers face increasingly unpredictable weather patterns and drought, pests, and eternally shifting markets.
They work year-round in rain, hail, or sweltering heat, six or seven days a week, seemingly impervious to sweat and blisters. Even with customers paying a premium for locally grown organic produce, most of these farms are barely able to keep going.
According to an article in Salon,2 the USDA’s 2012 data indicated that intermediate sized farms—defined as those grossing between $10,000 and $250,000 per year—obtain only 10 percent of their income from the farm, and 90 percent from off-farm sources.
Something is wrong with a system in which nine out of 10 farmers must rely on an outside job, or a spouse’s outside job, to pay their basic living expenses—a system that places so little value on something as important as your food!
Yet, farmers like Austin love what they do and would not choose anything else. Farmers like him are carrying out a tradition that has nourished us for generations... and they go largely unappreciated.
Organic Farmers Fight for Sustainability Amidst Great Adversity
The next time you cringe at the price tag on that beautiful heirloom tomato, there are some factors to consider. Small organic farmers have greater expenses than conventional farmers, as well as minimal economic incentives to assist them.
Marketing, manufacturing, distribution, and customer care are all typically done by a very small group of people wearing multiple hats. Many smaller farmers live month to month, “one tractor breakdown away” from not taking a paycheck.
There are numerous reasons why organic farmers must sometimes charge more for their produce. The next time you see your local farmer spending his Saturday or Sunday at the farmers’ market, remember the following:3
1. Fewer chemicals means more labor: Growing food without chemicals requires more labor; for example, hand weeding is time consuming and tedious (although MUCH more beneficial for your health of the health of the planet than spraying Roundup on everything). Smaller farms are less mechanized—besides weeding by hand, they typically hand pick, wash, and sort, versus using machines and conveyer belts. 2. Organic fertilizer: Organic fertilizers such as manure and compost cost more than chemical fertilizers or sewage sludge. 3. Longer maturation time: Crops and livestock take longer to reach maturity when hormones and other growth enhancers aren’t used; animal welfare standards are higher and the animals are given more care and allowed more natural reproductive cycles and lifespans. 4. Losses due to pests and disease: Organic crops are often more susceptible to pests and disease, so a greater proportion of crops are lost, compared to chemically sprayed crops. 5. Fields lie fallow: Cover cropping and crop rotation replenishes the soil but reduces the number of fields available in any one season for growing profitable crops. Up to 25 percent of an organic farm’s land may lie fallow at any one time. Conventional farms typically plant their fields with the most profitable crops year-round, regardless of soil depletion or costs to the environment. 6. Higher product-to-market costs: Local organic farms have higher shipping expenses, due to lower volume and the nature of the produce itself. For example, conventional tomatoes are now bred for durability, as opposed to flavor or nutritional content—to withstand long-distance transport and longer shelf lives. If shipped, tender heirloom tomatoes require great care, which costs a great deal more. 7. Organic certification: The costs of organic certification are substantial. Not only is there an annual fee, but farms sometimes need to hire additional employees to assist in daily record keeping or make modifications to their land and equipment in order to comply with regulations. 8. Transitioning the land: Many farmers have to convert their land to organic production gradually, which can be expensive and reduces their economic potential for several years, while depleted soils undergo repair.
The Absurdity of Farm Subsidies
A major struggle for small farmers comes from ridiculous farm subsidies. The most heavily subsidized crops are corn, wheat, soybeans, and rice—the foods least likely to keep you healthy. Farm subsidies were initially created to protect staple crops during times of war, reduce crop surpluses, and provide monetary support to farmers when crop prices fell, but today mega-farms receive subsidies whether they need them or not.
This unfair practice puts small farmers at an enormous disadvantage, especially those supporting their local communities with sustainably raised food. Wealthy absentee landowners and millionaire mega-farms receive the most agricultural subsidies, with top recipients earning over $1 million per year in subsidy payments. The following figures speak volumes:
- 74 percent of all subsidies were collected by 10 percent of the farmers, amounting to nearly $166 billion over the course of 16 years
- The bottom 80 percent of recipients averaged just $587 a year
- 62 percent of US farmers received no subsidy payments at all
Based on 2008 data from the House Appropriations Committee, organic and local foods received only $15 million in government funds/programs, compared to $7.5 billion in conventional farm subsidies.4 According to a report from Louisiana State University AgCenter:5
“Though certified organic crop producers earn higher revenue, they incur higher production expenses as well. In particular, certified organic producers spend significantly more on labor, insurance, and marketing charges than conventional farmers. The results suggest that the lack of economic incentives can be an important barrier to conversion to organic farming.”
Organic Crops Outperform Conventional Crops During Adverse Growing Conditions
When comparing the cost of organic versus conventional foods, the costs of industrial agriculture to the environment and human health are frequently overlooked. When environmental conditions are unfavorable, the cost of doing things the “conventional” way may be astronomical. Consider the disastrous drought that’s been decimating California agriculture for several years. Eighty-two percent of California is now under “extreme” or “exceptional” drought.6,7 California’s drought-related agricultural losses are estimated at $2.2 billion, for 2014 alone.8
Organic farming may be particularly competitive during droughts such as this one. Organic crops typically require less water overall because they store it more effectively, as well as being better at replenishing the groundwater supply.9 A recent report10 by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, concluded that organic farming creates a unique mix of biodiversity in the soil and surrounding environment that allows organic crops to outperform conventional crops, especially during adverse conditions like drought, frost, and flooding. One researcher said:11
"With global food needs predicted to greatly increase in the next 50 years, it's critical to look more closely at organic farming because, aside from the environmental impacts of industrial agriculture, the ability of synthetic fertilizers to increase crop yields has been declining."
Organic Fruits and Vegetables Build Your Health, Instead of Tearing It Down
The superior quality of organic produce is yet another reason to support local organic farmers. A recent study12 published in the British Journal of Nutrition found that organic fruits and vegetables deliver 20 to 40 percent more antioxidants than conventional produce. Organic fruits and vegetables also rate higher in protein, lower in cadmium, and as you would expect, have lower pesticide residues.
Another sizeable study showed that people who consume primarily organic food have 65 percent lower pesticide residues in their tissues compared to those who consume the least amount of organic food.
More than 75 percent of the US population has detectable levels of organophosphate pesticides in their urine, for which diet is one of the most likely routes of exposure. Agricultural chemicals are known to be toxic. Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, was recently declared a Class 2 A “probable human carcinogen” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the research arm of the World Health Organization.
This chemical has been described as possibly "the most important factor in the development of multiple chronic diseases and conditions that have become prevalent in Westernized societies,” by researchers Samsel and Seneff.
Glyphosate can stimulate hormone-dependent cancers even at extremely low “environmentally relevant” amounts, and research also suggests that glyphosate may amplify the damaging effects of other environmental toxins, acting in concert to disrupt your body’s natural processes and cause a variety of illnesses, including Alzheimer’s disease.
Where to Find Healthy Food
It’s truly a shame that farmers such as Austin Blair are not better financially compensated for their efforts and for making such valuable contributions to the health and vitality of their communities. This is where YOU can make a difference! Support your local organic farmers by choosing fresh, local produce over “cheap” conventional varieties commonly sold in larger grocery chains.
You can slash your food bill by focusing on locally grown foods that are in season, typically a bargain at that time of year, or by growing some of your own. Remember to choose organic, grass-fed/pasture-raised beef, poultry, and dairy, in addition to organic produce.
While many grocery stores now carry organic foods, it’s preferable to source yours from local growers whenever possible, as much of the organic food sold in grocery stores is imported. If you’re a US resident, the following organizations can help you locate farm-fresh foods in the vicinity of your home:
Weston Price Foundation:13 Weston Price has local chapters in most states, and many of them are connected with buying clubs in which you can purchase organic foods, including grass-fed raw dairy products such as milk and butter. Local Harvest: This site will help you find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area. Farmers' Markets: A national listing of farmers' markets. Eat Well Guide: Wholesome Food from Healthy Animals: The Eat Well Guide is a free online directory of sustainably raised meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs from farms, stores, restaurants, inns and hotels, and online outlets in the United States and Canada. Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA): CISA is dedicated to sustainable agriculture and small farms. FoodRoutes: The FoodRoutes "Find Good Food" map can help you connect with local farmers to find the freshest, tastiest food possible. On their interactive map, you can find listings for local farmers, CSAs, and markets near you.
