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November 2007 vol. 12 no. 11

An education isn’t how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It’s being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don’t.
Anatole France (1844-1924)


Table of Contents:

Lifelong Vegetarian Diet Reduces Risk of Colorectal Cancer

In a prospective trial evaluating diet and colorectal cancer, researchers from Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, India, found that a vegetarian diet was associated with reduced risk of colorectal cancer if started early in life. Investigators used a prospectively created database of 8,877 Indian patients managed in a clinical nutrition service from 2000 through 2005 to measure the association between lifelong vegetarianism and incidence of colorectal cancer. Colorectal cancer risk was inversely related to a vegetarian diet and body mass index.

Shastri Y, et al. Lifelong vegetarian diet reduces the risk of colorectal cancer. Abstract number 155. Presented at Digestive Diseases Week, 2007, Washington, D.C., May 19-23.

Fluoride Damages Your Brain!

If you still believe the myth that fluoride is good for your children’s (and your) teeth, think again. There are a vast number of scientific research studies confirming the opposite - that fluoride is a toxin that is extremely detrimental to your body, your brain, and even to your teeth.

One of the most active research areas today is fluoride’s ability to damage your brain. Recent human studies from China have confirmed the results of previous animal studies; that elevated fluoride exposure leads to reduced I.Q. in children.

Cognitive ability is further reduced if your child is deficient in iodine.

Prior to this, more than 30 animal studies produced since 1992 have reported impairment in learning and memory processes among animals treated with fluoride.

Even at levels as low as 1ppm (part per million), studies have demonstrated direct toxic effects on brain tissue, including:

  • reduction in lipid content
  • impaired anti-oxidant defense systems
  • damage to your hippocampus
  • damage to your purkinje cells
  • increased uptake of aluminum
  • formation of beta-amyloid plaques (the classic brain abnormality in Alzheimer’s disease)
  • accumulation of fluoride in your pineal gland.

Flouride Action Network

New Study Links Cancer to Body Weight

A new study published in the British Medical Journal links cancer to body weight. Researchers examined the effect of body mass index (BMI) on both cancer incidence and death among 1.2 million women from the Million Women study. Participants ages 50 to 64 were followed for five years for cancer incidence and seven years for cancer mortality. It was estimated that of the 45,037 cases of cancer, 5 percent were attributed to obesity or overweight. An increasing BMI was associated with a significant increase in risk for 10 out of 17 specific types of cancer. Similarly, risk for death also increased with BMI for most types of cancer.

Reeves GK, Pirie K, Beral V, Green J, et al. Cancer incidence and mortality in relation to body mass index in the Million Women Study: cohort study. BMJ 2007; published online November 6, 2007.

The Deadly Side Effects of the Birth Control Pill

Long-term use of birth control pills may increase artery buildups in your body that may raise your risk of heart disease, Belgium researchers found.

In a study of 1,300 healthy women between the ages of 35 and 55, there was a 20 percent to 30 percent increased prevalence of plaque for every 10 years of oral contraceptive use.

Though the researchers pointed out that the plaques identified were small and not large enough to block an artery, any plaque is thought to raise your risk of heart disease.

Many of the women in the study had used older, first-generation birth control pills, which had twice the estrogen levels as most oral contraceptives used today.

About 100 million women worldwide currently take birth control pills, and hundreds of millions of women have used them since they were first introduced in 1960.

Sources:
American Heart Association Conference November 6, 2007, Orlando, Florida
Yahoo News November 6, 2007


Selected segments are reproduced from:

Dr. Mercola’s excellent website: http://www.mercola.com/index.htm

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine http://www.pcrm.org