#Arsenic in Rice Not a Risk Over Short term, FDA Finds Levels of arsenic in rice appear to be too low to pose health risks over the short term the Food
and Drug Administration said today (Sept. 6). The announcement comes after concerns about arsenic levels in rice prompted the agency to analyze more than 1300 samples of rice
and rice products testing them for both total arsenic and inorganic arsenic-a form of arsenic that has been linked to cancer.
whether arsenic in rice might pose health risks over the long term (from exposure over many years)
and whether certain groups of people such as pregnant women or children might be more vulnerable to health effects.
in order to minimize the health effects that could come from eating too much of any one food. Consumers should vary their grains-for instance by eating wheat barley or oats as well as rice.
and takes in more arsenic it has higher levels than other foods said Suzanne C. Fitzpatrick the senior adviser for toxicology in FDA's Center for Food safety and Applied Nutrition.
Just how much rice you'd need to consume for it to affect your health is unknown.
But it's thought that 10 grams of arsenic over a lifetime would increase the risk of diseases such as cancer Christopher States a toxicologist at the University of Louisville in Kentucky told Livescience in a 2011 interview.
When Russ Kremer a fifth-generation hog farmer from Missouri was gored in the knee by one of his Yorkshire boars he figured it was a routine injury.
and his life hung in the balance as multiple courses of antibiotics over two months proved ineffective.
Finally treatment with a potent form of the antibiotic cephalosporin managed to beat back the multidrug-resistant superbug.
Research shows that people who work with livestock like Kremer are moreâ likely to carry antibiotic resistant bacteria on
or in their bodies posing a risk of a serious infection. But they're not the only ones at risk.
Two million Americans are sickened by antibiotic-resistant bacteria every year and 23000 die from these infections according to a landmark U s. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report published last week.
For decades scientists have been teasing out the link between the abuse of antibiotics on livestock farms and the rise of superbug infections in humans.
Leading medical and public health organizations including the American Medical Association the American Academy of Pediatrics
and the World health organization are speaking out against the abuse of antibiotics in the livestock industry.
Eighty percent of all antibiotics sold in the United states by weight are used by the livestock industry mostly for animals that aren't even sick.
The CDC in its recent report stated bluntly Much of antibiotic use in animals is unnecessary and inappropriate
and Drug Administration (FDA) to do the right thing and stop the use of antibiotics in animals that are not sick.
It's recently proposed some weak voluntary guidance on proper antibiotics use but the amount of antibiotics used on industrial farms has been steadily increasing
while antibiotic use in humans has remained relatively steady. While the FDA continues to try to tiptoe around the issue more consumers are starting to demand meat raised without antibiotics
and businesses are responding. Russ Kremer after his illness converted his conventional operation into an antibiotic-free livestock farm.
He earned a Growing Green award from NRDC for his work. Major businesses including Chipotle Applegate Stonyfield Farms Niman Ranch
and others are working to provide their customers with products from animals raised without antibiotics.
And bills are pending in the House and Senate that would curb the abuse of antibiotics in livestock operations.
Antibiotics are a precious resource. The more we misuse them the less effective they become leaving sick people with fewer and more difficult treatment options.
For nearly forty years scientific evidence has been building toward the same conclusion: routinely administering antibiotics to animals that aren't sick is putting human lives at risk.
The FDA needs to move quickly to stop this practice and preserve antibiotics for their original purpose to be used as lifesaving medicine.
Lehner's most recent Op-Ed was Sell-By Labels Send Edible U s. Food to the Dump.
We were especially fortunate to use the 80 accessions genetically unique plant samples of wild relatives collected by intrepid tomato scientists most notably by the late Dr. Charles Rick from UC Davis says Last.
The Rich Colors of Fall Foliage These autumn colors could be some of the casualties of global warming say scientists.
and in a very good health at a latitude of only south 70 degrees a position which is critical for most of the colonies in West Antarctica Hubert said.
while the other half had no charge and a bitter solution of quinine. The bees quickly learned to visit only the electrically charged flowers
#Berries Cut Women's Heart attack Risk Regularly eating lots of strawberries and blueberries may be good for women's hearts a new study suggests.
and blueberries were 32 percent less likely to have a heart attack over a two-decade period compared with women who consumed low amounts of the compounds.
and prevent plaque buildup according to the researchers from the Harvard School of Public health in Boston.
Previous studies have found a link betweenâ blueberry consumption and a reduced risk of high blood pressure a risk factor for heart attacks.
During the study 405 heart attacks were reported. The results held even after the researchers took into account other factors that could influence the risk of heart attack including  blood pressure body mass index exercise smoking habits and alcohol intake.
However because these factors were reported self it's possible they were not entirely accurate. In addition other unmeasured factors might explain the link.
Dr. Andrew Freeman a cardiologist at the National Jewish Health Center  hospital in Denver who was involved not in the study suspects that people who had diets rich in anthocyanins also tended to live a more healthy lifestyle overall
which contributed to their lowerâ risk of heart attack. To reduce the risk of cardiovascular problems Freeman recommends people eat as much of a plant-based diet as possible.
The study was funded by the National institutes of health and by the Biotechnology and Biological sciences Research Council of the United kingdom. Pass it on:
Eating strawberries and blueberries may reduce the risk of heart attack in women. Follow Rachael Rettner on Twitterâ@Rachaelrettner orâ Myhealthnewsdailyâ@Myhealth mhnd. We're also onâ Facebookâ &â Google+n
The findings published today (April 29) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggest that the immune-boosting chemicals in honey could be a solution to colony-collapse disorder
The natural honey has components in it that help trigger defenses in the bees said Jay Evans a bee pathologist at the U s. Department of agriculture's Agricultural research service in Maryland who was involved not in the study.
Mysterious disappearance Honeybees have been disappearing mysteriously in a trend known as colony-collapse disorder. Though no one knows exactly what causes the dramatic die-off scientists think a range of factors including parasites
and pathogens that currently bedevil beekeeping in the United states the researchers wrote in the paper.
#Beware, Secret Trade Deals Can Seriously Damage Your Health (Op-Ed) This article was published originally atâ The Conversation.
If I asked you to name some of the current threats to your health oeinternational trade law probably wouldn t be on the tip of your tongue.
in order to protect our health. And often even a small change in the wording of an agreement can have huge consequences for our health.
Wikileaks recently published confidential text from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) a new trade agreement being negotiated among 12 countries
Instead it proposes higher levels of protection for corporations at the expense of the public s health.
Among these are the patenting of medical procedures and wording that could give tobacco companies the upper hand
The good news for public health advocates is that the US the most aggressive proponent of intellectual property protections has toned down some of its most controversial requests such as a requirement to make patents available for oenew forms of known substances.
Among these is the patenting of medical procedures. We all know that patented products and processes are likely to be more expensive and more restrictive.
The US contrary to its own laws and the World trade organisation s international agreement on intellectual property (TRIPS proposes in the TPP that US states should make patents available for medical procedures.
References to the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and public health for example narrows down a broad recognition that countries can act to protect public health without breaking trade commitments to one dealing only with access to medicines.
Evergreening involves making small changes to a drug or finding new uses for it in order to apply for a new patent once the old one has expired.
Pharmaceutical firms can use this to continue to monopolise markets after patents run out. The US has proposed text in the TPP that allows patents for new uses
if regulating agencies take too long to grant patents to pharmaceutical manufacturers. This seems to suggest that a longer patent would be granted to make up for time wasted during the application process.
Patenting a medicine is one way for a pharmaceutical company to prevent others from copying their drug.
Data exclusivity prevents data that has been collected to justify the introduction of a new drug from being used as evidence for the introduction of future identical drugs.
This both delays the introduction of cheaper generic drugs onto the market and has implications for the ability to use the data to support medical research and treatment.
and are currently using similar mechanisms in other agreements to challenge public health regulations in Australia and Uruguay.
But photosynthesizing bacteria used up CO2 and produced poisonous O2 that eventually filled the atmosphere. To make matters worse the drop in atmospheric CO2 plunged the earth into a massive deep freeze that has come to be called the<a href=http://www. livescience. com/27684-snowball-earth-ocean-mixing. html target=blank>Snowball Earth
It does so by triggering droughts that subject trees to water stress which reduces their resistance to bark beetle infestations much the way that starvation reduces the resistance of people to infections.
Climate Change and Wildfires Reinforce Each other To make matters worse the problem is not only that climate change promotes wildfires
#Birth defects Cluster in Washington Remains Mysterious Health officials investigating a spike in cases of a fatal birth defect in central Washington state have found no common cause linking the cases according to a new report from the Centers for Disease
when a local hospital alerted the state health department to an unusually high number of babies born with a rare birth defect called anencephaly in
The investigators identified 23 women in a three-county area whose babies had anencephaly between January 2010 and January 2013.
The anencephaly rate was more than 8 per 10000 births which is four times higher than the national average of one or two cases in every 10000 births according to the report.
whose babies had birth defects similar to anencephaly with a control group of 108 women living in the same counties
whose babies were born without birth defects and who were treated at the same clinics. Examining medical records the researchers looked at possible risk factors for anencephaly including family history women s weight before pregnancy their occupations their smoking
and alcohol use health conditions during pregnancy medicationâ use (including over-the-counter remedies vitamins and folic acid supplementation) and whether the woman s residence received drinking waterâ from a public or private source.
However no common exposures conditions or causes were found. The researchers didn t find any significant differences between women who had healthy pregnancies
and those affected by anencephaly according to the report. Babies born with anencephaly are missing parts of the brain
and are usually blind deaf and unconscious. If the babies are not stillborn they usually die within hours of birth.
Anencephaly occurs during the third and fourth weeks of pregnancy. The U s. Preventive Services Task Forcerecommends women ensure their diet includes folic acid (B9 vitamin) an essential nutrient that people need to consume through foods or supplements.
Babies born to women who have enough folic acid in their bodies before and during pregnancy have reduced a risk of major birth defects of the brain
and spine studies have shown. Women of childbearing age should consume 400 to 1000 micrograms of folic acid every day the task force recommends.
Foods rich in the vitamin include spinach asparagus turnip greens lettuce beans peas and lentils and egg yolks Email Bahar Gholipourâ or follow her@alterwired. Followâ Livescienceâ@livescience Facebookâ & Google+.
Now there are 10000 free-ranging wood bison in Canada including about 4500 in seven free-ranging disease-free herds the agency noted.
Unfortunately however pandas must increasingly compete for their needed bamboo with people who use this plant as food for livestock an ingredient for medicines and raw material for musical instruments.
#Breast Milk Bought Online May have High Levels of Bacteria Breast milk sold online may be contaminated with disease-causing bacteria researchers have found.
or certain disease-causing bacteria like the kind found in human waste said study author Sarah Keim researcher at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus Ohio.
Three samples were contaminated with Salmonella according to the study published today (Oct 21) in the journal Pediatrics.
Other sources of contamination could include not washing hands before obtaining and storing milk or bacteria from other foods in the freezer where milk is stored she said.
and contamination with disease-causing bacteria could be dangerous to infants especially those who were born premature
or has a health condition. The U s. Food and Drug Administration warns against feeding babies breast milk obtained online as the donor is unlikely to have been tested for infectious disease
and it's not clear whether the milk has been collected and stored safely. The agency however doesn't regulate breast milk as it's categorized differently than blood
In the study the researchers compared the Internet-purchased samples with unpasteurized breast milk samples from a hospital's milk bank
and selling their extra milk could be using medications or could be exposed to chemicals because of their occupation some
but have difficulty making enough should work with their pediatrician and consider using lactation support services Keim said.
#Breast Milk Contains Over 700 Bacteria species Humans carry around loads of living bacteria that are crucial for good health
and Food technology and Alex Mira of the Higher Public health Research center both in Spain said in a statement.
Among other findings of the study the breast milk of overweight mothers and mothers who had planned caesareans contained a lower diversity of bacteria species compared with that of other moms.
Mothers who had unplanned caesareans showed breast milk composition that was very similar to that of mothers who had a vaginal birth the researchers noted.
If the breast milk bacteria discovered in this study were important for the development of the immune system its addition to infant formula could decrease the risk of allergies asthma
and autoimmune diseases the authors conclude. The results have been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Follow Livescience on Twitter@livescience. We're also on Facebookâ & Google+.
#Breast Milk Flavored Lollipops Make Debut If you want to know what breast milk tastes like
And in 2010 a Manhattan chef offered a cheese made from his wife's breast milk though the New york Health Department quickly shut that experiment down.
#Broccoli Compound Could Prevent Radiation Sickness A byproduct of a chemical found in broccoli could prevent acute radiation poisoning new research suggests.
or right after nuclear exposure to mitigate acute radiation sickness. Insights from the research could also help to lessen the side effects of radiation therapy in cancer patients by making healthy cells
but not cancer cells less susceptible to damage from radiation said study co-author Dr. Eliot Rosen a radiation oncologist at Georgetown University in Washington D c. Top 10 Cancer-Fighting Foods Deadly effects
When people are exposed to high doses of radiation such as that resulting from a nuclear meltdown
or a dirty bomb their bone marrow stops producing enough cells to fight infection or produce blood clotting.
Heavy radiation also strips the gastrointestinal tract making people prone to inflammation and infection. At high enough doses both ailments can be lethal.
Past work had shown that a compound derived from broccoli called 33'-diindolylmethane (DIM) showed promise as a cancer-preventive agent possibly
After 30 days animals typically will not die of acute radiation sickness; however the researchers didn't study the animals that long
so it's possible that the animals could die from cancers that take years to develop Rosen said.
 But in the case of a nuclear disaster you're not really worried about someone who is going to get cancer from the radiation 10 or 20 years down the line;
More work In a second set of studies the team showed that human breast-cancer cells dosed with DIM were still susceptible to the effects of radiation raising the possibility that DIM could shield patients'healthy cells
DIM's preferential effects in healthy tissue could reduce the side effects of radiation therapy. It's a very interesting and surprising result because of the whole body protection from radiation said Gary Firestone a molecular biologist at the University of California Berkeley who studies DIM
Clinical trials are needed to test the compound's effectiveness in humans Firestone told Livescience. Such trials should be relatively easy as DIM is approved for human use
In addition the researchers used a line of breast-cancer cells that is already slightly resistant to the effects of DIM
which improve soil health and reduce the risk of crop loss. We weatherproof our homes;
which improve soil health. No-till farming means that instead of plowing-under that rich soil ecosystem every planting season Brown plants directly onto the stubble of last year's crops.
and enhance soil health. Planting a mix of cover crops like winter wheat and hairy vetch increases soil nutrients and water retention and prepares the soil for the next planting rather than depleting it.
and improve soil health provides a built-in buffer against weather extremes and makes farming a considerably less-risky business.
or growing crops on marginal land that requires heavy use of chemical fertilizers that depletes soil health.
and soil health in these videos. Lehner's most recent Op-Ed was Now Hiring:
and had good medical care and were working for the good of society Redding said. It was believed that
and would intervene on behalf of his people discouraging the gods from sending plagues or skipping the life-giving Nile floods.
or standards on the agriculture industry to protect animals workers public health and the environment. There is great value in organizing folks in King's district to defend Iowa's laws
Pacelle's most recent Op-Ed was Porcupine Quills to Mange Rural Pets Rely on Free Vet Clinics.
and office beekeepers have registered hives with the New york city Department of health and the numbers continue to rise.
Howes who took beekeeping lessons from Cote regularly changes his bees'bucket of drinking water a requirement of the health department
I think it's the first example of nature manipulating memory in an animal neuroscientist Serena Dudek of the National institutes of health who was involved not in the study told Livescience.
We all have this impression that caffeine is made to be toxic to animals Dudek said
but it's surprising that these plants use caffeine not as a toxin but as an advantage in getting bees to remember better.
They published their work in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Both Baer and Mattes will present papers at the Institute for Food Technologists meeting in Chicago on July 14.
#Camels May be Link to Deadly MERS Virus A potential source of the newmiddle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) virus has been identified:
Blood tests of 50 dromedary (one hump) camels in Oman a country in the Arabian peninsula found that all had developed antibodies against the MERS virus a sign that the camels may have been infected in the past with the MERS virus
However the actual virus was not found in the animals. oethese new results suggest that dromedary camels may be one reservoir of the virus that is causing MERS infection in humans the study researchers from National Institute for Public health
The study did not find MERS antibodies in blood samples taken from closely related animals such as alpacas and llamas in The netherlands and Chile.
Bats are suspected also to be the source of the closely related SARS virus) . However humans do not have much direct contact with bats so another animal such as camels
The study is published in today's (Aug 9) issue of the journal The Lancet Infectious diseases. Follow Rachael Rettner@Rachaelrettner. Follow Livescience@livescience Facebook &google+.
#Can Folic acid Prevent Autism? Women who take folic acid supplements before becoming pregnant as well as early in pregnancy may reduce the risk of having a child with an autism spectrum disorder according to a new study.
Researchers followed 85176 babies born between 2002 and 2008 for three to 10 years to determine
whether their mother's use of folic acid supplements influenced the risk of developing an autism spectrum disorder.
The babies were part of the Autism Birth Cohort Study a subset of the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (Moba.
At the end of follow-up period 270 children had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder: 114 with autistic disorder (0. 13 percent) 56 with Asperger Syndrome (0. 07 percent) and 100 with PDD-NOS or pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (0. 12 percent.
Women who had taken folic acid supplements in early pregnancy had a 40 percent reduced risk of having a child with autistic disorder than did had women who not taken the supplement.
No reduction in risk was shown for Asperger syndrome or PDD-NOS. During the study researchers examined detailed information about the mother's supplement intake that had been gathered as part of the Moba study.
At the study's start food in Norway was fortified not with folic acid A b vitamin so supplements were the women's only source of the nutrient.)
and cod liver oil influenced the risk of autistic disorder but they found no such association. Folic acid is needed A b-vitamin for DNA synthesis and repair.
It helps prevent neural tube defects including spina bifida in the developing fetus. Folate the naturally occurring form of folic acid is found in green leafy vegetables peas lentils beans eggs yeast and liver.
The new study only shows an association between the use of folic acid supplements and a lower risk of autistic disorder.
However the potential for a nutritional supplement to reduce the risk of autistic disorders is provocative
The study and editorial will be published Feb 13. in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Pass it on:
 Taking folic acid supplements during early pregnancy may reduce risk of autistic disorder. This story was provided by Myhealthnewsdaily a sister site to Livescience.
The Healthy Geezer answers questions about health and aging in his weekly column. Question: I've been on a diet high in proteins
and may help with weight loss according to Katherine Zeratsky a dietitian at the Mayo Clinic.
Several health problems may result if a high-protein diet is followed for an extended time. Here are some problems that can happen to people on a high-protein diet:
This can cause constipation and intestinal inflammation. This may also increase the risk for cancer.
Many of these diets include a lot of red meat and fat which can increase your risk of heart disease.
A protein-packed diet may cause liver or kidney problems. If you want to follow a high-protein diet do so only as a short-term weight-loss aid.
Also choose your protein wisely Zeratsky wrote on the Mayo Clinic website. She recommended eating fish skinless chicken lean beef pork and low-fat dairy products and carbohydrates that are high in fiber such as whole grains vegetables and fruit.
People with kidney disease liver disease or diabetes and those taking medication for a chronic health condition should talk to their doctor before starting a high-protein diet Zeratsky said.
and minerals and face other potential health risks according to the organization's website. The AHA also asserts that more research is needed on the effectiveness of these diets for long-term weight loss.
In 2003 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public health re-launched the effort with The Monday Campaigns to promote replacing meat one day per week for human health and the health of the planet.
By choosing to adopt a meat-free menu one day a week you can help animals the planet and your health.
Recently the U s. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued new proposed standards governing oversight over the pet-food industry calling for makers of animal food sold in the United states to develop written plans to prevent food
-borne illnesses like salmonella. Producers would need to put protective procedures into place at critical points in the production process where problems are likely to arise.
This much-needed upgrade of the regulatory framework comes as the FDA is still trying to determine the precise cause of a six-year spate of pet illnesses involving more than 3500 dogs with nearly 600 known fatalities apparently stemming from jerky-style pet treats.
and revamping portions of the Food Cosmetic and Drug Act. The FDA's recent proposal amounts to a rule-making a partial follow up to the 2010 law that the Congress passed.
either with the U s. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimating that 50 million Americans contract food-borne illnesses each year.
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011