Category: Interesting Information

Information I want to share in a non-essay form

Interesting Information: Mercola Post: Widely Used Antacids Can Cause Vitamin B12 Deficiency

Interesting Information:  February 5, 2014

Mercola Post:

Widely Used Antacids Can Cause Vitamin B12 Deficiency

 

Two observations:

1.  I think that the information Joseph Mercola puts out and his free web site is a real gift.  I do NOT agree with everything Mercola says, but DO think that he has amassed a really useful archive that should always be considered.  And the points where I disagree are small.  I think REAL fermented cod liver oil is far better than any fish oil, and I am not at all sure that a lot of raw food can be fully assimilated by our bodies.  And it’s clear that too much raw food, especially fruit, causes nutrient deficiencies and a lot of cavities.  These differences are where I would favor information and analysis on The Weston A. Price Foundation over Mercola, and the WAPF folks argue that cooked food often has nutrients that are more available to our bodies.  Having said that, I love a good salad and am not suggesting that ALL food should be cooked.

 If you want to read the Mercola/Weston A. Price Foundation debate on cod-liver/fish oil, the WAPF web site has it.

2.  I am fascinated by how often an issue arises in my life and in a few days, the universe throws up useful information about the issue.  Not even a week ago, I was in a discussion about the role of stomach acid in digestion.  And in came this Mercola post.

Mercola’s post here has some new information on why antacids are NOT a good idea.  Specifically, they set into place the depletion of vitamin B12.  Can I just say that if you are not processing or cannot process and use B12, you get dementia.  And I can tell you that that is exactly what happened to my father.

There is now a host of information about how wrong mainstream medicine is with regard to the treatment of GERD, or Acid Reflux.  It’s not caused by too much stomach acid, but by too little.  (I know that I have written about this issue more than once.)  And it does not matter WHY you have GERD or indigestion, the solution is still MORE stomach acid–except in some truly rare cases.  I keep Betaine HCL with Pepsin on hand for the rare occasions when something runs amuk in my body, and I feel I have indigestion.  You can buy it at any supplement store.

 

So, if you have indigestion of any kind, before you reach for an antacid, do your body a favor and read this Mercola post.  Then go to The Weston A. Price Foundation archive and google Acid Reflux.  Then try to figure out WHAT you ate that is causing you trouble–and err on the side of bone broths and clean foods that do not come in a box or can.

Widely Used Antacids Can Cause Vitamin B12 Deficiency.

And also bear in mind that doctors ONLY KNOW what they have been taught and most don’t have time or skills to research this issue.  The drug companies are the “teachers” here, and they are making a HUGE profit on these antacid drugs.

Interesting Information: New Breakthrough: Roundup DOES Harm Humans

Interesting Information:  January 21, 2013

New Breakthrough:  Roundup® DOES Harm Humans

 

Roundup®, which is mostly the chemical glyphosate, is “the most popular herbicide used on the planet,” according to Stephanie Seneff, PhD, in “Roundup®:  The `Nontoxic’ Chemical that May Be Destroying our Health,” Wise Traditions, Fall 2013, 30-38.

Roundup® is produced by Monsanto (it went off patent in 2000), and Monsanto has claimed that Roundup® is nontoxic for humans–even though glyphosate is “an established endocrine disruptor.”

Yet, there are many real-world examples of people sickened in all kinds of ways by exposure to Roundup.   But up to now, that I know of, there’s not be an explanation for HOW glyphosate affects humans that can stand up to industry’s insistence on using it.

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The “nontoxic for humans” argument is that glyphosate kills weeds by “interfering with what is called the shikimate pathway–which is “essential in plants for the synthesis of a class of amino acids called the `aromatics.’ ”

The shikimate pathway is “nonexistent in any mammalian cell.”

BUT, BUT, BUT…AND HERE’S THE BREAKTHROUGH–“all of the microbes that take up residence in our digestive tract do have this shikimate pathway, and exposure to glyphosate…will cause them serious stress as a consequence.”

And, hopefully, each of you has become aware of the rapidly increasing knowledge of how important these gut “flora and fauna” are to human health.  And, how, if the opportunistic microbes get out of balance in our systems (sugar), they can be a real wrecking crew to your health.  This knowledge is the basis of Natasha Campbell-McBride’s work with the GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome).

Studies have shown that glyphosate disrupts the gut bacteria in chickens, cows, and pigs, causing inflammation in the gut along with an overgrowth of pathogenic forms and concurrent loss of beneficial bacteria.  It is now becoming apparent that our gut bacteria, which outnumber our own cells by a factor of ten to one, play many important roles in supplying nutrients and protecting us from toxins.  There’s also an intricate connection between the gut and the brain, such that an unhealthy digestive system translates into pathologies in the brain.

AND we are NOT healthy in America–likely at least in part because we–unlike western Europe–are awash with chemicals like glyphosate.

Despite spending nearly two and a half times as much on health care as our peer nations, the U.S. lags behind many of these other nations in basic metrics like infant mortality and life expectancy.  The most recent figures for infant mortality place the U.S. at number forty-six, behind Cuba and Guam.  Clearly we are doing something wrong, and our wholesale embrace of GMOs is an obvious candidate.

Autism used to be rare, affecting one in ten thousand children.  The latest numbers put out by the CDC in March 2013, show one in fifty.  This is an alarming number, and, what is even more alarming is how quickly the number has been rising in recent years.

Ninety percent of the GMO crops (GMO corn, soy, cotton, sugar beets, and canola) are engineered to be “Roundup Ready,” which means that they can be sprayed with Roundup and they will happily soak it up into their tissues.  The practice of “desiccating”crops like wheat and sugar cane just before the harvest by spraying them with Roundup is also becoming more and more popular as a way to reduce the amount of vegetation that needs to be cleared in preparation for planting next year’s crop.  These two changes in agricultural practices almost certainly mean that Roundup is entering our food supply in record amounts.

Here’s more on the mechanics of why the shikimate pathway in our gut microbes affect us, but it’s not the whole description Seneff discusses as it is complex and too long to synthesize here:

Plants and microbes use the shikimate pathway to produce the aromatic amino acids, tryptophan, tyrosine and phenylalanine.  Because they don’t have this pathway, mammals can’t produce these essential nutrients, and therefore we depend on plants and microbes to provide them for us.  So it is logical that glyphosate, by interfering with this pathway, would lead to a deficiency in these nutrients.  Tryptophan is the sole precursor to serotonin, and serotonin deficiency is implicated in a litany of diseases and conditions that are prevalent today, including autism, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, suicide, and homicidal behavior.  Serotonin is an appetite suppressant so it’s hard not to overeat when it is in short supply.

Autism is associated with two comorbidities that may yield hints as to its underlying etiology:  disrupted gut bacteria and impaired sulfur metabolism.  A characteristic feature of children with autism is an overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria in the gut, which can lead to neurological defects arising from exposure of the brain to toxins produced by these bacteria.

Two pathogens exist in our gut, and they can play a beneficial role if kept under control by other microbes:  Clostridia difficile and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.  (Both are “causing a major crisis in hospitals in the U.S. and elsewhere due to their increased prevalence and multiple antibiotic resistance.)  Pseudomonas aeruginosa can metabolize glyphosate.  BUT, formaldehyde, “a known carcinogen and neurotoxin,” is the by-product.  Clostridia diff. is a yeast pathogen that thrives on sugar.  It can punch holes in your gut that let food particles escape into the bloodstream which, in turn, cause all sorts of food allergies and autoimmune problems.  BUT, in terms of autism, Seneff has a long, involved explanation of how this pathogen is connected to sulfate transport and autism.

So, what can you do?

Eat organic foods.  Refuse to buy industrially grown, poisoned, monocrop, and/or GMO foods.  Insist on labeling of GMO foods.  And tell people who question WHY, what’s at stake.

And you can also tell them that chronic illnesses are incredibly, incredibly expensive.

Dr. Seneff works at the intersection of technology and biology.  She is a Senior Research Scientist at MITs Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.  She has a Bachelor’s degree from MIT in biology with a minor in food and nutrition, and her PhD from MIT is in computer science.  She has done groundbreaking work with the importance of sulfur in foods humans eat–and sulfur has seriously diminished with industrially grown produce.

Here’s her heavily researched article in total–where you can see all her citations:

Roundup: The “Nontoxic” Chemical that May Be Destroying our Health – Weston A Price Foundation.

Interesting Information: 53 Paper App

Interesting Information:  January 19, 2014

53 Paper App

 

When I inherited John’s IPAD, Tara Derr Webb told me I’d like the App 53 Paper.

She’s right; I love this drawing APP, but don’t take enough time to just play with it.

Toni Venz likes it too, and she just a super duper stylus to use with it that’s she’s still learning.

Here’s a quick sketch she just sent:

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Big smile to see this fun little sketch.  One can draw lines, or use watercolor effects, and on and on.  You can google 53 Paper to see how artists are using it.  And, of course, the pictures can be saved and sent…

Here’s what I was looking at today when Toni’s message came through:

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Wet snow…

No No Penny is very bored with snow:

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I downloaded Checkbook Pro today and set about putting my 2014 checks into it.  I needed something that could sort expenses by categories.  I had decided that I loathed, LOATHED, Quicken.  With Checkbook I could put the credit card and bank on, but I really just want something so I can sort checks and categories of spending.  The credit card does that kind of reportage at the end of each year, and I run as many expenses as I can through it for the miles.  It didn’t take me a minute; it’s easy and fast and intuitive, and I’m now happy.

Interesting Information: Red Palm Oil

Interesting Information:  January 13, 2014

Red Palm Oil

I read a really interesting article on red palm oil a while back.  Sometimes it takes me a while to act on information, and it took me about an hour to refind the article!  I was shocked to realize I read it back in the spring–which shows you how backed up my blog information pile is.

“Red Palm Oil:  A Healthy Fat with a Daily Dose of Vitamins,” Bruce Fife, N.D., Well Being Journal, May/June 2013, 8-13.   (This journal has an url, but does not let you read articles for free.)

Anyway, a week or so ago, I bought a jar of the red palm oil.

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Turns out that the shopping booklet that the Weston A. Price Foundation sends me every year lists this Nutiva brand under its “best” category.

First I tried it instead of olive oil when roasting some cauliflower.   Hmmmmmm.  Pretty color on this white veggie.  Taste, and, Delicious!  Buttery and warm with an intriguing red/gold color.

Next I tried it instead of butter over the top of a roasting chicken.  Again, delicious!

So, what’s so good about this delicious, pretty fat besides the taste?

First, Fife writes that red palm oil has been a traditional part of the human diet in areas where oil palms have grown for “at least 5000 years.”  These oil palms started in tropical Africa, but now are an important crop in Southeast Asia, West Africa, and South America.

Besides being used in food preparation, red palm oil is used as medicine.  At the first sign of illness, one living where red palm oil is in the economy would down a cup of red palm oil.  And, red palm oil in these regions is “regarded as essential in the diet for pregnant and nursing women in order to assure good health for the mother and child.”

Red palm oil supplies essential fatty acids, yes, but it is also “packed with an assortment of vitamins, antioxidants, and other phytonutrients important for good health.”  The rich, deed red color comes from carotenes (like beta-carotene and lycopene)–which are also found in tomatoes and carrots.  But red palm oil has “15 times more provitamin A carotenes than carrots and 300 times more than tomatoes”–all of which makes it an excellent prevention for Vitamin A deficiency, which causes, Fife reminds, blindness, weakened bones, lowered immunity, and degraded learning abilities and mental functions.

Carotenes in fruits and vegetables, writes Fife, “can supply the needed vitamin A if an adequate amount of fat is also consumed.”  Voila!  Red palm oil is the whole package of nutrients and needed fat.  (And I would add that big strides have been made in the past two years towards recognizing how much humans need good fat sources to be healthy and towards restoring the role of good fats in recommended diets.  Good fats are NOT the highly processed vegetable oils which are devoid of nutrients and the fat-soluble vitamins.  Good fats are the animal fats, coconut and red palm oils, and properly processed olive oil.)

In addition to the carotenes, red palm oil “contains at least 20 other carotenes along with vitamin E, vitamin K, CoQ10, squalene, phytosterols, flavonoids, phenolic acids, and glycolipids.”  Red palm oil is so full of good nutrients and fats that it is being encapsulated and sold as a vitamin supplement.  Indeed, red palm oil is one of the richest natural sources of vitamin E.

Fife describes several studies–done with appropriate control groups–that show that red palm oil can stop heart disease and, for some, reverse it.

Fife writes that the antioxidants in red palm oil work to keep inflammation under control.  As such it helps lower blood pressure and may serve as a “potent anticancer food.”  It also protects “against neurological degeneration.”

Fife writes that red palm oil is excellent for cooking and baking–and my fledgling experiments begin to confirm its uses.  The label on the bottle I bought said it was good for medium heat, so I would not use it for high heat searing.  For that I use lard, tallow, or coconut oil.

So, I’m on board with adding this fat to my kitchen.

Besides, it’s just so darn pretty!

Turkey Tracks: “My Little Blue Book” from Red Flannel Pantry Blog

Turkey Tracks:  January 3, 2014

“My Little Blue Book”

Red Flannel Pantry Blog

I loved this blog post from Red Flannel Pantry:  my little blue book | red flannel pantry.

I’ve always journaled for most of my life.

Journaling has gotten me through some tough times and helped me work through to the “bottom” of things–to the bedrock where I can see what the issues really are and what I really think about them.

If you’ve never done the journaling in The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron, I highly recommend trying it.  That journaling got me to Maine where I have been so happy.

But keeping a daily “quick” journal is kind of different.  I’m on my second ten-year journal–the first was a gift from Yoshi Hazen, a former neighbor in Falls Church, Virginia.

Here’s what a page in my ten-year journal looks like:

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Each day has space to jot down significant daily events.

I can’t tell you how many times I have gone back to the journal to ferret out what happened when.  From a repairman’s visit to a doctor’s appointment to a major life event–it’s all there.

I gave my oldest grandson a five-year journal on his tenth birthday this fall.  He is maybe the kind of person who will keep it.  If so, he will treasure it down the road of his life.  I wish I had my earlier journals or had had someone start me on this type of journal when I was young.

For 2014, I wish you good journaling of all kinds!

 

 

Interesting Information: Blog: 2013 in review

Interesting Information:  December 31, 2013

My Blog:  2013 In Review

Every year WordPress does a “review” of my blog.

It’s kind of interesting information.

You can take a look if you like…

 

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 28,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 10 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Interesting Information: Perspectives on Mammograms

Interesting Information:  December 22, 2013

Perspective on Mammograms

Beedy Parker sent me this article.  Beedy is one of the people I look to in this world for wisdom.

I hope you will take time to read this Orion Magazine piece by Jennifer Lunden, “Exposed.”  I especially hope you will if you are a woman and are still getting mammograms.  Lunden has down a really good job of tracing down the “pink” history of the breast cancer arena and of pointing to the most current research on this topic of mammograms and breast cancer.

Exposed | Orion Magazine.

I do not get mammograms any longer.  But, as always, YOU decide.

Interesting Information AND Turkey Tracks: Making Bone Broths AND What’s In Them

Interesting Information AND Turkey Tracks:  December 18, 2013

Making Bone Broths AND What’s In Them

 

I love it when something is being discussed or a piece of information is sought and “the universe” pops it up for you.  That phenomenon is called synchronicity.  And it happens in my life all the time.

My post yesterday on dysfunctional gallbladders talked about bone broths for healing–and about that time, the Mercola web site did a posting on bone broths–why they are good for you and how to make them.

 

Here’s that link:

Bone Broth: One of Your Most Healing Diet Staples.

Then my oldest friend (in length of time, not years) got very sick and landed up in the hospital–pneumonia–and I said “bone broths” to her.  She asked next how to make them.  So, here is synchronicity working for her.

Mercola discusses chicken bone broth.  If you use a whole chicken–take the chicken out after about 30 minutes and strip the meat from the bones and put the bones back into the pot to make the “bone broth.”  Use the meat in another recipe.  You don’t want to cook the meat to death.

If you want to use beef or lamb bones–and you do–and you can also mix them with poultry–brown them in a hot oven in a shallow pan first.  Put all the fat that gets rendered into the soup pot with the browned bones.  You can add some savouries–onions, carrots, celery, garlic, etc.–but you can also go plain and add the savouries to your stock when you make soup, etc.  Fry them up a bit in fat first.  You can pull fat off the top of your chilled stock and use that to sauté.

Remember, you want to cook the bones at least 12 hours.  You can leave the pot UNCOVERED on the stove over night and resume cooking the next morning.  As long as you heat it for at least 10 minutes, it’s fine.

 

Interesting Information: What Causes Gallbladder Dysfunction?

Interesting Information:  December 17, 2013

What Causes Gallbladder Dysfunction?

My father’s gallbladder blew up one day, nearly killing him.

Emergency surgery followed.

My dad had no choice, and he was lucky.

But removing the gallbladder is also a serious thing to do.  And this removal may have contributed to my father’s growing inability to absorb the nutrients from his food, particularly vitamin B12.

In my 40’s, I started having symptoms that I felt were signs that maybe my gallbladder was not so healthy either.  I was at that time “female, fat, and forty.”  (I’m still female, but not fat or forty.)

This episode may have been the start of my interest in healthy food for healthy bodies.  I tried to be a vegetarian, and while the gall bladder issues cleared up (probably because I ate a lot of cheese and olive oil), I set in motion a new set of more severe symptoms–hair loss, nail splitting, more weight gain, and a bunch of new cavities.  And, I think I caused the start of my leaky gut problems, which led, in turn, to the food allergies with which I live today.

So, what does cause the gallbladder to run amok?

Laurel Blair, N.T.P., takes on this issue in “A Nutritional Perspective on Gallbladder Health,” in Well Being Journal, July/August 2012.

The gallbladder is a “small storage organ that sits just below the liver.”  The liver produces bile, and the gallbladder stores the bile.  “Bile released from the gallbladder is an emulsifier that enables us to absorb dietary fats, as well as the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, and essential fatty acids such as omega 3’s.  Without bile, these nutrients pass through our bodies without being absorbed.”

And, I know from other research, that if the delicate balance of our bodies gets “off,” it begins to rob stored nutrients to try to make the whole system work or to, at least, make a particular part of it work.  Is that what happened to my dad?

So, modern medicine removes diseased gallbladders.  And in my dad’s case, he was lucky that his gallbladder blow out didn’t cause other tissues/organs, etc., to become diseased.

But, taking out a diseased gallbladder never deals with the cause of the gallbladder disease.  So now a person has no gallbladder AND still has the original problem that caused the disease in the first place.

What is the cause of gallbladder disease?  Here’s Blair’s answer:

What causes gallbladder dysfunction in the first place?  There are a number of factors that can play a role, including food allergies and obesity, but the two that seem to be the most important are low-fat diets and excessive consumption of refined carbohydrates.

The gallbladder is designed to empty several times per day in response to dietary fat and acidity, but it can continue to concentrate and store bile temporarily when food is scarce.  When you eat a meal that contains little or no fat, the gallbladder will not get the message to empty itself.  The liver, however, will continue to make more bile whether the gallbladder empties or not.  The gallbladder has the ability to concentrate the bile and save it for the next meal.  But if the next meal (and the next, and the next) is low in fat as well, the bile begins to become thick, sludgy,and congealed, a condition called biliary stasis.  Over long periods of time the thickened bile can crystallize into actual gallstones.  This is particularly true if the bile is supersaturated with cholesterol.  Refined carbohydrates have been shown to increase the cholesterol saturation of the bile.  Refined carbohydrates also deplete magnesium rapidly from the body, and magnesium deficiency is another factor that has been linked to gallstone formation.

Blair lists some ways to prevent gallbladder disease:

1.  Avoid refined carbohydrates like white flour and sugar.  (An overload of these can cause the body to pull nutrients from body storage, one of which is, AHA, the B vitamin complex.)

2.  Eat plenty of healthy fats which include saturated fats from pasture-fed animals (butter, ghee, cream, tallow, lard, fatty meats, egg yolks, organ meats, etc.), tropical oils (palm and coconut), monounsaturated fats from extra virgin olive oil and avocados, and small amounts of polyunsaturated fat from nuts, seeds, and fish.  AVOID corn, soy, canola, sunflower, safflower, cottonseed, other seed oils, and hydrogenated oils.

3.  Make sure your diet contains plenty of minerals–eat homemade bone broth, dairy products, organ meats, seafoods, and organic vegetables (especially leafy greens)

4.  Include taurine-rich foods as taurine is a major constituent of bile.  Taurine is an amino acid found in animal proteins, including meats, seafood, eggs, dairy products, and brewer’s yeast.

5.  Eat beets.  Beet root and stem are “natural bile thinners.”  Beet greens are high in magnesium–but, I’d add, also high in oxalates, which can cause kidney stones.

6.  Avoid rapid weight loss and very low-calorie diets–as this behavior can increase the risk of gallstones.  Lose only about two pounds a week.

Hang on to your gallbladders!

Feed them with good fats!

Interesting Information: 7.83 Hz, and Sleep in the Quiet Dark

Interesting Information:  December 8, 2013

7.83 Hz, and

Sleep in the Quiet Dark

I used to fuss at my younger son and his wife all the time about the sleep monitors they have in their babies rooms.  The older child, especially, is a very light sleeper.  To give her comfort, they also keep a night light on.

But I’ve given up.  And they do have to live their lives in their own way.

Nevertheless, like many of my generation who grew up without much technology, I’m worried about the overload of radiation in our world today–from cell phones, baby monitors, microwaves, wireless transmitters of all sorts (computers, Smart Meters, radios, etc.), the machines at the airports.  It’s a growing list.

I myself cannot sleep with lights on around me.  The fire alert contraption on the ceiling near my bedroom door–meant to show me where the door is in the case of fire–seems at night like a strobe light.  I covered it with several coverings of masking tape.  But I can still see it once my eyes get accustomed to the dark, and one of these days, I’m getting on a ladder and putting MORE tape over it.  The light from the clock or from the plug strip in my room or from the phone–I block or cover them up.  Then I get, blissfully, dark.  Then I have only the monthly full moon and the countless bright winter stars to thwart my sleep.

Am I nuts?

You can watch Resonance:  Beings of Frequency for free at https://vimeo.com/54189727 (James Russell and John K. Webster Directors, Patient Zero Productions).

And below you’ll find the review of this DVD from Tim Boyd in the Spring 2013 issue of Wise Traditions, the journal of The Weston A. Price Foundation.

Seems that 7.83 Hz is the resonant frequency of the earth–and as such is the frequency at which the alpha waves of our brains resonate.  If that frequency gets interfered with, ill health follows.  Reviewer Tim Boyd notes that if you put a cordless phone in a bee hive, the bees leave.

Be sure to read the paragraph on dark and wireless devices and melatonin production.

Resonance: Beings of Frequency PDF Print E-mail
Written by Tim Boyd
Tuesday, 23 April 2013 20:05
book-thumbupResonance: Beings of Frequency Directed by James Russell and John K. Webster Patient Zero Productions Available for free viewing at http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/resonance-beings-frequency/When you have a sphere within a sphere and an electromagnetic field, that arrangement creates a frequency. For at least a few centuries most of us have known that Earth is a sphere and it is surrounded by a larger sphere we call the ionosphere. Using that information, Winfried Otto Schumann calculated the resonant frequency of the earth as 7.83 Hz. I know what you’re thinking. Why would anyone care? It turns out that alpha waves generated by the human brain resonate at about that same frequency. It also turns out that when researchers constructed an underground bunker completely shielded from those waves and put test subjects in that bunker, they discovered that was bad for human health.

Other experiments with DNA in water showed that DNA strands communicate with each other at about the same frequency. Life in general seems to be tuned to 7.83 Hz. In our current era we are now adding an unprecedented amount of other electronic frequencies and noise to the environment. Between radio transmissions, cell phones and other wireless transmissions, it is becoming almost impossible to detect the Schumann resonance around big cities.

There is reason to believe this is having adverse effects on human and animal life. When cordless phones are put in a beehive, the bees don’t return. When natural electromagnetic fields are disrupted by things like cell phones or cell towers, birds and bees are no longer able to navigate. There may be other factors involved but this appears to be a significant factor in the decline of many species of birds and insects. In human populations, cancer clusters have been noted around cell phone towers.

Melatonin is a powerful antioxidant that regulates the immune system. It is produced by the pineal gland when it is dark. That is why you need to sleep in complete darkness to get the benefits of any melatonin. There is now evidence that melatonin production is disrupted by other forms of radiation besides visible light, particularly from wireless devices.

There have been a number of studies showing problems with cell phone radiation. There have also been many studies claiming that there is no problem. When you look at who carried out (or paid for) the studies showing no problem, it is obvious that the sponsor of the study had a vested interest in finding nothing. This video also points out that there is no effective government oversight or regulation of all the new phone technology. It is almost amusing when people are shocked by this fact. Large corporations control the governments of the western world. How much genuine regulation do you expect? All of this is more bad news for cell phone lovers. This one gets a thumbs UP.

This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Spring 2013.