In an interesting recent post at Reuters written by Gyles Beckford it reports that “The United Nations urged the world on Thursday to kick the habit of producing carbon dioxide, saying everyone must act to fight climate change.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said global warming was becoming the era’s defining issue and would hurt rich and poor.

“Our world is in the grip of a dangerous carbon habit,” Ban said in a statement on World Environment Day, which is being marked by events around the globe and hosted by the New Zealand city of Wellington.”

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In an interesting recent post at CNET it reports that “sailing 4,000 miles on the Pacific Ocean made Marcus Eriksen and Joel Paschal sick. It wasn’t waves that turned their stomachs, but the amount of plastic garbage they encountered on a voyage with the Algalita Marine Research Foundation earlier this year.

The activists wanted more people to share their disgust about plastic litter that swirls, relatively unexplored, in continent-size patches of ocean.

To that end, they have built a motor-less craft from 15,000 recycled beverage bottles, fishing nets, and the cockpit of a Cessna, and are sailing it more than 2,000 miles from southern California to Hawaii. They left Long Beach, Calif., on Sunday.

The sailors plan to collect samples from plastic-polluted ocean water, but this mission’s main aim is to attract attention.

The 1.5-ton junk features a solar panel and wind turbine to power GPS and other devices. It’s made of six pontoons each 30 feet long, filled with 2,000 soda and sports drink bottles, and triple-wrapped in used fishing nets. Twenty sailboat masts provide a frame, secured to a cabin cut from a Cessna 310 fuselage.”

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In an interesting recent post at Science Daily it reports that “Scientists have discovered a previously unknown molecular signaling pathway in body fat cells that normally acts to suppress harmful inflammation. Cellular stress caused by obesity, however, can override this protective function and convert the pathway into a trigger of chronic inflammation that raises the risk of insulin resistance, diabetes, and other metabolic disorders.

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) said they have shown for the first time that fat-storing cells, or adipocytes, contain a protective anti-inflammatory immune mechanism that prevents the cells from over-reacting to inflammation-causing stimuli, such as fatty acids in the diet.

This signaling pathway serves as a natural counterbalance to a parallel signaling chain that promotes inflammation and can lead to insulin resistance — a prelude to diabetes — and other ailments such as heart disease, said the authors. Chih-Hao Lee, Assistant Professor of Genetics and Complex Diseases at HSPH, was the senior author. Kihwa Kang, Research Fellow in the HSPH Department of Genetics and Complex Diseases, was first author.”

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In an interesting recent post at Science Daily it reports that “Licensed pesticide applicators who used chlorinated pesticides on more than 100 days in their lifetime were at greater risk of diabetes, according to researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The associations between specific pesticides and incident diabetes ranged from a 20 percent to a 200 percent increase in risk, said the scientists with the NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

“The results suggest that pesticides may be a contributing factor for diabetes along with known risk factors such as obesity, lack of exercise and having a family history of diabetes,” said Dale Sandler, Ph.D., chief of the Epidemiology Branch at the NIEHS and co-author on the paper. “Although the amount of diabetes explained by pesticides is small, these new findings may extend beyond the pesticide applicators in the study,” Sandler said. Some of the pesticides used by these workers are used by the general population, though the strength and formulation may vary. Other insecticides in this study are no longer available on the market, however, these chemicals persist in the environment and measurable levels may still be detectable in the general population and in food products. For example, chlordane, which was used to treat homes for termites, has not been used since 1988, but can remain in treated homes for many decades. More than half of those studied in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 1999-2002 had measurable evidence of chlordane exposure. “This is not cause for alarm,” added Sandler “since there is no evidence of health effects at such very low levels of exposure.”

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In an interesting recent post at Science Daily it reports that “short bursts of high intensity sprints–known to benefit muscle and improve exercise performance–can improve the function and structure of blood vessels, in particular arteries that deliver blood to our muscles and heart, according to new research from McMaster University.

The study, lead by kinesiology doctoral student Mark Rakobowchuk, is published online in the journal American Journal of Physiology. Regulatory, Integrative & Comparative Physiology.

The findings support the idea that people can exercise using brief, high-intensity forms of exercise and reap the same benefits to cardiovascular health that can be derived from traditional, long-duration and moderately intense exercise.”

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In an interesting recent post at Science Daily it reports that “vitamin D insufficiency is common in adults and is emerging in the world of pediatrics. A mild degree of vitamin D deficiency, also known as vitamin D insufficiency, causes rickets in children and can be treated with increased amount of nutritional vitamin D intake as well as increased sun exposure.

A new study conducted by physicians and researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, is the first study to investigate vitamin D insufficiency in pediatric patients with low bone density.

According to the study, published in the June issue of Pediatrics, among the 85 patients studied, 80 percent had a vitamin D insufficiency. All the patients had a history of bone fragility or underlying chronic medical conditions that put them at a risk of osteoporosis, which is not just an adult disease, but is seen in children and can originate during childhood. Vitamin D insufficiency may contribute to low bone mass or even make the underlying metabolic bone disease worsen if not treated. Vitamin D is essential in bone growth and mineralization in children and adults.”

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In an interesting recent post at Mercola.com written by Dr Joseph Mercola it reports that “an organic label does mean something — for spinach, as an example, it means that synthetic pesticides and fertilizers weren’t used in its production. But the label fails to paint a complete picture of the conditions under which the spinach was grown; for instance, it says nothing about whether the workers were treated fairly.

In the case of organic dairy, the organic label may be especially inadequate.

Organic processors are currently paying milk producers far too little for real organic standards to be profitable. They are constrained by fierce competition at the retail level. Organic milk has gained popularity due to the consumer backlash against growth hormones, and large corporations, concerned more about profit margins than anything else, have barreled into the market.

These corporations buy “organic” milk from the cheapest sources possible — including factory-style farms that confine thousands of dairy cows into pens year-round. This actually threatens the livelihoods of true organic farmers, who can’t compete with the deep-pocketed corporate giants.”

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In an interesting recent post at Food and Drink Europe written by Shane Starling it reports that “energy drinks have the potential to cause liver damage, heart failure and even death and should carry warnings for certain population groups, according to a German body.

The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) analysed various human trials conducted over recent years that noted cardiac dysrhythmia, seizures, kidney failure and fatalities occurred after consuming energy drinks.

It called for tighter labelling to warn consumers of potential health hazards.

BfR said it had repeatedly advocated the use of warning labels for demographic sub-groups such as children, pregnant women, lactating women and caffeine-sensitive individuals, who should refrain from using energy drinks.

It said consumers with high blood pressure and heart disease should restrict energy drink use and called for more “robust studies”.

Warnings about the use of energy drinks such as Red Bull with intensive physical activity or alcoholic beverages should also be mandatory.”

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In an interesting recent post at Food and Drink Europe written by Neil Merrett it reports that “Alcohol consumption may help reduce the risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) particularly in smokers or those more genetically predisposed to the disease, though further testing is required to support such claims, says new research.

The findings, which appear online in the Annals of the Rheumatic Disease ahead of print, focus on two population-based case-control studies from Sweden and Denmark looking at the environmental and genetic risk factors behind the disease.”

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In an interesting recent post at Natural News written by David Gutierrez it reports that “The rate of tobacco smoking is much higher among those with mental illness than among the general population, and those who are mentally ill also smoke more cigarettes and have more trouble quitting, according to a Washington Post editorial by Steven A. Schroeder, director of the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center.

In the United States, between 50 and 80 percent of all people with mental illness are smokers, whereas only 20 percent of the general population smokes. Those with mental illness also smoke more cigarettes per day than other smokers, and are more likely to smoke cigarettes all the way down to the filters. The combination of these two factors means that 44 percent of all cigarettes sold in the United States are sold to people who are mentally ill.”

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In an interesting recent post at Natural News written by Mike Adams it reports that “The FDA has, for decades, ridiculously insisted that mercury fillings pose no health threat whatsoever to children. While dismissing hundreds of studies showing a clear link between mercury amalgam fillings (”silver fillings”) and disastrous neurological effects in the human body, the FDA denied the truth about mercury and effectively protected the mercury filling racket that has brought so much harm to so many people. For over a hundred years, a cabal of “mercury mongers” made up of the American Dental Association, mercury filling manufacturers and indignant dentists have reaped windfall profits by implanting toxic fillings into the mouths of children, all while insisting that mercury — one of the most toxic heavy metals known to modern science — posed no health threat whatsoever.

Today, that reign of toxicity is about to end. Thanks to the tireless, multi-year efforts of people like Charles Brown, National Counsel for Consumers for Dental Choice (www.ToxicTeeth.org), the FDA has now been forced to acknowledge a fact so fundamental that, by any measure of honest science, it should have adopted the position decades ago. What position is that? Simply that mercury is toxic to humans.“

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In an interesting recent post at Natural News written by Deanna Dean it reports that “When you drive home after picking up your clothes from the dry cleaners do you sometimes notice a faint chemical smell on the clothes? More than likely your garments were cleaned with dangerous chemicals that could harm the workers, the environment and the air in your home. Even wearing dry cleaned clothes may put you at risk says Tracy Smith, a national correspondent for CBS’s Early Show.

Dry cleaners now share the same notoriety as gas stations; both are common hazardous waste sites. I was surprised to learn that many banks refuse loans for the purchase of land where there once stood a dry cleaning business.”

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In an interesting recent post at Natural News written by David Gutierrez it reports that “high intake of the sugars fructose and sucrose may increase the risk of developing pancreatic cancer, according to a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Hawaii and the University of Southern California.

Researchers analyzed dietary data on 162,150 people who had participated in the Hawaii-Los Angeles Multiethnic Cohort Study, looking for evidence that a diet with a high glycemic load increases the risk of pancreatic cancer. Participants filled out a food frequency questionnaire at the beginning of the study and were followed for eight years. In that time, 434 participants developed cancer of the pancreas.

While the researchers did not find a connection between glycemic index and cancer, they found a more unexpected connection: the fifth of the population that ate the most fructose had a significantly higher pancreatic cancer risk than the fifth that consumed the least. Meanwhile, among obese and overweight patients, high sucrose intake was correlated with a higher risk of pancreatic cancer. Among patients of healthy weight, sucrose intake was not associated with cancer risk.

Participants who drank more fruit juice also had a higher risk of pancreatic cancer risk, but not participants who drank more soda.”

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In an interesting recent post at Nutra Ingredients Europe written by Stephen Daniells it reports that “An extract from pomegranate may suppress the inflammation and damage in joints linked to arthritis, if results from an animal study can be repeated in humans.

The onset and severity of arthritis was delayed and reduced in mice models, according to findings published online ahead of print in the journal Nutrition.

The study adds to the joint health science of the fruit, with previous reports indicating pomegranate extracts may block enzymes that contribute to cartilage degradation in osteoarthritis.”

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In an interesting recent post at Nutra Ingredients Europe written by Stephen Daniells it reports that “the potentially damaging effects of trans fats may also be passed from a mother to her child during breast feeding, suggests a new study that heaps more misery on the enfant terrible of the food industry.

The offspring of lactating rats fed a diet containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, or trans fats, were found to have decreased heart function for the transport of glucose, as well as exhibiting signs of insulin sensitivity problems, according to finding published online ahead of print in the journal Nutrition.”

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In an interesting recent post at On Line Opinion written by Chris Rissel it reports that “in car-dependent Australia, cycling is an ugly duckling waiting for its time. Motorists feel annoyed by delays measured in seconds caused by a bike, and angry if a bicycle courier fails to stop at a traffic light. Pedestrians hate bikes whizzing past them on the footpath, and there must be something about a bunch of training cyclists in lycra that invites derision or insecurity from on-lookers.”

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In an interesting recent post at Natural News written by Ella Anderson it reports that “Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia have discovered that an extract of nigella sativa seed oil, known as thymoquinone, can remedy one of the most virulent and difficult to treat cancers: pancreatic cancer. The extract does this by blocking pancreatic cell growth, and actually enhancing the built-in cellular function that causes programmed cell death, or apoptosis.”

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In an interesting recent post at Nutra Ingredients USA written by Stephen Daniells it reports that “Artificial colors linked to increased hyperactivity in children are the “secret shame” of the food industry and should be banned by FDA, consumer activists have said.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has formally petitioned FDA to require a warning label on foods that contain any of the eight suspect artificial dyes. The consumer activist group is also considering a request for an outright ban on the colors.

The move follows calls by the UK Food Standards Agency for manufacturers to phase out the additives from their products. All this is in response to a study from researchers at the University of Southampton in the UK, published in the prestigious journal The Lancet, which concluded that cocktails of a number of different artificial food colors and the preservative sodium benzoate exacerbate hyperactive behavior in children at least up to middle childhood.”

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In an interesting recent post at Nutra Ingredients USA written by Stephen Daniells it reports that “Resveratrol, a polyphenol found in red wine, may mimic the effects of calorie-restriction and inhibits various aspects of the ageing process, says a new study.

The study adds to a growing body of research linking resveratrol and red wine consumption to a range of beneficial health effects, including brain and mental health, and cardiovascular health.

Red wine and resveratrol have also been lauded as the answer to the “French paradox” as to why people who live in some regions of France where diets are soaked in saturated fats but washed down with a glass of rouge, but the incidence of heart disease is low.”

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In an interesting recent post at Nutra Ingredients USA written by Shane Starling it reports that “the hype surrounding stevia has been ratcheted up another notch after the US’s largest supplier announced it is launching the natural sweetener beyond the dietary supplements aisle for the first time.”

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In an interesting recent post at Nutra Ingredients USA written by Stephen Daniells it reports that “consuming a traditional Mediterranean diet, rich in fruit, vegetables, olive oil and fish, may reduce the risk of developing diabetes by a whopping 83 per cent, says a new study.

Interestingly, people who adhered strictly to the diet were also found to have the highest prevalence of risk factors for diabetes such as older age, a family history of diabetes, and a higher proportion of ex-smokers. Despite being expected to have the higher incidence of diabetes, but this was not the case.”

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In an interesting recent post at Science Daily it reports that “people with highly developed emotional sensibilities are better at making product choices, according to a new study.

“Consumers who understand their emotional ability can make higher quality consumption decisions such as health decisions and product choices,” explain the authors, Blair Kidwell, David M. Hardesty, and Terry L. Childers (University of Kentucky). “A person can know a lot about nutrition and know what foods are not healthy, but can still make poor decisions when unable to recognize, reason, and solve problems based on emotional patterns,” they add. For example, compulsive eaters may understand nutrition, but they may not realize their emotions affect their food choices.”

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In an interesting recent post at Science Daily it reports that “fibromyalgia is a chronic pain condition that causes widespread pain and tenderness throughout the body. A University of Michigan study, published in The Journal of Pain, shows that fibromyalgia is associated with central nervous system abnormalities evidenced by patients’ elevated sensitivity to auditory and pressure sensations.

The Michigan researchers studied 31 subjects to determine if there is a global central nervous system problem underlying sensory processing in fibromyalgia patients. They noted that few studies have employed different stimuli in consistent ways and levels of intensity to measure pain sensitivities in this patient group. In this study, fibromyalgia patients and normal subjects were exposed to random auditory and pressure stimuli.

Consistent with prior research, the fibromyalgia subjects in the study showed greater sensitivity to auditory tones and reported higher sensitivity to daily sounds. Further, significant associations were observed between the auditory and pressure responses and support the claim that such abnormalities maybe related to a common pathophysiological mechanism. They also noted that fibromyalgia subjects perceived auditory stimuli to be of the same intensity as felt by control subjects, even though their actual intensity levels were lower.”

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In an interesting recent post at Science Daily it reports that “the summer brings many thunderstorms ……., and one of the (US’s) leading joint specialists, Javad Parvizi, M.D., Ph.D., of the Rothman Institute at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, says you should believe your grandmother, friend or co-worker when they tell you it’s going to rain—even if it’s simply because their aching knees, hips, hands or shoulders “say so.”

Dr. Parvizi, who is also director of clinical research at the Rothman Institute at Jefferson, and associate professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, explains that even though individuals can experience pain fluctuations with the slightest change in barometric pressure, most patients report significant increases in pain before and during severe changes in weather, like summer downpours and thunderstorms.

“The phenomenon of people being able to forecast precipitation, especially rain, due to the level of their joint pain is real,” says Dr. Parvizi.  “It is not in the patient’s head.  There is science to back it up.”

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In an interesting recent post at Science Daily it reports that “a new type of wound dressing made of silica gel fibers will soon help to heal difficult wounds caused by burns or diabetes. The dressing forms a supporting matrix for newly growing skin cells and is fully absorbed by the body during the healing process.”

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In an interesting recent post at Science Daily it reports that “chronic inflammation of the intestine or stomach can damage DNA, increasing the risk of cancer, MIT scientists have confirmed.

The researchers published evidence of the long-suspected link in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. In two studies, the researchers found that chronic inflammation accelerated tumor formation in mice lacking the ability to repair DNA damage.”

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In an interesting recent post at Natural News written by Mary Laredo it asks the question: “Laetrile, also known as amygdaline or vitamin B17, is found in the food supply and occurs naturally in at least 1200 different plants, including apricots, peaches, apple seeds, lentils, cashews, brown rice, millet, and alfalfa. Commercial preparations of laetrile are obtained from the kernels of apricots, peaches and bitter almonds. In fact, its active ingredient –- amygdaline –- comes from the Greek word for almond: amygdale.”

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In an interesting recent post at Natural News written by Sheryl Walters it asks the question: “have you ever tried slowing down your breath? What is the fewest number of breaths that you can take in one minute? When you breathe deeply and slowly, can you feel your mind relaxing? You may be surprised to discover many benefits for your body and mind from breathing slowly. It may in fact be one of the most important things you can do.

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In an interesting recent post at Nutra Ingredient Europe written by Michael Stones it reports that “for too long, the developed world has taken food for granted. For years, ample food stocks, a well-supplied export trade and rapidly rising agricultural productivity have confined food fears, in the west at least, to history and the memories of older generations.

It has proved a costly complacency; the scale of which we are only just beginning to realise. How easy it is to forget the European famines of the war years, the end of British food rationing in 1953, and the US food shortages of the 1930s.”

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In an interesting recent post at Science Daily it reports that “fruits and vegetables contain essential vitamins, minerals and fiber that are key to good health. Now, a newly released study by Agricultural Research Service (ARS)-funded scientists suggests plant foods also may help preserve muscle mass in older men and women.”

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In an interesting recent post at Science Daily it reports that “a new study investigated the association between short-term exposure to ambient fine particulate matter and the risk of stroke and found that even low pollutant levels may increase that risk.”

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In an interesting recent post at Natural News written by Mike Adams it reports that “there are many reasons why informed consumers are avoid consuming cow’s milk today, such as the fact that milk increases stagnation and can promote sinusitis and asthma. There are humanitarian and ethical reasons, too; avoiding milk means not condoning the abuse of dairy cows on conventional dairy farms. But one of the most important reasons to consider avoiding the consumption of milk is the waste of water resources that go into its production.

It can take up to