How Artificial Sweeteners Confuse Your Body into Storing Fat and Inducing Diabetes

By Dr. Mercola

    As noted in the featured video, there are currently five different artificial sweeteners on the market. The one you're most likely to encounter is aspartame, which also tends to be the worst of the bunch.

    Aspartame and other artificial sweeteners are primarily promoted to diabetics and those concerned about their weight. This despite the fact that artificial sweeteners have repeatedly been shown to produce the exact opposite effects:

        Research shows that aspartame worsens insulin sensitivity to a greater degree than sugar
        Artificial sweeteners have also been found to promote weight gain, in more ways than one

    Over time, artificial sweeteners have also crept into a wide variety of products not directly targeting diabetics and dieters.

    Artificial sweeteners are added to about 6,000 different beverages, snacks, and food products, making label-reading an ever pressing necessity. Disturbingly, food industry groups are now trying to hide the presence of artificial sweeteners in certain foods...

Like GMOs, Industry Wants to Hide Artificial Sweeteners in Foods

    Last year, the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) filed a petition with the FDA requesting the agency amend the standard of identity for milk and 17 other dairy products, in order to allow for the addition of artificial sweeteners without having to indicate their use on the label.

    The IDFA claims the proposed amendments would "promote more healthful eating practices and reduce childhood obesity by providing for lower-calorie flavored milk products" since many children are more inclined to drink flavored milk products than unflavored milk.

    Not only is IDFA behind the push to put aspartame in milk,  but they are also one of four trade organizations suing Vermont1 in an effort to overturn the state's GMO labeling law, which was passed in May.

    It would seem that, far from being concerned about providing Americans with high quality dairy, the IDFA is wholly invested in deceiving the American public for the benefit of the chemical technology industry. Why else would they be so insistent on hiding ingredients that are suspected of harmful effects?

Artificial Sweeteners Cause Metabolic Confusion

    One of the reasons why artificial sweeteners do not help you lose weight relates to the fact that your body is not fooled by sweet taste without accompanying calories.2,3

    When you eat something sweet, your brain releases dopamine, which activates your brain's reward center. The appetite-regulating hormone leptin is also released, which eventually informs your brain that you are "full" once a certain amount of calories have been ingested.

    However, when you consume something that tastes sweet but doesn't contain any calories, your brain's pleasure pathway still gets activated by the sweet taste, but there's nothing to deactivate it, since the calories never arrive. 

    Artificial sweeteners basically trick your body into thinking that it's going to receive sugar (calories), but when the sugar doesn't come, your body continues to signal that it needs more, which results in carb cravings.

    Besides worsening insulin sensitivity and promoting weight gain, aspartame and other artificial sweeteners also promote other health problems associated with excessive sugar consumption, including:

        Cardiovascular disease and stroke4,5,6
        Alzheimer's disease. While poor diet is a major driver of Alzheimer's in general (the primary culprits being sugar/fructose and grains, especially gluten), the key mechanism of harm here appears to be methanol toxicity—a much-ignored problem associated with aspartame in particular.

        In a previous interview, toxicology expert Dr. Woodrow Monte (author of the book While Science Sleeps: A Sweetener Kills7), explains the links between aspartame and methanol toxicity and the formation of toxic formaldehyde.

Research Overwhelmingly Refutes 'Diet' Claims of Artificial Sweeteners

    Contrary to industry claims, research over the last 30 years—including several large scale prospective cohort studies—have shown that artificial sweeteners stimulate appetite, increase cravings for carbs, and produce a variety of metabolic dysfunctions that promote fat storage and weight gain—often to the researchers' great surprise.

    Below is sampling of some of the studies published through the years, clearly refuting the beverage industry's claims that diet soda aids weight loss. The 2010 review in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine8 is particularly noteworthy.

    It provides a historical summary of artificial sweeteners in general, along with epidemiological and experimental evidence showing that artificial sweeteners tends to promote weight gain. It also illustrates that as usage of artificial sweeteners has risen, so has obesity rates.
    obesity trends

full report

Diabetes is running at record levels worldwide, and half the people estimated to have the disease are, as yet, un-diagnosed

Nov 14 — Diabetes is running at record levels worldwide, and half the people estimated to have the disease are, as yet, undiagnosed, according to a report today.

The number of people living with diabetes is now put at 371 million, up from 366 million a year ago, with numbers expected to reach 552 million by 2030, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) said.

Diabetes is often viewed as a Western problem, since the vast majority of people have type 2 disease, which is linked to obesity and lack of exercise.

But the disease is also spreading rapidly in poorer countries, alongside urbanisation, and four out of five diabetics now live in low and middle-income countries, opening up new opportunities and challenges for the drug industry.

China alone has 92.3 million people with diabetes, more than any other nation in the world, and the hidden burden is also enormous in sub-Saharan Africa, where limited healthcare means less than a fifth of cases get diagnosed.

The IDF estimates that, globally, 187 million people do not yet know they are suffering from the condition.

Diabetics have inadequate blood sugar control, which can lead to serious complications, including nerve and kidney damage and blindness. Worldwide deaths from the disease are running at 4.8 million a year.

The disease is one of a number of chronic conditions — along with cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases — that healthcare campaigners want included in the next set of global development goals, which will replace the outgoing Millennium Developments Goals in 2015.

For the international drugmakers, diabetes offers riches, with global sales of diabetes medicines expected to reach US$48-53 billion (RM147-162.3 billion) by 2016, up from US$39.2 billion in 2011, according to research firm IMS Health.

Twin-track approach

Tapping into the potential of increased demand in emerging markets, however, requires a twin-track approach from drug companies, which have traditionally focused on pricey new therapies for rich-world markets.

These days, there is a lot more focus on high-volume but lower-margin business in developing economies, many of which are predicted to show high double-digit percentage sales growth for diabetes medicines for years to come.

The shift is already yielding results.

China, for example, is now the second-largest market behind the United States for the world’s biggest maker of insulin — Danish group Novo Nordisk. It is also a major focus for rivals such as Eli Lilly, Merck & Co, and Sanofi.

Poorer countries are more difficult, especially when it comes to insulin, which must be kept cool if it is not to deteriorate. While most patients start on cheap generic diabetes pills, such as metformin, many need insulin as their disease progresses.

Still, Novo Nordisk thinks it has cracked part of the problem in Kenya, where a project using churches and other local groups has reduced the number of middlemen in the supply chain and cut the cost of a month’s supply of insulin to around 500 Kenyan shillings (RM18).

So far, the project only covers around 1,000 Kenyans but Jesper Hoiland, Novo’s head of international operations, is confident his company’s low-price model will become profitable as it increases in scale. “It will take three to five years to get to breakeven,” he said in an interview.

In the meantime, similar pilot schemes are being tested in rural India and Nigeria.

Other major drugmakers such as Sanofi, which has a significant presence in Africa, are also adopting “tiered” or differential pricing to open up developing-world markets. — Reuters

In 2008, 36 million people in the world died from non-communicable diseases, representing 63 per cent of the 57 million global deaths that year.

In 2008, 36 million people in the world died from non-communicable diseases, representing 63 per cent of the 57 million global deaths that year.

What are non-communicable diseases?
The ones you don't catch from someone else...

... heart disease, diabetes, cancers.

Full report

Why Lowering Glucose Is A Mistake

Current diabetes treatments can knock 20 years off your lifespan ... make you look 15 years older than your age ... and hasten your death. It's a fact: You can have "perfect glucose" and die from diabetes! See the proof...

Another shocker: Glucose monitoring does nothing to prevent diabetic complications (as proven conclusively by two studies published in the British Medical Journal).

Conclusion: Neither glucose monitoring nor drugs are protecting diabetics -- or extending their lives. The real key to healing Type 2 and prediabetes is reversing your cells' insulin resistance -- not lowering your blood sugar. And this is easy to accomplish by following this new drug-free program...

DISCLAIMER

The posting of stories, commentaries, reports, documents and links (embedded or otherwise) on this site does not in any way, shape or form, implied or otherwise, necessarily express or suggest endorsement or support of any of such posted material or parts therein.

Glucose Monitoring Won't Save Your Life

Why Lowering Glucose Is a Mistake

Doctors believe that lowering blood sugar with drugs is the solution for Type 2 diabetes.

But this approach is a big mistake and can knock 20 years off your lifespan ... make you look 15 years older than your age ... and ultimately kill you. Here's the medical proof...

You Can Have "Perfect Glucose" and Die from Diabetes!

A shocking study in 2008 proved it...

A group of Type 2 patients were told to aggressively maintain their blood sugar levels at 6.0% or lower with medications. After four years, these patients suffered significantly more heart attacks and a higher rate of death compared to patients whose levels were between 7.0 and 7.9%.

In short, they were following their doctor's orders to a "T." But the results were so dismaying that the study had to be canceled early to protect the remaining patients. The medical community was stunned. No one had ever questioned the safety of driving down glucose levels like this. It was always "assumed" to be the right thing to do.

Glucose Monitoring Won't Save Your Life

Another shocker: Vigilant glucose monitoring does nothing to prevent diabetic complications -- and this is proven conclusively by two studies published in theBritish Medical Journal.

The first study split a group of newly-diagnosed Type 2 patients into equal self-monitoring and no-monitoring groups. After 12 months, the diabetes (as measured by A1C testing) was no better in the self-monitoring group.

The second study divided a separate population of Type 2 patients into three groups: No monitoring, moderate monitoring, and intense monitoring. Not only did SMBG fail to improve diabetes control, it also cost more. More importantly, monitoring actually decreased the patients' quality of life.

Despite this well-published research, most doctors continue to recommend aggresive glucose self-monitoring. One has to wonder if the cost of test strips and glucose monitors has anything to do with this.

Complications Are What's Killing Diabetics

Diabetics aren't dying because doctors don't know how to lower glucose -- they're dying from complications. And they'll keep dying until we heal diabetes at the most fundamental level, using diet and increased physical activity. Drugs have consistently failed to protect diabetics against deadly complications.

Glucose-lowering drugs are rarely effective in the long term and do absolutely nothing to reverse the underlying cause of diabetes: insulin resistance in your cells. Yet that's exactly where all the horrible complications of diabetes begin -- and no amount of drugs or surgery will stop them.

In truth, no glucose-lowering drug has ever been shown to produce a reliable reduction in diabetic complications. Neither has aggressive glucose monitoring.

DISCLAIMER

The posting of stories, commentaries, reports, documents and links (embedded or otherwise) on this site does not in any way, shape or form, implied or otherwise, necessarily express or suggest endorsement or support of any of such posted material or parts therein.

Metformin is considered a cornerstone in the treatment of diabetes - may cause patients to develop a steadily worsening vitamin B12 deficiency

(NaturalNews) Long-term use of the popular diabetes drug metformin (originally marketed as Glucophage) may cause patients to develop a steadily worsening vitamin B12 deficiency, Dutch scientists have found.

"Our study shows that this decrease is not a transitory phenomenon, but persists and grows over time," wrote the Maastricht University Medical Center researchers in the British Medical Journal.

This is an issue of particular concern given the prevalence of diabetes and the popularity of metformin as a treatment.

"Metformin is considered a cornerstone in the treatment of diabetes and is the most frequently prescribed first line therapy for individuals with type 2 diabetes," the researchers wrote. "In addition, it is one of a few ... associated with improvements in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, which is a major cause of death in patients with type 2 diabetes."

Earlier, short-term studies had found that use of the drug might lead to insufficient levels of the vitamin in the body. The new study confirmed this trend over the long term.

"Metformin does ... induce vitamin B12 malabsorption, which may increase the risk of developing vitamin B12 deficiency -- a clinically important and treatable condition," the researchers wrote.

The researchers assigned 390 Type 2 diabetes patients at the outpatient clinics of three nonacademic hospitals to take either metformin or a placebo pill three times per day for more than four years. The average study participant had been diagnosed with diabetes 13 years prior and had been undergoing insulin treatment for seven years. Average participant age was 61.

Among those taking metformin, vitamin B12 levels began to steadily drop relative to those who were taking a placebo pill. The biggest drop occurred in the first few months, but the decrease continued over the course of the study.

After four years, participants in the metformin group had undergone a 19 percent relative reduction in their levels of the nutrient. They were 11.2 percent more likely than placebo participants to suffer from B12 insufficiency and 7.2 percent more likely to suffer from deficiency.

For every 8.9 patients treated with metformin, one would develop insufficient vitamin B12 levels. This increased risk remained after researchers adjusted for other risk factors including age, duration of diabetes, insulin dose, sex, smoking status and previous treatment with metformin.

"Our study shows that it is reasonable to assume harm will eventually occur in some patients with metformin-induced low vitamin B12 levels," the researchers wrote.

The researchers found that metformin seems to inhibit the intestine's absorption of vitamin B12. Fortunately, calcium supplements appear to reverse this effect.

Vitamin B12 is critical for maintaining nerve and red blood cell health. It can be found in animal products, nutritional yeast and fortified breakfast cereals. Symptoms of deficiency include anemia, fatigue, nerve damage and cognitive changes. Because similar symptomsoften occur in diabetics and the elderly, deficiency may be hard to detect in such populations. Yet while B12 deficiency can carry severe consequences, it is relatively easy to correct with supplementation.

The researchers suggested that all patients taking metformin have their vitamin B12 levels tested regularly to avoid potentially severe consequences.

"Vitamin B-12 deficiency is preventable; therefore, our findings suggest that regular measurement of vitamin B-12 concentrations during long-term metformin treatment should be strongly considered." the researchers wrote.

Nearly 11 percent of the U.S. population, or 24 million people, suffer from diabetes. Of these 5.7 million are undiagnosed. In addition, 57 million people in the United States alone are estimated to be pre-diabetic, or at imminent risk of developing the disease.

Worldwide, an estimated 246 million people suffer from the disease. Prevalence is only expected to increase as the spreading Western diet and lifestyle lead to increasing rates of obesity.

Sources for this story include: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS...http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle... http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocri....

Diabetes and obesity rates soar to 'shocking' levels

One in 20 British adults has diabetes, according to new figures from GP practices

The number of people with diabetes has soared by 150,000 in the past year and one in 20 adults in the UK now has the condition, according to the latest figures from GP practices.

The data released by the charity Diabetes UK also shows that almost one in 10 adults, or 5.5 million people, are obese. The charity described these figures as "shocking" and it is calling on the government to put into practice its rhetoric on tackling health problems through prevention.

There is a strong link with type 2 diabetes and being overweight, sedentary and eating unhealthily. About 90% of diabetics – 2.5 million people in the UK – suffer from the type 2 condition. The figures, collected from GP practices between April 2009 and March this year, showed that about 2.8 million people aged 17 and over have diabetes — an increase of more than 150,000 since last year.

Another 1.1 million people are likely to suffer from diabetes without being aware of it. Diabetes UK has a risk score test on its website that can help to show an individual's likelihood of developing type 2.

The figure for people over 16 registered as obese has risen to more than 5.5 million – an increase of more than 265,000 compared with the previous year.

Simon O'Neill, Diabetes UK's director of care, information and advocacy, said: "Once again we see a shocking rise in diabetes and obesity rates in the UK. Many, but not all, people develop type 2 diabetes because they are overweight or obese so we must keep up the mantra of five fruit and veg a day, encourage daily physical activity and warn of the potentially devastating consequences of an unhealthy lifestyle.

"The obesity-fuelled type 2 diabetes epidemic is a clear example of where the new coalition government's rhetoric of tackling health problems through prevention must be turned into action."

He added: "Failure to act now means a bleak future of spiralling NHS costs and worsening public health," referring to the £9bn a year that the NHS spends on diabetes – 10% of its current budget. If diabetes is not diagnosed early, or if it is poorly managed, he said, it can result in blindness, limb amputation, heart disease, stroke and kidney failure.

The Child Growth Foundation, a children's health charity, warned that levels of diabetes and obesity were likely to rise still further. Tam Fry, who is the charity's honorary chairman as well spokesman for the National Obesity Forum, said: "These figures confirm how appalling the levels of diabetes and obesity are in this country, and they would be even worse if they included children. Unfortunately we can expect levels to go up even if in some parts of the country obesity may be being brought under control. The fat are just getting fatter and suffering the consequences of excess weight."

The risk factors are being overweight or having a large waist; being aged over 40 (or over 25 for black and south Asian people); and having a close relative with diabetes. Its symptoms include urinating frequently, especially at night, increased thirst, extreme tiredness, unexplained weight loss, slow healing of cuts and wounds and blurred vision. In type 2 diabetes the symptoms may not be immediately apparent and it can go undiagnosed for up to a decade, exacerbating health problems if it is untreated.

The picture in the US is much worse. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday that the prevalence of diabetes could increase to between one and five and one in three adults in 40 years.

• Helen Carter
• The Guardian, Monday 25 October 2010
• Article history

When it comes to health knowledge, doctors are surprisingly ignorant

Here are some shocking examples of the huge gaps in knowledge among doctors, parents and others...

What your doctor doesn't know might actually harm you

• Most doctors have little or no understanding of the nutritional difference between LIVEfoods and DEAD foods. Most doctors think they're nutritional identical!

• Most parents have no idea that processed meats (bacon, sausage, sandwich ham, etc.) are laced with the sodium nitrite coloring chemical that promotes aggressive brain, pancreas and colon cancers. (http://www.naturalnews.com/007024.html).

• Most doctors have no idea that seasonal flu vaccines are little more than quackery and simply don't offer any real protection against the flu. (http://www.naturalnews.com/029641_v...)

• Very few parents know the difference between the words "natural" and "organic" on foodlabels. Most parents just think "natural" means "organic" and so they buy more products that claim to be natural (even when the word means nothing).

• Few doctors realize that statin drugs were engineered from a molecule called lovastatin, found naturally in red yeast rice. The drug companies pirated the molecule from nature (biopiracy), then patented it. In the US they pressured the FDA to declare that red yeast ricewas an "adulterated" supplemented because -- get this -- it naturally contains the drug they stole from it!

• Most parents are completely befuddled by the nutritional claims of infant formula. They are astonishingly unaware that some of the most popular infant formula products such as Similacare made with over 50% sugars (http://www.naturalnews.com/029863_S...).

• Virtually no one outside the natural health community knows that soy protein is extracted using a toxic, explosive chemical called hexane. (http://www.naturalnews.com/026303_s...)

• Very few people know that the carmine food coloring used in fruit punch drinks and strawberry yogurt is actually made from smashed red beetles(http://www.naturalnews.com/002043.html).

• Most doctors remain completely unaware of the anti-cancer nutrients found in celery, grapefruit, cabbage and chocolate. They tend to believe that medicine comes from laboratories, not food.

• Very few parents are aware that processed milk and dairy products promote obesity, heart disease and acne in their teenage children. Astonishingly, most adults have been fooled into thinking that yogurt is good for them because it contains probiotics (never mind the homogenized milk fats).

• Most people of all ages, come to think of it, believe that frozen yogurt is somehow good for them, even though it's really just processed ice cream sprinkled with probiotic powder (http://www.naturalnews.com/029038_f...).

• Most doctors are completely unaware of the health dangers of aspartame and MSG and make no attempt to educate their patients about avoiding these excitotoxins.

• Most people don't know that if you sign up as an organ donor, literally millions of dollars may be made off your body parts while your organs go to murderers! (http://www.naturalnews.com/029296_o...) Also, if you're an organ donor recipient, you may receive a cancer-ridden, diseased organ as your "new" transplant. (http://www.naturalnews.com/027353_h...)

Full Story

More than a million of us do not know that we have diabetes | Mail Online

More than a million of us do not know that we have diabetes

By DANIEL MARTIN
Last updated at 11:08 AM on 30th June 2010

More than a million Britons are unaware that they have diabetes, an alarming study has found.

Cases of the disease are soaring along with the rising tide of obesity - and experts warn the financial implications of diabetes-related illness could be ruinous for the Health Service.

The new data indicates that 5.5million people could be living with the condition by 2030, leaving the NHS to pick up the bill.

Hidden killer: Many people are unaware that they are suffering from the early stages of Type 2 diabetes. Regular check-ups can help Diabetics are at higher risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, leg amputation and blindness.

Around 2.6million people in Britain have type 2 diabetes, the form linked to obesity and inactive lifestyles.

And new figures from Diabetes Health Intelligence suggest 820,000 adults in England have undiagnosed diabetes.

Across the UK, this figure is likely to be 1.1 million, according to analysis by Diabetes UK.

This could push the number of sufferers of type 2 and type 1, which is not linked to unhealthy living, to 5.5million by 2030, the charity said.

Type 2 diabetes can go undetected for a decade or longer and around half of those diagnosed are already showing signs of complications.

Douglas Smallwood, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: 'Avoidable in so many cases, the type 2 diabetes epidemic is a clear example of where the new government's rhetoric of tackling health problems through prevention must be turned into action.

'Failure to act now means a bleak future of spiralling NHS costs and worsening public health.'

He described the latest set of figures as 'truly alarming'.

'While screening of at-risk groups has started, notably through the NHS Health Checks programme, it is clear there needs to be greater emphasis on successful delivery throughout the country,' he added.

As well as being overweight, other risk factors for type 2 diabetes include being over 40 or having a close relative with the illness.

Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body becomes resistant to insulin - the hormone which enables sugar in the blood to enter the cells, where it can be converted into energy.

Too much sugar in the blood can damage the artery walls, leading to heart disease and stroke.

Care Services Minister Paul Burstow said last night: 'The increase in diabetes is extremely worrying.

'The Coalition Government has already signalled that public health is a priority.

'We must help people to tackle the causes of type 2 diabetes through dietary and lifestyle changes.

'Everyone should ensure they are aware of the symptoms of diabetes, which include thirst, tiredness, unexplained weight loss, passing urine frequently, blurred vision and frequent infection.

'If you or your child have any of these symptoms you must act immediately and contact your GP for a diabetes test. Delay may be dangerous, especially in children.

'Primary care trusts are also running risk-assessment programmes to identify and help people at high risk of diabetes.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1290704/More-million-know-diabetes.html#ixzz0sPKEB2E7

New research: Electropollution can cause diabetes (type-3)

Most people are familiar with type-1 diabetes and type-2 diabetes, but did you know researchers have discovered a third type of diabetes? Type-3 diabetes, as they are calling it, affects people who are extra sensitive to electrical devices that emit "dirty" electricity.

Type-3 diabetics actually experience spikes in blood sugar and an increased heart rate when exposed to electrical pollution ("electropollution") from things like computers, televisions, cordless and mobile phones, and even compact fluorescent light bulbs.

Dr. Magda Havas, a PhD from Trent University in Canada, recently published the results of a study she conducted on the relationship between electromagnetic fields and diabetes in Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine. In it, she explains how she and her team came to discover this about why electropollution is so dangerous for many people.

Blood sugar goes haywire

One of the most interesting finding in her study was that electro-sensitive people whose blood sugar decreases when they go for a walk outdoors actually experience an increase in blood sugar when walking on a treadmill.

Treadmills, you see, are electrical devices that emit electrical pollution. But interestingly, even the physical exertion of walking on the treadmill did not make up for the blood sugar spiking effect of the EMFs emitted by the treadmills. Despite the exercise, in other words, type-3 diabetics experienced significant spikes in blood sugar when walking on the treadmill.

Dirty electricity is bad for everyone, but it is especially bad for people who are type-3 diabetics. And Dr. Havas explains in her study that even having an electrical device plugged into the wall near someone who is type-3 diabetic can cause them problems.

We have to rethink environmental influences of modern living

I find this research fascinating, not only because it proves that electromagnetic waves impact blood sugar and heart rate, but because there could be thousands, if not millions, of diabetics who may be suffering from a diabetes misdiagnosis right now.

The reason I'm bringing this up is because a 54 year-old pre-diabetic man who participated in the study was found to experience serious blood sugar spikes only when he was working in an urban environment around power lines or on his computer. When he was out camping away from the city, his blood sugar was just fine.

The man tested his blood sugar every morning in different situations and his levels were always higher when electrical fields were nearby. On one of the mornings, he forgot to test himself prior to beginning work on the computer. His blood sugar levels were higher than normal, registering around 205 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL). But after stepping away from the computer for only ten minutes, his levels dropped nearly 20 mg/dL.

The degree to which electromagnetic pollution affects the body is clearly quite astonishing, and this study illustrates that. But it makes you wonder how many people have diabetes simplybecause of EMF pollution (and not solely due to their diet or lack of exercise, as we have been taught).

High EMFs gave this woman diabetes

Take the case of the 80 year-old woman whose house tested high for EMF pollution. Prior to installing a system of filters around her house designed to reduce "electro-smog" levels, her blood sugar was high and she was using insulin each day in order to balance her blood sugar levels. After installing the filters (which reduced EMF pollution by roughly 98 percent), the woman's blood sugar levels dropped by 33 percent and her insulin requirements plunged a whopping 75 percent!

This idea that reducing the electropollution of your house could drastically reduce a patient's need for insulin has never even registered in conventional (mainstream) medicine. Yet it could be a crucial understanding for tens of millions of diabetics around the world.

The study mentioned here classifies the type of diabetes caused by electromagnetic pollution as type-3 diabetes. While those with type-1 or type-2 diabetes can also have type-3, the data seems to indicate that a person can also exclusively have type-3 without any overlay of the other two types. In other words, their diabetes may be solely due to electromagnetic pollution.

And since pre-diabetics can be pushed over the edge by EMF pollution, there is no telling how many people actually have type-3 rather than type-2 diabetes.

If you ask most mainstream medical "professionals", they will deny that type-3 diabetes even exists. According to most of them, the idea that electromagnetic pollution contributes to disease is some sort of whacked out conspiracy theory. But there's more to the study that you need to know...

Wireless signals interfere with the heart

For one portion of the study, Dr. Havas had patients lie down on a bed with a cordless phone placed two feet away from their heads. The phone was plugged into the wall, but for each testing session, the electricity was either on or off.

Neither the patient nor the doctor administering the test was aware of whether or not the phone was live or dead during each session. (This is what is known as a double-blind study, the type most respected in clinical trials).

At the completion of that part of the study, researchers observed that EMF-sensitive patients experienced significant increases in their heart rates during the sessions when the phone was being powered and emitting radio signals. When it was turned off, these same patients returned back to their normal heart rates almost instantaneously.

Why is this important? First of all, a double-blind study is the litmus test used in the medical profession to verify that a study is legitimate. Since nobody involved knew when the power was on or off, the results are completely unbiased and hold a lot more sway than if it had been conducted a different way.

Secondly, it illustrates that EMF pollution really does speed up the heart rates of certain people. And since a rapid pulse is one of the many symptoms of diabetes, it seems reasonable to suspect that EMF pollution could be a fundamental cause of diabetic symptoms for a significant portion of the diabetic population.

This makes you wonder about the harm caused by mammograms, CT scans and other medical scanning technologies that blast the body with electromagnetic radiation, doesn't it?

Electromagnetic radiation leads to many diseases, including cancer

Our bodies are constantly barraged by electromagnetic radiation from numerous electronic sources, and most people don't think twice about this high level of exposure (probably because many don't even realize it's there), but the truth is that all this EMF pollution is leading to widespread illness.

Most of the recent research on EMF pollution has focused on cell phones, which makes sense because people take their cell phones with them everywhere they go and when they use them, they often hold them right next to their skulls. Cell phone radiation is probably one of the most dangerous EMF polluters because the devices remain in very close contact with the body for long periods of time.

A 2008 study published in New Scientist revealed that cell phone radiation causes human cell proteins to improperly express themselves. Similar studies also found that the radiationdamages living DNA, creates leakages in the blood-brain barrier, and increases estrogen and adrenaline levels, disrupting hormone balance.

According to one statistic from a 2008 study, adults who use a cell phone over the course of a decade increase their chances of developing brain cancer by 40 percent. Even worse, a Swedish study found that people who start using a cell phone before the age of 20 increase their risk of developing a brain tumor by 500 percent!

Mainstream science holds conflicting views (as usual)

Of course, many in the medical establishment simply deny that electro-smog has anything to do with health or disease. And it doesn't matter how many studies are conducted on the matter; many continue to insist that there is not enough evidence that EMFs cause any harm.

Not everyone feels this way, of course, but sadly most of today's experts seem unable (or unwilling) to put two and two together and make the connection between electromagnetic pollution and disease.

There are many contributors to disease in our environment. EMFs represent just one. But to deny that electromagnetic pollution is harmful is quite narrow minded. Dr. Havas' study provides more than enough evidence that at least some people are suffering because of the electrical devices that surround them.

Our world, of course, is full of electromagnetic devices -- and some of them may surprise you. A typical hair dryer, for example, emits an explosion of electromagnetic radiation that's usually aimed right at the skull. Typical office environments shower employees with electropollution from fluorescent lighting, and even exercise gyms can subject visitors to a dense field of electromagnetic pollution (from all the electronic exercise machines).

It all gives credence to the idea of getting into nature more often, doesn't it? If you're sensitive to electropollution, the farther away you get from the city, the better you'll feel. No wonder most people innately gravitate to such natural environments like forests, lakes and ocean beaches.

So, does all this research mean we should all get rid of our phones and computers and return to the pre-information age? You could always join an Amish community. They're remarkably healthy, and part of that may be due to their lack of electropollution.

But for mainstream people, a more practical solution is to install some EMF filters around your home.

Some solutions for electromagnetic pollution

As mentioned in the study, home EMF filters are one of the best ways to reduce or eliminate the stray electrical signals that plague your house. These filters will capture electrical "noise" from things like televisions, computers and phones, and return it back into the line or into the ground. These can be connected to the outlets where these devices are plugged in.

Keeping Wi-Fi devices like cell phones and wireless routers away from your body as much as possible is another good idea. If you have a wireless router at home, place it away from areas where people sleep or spend a lot of time. Even having it just a few feet farther away can make a big difference in a reduction of the electropollution exposure from it.

When charging your cell phone, plug it in across the room from you. Especially at night when you are sleeping, it is best to turn off as many electrical devices as possible and to keep them away from your bed when sleeping. And beware of electric blankets: They produce a very strong electromagnetic field.

Try to use the speakerphone as much as possible when talking on the phone, or use an "air-tube" device that stops the signal short before it reaches your head. Never walk around with an idle bluetooth attached to your head, because these devices deliver a steady stream of EMF radiation directly into your head. I would recommend not using one at all, but if you do use one, take it off when not in use.

It's also a good idea to keep your phone in your pocket or purse only when necessary, and to keep it away from your body at all other times. Cell phones are intermittently communicating with network towers, so the closer they are to our bodies, the more radiation we are exposed to. So if you're not going to be using it for a while, just turn it off.

Finally, it is crucial to maintain a healthy diet and get plenty of outdoor exercise. Eating lots of nutrient-rich foods, drinking plenty of clean water, and minimizing intake of toxic preservatives, food additives, and refined sugars will do wonders to build a strong and vibrant neurological system that will resist some of the impact of electromagnetic pollution.

The reason I mention outdoor exercise is because, just like in the study, certain indoor exercise equipment like treadmills can actually cause more harm than good (for certain people). So go outside and take a walk or a jog. The sunshine will boost your vitamin D levels and the fresh air will help rejuvenate your system. (Just be sure to stay away from the power lines.)

http://www.naturalnews.com/028967_electropollution_diabetes.html

Adults who have both diabetes and major depression are more than twice as likely to develop dementia

ScienceDaily (Mar. 8, 2010) — Adults who have both diabetes and major depression are more than twice as likely to develop dementia, compared to adults with diabetes only, according to a study published in the recent Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Dementia is the progressive decline of thinking and reasoning abilities. These can include memory loss, difficulty with basic math, wandering, living in the past, personality changes, and not recognizing familiar people.

"Diabetes alone has shown to be a risk factor for dementia, as has major depression by itself," noted the lead author of the study, Dr. Wayne Katon, University of Washington (UW) professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. Also on the study team were researchers from the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle and the Veterans Affairs (VA) Puget Sound Health Care System, as well as UW researchers in medicine and in epidemiology.

Various other population studies, Katon and the other authors noted, have shown that the risk of Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, and other types of dementia is from 40 percent to 100 percent higher in people with diabetes, compared to people without diabetes. A history of depression more than doubles the subsequent risk of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia in the general population.

"We wanted to determine the effects of both conditions -- diabetes and major depression--occurring together," Katon said. "Our analysis suggests that major depression more than doubles the risk of dementia in adults with diabetes."

The research team on this project, which is part of the Pathways Epidemiological Follow-Up Study, tracked the outcomes of adults from the Group Health Cooperative's diabetes registry who agreed to participate. They were patients from nine Puget Sound area primary-care clinics in western Washington state. The clinics were chosen for their socioeconomic and racial/ethnic diversity and were demographically similar to the area's population. Initial enrollment of patients took place between 2000 and 2002, and the patients were studied for five years. Patients already diagnosed with dementia were excluded from the study.

Over the five-year period, 36 of 455, or 7.9 percent, of the diabetes patients with major depression were diagnosed with dementia. Among the 3,382 patients with diabetes alone, 163 or 4.8 percent developed dementia.

The researchers calculated that major depression with diabetes was associated with a 2.7-fold increase of dementia, compared to diabetes alone. Because the onset of dementia can sometimes be marked by depression, the researchers also adjusted their hazard model to exclude patients who developed dementia in the first two years after their depression diagnosis.

The team's previous findings from earlier studies showed that depression increases the mortality rate among people with diabetes, as well as the rate of complications such as heart, blood vessel, kidney and vision problems.

The exact manner in which diabetes and depression interact to result in poorer outcomes is not certain. Some studies suggest that a genetic marker for dementia is associated with a faster cognitive decline. Depression may also raise the risk of dementia, the authors noted, because of biological abnormalities linked to this affective illness, including high levels of the stress hormone cortisol, poor regulation in the hypothalamus-pituitary system, or autonomic nervous system problems that can affect heart rate, blood clotting, and inflammatory responses.

Depression, they added, might also raise the risk of dementia because of behaviors common in the condition, such as smoking, over-eating, lack of exercise, and difficulty in adhering to medication and treatment regimens. In the current study, patients with both diabetes and major depression were more likely to be female, single, smokers, physically inactive, and treated with insulin. They also had more diabetes complications and a higher body mass index, a ratio calculated from height and weight. However, these differences were controlled for in the analysis and depression remained an important risk factor.

Diabetes, the authors noted, is a risk factor for dementia because of blood vessel problems and also may accelerate the decline of Alzheimer's disease. Many factors linked to diabetes might also increase the odds of developing dementia, including tissue damage from high blood sugar levels, episodes of low blood sugar and insulin resistance.

Depression is common among people who have diabetes. Until more research is available on the exact mechanisms behind the links between depression, diabetes, and dementia, the researchers say, "It seems prudent for clinicians to add effective screening and treatment for depression to other preventive measures such as exercise, weight control, and blood sugar control to protect against the development of cognitive deficits in patients with diabetes."

Artificial pancreas breakthrough offers solution for health effects of eating artificial food

(NaturalNews) It's downright amazing: A biomedical engineer at Boston University has developed a so-called "artificial pancreas" that helps diabetics maintain balanced blood sugar levels by monitoring the blood and releasing either insulin or glucagon as needed. Now all those people who eat artificial food advertised through artificial worlds on television can add an artificial pancreas to their artificial health care plan.

The mainstream media is all over this story, but what they're not telling anybody is that for type-2 diabetics, artificially using insulin injections to "balance" blood sugar levels only serves to convert blood sugar into body fat, increasing the obesity of the patient. This is one reason why most diabetics are obese.

The idea of an "artificial pancreas" gives false hope to diabetics by implying that they can replace their "failed" pancreas with a new medical device that will cure them of their diabetes. But that's just flat-out false: The only cure for type-2 diabetes is a radical lifestyle change that involves regular exercise, greatly enhanced nutrition and the elimination of refined carbohydrates and sugars from the diet.

What diabetics need isn't an artificial pancreas but real food to replace their processed, fabricated, factory-produced junk foods and sugary soft drinks. Real food, however, is hard to come by in a society where virtually everything is now artificial: Foods, boobs, lips, snacks, flavoring, food coloring, the television news and much more.

Most of us live in an artificial world, wrapped inside our little cocoons of "pretend health" constructed by drug companies and junk food manufacturers who all somehow manage to claim their products are good for you.

But I have a radical idea: Why not take care of your REAL pancreas? Why not exercise, get some sunshine, choose superfoods instead of junk foods and swear off refined sugars and carbohydrates for life? You were born with the only pancreas you'll ever need, and instead of living your life hooked up to a blood sugar monitor that you have to drag around with you everywhere, wouldn't it be easier to rely on the intelligent organs that already exist in your chest cavity?

Mainstream medicine, you see, thinks it's so smart when they develop an artificial heart, lung, kidney or pancreas. And yet none of these function with anything that comes close to the intelligence and complexity of the organs you were born with. Take care of the organs given to you by Mother Nature and you won't have to live the rest of your life connected to medical machines that are billed by the hour.

Oh, yeah, and did I mention that your own pancreas works for free? Unlike with an expensive medical device, you don't have to pay any money to use your own pancreas. But you do have to pay attention to your diet, your exercise and other health and lifestyle choices.

By the way, in terms of clarifying the tone of this story, I do recognize that there are a relatively small number of people who suffer from type-1 diabetes through no fault of their own. For them, an artificial pancreas might be a lifesaving technology. But for the vast majority of diabetics, the root cause is lifestyle choices that can be revised and improved through conscious health. For them, the promise of an artificial pancreas is just an empty promise that will never cure their diabetes.

Instead, it will only have them living out the rest of their lives tethered to a machine that pumps them full of blood sugar hormones.

Friday, April 16, 2010
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

Dr. Gabriel Cousens reveals method for reversing diabetes with raw living foods in exclusive interview

Reversing diabetes

	Reversing diabetes

(NaturalNews) This is a "must listen" interview for anyone suffering from diabetes, obesity or blood sugar disorders. It's commercial-free and it's a free download of an MP3 file that will play on any computer or MP3 player. What you'll hear in this interview will absolutely astound you -- it rocks the world of conventional medicine and its failed diabetes treatments.

This is an interview with Dr. Gabriel Cousens, founder of the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Patagonia, Arizona (www.TreeofLife.nu). In this audio interview, you'll hear Dr. Cousens describe why and how consuming raw foods really works to initiate dramatic reductions in fasting blood sugar levels, effectively reversing diabetes in a matter of just a few weeks.

This is essentially a cure for diabetes. Not coincidentally, Dr. Cousens is the author of the book There Is A Cure for Diabetes. The book documents the successes of eleven people who went on a raw foods diet and experienced rapid and remarkable improvements in physiology, including:

• Curing of both type-1 and type-2 diabetes.
• Rapid loss of body fat
• Rapid stabilization of blood sugar
• Remarkable improvements in cognitive function

This is a must-listen interview for anyone suffering from diabetes or blood sugar disorders.

For type-2 diabetes, the process described by Dr. Cousens in the interview boasts a 90% - 95% cure rate. This is truly astounding. Nothing from the world of conventional medicine can offer even a 1% cure rate for diabetes.


Diabetes is "incurable?"

Conventional medicine (and the American Diabetes Association) continues to insist that diabetes in incurable. The approach of conventional medicine, based on extremely toxic chemical medications and processed dead foods, simply does not work. It's actually quite toxic to patients rather than healing. Diabetes medications are well known to cause severe liver damage, for example.

But the conscious consumption of raw living foods turns on the body's innate healing processes. This creates a rapid healing response that allows the body to reverse many of the physiological degeneration processes that created disease in the first place. That's why juicing and juice feasting have become such popular self-healing therapies for weight loss, diabetes reversal and enhanced longevity.

Conventional medicine remains utterly ignorant of the healing power of raw living foods, preferring instead to rely on patented chemical medications that simply don't work to heal anyone or anything. No person suffering from diabetes has ever been cured of diabetes through pharmaceutical medications. It has never happened in the history of medicine. And yet type-2 diabetes can be cured at a rate of 90% - 95% with a raw living foods diet.

At the Tree of Life, Dr. Cousens offers a 21-day rejuvenation experience based on living foods. Learn more about the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center at www.TreeofLife.nu

Dr. Cousens' book There Is A Cure for Diabetes is available at booksellers everywhere, including Amazon.com