Saturday, September 27, 2008

Scientists Warn Congress of Cell Phone Risk

You wonder if Ted Kennedy may have wanted to know the dangers of cell phone use. Hard to say for sure if cell phone use caused or contributed to his form of brain cancer, but makes one think about their own cell phone use.
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The Story

The potential link between mobile telephones and brain cancer could be similar to the link between lung cancer and smoking -- something tobacco companies took 50 years to recognize, according to US scientists' warning.

Scientists are currently split on the level of danger the biological effects of the magnetic field emitted by cellular telephones poses to humans.

However, society "must not repeat the situation we had with the relationship between smoking and lung cancer where we ... waited until every 'i' was dotted and 't' was crossed before warnings were issued," said David Carpenter, director of the Institute of Health and Environment at the University of Albany, in testimony before a subcommittee of the US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform.

"Precaution is warranted even in the absence of absolutely final evidence concerning the magnitude of the risk" -- especially for children, said Carpenter.

Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute -- one of the top US cancer research centers -- said that most studies "claiming that there is no link between cell phones and brain tumors are outdated, had methodological concerns and did not include sufficient numbers of long-term cell phone users."

Many studies denying a link defined regular cell phone use as "once a week," he said.

"Recalling the 70 years that it took to remove lead from paint and gasoline and the 50 years that it took to convincingly establish the link between smoking and lung cancer, I argue that we must learn from our past to do a better job of interpreting evidence of potential risk," said Herberman.

A brain tumor can take dozens of years to develop, the scientists said.

Carpenter and Herberman both told the committee the brain cancer risk from cell phone use is far greater for children than for adults.

Herberman held up a model for lawmakers showing how radiation from a cell phone penetrates far deeper into the brain of a five-year-old than that of an adult.

The committee were shown several European studies, particularly surveys from Scandinavia -- where the cell phone was first developed -- which show that the radiation emitted by cell phones have definite biological consequences.

For example, a 2008 study by Swedish cancer specialist Lennart Hardell found that frequent cell phone users are twice as likely to develop a benign tumor on the auditory nerves of the ear most used with the handset, compared to the other ear.

A separate study in Israel determined that heavy cell phone users had a 50 percent increased likelihood in developing a salivary gland tumor.

In addition, a paper published this month by the Royal Society in London found that adolescents who start using cell phones before the age of 20 were five times more likely to develop brain cancer at the age of 29 than those who didn't use a cell phone.

"It's only on the side of the head where you use the cell phone," Carpenter said.

"Every child is using cell phones all of the time, and there are three billion cell phone users in the world," said Herberman.

Copyright AFP
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Natural Cancer Fighter


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Thursday, September 11, 2008

Bad News for Soy Lovers...

Al Sears, MD
11903 Southern Blvd. Ste. 208
Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411

September 11, 2008

It’s in thousands of different products… everything from cookies to mayonnaise. You probably ate some today without even realizing it.

But that’s a problem: Too much and you may wind up in a male fertility clinic. It robs your manhood and no one’s bothering to tell you.

I'm talking about soy.

The USDA says it’s healthier than protein from meat. Food makers love it because it’s cheap and easy to process—so much so that the soy industry now provides 71% of the edible fats and oils in our nation’s food supply.1 The FDA says it’s perfectly safe for you to eat.

But the latest science says otherwise.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health discovered that men who regularly ate even small amounts of soy-based foods had 41 million fewer sperm per milliliter than men who didn’t.2

Ironically, the 99 men who took part in the study were already patients at a male fertility clinic who couldn’t get their partners pregnant. Scientists tracked their eating habits for six years, keeping on the lookout for 15 soy-based foods.

It turns out eating as little as four ounces of tofu or drinking a single cup of soy milk every other day caused men’s sperm counts to plummet.

This isn’t news to me, and it won’t be to my regular readers. Soy is packed with phytoestrogens, plant-based compounds that your body treats just like the female hormone. These belong to a class of “estrogen mimics” that can make men grow “breasts”— fatty deposits that build on top of your pecs—kill your sex drive, even put you at greater risk for prostate cancer.

Now we have proof soy can strike at the very heart of your manhood.

This was the largest study ever to look at human soy consumption and semen quality. Until now, most of the data we had came from animal studies. So it lays to rest the question of whether or not the phytoestrogens in soy can affect male reproductive health in humans.

It also proved for the first time that even traditional soy products pose a threat. Tofu, natto, and tempeh, all part of the traditional Asian diet, will have the same negative effect as processed soy-derived products like soybean oil.

So if you want to protect yourself against this assault on your virility, here are few recommendations:

Watch your soy intake. Remember, even a little soy goes a long way when it comes to lowering your sperm count. As little as 115 grams, or about four ounces of tofu, amounts to a single serving, depending on your body weight. That’s twice the amount that made men virtually sterile in the study.

Check the label. Soy-based ingredients are hidden in plain sight in a wide variety of foods, from baked goods to salad dressings. Here are the names of the food industry’s favorite soy–based products you should avoid:

* Soy Flour
* Soy Isolate
* Soy Isoflavones
* Soy Protein
* Soybean Oil
* Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)
* Vegetable Fat
* Vegetable Oil
* Xanthan Gum
* Zein

Eat food fit for a man. People eat a lot of soy with the best of intentions—they think they’re making a healthy choice by going for an alternative to animal protein. They also want to stay lean and fit, both good ideas.

But the truth is you don’t need to avoid meat to stay healthy—or manly. In fact, meat from organic, grass-fed sources will help you to shed fat, build lean muscle, and boost overall testosterone and growth hormone levels.

One final point for my skeptical readers: you may be wondering how people in Asian societies where soy’s a dietary staple ever manage to have children if it’s so harmful to male fertility. The answer’s simple. They don’t eat nearly as much soy as you’d think.

Even the soy industry’s own research shows that in places like China, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, people eat only 9.3 to 36 grams per day.3 That’s way below the 115 grams of tofu the men in the study were eating.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD
1 Soy Stats® 2008: A Reference Guide to Important Soybean Facts & Figures. The American Soybean Association. See http://www.soystats.com/2008/default.htm
2 Chavarro et al. “Soy food and soy isoflavone intake in relation to semen quality parameters.” 2007. Fertility and Sterility. 88 (Supplement 1):S22.
3 P. Golbitz. “Traditional Soyfoods: Processing and Products.” Journal of Nutrition. 1995. 125: 570S-572S.

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Guys, unless you want breasts (your own), become infertile and more feminine, you want to stay away from soy. The only form of soy that is good for you is fermented soy products. It's up to you.

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