Help Lower Blood Pressure with Dietary Changes

Sunday, April 7th is World Health Day. This year’s theme for World Health Day is high blood pressure, also known as hypertension. The World Health Organization has recommended reducing salt or sodium intake to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and kidney failure. But researchers are saying the benefits would be greater if dietary potassium intake was increased at the same time.


Reports VOA News

Chocolate Covered Strawberries Help Blood Pressure - Study Shows for Dark Chocolate

 Valentine's Day will soon be here on February 14th. Research shows the popular Valentine's Day gift of Chocolate covered strawberries can help blood pressure. Watch this ad free video from VOA  about the health benefits of dark chocolate covered strawberries.

"Researchers find that dark chocolate and aspirin have similar effects on the blood. They thin out the blood so it flows more easily, even through partially-blocked arteries, and that could reduce the possibility of a heart attack."

"Flavinoids are nutrients found in many different kinds of plants. They help protect plants against disease and insects. When we eat food with high levels of flavinoids, these nutrients trigger our immune systems to produce enzymes - proteins - that reduce the risk of some kinds of cancer, heart disease and some other diseases that come with age."

Follow the EasternShoreMag.com link for
Dark Chocolate Covered Strawberries Recipes

Enjoy this heart healthy dark chocolate snack or dessert over Valentine's Day

New York City and Childhood Obesity

December 24, 2011
New York City Battles Childhood Obesity
Peter Fedynsky | New York - VOA

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States says every third adult and nearly every fifth child in America is obese. But health officials in New York are touting an aggressive initiative that has resulted in a significant drop in the city's childhood obesity rates.

Alex Schimke is a trim and fit New York sixth grader. He says he likes fruits, particularly strawberries. But like most children, he admits a taste for candy, cakes and other sweets.

"Are you going to eat the cake or the apple for health? Obviously, you're going to eat the apple, but you want the cake," said Schimke.

Such indisputable logic of children is not lost on New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley.

"Children have a natural preference for sweets, more so than adults. On the other hand, as adults, we choose what to put in front of our children," said Farley.

Farley says New York has increased the amount of physical activity in local schools, and also improved the healthfulness of food in cafeterias.

"They do have apples. Oh, yes! And they have a salad bar," noted Schimke.

Alex also noticed that school vending machines now offer vitamin water instead of sugary high-calorie beverages.

Farley notes that obesity rates in America began rising about 30 years ago, as many people traded physical labor on farms and factories for sedentary office jobs.

"Physical activity has all but disappeared out of most people's lives, unless they make it a separate task," Farley added. "At the same time, and even more importantly, food has increasingly become cheap, ready to eat, available everywhere, and so people have adopted habits to snack constantly."

Farley says the New York childhood obesity rate is still at 20 percent. But New York's decline goes against a rising national trend. And the health commissioner is heartened that the rate has fallen at all for the first time in decades - 10 percent among five and six year olds - which gives him reason to believe some youngsters will adopt lifelong habits of healthy eating.

Fluorescent dye glows when it finds evidence of cancer tumors...

Spray Detects Hard-to-Find Tumors
Fluorescent dye glows when it finds evidence of cancer

VOA - Jessica Berman | Washington, D.C.
November 25, 2011


Surgeons may soon have a new tool to help locate early-stage cancerous growths; a spray that turns fluorescent green when it comes into contact with tumors.

The spray is clear, but contains a non-toxic dye that almost immediately glows bright green when it reacts with enzymes produced by cancerous tumors.

The fluorescent spray was developed by Hisataka Kobayashi, a researcher at the U.S. National Cancer Institute near Washington D.C.

The problem with many cancers, according to Kobayashi, is that their early-stage tumors are too small to be seen with the naked eye.

“The tiny, tiny cancer is very hard to see and then very hard to handle," says Kobayashi, "and very hard to see whether it’s removed from the body or not.”

Current attempts to image tumors - if they are even detectable - can take hours to days.

Kobayashi and colleagues conducted experiments with mice in which human ovarian tumors had been induced. Within a minute of spraying the cancerous tissue inside the animals’ open abdominal cavities, researchers easily spotted the small tumors, which glowed bright green.

Kobayashi says the spray can help surgeons detect even the tiniest tumors which normally would be missed, increasing the chances for successful cancer surgery and making a recurrence of the cancer less likely.

Kobayashi says he expects the spray to be approved for human use by U.S. regulators within two to three years. His study describing the fluorescent cancer spray is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Vitamin B12 Deficits in Older Adults Linked to Brain Decline in Study

Study: Vitamin B12 Deficits in Older Adults Linked to Brain Decline
VOA - Vidushi Sinha | Washington
October 24, 2011




A new study says deficiencies of Vitamin B12 might be responsible for declining brain function in older adults. Although people normally get plenty of B12 from fish, meat and dairy products, as well as fortified cereals and supplements, their ability to absorb the essential nutrient can be blocked by a number of factors.

Those include excessive alcohol consumption, anemia and various digestive-system disorders. Health experts say regular screening and heightened public awareness.can help avoid those potentially brain-wasting deficits.

Just as muscles in the body shrink from malnutrition, a new study done on people age 65 and older says the human brain starts shrinking when there is not enough vitamin B12 in the body.

It’s a key component of the neurotransmitters in the brain, and part of the nutritional substance essentially of the brain cells, of the nerves or neurons in the brain," said Dr. Michael Yochelson, a neurologist and the chief medical officer at National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington.

He says the link between vitamin B12 deficiencies and loss of brain volume is important to know about, because the vitamin plays such a critical role in cognition.

“We found that evidence of B12 deficiency was associated with a smaller brain volume and with increased white-matter hyper intensities on the brain images. We also found that the markers of vitamin B12 deficiency were associated with lower cognitive scores in this sample," said Dr. Martha Claire Morris, one of the authors of the study.

Fish, meat, dairy products, and foods rich in protein are good sources of vitamin B12. Yochelson notes that plant-based diets, as well as diets high in carbohydrates, are generally lacking in B12.

He believes people worldwide should be taking vitamin B12 supplements, in the form of pills, injections, or nasal sprays, to prevent the kind of brain function loss described in the study.

“The key [lesson] from this is that we probably need to be testing for this very early on because if there is any hope of successful treatment, it's most likely early treatment before somebody develops cognitive impairment,” Yochelson said.

Dr. Yochelson says the new study should serve as a foundation for more research on younger populations, especially those in Africa, South Asia, and South and Central America, regions with the highest rates of B12 deficiency.

Melanoma - Looking For A Cure

Australian Researchers Use DNA to Aid Skin Cancer Research
Phil Mercer | Sydney
VOA - September 9, 2011

Australian researchers are set to begin a multimillion dollar project to try to unlock the genetic secrets of melanoma. The incidence of the potentially fatal form of skin cancer has increased across the globe in recent years. But it is more common in Australia than anywhere else. Each year there are 100,000 new cases and 1,200 deaths.

Researchers at the Melanoma Institute of Australia are looking for a cure for the deadly form of cancer by finding its genetic weak spot. The objective is to identify the most dangerous genetic mutations and determine which patients are most at risk of aggressive forms of the disease.

The Institute’s co-director of research, Graham Mann, says researchers plan to map the DNA profile of tens of thousands of tissue specimens.

“We and others have just decided that we have to end this phase of research as quickly as possible. We have to know what are all the mutations that are driving melanoma so we can get on with the job of sifting out the ones that can be targeted, the ones that are important prognostically. We cannot afford to let this drag on for five or 10 or 15 years just dithering around," Mann said. "The technology is there now for us to do this that is basically genome sequencing technology - same as for the human genome project.”

Genetic research over the past forty years has helped develop a new generation of drugs that are still in the clinical testing phase.

Dr. Georgina Long, an oncologist at the Melanoma Institute in Sydney, is optimistic that these treatments, which target genetic mutations, will be able to slow down the spread of skin cancer.

“One that we are particularly interested in or [a] class of drugs we’ve been working on are something called BRAF inhibitors, which is a mutation in the melanoma not in the person but in their melanoma," she explained. "And at looking how drugs that target that mutation can stop the melanoma from growing and can prolong patients’ survival.”

At the moment melanoma cells are highly unpredictable. Without surgery, they can grow and divide very quickly.

Melanoma affects more young Australians than any other form of cancer.

Public health media campaigns present powerful messages about the dangers of over exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, the main cause of this type of skin cancer. But more cases are appearing each year.

Melanoma is increasing around the world, including Europe, the Middle East and China. The majority of cases are treated successfully with surgery. But those patients with more advanced and aggressive melanoma should benefit most from Australia’s genetic research.

Foods That Lower Cholesterol

Cholesterol-Lowering Foods May Prove Healthier
Carol Pearson
VOA - September 02, 2011



A new study out of Canada could potentially save millions of lives. Research shows that, by eating certain foods, people can significantly reduce their cholesterol and improve their chances of avoiding heart disease or stroke.

What's known as the Western diet emphasizes meat and fatty foods and people who follow it have waistlines that show it.

There's a movement now to eat healthier. It's backed by doctors, health officials, government leaders and first lady Michelle Obama, who encourages school children to get more exercise and eat fruits and vegetables. Diet and exercise are key in maintaining healthy cholesterol levels.

Cholesterol is a type of fat. It helps to build and maintain cells. But there are different types of cholesterol. A type called HDL promotes heart health, while another, LDL, contributes to heart disease.

Typical advice is to minimize animal fat or fat that is solid at room temperature. These fats are sources of LDL cholesterol. But it is also known that certain foods help lower bad cholesterol.

"Vegetables like okra, eggplant, all of these are somewhat sticky. They all take out cholesterol from the body," noted Dr. David Jenkins of Saint Michael's Hospital in Toronto, Canada.

Jenkins wanted to study people who followed a low fat diet that included these foods. He wanted to see if their cholesterol levels dropped more than those who just followed a low fat diet.

Bonnie Wood was in the first group.

"The initial change was, like, just to increase the fiber content of my diet," said Wood.

A total of 350 men and women participated. All were on the verge of needing cholesterol-lowering drugs. Those who followed the enhanced diet also ate foods known to lower LDL: apples, grapes, and strawberries, certain whole grains and vegetables, nuts, olive or canola oil, beans and soy products. Six months later, researchers reviewed the results.

Those eating cholesterol-lowering foods had a 13 to 14 percent drop in LDL cholesterol. Those who followed only a low fat diet saw their cholesterol drop only three percent. Dr. Jenkins says the study should encourage people with high cholesterol.

"They can make a difference to their own LDL cholesterol levels by adherence to a good diet," noted Jenkins.

"I would prefer 100 percent to try to lower it (cholesterol) by a program of food rather than statin drugs," added study participate Bonnie Wood.

Researchers say another benefit of this enhanced low-fat diet is that people in the study also reduced their blood pressure. The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Viruses to Fight Cancer

Cancer-Fighting Engineered Virus Makes Medical History
September 01, 2011
VOA

Researchers in Canada have used a genetically-modified virus to selectively kill cancer cells in humans without harming healthy tissue.

The idea of using viruses to fight cancer has interested scientists for decades. That interest has intensified as recent advances in genetic engineering have made it possible to custom design viruses that target cancer tumors.

The experimental viral therapy was administered in a single intravenous treatment in five dose strengths to 23 patients with a variety of advanced cancers. Scientists, including teams from the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, the University of Ottawa, and the private biotechnology company, Jennerex, say the engineered virus, called JX-954, replicated itself in the patient's tumors, but left normal, healthy tissues unaffected in seven of the eight patients in the two highest-dose groups.

Six of the patients in these high-dose groups saw their tumors stabilize or shrink. None of the patients experienced any side effects worse than mild-to-moderate flu-like symptoms that lasted for less than one day.

The researchers say viral therapies like JX-954 stand apart from other cancer treatments because they can attack tumors in multiple ways, they can be customized easily for different types of cancer, and they cause minimal side effects.

The Canadian scientists say much more research is needed, but they predict that the early successes with intravenous viral therapy will lead to a whole new generation of targeted cancer treatments.

The new study is published in the journal, Nature.

Many newborn deaths are easily preventable - Study finds

Study: Millions of Newborns Die Needlessly
Joe DeCapua
August 30, 2011
VOA

Each year, millions of babies die within the first few weeks of life. A new report from the World Health Organization and Save the Children says many of those newborn deaths are easily preventable.

“This is the most comprehensive picture that we have to date of what’s happening for newborn deaths around the world and over time. And these estimates look at 193 countries and over 20 years,” said Dr. Joy Lawn of Save the Children, co-author of the study.

She said newborns are “barely on the global health agenda.”

So young, so vulnerable

“Every year, in the first month of life, there are 3.3 million babies who die. This is a huge number of deaths. It sounds overwhelming, but each of those deaths is a mother who has lost a baby, a family who has lost an expected life. And so we shouldn’t let the numbers overwhelm each individual tragedy that’s behind those,” she said.

Newborn deaths make up over 40 percent of child deaths worldwide.

India has the highest number of newborn deaths each year – more than 900,000. India, along with Nigeria, Pakistan, China and the Democratic Republic of Congo, accounts for more than half of the 3.3 million deaths.

Slow progress

“In certain areas,” said Lawn, “particularly Africa, there’s been very little progress. The average annual rate of reducing newborn deaths in Africa is less than one percent per year. It’s almost the same as no change.”

At that slow rate of progress, Lawn says it’ll take 155 years for African babies to have the same chance of survival that babies in high income countries have today.

The WHO / Save the Children report cites three main causes of newborn deaths. The first is pre-term delivery, being born too early.

“Doing simple things, like keeping them warm, feeding them better, treating infections, would save them,” she said.

The second leading cause of death for newborns is complications during delivery. “So lack of care at the time of birth, having a midwife, having access to safe care at birth would save the baby and the mother,” said Lawn.

A midwife saved her life.

“I’m a baby born in Africa. I was born in the bush of northern Uganda and my mother had complications in childbirth. And she nearly died and I would have died if people hadn’t made a difference,” she said.

She said having more midwives and healthcare workers in rural areas is critical. The third leading cause of death is infection.

“Here simple prevention – not delivering a baby onto a dirty floor, not putting dirty things on the cord, breastfeeding the baby, giving antibiotics – these are all things that would save these babies lives,” she said.

Lawn is the head of Saving Newborn Lives, a program of Save the Children. She said more investment is needed. But she says that means investing in the “right things to do” for child and maternal care.

“This is particularly critical for the Millennium Development Goals. We now only have four years left until that target in 2015,” she said.

The report says even the United States is not immune from the problem. It says 19,000 newborns die in the U.S. each year. That’s a higher newborn death rate than 40 other countries.

AIDS Drugs to Prevent HIV Infection - PrEP drugs

Americans Turn to AIDS Drugs to Prevent HIV Infection
Derek Henkle - VOA July 23, 2011

New research in Africa confirms that a once-a-day pill, used to treat patients infected with the virus which causes AIDS, also works to prevent HIV infection in healthy people.

For 20-year-old New Yorker James Krellenstein, the battle against HIV and AIDS is not a theoretical one.

Not yet old enough to legally buy alcohol in the U.S., Krellenstein had a scare recently, which sent him looking for an emergency treatment to keep from contracting HIV. “I didn’t use a condom, I was drunk, it was not necessarily the wisest decision in my life. He could have been HIV positive, he could have been HIV negative, I don’t know and I don’t want to spend the rest of my life dealing with HIV," he said.

James went on a month-long drug regimen that uses HIV medicines to try to keep the virus from attacking the body’s white blood cells and spreading.

Noted AIDS researcher Dr. Anthony Fauci says it's essential that this emergency therapy be applied quickly to stop HIV infection. “Because if it infects one cell and that cell dies but doesn't infect another cell then the infection is over," he said.

Doctors are already using AIDS drugs to prevent infections the way James was treated - as an emergency measure.

But three new studies now seem to confirm that Truvada, a combination pill of two anti-retroviral drugs, may also be effective as a longer-term preventive measure, for people who might be exposed to HIV.

The new studies focused on what’s called Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, or PrEP, in heterosexual couples in Africa. They confirm an earlier study showing similar results among gay men.

Dr. Raymond Martins heads an HIV/AIDS clinic in Washington. He says that while using the drugs to treat already HIV-positive patients helps keep them from transmitting it to others, PrEP is also a valuable tool to protect uninfected patients from the virus. “I’m very excited about this// We need a lot of options to prevent new HIV infections and pre-exposure prophylaxis looks like it’s going to one of those options," he said.

Researchers say using PrEP provides a 62 to 73 percent chance of preventing infection.

But while the drugs are effective, they are also expensive.

It’s at pharmacies like Whitman Walker Health that government subsidies substantially bring down the cost of these life saving medications. Though Gilead, the manufacturer, has recently made an announcement that will impact the developing world by making the medication available for as low as 21 cents per day.

Gilead has agreed to enter the UN Medicines Patent Pool, allowing their anti-retroviral drugs to be produced as a generic form for use in the developing world for both PrEP and HIV treatments.

Here in the United States, Gilead says once the US Food and Drug Administration approves this use, the company may make the PrEP drugs available through a program that helps those who can't afford prescriptions.

The medicines will still be produced as branded drugs in the United States, costing around $1,500 per month.

James Krellenstein’s story is not unique. He’s part of the only demographic in America with increasing HIV infections.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that gay and bisexual men, just 4 percent of the U.S. male population, are 44 times more likely than heterosexual men to become HIV positive.

“Most of my friends, straight or gay, don’t use a condom every time. I try to use a condom every time, I do, as a person who is relatively knowledgeable about this issue, it’s scary not to," Krellenstein said.

Despite the benefits of the PrEP drugs, some public health experts worry they may lead to complacency about condom use.

Brant Miller, like other AIDS activists, says he plans to continue aggressively promoting condoms. “It is a good way to prevent the spread of HIV that we’ve been using and has always worked, and will continue to work regardless of whether or not people have access to PrEP," he said.

James Krellenstein says he is grateful he found a doctor to prescribe him anti-retrovirals, and he credits their use with his remaining HIV negative. He now runs a website called: PEPNow.org which links those seeking treatment with doctors who can help them.

“I think the best way people can protect themselves is if they feel like they’re at risk for HIV infection, or after a high-risk sexual encounter, go to your health care practitioner as soon as possible, just so you can know the various options to prevent HIV," said Dr. Martins.

Options that have doctors and patients both hoping this little blue pill, taken daily, will become a game changer in the global struggle to end the AIDS epidemic.





AIDS Drugs to Prevent HIV Infection
Article and Video from VOA

Some Fatty Foods Trigger Natural High - the same class of feel-good brain chemicals that marijuana stimulates in the brain

Some Fatty Foods Trigger Natural High

VOA - Jessica Berman | Washington, D.C. - July 08, 2011

Fatty foods can trigger the production of endocannabinoids, the same class of feel-good brain chemicals that marijuana stimulates in the brain.

 

Ever wonder why foods that are bad for you - such as fat-laced potato chips and French fries - taste so good? It turns out they follow the same pleasure-inducing biochemical pathways through the body as marijuana does, encouraging people to keep eating even when they know they should stop.

There used to be an old television commercial in the United States that boasted a certain brand of potato chip tasted so good, you could never eat just one.  It turns out there is a biological reason for that.

Fat is an important component of healthy human cell membranes and high-fat foods, which are rare in the wild, and were prized by early humans as a rich source of energy. As a result, says Daniele Piomelli at the University of California, Irvine, humans developed a biological preference for fatty foods.

“The mechanisms that have evolved to make animals eat as much as possible now are turning against us because now fat is everywhere," says Piomelli. "We have fat in our refrigerators, in our cabinets in the kitchen and it is very easy for us to eat too much of it because of this long evolution that has taught us that it is rare and hard to find.”

Piomelli's team has discovered a biological pathway that encouraged ancient humans to eat large quantities of the scarce nutrient - whenever they found it - to ensure their survival. Today, eating fat still provokes feelings of pleasure and satisfaction, similar to the high people get when smoking marijuana.

According to Piomelli, when fatty foods are swallowed and hit the upper digestive tract, they trigger the production of endocannabinoids. That's the same class of feel-good brain chemicals that marijuana, or cannabis, stimulates in the brain.

Endocannabinoids in the gut send a surge of cell-signaling to the brain, which shoots back a message telling the body to keep eating.

Piomelli's team discovered the fat pathway in research with rats. The rats didn’t like sugar water or water laced with protein as much as they liked oily water. The animals continued to consume the oil water until they were full, which is the body’s natural signal to stop eating.

But since fats contain more calories than carbohydrates or proteins combined, waiting for satiety, or fullness, is not necessarily the best strategy to limit consumption of fatty foods.

Piomelli says researchers are interested in developing drugs that target endocannabinoids in the digestive tract to help people with their fatty food cravings.

“When some people eat fat, they eat it in large amounts - for example a pint of ice cream or a whole bag of potato chips.  And hopefully by using these type of medications, we can decrease overweight and obesity.”

Some Fatty Foods Trigger Natural High

Health News from VOA

Twitter and Facebook - Social Media Users are Happier, More Engaged Reports Survey

Survey: Social Media Users are Happier, More Engaged

People who use sites like Twitter and Facebook tend to be more trusting, have more close friends

VOA - Ted Landphair | Washington, D.C.
June 30, 2011

 

We call interactive communications tools such as Twitter and Facebook social media. But lots of commentators have asserted that using them heavily makes people less sociable, if not downright anti-social. 

They say such communication is largely self-centered, and that folks get wrapped up in texting or spilling their innermost secrets online, without ever relating to others’ concerns.

But a new national survey of more than 2,200 American adults shows that those who use social-networking sites have what the study calls “higher measures of social well-being.” They are, it found, more trusting, have more close friends, get more support from those friends and are more politically engaged than other Americans.

And the survey, by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, told us something most of us already knew - that Facebook, in particular, has put users in touch with old high-school friends and revived other long-dormant relationships.

Much of the speculation about the impact of social-networking sites has centered on the possibility that they are hurting users’ relationships and pushing them away from participating in the world, notes Keith Hampton.

The University of Pennsylvania communications professor was the lead author of the Pew Report. “We’ve found the exact opposite, that people who use sites like Facebook actually have more close relationships and are more likely to be involved in civic and political activities.”

It can be noted that the 85-page report by Professor Hampton and his colleagues, which also found that the number of people using social-networking sites has doubled since 2008, ran considerably longer than 140 Tweet-able characters.


Survey: Social Media Users are Happier, More Engaged



Article from VOA

Free private well water testing workshop...

Free private well water testing workshop  PRINCESS ANNE, MD –(June 22, 2011) A Safe Drinking Water Clinic is offered on Saturday, July 9, at 10 a.m. in the Food Science and Technology Building on the UMES campus that will help private well owners protect their family’s health. Thousands of Delmarva residents rely on a private water system for their home drinking water supply. Delmarva’s homeowners, therefore, have the sole responsibility of managing the quality of their private water well to ensure it meets drinking water safety standards.  Proper water system maintenance and/or improvements are sometimes not made, however, due to a lack of knowledge and/or financial assistance.

Unpasteurized Milk Gains Support

Unpasteurized Milk Gains Support Despite Risks

VOA - Steve Baragona | Washington -

June 16, 2011

Photo: S. Baragona, VOA

Woman enjoying a cup of raw unpasteurized milk

Health authorities in Germany blame bean, alfalfa and other raw sprouts for the unprecedented outbreak of E. coli bacteria poisonings that are blamed for the deaths of 36 people and illness to 3,000 others. Sprouts can be difficult to grow safely, and raw sprouts have been linked to a number of disease outbreaks over the years. In the United States, another risky food is gaining in popularity -- raw milk.

It is late afternoon at Hedgebrook Farm, about an hour and a half from Washington, and the cows are heading for the milking parlor.

Hedgebrook is one of the few places in the area where you can get raw, unpasteurized milk straight from the cow.

Customer Anna Elrod says at first, she bought it for her son’s health. “My son’s eczema cleared up completely, he never had another ear infection and the milk tastes so much better that I’ll never go back to store milk. Never,” she said.

Raw milk has a devoted following, a fact that baffles food safety advocate Sarah Klein at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “There are absolutely no scientifically proven benefits to drinking raw milk, and there are well-documented risks,” Klein said.

Such as E. coli, salmonella and other bacterial diseases that milk can carry. Pasteurized milk is heated to temperatures that reduce the number of germs, then cooled and bottled. Raw milk drinkers say it also kills the good things in milk. But Klein says it's not worth the risk.

“We went from 25 percent of our food and waterborne outbreaks being linked to dairy products to under 1 percent with the advent of pasteurization,” she said.

For that reason, it is illegal in many states to sell unpasteurized milk.

But a recent crackdown on a farmer carrying raw milk across state lines drew demonstrators to Washington this spring.

They even brought a cow and milked it on the spot. And drank the raw milk in protest.

Some have found a way around the ban on buying raw milk. They share a cow. Anna Elrod explains. “I’m not buying milk. I’m buying part of a cow. I own that cow,” Elrod said.

Hedgebrook Farm sells 25 shares of each cow, providing each part owner with about four liters of milk a week.

Kitty Hockman-Nicholas and her family own Hedgebrook. She says the farm's raw milk is perfectly safe. “Pasteurization started out because there was a need, because of the uncleanliness that we had in the 1700s. But now, all that has changed,” she said.

Hockman-Nicholas says methods have improved since then. She says her dairy is inspected regularly and receives high marks.

But many health experts say bad things sometimes happen even at good dairies, and contamination from dirt, manure and insects can easily find its way into raw milk. Again, food safety advocate Sarah Klein.

“The United States has enjoyed safe milk for many decades now, and unfortunately many consumers are turning back to a time when milk wasn’t a safe product to drink. It’s ironic,” Klein said.

But raw milk’s backers say they will continue to fight for the right to drink milk straight from the cow.

 

Unpasteurized Milk Gains Support Despite Risks

Article and Video from VOA

Water Filter Project in Africa Gets A Technology Boost

June 15, 2011

Water Filter Project in Africa Gets Technology Boost

VOA - Cathy Majtenyi | Nairobi

Photo: VOA - C. Majtenyi

Testing the Vestergaard Frandsen's LifeStraw water filter in Kenya

Technology plays an increasingly prominent role in African development projects. One example is a Swiss company's water filter project in western Kenya that makes use of a sophisticated network of cell phones and satellites.

It's evening at command central in the western Kenyan town of Kakamega. Here, staff of the Swiss company Vestergaard Frandsen pores over results of the day's distribution.

Hours earlier, 3,800 workers visited homes across the area to demonstrate and hand out the company's LifeStraw water filter.

Hairstylist Returns to Work After Going Blind

June 15, 2011

After Going Blind, Hairstylist Returns to Work

Martha Clements feels blessed despite the obstacles

VOA - Susan Logue | Woodbridge, Virginia

Photo: VOA - A. Greenbaum

Martha Clements, who is legally blind, cuts and styles the hair of Kathy Braga, her friend and client.

Faced with a life-changing tragedy, it would be easy for Martha Clements to focus on the negative. But that's not her way. Five year after losing her vision, Clements is back doing what she loves - styling hair.

Back to work

“It is long, oh my goodness, Kathy Braga,” Clements says, running her hands down the length of her client’s hair.

Braga is letting it grow. It now hangs below her shoulders and down her back, and all she wants is a trim, so she asks Clements to show her how much an inch would be.

Clements pulls a ruler from a drawer at her work station and holds it up to Braga’s hair in front near her face. “Right here. An inch will be right here at your chin.”

Clements was a hairstylist for about 10 years before losing her vision. Now, when she begins cutting, it's easy to forget that Clements is completely blind. She carefully compares the length of each strand of hair, relying on her sense of touch. Ultimately, she asks her client to “be her eyes” and check her work.

After a careful inspection, Braga gives her approval. And after Clements blows her hair dry, remarks, “You made me younger…I love it.”

Clements had been doing Braga’s hair for years before she became blind. Braga is proud to say she was Clements’ first customer after she lost her vision.

“She sat me in the kitchen. It was dark, and she said, ‘Are you ready?’ I said, ‘I’m ready.’ And that is when she took this little razor thing, and she said, ‘Look and see if there is hair on the ground,’ and I said, ‘Yes, there is.’ And she said, ‘Okay, I have the right end of the thing.’”

Brush with death

Clements was 42 years old when she suffered a pulmonary embolism that cost her her sight.

“I was dead for 20 minutes first and then half an hour, and the lack of oxygen killed my optical nerve.” The last thing Clements remembers that day was the ambulance coming to get her. “I was gasping for air. I couldn’t breathe. The next thing I remember was waking up three day days later, blind, in the hospital.”

Her ribs had been broken when they resuscitated her. Her shoulder was dislocated. She had to undergo nine months of physical therapy. 

"It was the hardest time in my life," she says, because when she lost her sight, it affected all of her senses. “Everything changed in my life: distance, smell, sounds. My kids didn’t sound the same. My husband didn’t sound the same. I didn’t know my home. It took me three months to find the coffee table.”

Washington, D.C. - American Kidney Fund's "Steps that Count" walk at Nationals Park - Nearby Events

Steps That Count 2011
Washington Nationals Park
1500 South Capital St, SE Washington, D.C. 20003

06/11/2011
Help fight kidney disease in the nation's capital on June 11 at the American Kidney Fund's "Steps that Count" walk at Nationals Park. Walk alone or recruit a team, and help raise money for programs and services that help kidney patients and raise awareness of kidney disease. This all-day event will also include free kidney health screenings and education, cooking demonstrations and food samplings, giveaways, and fun exercise routines to fight back against kidney disease.

To register, please visit www.stepsthatcount.org. For more information, contact Karen Wheeler at 800-638-8299 ext. 7043, email kwheeler@kidneyfund.org.

Sat., June 11, 2011, 8am-2pm
Washington Nationals Park
1500 South Capital St, SE
Washington, D.C. 20003

Address : 6110 Executive Blvd


Url : www.kidneyfund.com


Metro Stop : Navy Yard


Event Producer : American Kidney Fund

Washington DC event information sourced from

http://washington.org/visiting/events-calendar

Cell Phones - Possible Brain Cancer Risk

WHO Panel Cites 'Possible' Brain Cancer Risk from Cell Phone Use

VOA - Zulima Palacio May 31, 2011

A scientific report released Tuesday by the World Health Organization concludes radio frequencies and electromagnetic fields - including those routinely emitted by mobile phones - are "possibly" carcinogenic to humans.

Reduce Surgical Scars - New Bandage Designed To Help Reduce Scars

New Bandage Designed to Reduce Surgical Scars

VOA - Art Chimes May 26, 2011

If you've had major surgery - or know someone who has - you may know firsthand that a trip to the operating room can leave a lifelong souvenir... a scar. Now, researchers in California have developed a new kind of bandage that they've shown reduces scar formation.

Babies wake up taller after they sleep. Research confirms what many grandparents know.

Babies' Growth Spurts Tied to Longer Periods of Sleep

VOA - Carol Pearson May 20, 2011

Photo: VOA

A mother and her baby play, May 2011

 

New research confirms what many grandparents already know: Infants wake up taller right after they sleep.

At Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, a researcher wants to help babies communicate with their parents. Babies have no ability, however, to say what is on their minds. So they communicate through behavior that often leaves parents clueless.