Food Research: High fat/low carb diet could combat schizophrenia ♦ Almonds may help augment nutrients in diet ♦Coffee may improve athletic endurance performance

High fat/low carb diet could combat schizophrenia A diet favored by body-builders may be effective in treating schizophrenia, suggest researchers. The ketogenic diet may work by providing alternative energy sources in the form of so-called ketone bodies (products of fat breakdown) and by helping to circumvent abnormally functioning cellular energy pathways in the brains of schizophrenics

Fish oil helps transform fat cells from storage to burning Fish oil transforms fat-storage cells into fat-burning cells, which may reduce weight gain in middle age. Fish oil activates receptors in the digestive tract, fires the sympathetic nervous system, and induces storage cells to metabolize fat.

Coffee may improve athletic endurance performance The caffeine in a morning cup of coffee could help improve athletic endurance.

Almonds may help augment nutrients in diet Eating a moderate amount of almonds each day may enrich the diets of adults and their young children.When parents and children were eating almonds, their Healthy Eating Index increased for total protein foods, seafood and plant proteins and fatty acids, while they ate fewer empty calories

Bacterial Research:Quick way to determine bacterial' antibiotic resistance ♦ Humans carry more antibiotic-resistant bacteria than animals ♦ Off switch for biofilm formation discovered

Humans carry more antibiotic-resistant bacteria than animals they work with One of the most common and costly diseases faced by the dairy industry is bovine mastitis, a potentially fatal bacterial inflammation of the mammary gland. Widespread use of antibiotics to treat the disease is often blamed for generating antibiotic-resistant bacteria. However, researchers investigating staphylococcal populations responsible for causing mastitis in dairy cows in South Africa found that humans carried more antibiotic-resistant staphylococci than the farm animals with which they worked.

Off switch for biofilm formation discovered When disease-causing bacteria establish a biofilm on hospital equipment, it can be impossible to sterilize the devices, raising infection rates and necessitating expensive replacements. Now, scientists have found an enzyme that shuts down the signals bacteria use to form a biofilm. The findings could one day help make biofilm-related complications a distant memory.

Fish oil-diet benefits may be mediated by gut microbes Diets rich in fish oil versus diets rich in lard (e.g., bacon) produce very different bacteria in the guts of mice, reports a new study. The researchers transferred these microbes into other mice to see how they affected health. The results suggest that gut bacteria share some of the responsibility for the beneficial effects of fish oil and the harmful effects of lard.

Quick way to determine bacterial' antibiotic resistance Bacteria's ability to become resistant to antibiotics is a growing issue in healthcare: Resistant strains result in prolonged illnesses and higher mortality rates. One way to combat this is to determine bacteria's antibiotic resistance in a given patient, but that often takes days -- and time is crucial in treatment. Scientists have developed a technique that can sort antibiotic-resistant from 'susceptible' bacteria, and it happens in a matter of minutes.

Brain Research: Electronic micropump delivers treatments deep within the brain ♦ Brain development suffers from lack of fish oil fatty acids ♦ Inadequate vitamin E can cause brain damage

Mechanism outlined by which inadequate vitamin E can cause brain damage  Researchers have discovered how vitamin E deficiency may cause neurological damage by interrupting a supply line of specific nutrients and robbing the brain of the 'building blocks' it needs to maintain neuronal health. They found that nutrients needed to build and maintain the brain can be cut by more than half, with possible implications for an elevated risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Brain development suffers from lack of fish oil fatty acids, study finds  While recent reports question whether fish oil supplements support heart health, scientists have found that the fatty acids they contain are vitally important to the developing brain. Neurobiologists report that dietary deficiencies in the type of fatty acids found in fish and other foods can limit brain growth during fetal development and early in life. The findings suggest that women maintain a balanced diet rich in these fatty acids for themselves during pregnancy and for their babies after birth.

Electronic micropump to deliver treatments deep within the brain  For a condition such as epilepsy, it is essential to act at exactly the right time and place in the brain. For this reason, a team of researchers has developed an organic electronic micropump which, when combined with an anti-convulsant drug, enables localized inhibition of epileptic seizure in brain tissue in vitro.

New studies about endovascular therapy for stroke represent paradigm shift  An expert who writes an accompanying editorial for five studies about endovascular stroke therapy published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine says these randomized clinical trials represent a breakthrough in showing the benefits of endovascular therapy for acute ischemic strokes.

Toxins in Your Fish Oil Tablets

Fatty predatory fish like sharks, swordfish, tilefish, and albacore tuna may be high in omega-3 fatty acids, but due to their position at the top of the food chain, these species may also accumulate toxic substances through what they eat. For this reason, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends limiting consumption of certain (predatory) fish species (e.g. albacore tuna, shark, king mackerel, tilefish and swordfish) due to high levels of toxic contaminants such as mercury, dioxin, PCBs and chlordane.

The omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil are thought to be beneficial in treating excessive triglycerides in your blood and it is beneficial in preventing heart disease..The Question is is there more benefit to taking fish oil  or there more risks from the contaminates ? Would it be better to get the Omega-3 from another source?

Contaminants

 Mercury is an element sometimes called quicksilver. It is Toxic. The burning of coal and gold mining release mercury The mercury that ends up in the atmosphere and may increase the amount of mercury in the oceans.Fish store the murcury in the form of methylmercury As mercury and methylmercury are fat soluble, they primarily accumulate in the viscera, although they are also found throughout the muscle tissue of fish.

Dioxin  is a member of the class of persistent organic pollutants that is produced through combustion, in the bleaching of paper/pulp or in the chemical manufacturing process. In regards to Agent Orange dioxin was a by-product of the deliberately accelerated production of the herbicide 2,4,5-T, one of the components of Agent Orange. Specifically the dioxin contaminating Agent Orange was 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo P Dioxin (TCDD)which is the most toxic of all the dioxins and dioxin-like compounds. The US National Toxicology Program (NTP) and the International Agency for the Research on Cancer list TCDD as a known human carcinogen. Dioxin has been found to be an endocrine disruptor, it can cause acne-like eruption of blackheads, cysts, and pustules , certain cancers, and reproductive and developmental effects (at least in animals).

Dioxin is not absorbed by plants nor is it water soluble. It can attach to fine soil particles or sediment, which are then carried by water downstream and settle in the bottoms of ponds and lakes. It continues to adversely affect people who eat dioxin-contaminated fish, molluscs and fowl produced around point sources of dioxin. However, dioxin is toxic over a long period – a scale of many decades – and does not degrade readily.

PCBs  belong to a broad family of man-made organic chemicals known as chlorinated hydrocarbons. PCBs were domestically manufactured from 1929 until their manufacture was banned in 1979. They have a range of toxicity.  Due to their non-flammability, chemical stability, high boiling point, and electrical insulating properties, PCBs were used in hundreds of industrial and commercial applications  

Once in the environment, PCBs do not readily break down. Thay may remain for long periods of time cycling between air, water, and soil. PCBs can be carried long distances and in areas far away from where they were released into the environment. As a consequence, PCBs are found all over the world.

PCBs can accumulate in the leaves and above-ground parts of plants and food crops. They are also taken up into the bodies of small organisms and fish. As a result, people who ingest fish may be exposed to PCBs that have bioaccumulated in the fish they are ingesting.

PCBs have been demonstrated to cause cancer, as well as a variety of other adverse health effects on the immune system, reproductive system, nervous system, and endocrine system.

Chlordane is a compound used as a pesticide. This white solid was sold in the U.S. until 1983 as an insecticide for crops like corn and citrus, and on lawns and domestic gardens. Depending on the site of home treatment, the indoor air levels of chlordane can still exceed the Minimal Risks Levels (MRLs) for both cancer and chronic disease by orders of magnitude.

Chlordane is excreted slowly through feces, urine elimination, and through breast milk in nursing mothers. It is able to cross the placenta and become absorbed by developing fetuses in pregnant women. A breakdown product of chlordane, the metabolite oxychlordane, accumulates in blood and adipose tissue with age

Exposure to chlordane metabolites may be associated with testicular cancer. The incidence of tumor of the testis in men with the highest blood levels.  Prostate cancer has been associated with trans-nonachlor levels, a component of chlordane. Japanese workers who used chlordane over a long period of time had minor changes in liver function.

The non-cancer health effects of chlordane compounds, which include diabetes, insulin resistance, migraines, respiratory infections, immune-system activation, anxiety, depression, blurry vision, confusion, intractable seizures as well as permanent neurological damage probably affect more people than cancer. Recent results from 8 large epidemiological studies in the United States, using CDC's NHANES data, have consistently shown of all the chemicals found in the blood of Americans, heptachlor epoxides and oxychlordane have the highest associated risk with insulin resistance and diabetes.

Some fish oil products have more contaminated than others.Sense the FDA does not require that information on the label there is no way for the consumer.There are some fish oil products that reduce the amount of PCBs.

2/7/14 Health News: U.S. River Is 'Toxic Soup - Fish Oil Helps Preserve Brain Cells - Caffeine Enhances Memory - FDA Checks Into 'Caramel Coloring

U.S. River Is 'Toxic Soup' After Coal Ash Spill

The leak, which started Sunday at a closed Duke Energy plant along the Dan River, has dumped 82,000 tons into waterway Continue Reading

FDA Checks Into 'Caramel Coloring' After Consumer Reports study

The Food and Drug Administration says it is taking a new look at a brown food coloring in sodas and other foods after Consumer Reports said it found higher than expected levels of a potentially cancer-causing agent in some soft drinks. The group said its tests of soft drinks using caramel coloring show some contain higher-than-necessary levels of a compound called 4-methylimidazole or 4-MEI Continue Reading

Fish Oil May Help Preserve Brain Cells, Study Suggests

Women with high blood levels of fish oils have larger brain volumes then those with lower levels, suggesting the oils may delay the normal loss of brain cells due to aging, research found. Those who raised their levels of two major omega-3 fatty acids by eating fish or taking supplements had larger total brain volume than those who didn’t, according to research posted online today by the journal Neurology. As people age, their brains get smaller but the shrinkage is accelerated in those with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, the authors said. While today’s findings suggest that larger brain volumes equal a one- to two-year delay in the normal loss of brain cells, more studies are needed to look at what that means for memory, said James Pottala, the lead study author.Continue Reading

Caffeine Enhances Memory Consolidation

Caffeine appears to have an enhancing effect on memory consolidation, a new study suggests. Those individuals who had taken the caffeine were better able to discriminate the new items and were more likely to detect that the similar items were different from those viewed the day before, Continue Reading