Ginger root reduces digestive inflammation markers to lower colon cancer risk

Monday, October 31, 2011 by: John Phillip

(NaturalNews) Since ancient times, ginger has a long tradition of being very effective in alleviating symptoms of gastrointestinal distress. Modern scientific research has revealed that ginger possesses numerous therapeutic properties including antioxidant effects, an ability to inhibit the formation of inflammatory compounds, and direct anti-inflammatory effects. The result of a new body of research published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, demonstrates the specific antiinflammatory action of the spice on the colon. Health-minded individuals will want to include ginger as part of their regular diet or include an organically harvested supplement to dramatically lower inflammatory risk markers for colon cancer. Dr. Suzanna Zick, a research assistant professor at the University of Michigan Medical School, and her team assembled 30 patient participants to conduct the study. Each was provided with two grams of ginger root supplements per day or a placebo for a period of 28 days. After the test timeframe, researchers measured standard levels of colon inflammation and found statistically significant reductions in most of these markers. They also found trends toward significant reductions in a number of other colon cancer biomarkers. Ginger Root Supplementation Lowers Inflammatory Markers to Lower Colon Cancer Risk A critical inflammation marker in the colon is known to be PGE2, a naturally occurring prostaglandin also called dinoprostone. PGE2 is the prostaglandin that ultimately induces fever, and is therefore an important marker researcher's monitor to determine inflammatory levels in the body. Inflammation has been implicated in prior studies as a precursor to colon cancer, and ginger root supplementation effectively lowers blood levels of the prostaglandin to reduce colon cancer risk. Dr. Zick is a Naturopathic Doctor developing plant and naturally occurring compounds that specifically promote health without the need for deadly pharmaceutical interventions. She noted on the research findings, "We need to apply the same rigor to the sorts of questions about the effect of ginger root that we apply to other clinical trial research." Dr. Zick concluded, "Interest in this is only going to increase as people look for ways to prevent cancer that are nontoxic, and improve their quality of life in a cost-effective way."

Ginger is a spice that has been used for centuries both for its distinctive flavor and medicinal properties as well. Researchers from this study used supplements (2 grams per day) to achieve the inflammatory-reduction results. Most health-conscious people will want to use a lower recommended supplemental dose of 250 mg per day to lower inflammatory risk factors that promote colon cancer. Sources for this article include: http://www.aacr.org/home/public--me... http://www.sciencedaily.com/release... http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_relea... http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/rel... About the author: John Phillip is a Health Researcher and Author who writes regularly on the cutting edge use of diet, lifestyle modifications and targeted supplementation to enhance and improve the quality and length of life. John is the author of 'Your Healthy Weight Loss Plan', a comprehensive EBook explaining how to use Diet, Exercise, Mind and Targeted Supplementation to achieve your weight loss goal. Visit My Optimal Health Resource to continue reading the latest health news updates, and to download your Free 48 page copy of 'Your Healthy Weight Loss Plan'.

CDC advisory panel declares that young boys should be vaccinated against HPV, cervical cancer
Friday, October 28, 2011 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

(NaturalNews) In a shocking display of utter corruption and ignorance, a US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory committee has officially declared that young boys and men between the ages of 11 and 21 should be vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV), the viral infection supposedly linked to causing cervical cancer in women. Despite the fact that males do not even have a cervix, 12 of the 14 CDC committee members decided that vaccinating boys as young as nine against the virus is still a good idea. And in a separate vote, the majority of the committee members also decided that men as old as 26 should be vaccinated against HPV as well, which encompasses practically all young men. The decision is founded in the CDC's belief that Merck & Co.'s Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) Cervarix, the two vaccines approved for HPV, also help to prevent genital warts and various types of cancers in males. Such claims, though, have never actually been proven. The studies used as proof are skewed, and all of them were funded by the vaccine manufacturers. There really is no solid medical proof that either Gardasil or Cervarix prevent HPV infections, cancer, or the transmission of HPV from men to women, as proponents of the vaccines claim. "Though about 40 other countries have approved the vaccine (Gardasil) for males, there is still no medical proof Gardasil prevents penile cancer or other HPV-associated cancers in men," says an Associated Press (AP) report from 2008. "There also is no evidence the vaccine prevents the spread of HPV from men to women" (http://www.nj.com/business/index.ss...). But the CDC advisory committee cannot let the facts get in the way of the pro-HPV vaccine agenda. A recent CNN report on the announcement even admits that the sudden push to vaccinate boys against HPV has little to do with actually stopping the spread of disease, and everything to do with getting as many people vaccinated as possible.

"One reason for the push now is that girls aren't getting vaccinated in the numbers doctors had expected," says the report. And the reason girls are not getting vaccinated is because HPV vaccines are linked to a host of very serious and deadly side effects, and have never been proven to be effective at preventing or treating anything (http://www.naturalnews.com/Gardasil...). To learn more about the dangers of Gardasil, visit: http://sanevax.org/ Sources for this article include: http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/25/healt...

PBS documentary highlights marijuana's amazing ability to treat disease

Monday, October 10, 2011 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

(NaturalNews) The advent of the internet and the free flow of information that has enlightened the minds of millions, the mainstream media can no longer simply ignore or deny the truth about marijuana's medicinal capacity. This was made evident in a recent PBS documentary that highlighted marijuana's ability to alleviate pain, treat epilepsy, and even cure cancer. But now that the cat is out of the bag, the stage is being set for Big Pharma to freely synthesize and patent marijuana's healing components, not necessarily for the plant itself to become legalized. Though mostly positive in its portrayal of cannabis, the PBS report does contain some sound bytes from Dr. Eric Voth, Chair of the Institute on Global Drug Policy, a longtime, and very outspoken, opponent of medical marijuana. But all in all, the documentary is a compelling and highly-informative piece that may help to eventually turn the stigmatic tides of fear and superstition that surround this taboo plant. To watch the full ten-minute PBS report on medical marijuana entitled Clearing the Smoke: The Benefits, Limits of Medical Marijuana visit: http://video.pbs.org/video/2103797319 In the piece, a PBS interviewer speaks with an anonymous woman from Montana who has essentially cured her epilepsy by eating raw marijuana butter. The woman moved from her unidentified home state, which does not allow for the use of medicinal marijuana, where a law was passed in 2004 that permits doctors there to recommend medicinal marijuana to their patients. "I used to be on approximately 14 different prescriptions and I would still have up to 12 seizures a day," says the woman to the PBS reporter. "I used to take two handfuls of pills. No more. I'm not using [marijuana] to get any psychological effects off of it, I'm just eating the butter raw with bread."

She goes on to say that she had tried virtually every anti-epileptic drug on the market, but to no avail. Of all the treatments she has tried, raw marijuana butter, which is completely natural and free of both toxic and synthetic additives, has been the only one to provide real benefits. And as an added bonus, there are no harmful side effects associated with the consumption of raw marijuana butter like there are with anti-epileptic drugs.

Conventional medicine is unable to grasp the concept of synergistic medicine

Dr. Voth's argument against marijuana in the PBS piece is prefaced with his opinion that because the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not proven the plant to be safe and effective, it is not a real medicine. But the reason for this, as most NaturalNews readers already know, is not because marijuana is unsafe or ineffective -- it is because whole marijuana cannot be patented by drug companies, which pay millions to get their drugs approved, and thus keep the FDA in business. But what is even more disturbing is Dr. Voth's total failure to understand the concept of synergistic medicine, or the benefits that can be derived from consuming a whole plant or herb rather than just its so-called "active components." Dr. Voth laments the fact that people who smoke or consume medical marijuana are exposing themselves to dozens of different cannabinoids and various other substances, rather than just an extract of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), for instance. In the mind of Dr. Voth and conventional medicine, only an "active component" that has been individually tested and shown to produce a specific, measurable effect by itself is considered a valid medical treatment. Consuming a whole herb or plant to treat disease, on the other hand, is a foreign concept to people like Dr. Voth who simply cannot comprehend the idea that the multitude of components found in medicinal foods and herbs work in tandem with one another to produce a synergistic benefit. And such components might not be as effective -- and may even be harmful -- if they are removed from the others and isolated, or created synthetically. "Marijuana contains anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and probably anticancer compounds in it," adds Dr. Donald Abrams, an oncology physician and professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). "I'm a cancer doctor and I often suggest to my patients that they consider marijuana for their loss of appetite, nausea, pain, depression, and insomnia. That's one medicine they can use instead of five." But Dr. Voth insists that medical marijuana as we currently know it is potentially dangerous, and the only way it should ever be used is in an isolated drug form. From this platform, of course, Big Pharma is given the green light to extract, manipulate, synthesize, and otherwise tamper with marijuana in its pure form in order to produce a patented version of marijuana's active components.

US Institute of Medicine has already confirmed that marijuana has medicinal properties
Despite all the ballyhoo from marijuana naysayers, though, the truth still remains that whole marijuana has demonstrable medicinal properties. And the plant works differently from conventional medicine in that it is effective without producing dangerous side effects. Even the US Institute of Medicine (IoM) has confirmed that marijuana in its natural form is therapeutic, particularly for epileptics, having released two separate reports on the subject. You can view samples of those two IoM reports at the following links: Marijuana and Health: Report of a Study http://books.google.com/books?id=8E... Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?rec... And based on numerous patents filed by drug companies for synthetic and isolated component versions of marijuana, the plant apparently has the ability to treat "almost everything," according to PBS. These include its ability to treat multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, Parkinson's disease, Tourette's, epilepsy, heart disease, obesity, mental illness, and cancer. Thus, drug companies want marijuana all to themselves because they know how effective it truly is. And they have worked hard to effectively block its legalization in whole form in the hopes that it can eventually corner the market on patented drug versions, which of course have the potential to reap billions of dollars in new revenue. Again, be sure to check out the complete PBS excerpt on marijuana for yourself at: http://video.pbs.org/video/2103797319 And to learn more about marijuana, visit the NaturalNews archives at: http://www.naturalnews.com/Marijuan... Sources for this story include: http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2...

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