Health Care Reform needs Natural Medicine
Health care cannot be reformed if we are to rely on prescription drugs and the doctors who push them. We cannot be safe and healthy without the knowledge that if the food we buy is not organic, it is loaded with chemicals used in a variety of poisonous products. Poison kills, or it wouldn't be poison! Eventually our bodies break down and lose the ability to heal themselves, yet we go running back to the doctor for more pills!

Americans need to get off drugs. We need to look at the big picture and realize that we have other choices. We need to accept Natural Medicine and Whole Body Healing as a legal medical practice that is safe and focused on our well being.

European Union: Probiotic health claims dismissed
Scientists at the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) looked at 180 health claims for the supplements.

They rejected 10 claims and said a further 170 had not provided enough evidence of their effects.

Europe will have very "clean" food labels it seems. No health information allowed. But do we really need the Brussels Commission to protect us from finding out what certain foods might be good for? Are they thinking we are so weak we can't be trusted to read what someone believes their product is good for? 100 % protected - 100 % governed. Go Europe, go ... good for you! :-(

EU: Pressure against Lisbon Treaty intensifies
With increasing numbers of European citizens showing their concerns about ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, the pressure against Lisbon is clearly intensifying, and it seems that ‘No’ voters are being encouraged by the ‘Klaus’ factor. In an article written in June 2008 about the Czech threat to the Lisbon Treaty, the BBC quoted Sarkozy, as having said "Ireland is a problem, but if we have a second or third problem then it's really going to get difficult".

Treaty of Lisbon: Questions about the Irish Referendum
May I take the opportunity of saying that the current Lisbon referendum, as I presume you have noted, has been characterized by monstrous illegality on the part of several key parties, as follows:-

1. The intervention of the European Commission, which is unlawful under European law
2. The part-funding of the posters and press advertisements of most of Ireland's Yes-side political parties by their sister parties in the European Parliament
3. The Government's unlawful use of public funds
4. The failure of your own Referendum Commission to carry out its statutory function...

Daily sweets 'linked to violence'
The Cardiff University study involving 17,500 people is the first into effects of childhood diet on adult violence. It found 10-year-olds who ate sweets daily were significantly more likely to have a violence conviction by age 34.

Are You Depressed, or Just Human?
The message -- all sadness is depression, depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain, this pill will make you happy, your doctor will get it for you -- could not be clearer. The fact that the ad appears on television, the ultimate mass medium, also implies that depression is extremely common.

Study: Paxil Is Worst Drug For Suicide Attempts
An interesting paper came out in PLoS last week in which researchers from the University of Alabama looked at suicidal ideations reported in the FDA's adverse events database for 832 prescription drugs and compared that with suicide attempts reported in the database. The study covered 2004 through 2008 and found that Paxil was by far the worst drug of any kind on the market with 1,323 suicide attempts.

Paxil accounted for about one-third of all suicide attempts reported for all 32 anti-depressants (1,323 for Paxil and 3,572 for all anti-depressants).

Keep doctors independent; ban fees from drug makers
Patients trust doctors as stewards of their health. They revere them as scientists who can exercise sound, independent judgment. Allowing doctors to promote drugs for pharmaceutical companies takes advantage of that trust and reverence. It also compromises doctors’ most important work: treating people who are ill.

Blockbuster Primate Study Shows Significant Harm from One Birth Dose of a Mercury-Containing Vaccine
A research team led by scientists from the University of Pittsburgh and Thoughtful House reported today that exposure to a birth dose of a hepatitis B vaccine that included an ethyl mercury preservative caused significant delays in the development of several survival reflexes in male rhesus macaque monkeys. The findings were published on line today in the journal Neurotoxicology.

And here we are injecting that stuff into our babies quite routinely. Why should we allow this?

Advocacy Groups Ask President Obama to Order Suspension of Hepatitis B Vaccine Birth Dose
Considering a demonstrated 50% increase in autism prevalence, combined with two recent studies indicating a potential role of the Hepatitis B vaccine as a factor in the development of autism, advocacy groups urge President Obama to order the immediate suspension of the recommendation and administration of the birth dose of Hepatitis B vaccine for all newborns – with the exception of rare cases where the mother tests positive for Hepatitis B.

Members of European Parliament question swine flu vaccine safety
Françoise Grossetête, a French Member of the EPP group said: "Loads of people say that seasonal flu is not that dangerous and not that many people die per year. If the N1H1 is similar to that why make such a fuss about it?"

H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine Insert Warns of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, Vasculitis, Paralysis, Anaphylactic Shock, Death
According to the package insert, the vaccine (based on an earlier vaccine product known as Fluvirin) is known to cause a whole host of very nasty side effects such as guillain-barre syndrome, vasculitis, anaphylactic shock and even death.

Of course anyone who has been studying vaccine side effects already knows that it causes all of these things, but the story here is that the insert for the swine flu vaccine itself is admitting all of these things. The insert says that it was updated during September 2009, so it reflects the very latest information.

Facts and Fiction About the 2009 Swine Flu Pandemic
In May 2009 the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that the outbreak of swine flu had passed and that there was no immediate danger of its spread. However, a month later (June 2009), after a wave of various medical expert opinions surfaced predicting dire outcomes from swine flu virus, the WHO revised its statement and declared a swine flu pandemic. Of course, this put a lot of pressure on the governments of many countries to mobilize their resources and get ready to meet the challenge of combating the flu with drugs and vaccines...

Influenza diagnostic testing cannot distinguish between H1N1 and other viruses
You may not be able to find out definitively what flu virus you have. Currently available rapid influenza diagnostic tests cannot distinguish between 2009 H1N1 and seasonal influenza A viruses. Most people with flu symptoms this season will not require testing for 2009 H1N1 because the test results usually do not change how you are treated. As of September 2009, more than 99% of circulating influenza viruses in the United States are 2009 H1N1.

So it seems that "the flu" (the seasonal one) has morphed into "the swine flu" this year. No distinction is being made between the flu and the swine flu.

One interesting question remains to be answered: How does the CDC know that 99% of the flu virus currently on the loose in the USA is H1N1 when their tests either cannot distinguish or aren't even being performed on the vast majority of cases?

Clairvoyance? Or is it just a matter of "selling" the vaccine?

A Heretic’s View of Influenza’s Role in Health & Disease
The immune system is the complex interaction between white blood cells, antibodies, hormones, proteins, enzymes, and inflammatory molecules called cytokines. All act in silent synchrony to maintain health. The body is exposed to billions of microbes on the skin, in the mouth, in the digestive tract, and on everything we touch. Microbes that coexist with humans are called symbionts—organisms we have a beneficial relationship with, and are considered to be part of, our normal flora.

The immune system can easily recognize non-symbionts and effectively eliminates them. This process occurs thousands of times per day with little fanfare. However, it is not the “invasion” by external microbes that leads to symptoms known as an infection; it is the compromise of the immune system due to the contamination of the terrain that allows this to occur.

Prediction: What antiretroviral drugs will accomplish
Prediction 1: The rates of death among young and middle-aged adults from “non-AIDS” conditions like heart failure, kidney failure, liver failure, and assorted cancers will begin to increase significantly within a decade.
Prediction 2: The proportion of those “benefiting” from antiretroviral drugs who die or drop out will increase steadily.
Prediction 3: For years, perhaps many years, these predicted happenings will be masked from general view by fudging of “drop-out” and death statistics. Iatrogenic deaths will be reported as something else. Eventually, though, it will become impossible to hide the real facts since they will become increasingly obvious to lay observers.

The Mitochondria & Degenerative Diseases or How ARVS cause AIDS
The fact that the slowing down, manipulation, and damage of the mitochondria is one of the tell tale signs of all degenerative diseases... and that the drugs slow down and damage the mitochondria is something that really needs to be discussed. In a recent study where they put several non-HIV positive people on HAART after only thirty days all showed mitochondrial DNA damage...

Raindance Film Festival Screens House of Numbers - "A stunning piece of filmmaking!"
We were flooded with hate mail, emails, legal letters couriered from the States from all sorts of people threatening us and accusing us of being prissy and smug about showing this film obviously from people who obviously hadn’t seen it accusing this film of being an “AIDS denialist” film and I’ve just seen the film and it’s obviously not an “AIDS denialist” film at all. It’s just a brilliant piece of filmmaking – journalistic filmmaking which, anyone who takes the time and effort to see it should completely re-examine their view of the whole AIDS/HIV question… I think history is gonna be re-written or should be re-written and perhaps this… film is one of the first steps.

The demise of the dollar
In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.

Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars.

This change has been bubbling under the surface for some years now. Here is what I wrote six years ago:Will Oil End War Economy?

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CONTRIBUTE to these health newsgrabs.
Just tell me about a link you think is interesting. Email me at (sepp -at- lastrega -dot- com)
twitter (healthsupreme)
facebook (facebook.com/hasslberger)

And, by the way, there is much more information out there...

There is a lot I cannot cover but other sources for this kind of information exist.

Zeus Info Service is one of those. Louise, who runs the site, also has a weekly newsletter all about homeopathy - Zeus Homeopathy News.

Dr Mercola's health blog, Mike Adams' Natural News and the One Click Group in the UK have good health information. The Dr Rath Foundation is also putting out a weekly collection of health related news. Here is the link to their Newsletter Archive.

For the influence of electromagnetic waves from radio, mobile phones and other radio emitting devices, check out the emr-updates group on Yahoo. Genetic modification and issues around agriculture and foods are reported on the Organic Consumers Association site.

A few sites to keep up to date with the other side of world affairs, the stuff you won't necessarily find on your tv or in the papers:

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com
http://www.commondreams.org
http://www.globalresearch.ca/
http://www.truthout.org/

- - -

The individual is supreme and finds its way through intuition

Vaccine skepticism goes viral
A skeptical view of vaccination is gaining currency, while health authorities around the world are preparing to resort to compulsory vaccination against the H1N1 strain of influenza.

End the practice of vaccination?We are pumping toxins and viruses into the blood stream of children from the first hours of their lives all the way to and including school age. Many bright young minds are lost to mercury, alluminium, formaldehyde and other toxic stuff in the vaccines. Normal, natural immunity to diseases has become practically unknown. On the contrary however, we have huge numbers of autistic children and we wonder why kids can't sit still in school any more. We are ruining future generations by vaccination. IT IS TIME TO ABOLISH VACCINATION AS A MEDICAL PRACTICE!

UK Girl Dies After Getting HPV Vaccine
The UK press is reporting that a 14-year-old girl died soon after being given GlaxoSithKline's HPV vaccine Cervarix. A few other girls at her school took ill after getting the vaccine.

Unpublished studies question whether seasonal flu shot raises swine flu risk
Drawn from a series of studies from British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario, the data appear to suggest that people who got a seasonal flu shot last year are about twice as likely to catch swine flu as people who didn't.

Video:Doctor Admits Vaccine Is More Deadly Than Swine Flu Itself & Will Not Give It To His Kids
Mercury, of course, is one of the most toxic substances you can put in a human body. It is a heavy metal known to contribute to neurological disorders, including autism, dementia, and even Alzheimer's disease.

Study demonstrates that aluminum found in vaccines can cause neurologic damage
The investigators found "the multiple aluminum hydroxide injections of experiment 2 showed profound effects on motor and other behaviours... Multiple aluminum injections produced significant behavioural outcomes including changes in locomotion behavior, and induced memory deficits..."

Live Swine Flu Shots Infects U.S. Naval Vessel - Kills Captain and Chief Petty Officer
This is an unconfirmed report - take with a grain of salt.
... an ENTIRE US Naval Ship's crew, after being force vaccinated, has come down with a VERY VIRULENT swine flu, and the captain and chief petty officer has died.

Some more detail on this (still unconfirmed) story here: Swine Flu Outbreak on US Navy Ship after Crew Vaccinated

Len Horowitz files pandemic charges against Rockefeller
Dr. Leonard G. Horowitz and Sherri Kane, an investigative journalist, have released evidence in legal affidavits that leaders of a private global biotechnology "trust" are behind the pandemic flu, including its origin and alleged prevention via vaccinations. Their documents, being sent by attorneys to the FBI this week, evidence industrialists are operating a crime ring within the "Partnership for New York City" (PNYC), and are behind the pandemic's creation, media persuasions, vaccination preparations, and health official promotions.

Intravenous Vitamin C Used to Recover Terminal Swine Flu Case
The patient deteriorated further and was on life support. The family was told nothing more could be done and life support would be switched off. His lungs were not functioning. The family said NO -- not until everything has been tried.

The hospital was pushed hard to give him IVC and reluctantly agreed, saying if there was no improvement by Friday, that's it.

The patient showed signs of improvement by Wednesday, to the hospital’s surprise...

Gut worms protect against allergy
Parasitic gut worms, such as hookworm, might aid the development of new treatments for asthma and other allergies, a study in Vietnam suggests.

[E]xperts believe that over millions of years of co-evolution worms have found methods to dampen down host immune responses to prolong their own survival inside humans.
This relationship seems to have become so intertwined that without gut worms or other parasites, our immune system can become unbalanced, which, in turn, could contribute to the development of asthma and other allergies.

Just as we have learned to poison pests in our environment, we tend to eliminate (by poison) the "pests" and "microbes" we find in out bodies, not considering that through a long period of evolution, our bodies have developed synergies with many of the smaller organisms that accompany us. I say we should learn more about beneficial interactions with those pests and microbes, before we unleash the full killing power of our pharmaceutical poisons on them...

American Association of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) Sues Wikipedia
by Tim Bolen
This is a very important case to the anyone involved in health care anywhere in the world.. Why? Because Wikipedia articles about health care have turned Wikipedia into a PROPAGANDA MACHINE - with the full knowledge, and cooperation, of the management of both the Wikipedia Project, and the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikipedia is the fourth ranked website on Planet Earth.

More, the abuse is so obvious, and so extensive, I strongly suspect that the Wikimedia Foundation's claims of "funding by donations" is an outright lie. I believe that a good case can be made that some, if not all, of Wikimedia's so-called "Anonymous Contributions" (the majority of contributions) are, in fact, "Fee for Service Contracts" in disguise, initiated by those controlling and paying for the writing of the articles.

In short, I believe that Wikipedia is a fraud.

What is wrong with Codex Alimentarius?
The major danger I see in Codex is that its regulations are industry friendly and designed to make most of the industrial foods "acceptable" in all member countries, so multinational food companies can produce in one place and sell everywhere else. Since industry is infinitely more powerful in lobbying and steering the Codex process than consumers are, the outcome is that Codex food rules, rather than protect consumer health, are geared to protect industry profits and open new markets for processed foods.

Court Rejects Genetically Modified Sugar Beets
The government illegally approved a genetically modified, herbicide-resistant strain of sugar beets without adequately considering the chance they will contaminate other beet crops, a federal judge in San Francisco has ruled.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White rejected the U.S. Department of Agriculture's decision in 2005 to allow Monsanto Co. to sell the sugar beets, known as "Roundup-Ready" because they are engineered to coexist with Monsanto's Roundup herbicide.

German consumers get “No Genetic Engineering” label for food
German consumers can now find out if their food has been genetically modified. Minister of Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Ilse Aigner, recently introduced a new “No Genetic Engineering” logo.

The green and white logo, which reads Ohne Gentechnik in German, will guarantee that food has no trace of genetically engineered substances.

Instead of spraying chemicals on your lawns, use these sustainable solutions
Only 5% of pesticides reach target weeds, the rest ends up in our water supply or the air we breathe. Runoff from fertilizers pollutes streams and lakes and cause algae blooms, depleted oxygen and damage to aquatic life.

Research has found that dogs exposed to herbicide-treated lawns can double their chance of developing lymphoma and bladder cancer.

Of 30 commonly used pesticides: 16 are toxic to birds, 24 to fish, and 11 to bees. In the U.S. alone, pesticides poison approximately 65 million birds each year...

UK: Sweetener aspartame to be investigated for possible side-effects
The Food Standards Agency is calling for volunteers to help test claims that the artificial sweetener aspartame, used in more than 4,000 products, causes illnesses.

Researchers led by Professor Stephen Atkin, head of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at the Hull York Medical School, will look for signs of illness in volunteers after they consume cereal bars made with or without aspartame.

Atkin's group is recruiting 50 people who believe they are sensitive to aspartame. The volunteers will be matched by age and sex to 50 volunteers who are happy to eat the sweetener.

Santa Fe Pediatrician Ken Stoller Asks FDA to Rescind Aspartame's Approval
Stephen Fox comments:
"Dr. Stoller adds his voice to that of New York Psychiatrist Dr. Ralph Walton and Palm Beach Internist Dr. H.J. Roberts, all of whom have now written very compelling letters to Dr. Margaret Hamburg, the FDA Commissioner, asking her to rescind approval for this neurotoxic and carcinogenic artificial sweetener; there is ample precedent for doing so in Richard Nixon's Presidential Order to the FDA to rescind approval for cyclamates, and there is far more carcinogenicity with aspartame than there was for cyclamates; Obama himself could do this and protect hundreds of millions from further harm from this poison found in 10,000 USA food and pharmaceutical products!"

Synthetic Sweetener Splenda is a Poisonous Chlorocarbon
“Splenda” is the branded name of the popular synthetic sweetener and food additive whose generic name is “sucralose” ... but, the most chemically accurate term for this ubiquitous substance is: trichlorinated sucrose.

Chlorocarbon molecules, including sucralose, are not nutritive; hence the claim that they have “zero calories”. Such molecules, however, adversely affect human cellular metabolism because they are toxic to various enzyme systems and the body’s mitochondria (the sub-cellular “hearts and lungs” of our cells that, when they sicken or die off, will cause the cell to also sicken or die).

US: Sixty Massachusetts Doctors Get Money From Eli Lilly To Promote Its Drugs
"At Boston Medical Center, Dr. Brian McGeeney, a neurologist, received $30,000 during that period [first three months of 2009], and Dr. Elliot Sternthal, an endocrinologist, was paid $11,587.50, according to a faculty registry on Lilly’s website."

McGeeney was promoting Cymbalta, Lilly's anti-depressant, presumably for fibromyalgia.

Chermotherapy, Not Cancer, Killed Patrick Swayze
"I hate to be this controversial," Somers continued. "I'm a singer-dancer-comedienne. But we have an epidemic going on, and I have to say it."

Stopping the Psychiatric Abuse of Children
This year's conference comes at a tragic turning point in the psychiatric abuse of children. In the past, the main threat has come from the widespread use of stimulant drugs like Ritalin, Dexedrine, Adderall, Focalin, and Concerta for children labeled with ADHD. These drugs work by crushing spontaneous behavior. Frequently this leads to depression, as well as insomnia, anxiety and psychosis. The stimulants suppress the growth of children, cause abnormalities in their brains, induce sudden cardiac death, and predispose children to cocaine abuse in young adulthood.

As bad as this is, the situation of our children has recently become even more desperate...

HIV IS A MISDIAGNOSIS
The amount of research available that more than validates many of the perspectives of those in the dissident movement is staggering. Today there is study after study of the dangers of ARVS. Its shocking to discover that the slowing down of the mitochondria is the sign of all degenerative diseases, whilst doscovering that these drugs intentionally slow down the mitochondria.

Video:Mobile Phones: Biological effect on blood after 5, 17 and 29 minutes

The Porto Alegre Resolution on Nonionizing Radiation Health and Environment
We are concerned about the body of evidence that indicates that exposure to electromagnetic fields interferes with basic human biology and may increase the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases. The exposure levels at which these effects have been observed are many times lower than the standards promulgated by the International Commission for Non-Ionizing radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and the IEEE's International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety (ICES).

We are deeply concerned that current uses of non-ionizing radiation for mobile phones, wireless computers and other technologies place at risk the health of children and teens, pregnant women, seniors and others who are most vulnerable due to age or disability, including a health condition known as electromagnetic hypersensitivity. We strongly recommend these precautionary practices...

For more information on the Porto Alegre conference, including a complete record of the proceedings, see http://www.icems.eu under "Workshops."

- - -

CONTRIBUTE to these health newsgrabs.
Just tell me about a link you think is interesting. Email me at (sepp -at- lastrega -dot- com)
twitter (healthsupreme)
facebook (facebook.com/hasslberger)

And, by the way, there is much more information out there...

There is a lot I cannot cover but other sources for this kind of information exist.

Zeus Info Service is one of those. Louise, who runs the site, also has a weekly newsletter all about homeopathy - Zeus Homeopathy News.

Dr Mercola's health blog, Mike Adams' Natural News and the One Click Group in the UK have good health information. The Dr Rath Foundation is also putting out a weekly collection of health related news. Here is the link to their Newsletter Archive.

For the influence of electromagnetic waves from radio, mobile phones and other radio emitting devices, check out the emr-updates group on Yahoo. Genetic modification and issues around agriculture and foods are reported on the Organic Consumers Association site.

A few sites to keep up to date with the other side of world affairs, the stuff you won't necessarily find on your tv or in the papers:

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com
http://www.commondreams.org
http://www.globalresearch.ca/
http://www.truthout.org/

- - -

The individual is supreme and finds its way through intuition

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Women who never get mammograms are far more likely to die of breast cancer than women who are regularly screened, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

They said 75 percent of the women they studied who died of breast cancer had never had a mammogram, or were diagnosed after their very first mammogram. Only 25 percent of the women they studied who died of breast cancer had received more than one mammogram.

"The most effective method for women to avoid death from breast cancer is to have regular mammographic screening," Dr. Blake Cady of Cambridge Hospital Breast Center and Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts told reporters in a telephone briefing.

"Women who are in screening programs have only a 4.7 percent mortality. Women who are not screened have a 56 percent mortality," added Cady, who will present his findings later this week to a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

"That is the same as the overall mortality we used to see in breast cancer up to 1970, prior to the onset of wide mammography screening."

A mammogram is an X-ray of the breast that can spot tumors before they are large enough to feel, and potentially before they spread.

Cady and colleagues examined 6,997 Massachusetts breast cancer patients, some who got regular mammograms and some who did not, between 1990 and 1999.

The patients were followed through 2007.

After about 12.5 years of follow-up, 461 of the women died of their breast cancer. Nearly 75 percent of these were women who had not had regular mammograms.

Cady said it is not clear why some women did not get mammograms and said it is possible these women got less medical care in general.

"We didn't pretend to understand the reasons for not getting mammograms," he said.

People who are ill, who do not speak English or who are poor could all be among those not getting regular medical care and thus not getting mammograms, which in the United States are recommended for all women over the age of 50.

There has been some debate about the value of mammograms.

Most cancer societies and many governments recommend that women be screened regularly but a few studies have shown that mammograms may detect many false positives -- meaning a woman does not have a tumor but may undergo more testing, involving worry and perhaps a biopsy.

Breast cancer kills more than 400,000 women a year globally.

Copyright © 2009 Reuters Limited.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Eating lots of whole grains could ward off high blood pressure, according to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

In the study, men with the highest whole-grain consumption were 19 percent less likely to develop high blood pressure than men who ate the least amount of whole grains.

While refining grains removes their outer coating, whole grains retain their bran and germ, so they are richer in many nutrients, Dr. Alan J. Flint of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and his colleagues note in their report.

The most recent US guidelines recommend that people get at least 3 ounces, or 85 grams, of whole grains daily, and that they consume at least half of their grains as whole grains.

There's evidence, the investigators note, that women who eat more whole grains are less likely to develop high blood pressure, also called hypertension, but there is less information on how whole grains might affect men's heart health.

To investigate, Flint and his team looked at data from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, which has followed 51,529 men since 1986, when the study participants were 40 to 75 years old. They looked at a subset of 31,684 men free of hypertension, cancer, stroke or heart disease at the study's outset. During 18 years of follow-up, 9,227 of them developed hypertension.

The men in the top fifth of whole grain consumption, who averaged about 52 grams daily, were 19 percent less likely than the men in the bottom fifth, who ate an average of about 3 grams of whole grains daily, to develop hypertension during follow-up.

When the researchers looked at separate components of whole grains, only bran showed an independent relationship with hypertension risk, with men who consumed the most at 15 percent lower risk of hypertension than men who ate the least. However, the researchers note, the amount of bran in the men's diet was relatively small compared to their total intake of whole grain and cereal fiber.

The relationship between whole grain intake and hypertension risk remained even after accounting for men's fruit and vegetable intake, use of vitamins, amount of physical activity, and whether or not they were screened for high cholesterol.

This suggests that the association was independent of these markers of a healthy lifestyle behavior pattern. It's possible, the researchers say, that the men who ate more whole grains gained less weight over time.

The current findings, Flint and colleagues conclude, "have implications for future dietary guidelines and for the prevention of hypertension."

SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, September 2009.

Copyright © 2009 Reuters Limited.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Being overweight, especially around the middle, may increase a woman's risk for developing asthma, study findings hint.

In the study women who were overweight or obese were much more apt to have asthma than women at a healthy weight, public health researcher Julie Von Behren, of Northern California Cancer Center in Berkeley, and colleagues found.

And regardless of a woman's weight, a large waist size -- more than 88 centimeters or 34 inches -- also conferred increased risk for asthma, Von Behren and colleagues report in the medical journal Thorax.

Moreover, "obesity may make asthma symptoms more severe," Von Behren noted in an email correspondence to Reuters Health. Among the 88,304 women in the study, those who were obese "were more likely to report urgent medical visits and hospital admission due to asthma," Von Behren said.

She and colleagues used information from the California Teachers Study to compare current and retired female teachers' self-reported 18-year old height and weight, and their later self-measured waist size. At the second measurement, the women ranged in age from younger than 40 to 70 years and older.

Overall, roughly 13 percent of the women were obese, having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, and another 1.5 percent were extremely obese, having a BMI of 40 or more. BMI is a standard measure used to gauge how fat or thin a person is. A normal BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9.

All levels of obesity, the researchers report, were strongly associated with having asthma.

"Even being modestly overweight was associated with higher asthma prevalence in this population," they note. In addition, a large waist size was associated with modestly increased asthma prevalence among women who were at a normal weight.

"These findings are particularly troubling," Von Behren and colleagues say, given that the majority of American adults are now overweight or obese.

SOURCE: Thorax, October 2009

Copyright © 2009 Reuters Limited.