Beta-Glucan May Prevent Anthrax When Taken Orally
September 30, 2008
In a 2002 study, a group of researchers used oral Beta Glucan to treat mice infected with Bacillus Anthracites. With the high incidence of anthrax vaccine complications, an alternative preventative approach is sorely needed to deal with this frightening disease. Non specific immune stimulation methods, such as macrophage activation would be an excellent option.
The way that anthrax works is by secreting two toxins: edema toxin and lethal toxin. The first of these stimulates an outpouring of fluid into the lungs, while the latter inhibits nuetrophil phagocytosis and triggers destructive intracellular reactions, destroying macrophage cells. This is especially threatening because of the fact that the lethal toxin prevents the macrophages from releasing their immune messengers, including TNF-alpha.
The study in question showed that orally administered Beta Glucan greatly stimulates the levels of TNF-alph released from the macrophage, which overcomes the inhibition caused by the anthrax lethal toxin. Because of this, the mice that were treated with Beta Glucan experienced a significantly higher survival rate.
Beta Glucan was also shown to stimulate the effectiveness of neutrophils. In fact, one study indicated that the efficiency of neutrophils was increased as much as 50-fold by this powerful supplement, allowing for much faster and more precise immune reactions.
Side Effects of The Famous Ephedra Product
September 30, 2008
Ephedra has been used in Chinese medicine for thousands of years. However, in the last decade, ephedra products have been thrust into the media spotlight given to high profile lawsuits, the FDA all encompassing ban, and the recent ban reversal.
With all this media attention, you may be wondering what exactly the ephedra product is. Ephedra product is derived from a herbal plant called MaHuang. The main chemical compound in ephedra is ephedrine. Ephedrine is a chemical that simulates the nervous system, dilates bronchial tubes, elevates metabolism and increases heart rate.
People who use the ephedra product may do so for a number of reasons. They use ephedra product to help with asthma, colds, flu, for athletic training or to lose weight. Most users of an ephedra product may experience little to no side effects when taking the recommended dosage. When taking too high a dosage of ephedra based products, one may experience side effects such as:
· Anxiety
· Dizziness
· Headaches
· Restlessness
· High blood pressure
· Trouble sleeping
· Nausea or vomiting
· Dry mouth
· Increasing heart rate and blood pressure
Oops! One Size DOESNT Fit All
September 30, 2008
The Stop Smoking Hypnosis people.
The ancient Greeks certainly had their share of eccentrics. One of whom has been known by his peculiar notions of hospitality. King Procrusteus had some peculiar notions of propriety. If one of his guests was shorter than the king’s bed, Procrusteus would have them stretched to fit. If the guest was too tall, the good king would have his surgeon chop the extra bit off.
As hypnotherapists we have good reason to believe in the fluidity and resourcefulness of human consciousness. A human being can eliminate a long standing phobia, adopt a new positive belief, or obliterate a nasty stubborn habit in only a few minutes of trance time. We have experienced those kinds of benefits for ourselves as well as assisting our clients in making profound life enhancing changes.
There are hypnotherapists who are certain that all of their clients have past life inner children causing current problems, that all of their clients are possessed by spirit entities with multiple personalities, or that all of their clients have a raving case of pet iguana envy. Unfortunately, all human beings do not conform to any one of those models.
Court Overturns Ban
September 30, 2008
In December 2003, the FDA incorporated an ephedra ban making it illegal to sell any products containing ephedra. The ephedra ban was put in place after investigation of several allegations that ephedra caused serious health problems, including death.
On April 13, 2005, a District Court of Utah judge threw out the part of the sweeping ephedra ban that prohibited the sale of products yielding less than 10mg of ephedra per day. The judge ruled that the full scale ephedra ban was not necessary because the FDA failed to prove any danger from 10mg or less of ephedra daily.
Many felt the initial ephedra ban was harsh. After the ephedra ban, some media quoted the number of deaths due to ephedra at 155. However, an FDA commissioned report related to the 2003 ephedra ban stated that five deaths could be attributed directly to ephedra. In addition, it was not completely disclosed that of the 5 related deaths, some already had pre-existing conditions that contributed to the death. Compared to the number of deaths from Ibuprofen, for example, it’s pale in comparison.
Surprise! Many Fats, Even Some Saturated Fats Can Actually Be Good for You
September 29, 2008
I’ll preface this article by saying that it will help if you have an open mind and accept that some of these facts are a slap in the face to politically correct nutrition in this day and age where fats are admonished by nutritionists, doctors, etc. To start, eating an adequate supply of healthy dietary fats is vitally important to your overall health. Fats are one of the main components in all of the cell membranes throughout your entire body. If you eat enough healthy natural fats, your cellular processes will proceed normally. On the other hand, if you eat man-made, heavily processed, chemically altered fats (damaged fats) that are found in most processed foods, your cellular function will be impaired as these damaged fats become part of your cell membranes, the body will have to work harder to operate correctly, and degenerative diseases can develop. In addition, healthy dietary fats are essential for optimal hormone production and balance within the body and are therefore essential for the muscle building and fat burning processes. Other important functions that dietary fats play in a healthy body are aiding vitamin and mineral utilization, enzyme regulation, energy, etc.
The Secret to Legs with Size, Strength, and Endurance
September 29, 2008
There are countless leg workouts in magazines and books that promise big results. Many are good workouts, but the secret to continued progress is to keep your muscles from adapting, while building on what you have already done. What I mean by this is that mixing and matching great workouts just doesn’t work very well. You do need to change your workouts frequently to keep your muscles growing, but if you don’t plan properly, you could be wasting time.
When you plan your workouts properly, each workout builds on what you accomplished the workout before, so that you keep moving forward, instead of taking steps back each time you change workouts. A good example of this is how many Powerlifters have trained for decades. They begin a training cycle by using lighter weights for higher reps. The first week or two they might do 3 sets of 8 repetitions. The next couple of weeks might be 5 sets of 5 reps. Then they add weight and drop their reps each week until they are ready to test themselves for a single maximum repetition. This is usually done in a contest, with judges and strict rules. This works well if your goal is to lift as much as possible in one lift for one repetition.
Can You Still Buy Ephedra?
September 29, 2008
With millions of people aiming for successful weight loss, many are still interested in diet pills and want to buy ephedra. Perhaps you are wondering…can I still buy ephedra?
The answer is yes, you can still buy ephedra. Not all countries have placed bans on allowing people to buy ephedra. These countries may believe that ephedra is still useful for weight loss or other condition. Some countries, such as the United States, allow you buy ephedra as long as the active amount is limited to less than 10mg of pure ephedrine. In fact, the only place to order the pure form ephedra is though Ephedra Energy at www.EphedraEnergy.com
People on weight loss programs still want to buy ephedra because it reduces appetite and stimulates fat metabolism, making it one of the most effective weight loss supplement in existence. Perhaps you want to buy ephedra because it increases the metabolic rate so that your body burns fats and sugars more efficiently.
Oral Chelation ? What Can It Do For You? (Part 2)
September 29, 2008
Intravenous chelation therapy was more popular than oral chelation initially. It involved the injection of EDTA (ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid) that is an effective and widely studied chelating agent. But gradually, oral chelation scored over intravenous chelation. This is primarily because of the comparative cost involvements. While, intravenous chelation is definitely less expensive from bypass surgery or angioplasty, they are still costlier in comparison to oral chelation.
Then again, intravenous chelation involves painful process and runs the risks of infection and vascular intrusion. They run the risk of incurring side effects like burning, redness and swelling at the place of injection, fever, fall of blood pressure, joint pain, rashes on skin, stomach upset, and irritation of the kidneys and liver occasionally. Oral chelation is as simple as taking one to two spoons full of doses, often based in honey or Royal jelly that also tastes great.
Oral chelation regimens are generally non prescription formula which millions of people access easily as compared to the expensive and complicated process of intravenous chelation which only a few can afford.
Beta-Glucan Information
September 28, 2008
Beta-Glucan is an extremely potent, immune activating substance taken from the cellular walls of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker’s yeast). The extraction is so pure that consumption of Beta-Glucan is harmless, unlike consuming large amounts of yeast. So, even if you have yeast related problems, including overgrowths and infections, Beta-Glucan is a perfectly safe immune supplement to take.
In the late 1980s, Dr. Joyce Czop of Harvard University describes how cells known as macrophage, which are the front line defense of the immune system, contain a special receptor for yeast in Beta-Glucan. In addition to recognizing and eliminating tumor cells throughout the body, macrophage cells also produce several essential cytokines that help to fortify the immune system’s natural defences against infections and viruses. The more activated macrophage cells there are in the body, the better the immune response, thus the medical community has a great ongoing interest in Beta Glucan.
According to an article by Donald J. Carrow, M.D., in a 1996 Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, “There is now evidence to show that Beta-Glucan is, from an evolutionary point of view, the most widely and most commonly observed macrophage activator in nature.”
Why Do Athletes Use Ephedra?
September 28, 2008
You are probably familiar with the weight loss connection with the ephedra pill, but did you know that the ephedra pill is also extremely popular with performance athletes? For decades, athletes have been seeking out ways to enhance their performance. One of the most common and popular enhancing substances was the ephedra pill.
Athletes use the ephedra pill as it has a significant stimulatory effect on cells. Commonly taken before events, the ephedra pill improves the force of skeletal muscle contractions with a powerful effect on performance. Finally, the athletes’ metabolism is stimulated which can be helpful with fat burning and energy requirements during intense training.
In many sports, the ephedra pill is a banned substance. Athletes who use the ephedra pill to enhance their performance risk testing positive during doping tests. Depending on the sport, the penalty for testing positive for the ephedra pill can be significant. The intentional use of the ephedra pill is punishable by international laws, call doping control regulations.
Many successful athletes have experienced embarrassing suspensions by testing positive for the ephedra pill. One of the first and most famous cases occurred after the 1994 FIFA World Cup where Argentine footballer Diego Armando Maradona tested positive for the ephedra pill during doping control. He was suspended from the game for more than one year.
