Alternate Media follows our lead

Now that millions have seen the true colors of the Komen Foundation Following its withdrawal of funding from Planned Parenthood I'm posting a selection of our articles on "PINK" from over the years.

After 20+ years of PINK there is no cure. And there is little aimed at prevention and different screening and treatment options that may be better than what if offered and supported by Komen.

I applied one year for a grant to do education and was denied.  I take it that my focus to help women learn about options was not on the agenda for Brinker.

This also says too that the Pink Lid campaign from General Mills ignored a request for a grant from the 501c3 non profit that sponsors this blog.

I started educating in earnest against the lineal mind set of breast cancer care and lack of sure in the early 90s.

The fact that Komen backed mammography screening was advised against in the early 70s by an expert in radiation effects is also quite unknown. It was opposed because it was expected to increase the risk of breast cancer, which it has done.

Now with the outrage and backpedaling from Komen on awards to Planned Parenthood, mostly effecting poor women, Alternet has picked up on some of what we have been saying for decades.

Donations to our 501c3 are welcome. 
Please use the PayPal link in the right column to support us. 



There are quite a few more that listed here which you can locate with our search function.

Jan 21, 2007
General Mills won't support Creating Health Institute's Women's Health programs (especially those we provide to people with limited income) through the pink lids program. Komen never responds when we submit a proposal.
Apr 26, 2010
The sprawling chicken purveyor and Susan G. Komen for the Cure® have teamed up "to raise funds and spread breast cancer awareness and educational messaging" via a campaign at 5000 KFC restaurants. Participating ...
Jan 04, 2010
It seems as if the controversy over Hadassah Lieberman, the Senator's wife, is on the payroll of the Komen Foundation to the tune of about $300K a year. Gary Locke's wife is on their payroll too, most likely lobbying while she's ...
Sep 30, 2009
After five years of asking consumers to collect and send in Yoplait pink foil lids to raise money for Komen, Yoplait sought a way to enhance consumer involvement and elevate its brand awareness in the crowded breast cancer ...


Oct 01, 2008
We at Creating Health Institute would be very grateful if we could get donations for our year-long women's health initiative from Komen or other corporate programs that promote Komen. Donations for this effort go a long way to ...

Feb 24, 2011
4 September 2010 - The Pink Cause Marketing is getting underway once again. I just received a spam from a PR firm about a massage clinic in Seattle that would give $15 from each massage to the Komen Foundation.
Sep 04, 2010
I just received a spam from a PR firm about a massage clinic in Seattle that would give $15 from each massage to the Komen Foundation. I wrote the fellow back and explained a few things about the Politics of Pink. Here at ...
Apr 04, 2009
Just this week I sent a message to the Inland NW contingent of the Komen Foundation who are gearing up for another "Race for the Cure". My message was the same: "Why aren't you providing women with the facts about ...

Oct 13, 2009
With their "Buckets for the Cure" campaign, KFC and Susan G. Komen for the Cure are telling us to buy buckets of unhealthy food to cure a disease that kills women. When a company purports to care about breast cancer by ...
Sep 21, 2009
I direct a 501c3 organization and I can't get General Mills/Kraft to donate to it for our educational efforts, like this blog for example, as they give only to Komen. Komen refuses to communicate with my office. Maybe there is a ...
Similarly, Yoplait requires participants in its “Save Lids to Save Lives” campaign to either mail lids to the company or enter a code online to donate a whopping 10 cents to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Why not donate a ...
Jan 18, 2009
The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation and Bristol-Myers Squibb, which makes the imaging agent used in the study, paid for the work. The next test will be to see how MBI stacks up against MRI. The federal government ...

Mar 25, 2010
"We hope that no one comes away from these studies with the idea that they're an attempt to 'blame' anyone for breast cancer," said Diana Rowden, a vice president at Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a breast cancer group in ...
Apr 23, 2008
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the Komen Foundation for the Cure, and the Wilmot Cancer Center. Adapted from materials provided by University of Rochester Medical ...
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Heart Health Month is here

3 Feb 2012
During Heart Month we are offering ARTERIOZYME, a natural enzymatic supplement that may help remove plaque from your arteries and improve health. 
Originally posted 17 2005


80% of patients who develop coronary artery disease have "normal" cholesterol levels.

On July 13, 2004 commercial media announced statements from U.S. health officials recommending new guidelines for Cholesterol levels. The recommendations are based on results of new clinical trials showing the benefit of cholesterol-lowering therapy in high-risk patients and support the ATP III treatment goal of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) <100>

Preventing heart disease requires much more than simply screening for high cholesterol in the blood. "Although this approach has been useful, it fails to identify almost one-half of the 1.3 million individuals who develop MI [myocardial infarction] in the US each year who have either normal or only moderately increased serum cholesterol concentrations," researchers have pointed out.1

What's more, an estimated 80% of patients who develop coronary artery disease have cholesterol levels (as measured by standard lipid profiles) comparable to those in healthy individuals.2 And nearly half of all cases of premature coronary artery disease are missed when using only current standard guidelines for cholesterol testing.3

Even among patients who have been identified with high cholesterol, a significant number of individuals do not respond to routine lipid reduction strategies, or, they go on to experience a cardiac event despite drops in cholesterol.4

This cumulative evidence clearly underscores the urgency of assessing patients with more advanced cardiovascular risk markers than those included in standard lipid panels.

The Comprehensive Cardiovascular Profile 2.0 incorporates the latest breakthroughs in cardiovascular disease research to provide advanced, early warning of CVD risk. This thorough evaluation features an advanced lipid profile with fractionation, independent risk markers (including homocysteine and hs-C-reactive protein), relative risk indices, and Metabolic Syndrome alerts. All of these advanced markers play a critical role in the biochemical environment underlying cardiovascular health. The insight they provide allows the clinician to accurately address abnormalities relating to heart and vascular diseases.

References:
1 Rifai N, Ridker PM. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein: a novel and promising marker of coronary heart
disease. Clin Chem 2001;47(3):404-411.
2 Schildkraut JM, Myers RH, Cupples LA, Kiely DK, Kannel WB. Coronary risk associated with age and sex of
parental heart disease in the Framingham Study. Am J Cardiol 1989;64(10):555-9.
3 Akosah KO, Gower E, Groon L, Rooney BL, Schaper A. Mild hypercholesterolemia and premature heart
disease: do the national criteria underestimate disease risk? J Am Coll Cardiol 2000;35(5):1178-84.
4 Superko HL. Did grandma give you heart disease? The new battle against coronary artery disease.
Am J Cardiol 1998;82(9A):34Q-46Q.



Selections from Natural Health News



Sep 13, 2011
A group of people with heart failure was studied to see how well they responded to COQ10 and other antioxidants. Patients had a 40% or lower ejection rate and had been diagnosed for at least six months. Daily dose of ...
Feb 02, 2011
Cordless Phones, like WIFI, Boost Heart Risk. Cordless Phone EMFs Trigger Heart Rhythm Abnormalities. By Erik Goldman / Editor in Chief - Vol. 11, No. 4. Winter, 2010. The controversy continues over the possibility that ...
Dec 22, 2011
When doctors recommend tests, drugs or surgeries to prevent bad outcomes (think cholesterol-lowering agents to prevent strokes or cardiac stents to prevent heart attacks) they tap into our deepest sense of what constitutes ...
Apr 19, 2010
Diet soda linked to heart risks. UPDATE: 29 April New information, or I should say confirmation of very old and well known information about phosphates and phosphorus in soda, diet or sweetened, reinforces negative health ...



Feb 03, 2010
Heart Month Hype. This morning I was checking email as usual and came across a most amazing advertising scheme being promoted by Diet Coke. Fashionable Diet Coke. Yikes! let's all get cardiovascular disease because ...
Feb 11, 2009
The Red Dress, Heart Month and Women's Health. "Heart Disease Doesn't Care What You Wear -- It's the Number 1 Killer of Women." The primary goal of The Heart Truth campaign is to raise awareness that heart disease is ...
Jan 31, 2010
Wear Red for Your Heart. Here's a compilation of articles we've posted on Heart Month and Heart Health and some good links. It seems as if little has changed in the way mainstream medicine looks at heart health concerns, ...
Feb 02, 2010
Yes, it is heart month and with that comes the latest attack on herbal remedies at the behest of Big PhRMA, CNN, and Time-Warner's medical mainstream Health.com. While the ABC was contacted and interviewed for the ...

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Rapid Aging and EMF Exposure



Selections from Natural Health News



Jul 15, 2010
Real EMF Danger. Vatican radio waves blamed for high cancer risk ... Posted by herbalYODA at 15:49 · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook. Labels: cancer and EMF, EMF. 1 comments: West Coast Family ...
Jun 05, 2010
(CNN) -- San Francisco, California, likely will become the first U.S. city to require cell phone companies to disclose how much radiation their gadgets emit. The city's board of supervisors voted 10-1 on Tuesday in favor of a law ...
May 01, 2010
MAY IS ELECTROSENSITIVITY MONTH, many states are promoting this as a health education event. Cell Phone Radiation Levels · FCC Consumer Resources: Wireless Devices Even though some people who submit ...
Feb 14, 2009
Quite a few years ago I presented a program to some nurses in Lewiston, Idaho focused on the health impact of EMF and a coming storm of health problems that would be - more likely than not - unable to be diagnosed by ...
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Money: Who Gets Healthcare at What Cost

5% of Americans Made Up 50% of U.S. Healthcare Spending


And the top 1%? They made up one fifth of medical expenditures.


from The Atlantic


"When it comes to America's spiraling health care costs, the country's problems begin with the 5%. In 2008 and 2009, 5% of Americans were responsible for nearly half of the country's medical spending.

Of course, healthcare has its own 1% crisis. In 2009, the top 1% of patients accounted for 21.8% of expenditures.

The figures are from a new study by the Department of Health and Human Services, which examined how different U.S. demographics contributed to medical costs. It looked at the $1.26 trillion spent by civilian, non-institutionalized Americans each year on health care.
The top 5% of spenders paid an annual average of $35,829 in doctors' bills. By comparison, the bottom half paid an average $232 and made up about 3% of total costs.
Aside from the fact that such a tiny fraction of the country was responsible for so much of our expenses, it also found that high spenders often repeated from year to year. Those chronically ill patients skewed white and old and were twice as likely to be on public healtcare as the general population.
The graph below looks at how many people remained in each tranche of healthcare spending in both 2008 and 2009. One fifth of the top 1% of healthcare spenders in 2008 also were in the top 1% a year later. More than a third of those in the top 5% stayed there both years.
According to this follow-up chart, elderly patients, aged 65 or older, made up 13.2% of the population in 2009. But they were 42.9 of the patients among the top 10% of spenders in both 2008 and 2009. Middle-aged Americans made up another 40.1% of that category.
America's healthcare spending crisis is a concentrated phenomenon. The challenge isn't just about making everybody's insurance cheaper (although that would be nice). It's about figuring out how to cut costs, wisely and fairly, for the disastrously ill and preventing diseases before they become chronic. This is America's 5% problem."

My view is that we have moved so far from prevention that it will take years before this urgently needed philosophy returns to US health care process.
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Doctors Required to Report Payments from Drug and Device Firms


UPDATE: 26 January
Dialing for Doctors - 

18 January
To head off medical conflicts of interest, the Obama administration is poised to require drug companies to disclose the payments they make to doctors for research, consulting, speaking, travel and entertainment.
Many researchers have found evidence that such payments can influence doctors’ treatment decisions and contribute to higher costs by encouraging the use of more expensive drugs and medical devices.
Consumer advocates and members of Congress say patients may benefit from the new standards, being issued by the government under the new health care law. Officials said the disclosures increased the likelihood that doctors would make decisions in the best interests of patients, without regard to the doctors’ financial interests.  
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Energy Drinks

UPDATE:15 January 2012

Once again energy drinks are in the news and it appears that it isn't good (no surprise!).
Agence France-Presse reports that "Australia experts call for energy drink warnings".


We encourage you to check out the almost two dozen articles we have posted on Natural Health News about this subject .  We also invite you to consider our organic natural herbal blend, herbalYODA's sportZtea, in place of these drinks over loaded with caffeine, artificial flavoring, artificial coloring, and worst of all artificial sweeteners like aspartame, acesulfame K, and Splenda.  The sports food bars are not far off with too much sugar and too many GMO ingredients.
Learn more here and here.

Researchers in Australia called for health warnings on caffeine-loaded energy drinks following a spike in the number of people reporting medical problems after drinking them.
Health professionals from the University of Sydney's Medical School and the New South Wales Poisons Information Centre said reports of adverse reactions to drinks like Red Bull and V jumped from just 12 in 2004 to 65 in 2010.
Over the seven years to 2010, 297 calls for assistance were recorded with at least 128 people hospitalised with symptoms including heart palpitations, agitation and stomach upsets.
Of these, 20 people had more serious issues, such as seizures and hallucinations.
The study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday, said the average person affected was 17 years old and that they often mixed energy drinks with alcohol.
"Our study demonstrates the extent of the growing problem in Australia with energy drink consumption and toxicity, particularly among adolescents," the study's authors wrote.
"Given the clear evidence of toxicity and the growing number of hospitalisations associated with consumption of energy drinks... health authorities should increase awareness of the problem, improve package labelling and regulate caffeine content."
They recommended that "labelling and any marketing of these products should include appropriate health warnings and the national poisons hotline number". A can of energy drink may contain up to 300 milligrams of caffeine -- compared to an average 65-120mg for a cup of drip coffee -- and Poisons Centre medical director Naren Gunja called for more thorough regulation.
"Things to look at would be... how much caffeine do these drinks contain, how many can you buy at once, what age should you be when you buy them, should there be an age limit to being sold the drinks," he said.



Originally posted September 2008


Five years ago I released one of my long used herbal formulas on two college campuses to try to provide help to reduce college binge drinking. My formula makes it so you just don't drink too much, and certainly not enough to get drunk.

Learning that many people mix energy drinks with alcohol is also a concern to me.

In addition to the herbs to help stem the tide of drinking, and in relation to developing my sports enhancement formula (ADVENTURX), I revived the sports drink herbal blend I used to mix up for my kids and others years ago.

You can use my organic, herbal 'sportZtea' blend as the basis for your sports drinks while saving money and avoiding stimulants and caffeine. Using the 'tea' with ADVENTURX makes a lot more sense.

Energy drinks: What you need to know
By David Liu, Ph.D.
Sep 28, 2008
Editor's note: Please note that the statement "Energy drinks are soft drinks (meaning with alcohol) that ---" is incorrect. The author meant to say "Energy drinks are soft drinks (meaning without alcohol) that ---." By definition, soft drinks are non-alcoholic beverages! We apologize for the error.
Common Questions and Answers about energy drinks

What are energy drinks?

Energy drinks are soft drinks (meaning without alcohol) that contain caffeine and other stimulants such as ephedrine, guarana, and ginseng. The beverages may not contain more calories than normal soft drinks, but they are often believed to help enhance performance and boost alertness as some studies showed. Energy drinks are often marketed to people under 30, particularly to college students.

Is it true that energy drinks boost alertness and enhance performance?

At least two studies showed significantly improvements in mental and cognitive performance and increase subjective alertness in those who drank an energy drink. In repeated cycling tests in young healthy adults, an energy drink drastically increased upper body muscle endurance.

Are there any dangers to drinking energy drinks?

High doses of caffeine are known to pose a range of short-term side effects. The problem with energy drinks is probably that there is no regulation in the US about caffeine, which is a natural stimulant. Energy drinks may contain caffeine at a level anywhere between from 50 mg to 505 mg per can or bottle, according to a recent Johns Hopkins study. Without paying attention, people may over-ingest caffeine leading to unintentional caffeine intoxication. Normal adverse reactions induced by high doses of caffeine, particularly in those who are sensitive to the compound, include increased heart rate and blood pressure, in severe cases dehydration, and inability of falling into sleep.

One study showed side effects associated with caffeine in energy drinks include insomnia, nervousness, headache, and tachycardia. Four caffeine-related deaths and four seizures have been reported.

When should energy drinks not be used?

Energy drinks should not be used when exercising as fluid loss from sweating and the diuretic activity of caffeine can cause severe dehydration. Energy drinks should not be used in an attempt to offset the effect of alcohol on one's capability of operating a vehicle.

What would happen when energy drinks are combined with alcoholic drinks?

The real danger of caffeine to someone who is drinking is that caffeine could mislead him to believe that he is drinking the right amount of alcohol without realizing that actually he could have been drinking too much.

It is true that caffeine provide alertness. But it does not change the level of alcohol in the blood. Once the stimulant disappears, the depressant effect of the blood alcohol at high concentration would manifest leading to vomiting in one's sleep or respiratory depression.

Both energy drinks and alcohol can be very dehydrating and thus inhibiting the body's ability to metabolize alcohol and boosting the toxicity of alcohol and the hangover.

How safe is it to use energy drinks?

Energy drinks in itself are relatively safe. Most ingredients including ginseng, maltodextrin, inositol, carnitine, creatine, ginkgo biloba, taurine, vitamins and herbs appear to be safe. The only concern is probably caffeine, which varies in its content greatly from brand to brand.

A recent report authored by Reissig CJ, Strain EC, and Griffiths RR at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and published in the Sep 20, 2008 issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence calls for warning labels for energy drinks.
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OJ? No Way

In the past few months there has been more flurry over commercially prepared orange juice on the tails of Dr Oz raising the arsenic flag for apple juice.


In this article by Alyssa Hamilton from 2009 she makes the case against OJ in the box.

It’s orange juice season. More precisely, it’s the season of the Florida Valencia, considered the “Cadillac of oranges” within the orange juice industry for its deep orange color, high juice content and rich orange flavor.
We’re so used to getting orange juice 365 days of the year that it may come as news that even Tropicana Pure Premium has a season. But it does.From March until June the Valencia is in its prime in Florida, and even Californians will admit that Florida grows a superior Valencia. The state produces a few other varieties for juicing. The Hamlin, which peaks in late fall, is the most heavily planted. But anyone who has anything to do with the manufacture of commercial orange juice knows that nothing compares to Florida Valencia juice.
The leading orange juice companies such as Tropicana (owned by PepsiCo), Minute Maid and Simply Orange (owned by Coca-Cola), and Florida’s Natural tell us many stories about orange juice: it’s natural, it’s pure and simple, it’s squeezed from oranges grown on pristine looking trees in Florida. But they leave out the details about how most commercial orange juice is produced and processed. SOURCE

Now we have the FDA ringing in on this issue over their 'concern' for fungicide in OJ coming from Mexico, Central and South America. (We warned you years ago about the problems with CAFTA.)


FDA steps up testing for fungicide in orange juice
By Mary Clare Jalonick
WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration says it will step up testing for a fungicide that has been found in low levels in orange juice.
FDA officials said they aren't concerned about the safety of the juice but will increase testing to make sure the contamination isn't a problem. In a letter to the juice industry Monday, the agency said that an unnamed juice company contacted FDA in late December and said it had detected low levels of the fungicide carbendazim in the company's own orange juice and also in its competitors' juice. Fungicides are used to control fungi or fungal spores in agriculture.
Carbendazim is not currently approved for use on citrus in the United States, but is used in Brazil, which exports orange juice to the United States. An FDA spokeswoman said the company's testing found levels up to 35 parts per billion of the fungicide, far below the European Union's maximum residue level of 200 parts per billion. The United States has not established a maximum residue level for carbendazim in oranges.
In the letter to the Juice Products Association, FDA official Nega Beru said the agency will begin testing shipments of orange juice at the border and will detain any that contain traces of the chemical. Because it is not approved for use in the United States, any amount found in food is illegal.
Beru said that because the FDA doesn't believe the levels of residue are harmful, the agency won't remove any juice currently on store shelves. But he asked the industry to ensure that suppliers in Brazil and elsewhere stop using the fungicide.
"If the agency identifies orange juice with carbendazim at levels that present a public health risk, it will alert the public and take the necessary action to ensure that the product is removed from the market," he said.
The discovery comes after the agency said it would also step up testing for arsenic in apple juice. FDA officials said last year that the agency is considering tightening restrictions for the levels of arsenic allowed in the juice after consumer groups pushed the agency to crack down on the contaminant.
Studies show that apple juice has generally low levels of arsenic, and the government says it is safe to drink. But consumer advocates say the FDA is allowing too much of the chemical, which is sometimes natural, sometimes man made, into apple juices favored by thirsty kids.
Patty Lovera of the consumer group Food and Water Watch said the federal government needs to rely on its own testing, not that of the companies.
"The federal government needs to set consistent, meaningful, enforceable standards for all toxins," she said.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation/washington/20120109_ap_fdastepsuptestingforfungicideinorangejuice.html?c=r#ixzz1j4wTMrqo
If you go in the archives at www.leaflady.org, you'll note that we reported on fungicides in agriculture along with food wax and related topics well over a decade ago.


Little seems to change. 


Just better to juice your own, my dears.




Selections from Natural Health News


Natural Health News: GMO Coming to your Liquid Sunshine: OJ Alert
Dec 04, 2010
As former beauty queen Anita Bryant chirped more than four decades ago, in what remains a fondly remembered tagline: "A day without orange juice is like a day without sunshine." She wasn't talking about green oranges or ...
Dec 13, 2008
And I am just lucky enough to have some fresh squeezed organic Valencia orange juice that makes it much more delightful, as are the strawberries, lecithin and hemp, et al. I hope you enjoy yours! And now if you'd like to try ...
Apr 28, 2010
Carrots were the most common source of beta-carotene, oranges and orange juice the most common source of beta-cryptoxanthin, spinach the most common source of lutein/zeaxanthin, strawberries the most common source ...
Aug 16, 2010
Vitamin D fortifies a lot of foods, including milk, cereal and orange juice. And it's naturally found in wild-caught oily fish such as salmon and tuna. That suggests that most people get plenty of Vitamin D. But that's wrong. ...
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