What are the repercussions of using hormone growth promotants in beef cattle?

The use of hormone growth promotants to increase growth rates is a widespread practice in the Australian beef cattle industry with around half of both grain-fed cattle and northern Australia pasture-fed cattle implanted. Grain feeding cattle in feedlots in combination with the use of hormone growth promotants (HGP) is considered an efficient way of producing beef of consistent taste, tenderness and color to suit customer demand. Pasture-fed cattle in northern Australia may be given HGP to ensure that steers meet the high value beef market specifications before pasture quality decreases and this market access is lost.

The human body naturally produces steroid sex hormones to regulate reproduction and growth. The same occurs in cattle. Estrogen hormones are produced in females and androgenic hormones in males, but there is some production of estrogen in males and androgenic hormones in females as well. Naturally-occurring steroid hormones are also found in foods, including eggs, cabbages, milk and safflower oil.

In cattle, natural and synthetic hormones may be implanted under the skin in the middle third of the back of the animal’s ear to improve daily weight gain, feed conversion and carcass quality. HGP commonly used include trenbolone acetate and estradiol benzoate  (both synthetic hormones). Those using HGP implants employ a range of strategies which may include hormones being used separately or in combination. Once the hormone has metabolized, it has the effect of increasing the rate at which muscle grows by about 10-30% thereby reducing the time the animal needs to spend on feed before reaching slaughter weight. HGP work over an average period of around 70 days and may be re-implanted repeatedly over the growing/finishing period.

Little is known about the animal welfare effects of hormone growth promotants in cattle. Research tends to focus on production or performance characteristics rather than animal welfare directly. Given that feedlots themselves may pose a risk to the welfare of cattle, a study suggesting that cattle with just an estrogen implant could be adversely affected by hot climatic conditions, takes on additional significance. Managing heat load in feedlot cattle is crucial to their welfare and, in hot climates, the use of such implants should be carefully considered. 

The place of injection of the hormonal implant also needs to be taken into account. Because the region below the ear has significant muscle movement, an implant in this area could cause the injection wound to enlarge and become irritated. This is a potential welfare issue which calls for the place of injection of the implant to avoid such areas. Failure to disinfect the implant site and not injecting the implant properly are common causes of problems at the injection site. 

Hormonal implants interact with the animal’s natural hormones and side effects of their use may include aggressiveness (particularly in the first few weeks after implantation), difficulty in handling, nervousness, rectal prolapse, ventral oedema (swelling) and elevated tail heads. Marin found evidence of chronic stress conditions. Although uncommon, these are all signs of poor welfare. 

The European Union banned the use of HGP in meat production in 1988 due to concerns about the possible link between cancer and HGP residues in meat for human consumption. There was political pressure with in the EU to impose a ban despite the actual risks to human health being difficult to quantify and needing further research. In 1998, the World Trade Organization found that the ban was not supported by science and was inconsistent with EU’s WTO obligations. Nonetheless, the EU ban remains in place. Regardless, the effects of hormone growth promotants on animal welfare also requires further research and until more information is available, and to avoid any potential for poor animal welfare, hormonal growth promotants are best used with caution. 

- Renix Graham, III

"Water is the only drink for a wise man." -Henry David Thoreau

Get your FREE Healthy Water eBook at: www.AbsoluteWater4theWise.com

Cancerous amplified foods

Ever wonder which foods should be strongly avoided by those at high risk for cancer? We can begin identifying cancer-causing foods once we know which ingredients in our food cause cancer. Some of those ingredients are food additives and chemicals used to enhance taste, while others are used strictly for appearance or to increase product shelf life. The key to avoiding cancer-causing foods is knowing which ingredients are carcinogens -- or cancer promoters -- and then reading food labels to permanently avoid consuming those ingredients.

Cancer tumors develop, in part, by feeding on sugar in the bloodstream. If you eat lots of sugary snacks loaded with simple carbs, you're loading your bloodstream with the chemical energy needed for cancer cells (and tumors) to proliferate. No biological system can live without fuel for its chemical processes, including cancer cells. Thus, one of the strategies to pursue for any anti-cancer diet is to eat low-glycemic diet. That means no refined sugars... ever! No refined grains (white flour, for example), no heavy use of sweeteners and the lifetime avoidance of sugary soda pop. Aside from starving tumors, eating foods low in sugar and avoiding simple carbs will also keep your weight in check while helping prevent blood sugar disorders such as type-2 diabetes.

What to avoid on the labels: high-fructose corn syrup, sugar, sucrose, enriched bleached flour, white rice, white pastas, white breads and other "white" foods.

The dangers of hydrogenated oils

Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils -- another danger -- are developed from otherwise harmless, natural elements. To make them hydrogenated, oils are heated in the presence of hydrogen and metal catalysts. This process helps prolong shelf life but simultaneously creates trans fats, which only have to be disclosed on the label if the food contains more than 0.5 grams per serving. To avoid listing trans fats, or to claim "trans fat free" on their label, food manufacturers simply adjust the serving size until the trans fat content falls under 0.5 grams per serving. This is how you get modern food labels with serving sizes that essentially equate to a single bite of food. Not exactly a "serving" of food, is it?

Besides being a cancer factor, trans fats promote heart disease, interrupt metabolic processes, and cause belly fat that crowd the organs and strain the heart. The essential fatty acids that the hydrogenation process removes are responsible for a number of processes in your body. When trans fats replace these essential fatty acids, they occupy the same space without doing the same job. The "anchor" portion of the fatty acid is in place (which is how the body recognizes the fatty acid and puts it to work) but the chemically active part of the fatty acid is twisted, distorted, and missing vital parts.

After the hydrogenation process, the fatty acid can't biochemically function in the same way. Things like brain cell function, hormones, gland function, oxygen transport, cell wall function (keeping things in or out of your cells) and digestive tract operation (putting together nutrients and blocking allergens) are adversely affected.

Food manufacturers don't tell you this on the product label, of course. Your body needs essential fatty acids and you are programmed to keep eating until you get them. If you're only eating trans fats, you'll never feel fully satiated, because your body will never get the fatty acids it needs for essential function. Since cancer needs high blood sugar and low oxygen levels, a person with lots of belly fat who just can't seem to put down those trans fat cookies or crackers (also loaded with flour and simple sugars) presents the ideal environment for the development of cancer.

The acrylamide factor

Since trans fats are often formed during the frying process, we should also talk about acrylamides. Acrylamides are not added into food; they are created during the frying process. When starchy foods are subjected to high heat, acrylamides form. A Swedish study found that acrylamides cause cancer in rats, and more studies are under way to confirm the understanding that acrylamides also cause cancer in humans.

Sodium nitrite (and nitrates)

Food companies add sodium nitrite into certain foods on purpose. This carcinogen is added to processed meats, hot dogs, bacon, and any other meat that needs a reddish color to look "fresh." Decades ago when meats were preserved, it was done with salt. But in the mid 20th century, food manufacturers started using sodium nitrite in commercial preservation. This chemical is responsible for the pinkish color in meat to which consumers have grown accustomed. Although today the use of refrigeration is largely what protects consumers from botulism and bacteria, manufacturers still add sodium nitrite to make the meat look pinkish and fresh.

The nitrites themselves are not the problem. People get more nitrites from vegetables than they do from meat, according to research by the University of Minnesota. During the digestion process, however, sodium nitrite is converted to nitrosamine, and that's where the cancer problems begin. Nitrosamine is a carcinogen, but since it is not technically an ingredient, its presence can be easily overlooked on the packaging. Nitrosamines are also found in food items that are pickled, fried, or smoked; in things such as beer, cheese, fish byproducts, and tobacco smoke.

Knowing about all these ingredients doesn't mean there is simply a "short list" of foods that should be avoided. You have to vigilant and read labels constantly. Here are the five worst offenders:

• Hot dogs: The Cancer Prevention Coalition recommends that children should not eat more than 12 hot dogs per month because of the risk of cancer. If you must have your hot dog fix, look for those without sodium nitrite listed among the ingredients.


• Processed meats and bacon: These meats almost always contain the same sodium nitrite found in hot dogs. You can find some without nitrites, but you'll have to look for them in natural grocers or health food stores. Bacon is also high in saturated fat, which contributes to the risk of cancers, including breast cancer. Limiting your consumption of processed meats and saturated fats also benefits the heart.


• Doughnuts: Doughnuts contain hydrogenated oils, white flour, sugar, and acrylamides. Essentially, they're one of the worst cancer foods you can possibly eat. Reader's Digest calls doughnuts "disastrous" as a breakfast food, and many experts agree it's probably one of the worst ways to start the day.


• French fries: Fries are made with hydrogenated oil and fried at high temperatures. Some chains even add sugar to their fry recipe to make them even more irresistible. Not only do they clog your arteries with saturated fat and trans fat, they also contain acrylamides. They should be called "cancer fries," not French fries.


• Chips / crackers / cookies: These generally contain white flour and sugar as well as trans fats, but it's not enough to simply look for these ingredients on the label; you have to actually "decode" the ingredients list that food manufacturers use to deceive consumers. They do this by hiding ingredients (such as hiding MSG in yeast extract, or by fiddling with serving sizes so they can claim the food is trans fat free, even when it contains trans fats (the new Girl Scout cookies use this trick).

Besides avoiding these foods, what else can consumers do to reduce their risk of cancer? The main things are simple: Eat unprocessed foods and base your diet largely on plants. Consume foods that have omega-3 fats and other essential fatty acids. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables; many common ones have known cancer-fighting properties. Get regular vigorous exercise, since tumors cannot thrive in highly oxygenated environments. Keep your blood sugar stable to avoid being an all-you-can-eat buffet for cancer cells.

Eat foods high in natural vitamin C, a nutrient that deters the conversion of nitrite into nitrosamine and promotes healthy immune function. Make sure you get adequate amounts of cancer-fighting vitamin D through exposure to sunlight -- about 10 to 15 minutes each day if you have fair skin, or ten times as long if you have dark skin pigmentation. Stay well hydrated to ensure that your body rids itself of toxins. Avoid smoking and don't use conventional fragrance, cosmetics and personal care products -- virtually all of them contain cancer-causing chemicals.

Preventing cancer is actually quite straightforward. Even the World Health Organization says that 70 percent of all cancers can be prevented with simple changes in diet and lifestyle. The truth is that most people give themselves cancer through the foods, drinks and products they choose to consume. In my opinion, over 90 percent of cancers are easily preventable.

By the way, don't you find it interesting that the cancer industry seems to have no interest whatsoever in urging people to avoid eating sodium nitrite, or to stop using cancer-causing skin care products, or to get more sunlight on their skin so they can prevent cancer with vitamin D? As you'll read in many other articles I've written here, it is my firm belief that the cancer industry has no interest whatsoever in preventing cancer, and it primarily interested in treating cancer for profit. This view is generally agreed upon by noted cancer experts such as Dr. Samuel Epstein and Dr. Ralph Moss. See www.PreventCancer.com to learn more from Dr. Epstein.

Blog References:

• For the love of sugar
• Pancreatic Cancer and Soda *For those who are in love with sodas

- Renix Graham, III
"Water is the only drink for a wise man." - Henry David Thoreau
Get your FREE Healthy Water eBook at: www.AbsoluteWater4theWise.com

Pancreatic Cancer and Soda *For those who are in love with sodas*

As I've watched plenty of YouTube videos on Health & Wellness, I so happened to watch this particular intriguing  informational YouTube clip involving Pancreatic Cancer and Soda.

YouTube link located below:
http://youtu.be/ZWrRfQ2RGSk

My Blog References: 

• Beware of the Soda
• You are what you drink
• The 'Monster'
• The Red Edition of Red Bull

- Renix Graham, III
"Water is the only drink for a wise man." -Henry David Thoreau
Get your FREE Healthy Water eBook at: www.AbsoluteWater4theWise.com

A day in the life of a chicken.

Chickens

Chickens enjoy being together in small flocks, sunning, dust-bathing, and scratching in the soil for food. A mother hen will tenderly and even fiercely protect her young brood, driving off predators and sheltering her little chicks beneath her wings. The rooster proudly keeps watch over the flock. He alerts the hens if he senses danger, and when he finds a tasty morsel for his family to share, he calls them excitedly. Roosters often join in the hen’s egg-laying ritual, which is an extremely important and private part of the chicken’s life.

Chickens Raised for Meat: Their life is Not “For the Birds”

In the U.S., each year, 9 billion “broiler” (baby) chickens, both males and females, are raised and killed for food. Worldwide over 50 billion chickens are now being slaughtered every year. As a result of genetic manipulation for overgrown muscle tissue (meat) of the breast and thighs, these birds suffer miserably from painful lameness causing them to crouch and hobble in pain, from gastrointestinal and blood diseases, and chronic respiratory infections. The parents of these birds are raised in darkness and kept on semi-starvation diets to reduce the mating infirmities caused by forcing chickens bred for meat to grow too large too fast.  During their 45 days of life, “broiler” chickens live in semi-darkness on manure-soaked wood shavings, unchanged through several flocks of 30,000 or more birds in a single shed. Excretory ammonia fumes often become so strong that the birds develop a blinding eye disease called ammonia burn. So painful is this disease that afflicted birds rub their hurting eyes with their wings and let out cries of pain. 

“Broiler” chickens are crowded by the thousands into filthy, closed sheds contaminated with poisonous Salmonella and Campylobacter bacteria. In addition to sickening the birds, these bacteria often remain in the cooked flesh, a common cause of food poisoning.

The Egg-Laying Hen: Her eggs are laid in pain

The modern hen used for egg production is far removed from the active Southeast Asian jungle fowl from whom she’s derived and from the active farmyard birds of the more recent past. She is a painfully debeaked, tortured bird who is jammed in a wire cage for a year or two, squeezed together with 8 or 9 other tormented hens in sheds holding 50,000 to 125,000 terrified, bewildered birds.

A small bird, forced to churn out huge numbers of large eggs, this hen is prone to a cruel condition known as Uterine Prolapse. When a small chicken pushes and strains day after day to expel large eggs, her uterus pushes out through the vent area leading to painful infection and a slow, agonizing death. The egg industry deprives hens of all food or severely restricts their rations from one to three weeks straight to manipulate egg laying and market prices, and to “save feed costs.” This practice is called Forced Molting. 

Cooped for life without exercise while constantly drained of calcium to produce egg shells, laying hens develop osteoporosis, and mineral depletion and breaking of the bones from which many hens die miserably in their cages, often with their heads trapped between the bars. This disease of imprisonment is called Caged Layer Fatigue. Approximately 300 million hens are caged for egg production in the US each year, 26 million in Canada, and 40 million in the UK Worldwide, about 5600 million hens are living in cages.

The Male Chick of the Egg industry: He is treated like Trash

What happens to the 250 million male chicks born to hens in the US egg industry each year?

Along with defective and slow hatching female chicks, they are trashed as soon as they hatch. Upon breaking out of their shells, instead of being sheltered by a mother’s wings, the newborns are ground up alive, electrocuted, or thrown into trashcans where they slowly suffocate on top of one another, peeping to death while a human foot stomps them down to make more room for more chicks. Because the male chicken of the egg industry cannot lay eggs, and has not been genetically manipulated for profitable meat production, he is of no use to the egg industry. Destruction of unwanted male chicks is a worldwide practice. 

Catching, Transport, and Slaughter

At 6-12 weeks old, baby “broiler” and “rooster” chickens are cornered and grabbed by catching crews and carried upside down by their legs - struggling, flapping, and crying - to the transport truck. Jammed inside coops they may travel up to 12 hours to the slaughterhouse through heat, wind, rain, sleet, and snow without food or water.

Spent laying hens are simply flung from the battery cages to the transport crates by their wings, feet, legs, head, or whatever is grabbed. They are electrocuted, suffocated, buried alive, gassed, or chopped to pieces, alive, by wood chipper blades. Half naked from feather loss caused by crowded caging, and terrorized by a lifetime of abuse, hens in transport experience such intense fear that many are paralyzed by the time they reach their final destination- the rendering company, slaughterhouse, landfill, grinder. Starved for 4 days before catching, they are a mass of broken bones, oozing abscesses, bruises, and internal hemorrhage. They are covered with the slime of broken eggs and pieces of shells. When not buried alive, these hens are shredded into human food, pet food, mink feed and poultry feed. 

At the slaughterhouse, after being held in the trucks for 1 to 12 hours, chickens raised for meat are torn from the cages and hung upside down on a movable rack. As they move towards the killing knife, they are dragged through an electric current that paralyzes them but does not render them unconscious or pain-free. Millions of birds are alive, conscious and breathing not only as their throats are cut but after wards, when their bodies are plunged into scalding water to remove their feathers. In the scalded “the chickens scream, kick, and their eyeballs pop out of their heads.” The industry calls these birds “redskins”- birds who were scalded while they were still alive.

For all Vegetarians: What Can I Do?

• Please show kindness and respect to birds and other animals by not eating them or their eggs or drinking their milk. Instead, discover the variety of all vegetarian, vegan foods and cooking ideas. For recipes and cookbooks, go to www.upc-online.org/recipes. For vegetarian and healthy food options worldwide, go to Happy Cow Compassionate Eating Guide at www.HappyCow.net.
• Contact your federal and state senators and representatives. Urge them to pass laws banning battery cages and debeaking. Urge them to include poultry under the Federal Human Slaughter Act. 
• Stick up for chickens. Tell your family and friends how badly chickens are treated. Contact your newspaper editor and TV and radio stations, using the information in this brochure to educate people. Urge everyone to join you in making a better life for chickens
• Write to United Poultry Concerns, PO Box 150, Machipongo, VA 23405 (or call 757-678-7875, or visit their website at www.upc-online.org) for more information.

- Renix Graham, III

"Water is the only drink for a wise man." -Henry David Thoreau

Get your FREE Healthy Water eBook at:www.AbsoluteWater4theWise.com

The Root Cause of feeling Itchy after a Shower

Ever dealt with any skin itching issues from your back, arms, thighs or shoulders etc after taking a nice good shower? I deal with this issue every morning after my long bike ride. At times I think to myself, ‘Am I still filthy?’ Daily, I take showers in the morning  and bathe in the evening. Even after taking a good bath, I would still have the skin itching irritation. 

The most common cause of skin itching after shower is not the shower, that’s just water in moderation, it’s pretty harmless. It might surprise you to know that one ingredient used in most shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, shaving cream, shower gel, and ‘soap’ is also most common skin irritant? WHY?!?! Why would companies make skincare products which include an ingredient that causes skin discomfort? The simplest answer: because the consumer demands it. 

The problem of skin itching after shower, at bedtime, and during the winter is pretty common. While the time of day, the relative cleanliness, and the time of year seem unrelated, they are actually mostly caused by the same thing: sodium lauryl sulfate.

The connection and the cause is sodium lauryl sulfate, the chemical derived from coconuts. Now you’re thinking I’m a kook, a crunchie, a goofball, or an alarmist. I’m not. Let’s disprove these unspoken accusations with a bit of science, then we can move on to the solution and you can stop your skin itching after shower. 

Sodium lauryl sulfate is used in laboratory testing to damage the skin’s natural barrier function. One of the most important functions of skin is to keep things out. Things like chemicals, bacteria, and viruses would have unfettered entry into our bodies if it weren’t from our skin. When a scientist wants to see what happens if a particular chemical does get in, they reach for sodium lauryl sulfate. 

The damaging effect of sodium lauryl sulfate on the skin is objectively measurable, scientists don’t ask, “Is your skin itching after shower? They measure TEWL (trans epidermal water loss) to see how much water the skin is letting out. They also test for erythema, which means skin redness, by measuring the light that absorbed and reflected. The final common measure is stratum corneum hydration, which measures the hydration of the stratum corneum (a skin layer) by electrical conduction.

Why do manufacturers use sls if it causes not only skin itching after shower, but also exaggerates allergic reactions. The biggest reason for pretty much everything is money. Consumers buy products containing sls because they like them, companies make them because consumers buy them. Pretty simple. Sodium lauryl sulfate is a foaming ingredient, it makes toothpaste foamier and shampoo bubblier. Consumers like these feelings, it makes cleansing feel effective. But with more than 41% of the population sensitive to sls, is it worth it?

Yes. Centuries before human discovered that they could extract sls from coconuts to make a foamier soap, they were getting clean using sls-free soaps. Today’s consumers can fins sls-free products if they look hard enough and are willing to read the labels. Even products made by “Natural” companies can contain sodium lauryl sulfate. That’s because it is a natural product.

 When reading the labels of your personal hygiene products, look for sls sodium lauryl sulfate, or ‘naturally derived surfactants or foaming agents.’ These all usually mean the same thing, your skin itching after shower.

- Renix Graham, III

"Water is the only drink for a wise man." - Henry David Thoreau

Get your FREE Healthy Water eBook at: www.AbsoluteWater4theWise.com

Heart Attacks & Water

HEART ATTACKS AND WATER !

How many folks do you know who say they don't want to drink anything before going to bed because they'll have to get up during the night.

Heart Attack and Water - I never knew all of this ! Interesting.......

Something else I didn't know ... I asked my Doctor why people need to urinate so much at night time. Answer from my Cardiac Doctor - Gravity holds water in the lower part of your body when you are upright (legs swell). When you lie down and the lower body (legs and etc) seeks level with the kidneys, it is then that the kidneys remove the water because it is easier. This then ties in with the last statement!

I knew you need your minimum water to help flush the toxins out of your body, but this was news to me. Correct time to drink water...

Very Important. From A Cardiac Specialist!

Drinking water at a certain time maximizes its effectiveness on the body

2 glasses of water after waking up - helps activate internal organs

1 glass of water 30 minutes before a meal - helps digestion

1 glass of water before taking a bath - helps lower blood pressure

1 glass of water before going to bed - avoids stroke or heart attack

I can also add to this... My Physician told me that water at bed time will also help prevent night time leg cramps. Your leg muscles are seeking hydration when they cramp and wake you up with a Charlie Horse.

Mayo Clinic Aspirin Dr. Virend Somers, is a Cardiologist from the Mayo Clinic, who is lead author of the report in the July 29, 2008 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Most heart attacks occur in the day, generally between 6 A.M. and noon. Having one during the night, when the heart should be most at rest, means that something unusual happened. Somers and his colleagues have been working for a decade to show that sleep apnea is to blame.

1. If you take an aspirin or a baby aspirin once a day, take it at night.

The reason: Aspirin has a 24-hour "half-life"; therefore, if most heart attacks happen in the wee hours of the morning, the Aspirin would be strongest in your system.

2. FYI, Aspirin lasts a really long time in your medicine chest, for years, (when it gets old, it smells like vinegar).

Please read on...

Something that we can do to help ourselves - nice to know. Bayer is making crystal aspirin to dissolve instantly on the tongue.

They work much faster than the tablets.

Why keep Aspirin by your bedside? It's about Heart Attacks.

There are other symptoms of a heart attack, besides the pain on the left arm. One must also be aware of an intense pain on the chin, as well as nausea and lots of sweating; however, these symptoms may also occur less frequently.

Note: There may be NO pain in the chest during a heart attack.

The majority of people (about 60%) who had a heart attack during their sleep did not wake up. However, if it occurs, the chest pain may wake you up from your deep sleep.

If that happens, immediately dissolve two aspirins in your mouth and swallow them with a bit of water.

Afterwards: - Call 911. - Phone a neighbor or a family member who lives very close by.- Say "heart attack!" - Say that you have taken 2 Aspirins.

Take a seat on a chair or sofa near the front door, and wait for their arrival and ...DO NOT LIE DOWN!

A Cardiologist has stated that if each person after receiving this e-mail, sends it to 10 people, probably one life could be saved!

I have already shared this information. What about you?

Do forward this message. It may save lives!

"Life is a one time gift"

via Dr. Virend Somers (Cardiologist) 

Blog Reference

• Suggested times for drinking water

- Renix Graham,III

"Water is the only drink for a wise man." -Henry David Thoreau

Get your FREE Healthy Water eBook at: www.AbsoluteWater4theWise.com

Weapon of Mass Destruction

Select the "SUPER Foods Diet" kind of Lifestyle.

Be all you can be in choosing the best foods for your body.

You ARE what you EAT!!!

Absorb authentic foods, NOT Brand Name Foods.

Junk foods are just as critical as a fatal gun. Be wise and careful in what you insert into your mouth.


- Renix Graham, III
"Water is the only drink for a wise man." - Henry David Thoreau
Get your FREE Healthy Water eBook at: www.AbsoluteWater4theWise.com