Hansies Health Report

Pharma Drugs Masking a Much, Much Bigger Problem

Here are some fascinating stats about our health care system (below).  With  a 14 trillion dollar (US) gross national product, the U.S. is on its way to spending WAY, WAY too much in medical health benefits, as you can see.  The model of "symptom-->drug-->side-effects-->more drugs-->repeat" is highly problematic since the CAUSE is never addressed.  People aren't sick because they have a deficiency of pharma drugs (as the tagline for this blog openly declares).  They are sick because they don't understand that symptoms are merely CLUES to a deeper issue--one that must be uncovered and addressed if the symptoms are to stop.

Drugs MASK the symptoms which a) makes it almost impossible to get to the bottom of the situation and b) gives the patient the false idea that the deeper cause/disorder has been resolved.  It hasn't. Now it's just hiding.  So a few more days/weeks/months later, up it pops again only now it's worse.  What was once a bad case of hemmorhoids (symptom) is now a major vascular disorder requiring expensive surgery to save the life.  Not even the surgery has addressed the actual problem (probably dietary).

We are on track as a country for a total breakdown in this health care system.  There are $900 TRILLION in unfunded but promised Medicare and Social Security benefits right now [1].  If that were distributed to every American, regardless of age (even infants), we would all have to come up with $300,000 or 25x the current household income.

What does this mean?

Is the appendix actually useful?

Here's a little info that suggests that the appendix might have a place in the world. Many thanks to Dr. Mercola for surfacing this one. Read his comments on the matter and the full article here.

Your appendix is a small dead-end tube connected to a
section of your large intestine. It has long been thought to be a
vestigial remnant of some other organ, but there is little evidence for
an appendix in our evolutionary ancestors. Few mammals have any
appendix at all, and the appendices of those that do bears little
resemblance to the human one.

Some researchers now believe that the appendix is a
“safe house” for commensal bacteria, the symbiotic germs
that aid digestion and help protect against disease-causing germs.

The appendix is isolated from the rest of the gut, with an
opening smaller than a pencil lead. In times of trouble, such as an
infection that flushes the system, these commensal bacteria could hide
out there, ready to repopulate the gut when the danger is past.

Biofilms, colonies of beneficial microbes, form in your
large intestine. They aid digestion and protect against infection,
while enjoying the protection and nutrition of the human host.
Researchers have found biofilms on the epithelial lining of the
appendix as well.

Sources:

• New York Times June 17, 2008

• The Journal of Theoretical Biology December 21, 2007; 249(4):826-31

Genetically Modified Foods

"When eminent scientist Arpad Pusztai went public about his accidental discovery that genetically modified (GM) potatoes severely damage the immune system and organs of rats, he was suspended from the prestigious Scottish research institute where he had worked for thirty-five years. He was silenced with threats of a lawsuit while the Institute denied or distorted his findings." Read more at: www.wanttoknow.info

"You're already on drugs!"

Cancer -- Hurry Up and Wait

This is good news for men out there who may be concerned about prostate cancer.

Link: Cancer -- Hurry Up and Wait.

I posted a study last summer about the unnecessary use of conventional treatments -- surgery or radiotherapy -- for many men diagnosed with a low-grade form of prostate cancer. Nevertheless, few men at low risk opt for close observation of their health. More often than not, they choose to be unnecessarily overtreated, according to a new study.

NPR : Researchers Find Bias in Nutrition Studies

This is very interesting and worth noting.  It goes right along with a speech by Michael Crichton about how science as a subject is becoming more and more watered down by political and, if this NPR article is any measure, corporate influence.  Click on link below to listen to the NPR story.

Link: NPR : Researchers Find Bias in Nutrition Studies.

Morning Edition, January 9, 2007 · A new study, co-authored by Harvard researchers and analysts from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, suggests there's a systematic bias in nutrition studies funded by food companies.

Mad Cow Infected Blood

Yikes!  I think I'll take vegetarian blood from now on, thank you!

Link: Bodyhack.

The BBC reports that there's still plenty of risk for people who were transfused with blood contaminated by the human form of mad-cow disease.

And even worse news: people may be infecting the blood supply right now.

Reportedly, 66 people received contaminated blood and three have been infected. A remaining 24 who are still alive -- and didn't die of other causes -- are at risk.

It sounds like there isn't a good way to protect the blood supply:

Experts believe that, based on the cases seen so far, infection from a blood transfusion can develop in just six or seven years.

Professor John Collinge of the MRC Prion Unit said: "That three individuals from this small group of people that we know to have been exposed through blood transfusion have already developed vCJD infection suggests that the infection may be efficiently passed by this route.

    "So the risk to remaining individuals is likely to be substantial."

[snip]

    "... of course people who are silently incubating vCJD at the moment may be blood donors and there is no way of knowing where that blood is going."

Read a recent story of mine about mad-cow and related diseases here. [click link above this clip to get access active links to additional stories-Hans]

Nuking The Flu

Christine and the kids caught the flu this year and it was a particularly nasty one.  The hacking from the  children was that dry, inexorable cough that makes you cringe when one cough leads into a run of successive coughs that just doesn't want to stop.  It's awful.

So when I started getting a swollen throat, I decided to take evasive action.