Ayahuasca can change your life, but not necessarily for the better. This emerging plant based substance has been touted as everything from curing drug addictions to allowing one to see into another dimension. For some, experiencing an ayahuasca trip can be a religious experience. The plant based substance has been a staple of traditional medicine in the Peruvian rain forest. It has been administered by trained shamans for a variety of health reasons, both mental and physical. It causes psychotropic reactions due to its dimethyltryptamine (DMT) that is released when the plant leaves are cooked in conjunction with another plant. A normal part of the treatment is vigorous vomiting. Sometimes the client also experiences diarrhea. The chemicals in the brew can kill intestinal worms and the vomiting and voiding expel them. The psychotropic part of the trip is a psychedelic experience, often with little creatures in the hallucinations. This part of the trip may cause physical health problems such as heart attacks and death. As the European and N. American public has become more aware of this psychotropic drug a lucrative industry has sprung up in Peru. Known as Ayahuasca Tourists many go to stay at questionable and expensive camps to experience a transformation or a very trippy experience. Traditional shamans recommend that this drug should only be taken in the presence of one or several experienced shamans. This has led to some problems where participants may have been guided by poorly trained cookers. Some cookers have been accused of adding other psychotropic drugs to the mix without understanding their effects. One of the drugs that may contaminate the mixture is Brugmansia or angel trumpet which gives very bad trips. A dispute and denunciation regarding the commercialization of this drug has been made about an organization called Ayahuasca International. The owner of this business runs retreats in Europe where the mixture is administered. Commercialization in Peru has become lucrative as well. Per night costs for a retreat there can easily cost the participant $1200 USD. Cost is not guarantee of a good experience. Women have been sexually assaulted under the influence of the drug and others have died when they wandered away and met with mishaps. DMT is classified as a controlled substance in Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, the UK and US. Sources: Wikipedia Men’s Journal The Ayahuasca Forums New Age Frauds
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We know that exercise can ward off many of the frailties of aging, but now we can add brain health to the lengthy list. A study published this month in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease points out exercise as a possible way to reduce the chances of developing this debilitating disease. The researchers followed a cohort of 876 people over 30 years in a Cardiovascular Health Study. When the people reached an average age of 78 they were subjected to various cognitive and physical tests. After correlating life style choices which included exercise, the researchers found that those who exercised regularly had bigger brain volumes. This translated to a whopping 50% reduction in the incidence of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in the study group. In order to maintain their healthy brain volumes, the participants only needed to engage in moderate exercise. It could be gardening, walking, or my favourite – dancing. There are known risk factors for developing AH. Chronic inflammation, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type-2 diabetes are all known risk factors. Other risks factors are being studied including ethnicities and mental health. Two thirds of AD sufferers are women. There is no cure for AD which is a progressive disease which primarily affects older people. Eventually the person with AD becomes cognitively impaired and as brain damage continues brain cells die. AD is the leading cause of dementia and death usually occurs within ten years. Prevention is the most promising way to deal with this tragic and expensive disease. Research is progressing in that area as well, with researchers looking at the benefits of some natural spices and teas added to a balanced diet. The disease costs a great deal of money to deal with. The disease progressed in roughly three stages. While the first stage exhibits some cognitive impairment, the patient may still live independently, but by stage 2 some help and supervision will be necessary and by stage 3 full time help is necessary. In the US there are currently 5.3 million people with the disease. The cost of caring for them in 2015 was $226 billion. These costs are estimated to spiral to $1.1 trillion by 2050. The Alzheimer Association(American) estimates that if trends continue there will be nearly 14 million victims of the disease. So get out the dancing shoes and tap dance your way to good health. Sources: Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease Alzheimer’s Association The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) have launched a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against those countries that maintain a nuclear arsenal. Nine countries have been named in the UN court. The RMI allege that these countries are reneging on the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty designed to curb nuclear weapons and eventually eliminate them. The countries named in the suit are: USA, India, Pakistan, UK, France, Russia, China, N. Korea and Israel. Israel consistently denies owning nuclear weapons, but it is commonly believed that they acquired the technology from S. Africa. RMI was made a protectorate of the US at the end of the War in the Pacific. Since then, some of its coral atolls have been used for testing bombs and missiles. 1946 saw the first of the tests. In order to test the atomic weapons, the residents of the Bikini Atoll were removed and relocated to another island. The atmospheric testing continued until 1958, with a total of 67 atomic explosions tested on Bikini and Enowetak atolls. The largest of the tests was a massive hydrogen bomb which was equivalent to 15 million tons of TNT. That hydrogen bomb flare could be seen as far away as Okinawa and radiation was detected as far away as Tennessee. A Japanese fishing crew at only 60 miles away was showered with radioactivity. The radio operator died shortly after of multiple organ failure. Most of the crew died from cancers. Marshall Islanders on two islands were irradiated as well. Radioactive ash contaminated Rongelap and Utirik. Those islanders had to be evacuated and relocated on other, already occupied, islands. In the 1970s the residents of Rongelap were allowed to return but had to pick up stakes and be re-evacuated when alarming levels of radiation were detected in their food grown on the island. Utirik remains uninhabited. Those surviving irradiated residents receive a stipend from the US government of about $588 per year. The leading cause of death on the RMI is diabetes. The second is cancer. There is no permanent oncologist. There is no regular ability to administer chemotherapy or other advanced cancer fighting techniques. The US still uses Kajalein Atoll for missile testing. Non-nuclear missiles are sometimes fired from California and sometimes they are fired from the mid-Pacific towards California for interception practise. The Marshall Islands Nuclear Claims Tribunal awarded more than $2bn in personal injury and land damage claims arising form the nuclear tests but stopped paying after a compensation fund was exhausted. The Guardian The Cold War was a grim period that saw The Soviet Union, the US, UK and France testing atomic bombs in the atmosphere. Sources: UNESCO The Guardian International Court of Justice The Washington Post Multiple Sclerosis is a devastating disease that can cripple and kill its victims. It develops when the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the myelin sheath that protects and ensures quick nerve impulses reach their target. Researchers have noted that the disease is more prevalent in northern climates like N. America and Europe. It doesn’t occur with the same frequency in Japan and where a diet rich in oily fish is consumed. The researchers have long theorized that there was a link between the lack of Vitamin D and the disease. A small Finnish study published in the JAMA Neuology this month indicated a strong association with low levels of the “sunshine vitamin” in mothers of children diagnosed with MS. While no dosage could be measured, the most critical time for sufficient Vit D seems to be in the first trimester. Other studies did not find as strong a link. Vitamin D is important in many areas of health. Humans can produce their own supply of it by exposing the skin to the ultraviolet light of the sun, but overexposure can damage the skin. In the northern hemisphere, the sun’s rays are too weak to generate the needed reaction. Also we tend to cover our skin because of the colder temperatures. People with dark skin are more resistant to ultraviolet radiation and make the vitamin less well in northern latitudes. Those who spend most of their time inside and those who cover all or most of their skin are more at risk for low levels of the vitamin. People who restrict their diets to non-animal products may also need to supplement. We can gain Vit. D by taking supplements – cod liver and halibut liver oils are rich in the substance. A more palatable method might be to add a small vitamin pill to your winter diet. People with low levels of this vital substance are at risk for many health problems. Some of them are the following:
Sources: Harvard Chan School of Medicine Web MD If you needed another reason to get the kids off the couch and outside, this is it. The rates of near sightedness are reaching epidemic proportions and poised to get worse. About 90% of youngsters in East Asia have blurry distance vision. S. Korea has even higher rates. While glasses can help most youngsters, some children will suffer serious vision problems – cataracts, glaucoma, retinal detachment and blindness. Blindness is expected to hit about 10% of those with myopia. The US and Europe rates are better but still worrisome. The rates are getting worse and getting worse quickly. Evidence is starting to accrue that the modern life style is accelerating these changes. Children spend increasingly long periods inside buildings. Evidence is mounting that points to the sunshine that children are exposed to affects the growth of the eyeball, keeping it closer to the ideal shape. Bright indoor lighting just isn’t strong enough to accomplish this. Researchers in Singapore have run some promising experiments with atropine eye drops. Low doses of the medication seem to help slow the development of myopia. Currently about 1.45 billion have myopia. By 2050 over 4 billion are expected to have the condition. Aside from the human suffering, the loss of productivity and cost of looking after failing eyesight is expected to continue to increase. According to WHO figures for 2007, the cost of lost production world-wide was $US 268.8 billion. There is no convincing evidence that close work damages the eyesight. It is the lack of bright sunshine that seems to cause the problem. Sources: Nature Sidney Morning Herald WHO |
Barbara McPherson
Blogger, gardener, farmer. Working toward food security and a 30 foot
diet. Addicted to reading. Love this planet, especially my little corner
on Vancouver Island, Canada Archives
October 2016
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