Welcome to H&C,,, where I aggregate news of interest. Primary topics include abuse with "the church", LGBTQI+ issues, cults - including anti-vaxxers, and the Dominionist and Theocratic movements. Also of concern is the anti-science movement with interest in those that promote garbage like homeopathy, chiropractic and the like. I am an atheist and anti-theist who believes religious mythos must be die and a strong supporter of SOCAS.
A diabetic six-year-old boy who died while undergoing alternative
slapping and stretching therapy was unable to walk and vomited regularly
in his final days, a Sydney jury has heard.
The boy’s mother, father and grandmother, and Chinese “healer” Hong
Chi Xiao, have all pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of the boy,
who died in a Sydney hotel in April 2016, six days into a week-long
healing workshop run by Xiao.
Crown prosecutor Sharon Harris told a New South Wales district court
jury on Wednesday the child’s family members, who cannot be named for
legal reasons, stopped administering his insulin during the workshop.
In opening submissions, Harris said Xiao told participants
ahead of the workshop that slapping and stretching of the body
“activated the body’s self-healing power and unlocked the body’s energy
channels”. Such treatment, termed paida lajin, could heal cancer,
Parkinson’s disease and both types of diabetes, Xiao claimed, according
to the crown.
But what is this ‘slapping therapy’, and why is it called controversial? It involves the flow of ‘energy’ or a ‘life force’ (chi) through channels (meridians) and by slapping yourself, or being slapped by someone else, you restore the flow of chi
and your body starts to expel ‘toxins’. These toxins become visible
when your skin turns red, and I guess, purple and blue, depending on how
hard you are being hit. The theory was, therefore, that by slapping
this boy he would be cured from diabetes, and this belief is so strong,
that he was also taken off his medication – a life threatening scenario.
But what does science say? Chi does not exist, meridians
do not exist, diabetes cannot be cured and especially not by slapping,
and the so-called toxins that your body expel are called bruising (the
slapping injury causes tiny blood vessels to burst and the blood gets
trapped below the skin’s surface, which causes a bruise). Just imagine
how many people get hurt or die, due to TCM practitioners using chi, meridians
etc. to diagnose and treat disease. Because it does not exist, they
cannot really diagnose anything, and hence cannot effectively treat
anything!
A Chinese "self-healing promoter" accused of causing the death of a six-year-old boy allegedly described Western medicine as "poison" and encouraged diabetics to participate in slapping therapy instead of taking their insulin.
Hong Chi Xiao was charged with manslaughter in August, following a two-year investigation into the boy's death during which time he continued to promote his techniques around the world.
A self-proclaimed Chinese healer arrested over the death of a Sydney
boy more than two years ago has faced court charged with manslaughter.
Hong Chi Xiao, 53, was arrested at Sydney Airport this morning after being extradited from London.
NSW Police allege that between April 22 and 28, 2015, a Sydney couple and their diabetic six-year-old son attended one of Xiao's "self-healing" conferences at the Tasly Healthpac Medical Centre at Hurstville.
Emergency services were called to a nearby hotel room late on April 28 after the boy was found unconscious.
POLICE have launched an investigation into a Chinese healer after
the death of a young diabetic boy who attended a “slapping therapy”
workshop.
Aidan Fenton, 7, was getting treatment from the alternative
Chinese medicine workshop at the Tasly Healthpac Centre in Hurstville
when he died, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Police
have spoken to a Chinese therapist Hongchi Xiao who advocates the use
of slapping therapy — until patients are bruised — to cure illnesses
and rid the body of poisons. The week- long therapy cost $1800.
Detectives are investigating whether Aidan was taken off his insulin before his death.
Mr Xiao, who hosted seminars at the workshop, left the country after being questioned by police.
It
is believed Mr Xiao claimed participants in the seminar were asked to
fast for three days and to undertake the slapping and stretching
exercises that can prompt vomiting and dizzy spells, known as a “healing
crisis”.
[,,,]
Mr Xiao had been in Sydney following a tour of New Zealand to promote
his “Paida-Lajin” therapy, which involves slapping the body until it
bruises to “unblock meridians and drive out poisons”.
He has written several books on Chinese medicine and travelled the globe spruiking his slapping therapy.
“The greater the pain and bruises while slapping means there is more
poison inside the body,” he told a seminar in South Africa last year.
“You can be your own doctor. We were all born with a self-healing power
but we simply ignore it and spend millions of dollars paying for
medications. Nature heals, doctors are only assistants.”
UPDATE:: A good look at Black Salve from a UK perspective by Myles Power,,,
__
This is some of the double-dare ya stupidity that is being passed along on the inter-web. I leave the group name as it is not private, but "closed" with any member able to add new members. Also stated within their own description, this is a business site with 9000+ "members", and they sell "bloodroot" salve and products. [Courtesy of BSIDQ]
Admin are managers of ZenithHerbal, who make bloodroot products, and also manage www.BloodrootSalve.com - an information site where you will find most answers.
__
Be forewarned, this post includes what some may consider disturbing pictures and descriptions!
As I mentioned in my previous post concerning Monika Milka, she shared the following article with commentary (7/12/2106 904AM):
While her commentary has the usual big pHARMa/pHARMa shill gambits (taken directly from the tone of the article), that is not my interest ATM. What is at issue, she is promoting a "product" or substance that not only fails in efficacy, but causes serious harm as well.
So, began my initial posting concerning BS (also know as Cansema and various other names). After my two preceding posts, I had hemmed and hawed at continuing, as many words have been aimed directly at Monika's Entity. But then I had a conversation with a young co-worker and I realized people don't know what BS is,
Black Salves are corrosive substances, classified as ‘escharotics’. Escharotics are substances which cause tissue to die and slough off. Black Salve proponents believe that when this escharotic destroys tissue, it is somehow targeting cancer cells – and that when scabs form and fall off, the cancer is being removed from the body.
This is sadly very wrong – there is no mechanism by which black salve can mobilise and destroy cancer cells in a targeted manner; the salve merely damages tissue, healthy or not.
and based on preliminary information gathering, there seems to be 2 or 3 products called BS.
The other salve(s) or ointment(s) are, "Ichthammol ointment" and "Amish black drawing salve". I believe it is the "Ichthammol ointment" we are most familiar with from our youth. Notice that neither contains bloodroot or zinc chloride,
Bituminosulfonates are classified as local therapeutic agents with very good tolerability. Pharmacologically, Ichthammol has anti-inflammatory, bactericidal, and fungicidal properties. It is used to treat eczema, psoriasis, Acne rosacea and acne, and it decreases microorganisms in the area surrounding a skin condition. It is commonly used in 10% or 20% concentrate ointment, applied topically. [Internal citations removed.]
That is what this post will try and address, what is this product that burns off noses?
I am not going to touch ingestion or internal use,,, sigh, I lied a wee bit.
The “natural” escharotic treatment alternative for cervical dysplasia involves applying a solution of bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) and zinc chloride. They claim that the solution selectively kills abnormal cells of the cervix while leaving healthy cells unaffected. That claim is almost certainly false, and the efficacy and safety of escharotic treatment has not been properly tested or compared to conventional treatment.
So while this is a Monika's Entity inspired post, it has nothing to do with her. "Leaky gut" phenomenon will be another, although that is a planned topic.
First thing you will notice about the article, there are no citations to be found, but claims galore.
Black salve, hailed as the most effective, natural skin cancer remedy available today, has saved thousands of lives world wide leaving the $30 billion Australian pharmaceutical industry stewing in its wake.
Anecdotal evidence
This writer has used it and has seen the results in others where it left no scarring or had any adverse side effect.
One elderly Atherton patient was sent home from hospital to die, suffering from a huge malignant ulcer on his leg after telling the hospital he did not want his leg amputated.
A relative treated him with black salve and within two months his leg had healed and he was walking on it.
I tend to be the opposite, citations galore. I plan on keeping it that way.
History of,,, In a nutshell, Black salve is an alternative cancer-treating remedy that was popular in the early 1900s. The salve, burns the skin tissue, leaving behind what is called eschar (necrotic tissue and hence the name "escharotic agent"). Black salve will cause serious injury and potentially disfigure the skin. Its users believe that black salve will draw out the cancer using corrosive ingredients like zinc chloride and the extract of bloodroot, which attacks and destroys living tissue.
In brief, it’s a caustic substance. Usually, it’s derived from bloodroot, but it can also be made from zinc oxide or various herbs. The claim that you will hear from advocates of black salve make is that it somehow “draws out the cancer” if you either apply it as a paste over a tumor, such as a skin cancer, cancerous lymph nodes, or a soft tissue cancer such as a sarcoma. Most commonly, you see it used for melanoma. It can even work sometimes. Unfortunately, it’s how black salve works that is problematic.
Another critical issue, yes this might work, but with surgical removal of the sample you have the benefit of tissue pathology, which is lost by destructino [sic] of the skin and surrounding area. Critical information about the type of tumor and the depth of invasion will be lost that could be relevant to anything from whether or not the lesion was benign to what additional surgical or medical interventions are necessary to control the spread of disease.
You use the shit, you deserve all that is coming to you. I know it sounds harsh but just looking at the numerous forums, the posting and the pics, why the fuck would you even consider it.
What if we told you there exists a blend of herbs so powerful, effective, and safe for treating cancer that no other conventional treatment even comes close? And what if we told you this same herbal formula only targets malignant cells while leaving healthy cells and other tissue alone? The formula in question actually does exist, and it is traditionally known as Indian black salve, a "magical" cancer cure of sorts that also safely treats viruses and many other health conditions without causing harmful side effects.
Amish are known for their strict way of life without modern technology and medicine. They live in harmony with nature and are treated exclusively with natural remedies. One of their traditional preparations is a wonderful black salve (Black Drawing Salve) used for many inflammatory conditions, and it is known that it is very effective with infections, cysts and ulcers. Many people outside the Amish circuits used for these problems, but also for ingrown nails and hair, and cystic acne.
but as I noted above, this "bloodroot" or zinc oxide based product (as exemplified by the NN article as "Indian Black Salve", is not the same as "Ichthammol ointment" or the "drawing salves".
What makes reporting on this stuff so difficult is a point Steve Novella notes, "The bottom line is that Black Salve is a general name for a topical ointment that is corrosive and is used to burn away skin lesions, including cancer. There are no proper scientific studies of its safety and efficacy, and the exact ingredients are formulas vary and are often not known."
Some currently marketed escharotics contain bloodroot (Sanguinaria candensis), zinc chloride, or both. However, because cancer salves are not manufactured under government supervision, it may not even be possible to know what is in them.
So the issue(s) appears to be the inclusion of "bloodroot" and/or zinc chloride. Many other resources mention this combination as being the damaging culprit(s) and is behind the numerousgovernmentalwarnings.
The use of escharotic or caustic pastes to treat skin cancer is based on the centuries-old observation that selected minerals and plant extracts may be used to destroy certain skin lesions. Zinc chloride and Sanguinaria canadensis (bloodroot) are 2 agents that are used as part of the Mohs chemosurgery fixed-tissue technique. The use of escharotics without surgery has been discredited by allopathic medicine but persists and is promoted among alternative practitioners. Patients may now purchase "herbal supplements" for the primary self-treatment of skin cancer, and physicians will see patients who elect this therapy for their skin cancers.
,,,
Escharotic agents are available as herbal supplements and are being used by patients for the treatment of skin cancer. The efficacy of these agents is unproven and their content is unregulated. Serious consequences may result from their use. Conventional medicine has an excellent track record in treating skin cancer. Physicians should recommend against the use of escharotic agents for skin cancer, and the Food and Drug Administration should be given the authority to regulate their production and distribution.
Escharotics were introduced to Western medicine in the 1930s by Frederic Mohs, who was then a medical student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, investigating tissue fixation [preserve the tissue without changing the structure of the cells] as part of a new surgical treatment for cancer. Mohs chose zinc chloride as a proper tissue fixative based on studies he performed on cancerous and normal rat tissues. Mohs consulted with a pharmacist to create a paste that could be applied to the skin, and the final product, Mohs paste, contained zinc chloride as a fixative, as well as antimony trisulfide for suspension and bloodroot as an organic stabilizer. Mohs proposed that this paste, applied in a carefully calculated manner that accounted for the tumor's depth and diameter, would fix tumor in tissue over a 24-hour period. This process enabled the surgeon to remove a fixed specimen and, following sectioning and staining, immediately review the histologic findings to assess tumor involvement of the surgical margin. The paste application, fixation, and excision of the tumor was repeated daily until the microscopic examination finding was negative for tumor. It should be clarified that Mohs used zinc chloride only as a fixative and Sanguinaria only as an organic stabilizer for his fixative paste. The primary procedure undertaken by Mohs was surgical excision. He coined his technique "chemosurgery," and thus began the long-storied history that has culminated in the widespread use of micrographic surgery.
Simultaneously, Harry Hoxsey, the lay cancer specialist responsible for the operation of one of the nation's largest private cancer treatment clinics, developed an herbal tonic and paste that were designed to treat internal and external cancers. Hoxsey based his internal tonic on a family recipe handed down from his great grandfather. It was purported to treat an imbalance of body fluids, thus making the body uninhabitable by malignancy. His paste, however, was much like Mohs', a preparation of antimony sulfide, bloodroot, and zinc chloride. Hoxsey recommended a fingertip application of paste to the affected area with a thin layer of petroleum jelly (Vaseline) to protect the surrounding healthy tissue. Over a period of days to weeks, the affected area would necrose, separate from the surrounding tissue, and fall out.
Even before Hoxsey and Mohs we have the Nichol Escharotic Method
The Nichols Escharotic Method involved the use of escharotic, or caustic, pastes to treat cancerous skin lesions. The pastes, typically arsenic and zinc chlorides, left deep burns, often requiring multiple surgeries after the treatment. It was common for cancer to return within a few years and it often metastasized quickly. The method was quickly regarded as ineffective, and it was phased out by the late 1950's.
You will note that there is some discrepancy between the meme and journal citation as to when Hoxsey's use began. This does not take away from the overall message that 1] Mohs technique in the use of BS changed, 2] it was used in conjunction with surgery, and 3] the anti's ignore both points in their appeal to authority.
Unfortunately, the technique as it first existed had certain drawbacks, above all a procedure time that could span several days, and severe discomfort accompanying the zinc chloride paste application.
In 1953, Dr. Mohs tried a “fresh-tissue” version of chemosurgery. He was treating a patient with an eyelid basal cell carcinoma, and to avoid irritating the globe of the eye, he skipped the zinc chloride paste. He administered local anesthesia, and without having to wait for a fixative to set, he was able to immediately excise one thin layer of fresh tissue, section it in the usual way, map it, and examine it under the microscope. Finding tumor cells at the margins, he was again able to excise another layer of tissue immediately.
Encouraged, Dr. Mohs began to use this new technique, primarily for skin cancers around the eye. After learning of the technique and excited by the possibilities, dermatologic surgeon Theodore Tromovitch in 1963 began using the fresh-tissue technique on more and more body sites. In December, 1970 at the annual Chemosurgery Conference, he and Sam Stegman, MD , presented 104 cases of surgery “without using zinc chloride chemical fixative,” with only four recurrences. He and Dr. Stegman subsequently published landmark papers reporting high cure rates using the new form of chemosurgery, which they called “chemosurgery fresh tissue technique.” In his 8-year retrospective study, he reported a 97.2 percent cure rate for 532 lesions. [Internal citations removed.]
While I am aware that the ACMS still "advocates" the Mohs procedure, it is above my pay grade and qualification to judge whether it is proper or not, that is best left to the proper medical people. My interest at this point is only the history of the use of BS and how it came into use and disuse.
What is at issue, the "natural fallacy" One point to make note of before tackling the "appeal to nature fallacy". In all the literature read, not including those that favor its use, it has been noted that self diagnosis or improper diagnosis had occurred in a majority of cases; reliance on family or friends to try the product was also prevalent.
What is important to keep in mind in considering these bits of anecdote, the person(s) concerned may never have seen a doctor and never had a biopsy, but nonetheless is describing a "cure". By the time proper medical care was sought, it was due to infection (sepsis being common), recurrence, or metastases.
The most oft repeated "claim" from purveyors of the crank, "Black Salve only kills the cancer cells. If you put it on a spot that is not cancerous...it doesn't do anything." So, you have a very strong stomach for bad outcomes, google "black salve" and look at the photos. Tell me again why you would do this to yourself!
As I mentioned the primary issue, besides this shit doesn't work is what is called the "Appeal to Nature" . It goes something like this,
1 N is natural.
2 Therefore, N is good, safe or right.
Or:
1 U is unnatural.
2 Therefore, U is bad, unsafe or wrong.
Like all logical fallacies, the argument is invalid as the conclusion does not follow from the premise(s). As noted, "the premise(s) can be true but the conclusion can be false."
If there’s one fallacy that grips the brains of proponents of “natural healing,” “holistic medicine,” or, as the vast majority of it is, quackery, it’s an appeal to nature. Basically, the idea that underlies the appeal to nature is a profane worship of nature as being, in essence, perfect, with anything humans do that is perceived as somehow being “unnatural” being viewed as, at the very least, inferior and at the very worst pure evil. We see it in the pseudoscientific stylings of cranks like The Food Babe, whose epic appeals to nature are legendary in their stupidity, particularly her demonization of any chemical perceived as synthetic to the point where she actually says thinks like, “If you can’t pronounce it, you shouldn’t eat it” and “There is just no acceptable level of any chemical to ingest, ever.”
That’s just one example. The appeal to nature undergirds so much of alternative medicine that it’s hard to think of an example of alternative medicine that doesn’t to some extent embrace the this fallacy,,,
Orac's explanation very well sums up what the problems with this fallacy is by citing the Boob, "If you can’t pronounce it, you shouldn't eat it." One example oft used is Digitalis or digoxin which comes from the foxglove plant. Whether extracted or synthesized, at the wrong dosage it can be toxic and there is a very narrow window between therapeutic and toxic levels. So would you rather take a well regulated dose or roll the dice.
Plants undeniably produce lots of good stuff. Today researchers are finding useful medicines in plants that have no tradition of use. Taxol, the cancer-fighting product of Pacific yew trees, was discovered by the National Cancer Institute only by screening compounds from thousands of plants.
There is a reason pharmacology abandoned whole plant extracts in favor of isolated active ingredients. The amount of active ingredient in a plant can vary with factors like the variety, the geographic location, the weather, the season, the time of harvest, soil conditions, storage conditions, and the method of preparation. Foxglove contains a mixture of digitalis-type active ingredients but it is difficult to control the dosage. The therapeutic dose of digitalis is very close to the toxic dose. Pharmacologists succeeded in preparing a synthetic version: now the dosage can be controlled, the blood levels can be measured, and an antibody is even available to reverse the drug’s effects if needed.
As Dr. Hall further notes, "that natural medicines are not regulated the way prescription drugs are, thanks to the infamous Diet Supplement and Health Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994."
When you take an herbal remedy, you are taking
An active ingredient that usually has not been adequately tested,
Other components that have not even been identified, much less tested,
An uncertain amount, and
Possible contaminants.
In other words, whereas medicinal plants contain variable and unpredictable quantities of pharmacologically active substances, drugs are precisely dosed and you always know the exact quantity of active ingredient you are getting.
The real issue, "bad" outcomes
And that brings me to some closing thoughts of which I'm going to borrow from Black Salve is dangerous quackery.
There have been endless claims that "my doctor was OK with Black Salve" or "my doctor now recommends Black Salve".
Lets break this down.
If you doctor thinks there is ANY merit whatsoever in black salve, why don't they document your case, with pathology reports, and at least send a LETTER to the correspondence column of a medical journal. ANY medical journal? All it takes is 10 minutes and a photo, sent via email.
If your doctor is seeing consistent success from Black Salve why not put together a case study series and get it published? Its not hard! Why don't they approach their specialist college (oncology or dermatology) and propose a small scale study? These are the lowest grade forms of scientific evidence. I've published links to almost 20 papers and letters like this to journals, all negative about escharotics.
The use of black (or red) salve is unproven by even any vaguely scientific measure. How about this from the website blacksalve.biz?
"Black Salve has not been subjected to RCTs (randomized controlled trials)."
"...until scientific trials have been done, we remain uncertain as to exactly how it works. "
"It doesn’t seem to (damage healthy tissue), certainly not to the naked eye. There may be evidence of damage at the microscopic level, but that’s about all."
"...based purely on clinical observations, that Black Salve appears to be very good at killing tumors."
"The Black Salve also appears to act as a catalyst (a “reagent”) in mediating an immune response ..."
"Users of Black Salve, believe that when Black Salve is applied to cancerous skin lesions, any and every cancer cell associated with that lesion, those laterally and those deep, will be destroyed!"
The italics are all mine, but that's a lot of belief, a lot of 'seems' and 'maybes' and 'appears tos'. It adds up to a lot of uncertainty. And if you look at the site, a lot of it is tied up in medical-sounding jargon, presumably to provide a veneer of science ("serous fluid", "leucocytes", "macrophages", "cytokines" anyone?). It make it way easier to buy into the promise. t's exactly like women at the beauty counter wearing white lab coats. News flash: wearing a white lab coast doesn't make a retail assistant a scientist.
While I am pleased that some user seem to have found relief or treatment to their alleged cancers. I ask, is the risk worth it?
"He believed he had cured his lump whatever it was and went about sharing the wonders of this miracle treatment with all and sundry. However, 18 months later Mark became quite unwell, so unwell that he eventually had to seek the advice of a doctor. Scans revealed secondary melanomas in his bowel liver and oesphagus.
The primary? Yes – it was the lump on his back he had ‘successfully’ removed with ‘black salve’ … that ‘successful removal’ had cost him his life – he was blissfully unaware of the insidious disease he had been harbouring in his body. He still refused convention interventions choosing more natural remedies and died within a month from a very aggressive melanoma! Had Mark had his original lump diagnosed when removed – the outcome may have been very different. He leaves behind a wife and 4 teenage children."
Years ago I could have chose this route to remove what turned out to be a fatty cell cyst on my leg. I didn't. I have a small scar from where my doc removed the cyst and the procedure was done in 5 minutes. I couldn't fathom putting myself through days of ugliness as some "patients" have. I does not compute. As I mentioned, if you really want to see some nasty outcomes, just do an image search. Some of the wounds are just horrifying.
Just as with any medication or remedy that I may consider, this is the type of literature review I partake in. While I have been pretty lax since my stroke, hopefully I have given a good look at the science surrounding the bullshit that is "black salve". While it may have its uses in Moh's surgery (again I am not qualified to make that determination), as a home remedy for curing cancer, I give it an F-. Anecdote is not evidence.
For your viewing pleasure, Monika's Ghost has this to say:
And yes MG's and I are acquainted as we have similar goals though not identical. I like her snark!!
One of the many labels that you’ll see on food at your local
food-buying store is “natural.” What marketers want you to think is that
“natural” products lack artificial flavor or color additives or
preservatives, and maybe even that they’re made with organic
ingredients. What it actually means is that the product says “natural”
on the label, and that label is probably in shades of tan and light green.
That’s misleading to consumers, who (perhaps naively) expect the words
on their food packaging to have a meaning. The Food and Drug
Administration has come to realize this, too. They note that there
actually is no formal rule about when food marketers are allowed to call
something “natural,” though the agency does have a policy of what a
“natural” label should say.
The FDA has considered the
term “natural” to mean that nothing artificial or synthetic (including
all color additives regardless of source) has been included in, or has
been added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in that
food.
So “why don’t we do clinical trials on GMOs the same way we do for
drugs?” Drugs are designed to cause a change in the human body: that’s
the whole point behind them. Since drugs are altering something in
humans, it’s important to know the side-effects that they may cause and
whether or not they’re causing the anticipated effect (i.e. is it better
than placebo). In contrast, GMOs are designed to be equivalent to their
non-GE counterparts: they aren’t drugs or nutritional supplements.
GE crops which ARE designed to impact human health, such as vitamin-A
enriched rice, should be tested in humans to determine if the desired
outcome is achieved (i.e that the rice actually delivers vitamin-A to
the body). But such studies are not the same as looking for unknown
long-term effects.
Another
reason why is that there’s no plausible mechanism for harm. In the past,
I’ve explained how nothing can truly ever be proven to be 100 percent
safe, whether it’s water, a computer or a car. Researchers examine
safety when there’s a plausible mechanism whereby harm can occur. For
example, a cholesterol lowering drug may act by interfering with
cholesterol synthesis in the liver, so it may make sense to see if it
impacts other metabolic functions in the liver. But when it comes to the
traits that are introduced into GE crops, there isn’t really a
mechanism of harm: for example, the Arctic Apple is engineered to have a
gene turned off, and the gene doesn’t even exist in humans, so how
could that harm us? This is why most scientists wouldn’t want to spend
years trying to secure grants for a long term feeding study when the
likelihood of having an important discovery or contribution to the field
is so low. Safety is relative, and there have been many long-term
feeding studies in animals which haven’t observed any harm, suggesting
that follow-up testing of GE crops in humans is unnecessary. ,,,
This isn’t a cop-out. If we’re looking for a harmful effect but don’t
know what it is because we don’t have a reasonable mechanism whereby
harm may occur, how can you design the experiment? What variables will
you measure? As this document from the FDA outlines, clinical trials for
drugs go through very specific phases and can be variable in duration
and size. However the thing they all have in common is that they’re
looking for a very specific effect (improvement of the disease or its
symptoms in the patient). Doctors know exactly what to measure, and look
for any possible side-effects, which end up getting listed in the
package insert for the drug, even if they are not causal.
So, I have had a "run-in" with this group, nothing bad mind you,
questioning the veracity of whether they are Poe or not. The jury,
among my peers, is still out. Many think that CAD is a Poe and treat it
as such. I, on the other hand, can't seem to make up my mind. Would
AronRa spend an hour+ with a Poe?
So the attached article keeps appearing in my feed as if it is the
gospel truth on the matter. It's not!! Let me remind you that the Food
Babe got hammered over this very issue because of her BAD science; she
eventually removed the offending article http://www.science20.com/…/the_food_babe_took_down_her_goof….
Below you will find 3 science based articles dealing with this very
issue. The general conclusion, microwaves are safe and among the best
methods of cooking in terms of preserving nutrients.
What about the study she references? That study, “Phenolic compound
contents in edible parts of broccoli inflorescences after domestic
cooking“, added water to the vegetables during microwaving. In essence,
they were boiled using the microwave, so the results were more similar
to boiling vegetables. Other studies looking at microwaving without
added water demonstrate minimal nutrient loss. The advantage of
microwaving is shorter cooking time – just don’t add water to your
vegetables before putting them in the microwave.
I expected a bit of blow back, but I at least expected one to read the fecking article,
"[W]hen
you have the fda [sic] and pharmaceutical companies withholding information
about treatments that help and even cure cancer." Exactly what alleged
information (or more precisely chemical compound) are they holding back
and which treatment "cures" cancer? Cancer is a "family" of diseases,
as pointed out in the article, not just "one" thing that one miracle
drug can cure. I can kill cancer cells in a petri dish with a gun,
doesn't mean the "lead" will cure cancer in the body.
"[W]ithout
access to the things that can help,,,". Although I am not happy with
the health care I am receiving from my PC, she does have access to every
available piece if science based medicine to her hearts content.
Failure to use it is her own fault,,, Failure to push for answers, is
my own fault.
You spit on the efforts of tens of thousands of health care workers
(oncologists, nurses, researchers, students) passionately spending
decades of their life tracking down these elusive killers by declaring
your degrees from “Google University” and “ conspiracynutjobtheoriesilluminaticonfirmed.com “ outweigh their decades of effort doing…well…actual fucking research.
"If you have a biblical worldview, you'd be grieved for them," he said.
"You'd be grieved for what they're heading into, grieved for the way in
which homosexual behavior separates them from God, the risks that it's
putting them at, the risk that it's going to put children to if they're
adopted into that household. So the proper response would not be joy, it
would not be celebration; the proper Christian response would grief and
sorrow over what these two people are doing to themselves and also to
others."
Although this is pre-Iowa in date, it highlights the split or
implosion that is occurring within the Reich. You have evangelicals
that are bonkers against Trump and say to support Cruz but yet the
support for Cruz does not align with the entire GOP.
Speaking
at the rally, Vander Plaats invoked his severely disabled son, Lucas,
and said he was outraged to see “a candidate for president of the United
States openly mocking and insulting people with disabilities.” (He was
referring to Trump’s scornful imitation
of the disabled New York Times reporter Serge F. Kovaleski.) Vander
Plaats recalled that only a week before, at an event in Sioux Center,
Iowa, Trump boasted that he wouldn’t lose support even if he shot
someone.* The crowd in the packed hall hissed. “Right away I thought of
John Lennon and the Beatles saying, ‘We’re more popular than Jesus,’ ”
Vander Plaats said. “That’s a pride, and an arrogance, and a temperament
that is a roll of the dice to be president.”
Soon it was Cruz’s turn to speak. He promised that on his first day as
president, he would instruct the Justice Department to open an
investigation into Planned Parenthood. Cruz said he’d appoint judges who
would overturn last year’s “shameful” and “fundamentally illegitimate”
Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage. He asked the assembled to
pray. “Father God, please, continue this awakening. Continue this spirit
of revival, awaken the body of Christ, that we might pull back from
this abyss,” Cruz said. His cadences were those of a preacher.
To this day, the number of homosexual men interned and killed in
concentration camps is unknown; it is estimated to lie between 10,000
and 15,000 people, of whom at least half died in the camps.
It
can’t take into account the lives of those arrested and detained for
other reasons – the gay Jews, Gypsies, and ‘Antisocials’ whose sexuality
was considered the least of their ‘crimes’.
In the film Paragraph 175, highlighting the plight of the Holocaust’s homosexual victims for recognition of their suffering, Heinz F. recounts his ordeal in the camps, starting with a call from the local police station.
‘”You are suspected to be homosexual. You are hereby under arrest.” What should I do?’ he says.
‘And then it was straight to Dachau. From there, without a trial, I was immediately sent to Dachau.’
Without knowing why, he spent one and a half years in the concentration
camp; just days after he was released, Heinz was arrested again, on
charges of homosexuality, and sent to a prison to wait for a trial.
‘I couldn’t understand all of this. And while I was there, nearly all the homosexuals were deported to Mauthausen,’ he says.
‘And nearly all of them were killed.’
Heinz himself was sent to Buchenwald, where prisoners were first
labeled with ‘Paragraph 175’ on their jackets, before the pink triangle
was introduced.
In the camps, a majority of gay men were supposed to be re-educated – but only Germans were spared the gas chambers.
Instead of sending them to their immediate death, the Nazis selected
the Germans in their camps for slave labor, castration or forced them to
take part in human experiments.
Almost two thirds of the men held in the camps died.
[Please note the film Paragraph 175 can be found online!!]
From what I can tell, this bill has been withdrawn (for now) but still important as it seeks to amend "Section 9-703 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Special Assembly
Occupancies," by providing for additional types of activity to be
regulated, amending the application procedures and increasing the fee
for a Special Assembly Occupancy license and for Promoter registration,
clarifying the role of the Police Department in approvals of licenses,
and making other technical changes; all under certain terms and
conditions."
This treads dangerously close to the types of censorship that Tipper Gore and the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), achieved in the 80s-90s, and continuing today. To borrow from Frank Zappa, "the PMRC proposal is an ill-conceived piece of nonsense which fails to
deliver any real benefits to children, infringes the civil liberties of
people who are not children, and promises to keep the courts busy for
years dealing with the interpretation and enforcement problems inherent
in the proposal's design."
A new bill from Philly City Councilman Mark Squilla would require
owners of nightclubs, cabarets, bars and restaurants in the city to
collect the names, addresses, and phone numbers of entertainers — bands,
rappers and DJs — in a registry, and to share that personal information
with police upon request.
The proposal, which was introduced
last week and is headed to a committee hearing, would directly involve
the Philadelphia Police Department in the approval process for so-called
“Special Assembly Occupancy” licenses — giving law enforcement de facto
veto power over whether shows can be held at venues that hold 50 or
more people.
Police
spokeswoman Denise James would not comment, instead referring Billy Penn
to the department’s public affairs office, which did not respond.
Police would factor into their decision-making things like “crime,
traffic, litter, noise, parking and hours of operation; as well as any
community concerns, particularly those of neighbors in the immediate
vicinity,” according to the bill. The bill even covers live-streaming of
shows.
Comments
from other city officials seemed to echo Oh’s words. Commissioner
Richard Ross’s legal advisor, Captain Francis Healey, claimed the bill
was being “misinterpreted and the department was only interested in
getting advanced notice so police can be properly prepared for shows or other events,” according to a report on Philly.com.
Kenney
spokeswoman Lauren Hitt told the site the Mayor would “work with the
community and City Council to make any changes to the legislative
language necessary to make the intent clear and assuage public
concerns.”
Squilla, in his statement, stressed that
“this provision is NOT intended to restrict artistic expression or any
kind of entertainment, but rather is aimed at addressing public safety
and quality of life issues.”
Like previous remarks
he made to Billy Penn, Squilla did not cite any specific incidents that
may have prompted this legislation; why collecting information on
performers playing venues hosting 50 or more audience members improved
“public safety”; nor why police involvement in license approval was
necessary. Squilla also did not address opponents’ concerns about his
proposed annual licensing fee hike from $100 per year to $500 every two
years.
Though the Head Lice Center says it hasn't been scientifically proven
that mayonnaise helps treat head lice, it's an oft-used technique that
many people have claimed success with. Mayonnaise is used because it
contains oil, which suffocates the lice.
It's a simple enough
treatment, and an inexpensive one: Spread full-fat mayonnaise on the
scalp, and then cover the coated area for about eight hours. Something
like a shower cap or plastic wrap would work well, but the Head Lice Center reminds parents that plastic wrap should never be used on children.
That's the fatal mistake that the unnamed Massachusetts couple made,
resulting in their young daughter's death. CBS reports that the toddler
fell asleep with the bag on her head. Investigators suspect that it then
slipped down over her mouth. At the time of the CBS report, no charges
had been filed against the parents.
A spokesman for the Dutch arm of the group said: ‘The Church of the
Flying Spaghetti Monster is since today officially registered as
Denomination!
‘Our church stands for equality for all. Therefore, anyone can sign up free of charge and without obligation.
‘To express our faith we put a colander on our heads. Also on official government documents.
‘We come together in local churches and at events. Our services are
especially devoted to socialising. So we eat pasta, we drink beer and
discuss faith.’
While it would take new legislation from Congress to narrow the kinds
of carte blanche discrimination (e.g. denying campus housing to
transgender students that is consistent with their gender identity) that
Title IX’s religious exemption permits, the ACLU has urged the U.S.
Department of Education to act where it can. As a bare minimum, LGBT
students and their families should have a right to know about the kinds
of taxpayer-funded discrimination they can be subjected to by their school.
Last week, the head of the Office for Civil Rights within the
Department of Education — in response to a letter from several senators,
led by Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) — stated that the department would provide
greater transparency about requests for religious exemptions by
publishing them online for the public to view for themselves. Up to this
point, it has often taken FOIA requests and investigative journalism
for this information to come to light.
A Florida state House subcommittee heard testimony on Monday that the
“white culture” would be destroyed if white women were “outside the
home not having babies” while other ethnicities had a higher birthrate.
During a House Criminal Justice Subcommittee meeting on Monday,
lawmakers discussed HB 865, a bill that would ban all abortions except
in cases where the health of the mother was at risk.
Republican Rep. Charles Van Zant, who sponsored the bill, argued that life began at conception, and that even zygotes were “citizens of Florida.”
While testifying about the bill, an anti-abortion activist named Paul injected race into the discussion.
“We see the destruction we’re bringing upon ourself as a nation,” Paul opined. “The Muslims, they don’t kill the babies.”
Please come to this special event in Toronto on Feb. 26th:
February 26th, 2016, marks the passing of one year since the brutal extremist attacks that left Avijit
Roy dead and his wife, Rafida Ahmed, seriously injured. CFIC members,
friends, and supporters are encouraged to join us as we present the
first Avijit Roy Day in honour of murdered atheist writers, publishers,
and activists. CFI Canada is proud to work with Mukto Mona (Bangladeshi
Freethinking) for this special event.
Time: 7-9 PM
Venue: Albert Campbell Auditorium (Toronto Public Library)
Address: 496 Birchmount Road, Toronto, ON, M1K 1N8
“Those radicals need to be lawfully dealt with because they are
radical, they mean to divide and conquer, they mean to make war against
real Christianity.”
“I’ve yet to find a situation where a
homosexual could actually verify the fact that they were the victim of
someone actually hating on them,” he said. “I have yet to see it.”
From February to April last year Bodnar, 59, treated the mother, who came to her to help cure her newborn son of eczema.
She allegedly convinced the mother, who cannot be identified, that the
only way to help the baby was to adopt a diet of raw vegetables, fruit
and seeds.
The court heard the mother was "intimidated by the
accused" and made to feel guilty for using steroid creams to treat the
eczema "as it was best to use nothing to allow the skin to breathe".
Bodnar allegedly told the mother "Are you 100 per cent raw? You have to be 100 per cent raw if you want to see your son heal."
Police allege that when the baby developed a fever Bodnar told the
mother to adopt a water only diet, telling her that her baby would not
get better if she ate.
When the child was six months old his
mother asked Bodnar if she could feed him vegetable puree but the
naturopath allegedly advised her to put raw food in a net and let the
infant suck it.
Bodnar is also accused of telling the mother to feed the child goat milk.
"I personally had not received any complaints on that property, and
after I went and looked at it, I was a little surprised that I hadn't."
According to the assessor's office, the property has been owned by Michael J. Williams for 10 years.
We knocked on his door twice today, but no one answered.
But plenty of surveillance camera systems equipped with microphones, were watching us.
" I personally wouldn't like it, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's illegal."
Building Commissioner Ron Beane says the city's legal team is examining this case closely.
Do these phrases violate city ordinances to property maintenance, or is
this the owner's right to use his house as a canvas for social issues?
"I think it might be offensive to some people but I think it might be a
freedom of speech. We're used to it, we've laughed about it and made
comments about it," explains a woman who lives nearby.
Staunchly right-wing pundit Larry Tomczak recently unveiled a little
challenge he presented to himself: The “30 Day Bullseye Challenge,” to
be exact.
The project consists of producing 30 short, blippy
videos that demonstrate the proper etiquette and desired worldview of a
practicing Christian.
The series touches upon all the hot-button
issues one might expect, particularly homosexuality, which Tomczak
suggests leads to a lifetime of disease and abject misery should one
venture down that shadowy left-hand path:
“With all the hoopla about this one and that one, hey, they’re coming
out and it being a time to celebrate gay marriage and gay lifestyles as
normal, natural, beautiful. People need to awaken … to the reality that
this so-called love story doesn’t have a happy ending.”
A Georgia lawmaker says religious adoption agencies, schools and other
nonprofits should be able to refuse service to same-sex couples; months
after the U.S. Supreme Court effectively legalized gay marriage
nationwide.
,,,
Gay rights and civil rights organizations
already have bashed the proposal, calling it anti-LGBT and broader than a
federal version. Those groups warn Kirk’s bill would let religious
nonprofits or organizations deny same-sex couples even if receiving
taxpayer money.
Three Quebecers are going to prison for their role in the
extreme-sweating death of a woman who was wrapped in mud and cellophane
at a spa.
Chantal Lavigne was rushed to hospital in serious condition in July
2011 along with another woman who was suffering from serious vomiting at
the farmhouse spa.
Gabrielle Fréchette was sentenced Friday to three years behind bars,
while Ginette Duclos and Gérald Fontaine were given two-year terms.
They were found guilty in December 2014 of criminal negligence causing death.
Fréchette was considered a spiritual guide and organized the
personal-growth seminar in South Durham, while Duclos and Fontaine were
her assistants.
During the fatal session, participants were plastered with mud,
wrapped in a plastic sheet and a blanket and had their heads covered
with cardboard boxes for nine hours. A coroner described the process as
the equivalent of being cooked alive.
The crux of the matter is, people spend money on a non-existent
product. It’s like buying a detergent that’s only crystals of salt; or
buying a computer made of wood, and being told it will be functional.
The King is simply Naked. What you’re buying isn’t there, which makes it
-at the very least- a consumer advocacy concern. It’s conning people
out of their money, and very few of them will actually get better
because of the placebo effect. Most will simply lose their money and be exactly where they already were.
That adds false hope to the mix. Hope can be helpful, but also
dangerous for a person’s well-being. Promising things you can’t deliver
is like paying with a check that will bounce. Sure, it will make the
person feel better when you give it to them, only to crush them later
when they try to cash it.
Glyphosate, or Roundup, is a popular herbicide that's been used on
lawns, gardens, schools, parks, farms, etc for nearly 50 years and is
available at any Walmart or Home Depot as a weedkiller. But just how
toxic is it?
You may be surprised to learn it has an LD50 of 5600
mg/kg, making it less toxic than table salt. Unfortunately, people
sometimes listen to media scare tactics before ever taking a look at the
actual toxicity, dosage, or chemistry behind these substances. Fear sells. Many "natural" chemicals are far more toxic...."natural" vs. synthetic tells us nothing in terms of toxicity.
,,,many products labeled "non-GMO" were never GMO to begin with,,,
Two days from the "5th Annual International Day of Protest Against
Hereditary Religion" which is taking place on January 23, 2016. Here is
part 3 of 4 from 2014 to tickle your appetite.
They call it "Ball's Pyramid." It's what's left of an old volcano
that emerged from the sea about 7 million years ago. A British naval
officer named Ball was the first European to see it in 1788. It sits off
Australia, in the South Pacific. It is extremely narrow, 1,844 feet
high, and it sits alone.
What's more, for years this place had a
secret. At 225 feet above sea level, hanging on the rock surface, there
is a small, spindly little bush, and under that bush, a few years ago,
two climbers, working in the dark, found something totally improbable
hiding in the soil below. How it got there, we still don't know.
I know I have posted Lykova's story before, damned if I can find it,,,
Hermit Meets 21st Century After Being Flown To Siberian Hospital https://t.co/ETQunUNOnW - Not a story for "weird news" an amazing woman!
The Trudeau government says it won’t grant imprisoned Saudi blogger
Raif Badawi Canadian citizenship, arguing this would not help the case
of a man sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail for blasphemy.
Mr. Badawi’s spouse and their three children were granted sanctuary in
Canada last year and now live in Sherbrooke, Que. Ensaf Haidar, speaking
to The Globe and Mail last week, said Canada must do more to help her
husband and said “the first thing” it could do now is give Mr. Badawi a Canadian passport.
She argued Canadian citizenship would give Ottawa more standing to push for his release.
Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion disagrees. Speaking after a
cabinet retreat in southwestern New Brunswick Tuesday, he said he
doesn’t believe Canadian citizenship would improve Mr. Badawi’s
situation.
,,, Granting Ms. Haidar’s request could complicate
Canada’s relations with Saudi Arabia and jeopardize a $15-billion deal
to sell weaponized armoured vehicles to Riyadh over 14 years.
The ACID/ALKALINE (diet) "hypothesis" which is actually the basis for many of the other claims currently "on the market."
As I noted in my initial post on this topic, "[t]his post is based on 8 years of digging for information for personal use. I regret that when I gathered this information I never thought I would be conveying it in any meaningful way and therefore I do not have citations for this information. Basically these are my "notes" re-written, I am not the originator of any of this information."
Since that time I have been attempting to re-create my original source material or things relatively close. The basic outline of the entire piece is from the following all mish-mashed together:
I went on the Internet and googled acid and alkaline. There's been a few books written, but no one has really come up with an exact answer because a person's acid/alkaline balance has to do with their own body. But there are foods that definitely produce acid, like red meat, processed food, and dairy. So I cut all of that out, and when I was on chemo I ate purely alkaline foods, which are fruits - especially citrus fruits - vegetables, potatoes, and avocado. I would drink lemon water all day long - it's like Pepto-Bismol in your stomach!
Once you realize how powerful food is, that it can make you better when you come out of the chemo, you want to stay balanced. Instead of eating 70 percent acid, it's 70 percent potatoes, avocados, asparagus, fruits, and these types of wonderful things. Then you realize, I can have that hot-fudge sundae with my kids every couple weeks and it's not going to hurt me. It's about balance. I don't do without anything - I love it all! I just don't do it every day.
In other words, our stomach is an acidic environment (a pH of about 3). Food enters the stomach (regardless of its acid or alkaline-producing qualities) and is immediately combined with hydrochloric acid (HCL) before it enters the digestive tract. Very bad for the body IF there wasn't a naturally occurring means for the body to reduce/eliminate that acidity. Lo and behold, guess what the pancreas does, it secretes a slurry to cancels out the acid the stomach has just introduced into the rest of the body. So, regardless of the food you have just eaten, it will be combined with a highly acid substance and then subsequently a highly alkaline substance.
Our bloodstream and organs control acidity in a very narrow range, anything that changed acidity in our bodies would make us very sick and could even kill.
Think of it this way, what happens when you hold your breath?
Carbon dioxide accumulates in your bloodstream very rapidly and your blood turns acidic. Do it too long you will become uncomfortable or even pass out, which forces you to start breathing again and the pH returns to normal. Or if your kidneys are damaged and cannot regulate the acidity of your bloodstream, chemical reactions stop, poisons accumulate in your bloodstream, and you can die. [1]
The main premise:
When we eat “acid-forming” products our bodies turn “acidic” and illness results. To compensate we then leach calcium from our bones. If we continue to maintain a high acid diet, our bodies will shed calcium and we can end up with osteoporosis, and other chronic diseases.
There are studies that clearly back that simple response, these are but a few:
A causal association between dietary acid load and osteoporotic bone disease is not supported by evidence and there is no evidence that an alkaline diet is protective of bone health.
Together these results support the role of base forming foods and nutrients in bone maintenance. The role of protein appears to be complex and is probably dependent on the presence of other nutrients available in a mixed diet. A balanced diet with ample fruit and vegetables and adequate protein appears to be important to bone mineral density.
There were no associations between either urine pH or acid excretion and either the incidence of fractures or change of BMD after adjustment for confounders.
Urine pH and urine acid excretion do not predict osteoporosis risk.
The nutritional acid load hypothesis of osteoporosis is reviewed from its historical origin to most recent studies with particular attention to the essential but overlooked role of the kidney in acid–base homeostasis,,,.It stemmed from classic investigations in patients suffering from chronic kidney diseases (CKD) conducted in the 1960s.
When we digest things like protein, the acids are buffered by bicarbonate ions in the blood. This produces carbon dioxide and salts, which are exhaled through the lungs, and are excreted by the kidneys respectively. This process is cyclic and is how the body maintains the pH of the blood. As the kidneys produce ‘new’ bicarbonate ions, which are returned to the blood to replace the bicarbonate that was initially used to buffer the acid. No involvement from the bones whatsoever.
These results suggest that, with a possible exception of older men, dietary acid load does not have a measureable negative effect on bone health, regardless of total calcium intake.
The objectives of this study were to determine whether 1) low urine pH, or 2) acid excretion in urine,,,predict: a) fragility fractures; and b) five-year change of bone mineral density (BMD) in adults,,,. Urine pH and urine acid excretion do not predict osteoporosis risk.
When you metabolise foods and extract the energy (calories) from them, you are actually burning the foods, except that it happens in a slow and controlled fashion.
When you burn foods, they actually leave an ash residue, just like when you burn wood in a furnace.
As it turns out, this ash can be acidic or alkaline (or neutral)… and proponents of this diet claim that this ash can directly affect the acidity of your body.
So if you eat foods with acidic ash, it makes your body acidic. If you eat foods with alkaline ash, it makes your body alkaline. Neutral ash has no effect. Simple.
Acid ash is thought to make you vulnerable to illness and disease, whereas alkaline ash is considered protective. By choosing more alkaline foods, you should be able to “alkalize” your diet and improve health.
Here is a bit more in depth answer but simplified. Yes, foods can influence our urine pH. No, foods don’t influence our blood pH (overall body pH).
Measurement of an acidic pH urine does not reflect metabolic acidosis or an adverse health condition. The modern diet, and dairy product consumption, does not make the body acidic. Alkaline diets alter urine pH but do not change systemic pH. Net acid excretion is not an important influence of calcium metabolism. Milk is not acid producing. Dietary phosphate does not have a negative impact on calcium metabolism, which is contrary to the acid-ash hypothesis.
This calculation methodology, primarily based on PRAL, allows an appropriate prediction of the effects of diet on the acidity of urine. For practical applicability in dietetic prevention of recurrent urolithiasis or in other fields of dietetics, the additionally determined correlation (r = .83; P < .001) between NAE and urine pH can be used to ascertain NAE target values for a desired urine pH modification.
All foods leave behind acid or alkaline ash which is determined by the relative content of acid-forming components (ie. phosphate and sulfur) and alkalis (ie. calcium, magnesium, and potassium.). In general, animal products and grains are acid forming, while fruits and vegetables are alkali forming. So if we have, let's say, steak and eggs for breakfast, our urine will be more acidic; if we have a kale smoothie it will tend towards alkaline. But bare in mind, our urine is the waste dump of metabolic processes, our bladders are the sealed storage container. Measuring the urinary pH is nonsense because your blood pH does not change unless you’re seriously ill.
"Proponents of the alkaline diet have put forth ideas about how an acidic diet harms our health." According to Chris Kesser, the claim that we can change the pH of our blood by changing the foods we eat, and that acidic blood causes disease (while alkaline blood prevents it), is not true. As mentioned above, the body tightly regulates the pH of our blood and we cannot influence it by changing our diet. And FYI Scientists have known since the 1930s that the foods we eat do have an effect on our urine pH, but if they were to significantly alter the balance of acidity/alkalinity in our blood, we would die. In other words, the A/A hypothesis of diet is old news.
"Cancer cells grow faster in an acidic environment" Destroyed by Science recently put out a nice piece explaining both.
I honestly wonder if pseudoscience sellers deliberately find pieces of science that they can deliberately twist and take out of context in order to sell their products and ideas; or if they genuinely believe in their own intellectual dishonesty. Here for instance, the fact that the acidic microenvironment caused by cancer cells has been hypothesised to lead to more aggressive invasive behaviour during carcinogenesis (9); is used dishonestly in two ways. Firstly, to lead people to believe that their “acidic” body pH has caused them to develop cancer in the first place, and secondly, to believe that they will be able to create an alkaline environment in their body that will be unfavourable to cancer cells, causing them to grow more slowly or perish selectively, leaving healthy cells untouched.
Leaving aside the fact that results from in vitro experiments cannot just be translated to what occurs in a living organism; most studies on cancer cells are done in a medium with a pH of 7.2-7.4 (10) which is not acidic. The reason that these conditions are used is that this also conveniently happens to be very close to the pH of extracellular fluid (blood plasma, interstitial fluid) (11) experienced within the human body. The human body also conveniently has a number of mechanisms that ensure this pH does not go outside a very strict range (7.35-7.41) – if it does, the consequences are dire, as in, death. A blood pH level of 8.5 would be a very bad thing. Lets be honest- whether or not cancer cells can be killed by an extreme environment is irrelevant if the extreme environment is going to lead to the death of a patient. This is really no different from saying “Hey, I can destroy these cancer cells in this test tube with napalm. Who wants in?”.
He’s [referring to Otto Warburg] a Nobel Laureate, and his discovery of how cancer cells shift to glycolysis and continue to rely primarily on glycolysis rather than respiration even in the presence of adequate oxygen. Indeed, this effect, called the Warburg Effect, is an important difference between tumor cells and normal cells. Moreover, this difference in metabolism is the basis of drugs like dichloroacetate,, a frequent topic of this blog. Of course, even ol’ Otto had a bit of trouble with hyperbole. For one thing, animal cells certainly can undergo glycolysis; muscle cells do it all the time under duress. Long distance runners, in particular, are familiar with glycolysis. That’s why it’s overstating the case a bit to say that “one can scarcely picture a greater difference,” particularly since not all tumors even exhibit the Warburg effect. I can forgive Warburg, though, a bit of hyperbole–although it is known that he became a bit of an eccentric in his later years. In any case, Dr. Young’s invocation of Warburg is especially wrong, given that the lactic acid generated by glycolysis is a result of the alteration in cancer cell metabolism, not a cause. It’s like saying the exhaust fumes from a car are the cause of the car’s motion,,,.
There is limited evidence to suggest that dietary acidosis alone is sufficient in increasing cancer risk, but it may function in concert with other factors associated with cancer risk. Obesity or metabolic syndrome,,,,.
In conclusion, there are numerous systemic pathways affected by diet-induced acidosis that may be cancer promoting, but a causal role is poorly defined. Moreover, the contribution of diet-induced acidosis in driving carcinogenesis would be difficult to measure especially since the effects appear to accumulate for a long period of time.
