Ben Goldacre - Hypocrite

Book Review - PositiveHealth.com

Great review of Ben Goldacre's book. It's apparently a collection of essays from Goldacre's Guardian column which you can read for free online.

Goldacre slags off his peers as "churnalists" so it's only a matter of time before they roast the 'Bitch Doctor' with a mega chip on his shoulder in a Sunday BBQ and expose his bias for what it really is - pure sour grapes.

Tony

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Breast is Best

Bloomberg.com: Asia: "The Geneva-based World Health Organisation (WHO) says exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a child's life is the single best strategy for the infant's survival, growth and development."

The recent scandal in China where melamine was discovered in infant formula exposed an increased reliance on formula by mothers in asia.

In the Philippines, where $465 million of formula is bought each year, one in six babies depended on breast milk at 5 months of age in 2003, a decrease from one in five infants in 1998, the WHO said. ``Inappropriate feeding practices, including the use of infant formula,'' is linked to the deaths of about 16,000 children younger than 5 annually, the agency said

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China's food safety chief resigns over poisoned milk scandal | World news | guardian.co.uk

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'Brainy Bread' Saves Environment

Response Source | Press Releases - Brainy Bread Now Affordable With Omega 3 Algae Oil Food Ingredient - Could Save Environment

Omega 3 Brainy Bread, Pasta, cheese and yoghurts could save the planet!

The company that gave us V-Pure, the world's first fish free vegetarian and vegan Docosahexaenoic acid - (DHA) and Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) product has recently bought the rights to a new product that could make products such as 'Brainy Bread' and 'Brainy Pasta' a viable and affordable possibility.

Eau Plus now have a range of Algal Oils and products and have dramatically increased their production capabilities through acquistion of a new European fermentation facility. Other algal oils on the market just contain DHA but V-Pure has both DHA and EPA making it the perfect product to use to manufacture vegan and vegetarian superfoods that will sustainably address the essential fat famine in modern diets.

"This nutrient rich algae food ingredient could transform the food manufacturing industry and at last re-address the balance between easily available foods that contribute to health and foods that leave us with a net nutrient deficit" says London Nutritionist Yvonne Bishop-Weston.

Eau + also have a new groundbreaking dairy free calcium drink.

See also Nutra Ingredients

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Vitamin B12 Protects Brain

Minyanville - Market Commentary, Investing Ideas, Global Finance, The Economy: "Anna Vogiatzoglou, a member of the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics at Oxford, in a prepared statement on brain shrinkage said that “Research shows that Vitamin B-12 deficiency is a public health problem, especially among the elderly, so more Vitamin B-12 intake could help reverse this problem.”

Vitamin B-12 deficiency can also cause anemia and troubles with the nervous system, researchers found.

Researchers at Oxford University established the link between diet and brain size by conducting memory tests, physical exams and brain scans on 107 people aged 61 to 87. The volunteers were retested five years after the initial exam and researchers found those with the lowest levels of Vitamin B-12 were more likely to have suffered brain shrinkage. The tests support earlier research that established a link between brain atrophy and low levels of Vitamin B-12.

Alcohol also hammers the brain. Researchers found that brain scans of more than 1,800 people who had 14 or more drinks a week sustained 1.6% more brain shrinkage than those who didn’t drink at all. Beer does less damage than wine.

Aging hippies who say marijuana is harmless are mistaken. Researchers found that cannabis has the same brain-damaging effect as alcohol"

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DHA and Breastfeeding Boost Baby Brains

Eating Fish While Pregnant, Longer Breastfeeding, Lead To Better Infant Development, Research Finds

Here's another study , this time from Denmark, backing up the findings that omega 3 long chain fatty acids DHA and EPA and human milk rather than cow's milk derivatives can optimise a baby's cognitive brain development.

The study, which appeared in the September issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, was conducted by researchers from the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention of Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and the Maternal Nutrition Group from the Department of Epidemiology at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark. These findings provide further evidence that omega-3 fatty acids and compounds in breast milk are beneficial to infant development.

The children whose mothers ate the most fish during pregnancy were more likely to have better motor and cognitive skills. For example, among mothers who ate the least fish, 5.7% of their children had the lowest developmental scores at 18 months, compared with only 3.7% of children whose mothers had the highest fish intake. Compared with women who ate the least fish, women with the highest fish intake (about 60 grams - 2 ounces - per day on average) had children 25% more likely to have higher developmental scores at 6 months and almost 30% more likely to have higher scores at 18 months.

Longer duration of breastfeeding was also associated with better infant development, especially at 18 months. Breastmilk also contains omega-3 fatty acids. The benefit of fish consumption was similar among infants breastfed for shorter or longer durations.

Powdered milk made from cow's milk is a poor substitute for human milk and health professionals should stop encouraging the use of powdered milks to the detriment of mothers confidence to breast feed.

Sustainable alternatives to fish oil made from algae are now available. Until the age of 5 infants seem to most benefit from DHA but so far the algae alternatives are all DHA rich.

See omega 3 long chain fatty acids DHA and EPA for more details and the importance of DHA and EPA omega 3 fats

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