Children’s Vitamins Full of Aspartame, GMOs & Harmful Chemicals

This original article title was "Top Children’s Vitamins Full of Aspartame, GMOs and Harmful Chemicals", however I removed the word "top" as it only applies name brand recognition, sales but certainly not quality as you will read in the article below.

I am certainly happy that we are seeing more and more articles on the dangers of Aspartame, GMO ingredients and toxins found in food grade supplements. But it is interesting? amazing? when showing parents comparative ratings of children's nutritional supplements and these parents will choose the easy path of continuing to feed their children low quality supplements,...even when the science compared higher quality products are just a few dollars a month more.  I have seen exceptional results with providing optimal supplementation to children, including my own daughter. Some of the parents I know now that have children labeled "ADD" or "ADHD" swear by the benefits of a high quality daily nutritional supplement and an Omega 3 supplement. In fact, I say "if parents knew what I know they would have their kids on these two supplements." Anyway enjoy this article, this is a good one from Arjun Walia of Collective-Evolution.com

How often are parents aware of the ingredients contained in the multivitamin that they feed their children? We often believe what we hear without ever questioning what mass marketing and media has to say about a product. In this case they have led thousands of parents to purchase multivitamins because they believe it has significant nutritional value. But do these vitamins truly provide nutritional benefit? If so, at what cost?

If we look at the Flintstones vitamin, (one of the top multivitamins in the United States) it contains a number of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), aspartame, aluminum, petroleum-derived artificial colors and more. All of these ingredients are not optimal for health and can be very toxic. You can view the entire list of ingredients here.

Lets take a closer look at some of these ingredients.

Aspartame

Aspartame is known to damage the brain at any dose by leaving traces of Methanol in the blood. It makes you wonder why Aspartame has been approved as “safe” and is found in thousands of food products; not to mention children’s vitamins. It’s also linked to Lymphoma and Leukemia. You can read more about that here and here (sources provided at the bottom). It’s basically a synthetic combination of the amino acids aspartic acid and I-phenylalanine. It’s known to convert into toxic methanol and formaldehyde in the body. Hopefully this motivates you to further your research. If you are looking for specific studies, you can check out these ones published in the US National Library of Medicine through the collective-evolution link at the top of this article:

Consumption of artificial sweetener and risk of lymphoma and leukaemia
Effect of chronic exposure to aspartame
Long-term consumption of aspartame and brain antioxidant defense status
Aspartame-induces impairment of spatial cognition and insulin sensitivity
Synergistic interactions between food additives in a developmental neurotoxicity test
Multipotential carcinogenic effects of aspartame

Sorbitol

Sorbitol is a synthetic sugar substitute which is classified as a sugar alcohol. The ingestion of higher amounts have been linked to gastrointestinal disturbances from abdominal pain to more serious conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome. You can view some studies related to Sorbitol through the collective-evolution link at the top of this article:

Sorbitol intolerance in adults
Sorbitol intolerance: an unappreciated cause of functional gastrointestinal complaints
Sorbitol used as an osmotic cathartic has caused severe hypernatremia (elevation of sodium in the blood) in children

Hydrogenated Soybean Oil

Anything marketed to children that contains hydrogenated soybean oil is irresponsible. They are semi-synthetic fatty acids that incorporate themselves into our tissues. They’ve been linked to dozens of harmful health effects, from coronary artery disease to cancer and fatty liver disease. You can view a number of links to studies conducted here.

Ferrous Fumarate

This is quite remarkable that Ferrous Fumarate is an ingredient here. There is a clear warning on the Flintstone’s web site concerning this chemical. It’s used as an iron supplement. When consuming iron that comes naturally in food, it’s impossible to inject toxic amounts that can cause death. But when taking Ferrous Fumarate, fatal levels of toxicity can be reached.

Accidental overdose of iron-containing products is a leading cause of fatal poisoning in children under 6. Keep this product out of reach of children. In case of accidental overdose, call a doctor or poison control centre immediately.

Studies have been conducted that show ferrous fumarate doesn’t even affect iron status in children, you can read that study here. Below are links to a few more studies, through the collective-evolution link at the top of this article:

Ferrous fumarate increases clinical disease activity in inflammatory bowel disease patients
Ferrous fumarate deteriorated plasma antioxidant status in patients with Crohn disease
Ferrous fumarate has been demonstrated to be toxic to newborn foals

Cupric Oxide

According the European Union’s Dangerous Substance Directive, Cupric Oxide is listed as a hazardous substance. It’s classified as both harmful and dangerous to the environment. It is used as a pigment in ceramics and as a chemical in the production of rayon fabric and dry cell batteries. It is indeed a mineral, but should this really be a nutrient in a children’s vitamin?

Brief Summary of Bayer Pharmaceuticals

Most pharmaceutical companies, like Bayer, the developer of the Flintstones vitamins, do not have the best track record. Bayer is a German chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in 1863. In 1925, it became part of IG Farben, a German chemical industry conglomerate. This chemical company had board members that were responsible for the creation of the Federal Reserve, like Paul Warburg (2), who sat on the board of the Federal Reserve as well as I.G Farben. It was a corporation well connected with the Rockefeller’s, and the second largest shareholder in Standard Oil. The investment was part of a pattern of reciprocal investments between the U.S. and Germany during the Nazi years (3). It’s well known that IG Farben was closely connected with the Nazi’s. They held the patent for the pesticide Zyklon B, the chemical used in gas chambers. Some of IG Farben’s directors were accused as war criminals, while others continued on with the agenda we see taking form today. We can see a conflict of interest through the companies shareholders when it comes to the creation of pharmaceutical products.

I think it’s time for us to examine what we choose to feed our children. All it takes is a little investigation and stepping into our own awareness of what is going on around us. Many of us live a robotic life style, we are all here doing the same thing. We’ve been programmed to grow up, work and spend most of our hours doing just that. While we participate in a 9-5, eat sleep watch TV, participate in a number of activities for entrainment purposes type of reality, there are those working behind the scenes manipulating the consciousness of the human race. All we have to do is notice, after that we can begin making better choices in our own lives. The world is indeed waking up, something new is desired, the current Earth paradigm is one many people don’t resonate with any more. A lot of us feel that it’s time to move on, grow and explore our infinite potentiality.

Sources:

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/top-us-brand-childrens-vitamins-contains-aspartame-gmos-other-hazardous-chemicals

(1) http://labeling.bayercare.com/omr/online/flintstones-complete.pdf

(2) http://www.federalreserve.gov/bios/boardmembership.htm

(3) http://web.mit.edu/thistle/www/v13/3/oil.html

http://www.flintstonesvitamins.com/en/products/complete-chewable-vitamins/



For Information on the Products I recommend, click here, to contact me.

Preventing Illness and Disease with Vitamin C

A good article, from tvgreenmedinfo.com educating us on the importance of Vitamin C as told by Dr Linus Pauling who work is still alive at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University where they do Micronutrient Research for Optimum Health. I take a daily dose of 2,125 mg of Vitamin C. I take Vitamin C at this amount to help with connective tissue health at my joints and for general anti-oxidant protection from free radical damage.

I like the Linus Pauling Institute (LPI) as they know that a quality nutritional supplement is key to optimal health. In fact LPI recommends "Avoid gimmicky marketing and high-priced supplements; buy U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) grade supplements when possible. A “USP Verified” mark on the label ensures quality, purity, and potency of the supplement."

Linus Pauling discusses the vital importance of vitamin C in human health and disease, and why scurvy (vitamin C deficiency) is the most prevalent health problem of our time, underlying even heart disease as the #1 killer in the developed world.

Linus Carl Pauling (February 28, 1901 – August 19, 1994) was an American chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author, and educator. He was one of the most influential chemists in history and ranks among the most important scientists of the 20th century. Pauling was one of the founders of the fields of quantum chemistry and molecular biology.

For his scientific work, Pauling was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954. In 1962, for his peace activism, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This makes him the only person to be awarded two unshared Nobel Prizes. He is one of only four individuals to have won more than one Nobel Prize (the others being Marie Curie, John Bardeen, and Frederick Sanger). Pauling is one of only two people to be awarded Nobel Prizes in different fields (Chemistry and Peace), the other being Marie Curie (Chemistry and Physics).




For Information on the Products I recommend, click here, to contact me.

The Best Power Foods for Women

The Best Power Foods for Women By SHAPE magazine - Healthy Living by Stephanie Clarke, R.D., and Willow Jarosh, R.D. saying the best foods for women of any age. I was glad to see Avocados and Potatoes get some good press.

You grind in the gym every day to look and feel your best, but if your diet doesn't include these 12 power foods, you're doing yourself and your health a disservice!

To strengthen bones:
Parmesan cheese Calcium is key for preventing osteoporosis (especially in your 20s). Yogurt and nonfat milk help, but who wants them three times a day? Work Parmesan cheese into your diet; its 340 mg of calcium per ounce - compared to about 200 mg in cheddar or Swiss - goes a long way toward your 1000 mg/day quota.

To boost immunity:
Apples Smart and sweet, apples are rich in quercetin, an antioxidant that can bolster your body's disease-fighting abilities. In one study from Appalachian State University, just 5 percent of people who ate more quercetin came down with a respiratory infection over a two-week period, compared to 45 percent of those who didn't.

To build your iron stores:
Lentils Low-calorie lentils pack about 30 percent of your daily iron per cup cooked. About 12 percent of young women have low iron stores - at the extreme, that leads to anemia. But one study found that even women who were iron deficient (not anemic) had poorer performances on skill tests than those with normal levels.

To fight wrinkles:
Broccoli "A cup of broccoli has 100 percent of your vitamin C-crucial for production of collagen, which gives skin elasticity," says Tammy Lakatos Shames, R.D. It's also rich in beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A. This vitamin assists in cell turnover, so old skin cells are replaced with fresh (read: younger-looking) ones.

To get healthy carbs:
Potatoes contain a fat-fighting compound called resistant starch that can help keep weight in check. One medium spud with the skin will run you just around 100 calories, and with more potassium than bananas, potatoes also help fight heart disease by keeping blood pressure low.

To up your intake of folate:
Spinach This leafy green is high in vitamin K and also contains calcium and magnesium - a combo that may help slow the breakdown of bone that occurs as you get older - as well as folate, a B vitamin that helps prevent birth defects. And it packs just 7 calories per cup raw!

To stress less:
Dark chocolate European researchers found that people who ate an ounce and a half of dark chocolate - about 200 calories worth-every day for two weeks produced less of the stress hormone cortisol and reported feeling less frazzled. Cortisol causes a temporary rise in blood pressure; consistently high levels up your risk for depression, obesity, heart disease and more.

To fight cancer:
Mushrooms One study showed that women who ate just one third of an ounce of raw mushrooms a day (that's about one button mushroom) had a 64 percent reduction in breast cancer risk. Other research suggests that mushrooms reduce the effects of aromatase, a protein that helps produce estrogen - a major factor in some breast cancers.

To fight heart disease:
Sardines These pungent little fish are good sources of omega-3 acids, which decrease inflammation that can lead to blocked arteries. They also prevent blood clots that can cause heart attacks and strokes, and keep blood vessels smooth and supple. Three ounces of sardines have about 1.3 grams of omega-3s (you need about 1 gram a day).

To help flatten your belly:
Avocados Avocados are high in monounsaturated fat, which has been shown to help you drop weight, including from your troublesome middle. In one study, people who got the most monos (about 23 percent of their daily calories) had about 5 pounds less belly fat than those who ate a high-carb, lower-fat diet.

To protect your eyes:
Bell peppers Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cataracts are leading causes of vision loss, but foods rich in lutein, zeaxanthin, and vitamin C, like bell peppers, can keep eyes sharp. A cup of sliced red, yellow and orange peppers contains nearly twice your daily vitamin C, plus 116 micrograms (mcg) of lutein, and 562 mcg of zeaxanthin.

To boost energy:
Whole-grain pasta Whole-grain pasta is loaded with B vitamins, which help your body convert food into energy. And unlike processed grain products that lack fiber, whole grains are more filling than their refined counterparts. In other words, you'll feel satisfied with fewer calories.

For Information on the Products I recommend, click here, to contact me.

Sugar Destroys Your Health

This article, "146 Reasons Sugar Can Destroy Your Health", was published over a year ago on Sign Of The Times and was drawn from the book "Suicide By Sugar", authored by Nancy Appleton, PhD. When people get PET/CT scans to determine existence of cancer, they are given a sugary drink, followed by a radioactive IV solution. Why? Well, the layman's answer is that the sugary drink is rapidly absorbed by cancer cells and the radioactive IV helps "light up" concentrations of sugar, hence cancer spots, through the imagery. You don't need to get in the head by Thor's Hammer to figure out that Cancer feeds off sugar.

1. Sugar can suppress the immune system.
2. Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in the body.
3. Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children.
4. Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.
5. Sugar contributes to the reduction in defense against bacterial infection (infectious diseases).
6. Sugar causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function, the more sugar you eat the more elasticity and function you lose.
7. Sugar reduces high-density lipoproteins.
8. Sugar leads to chromium deficiency.
9. Sugar leads to cancer of the ovaries.
10. Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose.
11. Sugar causes copper deficiency.
12. Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.
13. Sugar may make eyes more vulnerable to age-related macular degeneration.
14. Sugar raises the level of a neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine.
15. Sugar can cause hypoglycemia.
16. Sugar can produce an acidic digestive tract.
17. Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline levels in children.
18. Sugar malabsorption is frequent in patients with functional bowel disease.
19. Sugar can cause premature aging.
20. Sugar can lead to alcoholism.
21. Sugar can cause tooth decay.
22. Sugar contributes to obesity.
23. High intake of sugar increases the risk of Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis.
24. Sugar can cause changes frequently found in person with gastric or duodenal ulcers.
25. Sugar can cause arthritis.
26. Sugar can cause asthma.
27. Sugar greatly assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections).
28. Sugar can cause gallstones.
29. Sugar can cause heart disease.
30. Sugar can cause appendicitis.
31. Sugar can cause hemorrhoids.
32. Sugar can cause varicose veins.
33. Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraceptive users.
34. Sugar can lead to periodontal disease.
35. Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.
36. Sugar contributes to saliva acidity.
37. Sugar can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity.
38. Sugar can lower the amount of Vitamin E (alpha-Tocopherol) in the blood.
39. Sugar can decrease growth hormone.
40. Sugar can increase cholesterol.
41. Sugar can increase the systolic blood pressure.
42. High sugar intake increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs)(Sugar bound non-enzymatically to protein).
43. Sugar can interfere with the absorption of protein.
44. Sugar causes food allergies.
45. Sugar can contribute to diabetes.
46. Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.
47. Sugar can contribute to eczema in children.
48. Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease.
49. Sugar can impair the structure of DNA.
50. Sugar can change the structure of protein.
51. Sugar can make our skin age by changing the structure of collagen.
52. Sugar can cause cataracts.
53. Sugar can cause emphysema.
54. Sugar can cause atherosclerosis.
55. Sugar can promote an elevation of low-density lipoproteins (LDL).
56. High sugar intake can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in the body.
57. Sugar lowers the enzymes ability to function.
58. Sugar intake is higher in people with Parkinson's disease.
59. Sugar can increase the size of the liver by making the liver cells divide.
60. Sugar can increase the amount of liver fat.
61. Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney.
62. Sugar can damage the pancreas.
63. Sugar can increase the body's fluid retention.
64. Sugar is enemy #1 of the bowel movement.
65. Sugar can cause myopia (nearsightedness).
66. Sugar can compromise the lining of the capillaries.
67. Sugar can make the tendons more brittle.
68. Sugar can cause headaches, including migraine.
69. Sugar plays a role in pancreatic cancer in women.
70. Sugar can adversely affect school children's grades and cause learning disorders.
71. Sugar can cause depression.
72. Sugar increases the risk of gastric cancer.
73. Sugar and cause dyspepsia (indigestion).
74. Sugar can increase your risk of getting gout.
75. Sugar can increase the levels of glucose in an oral glucose tolerance test over the ingestion of complex carbohydrates.
76. Sugar can increase the insulin responses in humans consuming high-sugar diets compared to low-sugar diets.
77. A diet high in refined sugar reduces learning capacity.
78. Sugar can cause less effective functioning of two blood proteins, albumin, and lipoproteins, which may reduce the body's ability to handle fat and cholesterol.
79. Sugar can contribute to Alzheimer's disease.
80. Sugar can cause platelet adhesiveness.
81. Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance; some hormones become under active and others become overactive.
82. Sugar can lead to the formation of kidney stones.
83. Diets high in sugar can cause free radicals and oxidative stress.
84. High sugar diet can lead to biliary tract cancer.
85. High sugar consumption of pregnant adolescents is associated with a twofold-increased risk for delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant.
86. High sugar consumption can lead to substantial decrease in gestation duration among adolescents.
87. Sugar slows food's travel time through the gastrointestinal tract.
88. Sugar increases the concentration of bile acids in stools and bacterial enzymes in the colon. This can modify bile to produce cancer-causing compounds and colon cancer.
89. Sugar increases estradiol (the most potent form of naturally occurring estrogen) in men. 90. Sugar combines with and destroys phosphatase, an enzyme, which makes the process of digestion more difficult.
91. Sugar can be a risk factor of gallbladder cancer.
92. Sugar is an addictive substance.
93. Sugar can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol.
94. Sugar can exacerbate PMS.
95. Sugar given to premature babies can affect the amount of carbon dioxide they produce.
96. Decrease in sugar intake can increase emotional stability.
97. The rapid absorption of sugar promotes excessive food intake in obese subjects.
98. Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
99. Sugar adversely affects urinary electrolyte composition.
100. Sugar can slow down the ability of the adrenal glands to function.
101. I.Vs (intravenous feedings) of sugar water can cut off oxygen to the brain.
102. High sucrose intake could be an important risk factor in lung cancer.
103. Sugar increases the risk of polio.
104. High sugar intake can cause epileptic seizures.
105. Sugar causes high blood pressure in obese people.
106. In Intensive Care Units, limiting sugar saves lives.
107. Sugar may induce cell death.
108. Sugar can increase the amount of food that you eat.
109. In juvenile rehabilitation camps, when children were put on a low sugar diet, there was a 44% drop in antisocial behavior.
110. Sugar can lead to prostrate cancer.
111. Sugar dehydrates newborns.
112. Sugar can cause low birth weight babies.
113. Greater consumption of refined sugar is associated with a worse outcome of schizophrenia.
114. Sugar can raise homocysteine levels in the blood stream.
115. Sweet food items increase the risk of breast cancer.
116. Sugar is a risk factor in cancer of the small intestine.
117. Sugar may cause laryngeal cancer.
118. Sugar induces salt and water retention.
119. Sugar may contribute to mild memory loss.
120. The more sodas a 10 year old child consumes, the less milk.
121. Sugar can increase the total amount of food consumed.
122. Exposing a newborn to sugar results in a heightened preference for sucrose relative to water at 6 months and 2 years of age.
123. Sugar causes constipation.
124. Sugar causes varicose veins.
125. Sugar can cause brain decay in prediabetic and diabetic women.
126. Sugar can increase the risk of stomach cancer.
127. Sugar can cause metabolic syndrome.
128. Sugar ingestion by pregnant women increases neural tube defects in embryos.
129. Sugar can be a factor in asthma.
130. The higher the sugar consumption the more chances of getting irritable bowel syndrome.
131. Sugar can affect the brain's ability to deal with rewards and consequences.
132. Sugar can cause cancer of the rectum.
133. Sugar can cause endometrial cancer.
134. Sugar can cause renal (kidney) cell carcinoma.
135. Sugar can cause liver tumors.
136. Sugar can increase inflammatory markers in the blood stream of overweight people.
137. Sugar can lower Vitamin E levels in the blood stream.
138. Sugar can increase your appetite for all food.
139. Sugar plays a role in the etiology and the continuation of acne.
140. Too much sugar can kill your sex life.
141. Sugar saps school performance in children.
142. Sugar can cause fatigue, moodiness, nervousness and depression.
143. Sugar is common choice of obese individuals.
144. A linear decrease in the intake of many essential nutrients is associated with increasing total sugar intake.
145. High fructose consumption has been linked to liver disease.
146. Sugar adds to the risk of bladder cancer.

Go to the link if you want to see the research spanning 146 articles where the author drew her data and analysis.




For Information on the Products I recommend, click here, to contact me.

Toxins in Children's Supplements

The #1 Children’s Vitamin Brand in the US contains ingredients that most parents would never intentionally expose their children to, so why aren’t more opting for healthier alternatives?

Kids vitamins are supposed to be healthy, right? Well then, what’s going on with Flintstones Vitamins, which proudly claims to be “Pediatricians’ #1 Choice”?

MyAchingKnees comment: Flintstones may be the brand most often recommended by Pediatricians, but it is far from being the highest rated Children's supplement. In the Canadian published Comparative Guide to Children's Nutritional's, comparing U.S. and Canadian children's supplements, the Flintstones rated 2.3 out of 16. That's at the lower spectrum of children's supplements, but also on that list are Centrum, Herbalife, One A Day, Nature's Sunshine and a host of others which are all commonly available anywhere.

Produced by the global pharmaceutical corporation Bayer, this wildly success brand features a shocking list of unhealthy ingredients, including:

Aspartame Cupric Oxide Coal tar artificial coloring agents (FDC Blue #2, Red #40, Yellow #6) Zinc Oxide Sorbitol Ferrous Fumarate Hydrogenated Oil (Soybean) GMO Corn starch

On Bayer Health Science’s Flintstones product page designed for healthcare professionals they lead into the product description with the following tidbit of information:

82% of kids aren’t eating all of their veggies. Without enough vegetables, kids may not be getting all of the nutrients they need.

References: 1. Lorson BA, Melgar-Quinonez HR, Taylor CA. Correlates of fruit and vegetable intakes in US children. J Am Diet Assoc. 2009;109(3):474-478.

The implication? That Flintstones vitamins somehow fill this nutritional void. But let’s look a little closer at some of these presumably healthy ingredients….

The Toxins:

ASPARTAME

Aspartame is a synthetic combination of the amino acids aspartic acid and l-phenylalanine, and is known to convert into highly toxic methanol and formaldehyde in the body. Aspartame has been linked to over 40 adverse health effects in the biomedical literature, and has been shown to exhibit both neurotoxicity and carcinogenicity [1] What business does a chemical like this have doing in a children’s vitamin, especially when non-toxic, non-synthetic non-nutritive sweeteners like stevia already exist?

CUPRIC OXIDE

Next, let’s look closer at Cupric Oxide, 2mg of which is included in each serving of Flinstone’s Complete chewable vitamins as a presumably ’nutritional’ source of ‘copper,’ supplying “100% of the Daily Value (Ages 4+), according to Flintstones Vitamins Web site’s Nutritional Info.

But what is Cupric Oxide? A nutrient or a chemical?

According to the European Union’s Dangerous Substance Directive, one of the main EU laws concerning chemical safety, Cupric Oxide is listed as a Hazardous substance, classified as both ”Harmful (XN)” and “Dangerous for the environment” (N). Consider that it has industrial applications as a pigment in ceramics, and as a chemical in the production of rayon fabric and dry cell batteries. In may be technically correct to call it a mineral, but should it be listed as a nutrient in a children’s vitamin? We think not.

COAL TAR ARTIFICIAL COLORING AGENTS

A well-known side effect of using synthetic dyes is attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. For direct access to study abstracts on this topic view our Food Coloring research page. There is also indication that the neurotoxicity of artificial food coloring agents increase when combined with aspartame, making the combination of ingredients in Flintstones even more concerning.

ZINC OXIDE

Each serving of Flinstones Complete Chewable vitamins contain 12 mg of zinc oxide, which the manufacturer claims delivers 75% of the Daily Value to children 2 & 3 years of age. Widely used as a sun protection factor (SPF) in sunscreens, The EU’s Dangerous Substance Directive classifies it as an environmental Hazard, “Dangerous for the environment (N).” How it can be dangerous to the environment, but not for humans ingesting it, escapes me. One thing is for sure, if one is to ingest supplemental zinc, or market it for use by children, it makes much more sense using a form that is organically bound (i.e. ‘chelated’) to an amino acid like glycine, as it will be more bioavailable and less toxic.

SORBITOL

Sorbitol is a synthetic sugar substitute which is classified as a sugar alcohol. It can be argued that it has no place in the human diet, much less in a child’s. The ingestion of higher amounts have been linked to gastrointestinal disturbances from abdominal pain to more serious conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome.

FERROUS FUMARATE

The one clear warning on the Flinstone’s Web site concerns this chemical. While it is impossible to die from consuming iron from food, e.g. spinach, ferrous fumarate is an industrial mineral and not found in nature as food. In fact, ferrous fumarate is so toxic that accidental overdose of products containing this form is “a leading cause of fatal poisoning in children under 6.” The manufacturer further warns:

Keep this product out of reach of children. In case of accidental overdose, call a doctor or poison control center immediately.

HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL

Finding hydrogenated oil in anything marketed to children is absolutely unacceptable. These semi-synthetic fatty acids incorporate into our tissues and have been linked to over a dozen adverse health effects, from coronary artery disease to cancer, violent behavior to fatty liver disease.

GMO CORN STARCH

While it can be argued that the amount of GMO corn starch in this product is negligible, even irrelevant, we disagree. It is important to hold accountable brands that refuse to label their products honestly, especially when they contain ingredients that have been produced through genetic modification. The ‘vitamin C’ listed as ascorbic acid in Flintstones is likely also produced from GMO corn. Let’s remember that Bayer’s Ag-biotech division, Bayer CropScience, poured $381,600 of cash into defeating the proposition 37 GMO labeling bill in California. Parents have a right to protect their children against the well-known dangers of genetically modified foods and the agrichemicals that contaminate them, don’t they? GMO corn starch is GMO, plain and simple. We’d appreciate it if Bayer would label their “vitamins” accordingly.

In summary, Bayer’s Flintstone’s vitamin brand is far from a natural product, and the consumer should be aware of the unintended, adverse health effects that may occur as a result of using it.

For Information on the Products I recommend, click here, to contact me.

French Kids Don't Have ADHD

Suffer the Children,......Or why don't French children have ADHD? French children don't need medications to control their behavior. The case against labeling and medicating children, and effective alternatives for treating them, by Marilyn Wedge, Ph.D on Psychology Today.

In the United States, at least 9% of school-aged children have been diagnosed with ADHD, and are taking pharmaceutical medications. In France, the percentage of kids diagnosed and medicated for ADHD is less than .5%. How come the epidemic of ADHD—which has become firmly established in the United States—has almost completely passed over children in France?

Is ADHD a biological-neurological disorder? Surprisingly, the answer to this question depends on whether you live in France or in the United States. In the United States, child psychiatrists consider ADHD to be a biological disorder with biological causes. The preferred treatment is also biological--psycho stimulant medications such as Ritalin and Adderall.

French child psychiatrists, on the other hand, view ADHD as a medical condition that has psycho-social and situational causes. Instead of treating children's focusing and behavioral problems with drugs, French doctors prefer to look for the underlying issue that is causing the child distress—not in the child's brain but in the child's social context. They then choose to treat the underlying social context problem with psychotherapy or family counseling. This is a very different way of seeing things from the American tendency to attribute all symptoms to a biological dysfunction such as a chemical imbalance in the child's brain.

French child psychiatrists don't use the same system of classification of childhood emotional problems as American psychiatrists. They do not use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM. According to Sociologist Manuel Vallee, the French Federation of Psychiatry developed an alternative classification system as a resistance to the influence of the DSM-3. This alternative was the CFTMEA (Classification Française des Troubles Mentaux de L'Enfant et de L'Adolescent), first released in 1983, and updated in 1988 and 2000. The focus of CFTMEA is on identifying and addressing the underlying psychosocial causes of children's symptoms, not on finding the best pharmacological bandaids with which to mask symptoms.

To the extent that French clinicians are successful at finding and repairing what has gone awry in the child's social context, fewer children qualify for the ADHD diagnosis. Moreover, the definition of ADHD is not as broad as in the American system, which, in my view, tends to "pathologize" much of what is normal childhood behavior. The DSM specifically does not consider underlying causes. It thus leads clinicians to give the ADHD diagnosis to a much larger number of symptomatic children, while also encouraging them to treat those children with pharmaceuticals.

The French holistic, psychosocial approach also allows for considering nutritional causes for ADHD-type symptoms—specifically the fact that the behavior of some children is worsened after eating foods with artificial colors, certain preservatives, and/or allergens. Clinicians who work with troubled children in this country—not to mention parents of many ADHD kids—are well aware that dietary interventions can sometimes help a child's problem. In the United States, the strict focus on pharmaceutical treatment of ADHD, however, encourages clinicians to ignore the influence of dietary factors on children's behavior.

MyAchingKnees comment: I am disappointed in this article as the word nutrition only appears once, and even then there is no real information pertaining to what I believe is a root cause for ADHD or ADD symptoms in children - poor nutrition. I have seen three friends of mine with children under 10 years old, two boys and one girl, at their wits end with their children’s behavior, one of which was kicked out of 1st grade. I asked them to try a quality nutritional daily multi supplement and a Omega 3 supplement for at least month as well as limiting the high glycemic carbs they were allowing their children to eat....high sugar juices, pop-tarts, instant oatmeal and sugary cereal. All three did these simple things, and attributed the behavior change in their children to these small changes in nutrition and adding a high quality supplement to ensure their children received the daily nutrients they needed. And undoubtedly, some of the reasons the French enjoy a much, much lower rate of ADHD/ADD diagnosis' is their cultural diet with includes many foods rich in Omega 3 which are thought to drasically help brain and cognitive functions.

And then, of course, there are the vastly different philosophies of child-rearing in the United States and France. These divergent philosophies could account for why French children are generally better-behaved than their American counterparts. Pamela Druckerman highlights the divergent parenting styles in her recent book, Bringing up Bébé. I believe her insights are relevant to a discussion of why French children are not diagnosed with ADHD in anything like the numbers we are seeing in the United States.

From the time their children are born, French parents provide them with a firm cadre—the word means "frame" or "structure." Children are not allowed, for example, to snack whenever they want. Mealtimes are at four specific times of the day. French children learn to wait patiently for meals, rather than eating snack foods whenever they feel like it. French babies, too, are expected to conform to limits set by parents and not by their crying selves. French parents let their babies "cry it out" if they are not sleeping through the night at the age of four months.

French parents, Druckerman observes, love their children just as much as American parents. They give them piano lessons, take them to sports practice, and encourage them to make the most of their talents. But French parents have a different philosophy of discipline. Consistently enforced limits, in the French view, make children feel safe and secure. Clear limits, they believe, actually make a child feel happier and safer—something that is congruent with my own experience as both a therapist and a parent. Finally, French parents believe that hearing the word "no" rescues children from the "tyranny of their own desires." And spanking, when used judiciously, is not considered child abuse in France.

As a therapist who works with children, it makes perfect sense to me that French children don't need medications to control their behavior because they learn self-control early in their lives. The children grow up in families in which the rules are well-understood, and a clear family hierarchy is firmly in place. In French families, as Druckerman describes them, parents are firmly in charge of their kids—instead of the American family style, in which the situation is all too often vice versa.



For Information on the Products I recommend, click here, to contact me.

Can Fish Oil Boost Cancer Risks?

MyAchingKnees comment: A friend of mine brought to my attention. There were actually several recent articles concerning prostate cancer. One article on a new laser technique to remove any suspect spots on the prostate therefore bypassing side effects; another article that stated PSA blood level testing was inconclusive in determining prostate cancer or risk of prostate cancer in men. Then this latest article about Omega 3's increasing prostate cancer risk. 

About 10 years my PSA level hit 3.9 where 4.0 was the warning call for a visit to the urologist. Since I have been on high quality, pharmaceutical grade supplements, my PSA levels have been 0.7 and 0.6, so low that I now ony get them checked every 3 years. All this while also taking an Omega 3 supplement. I do not think that Omega 3's that helped lower my PSA level,.....I think a optimal dose of daily nutrients did that, I do think that Omega 3's have helped my cognitive function and my joint pain, which is minimal if at all. 

While there is little to no proof, or belief, in the mainstream Medical Community that nutritional supplements can help with any degenerative disease, I also fail to find any literature in medical journals that jamming a sharp stick in your eye is bad for you. 

Me? I will continue to take my Omega 3 supplement daily. And I say proof's in the pudding.

Here is the article, titled "Can Your Fish Oil Habit Boost Cancer Risks?" by Samantha Cassetty, M.S., R.D., and posted on Good Housekeeping|Healthy Living


New headlines about omega 3s and cancer risk are generating buzz -- no surprise given the startling conclusions that fish oil raises the risk of prostate cancer by a frightening 44% among men with the highest levels of these fats in their blood. Even more alarming: The study found that compared to those with the lowest blood levels of these fats, men with the highest amounts are at a whopping 71% greater risk of the disease. Scary!

What the headlines don't say is that the study, while important in advancing our knowledge of omega 3s and their impact on the development of cancer, wasn't designed to determine cause. Meaning, it's unclear if the fish oil is at play or if there's something else about fish-oil-eating men that raises their risk. (Maybe men who have high levels of fish fats in their blood also favor another food or supplement that's the real culprit. Or maybe these guys took supplements to make up for a crummy diet.) And since the study didn't consider participants' eating habits, researchers can't put the blame on fish or pills, though they caution against supplements since they're such a concentrated source of the nutrient.

Most health authorities suggest eating two servings of seafood each week -- an amount that protects against heart disease, the leading cause of death among men and women. It's reassuring to me that in the recent study, the difference in blood levels between those with the lowest and highest figures exceeds the amount you'd get from eating salmon twice a week (a notable source of the nutrient).

As a nutritionist, I always favor food forms of nutrients to pill versions. From what I've seen, I still think it's safe, and even wise, to aim for two servings of seafood per week. A number of studies link fish fats to healthy outcomes, like a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, skin cancer, mood disorders, and more. But bear in mind that when it comes to nutrients, more is not necessarily better. Eat fish a couple of times a week and on other nights, have chicken, turkey, or a vegetarian meal that takes advantage of the season's fresh produce. If you're a supplement taker, you may want to talk to your doctor or dietitian about the pros and cons based on your diet and history.



For Information on the Products I recommend, click here, to contact me.