Health & Fitness

Vaccine passports, hastily ushered in as a byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic, are expected to become “widely available” during the first half of 2021. "Rest assured, the nerds are on it," Brian Behlendorf, executive director of Linux Foundation, told CNN Business.¹

The Linux Foundation has partnered with IBM, the COVID-19 Credentials Initiative and CommonPass, a digital “health passport,” in order to develop vaccine credential apps that will be applicable globally.

If the initiative is successful, you’ll likely be required to pull up a vaccine certificate on your phone showing when and where you were vaccinated, along with which type of vaccine, in order to get on a plane or attend an indoor event, such as a concert, for starters.

"If we're successful, you should be able to say: I've got a vaccine certificate on my phone that I got when I was vaccinated in one country, with a whole set of its own kind of health management practices … that I use to get on a plane to an entirely different country and then I presented in that new country a vaccination credential so I could go to that concert that was happening indoors for which attendance was limited to those who have demonstrated that they've had the vaccine," Behlendorf said.²

The notion of having to present proof of a voluntary medical procedure in order to travel or attend public events is unprecedented in the U.S., but is being presented as a measure to protect public health. In reality, your freedom to go about your normal, daily life is being threatened, unless you consent to receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. And this may only be the beginning.

What You Need to Know About CommonPass

The Commons Project and the World Economic Forum created the Common Trust Network, which developed the CommonPass app that’s intended to act as a health passport in the near future.

The app allows users to upload medical data such as a COVID-19 test result or proof of vaccination, which then generates a QR code that you will show to authorities as your health passport.³ The proposed common framework “for safe border reopening” around the world involves the following:⁴

1. Every nation must publish their health screening criteria for entry into the country using a standard format on a common framework
2. Each country must register trusted facilities that conduct COVID-19 lab testing for foreign travel and administer vaccines listed in the CommonPass registry
3. Each country will accept health screening status from foreign visitors through apps and services built on the CommonPass framework
4. Patient identification is to be collected at the time of sample collection and/or vaccination using an international standard
5. The CommonPass framework will be integrated into flight and hotel reservation check-in processes

Eventually, the CommonPass framework will be integrated with already existing personal health apps such as Apple Health and CommonHealth. If you want to travel, your personal health record will be evaluated and compared to a country’s entry requirements, and if you don’t meet them, you’ll be directed to an approved testing and vaccination location.

The groundwork for CommonPass was laid out in an April 21, 2020, white paper by The Rockefeller Foundation,⁵ and is part of the rollout of global surveillance and social control known as “the Great Reset.”

According to CNN, “Airlines including Cathay Pacific, JetBlue, Lufthansa, Swiss Airlines, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic, as well as hundreds of health systems across the United States and the government of Aruba,” have already partnered with the Common Trust Network and their CommonPass app.⁶

The CommonPass App, Smart Cards Are Coming

CommonPass is just one example of apps being developed to track your personal health information and convert it into a digital health ID that you’ll need to scan just to go about your daily life. IBM developed the Digital Health Pass, which companies can use to assess everything from coronavirus test results and vaccination to an individual’s temperature.

If you don’t have a cellphone, you won’t be exempt from the need to show your health credentials. Companies that are part of the COVID-19 Credentials Initiative are working on a smart card that acts as a digital health credential that can be easily presented even if you don’t have a smartphone or stable internet connection.⁷

August 28, 2020, Ireland was among the first to begin a national trial of their new Health Passport Ireland initiative⁸ to track and display results of COVID-19 testing — and facilitate increased COVID-19 testing for businesses and the public, plus display COVID-19 vaccination status.⁹

The initiative has since been renamed Health Passport Europe,¹⁰ and states the system will soon be used worldwide for international travels. Aside from travel and tourism, Health Passports will be used for health care purposes, events, factories and offices, and even in schools and child care centers.

So, in order to achieve the “freedom” you need to go about your normal, daily life, you only need to get tested or vaccinated for COVID-19, have a health administrator create a Health Passport account in your name, download the app on your phone, receive your COVID-19 test results on your phone (and get retested as required), then display your COVID-19 status and vaccination history whenever it’s requested.

For those who haven’t been tested, Health Passport Europe states that you can still immediately use the technology by downloading the Health Passport Scanner app and using it to scan others whenever needed.

By scanning others to get their COVID-19 status, “It gives great security for you and your family throughout or daily lives, for example when availing of services, whilst travelling, at events, at work and much more.”¹¹

Special Treatment ‘Same as a Mandatory Vaccination’

While many countries have suggested that the COVID-19 vaccine will not be mandated, by giving special privileges to the vaccinated, such as the ability to travel, attend social events or even enter a workplace, it essentially amounts to the same thing.

"As important as vaccination is for all of us: No special treatment for the vaccinated,” Germany’s Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. “Distinguishing between the vaccinated and the not-vaccinated would be the same as a mandatory vaccination."¹²

Still, Thomas Mertens, head of Germany's Standing Commission on Vaccination (STIKO), has stated that vaccine passports may one day be used to grant access to travel, restaurants, concerts and cinemas, and may also be required by certain businesses.

“These are private agreements made by the restaurant owner, the airline and the concert organizer,” he told Die Welt newspaper. “I think something like that is possible. I'm not a lawyer, and at the end of the day lawyers will have to decide."¹³

Seehofer, however, stated that while the government couldn’t stop businesses from requiring vaccination of their customers, he was clearly against it: "All I can do is warn against it. Special treatment for the vaccinated would divide society."¹⁴

Meanwhile, Spain, which plans to vaccinate 2.3 million over a 12-week period, is maintaining a register of people who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine and intends to share it with other countries in the European Union.¹⁵ While the vaccine is voluntary, citizens are being called for their turn by the national health system, making it easy to track those who refuse.

In 2018, the European Commission drafted a proposal to strengthen cooperation against vaccine preventable diseases, including joint action to increase vaccination coverage, stating, “Vaccination programmes have become increasingly fragile; in the face of low uptake of vaccines, vaccine hesitancy, the increasing cost of new vaccines and shortages in vaccine production and supply in Europe.”¹⁶

It appears the sharing of private health information, including who chooses not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, is part of that joint action.

Tracking and Tracing Are Here

One year ago, it would have been hard to imagine widespread acceptance for cellphone apps that collect your vaccination status and convert it into a health passport you may soon need to present in order to travel or attend recreational events like concerts, or even attend school or go to work. But under the context of a pandemic, it’s suddenly perceived as necessary for public health.

“Vaccinated? Show Us Your App,” reads a New York Times headline from December 13, 2020, which states that United, JetBlue and Lufthansa airlines plan to introduce CommonPass in the coming weeks.¹⁷ “It is just the start of a push for digital Covid-19 credentials that could soon be embraced by employers, schools, summer camps and entertainment venues,” the Times added.

Indeed, Dr. Brad Perkins, Commons Project Foundation’s chief medical officer, added, “This is likely to be a new normal need that we’re going to have to deal with to control and contain this pandemic.”

Getting health passports to become a new normal has, in fact, been part of the plan all along for the Commons Project, which began developing software that tracks medical data well before the COVID-19 pandemic.¹⁸ “But spikes in virus cases around the world this spring accelerated its work,” The New York Times reported.

It’s Not About Infectious Disease

Now partnered with the World Economic Forum, CommonPass represents the beginning stage of mass tracking and tracing, under the guise of keeping everyone safe from infectious disease.

It is part and parcel of the Great Reset and the fourth industrial revolution, the nuts and bolts of which boil down to transhumanism. In years past, this plan was referred to as a “new world order” or “one world order.” All of these terms, however, refer to an agenda that has the same ultimate goal.

As explained by journalist James Corbett, for those who forgot about what the New World Order was/is all about, it’s “centralization of control into fewer hands, globalization [and] transformation of society through Orwellian surveillance technologies.”¹⁹

In other words, it’s technocracy, where we the people know nothing about the ruling elite while every aspect of our lives is surveilled, tracked and manipulated for their gain. The tracking and tracing of COVID-19 test results and vaccination are setting the stage for biometric surveillance, tracking and tracing, which will eventually be tied in with all your other medical records, digital ID, digital banking and a social credit system.

What can you do? Getting informed and sharing your knowledge is the first step to protecting your freedom. Next, learn the role of your local sheriff, who should safeguard your Constitutional rights and protect your civil liberties against unlawful government overreach.

The most important part is to contact your local sheriff and urge him or her to learn about the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA).

The goal is to create a partnership between the people, the sheriff and the local law enforcement chiefs to make sure county sheriffs are trained on Constitutional rights and their own role as guardians of the Constitution and protectors of civil liberties, so they will no longer enforce unlawful, unconstitutional orders, whatever they might be.

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Mounting mortality data show COVID-19 is hardly the deadly pandemic it’s been made out to be. But just as people were starting to wake up to this fact, the British technocracy came up with a new narrative to keep the fearmongering going.

Mere days before Christmas, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced there’s a new, mutated, and far more infectious, strain of SARS-CoV-2 on the loose.^1,2 The answer? Another round of even stricter stay-at-home orders, business shutdowns and travel bans, just in time for the holidays.

According to The New York Times, the U.K. restrictions may remain in effect for months. Considering these unscientific strategies didn’t work the first or second time around, it strains believability to think they’ll work now.

Indeed, anyone who knows anything about the Great Reset agenda can now see that the lockdowns, which destroy local economies and small businesses, have nothing to do with public health. They are mere smokescreens for the greatest transfer (if not theft) of wealth the world has ever seen.

The biggest losers are low- and middle-income earners, especially private business owners, who have been absolutely decimated while large box stores and multinational companies report record-breaking profits.

Despite the obviousness of the scheme, countries are responding to the news of the mutation with fervor. The Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, Austria, Denmark, Bulgaria and Ireland all issued travel restrictions from the U.K.^3,4

What’s New About This Mutated SARS-CoV-2 Strain?

The mutated strain, referred to in some places as B117⁵ and in others as VUI-202012/01,⁶ reportedly began popping up in patient samples collected in September 2020 across southern England. In all, the virus is said to have 23 new mutations, several of which affect how the virus attaches to and infects human cells, potentially making it more virulent.

British researchers claim the mutation has rapidly displaced previous variants of the virus. In mid-November 2020, 28% of COVID-19 cases in London were attributed to B117. By December 9, 2020, that figure had risen to 62%, according to the Daily Mail.⁷ The following graphic from the U.K. government illustrates the spread of the virus from September through mid-December in London and the U.K as a whole.⁸

According to absolutely untrustworthy and disgraced epidemiologist Neil Ferguson, whose models have been grossly incorrect thus far, B117 may be 50% to 70% more contagious than previous variants circulating in the U.K.⁹

B117 also appears to infect children and teens to a greater extent than previous variants. According to Wendy Barclay, a government adviser and virologist at Imperial College London, children may be “equally susceptible as adults” to this new strain.¹⁰ However, while said to transmit more easily, B117 does not appear to cause more severe disease.

A mutated variant of SARS-CoV-2 that has one of the mutations found in B117 has also been identified in South Africa. This virus is now found in 90% of samples analyzed.¹¹

While mainstream media are hyping these new variants for all their worth, The New York Times reports that “Researchers have recorded thousands of tiny modifications in the genetic material of the coronavirus as it has hopscotched across the world.”

In other words, mutations are nothing new. In fact, the virus has reportedly picked up one or two mutations per month since the start of the pandemic.¹² What’s surprising about B117 is the unusually high number of mutations that seemingly emerged all at once.

One possibility that might explain this is that it evolved inside someone who was immunocompromised and therefore ended up battling the infection for an extended period of time.¹³

According to the Covid-19 Genomics Consortium UK, high rates of mutations have also occurred in immunosuppressed COVID-19 patients who received convalescent plasma. As explained in a Telegraph op-ed by Matt Ridley:¹⁴

“In a person with a deficient immune system, a large population of viruses can proliferate, mutate and diversify, and then the treatment selects a new strain from among this diversity. Essentially, the virus has a crash course in evolution.”

Still, that doesn’t mean there’s cause for hysteria. As noted by Dr. Deepti Gurdasani, a clinical epidemiologist at Queen Mary University of London, as mass vaccination programs get off the ground, “selection pressure” on the virus will further increase, which she suspects will trigger even more mutations,¹⁵ which in turn might reduce the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines. According to a December 20, 2020, article in The New York Times:¹⁶

“Several recent papers^17,18,19,20 have shown that the coronavirus can evolve to avoid recognition by a single monoclonal antibody, a cocktail of two antibodies or even convalescent serum …”

Show Us the Evidence

As London and southeast England faced strict, new lockdowns in the days before Christmas, British scientists were demanding to be shown evidence that B117 is in fact 50% to 70% more contagious.

Carl Heneghan, professor of evidence based medicine at Oxford University’s Nuffield department of primary care, told the Daily Mail,²¹ “I’ve been doing this job for 25 years and I can tell you can’t establish a quantifiable number in such a short time frame. Every expert is saying it's too early to draw such an inference.”

He also stated the lack of transparency was “undermining public trust” in the government and its response measures. The data on the new strain come from an analysis by the New and Emerging Respiratory Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG), but none of the data have been released to the scientific community.

“It has massive implications, it's causing fear and panic, but we should not be in this situation when the government is putting out data that is unquantifiable. They are fitting the data to the evidence. They see cases rising and they are looking for evidence to explain it,” Heneghan said.²²

Conservative MPs have also called for the scientific evidence relating to the mutant strain to be made public.²³ Former minister Sir Desmond Swayne stated the new Christmas lockdown rules had “all the characteristics of the government being bounced by the science, as it was right at the beginning … when we first went into lockdown last March.”²⁴

The new restrictions were announced after Parliament had already discussed and voted on a less restrictive set of Christmas rules before going on break. In an interview with BBC Radio 4 Today, Swayne said:²⁵

“The arrangements for Christmas were explicitly voted on by Parliament. If they're to be changed then in my view, Parliament should vote again … irrespective of the Government acting in an emergency.

Nevertheless, it's perfectly proper to recall Parliament … to at least ratify those changes. Explain to us — we are after all a democracy — explain to the elected representatives the evidence that they have and why they've reached this decision.

They've been looking at it [the new variant] since September. How convenient when Parliament went into recess … suddenly they were then able to produce this revelation. Let's see the evidence then. Let's have Parliament back and show us and convince us, come clean. I want Parliament to be recalled so we can scrutinize properly, in a democracy, decisions that are being made which affect our economy radically and our liberty.”

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith laid the bulk of the blame on the government’s scientific advisers and accused chief medical officer professor Chris Whitty and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance of “stepping back into the shadows when it suits them.”²⁶

“Why did they not alert ministers to the dangers earlier? Especially when, as we now know, scientists learnt about this mutation back in September,” Smith wrote in an op-ed in The Telegraph.²⁷

Is It a False Alarm?

Indeed, if the new, wildly different strain was discovered September 20, why all of a sudden is it an emergency a full three months later — especially considering the fact that the research still hasn’t been done to confirm whether this variant actually is any worse than previous strains? As reported by MIT Technology Review, December 21, 2020:²⁸

“The situation could prove to be a false alarm. Sometimes virus variants appear to seem to spread more easily but in fact are being propelled by luck, like a superspreader event.

British teams, and some abroad, are now racing to carry out the lab experiments necessary to demonstrate whether the new variant really infects human cells more easily, and whether vaccines will stop it; those studies will involve exposing the new strain to blood plasma from COVID-19 survivors or vaccinated people, to see if their antibodies can block it …

The mutations seen in the new variant have all been spotted previously, according to comments posted online by Francois Balloux, a computational biologist at the University of College London, but apparently not in this combination.

They include one that causes the spike protein to bind more effectively to human cells, another linked to escape from human immune responses, and a third adjacent to a biologically critical component of the pathogen.”

Lockdowns May Prevent Natural Weakening of the Virus

Circling back to where we started, with the uselessness of lockdowns, in his op-ed in The Telegraph, Ridley²⁹ points out that viruses naturally weaken over time as more and more people are exposed, and that by implementing tougher lockdowns, the virus primarily spreads among the sickest, which allows the most lethal strains to dominate.

In other words, by shutting everything down, the natural weakening of COVID-19 is prevented, which is the precise opposite of what we want. Ridley writes:³⁰

“Viruses will always evolve to be more contagious if they can, but respiratory viruses also often evolve towards being less virulent. Each virus is striving to grab market share for its descendants.

The best way of achieving this is to print as many copies of itself as possible while in a human body, yet not make that person so ill that they meet fewer people. Where the [lockdown] sceptics have a point is that it is a worrying possibility that lockdowns could prevent this natural attenuation of the virus.

They keep the virus spreading mainly in hospitals and care homes among the very ill, preventing the eclipse of lethal strains at the hands of milder ones. If so, and it's only a possibility, then not only do lockdowns fail to wipe out the disease, they may be prolonging our agony.”

Lockdowns Are Not the Answer

Shutting down the world over a respiratory virus will perhaps go down in history as the most destructive and irrational decision ever made by public health “experts,” the World Health Organization and its technocratic allies.

I’ve written other articles about its effects — which aside from the transfer of wealth from the working class to the global elites, include a rise in food insecurity, mental health problems, excess deaths unrelated to COVID-19, domestic violence, child abuse, sex abuse and suicide — so I won’t belabor that here. What’s become clear is that lockdowns are a cure far worse than the disease.

It’s time to fight back, and to resist any and all unconstitutional and tyrannical edicts. To do that, we must overcome fear, as it is a fearful public that allows the technocratic elite to rip away our freedoms. It’s fear that allows tyranny to flourish. I urge you to really look at the data, so you can see for yourself that panic is unwarranted, and that the so-called “solutions” to the pandemic are in fact a path of total destruction.

This destruction — both moral and economic — is necessary for the Great Reset to occur. The technocratic elite need everything and everyone to fall apart in order to justify the implementation of their new system. Without this desperation, no one would agree to what they have planned.

For practical strategies on how you can respond in light of all the tyrannical interventions that have been imposed on us, check out James Corbett’s interview with Howard Lichtman below. I also recommend reading “Constitutional Sheriffs Are the Difference Between Freedom and Tyranny.”

Take Control of Your Health

Last but not least, now is also the time to take control of your own health. Make it a point to really take care of yourself. Remember, insulin resistance, obesity and vitamin D deficiency top the list of comorbidities that significantly raise your risk complications and death from COVID-19. One key health strategy is eliminating all vegetables oils from your diet, which is likely one of the worst metabolic poisons you can eat.

These are also underlying factors in a host of other chronic diseases, including mental health problems, so by addressing them, you’ll improve your chances of getting through this challenging time with your health and sanity intact. You can find tons of information about how to reverse all of these issues by searching my article archives.

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After being vilified for decades, butter is back and booming. Not only has it made a comeback, but sales are soaring, with per capita butter consumption up 24% in the U.S. over the last decade.¹ Changes in eating habits due to the pandemic pushed demand for butter even higher in 2020. Dairy cooperative Land O’Lakes estimated a 20% increase in sales during the last year, reaching 275 million to 300 million pounds sold.²

The rise in retail demand, triggered by Americans cooking and baking more at home during the pandemic, was so high it made up for declines in restaurant butter demand — and then some. In a statement, the company reported a $54 million year-over-year earnings increase from 2019 to 2020, adding:³

“Earnings improved by $54 million in the third quarter due to strong performance across the portfolio. Dairy Foods earnings were higher due to continued strength in Retail, which more than offset lower volumes in Foodservice and commodity market volatility due to impacts of COVID-19.”

Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture concur, showing a 6% rise in butter production during the first six months of 2020, with trends suggesting it may top 2 billion pounds for the year — the highest it’s been since 1943.⁴

Butter’s Popularity Outpaces Margarine’s

In the early 1900s, per-capita annual butter consumption in the U.S. was greater than 15 pounds, but this dropped sharply as margarine consumption increased. The dairy industry fought back from the beginning, when margarine entered the marketplace in 1869.

The Oleomargarine Act (margarine was known as oleomargarine at the time) was passed in 1886, which imposed a 2 cent per pound tax on margarine, which originally was made from excess animal fat harvested from slaughterhouses.⁵ It was also prohibited to color “artificial butter” yellow to make it look more like real butter,⁶ while the state of New Hampshire briefly required margarine to be tinted pink.⁷

Despite the initial backlash, margarine, with its lower price and claims of superior health benefits, soared in popularity by the middle of the century and outpaced butter consumption in 1957.

As saturated fats fell out of favor, and health officials wrongly urged Americans to avoid such healthy fats as butter to reduce their risk of heart disease and lose weight, margarine, which came to be made with refined vegetable oils and trans fats, became the go-to spread and cooking companion.

We now know that refined vegetable oils are among the worst foods to consume, and a prominent study released in 1997, which examined the effects of margarine on cardiovascular disease, revealed that margarine increases your heart attack risk.⁸ Still, for decades margarine remained more popular than butter; it wasn’t until 2005 that butter regained its top title, and consumption has been on the rise ever since.⁹

Butter Is Good for You

Butter is still regarded by many as a guilty pleasure, one of those foods that you shouldn’t really be eating, but indulge in anyway because it’s just so good. But this is one case where you can indulge guilt-free, because butter is a health food — especially when it’s made with milk from grass fed cows.

Unlike heavily processed margarine, butter is a whole food that contains nutrients your body needs. This includes:¹⁰

Nutrients in Butter
Vitamin A in the most absorbable form	Lauric acid	Lecithin — necessary for cholesterol metabolism and nerve health
Antioxidants	Vitamin E	Vitamin K2
Wulzen Factor — hormone-like substance known to prevent arthritis and joint stiffness (destroyed by pasteurization)	Fatty acids, especially short- and medium-chain in the perfect omega-3 to omega-6 balance	Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) — anticancer agent, muscle builder and immunity booster
Vitamin D	Minerals, including selenium, manganese, chromium, zinc, and copper	Iodine in a highly absorbable form
Cholesterol	Arachidonic acid (AA) — brain function and healthy cell membranes	Glycosphingolipids — fatty acids that protect against GI infections

Multiple studies support butter consumption for good health. In a systematic review and meta-analysis of nine publications including 15 country-specific cohorts, butter consumption was not significantly associated with cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease or stroke, but increased consumption was associated with a lower incidence of diabetes.¹¹

A Closer Look at the Beneficial Compounds in Butter

Multiple compounds in butterfat are associated with health benefits. One of the most well-known is CLA, which not only is anticancer, but also heart healthy and anti-inflammatory with antiobesity effects as well.¹²

Sphingolipids, such as ceramides, sphingomyelin, cerebrosides, sulfatides and gangliosides, are also found in butter. These compounds influence cell regulation and have antimicrobial and immunomodulatory effects, while inhibiting cholesterol adsorption. They also have potential anticancer effects. According to Advances in Food and Nutrition Research:¹³

“When consumed, sphingomyelin is transformed to ceramide by sphingomyelinase, and further ceramide is digested to sphingosine and a free fatty acid before being absorbed. Ceramide is known as a cancer cell apoptosis inducer. The consumption of sphingomyelin was related to the prevention of colon cancer in mice and humans.”

There’s also butyric acid, an anticancer compound found in milk fat. Butyric acid and its salts, including butyrate, are beneficial for your gut and have beneficial effects on energy homeostasis, obesity, immune system regulation, cancer and brain function. Myristic acid is a long-chain saturated fatty acid also found abundantly in milk fat.

It’s involved in important metabolic processes, and moderate consumption may improve omega-3 fat levels, which could lead to improvements in heart health. The consumption of myristic acid from dairy fat is also linked to increases in HDL cholesterol and decreases in triglyceride levels with additional noted immunomodulatory properties.¹⁴

It’s not surprising, then, that accumulating research supports the consumption of whole-fat dairy like butter. The Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study,¹⁵ published in The Lancet, is among them.

As lead study author Mahshid Dehghan, a senior research associate and nutrition epidemiology investigator at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, noted in the featured study, “Our results showed an inverse association between total dairy and mortality and major cardiovascular disease. The risk of stroke was markedly lower with higher consumption of dairy.”¹⁶

Grass Fed Butter Is Best

Keep in mind that butter's nutritional value depends on how the animals are raised, as the fatty acid composition of butterfat varies according to the animal's diet. The very best quality butter is raw (unpasteurized) from grass fed cows, preferably certified organic.

The next best is pasteurized butter from grass fed or pastured organic cows, followed by regular pasteurized butter common in supermarkets. Even the latter two are healthier choices by orders of magnitude than margarines or other vegetable-oil based spreads. Why is grass fed butter better? Milk from cows raised primarily on pasture has been shown to be higher in many nutrients, including vitamin E, beta-carotene and the healthy fats omega-3 and CLA.¹⁷

The improved fatty acid profile in grass fed organic milk and dairy products brings the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio to a near 1-to-1, compared to 5.7-to-1 in conventional whole milk. This is important, since the majority of Americans eat 10 to 15 times the amount of omega-6s compared to what they eat in omega-3s.¹⁸

“Because of often high per‐capita dairy consumption relative to most other sources of omega‐3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid, these differences in grassmilk [grass fed milk] can help restore a historical balance of fatty acids and potentially reduce the risk of cardiovascular and other metabolic diseases,” researchers noted.¹⁹

A study published in Critical Reviews in Food Science and nutrition also highlighted the differences in human health after consuming the same foods from animals raised in different ways:²⁰

“Multiple studies have shown that food products from animals raised on pasture instead of grains contain significantly higher amounts of nutrients that may protect against cancer, like omega-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid.

Due to the general recommendation against dietary fat consumption over the past several decades, there has been a lack of scientific dialogue regarding the differences pasture-raised animal byproducts may have on health and cancer prevention.”

Indeed, they found that while lipid levels remained relatively neutral overall, significant differences were found in inflammatory markers and phospholipids depending on whether the animal foods came from animals fed grass or grains:²¹

“While red meat, butter, cheese, and eggs have been generally treated as nutritional boogeymen with most nutritional recommendations endorsing their avoidance, these individual foods may vary significantly in nutritional value and the corresponding effect on consumers.

Grass-fed butter, n-3 enriched eggs, and wild game meat appear to have a neutral effect on serum lipids while providing a decrease in several inflammatory factors, potentially improving health.

Significant data exist illustrating a marked differing physiological affect from consuming the exact same food produced from animals raised differently, and this finding could have a large impact on population-wide dietary recommendations if controlled for in future studies.”

Dairy Farmers Dump Milk as Butter Sales Climb

It’s ironic that butter sales are through the roof when the dairy industry as a whole has been challenged during the pandemic. In spring 2020, dairy farmers were forced to dump milk as demand from restaurants and schools plummeted. It was forecast that the dairy industry could lose $5 billion to $10 billion in sales over the next six months.²²

Two major milk producers — Dean Foods and Borden Dairy — had already filed bankruptcies in November 2019 and January 2020 as U.S. milk sales had declined before the pandemic. However, the pandemic has since had a favorable effect on U.S. retail milk sales, which increased 8.3% from January 2020 to July 18, 2020. During the same period the year prior, sales were down 2.3%.²³

For butter producer Land O’Lakes, sales were so strong over the summer of 2020 that they didn’t put nearly as much butter in cold storage as they normally do.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Land O’Lakes CEO Beth Ford said, “Often times, even for the retail business, what you do is you make a lot of butter because it’s peak milk production time, and you store it for the key season [during the holidays]. But the buying was so strong that we didn’t do that, because we were selling right off the line.”²⁴

Increasingly, it appears Americans are seeking traditional, whole foods that provide solid nutrition and feelings of comfort, which butter certainly fulfills on both levels.

As mentioned, when seeking out the best butter, skip that made from CAFO milk and support small farmers offering butter made from grass fed cow’s milk. If you can’t find a local farmer at a nearby farmers market, look for the American Grassfed Association (AGA) logo on dairy products, which ensures the highest quality grass fed products.

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A second antimalarial treatment is now being seriously considered and evaluated for its efficacy against COVID-19. The treatment is made from the plant Artemisia annua, which most people know as Sweet Wormwood. Other names for this plant include Annual Sagewort and Sweet Annie.

Research over the past few decades has revealed multiple health benefits from this medicinal herb, which has a centuries-long history of use in folk medicine. In 2015, Chinese scientist Tu Youyou received a partial Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of artemisinin and dihydroartemisinin,¹ both of which have potent malaria-fighting properties.

As reported by the University of Kentucky,² “The popular malaria drug artesunate was developed from those compounds and is still used as a first-line treatment for the disease today.”

Artemisinin — A Viable COVID-19 Remedy?

Interestingly, in addition to having a long-standing history of being used as a highly effective antiparasitic, it also has anticancer properties. Additionally, artemisia annua has antiviral activity that might be helpful against SARS-CoV-2.

In an April 8, 2020, press release Mateon Therapeutics reported³ that “Artemisinin is highly potent at inhibiting the ability of the COVID-19 causing virus (SARS-CoV-2) to multiply while also having an excellent safety index.”

After testing the plant’s antiviral effects in a laboratory setting for a couple of years, University of Kentucky researchers are also exploring its use for the treatment of COVID-19,⁴ as are researchers in Denmark and Germany.⁵ According to the University of Kentucky:⁶

“Surprisingly, results showed that the plant’s leaves, when extracted with absolute ethanol or distilled water, provided more antiviral activity than the actual drug itself — meaning that an Artemisia annua-blended coffee or tea could possibly be more effective than taking the drug.”

Based on these findings, researchers have decided to test artemisinin in patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Some of the first human studies, set to investigate both the extract blended into coffee and tea, as well as the drug artesunate, were implemented by UK HealthCare.

University of Kentucky researchers have founded a company called ArtemiFlow to develop and manufacture the drug, in collaboration with the Kentucky Tobacco Research & Development Center.⁷ A sister company, ArtemiLife, is marketing Artemisia tea and coffee to raise research funds.

Mechanism of Action Remains Unknown

As for its mechanism of action, such details still remain to be discovered. C&EN explains:⁸

“When countering malaria, artemisinin exploits the parasite’s taste for hemoglobin in its host’s blood. As the parasite digests hemoglobin, it frees the iron-porphyrin heme complex from the protein.

Because this heme is toxic to the parasite, the organism normally converts the complex to a more benign crystalline form. ‘But artemisinin corrupts this heme-detoxification pathway,’ says Paul O’Neill, a medicinal chemist at the University of Liverpool.

If artemisinin does have any effect against SARS-CoV-2, though, it likely relies on a completely different mechanism than the one it uses against the malaria parasite, Harvard’s [malaria researcher Dyann F.] Wirth says.”

In Vitro Study Reports Positive Results

An in vitro study^9,10 looking at the efficacy of artemisinin-based treatments against SARS-CoV-2, posted on the prepublication server bioRxiv, October 5, 2020, report promising results.

The study was a collaboration between researchers from Germany, Denmark and Hong Kong, led by Kerry Gilmore, Ph.D., from the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany.

Three artemisinin extracts, as well as pure, synthetic artemisinin, artesunate and artemether were evaluated. During the initial screening for antiviral activity, a German SARS-CoV-2 strain obtained from Munich was used.

Later on, during the concentration-response phase of the trial, they used a Danish SARS-CoV-2 strain from Copenhagen. These two strains are said to be “more closely related to the majority of SARS-CoV-2 strains circulating worldwide than the Wuhan strain.”^11,12

In summary, they found that both pretreatment and treatment with artemisinin extracts, synthetic artemisinin and the drug artesunate were able to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection of Vero E6 cells and human hepatoma Huh7.5 cells. That said, artesunate was the most potent in terms of treatment, and from a clinical perspective may be the only one worth pursuing.^13,14

World Health Organization Warns Against Its Use

While the world is eager to add another remedy to its COVID-19 treatment list, the World Health Organization has come out in opposition to artemisinin-based products. In a May 27, 2020, article, C&EN reported:¹⁵

“One of the most high-profile advocates for using the herbal remedy against the novel coronavirus is Madagascar president Andry Rajoelina, who has been touting Covid-Organics, a tonic containing A. annua that the Malagasy Institute of Applied Research developed …

But health officials are deeply concerned about the promotion and use of these herbal remedies for three principal reasons. First, no evidence exists that A. annua extracts can prevent or cure COVID-19 …

Second, A. annua preparations such as teas, tonics, or herbal capsules also contain a cocktail of bioactive compounds in addition to artemisinin that can have side effects such as dizziness, hearing problems, and vomiting.

Third, and perhaps most worrying of all, widespread use of A. annua herbal extracts could bolster drug-resistant strains of malaria parasites such as Plasmodium falciparum.¹⁶

For people living in regions where malaria is endemic, exposure to subtherapeutic doses of artemisinin in A. annua may be enough to kill off some of the parasites in their bodies, but not all of them. Clearing out weakling parasites leaves more room for drug-resistant siblings to proliferate, rendering vital ACTs [artemisinin-based combination therapies] ineffective.”

According to Pascal Ringwald, who heads up the drug resistance and response unit of the WHO Global Malaria Program, artemisinin resistance is a significant problem in Southeast Asia, where Artemisia readily grows and is commonly used.¹⁷

That said, this risk is bound to be slight for Americans and people in many other Western countries where malaria is exceedingly rare. According to C&EN,¹⁸ “Scientists interviewed by C&EN agree that although this use is against WHO recommendations, it does not risk accelerating resistance because there are so few cases of malaria in the U.S.”

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