Health & Fitness

Considering the scale of the mass vaccination campaign against COVID-19, if the shots were working as advertised, we'd have vaccine-induced herd immunity already. As of October 28, 2021, 6.94 billion doses of COVID-19 jabs had been administered, equating to 49% of the world population having received at least one dose.¹

Add to that the fact that we have widespread natural immunity, and COVID-19 really ought to be a non-issue at this point. Rarely does a pandemic last more than 18 months. Still, COVID-19 allegedly persists. Clearly, the mass injection effort isn't working.

A study² published in the European Journal of Epidemiology at the end of September 2021 confirms this, showing that increases in COVID-19 cases (i.e., positive cases based on PCR testing) are completely unrelated to levels of vaccination in 68 countries worldwide. Ditto for 2,947 counties in the U.S. In the Peak Prosperity video above, Chris Martenson, Ph.D., reviews the details of this paper.

Data Show the COVID Jabs Have No Impact on Infection Rates 

While the official COVID narrative continues to blame the ongoing pandemic on the unvaccinated, data show that areas with high vaccination rates, like Israel, continue to have significant COVID-19 spread. As noted by S.V. Subramanian, from the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies and a colleague in the European Journal of Epidemiology:³

"Vaccines currently are the primary mitigation strategy to combat COVID-19 around the world. For instance, the narrative related to the ongoing surge of new cases in the United States (US) is argued to be driven by areas with low vaccination rates.

A similar narrative also has been observed in countries, such as Germany and the United Kingdom. At the same time, Israel that was hailed for its swift and high rates of vaccination has also seen a substantial resurgence in COVID-19 cases."

Using data available as of September 3, 2021, from Our World in Data for cross-country analysis, and the White House COVID-19 Team data for U.S. counties, the researchers investigated the relationship between new COVID-19 cases and the percentage of the population that had been fully vaccinated.

Sixty-eight countries were included. Inclusion criteria included second dose vaccine data, COVID-19 case data and population data as of September 3, 2021. They then computed the COVID-19 cases per 1 million people for each country, and calculated the percentage of population that was fully vaccinated.

According to the authors, there was "no discernable relationship between percentage of population fully vaccinated and new COVID-19 cases in the last seven days." If anything, higher vaccination rates were associated with a slight increase in cases. According to the authors:⁴

"[T]he trend line suggests a marginally positive association such that countries with higher percentage of population fully vaccinated have higher COVID-19 cases per 1 million people."

As noted by Martenson, this flies in the face of the official narrative, which claims the shots are highly effective at preventing symptomatic infection. Wikipedia goes so far as to claim "A COVID-19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against COVID-19,"⁵ when in fact it does no such thing at all.

Even the developers admit the shot cannot prevent infection. It only reduces symptoms of infection. That just goes to show how utterly unreliable Wikipedia is. It's biased to the point of being disinformation.

Higher Vaccination Rates Linked to Higher Caseloads

If there were any doubt for the need to seriously question the worldwide mass injection campaign, this should put it to rest: Iceland and Portugal, both of which have more than 75% of their populations fully vaccinated, have more COVID-19 cases per 1 million people than Vietnam and South Africa, where only 10% or so of their populations are fully vaccinated.⁶

Israel is another example. With more than 60% of its population fully vaccinated, it had the highest number of COVID-19 cases per 1 million people in the seven days leading up to September 3, 2021.⁷

The data from U.S. counties showed similar trends, with new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people being "largely similar" regardless of the vaccination rate. "I'm pretty sure this is not how it's supposed to be working," Martenson says.

He points out that President Biden recently issued a statement saying health care workers need to be fully vaccinated because then they "cannot transmit COVID-19 to patients." "That doesn't make sense though," Martenson says, "because here we're not seeing that association, which ought to be, the more vaccinated [a population is], the lower the transmission rate."

The authors of the study further note there's no evidence at all that cases are declining as vaccination rates rise. "There also appears to be no significant signaling of COVID-19 cases decreasing with higher percentages of population fully vaccinated," they write.⁸

Notably, out of the five U.S. counties with the highest vaccination rates — ranging from 84.3% to 99.9% fully vaccinated — four were on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "high transmission" list. Meanwhile, 26.3% of the 57 counties with "low transmission" had vaccination rates under 20%.

The study even accounted for a one-month lag time that could occur among the fully vaccinated, since it's said that it takes two weeks after the final dose for "full immunity" to occur. Still, "no discernable association between COVID-19 cases and levels of fully vaccinated" was observed.⁹

High Time to Change Strategy

The study summed up several reasons why the "sole reliance on vaccination as a primary strategy to mitigate COVID-19" should be reevaluated. For starters, the jab's effectiveness rapidly wanes.

A report from Israel's Ministry of Health showed that Pfizer-BioNTech's injection went from a 95% effectiveness in December 2020, to 64% in early July 2021 and 39% by late July, when the Delta strain became predominant.^10,11

"A substantial decline in immunity from mRNA vaccines six months post immunization has also been reported," the researchers noted, adding that even severe hospitalization and death from COVID-19, which the jabs claim to offer protection against, have dramatically increased.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show rates of hospitalization for severe illness among the fully vaccinated went from 0.01% in January 2021 to 9% in May 2021, and deaths went from 0% to 15.1%.^12,13 If the shots work as advertised, why are these rates rising? They should have remained near zero.

The researchers also noted that immunity derived from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is not as strong as immunity acquired through recovery from the COVID-19 virus.¹⁴ For instance, a retrospective observational study published August 25, 2021, revealed that natural immunity is superior to immunity from COVID-19 jabs. According to the authors of that study:¹⁵

"… natural immunity confers longer lasting and stronger protection against infection, symptomatic disease and hospitalization caused by the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, compared to the BNT162b2 two-dose vaccine-induced immunity."

The fact is, while breakthrough cases continue among those who have gotten COVID-19 injections, it's extremely rare to get reinfected by COVID-19 after you've already had the disease and recovered.

This was demonstrated in an Irish study,¹⁶ which looked at data from 615,777 people who had recovered from COVID-19, with a follow-up of more than 10 months. The absolute reinfection rate ranged from 0% to 1.1%, while the median reinfection rate was just 0.27%.^17,18,19 As noted by the authors, "Reinfection was an uncommon event … with no study reporting an increase in the risk of reinfection over time."

Another study revealed similarly reassuring results. It followed 43,044 SARS-CoV-2 antibody-positive people for up to 35 weeks, and only 0.7% were reinfected. When genome sequencing was applied to estimate population-level risk of reinfection, the risk was estimated at 0.1%.²⁰

After seven months, there still was no indication of waning immunity. According to the authors of that study: "Reinfection is rare. Natural infection appears to elicit strong protection against reinfection with an efficacy >90% for at least seven months."²¹

All Risk and No Reward

The purpose of informed consent is to give people all of the available data related to a medical procedure so they can make an educated decision before consenting. In the case of the COVID-19 jab, very little data were initially available, given their emergency authorization.

However, as serious side effects became increasingly apparent, attempts to share them publicly were silenced. Medical professionals and scientists were censored and deplatformed simply for sharing well-founded concerns.

In August 2021, a large study from Israel²² revealed that the Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA jab is associated with a threefold increased risk of myocarditis,²³ leading to the condition at a rate of 1 to 5 events per 100,000 persons.²⁴ Other elevated risks were also identified following the COVID-19 jab, including lymphadenopathy (swollen lymph nodes), appendicitis and herpes zoster infection.²⁵

Dr. Peter McCullough, an internist, cardiologist and epidemiologist, is among those who have warned that COVID-19 injections are not only failing, but putting lives at risk.²⁶ According to McCullough, by January 22, 2021, there had been 186 deaths reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database following COVID-19 injection — more than enough to reach the mortality signal of concern to stop the program.

"With a program this size, anything over 150 deaths would be an alarm signal," he said. The U.S. "hit 186 deaths with only 27 million Americans jabbed." McCullough believes if the proper safety boards had been in place, the COVID-19 jab program would have been shut down in February 2021 based on safety and risk of death.²⁷

However, by intentionally suppressing information, the media and Big Tech have made informed consent impossible. You simply cannot make an informed decision when only one side is allowed to speak and share information. Making matters worse, there's evidence that the agencies we depend on to ensure drug safety and safeguard public health are manipulating statistics and carrying on their own cover-up to boost vaccine uptake.

Now, with data showing no difference in rates of COVID-19 cases among the vaxxed and unvaxxed, it appears more and more likely that the injections have a high level of risk with very little reward, especially among younger people, whose risk of serious COVID-19 infection is vanishingly small.

Children Are Put at Grave Risk

Due to the risk of myocarditis, Britain's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) recommended against COVID-9 injections for healthy 12- to 15-year-olds.²⁸

Meanwhile, the U.S. FDA not only gave the green light to teens but also OK'd the Pfizer shot to children aged 5 to 11,²⁹ despite strong objections from qualified doctors and scientists. As reported by The Defender:³⁰

"Experts raised concerns over the lack of safety and efficacy data presented by Pfizer for use of its COVID vaccine in younger children, and they pointed to increasing safety signals based on reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). They also questioned the need to vaccinate children — whose risk of dying from COVID is "almost nil" — at all.

According to Dr. Meryl Nass, member of the Children's Health Defense Scientific Advisory Panel, Pfizer once again did not use all of the children who participated in the trial in their safety study.

'Three thousand children received Pfizer's COVID vaccine, but only 750 children were selectively included in the company's safety analysis,' Nass said. 'Studies in the 5-11 age group are essentially the same as the 12-15 group.

In other words, equally brief and unsatisfying, with inadequate safety data and efficacy data, with no strong support for why this type of immuno-bridging analysis is sufficient … All serious adverse events were considered unrelated to the vaccine' …

Dr. Jessica Rose, viral immunologist and biologist, told the panel EUA of biological agents requires the existence of an emergency and the nonexistence of alternate treatment. 'There is no emergency and COVID-19 is exceedingly treatable,' Rose said.

In a peer-reviewed study³¹ co-authored by Rose, myocarditis rates were significantly higher in people 13 to 23 years old within eight weeks of the COVID vaccine rollout. In 12- to15-year-olds, Rose said, reported cases of myocarditis were 19 times higher than background rates …

Rose said tens of thousands of reports have been submitted to VAERS for children ages 0 to 18. Rose explained: 'In this age group, 60 children have died — 23 of them were less than 2 years old.

It is disturbing to note that 'product administered to patient of inappropriate age' was filed 5,510 times in this age group. Two children were inappropriately injected, presumably by a trained medical professional, and subsequently died.'"

In an October 20, 2021, article,³² Paul Elias Alexander, Ph.D., a former assistant professor of evidence-based medicine and research methods, called the plan to vaccinate young children "absolutely reckless" and "dangerous based on lack of safety data and poor research methodology."

We've also discovered that the FDA is ignoring and burying data on children who were seriously injured in the vaccine trials,³³ which further erodes confidence in what little trial data there is. Meanwhile, data suggest no child has died from COVID-19 who did not have a serious underlying health condition. Alexander reviews that data in his article.

Mass Vaccination Drives Creation of Variants

Making matters more problematic, there's evidence suggesting the shots are driving the creation of mutations resulting in variants with enhanced infectivity and antibody-evading capabilities. Aside from waning effectiveness, this helps explain why rates of serious infection among the fully vaccinated keep rising.

For example, a study³⁴ posted August 23, 2021, on the preprint server bioRxiv warned the Delta variant "is posed to acquire complete resistance to wild-type spike vaccines."

According to the authors, when four common mutations were introduced into the receptor binding domain of the Delta variant, Pfizer vaccine antibodies could no longer neutralize the virus. They also found it had enhanced infectivity. This could essentially turn into a worst-case scenario that sets up those who have received the Pfizer shots for more severe illness when exposed to the virus.

A Delta variant with three of the four mutations has already emerged,³⁵ which suggests it's only a matter of time before a fourth mutation develops, at which point the virus would be completely resistant to the Pfizer jab.

Many have in fact warned about immune escape due to the pressure being placed upon the COVID-19 virus during mass vaccination.³⁶ Another study³⁷ — this one based on a mathematical model — found that a worst-case scenario can develop when a large percentage of a population is vaccinated but viral transmission remains high.

This represents the prime scenario for the development of resistant mutant strains,³⁸ and that's precisely the situation the U.S. and many other parts of the world are in right now. It's time to acknowledge that the COVID shots aren't the answer. Natural immunity is. As the European of Journal of Epidemiology researchers noted:³⁹

"Stigmatizing populations can do more harm than good. Importantly, other non-pharmacological prevention efforts (e.g., the importance of basic public health hygiene with regards to maintaining safe distance or handwashing, promoting better frequent and cheaper forms of testing) needs to be renewed in order to strike the balance of learning to live with COVID-19 in the same manner we continue to live a 100 years later with various seasonal alterations of the 1918 Influenza virus."

Do Your Own Risk-Benefit Analysis

Indeed, at this point, we know there's no reason to fear COVID-19. Overall, its lethality is on par with the common flu.^{40,41,42,43,44} Provided you're not in a nursing home or have multiple comorbidities, your chances of surviving a bout of COVID-19 is 99.74%, on average.⁴⁵ It truly doesn't get much better than that, unless you expect mankind to suddenly achieve immortality.

Should you develop symptoms, remember there are several effective early treatment protocols to choose from, such as the Frontline COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance I-MASK+⁴⁶ protocol, the Zelenko protocol,⁴⁷ and nebulized peroxide, detailed in Dr. David Brownstein's case paper⁴⁸ and Dr. Thomas Levy's free e-book, "Rapid Virus Recovery." Whichever treatment protocol you use, make sure you begin treatment as soon as possible, ideally at first onset of symptoms.

The reported rate of death from COVID-19 shots in the national Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), on the other hand, exceeds the reported death rate of more than 70 vaccines combined over the past 30 years, and if you are injured by a COVID shot and live in the U.S., your only recourse is to apply for compensation from the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Act (CICP).⁴⁹

Compensation from CICP is very limited and hard to get. In its 15-year history, it has paid out just 29 claims, fewer than 1 in 10.^50,51,52 You only qualify if your injury requires hospitalization and results in significant disability and/or death, and even if you meet the eligibility criteria, it requires you to use up your private health insurance before it kicks in to pay the difference.

There's no reimbursement for pain and suffering, only lost wages and unpaid medical bills. This means a retired person cannot qualify even if they die or end up in a wheelchair. Salary compensation is of limited duration, and capped at $50,000 a year, and the CICP's decision cannot be appealed.

To get an idea of what the real-world risks actually are, consider reviewing some of the cases reported to nomoresilence.world, a website dedicated to giving a voice to those injured by COVID shots.

Lastly, if you or a head of your household is considering the jab, review the family financial disclosure form created by The Solari Report, for the purpose of ensuring that an adverse event or death does not translate into financial destruction for the entire family.

from Articles https://ift.tt/2YDJsX2
via IFTTT

Two key studies have identified the role melatonin plays in reducing the risk of a positive test for COVID-19¹ and lowering the incidence of severe symptoms.² Melatonin was first discovered in 1958 by Dr. Aaron Lerner, a dermatologist, who was able to isolate it from the pineal gland in a cow.³

Scientists began studying melatonin in the 1980s and by the 1990s it received more attention. Research data showed that melatonin influences a number of different bodily processes, including calcium-dependent metabolism, immune modulation and restraining tumor growth.

Although melatonin is produced in a variety of tissues, the major source is the pineal gland in the brain. This is a tiny endocrine gland found in the center of the brain. One of the initial functions is likely as a free radical scavenger. Interestingly, melatonin also functions in plants to reduce oxidative stress and promote seed germination and growth.⁴

The necessary precursor in plants and animals is tryptophan.⁵ Your body controls the release of melatonin through a master circadian clock, located in an area of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nuclei.⁶

This area synchronizes the secretion of melatonin through a complex pathway in the nervous system affected by the light input through the eyes. Since melatonin helps control the sleep-wake cycles, it became popular to use to help control jet lag.⁷ Data currently demonstrates⁸ that melatonin may be beneficial in preventing complications in people with COVID-19.

Lower Incidence of Severe Symptoms With Melatonin

A study⁹ published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases was initiated to look at the effect melatonin may have on adult patients with severe COVID-19 infection. They engaged 158 patients with severe disease in a single center, prospective, randomized clinical trial conducted in Mosul, Iraq, from December 1, 2020, to June 1, 2021.

The patients were split into two groups. In the control group, there were 76 who were given standard therapeutic care only. There were 82 in the intervention group who received standard therapeutic care plus 10 milligrams (mg) of melatonin per day. Physicians then evaluated the incidence of sepsis, thrombosis and mortality in patients on Days 5, 11 and 17.

When the researchers compared the data in the control group to the intervention group, they found there was a significant reduction during the second week in thrombosis and sepsis in those that took melatonin. They also found that mortality was significantly higher in those that did not take melatonin.

Men made up 72.2% of the patients and the mean age was 56.3 years with a range of 32 to 78 years.¹⁰ Researchers split the intervention and control group with no significant difference in relationship to comorbidities that increase the risk of COVID-19, such as high blood pressure, asthma, diabetes and heart disease.

When measuring the individual endpoints, the researchers found that there was a significantly greater number of patients with thrombosis in the control group on Day 17 than there were in the group taking melatonin. No patient developed sepsis in the first five days in either group. However, by Day 11, two patients in the group taking melatonin developed sepsis and eight patients in the control group developed sepsis.

At the end of the study the researchers found there was a significantly higher mortality rate in the control group of 17.1% than in the melatonin group of 1.2%. Melatonin was administered orally and when added to the standard of care researchers concluded:¹¹

“Improved thrombosis, sepsis, and mortality rates support the adjuvant melatonin's efficacy in mitigating this infectious disease. Given melatonin's superior performance as a cheap, highly safe, and readily available medication, it is strongly recommended to be addressed in future studies.”

Researchers Discover Melatonin Reduces Risk of Positive Test

Demonstration in the featured study¹² that melatonin can reduce the severe effects of COVID-19 supports research published in late 2020¹³ that showed using melatonin was associated with a 28% reduction in the likelihood of a positive COVID-19 test. The researchers began the study to identify potential treatment modalities using network medicine methodology alongside clinical observations.

Network medicine¹⁴ evaluates cellular networks and the implications those have on disease and treatment. When diseases are linked at the molecular level, network medicine seeks out potential drug treatments. The researchers used artificial intelligence to compare genes and proteins of SARS-CoV-2 alongside 64 other diseases.¹⁵

From this data they identified conditions that were similar and that had approved drugs for treatment. Using this information, the researchers identified 34 FDA-approved drugs used to treat similar conditions that may be considered for repurposing in the treatment of COVID-19.

The list of health conditions included autoimmune diseases, pulmonary conditions, specific antibodies and cardiovascular conditions.¹⁶ From these conditions the researchers identified medications, including melatonin, from a list of categories that included antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, hormones, beta blockers and B2-agonists.

After identifying these drugs, the researchers used the information alongside data from nearly 27,000 inpatients at Cleveland Clinic. They adjusted for confounding factors such as age, smoking history, race and a variety of disease comorbidities when they found melatonin use reduced the likelihood of a positive COVID-19 test by 28%.

Interestingly, when these same adjustments were made to a population of black Americans in the registry, the reduction rose to 52%. The study's lead scientist, Feixiong Cheng, Ph.D., talked about the results in a press release from Cleveland Clinic:¹⁷

“It’s important to note that this doesn’t mean people should start taking melatonin without first consulting with their health care provider. We’re excited about these results and to study that connection more, but large-scale observational studies and randomized controlled trials are essential to confirm what we’ve found here.”

Melatonin Is an Integral Part of Front Line Protocol

Early in 2020, the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC)¹⁸ developed preventive, outpatient treatment and inpatient protocols¹⁹ based on the insights of the founding critical care doctors. Dr. Paul Marik,²⁰ critical care doctor at Eastern Virginia Medical school, also known for his work for improving the outcome of patients with sepsis,²¹ is one of those doctors.

Marik also used melatonin in the treatment of sepsis. He published a paper in the Journal of Thoracic Disease in February 2020²² giving the scientific rationale for using melatonin to help regulate the oxidative imbalance and mitochondrial dysfunction that are commonly found in sepsis.

This was followed by a paper published in the Frontiers in Medicine in May 2020,²³ in which he and a team of scientists published a therapeutic algorithm they used for melatonin in the treatment of COVID-19. They wrote, “Melatonin's multiple actions as an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antiviral (against other viruses) make it a reasonable choice for use.”

In June 2020, the FLCCC²⁴ published a press release on the MATH+ protocol, stating it is “showing profound impacts on survival of COVID-19 patients.” An integral part of the MATH+ hospital treatment protocol is the administration of 6 to 12 milligrams (mg) of melatonin at night.²⁵

The group also developed an iMASK protocol for early outpatient treatment, which includes 10 mg of melatonin at night, listed under the category of anticoagulants and immune fortifying drugs.²⁶ In a review of the evidence demonstrating the efficacy of ivermectin, the scientists wrote:²⁷

“Although the adoption of MATH+ has been considerable, it largely occurred only after the treatment efficacy of the majority of the protocol components (corticosteroids, ascorbic acid, heparin, statins, Vitamin D, melatonin) were either validated in subsequent randomized controlled trials or more strongly supported with large observational data sets in COVID-19 (Entrenas Castillo et al., 2020;Horby et al., 2020;Jehi et al., 2020;Nadkarni et al., 2020;Rodriguez-Nava et al., 2020;Zhang et al., 2020a;Zhang et al., 2020b).

Despite the plethora of supportive evidence, the MATH+ protocol for hospitalized patients has not yet become widespread.”

When the review was subsequently published,²⁸ the mention of melatonin and this quote was removed. Another challenge for patients with COVID-19 is the development of long-haul symptoms, which one study from UC Davis²⁹ showed affects at least 25% of individuals.

Long haul symptoms can include body aches, muscle pain, brain fog, abdominal issues and loss of smell and taste.³⁰ The FLCCC group also developed a management protocol for long-haul COVID-19 syndrome called I-RECOVER.³¹

The team developed an algorithm to help physicians identify the type of treatment based on the patient's symptoms. However, all patients are advised to use vitamin C, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D3 and melatonin.

More Health Benefits of Melatonin

Your body uses melatonin to help protect your overall health in several ways. Melatonin is best known for the relationship it has with your circadian clock. Although scientists are still discovering some of the benefits of sleep, it is known that melatonin is an underlying regulating molecule for sleep.³²

There have been positive studies demonstrating the effect that melatonin has on disorders associated with dysfunctional melatonin rhythms, such as jet lag and shift work.³³ Additionally, there is evidence of diminished production of melatonin in those with Alzheimer's disease in the early stages. Poor sleep quality increases the buildup of beta-amyloid plaques that are integral to the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

The discovery of the relationship between neurodegeneration and sleep offers a potential for using melatonin to promote healthy mental aging and in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease in the early stages.³⁴ Melatonin also helps regulate inflammation in the body, which has a significant impact on pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.³⁵

One paper published in 2015³⁶ investigated the relationship between melatonin and multiple sclerosis relapses and found it meliorates periods of relapse. They discovered melatonin affects “T cell differentiation and ha[s] implications for autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis.”

Melatonin helps to promote genomic stability, which may help explain why disruption of melatonin signaling has been found to promote the growth and metabolism of human breast cancer.³⁷ The antioxidative and anti-inflammatory functions of melatonin have also demonstrated an ability to protect liver function and has an impact on fatty liver disease.³⁸

The range of effects that melatonin has on the human body is significant. A published research study in the Journal of Perinatology³⁹ demonstrated that early administration of melatonin alongside hypothermia (whole body cooling) in infants who suffered asphyxiation during birth had a neuroprotective effect and ameliorated brain injury in the infants who received hypothermia and five daily enteral doses of melatonin.

While there are likely benefits to supplementing with oral melatonin, it also helps to optimize your body's own production. It's relatively simple and inexpensive, and at the same time you will help to optimize your vitamin D levels. Optimizing melatonin production begins with getting enough bright sunlight during the day since this helps to set your circadian clock.

As the evening approaches and the sun sets, you'll want to avoid artificial lighting. Blue light from electronic screens and LED lights is particularly problematic and inhibits the production of melatonin. If you do need lighting, use incandescent light bulbs, candles or salt lamps. The blue light from electronic screens can be counteracted by using blue blocking software or wearing blue blocking glasses.

My decision to personally use melatonin supplementation makes even more sense now that we understand that melatonin is not only produced in the pineal gland (which would benefit from circadian optimization), but also in our mitochondria. So, it appears that additional melatonin could serve as a useful adjunct in modulating your immune response.

from Articles https://ift.tt/3n55efz
via IFTTT

This article was previously published December 23, 2020, and has been updated with new information.

According to the World Economic Forum — the private, technocratic group leading the global economic “reset” agenda — lab-grown, cultured meat is a more sustainable alternative to conventional livestock. As noted on its website:¹

"As the world looks to reset its economy, along with food systems, in a cleaner way post-pandemic, one more sustainable solution coming to fruition is cultured meat … Cultured meat takes much less time to grow, uses fewer of the planet’s resources, and no animals are slaughtered."

Fake Meat Is a Catastrophe for Your Metabolic Health

Excess omega-6 fat in the form of linoleic acid (LA) is one of the most significant contributors to metabolic dysfunction. It is literally a metabolic poison that, in my opinion, is the primary contributor to the epidemic in chronic disease we have seen in the past 150 years. I am so passionate about this topic, I'm currently writing a new book with Chris Knobbe about this that will be out next year.

Our LA consumption 150 years ago was between 2 and 3 grams per day. Today it is 10 to 20 times higher. This leads to severe mitochondrial dysfunction, insulin resistance, decreased NAD+ levels, obesity and a radical decrease in your ability to generate cellular energy.

It is obvious that fake meat requires basic substrates or building blocks to create the actual food. The genetic engineering is primarily done to reproduce the flavor and texture composition of real meat. What this process fails to do on steroids is reproduce the healthy fatty acid composition of real meat. Why?

Because they are using canola and safflower as the primary source of fats for their products. The safflower oil used in Beyond Meats is nearly 80% LA. The canola oil used in the Impossible Burger is only 21% LA, so it should be better but both are extraordinarily loaded with unhealthy levels of LA.²

You would be exponentially better served by selecting real meat that is organic and humanely raised. This is because the LA content of beef and bison is extraordinarily low and, in my view, one of the primary reasons they are so healthy for you.

This is largely because excess LA is extraordinarily susceptible to oxidation and causes very dangerous oxidation byproducts called OXLAMs (oxidative linoleic acid metabolites) that devastate your DNA, proteins, mitochondria and cellular membranes.

A half-pound serving of organic grass fed beef will provide less than HALF a gram of LA (500 mg). Compare this to a serving of an Impossible Burger or Beyond Meat burger, which have 10 to 20 times the amount of LA.³

So, not only is fake meat failing all the measures discussed in the rest of this article, but it is also adding to the catastrophic metabolic deterioration of your health caused by other processed and ultraprocessed foods. I recently interviewed Tucker Goodrich about the dangers of LA, so for more information, refer back to that interview.

Fake Meat Industry Offers No Real Solutions

Over the past several years, a growing number of start-up companies have joined the brave new world movement to replace real meat with ultraprocessed imitation meats "grown" through a variety of means.

Among them are the Israeli company Aleph Farms, which in mid-2019 introduced the first lab-grown steak,⁴ the Singaporean company Shiok Meats, which specializes in lab-grown shrimp,⁵ and Beyond Meat, which produces imitation beef, pork and chicken in its Chinese facilities.

Then there’s the Impossible Burger, made with genetically engineered (GE) soy, which is now available in burger chains,⁶ restaurants,⁷ grocers⁸ and Target stores⁹ across the U.S.

Despite claims of sustainability, a careful review of its 2019 Impact Report¹⁰ and other data^11,12,13 reveals this soy-based "meat" actually causes greater environmental harm than organic grass fed beef production, which has net negative emissions after all relevant factors are taken into account.¹⁴

A Carbon Footprint Evaluation report¹⁵ for White Oak Pastures — an organic, grass fed livestock operation — shows that when you include enteric emissions, manure emissions, soil carbon capture, vegetation carbon, miscellaneous farm activities, slaughter and transport, the total net carbon emissions from this type of beef production has a negative 3.5 kilos of carbon emissions per kilo of fresh meat.

This makes this integrated, holistic system six times more carbon efficient than the average CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) production model.¹⁶ The same cannot be said for GE soy. Data also show GE soybean and corn farms are a primary source of water¹⁷ and air pollution,¹⁸ and are primary destroyers of grasslands and forests.^19,20

Regenerative grazing is actually a key activity required for the optimal sequestering of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into our rangelands and pasturelands, while GE soy production is associated with resistant super weeds²¹ and super pests and uncontrollable cross contamination.

Taken together, these data prove that if sustainability and environmental protection are in fact priorities, then regenerative farming practices that incorporate grazing herds are the way to go, not fake meat and junk food manufacturing.

Fake Meat Is Another Effort to Control Food Supply

Considering everything we know, why won't our leaders support organic, regenerative, biodynamic farming proven to have a beneficial impact on the environment, climate and human health? It seems like doing so would be a no-brainer.

The answer, unfortunately, is that it's not really about doing what's best for the planet or its inhabitants. It's about wealth and power building. In short, the rise of fake meat is yet another attempt at controlling the global food supply through patents, just like staple grains have been genetically altered and patented.

Once living animals are eliminated and replaced with patented plant-derived alternatives — just like tradable heirloom and conventional seeds were replaced with patented seeds you have to pay for each season — private companies will effectively control the food supply in its entirety, and they will be the ones profiting from it rather than farmers.

By controlling the food supply, private corporations will ultimately have the ability to control countries and entire populations. If we allow this trend to continue, biotech companies will eventually push farmers and ranchers out of the equation.

Looking down the road, it's easy to see that patented foods actually threaten food security. They don't strengthen it at all.

Environmentalist and anti-GMO activist Vandana Shiva, Ph.D., is an outspoken critic²² of the industrial food movement and the GE food takeover specifically, highlighting the many social and environmental problems a patented food system creates.

As noted by Shiva in a June 18, 2019, article,²³ "Biodiversity-intensive and poison-free agriculture … produces more nutrition per acre while rejuvenating the planet. It shows the path to 'Zero Hunger' …" She also points out that while industrial agriculture uses 75% of available farmland, it produces just 30% of the food we actually eat.

"Meanwhile, small, biodiverse farms using 25% of the land provide 70% of the food," she writes.²⁴ "At this rate, if the share of industrial agriculture and industrial food in our diet is increased to 45%, we will have a dead planet. One with no life and no food.

The mad rush for Fake Food and Fake Meat, ignorant of the diversity of our foods and food cultures, and the role of biodiversity in maintaining our health, is a recipe for accelerating the destruction of the planet and our health."

Fake Meat Is Ultraprocessed Food

Indeed, when it comes to nutrition and health, there's absolutely no reason to believe any of these imitation meats will be better — or even equal — to real meat.

Any food that isn't directly from the vine, ground, bush, tree, body of water or an animal is considered processed. Depending on the amount of change the food undergoes, processing may be minimal or significant. A hallmark of ultraprocessed foods is their long ingredient lists.

Products at the far end of the "significantly altered" spectrum have been robustly linked to obesity,²⁵ ill health and early death in a number of studies.^{26,27,28,29,30}

For example, in one study,^31,32,33,34 which included 104,980 participants followed for an average of five years, each 10% increase in ultraprocessed food intake raised the cancer rate by 12%, which worked out to nine additional cancer cases per 10,000 people per year. The risk of breast cancer specifically went up by 11% for every 10% increase in ultraprocessed food.

While sugar and unhealthy fats (vegetable oils) are key staple ingredients suspected of causing these effects, there’s every reason to believe fake meat has a similar impact as I referenced in the section above. All of these factors place fake meat squarely in the higher-risk ultraprocessed category.

Enter Human Cell-Based Meat

Now, in a move reminiscent of something straight out of the dystopian film "Soylent Green," scientists are even working on meat grown from human cells harvested from the inside of your cheek.^35,36

The inventors of this grisly product — presented as “art,” for the time being — are Andrew Pelling, a scientist and founder of the biotech company Spiderwort; Grace Knight, an industrial designer; and Orkan Telhan, an artist. As reported by Tech Times, November 22, 2020:³⁷

"A new 'DIY meal kit' that can be used to grow steaks that are made mostly from human cells was just recently nominated by the London-based Design Museum as the 'design of the year.'³⁸

Called 'Ouroboros Steak,' this is named right after the circular symbol of a snake known for eating itself tail-first. This hypothetical kit would later on come with everything that one person would need in order to use their own cells to grow miniature human meat steaks …"

The human-cell steak kits are not yet commercially available, but one wonders what possessed someone to even think this might be a viable idea. Would you eat a lump of meat made from your own body? Critics have raised questions about whether this would be considered cannibalism. Defenders of the concept claim it's not, since it's grown from your own cells.³⁹

However, if this concept ever does become commercially available, what's to prevent you from growing meat using other people's cells? Is it only cannibalism if you eat the cloned meat of someone other than yourself? These tricky debates aside, the ick factor alone will likely prevent this concept from taking off.

Tech Times points out that this particular concept also isn't nearly as animal-friendly as people might think, as the human cells are grown in fetal bovine serum — blood extracted from unborn calf fetuses.⁴⁰ An alternative might be to use expired human blood from blood banks.⁴¹

Real Food = Life

In her 2019 article,⁴² Shiva discussed the progressive attempts at industrializing the global food system with more fake foods and fake meats, and the destruction that inevitably follows:

"Food is not a commodity, it is not 'stuff' put together mechanically and artificially in labs and factories. Food is life. Food holds the contributions of all beings that make the food web, and it holds the potential of maintaining and regenerating the web of life.

Food also holds the potential for health and disease, depending on how it was grown and processed … As an ancient Upanishad reminds us 'Everything is food, everything is something else's food' Hippocrates said 'Let food be thy medicine.' In Ayurveda, India's ancient science of life, food is called 'sarvausadha' the medicine that cures all disease.

Industrial food systems have reduced food to a commodity, to 'stuff' that can then be constituted in the lab. In the process both the planet's health and our health has been nearly destroyed.

75% of the planetary destruction of soil, water, biodiversity, and 50% of greenhouse gas emissions come from industrial agriculture, which also contributes to 75% of food related chronic diseases."

When you look at the whole ecological cycle — of which grazing herds are a crucial part — you can clearly see how industrial agriculture and fake meat manufacturing are key drivers of progressive destruction, yet this destructive cycle is defended in the name of affordable food and the need to feed a growing population.

While we certainly need to maximize food production in affordable ways, what's being proposed is incredibly short-sighted as it shifts all food production into laboratories and factories that produce patented foods, the profits of which never reach the population at large.

One also has to wonder whether humans will be able to live long productive lives eating an all-fake diet. Think about it. Grain production is already dominated by patented GE grains. Add to that imitation "milk" and "egg" products and imitation beef, poultry and seafood and what real food do you have left?

Fruits and vegetables, basically, but even these foods will eventually become fair game for reengineering and patenting. It's a dangerous trend that poses tremendous risks to food security and global health.

Choose Organic, Biodynamic and/or Grass Fed

For years, I have advocated for an organic (or better yet biodynamic) diet to optimize your health, avoid common health problems, help regenerate the environment and normalize climate. Choosing organic foods reduces your exposure to pesticides, herbicides, GE ingredients, synthetic food additives and nano ingredients, many of which do not appear on the food label.

In addition to protecting the environment and rebuilding soil, buying organic also supports animal welfare and promotes biodiversity of plants and wildlife. Although many see lab-created meat substitutes as the lesser of two evils when compared to the concentrated animal feeding operations currently dominating the market, altering the natural order of the lifecycle is not the answer.

Analyses on regenerative agriculture have demonstrated holistic herd management as having a positive impact on the environment and producing healthy meat and dairy products.

Ultimately, fake food contributes to the rising number of people who suffer from diet-related health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity. For health reasons, ecological reasons and your future, I recommend skipping meat alternatives and opting for real beef raised using regenerative farming practices.

When you do shop for meat, look for a local organic farmer or Demeter (biodynamic) and American Grassfed Association (AGA) certified meats. These accreditations designate foods produced under high-quality, sustainable and environmentally sound practices.

from Articles https://ift.tt/3qA7fT4
via IFTTT

A simple RNA molecule jumpstarts the immune system's 'first responders' to viral infection and can even eradicate the SARS-CoV-2 virus in mice with chronic cases of COVID-19, a new study finds.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3C2FPr5

After contracting Covid in the UK nearly a year ago, this 24-year-old still struggles to walk 800 metres.

from Health | body+soul https://ift.tt/3D9NSnt

A gene-silencing therapy protected against Zika virus transmission from pregnant mice to the mouse fetuses, finds a new study. The treatment, which harnesses nanoparticles called small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) for drug delivery, crossed the placenta and blood-brain barrier to greatly reduce fetal neurological damage, including virus-induced brain shrinkage.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3C4xALe

Cognitive training designed to focus on what's important while ignoring distractions can enhance the brain's information processing, enabling the ability to 'learn to learn,' finds a new study on mice.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3c1X2qk

A needle-free technology that would allow people with diabetes to measure blood sugar levels without having to stick a needle into their fingertips is a step closer to reality.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3D4KJp1

At a New York Times summit this weekend, the mother-of-two spoke out about the damage unsubstantiated reporting in the media can cause to our collective mental health. 

from Health | body+soul https://ift.tt/3c5529K

Whether you love a morning caffeine injection or can’t stand the smell, a popular doctor on TikTok, Dr. Karan Raj, explains how your genetic makeup is to blame.

from Health | body+soul https://ift.tt/3wHF3Pu

Researchers have discovered how drugs can affect various membrane-spanning proteins in addition to their intended target, potentially causing unwanted side effects. The results illuminate one of the central problems of drug discovery and point to new strategies for solving it.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3qnqdwk

Medical science is a key step closer to the cryopreservation of brain slices used in neurological research, pancreatic cells for the treatment of diabetes and even whole organs thanks to a new computer model that predicts how tissue's size will change during the preservation process.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3Hb5VMj

Usually diagnosed in children, teens and young adults, type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks and destroys insulin-secreting beta-cells in the pancreas. As a result, people with type 1 diabetes can't regulate their blood sugar levels and require insulin treatment for survival. Now, researchers have reversed new-onset type 1 diabetes in mice with pyramid-like DNA molecules called tetrahedral framework nucleic acids (tFNAs).

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/31Fqe4k

Human neurons have a lower density of ion channels than expected, compared to neurons of other mammals, according to a new study. The researchers hypothesize that a lower channel density may have helped the human brain evolve to operate more efficiently.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3bZXsNR

Worldwide, millions of people follow vegan and vegetarian diets for religious, ethical, environmental or economic reasons. While these diets have purported health benefits, they can also lack essential nutrients, such as vitamins B12 and D3, if not well-planned or supplemented correctly. Now, researchers have packed a strawberry-flavored gummy with these vitamins, formulating it without any animal products so vegans and vegetarians can reach their recommended daily allowances (RDA).

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3D6zAUy

Cardi B has a theory: ‘A hoe never cold’. There’s now some scientific evidence to support this.

from Health | body+soul https://ift.tt/3D6fQAD

Scientists have revealed why a mutation in the UTX gene disrupts cells' ability to suppress tumors.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3n58OWY

The amount and types of proteins our cells produce tell us important details about our health. Researchers have shown that it is possible to identify individual proteins with single-amino acid resolution and nearly 100% accuracy. Their method uses nanopores -- engineered openings that generate an electrical signal when molecules are pulled through by a specific enzyme.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/30cureZ

A new study found patterns could be identified in patients who wear a special wristwatch monitoring device for six to 12 months, allowing about 30 minutes of warning before a seizure occurred. This worked well most of the time for five of six patients studied.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3wD3Io7

The images and accompanying data available for training artificial intelligence (AI) to spot skin cancer are insufficient and include very few images of darker skin, according to new research.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3c2u9u5

While rare, mix-ups at IVF clinics can happen. Two couples in the US are suing a Californian fertility clinic for accidentally swapping their embryos.

from Health | body+soul https://ift.tt/31EChPk

The thickness of growth marks in primary (or 'baby') teeth may help identify children at risk for depression and other mental health disorders later in life, according to a ground-breaking investigation.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3F1Ivau