Health & Fitness

Busy ain't the half of it when you're a personal trainer, entrepreneur, TV personality, author and mum. Michelle Bridges shares how she gets it done, including her daily healthy habits for staying fit, eating well and being present. 

from Health | body+soul https://ift.tt/2RGCSbc

Although more people talk about zinc during cold and flu season, and it's one of the important supplements you can use to thwart a COVID-19 infection, it’s also an essential mineral found throughout your body. Zinc is the second-most abundant trace mineral found in the body, while iron is the first.¹

Zinc is a cofactor in 3,000 proteins.² Although it’s crucial to many biological processes and plays a vital role in the structure of nearly every cell, the body does not store the mineral.³ Instead, you must consume it every day to meet your body's requirements.

Zinc is important to your immune health as it not only helps halt the replication of viruses inside the cells,⁴ but also functions as a signaling molecule for the body's T-cells, which are white cells tasked with destroying infected cells.⁵ Zinc protects the hippocampus from inflammation that is triggered by emotional stress, and thus is considered an important factor in the treatment of depression.⁶

Zinc also plays a role in releasing thyroid hormone; low levels are associated with thinning hair.⁷ The mineral is important for wound healing and your sense of taste and smell.⁸ As with many other vitamins and minerals, the average daily recommended amount is based on avoiding a deficiency rather than maintaining optimal amounts to support good health.⁹

However, as Chris Masterjohn, Ph.D., points out, it is possible to get too much zinc, which can actually depress your immune system and negatively affect your health.¹⁰ Despite the numerous reasons you'll want to ensure your levels of zinc are adequate, the trace mineral has become important in the fight against COVID-19.

Zinc Raises the Effectiveness of Hydroxychloroquine

A team of doctors from New York University who were using hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and azithromycin in patients with COVID-19 began adding zinc sulfate. To determine the effectiveness to the protocol, they completed a retrospective observational study comparing outcomes between the two groups.¹¹ The physicians declared no competing interests, and they received no funding for the study.

Data were collected on patients who were admitted to the hospital in the period of March 2, 2020, through April 5, 2020. People who were given experimental drugs were excluded. The doctors found that those who received zinc sulfate were discharged home more frequently and were less likely to need a ventilator.

Overall, members of this group had lower risk of mortality due to the virus and lower chances of needing hospice or the ICU. They concluded, “This study provides the first in vivo evidence that zinc sulfate in combination with hydroxychloroquine may play a role in therapeutic management for COVID-19.”

The results of these observations support the findings of other physicians throughout the world. For example, in one international poll of more than 6,200 doctors across 30 countries, 37% rated hydroxychloroquine as the “most effective therapy” for COVID-19 from a list of 15 options.¹²

The poll was done by Sermo, self-described as the world's largest health care data collection company and social platform for physicians. The drug combination was commonly used in Spain by 72% of doctors who chose to participate. Additionally, 75% of the respondents from Spain indicated that it was the most effective therapy.

Inside the U.S., the drug was more commonly used for high-risk, diagnosed patients, but in other countries it was prescribed for people exhibiting mild to severe symptoms.

HCQ Protocols Outside the US Effective and Successful

French prize-winning microbiologist and infectious disease expert Didier Raoult is director of a research unit at Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire in France. As soon as someone is diagnosed with COVID-19, he uses the combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin to treat them. Raoult reports that this combination has led to the recovery and nondetection of SARS-CoV-2 in 91.7% of 1,061 patients within 10 days.¹³

One of the side effects of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin is the risk of cardiac toxicity. However, in his patients there was no toxicity when a dose of 200 mg was given three times a day for 10 days, with 500 mg of azithromycin on Day 1 followed by 250 mg daily for the next four days.

While some scientists working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation¹⁴ are not convinced of the efficacy of a drug — which has been approved and used in the U.S. for 65 years^15,16 — the Swiss Policy Research group reports that U.S. doctors who are using the combination of hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and zinc have:¹⁷

“… an 84% decrease in hospitalization rates, a 50% decrease in mortality rates among already hospitalized patients (if treated early), and an improvement in the condition of patients within 8 to 12 hours. Italian doctors reported a decrease in deaths of 66%.

US physicians also reported a 45% reduction in mortality of hospitalized patients by adding zinc to HCQ/AZ. Another US study reported a rapid resolution of Covid symptoms, such as shortness of breath, based on early outpatient treatment with high-dose zinc.”

Dangerous Narrative May Have Led to High Rate of Death

In a study published May 22, 2020, in The Lancet, researchers declared that HCQ used alone or with a macrolide was associated with a reduction in survival and an increase in ventricular arrhythmias. Soon after, the World Health Organization stopped their use of the drug in COVID-19 protocols and the leaders of several drug trials announced that the investigations were being terminated.¹⁸

The results of the study published in The Lancet were so alarming that it initiated a closer look by other scientists, 200 of whom published an open letter concerning the integrity of the data collection.¹⁹ They identified 10 points in the research that were suspect, including:

• The origin of the data sources
• No ethics review of the study
• The data from Australia were not compatible with government sources
• The origins of 66% of the data were from North America using doses of HCQ that were, on average, 100 times higher than FDA recommendations

After it was revealed that the database used in the study was not available to independent peer reviewers, the article was retracted.²⁰ However, by this time, others had joined the outcry against the low-cost medication with a known positive track record.

As more physicians spoke about the evidence from their own practice using hydroxychloroquine in combination with zinc and azithromycin, state medical licensing boards and congressional representatives began issuing threats.²¹

Dr. Vladimir Zelenko is another physician who has been vocal about this, and who published²² the positive effects he's been getting using a protocol with hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and zinc sulfate.

Del Bigtree from The Highwire quotes Raoult from a previous interview as saying failure to prescribe hydroxychloroquine to a COVID-19 patient “should be grounds for malpractice.” During an interview with Bigtree July 3, 2020, Zelenko said,²³ “People are not dying from COVID-19. They are dying from politics. It's called death by politics.”

In answer to the question of how history will look at the story of the pandemic in relationship to HCQ, Zelenko answered:

"In my personal opinion, anyone who got in the way of access to care, who got in the way of access to patients having medication, committed crimes against humanity and are guilty of mass murder."

During the interview Bigtree pointed out that the large doses of hydroxychloroquine being used in the Oxford Recovery Trial and the WHO Solidarity Trials were called “potentially fatal doses” by Dr. Meryl Nass.²⁴ Nass added:

“Excessive, dangerous HCQ dosing continues to be used in WHO's Solidarity trials. These trials are not, in fact, testing the benefits of HCQ on Covid-19, but rather are testing whether patients survive toxic, non-therapeutic doses.

The high dose regimen being used in these trials has no medical justification. The trial design, with its limited collection of safety data, makes it difficult or impossible to identify toxic drug effects, compared to a standard drug trial. This is completely unethical. Excessive dosing makes it impossible to assess therapeutic benefit, if any, of HCQ.”

When asked if the 2400 mg of hydroxychloroquine used in the Recovery trial was lethal, Zelenko responded, “Not if you’re treating a very fat elephant.”²⁵

Quercetin and EGCG Are Effective Zinc Ionophores

Zelenko also shared that if people cannot get HCQ to move zinc into the cells, then quercetin is a second option.²⁶ He is using it as “Plan B” for patients who have a contraindication for hydroxychloroquine or otherwise cannot take it.

In the Zelenko protocol, hydroxychloroquine functions as a zinc ionophore, moving zinc into the cells where it halts the replication of the virus. This allows him to prescribe lower doses since zinc is the key component of the treatment.

A study published in 2014 evaluated the efficacy of quercetin and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) as zinc ionophores.²⁷ To prove their hypothesis these flavonoids were transporting zinc cations into the plasma membrane, researchers designed a lab study with hepatic carcinoma HEPA 1-6 mouse cells.

The goal was to confirm whether the polyphenols move zinc across the cell membrane using quercetin, ECGC or clioquinol. ECGC is a polyphenol commonly found in tea²⁸ and clioquinol is a quinoline with antibacterial and antifungal properties used to treat skin infections.²⁹

The results showed a rapid increase in detectable intracellular zinc in the presence of quercetin, EGCG or clioquinol. The researchers concluded that the natural flavonoids may be used to modulate zinc homeostasis and regulate biological pathways.

Using Zinc and Quercetin Before or Early in Illness

As Zelenko points out, the combination of zinc and a zinc ionophore can be used preventively to reduce the risk of acquiring a COVID-19 infection. Although zinc deficiency is common in the developing world, estimates are that 12% of the U.S. population and as many as 40% of the elderly are at risk for zinc deficiency.³⁰ Unfortunately, zinc levels are not always tested. You may be deficient if you have these signs:³¹

• Lack of appetite
• Depression
• Impaired sense of taste or smell
• Frequent colds, flu or infections
• Acne or skin rashes

In much the same way Zelenko uses hydroxychloroquine and zinc as a preventative against COVID-19, you have access to quercetin and zinc to perform the same function. However, as Masterjohn correctly points out, too much zinc can negatively affect your immune system as it can offset your zinc and copper balance.³²

This lowers superoxide dismutase activity, which is an important antioxidant in immune function. If you are taking zinc prophylactically for COVID-19, he suggests restricting your daily intake to 150 mg per day or less except for short-term use when you're sick.

from Articles https://ift.tt/3iSeY8o
via IFTTT

 

from Articles https://ift.tt/33MbhLd
via IFTTT

The U.S. Health and Human Services' Operation Warp Speed has pledged to deliver 300 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine by 2021,¹ if not sooner.² However, developing a safe and effective vaccine normally takes years and begins with animal studies. The COVID-19 vaccines are all being rushed straight into human clinical tests, forgoing lengthy animal trials altogether.

Such fast-tracked vaccines pose unknown risks, which are further magnified since governments are granting COVID-19 vaccine makers immunity from liability for all vaccine injuries and deaths that occur after the vaccines are recommended (or mandated) by public health officials.³

At the end of July 2020, AstraZeneca announced⁴ most countries it expects to supply with COVID-19 vaccine will grant the pharmaceutical company complete liability protection if people are harmed.

In the U.S., vaccine makers already have something of a "free pass" when it comes to vaccine injury liability and lawsuits through the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986⁵ and the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act, passed in 2005.⁶

The main concern is that the combination of COVID-19 vaccines being fast-tracked to market at "warp speed" with minimal testing, together with blanket liability protection against vaccine injuries could be a public health nightmare in the making.

Problems With Moderna’s Vaccine Are Becoming Apparent

Early warning signs that something might be amiss have already started emerging. As detailed in “Gates Tries to Justify Side Effects of Fast-Tracked Vaccine,” results⁷ from Moderna’s Phase 1 human trial revealed 100% of volunteers in the high-dose group suffered systemic side effects. Side effects included fatigue, chills, headache and myalgia (muscle pain); 21% suffered “one or more severe events.”

According to Bill Gates, those side effects are largely due to the high dosages Moderna had to use in order to achieve desired antibody levels. But, if high dosages are required to create a robust-enough immune response, and higher dosages also cause systemic side effects in nearly all people, just how safe will this vaccination campaign be?

In July, it was reported⁸ that the 100-mcg dose vaccine — despite its 100% side effect ratio after the second dose — would proceed to Phase 3 trial assessment. In a May 26, 2020, article⁹ in STAT news, Ian Haydon, one of the Phase 1 study participants who suffered severe side effects requiring hospitalization, stated that while he recovered, the inoculation left him feeling “as sick as he’d ever felt.” As noted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.:¹⁰

“Three of the 15 human guinea pigs in the high dose cohort (250 mcg) suffered a ‘serious adverse event’ within 43 days of receiving Moderna’s jab. Moderna … acknowledged that three volunteers developed Grade 3 systemic events defined by the FDA as ‘Preventing daily activity and requiring medical intervention.’

Moderna allowed only exceptionally healthy volunteers to participate in the study. A vaccine with those reaction rates could cause grave injuries in 1.5 billion humans if administered to ‘every person on earth.’ That is the threshold that Gates has established for ending the global lockdown.

Moderna did not explain why it reported positive antibody tests for only eight participants. These outcomes are particularly disappointing because the most hazardous hurdle for the inoculation is still ahead; challenging participants with wild COVID infection.

Past attempts at developing COVID vaccines have always faltered at this stage as both humans and animals achieved robust antibody response then sickened and died when exposed to the wild virus.”

Moderna Patent Problems

Other signs of trouble include reports that Moderna has no legal rights to a key patent for its vaccine delivery system, and that company executives are now dumping their stocks. There are also questions emerging as to whether Moderna had some sort of foreknowledge that a coronavirus pandemic might be in the making.

In the video above, independent journalist Ben Swann reports Moderna filed a patent amendment in March 2019, nine months before the COVID-19 pandemic started, stating there was a need for this vaccine technology out of concern for “reemergence or deliberate release of the SARS coronavirus.”

The amendment was done to a patent application that had been repeatedly rejected since its initial filing in 2015. The March 2019 amendment stressed the importance of obtaining this patent due to concerns of a beta coronavirus pandemic. Of all the viruses in the world, why would they suspect a coronavirus pandemic?

In December 2019, the U.S. Patent Office issued a final rejection of Moderna’s patent application, yet when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in early 2020, Moderna was among the first to state they had the ability to address the problem.

It wasn’t until May 2020, months after it had already entered into partnership with the U.S. National Institutes of Health to develop the vaccine, that Moderna was finally issued the patent for it. And, even then, a key patent for the technology already belonged to another company. The NIH also holds many patents on the core mRNA technology used by Moderna.

David E. Martin, Ph.D., a national intelligence analyst featured in Swann’s video report, points out that even though Moderna “very clearly did not have the legal right, and they did not have the contractual rights, they didn’t have the licensing rights” required to enter into a federal contract, they were still somehow pushed to the front of the line by the NIH and Dr. Anthony Fauci.

“This is a situation in which the horse that was being bet on, Moderna, is actually not even qualified to run in the race,” Martin says.

Martin goes on to explain how both Moderna and the NIH are essentially engaged in patent infringement, as a core part of the technology — the lipid nanoparticle technology that is part of the vaccine delivery system — belongs to another company.

Moderna sought to invalidate the patent owned by Arbutus Biopharma, but lost the challenge at the end of July 2020.^11,12 As a result, Arbutus might be able to make a royalty claim in the vaccine, and news of the failed patent challenge caused Moderna’s stock to drop by 9.5%.¹³

Moderna Executives Have Raked in Millions on Dumped Stocks

As reported by NPR¹⁴ September 4, 2020, executives at Moderna have also cashed in stock options, raking in tens of millions of dollars of personal profit in the process. Considering the patent problems now emerging and the lingering safety and efficacy questions, this move has raised significant concerns among financial experts:

“’On a scale of one to 10, one being less concerned and 10 being the most concerned,’ said Daniel Taylor, an associate professor of accounting at the Wharton School, ‘this is an 11.’ Taylor said Moderna's stock-selling practices appear well outside the norm, and raise questions about the company's internal controls to prevent insider trading.

Since January, CEO Stéphane Bancel has sold roughly $40 million worth of Moderna stock held by himself or associated investment funds; Chief Medical Officer Tal Zaks has sold around $60 million; and President Stephen Hoge has sold more than $10 million …

Advocates have questioned whether it's appropriate for executives to privately profit before bringing the vaccine to market, especially when American taxpayers have committed roughly $2.5 billion to the company's vaccine development and manufacture.”

Importantly, NPR discovered that several of the executives appear to have made “questionable modifications to stock sale plans” shortly before key announcements were made about the vaccine — in some cases just a single day ahead of the announcements.

In order to be legal, prescheduled stock sale plans must be made at a time when no confidential inside information is available that may influence their sales decisions, so the timing of their modifications appears suspicious.

What’s more, as a general rule, corporate best practices call for leadership to maintain stock in the company to ensure they have sufficient incentive to improve company performance. Two Moderna executives, however, have sold all of their stock holdings, and its general counsel has sold “nearly all” of hers, NPR reports.¹⁵

What Do Moderna Execs Know That We Don’t?

Why would executives unload their stocks before the vaccine is even launched? Do they suspect or know something has, or is about to go awry? As of right now, there’s no evidence whatsoever that the company’s novel vaccine will actually work, let alone be safe. According to NPR:¹⁶

"Friday, March 13, three Moderna executives adopted new 10b5-1 plans, according to records reviewed by NPR: Zaks, Chief Technical Operations and Quality Officer Juan Andres, and then-Chief Financial Officer Lorence H. Kim … 

On Monday, March 16 — one business day later — the company announced that it had given a participant the first dose of their vaccine as part of its phase 1 trial. The stock ended that day up 24% compared to the previous day's close …

’Every company and individual is entitled to the presumption of innocence. That said, from the public's perspective, this trading behavior looks very problematic,’ said Taylor … who first pointed out the timing of these changes to NPR.

‘If I put on my SEC enforcement hat, I would certainly be asking, 'What caused you to change the plan on a Friday?'’ said Kurt Wolfe, who works as a defense attorney in securities cases for the firm Troutman Pepper. ‘I don't think it's a good fact pattern.’"

Coronavirus Vaccines Have Never Been Successfully Made

As I’ve discussed in several previous articles, COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers have several hurdles to overcome, as coronavirus vaccine development has been notoriously challenging. In the 20 years that vaccine makers have tried to develop a coronavirus vaccine, efforts have failed due to dangerous, many times lethal, side effects.

Adding to the problem is that many of them are relying on novel mRNA technology that has never been used in vaccines before.¹⁷ Making matters even worse, the vaccines are not safety tested against inert placebo, as is the gold standard for drug safety research. Oxford University’s mRNA vaccine, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, for example, is being compared to a meningitis vaccine.¹⁸

As discussed in “Dangerous Placebos Used in Medical Trials,” using an active substance such as another vaccine destroys any hope of a valid safety study. This is just one way in which vaccine makers cheat in their safety studies to minimize the appearance of adverse effects.

In the case of a COVID-19 vaccine, establishing safety is of utmost importance, as previous coronavirus vaccines have caused paradoxical immune enhancement — a situation in which the vaccine actually makes you more susceptible to severe illness and death once you’re infected with the actual virus.

Kennedy explained this in my interview with him, featured in “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Explains Well-Known Hazards of Coronavirus Vaccines.” A short clip of that interview is included below.

Aside from the possibility of a paradoxical immune response, mRNA vaccines may in and of themselves be problematic. According to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Duke University:^19,20

“mRNA vaccines have potential safety issues, including local and systemic inflammation and stimulation of auto-reactive antibodies and autoimmunity, as well as development of edema (swelling) and blood clots.”

AstraZeneca Stopped Its Vaccine Trial Due to Side Effects

September 8, 2020, STAT News reported²¹ that AstraZeneca has temporarily halted its Phase 3 vaccine trials due to “a suspected serious and unexpected adverse reaction” in a British participant.

The company did not divulge the nature of the adverse reaction. The New York Times claims²² “a person familiar with the situation, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity” said the individual ”had been found to have transverse myelitis, an inflammatory syndrome that affects the spinal cord and is often sparked by viral infections.”

AstraZeneca, in collaboration with the University of Oxford, is conducting Phase 2/3 trials for their mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, a chimpanzee adenovirus modified to carry and deliver coronavirus genes into human cells) in the U.K. and India, as well as Phase 3 trials in Brazil, South Africa and the U.S.²³ According to STAT News:²⁴

“The [AstraZeneca] spokesperson described the pause as ‘a routine action which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials, while it is investigated, ensuring we maintain the integrity of the trials.’ The spokesperson also said that the company is ‘working to expedite the review of the single event to minimize any potential impact on the trial timeline.’”

AstraZeneca Vaccine Has High Rates of Side Effects Too

Like the Moderna vaccine, the AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine also appears to come with a shockingly high rate of side effects. Results²⁵ from one of its Phase 1/2 studies published August 15, 2020, revealed a clear majority of participants experienced side effects. Results showed:²⁶

“Fatigue and headache were the most commonly reported systemic reactions. Fatigue was reported in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group by 340 (70%) participants without paracetamol and 40 (71%) with paracetamol …

Headaches were reported in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group by 331 (68%) participants without paracetamol and 34 (61%) with paracetamol … Other systemic adverse reactions were common in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group:

Prepare by Attending NVIC Online Conference in October

If you’re concerned about the possibility of COVID-19 vaccine mandates, be sure to attend the Fifth International Public Conference on Vaccination sponsored by the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) — an online event held October 16 through 18, 2020.

This year’s theme is “Protecting Health and Autonomy in the 21st Century.” The conference will bring together well-known speakers from around the world — including yours truly — who will present information on vaccine science, policy, law, ethics and civil liberties and will feature formal presentations, panel discussions and live chat rooms.

NVIC has held four previous hotel-based conferences in the Washington, D.C., area but, this time around, the conference will be held online due to the unpredictability of government regulations related to COVID-19, including travel and social distancing restrictions that may still be in play in October.

>>>>> Click Here <<<<<

Also, sign up for the NVIC Advocacy Portal. It’s a free service that will keep you informed and up-to-date about proposed vaccine-related legislation happening in your state that could further restrict or eliminate your legal right to make voluntary vaccine decisions for yourself and your children.

from Articles https://ift.tt/3mEEe4A
via IFTTT

Martha Stewart recently launched her own line of cannabidiol (CBD) products, and it appears she’s eating quite a lot of her CBD gummies to help her get through this time of heightened stress and anxiety.

from Health | body+soul https://ift.tt/3mEYh2I

Looking for a quick and easy lunch option. Dietitian and director of program and science for WW, Dr. Michelle Celander shares her go-to recipe for a tasty salmon poké bowl that takes under 10 minutes to prepare. 

from Nutrition | body+soul https://ift.tt/3kyvhHT

World champion Maria Sharapova shares the best way to recover after a workout and explains why every setback is a life lesson.

from Health | body+soul https://ift.tt/2Hjg7Ip