The American Medical Association (AMA) in an effort to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease, has passed new policies to help change the way Americans think about salt. The AMA is urging the the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to revoke the ‘generally recognized as safe’ status of salt with the aim of reducing sodium intake throughout America. AMA Board Member, cardiologist Dr. J. James Rohack, says they hope the recommendations will encourage food manufacturers and restaurants to modify their current practices of adding unhealthy amounts of sodium to their products. Dr. Rohack says cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of Americans and people who reduce their dietary sodium intake are taking an important step in preventing future health problems. Research has shown that most Americans consume two to three times the amount of sodium that is healthy, and an excess of sodium increases the risk of developing hypertension, heart disease, and stroke. Apparently as much as 75 to 80 percent of the daily intake of sodium comes from processed and restaurant foods. Dr. Rohack says one cup of canned soup can contain more than 50 percent of the FDA recommended daily allowance, […]
Japan has succeeded in buying the votes that will give it control of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) later this week, in a major step towards bringing back commercial hunting of whales. The pro-whaling nation has gained the support of three more small countries to give it a definite majority in the IWC, and so begin in earnest its attack on the international whaling moratorium which has been in force for 20 years. Its takeover of the IWC – likely to become clear on Friday – will be a major reverse for the international environmental movement, which has long thought that the fight for one of its iconic causes – Save the Whale – had been largely won. It will be a considerable propaganda victory not only for the Japanese, but also for other nations who are determined to continue whale hunting in spite of international opinion, principally Norway and Iceland. But Japan has done all the work. It marks the climax of a 10-year campaign of using substantial foreign aid packages to persuade small countries – often with no whaling tradition, or even a coastline – to join the IWC and vote on the Japanese […]
WASHINGTON — As the war in Iraq continues for a fourth year, the global image of America has slipped further, even among publics in countries closely allied with the United States, a new global opinion poll has found. Favorable views of the United States dropped sharply over the past year in Spain, where only 23 percent now say they have a positive opinion, down from 41 percent in 2005, according to the survey, which was carried out in 15 nations this spring by the Pew Research Center. In Britain, Washington’s closest ally in the Iraq war, positive views of America have remained in the mid-50s in the past two years, still down sharply from 75 percent in 2002. Other countries where positive views dropped significantly include India (56 percent, down from 71 percent since 2005); Russia (43 percent, down from 52 percent); and Indonesia (30 percent, down from 38 percent). In Turkey, a NATO ally of the United States, only 12 percent said they held a favorable opinion, down from 23 percent last year. Declines were less steep in France, Germany and Jordan, while people in China and Pakistan had a slightly […]
The month-long slide in global stocks has wiped out at least $2 trillion in wealth, leaving investors few alternatives to preserve their holdings aside from bonds and money markets. Investors have been dumping stocks, commodities and emerging market assets on growing concerns that economic growth will suffer from higher inflation and interest rates. ‘It is essentially one consistent story worldwide, starting here in the U.S. There is a fear that the Fed’s repeated commitment to limiting inflation demonstrates a willingness to risk economic activity,’ said Christopher Low, chief economist at FTN Financial in New York. Stock markets have been punished since the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates for 16th time in a row on May 10 and issued a hawkish statement saying it may need to do so again to fight inflation. Investors had expected some sign of an end to the tightening cycle. Global markets have suffered since, and strategists show little agreement about how deep and how long the sell-off will go. Bonds have been the most direct beneficiary of the equities route, with benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasuries staging their longest rally of the year since mid-May. MARKETS FALL INTO THE RED […]
CHICAGO — Heart disease patients who practiced meditation for four months showed slight improvements in blood pressure and insulin levels, a small, government-funded study found. Patients who learned Transcendental Meditation did better on those measures than patients who spent the same amount of time on lectures, discussions and homework assignments about the effects of stress, diet and exercise on the heart. The 103 heart patients participating in the study received regular medical care, including drugs for lowering cholesterol and blood pressure. Adding meditation had ‘a strong enough effect that we could show a benefit over traditional health care, and traditional health care is pretty good now,’ said study co-author Dr. Noel Bairey Merz of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. ‘I think it’s a testimony to this intervention that we could see anything.’ Questions about potential bias Some of the researchers involved are affiliated with the organization that teaches Transcendental Meditation around the world, raising questions about potential bias, said Jim Lane of Duke University School of Medicine, who had no part in the study. The research team included doctors from the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. The school was founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
