Industrial agriculture has reached its 'peak,' say scientists; time for a return to small-scale organics

(NaturalNews) The era of large-scale monoculture, with all of its toxic pesticides and untested genetically modified organisms (GMOs), could finally be coming to an end. Researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) discovered recently that yield expansion rates for most major industrial food crops are plateauing or even declining in many areas of the world, a fact that further supports the case for a return to small-scale, diversified agriculture grown organically.

Published in a recent issue of the journal Nature Communications, these and other findings, including updated projections on future crop yields, help obliterate the myth that modern, industrial methods of food production (e.g., transgenic modification, pesticide use and single-crop cultivation) have led to dramatic advancements in agriculture, when it has actually accomplished quite the opposite.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/043629_industrial_agriculture_small-scale_organics_food_security.html#ixzz2rGsDHxQP

Superbugs are breeding, spreading drug-resistant genes at water treatment plants

(NaturalNews) What role does the current overuse of antibiotics play in encouraging the spread of new and invasive super bugs?

Why are water treatment facilities spreading super bugs even after the water has been treated?

Is chlorine an effective water disinfectant?

Experts are beginning to ponder these questions as water treatment plants are routinely found to be ineffective. New lab results show that specific infectious superbugs can now spread drug-resistant genes at water treatment plants.

Is it time to curtail the use of antibiotics? They are becoming worthless in the face of evolving superbugs. What natural antimicrobial substances could hospitals and doctors begin using to help patients fight infections without creating and spreading new superbug genes?

What ways can water filtration be improved?

These are the tough questions being asked on the cusp of new findings from Pedro J. J. Alvarez and researchers from Rice University.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/043614_superbugs_drug-resistant_genes_water_treatment_plants.html#ixzz2rBW1ylya

Study: Vaccine adjuvant aluminum hydroxide causes neurological disease

(NaturalNews) For years following the first Gulf War (1991), scores of returning American and Western military personnel suffered through a set of mysterious symptoms that doctors and scientists eventually described as "Gulf War Syndrome" (GWS), if for no other reason than because they simply could not identify a core set of causes for a variety of different symptoms.

There have been a number of definitions for GWS, but perhaps the most comprehensive of them can be found at Wikipedia:

Gulf War syndrome (GWS), also known as Gulf War illness (GWI), is a chronic multisymptom disorder affecting returning military veterans and civilian workers of the Gulf War. A wide range of acute and chronic symptoms have been linked to it, including fatigue, muscle pain, cognitive problems, rashes and diarrhea.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/043615_vaccine_adjuvants_aluminum_hydroxide_neurological_disease.html#ixzz2rBTQ5Y62

The amazing saga of a teenager who ran away from chemotherapy and beat cancer naturally

(NaturalNews) Remember the story of a 16-year-boy who ran away from his Massachusetts home in 1994 to avoid chemotherapy? His name was Billy Best, and his story was a nationwide sensation while he was in hiding.

Now, he is very healthy and cancer-free, back home working in a local health food store, consulting parents of children who are pushed into chemo and participating in medical school seminars on patient choice.

He continues to be interviewed by alternative news sites whenever a story breaks on families having to become fugitives for refusing chemo and radiation on their children. Now, he also has a book out, as told to writer Linda Conti.

It's called The Billy Best Story: Beating Cancer with Alternative Medicine, and it has 23 five-star rave reviews on Amazon.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/043582_natural_cures_cancer_chemotherapy.html#ixzz2qzyMqUEf

Why Widespread Nutritional Deficiencies Are a Reality That Must Be Reckoned With

By Dr. Mercola

There’s been much controversy surrounding the question of whether or not you need to take supplements. Critics claim that vitamin supplements are a waste of money, as you can get all the nutrients you need from your diet. They also claim that most people are not, in fact, nutritionally deficient, thanks to all the fortified foods on the market.
Alas, there are a number of problems with such assertions. First of all, I believe we have to acknowledge that there is a problem with our food supply—it’s simply NOT providing you with the same nutrition as it did in generations past.
This is largely related to industrial based modern methods, which include reliance on synthetic fertilizers that radically decreases nutrient density, including valuable micronutrients that have long ago largely vanished from most of these soils.
Furthermore, toxic agricultural chemicals, used in ever-increasing amounts, end up on and in your food. I believe a strong case can be made that many people—especially if you do not eat a diet of unprocessed, organically-raised foods—are suffering from nutritional deficiencies of varying kinds and to varying degrees.

To suggest the general population of Americans consume a nutrient dense diet is complete nonsense and shows extreme ignorance of the facts.

Read more: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/01/20/food-nutrients-vitamin-supplements.aspx?e_cid=20140120Z1_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20140120Z1&et_cid=DM38213&et_rid=403737162

Health Benefits of Organic vs. Conventional Milk

• New research showed that organic milk contained 25% less omega-6 fats and 62% more beneficial omega-3 fats than conventional milk
• Those who drank conventional milk had a 2.5-fold higher omega-6 to omega-3 ratio than those who drank organic milk (a higher ratio is linked to chronic disease)
• Organic milk also contained greater amounts of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a cancer-fighting fatty acid
• Organic milk is much more likely to come from cows that have been (at least partially) grass-fed, which is linked to more nutritious milk
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• Read more: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/01/14/conventional-vs-organic-milk.aspx?e_cid=20140114Z1_DNL_art_2&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art2&utm_campaign=20140114Z1&et_cid=DM37733&et_rid=398034195 

How Grazing Cows Can Save the Planet, and Other Surprising Ways of Healing the Earth

• The modern agricultural system is responsible for putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than the actual burning of fossil fuels
• Herds raised according to modern, conventional practices contribute to desertification—turning land into desert—which does not support plant life and photosynthesis, thereby worsening atmospheric CO2 levels
• According to an African ecologist, dramatically increasing the number of grazing livestock is the only thing that can reverse both desertification and climate change
• According to estimates, grazing large herds of livestock on half of the world’s barren or semi-barren grasslands could take enough carbon from the atmosphere to bring us back to preindustrial levels
• Integrating biological farming principles can increase plant performance by 200-400 percent. What’s more, not only does it improve the quantity, it also improves the quality of the food you’re growing
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• Read more: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/01/12/grazing-cows-biological-farming.aspx?e_cid=20140112Z3_SNL_Art_1&utm_source=snl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20140112Z3&et_cid=DM37711&et_rid=396165763 

Is It Good to Sweat?

• Your body releases sweat to help regulate its body temperature to prevent you from overheating
• Sweating also helps your body to eliminate toxins, which supports proper immune function and helps prevent diseases related to toxic overload
• Sweating may help kill viruses and bacteria that cannot survive in temperatures above 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, as well as on the surface of your skin
• Virtually any type of intense exercise will prompt you to sweat, but you can also induce sweating via a sauna, either traditional or infrared
• Be sure to replace fluids and electrolytes after a session of heavy sweating
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• http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2014/01/10/sweating-benefits.aspx?e_cid=20140110Z1_DNL_art_2&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art2&utm_campaign=20140110Z1&et_cid=DM37377&et_rid=394563312 

Food science breakthrough: the Metals Retention Factor explained

This mini-documentary explains the Metals Retention Factor, a food science concept pioneered by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, which describes the ability of foods and dietary substances to bind with toxic elements and prevent them from being absorbed into the body via digestion.

Clinical Scientist Sets the Record Straight on Hazards of Sugar

• The conventional wisdom is that people are eating too much and exercising too little. However, groundbreaking research suggests obesity is primarily related to a high-sugar diet
• In order for you to significantly gain weight, you must first become leptin resistant. Leptin resistance blocks the sensation of being full, making you eat more than you need.
• Energy metabolism also falls, due to a reduction inimpairs your body’s ability to oxidize fat, causing a low-energy state
• Sugar, and fructose in particular, is exceptionally effective at causing leptin resistance in animals, and it’s very effective at blocking the burning of fat
• Fructose stimulates weight gain through its effects on your appetite and by blocking the burning of fat. It also changes your body composition to increase body fat even when you are on a caloric restriction
• If you are insulin- or leptin resistant, it would be prudent for you to restrict your fructose consumption to about 15 20-25 grams of fructose per day from all sources
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• Read more: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/01/05/dr-johnson-leptin-resistance.aspx?e_cid=20140105Z1_SNL_Art_1&utm_source=snl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20140105Z1&et_cid=DM38426&et_rid=389562918