Several new anti-obesity treatments, including Merck's taranabant and rimonabant -- sold in Europe as Acomplia -- reduce appetite by blocking the brain's cannabinoid receptors. But they also have disturbing side effects that are only now becoming apparent.

Other researchers have found that cannabinoid receptor blockers interfere with neural connectivity in rat brains -- a phenomenon associated with depression in humans. The FDA has so far refused to approve Acomplia because it appears to cause anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts.

That means that antibacterial mouthwashes can also be harmful for the stomach.

Nitrate-rich vegetables such as spinach, lettuce, radishes and beetroot activate the mucous membranes' own protective mechanisms, reducing the risk of problems such as gastric ulcers.

Dr. Roy Kerry was using chelation therapy on Abubakar Tariq Nadama in 2005. Chelation is an approved treatment for acute heavy metal poisoning; some believe it is a promising treatment for autism, but the FDA and CDC do not agree.

The CDC claimed that the boy was given a synthetic amino acid called Disodium EDTA instead of Calcium Disodium EDTA. Kerry's attorney, Al Lindsay, denied that the use of the drug was an incorrect choice, that it was administered improperly, and that it caused the boy’s death. Lindsay said the boy died of a lack of oxygen to the brain, which was caused by a heart problem not associated with the drug.

Kerry still faces a civil lawsuit by the boy's parents.

Researchers found that endurance athletes showed an increase in the size of both their left and right ventricles after 90 days of team training. However, athletes who only did strength training had excessive growth in their left ventricles, but no change at all in their right ventricle size.

In addition, the ability of the left ventricle to fully relax between beats was enhanced in the endurance athletes, but it worsened in the strength trainers.

It is possible that this could point the way towards tailored recommendations for rehabilitation and recreational exercise for people with heart problems.

The treatment is called HIFU, or high intensity focused ultrasound. It literally burns away cancerous cells using focused ultrasound waves. Europe, Canada, Japan, Mexico and many other countries have accepted the science behind HIFU, but the U.S. FDA has demanded lengthy scientific trials before approving the technology.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer found in U.S. men, and it is usually treated with surgery, radiation or hormone injections. All of these options have devastating potential side-effects on urinary and erectile function.

Wear your best clothes or the cheeriest color from your wardrobe. You’d be surprised how much they affect the way you feel about yourself.

Treat yourself in the morning. Sit down and eat. Enjoy your food.

Complete as much work possible on Friday. You’ll have less work to worry about on Monday.

Listen to happy songs -- a tune can affect your mood.

Dance. Just move your body! Jog in place, stretch, or do yoga. You’ll feel less lethargic.

Laugh and smile. Some research says that even the thought of laughing raises your endorphin level.

Choose to feel happy. Being happy is a choice, so choose happiness.

For more suggestions, click the link below!

Reading books, fiction and non-fiction, fuels your idea machine. You can’t create ideas without input. Life experiences and memories are your starter inputs, but non-fiction books allow you to branch out into the experiences of others, and fiction allows you to reach the realm of experiences nobody ever had.

Escaping into a book is a fantastic way to cope with a stressful life and lower your blood pressure for a while. It allows you to de-stress without actually turning your brain off. Your mind can be stimulated and rejuvenated at the same time.

And with books, your mind has to create the visuals and sounds all on its own. If you swap out just one of your regular television shows for regular fiction reading, then you can exercise your creativity on a more regular basis.

Put on a blue shirt

Blue is generally relaxing, while orange is the biggest irritant.

Pause your mental TiVo

Stop what you’re doing, close your eyes, and quickly count to ten while strongly pressing your right thumb and forefinger together. Now do the same with your left hand. Repeat this five times. This will clear your mind.

Recruit an anger buddy

Find a thick-skinned friend who’ll let you verbally assault him when the situation warrants. Make sure you’re willing to return the favor. Make sure the tirade is brief, private, and somewhat controlled.

Fabricate a smile

Grin. According to experts, people who are manipulated into smiling report feeling better instantly -- going through the motions can trigger the emotions.

Clean your room

Most people don’t’ realize how much clutter causes stress. Pick clothes off the floor, remove glasses from the coffee table, make your bed.

Climb the stairway to heaven

Music has been shown to reduce stress and have a positive effect on health.

Order Chinese

According to recent research, ginger and broccoli may temporarily help relieve depression.

Dot your eyes

Draw two dots an inch or so apart on a piece of white paper. Stare at the space between them with an out-of-focus gaze until they merge. Release and repeat three times.

Sniff a lemon

Nice smells such as fresh fruit, a looming thunderstorm, or just-mowed grass can turn your beat around.

Chop till you drop

Cook something from scratch. You are now in touch with your primal self; destroying and creating at the same time is the ultimate mood lifter.

Subcutaneous fat, or fat that collects under the skin, helps to improve sensitivity to the hormone insulin, which regulates blood sugar. Mice that got transplants of this type of fat lost weight and their fat cells shrank.

Researchers have known for some time that fat that collects in your abdomen -- known as visceral fat -- can raise your risk of diabetes and heart disease. People with pear-shaped bodies are less prone to these disorders. It seems that their fat may be actively protecting them from metabolic disease.

This is far below the level needed to sustain the population.

Although the reasons for the sudden decline are not completely understood, scientists have suggested that changes in ocean conditions, including unfavorable shifts in ocean temperature and food sources for juvenile salmon, may be in part responsible.

Past studies have linked altered levels of vitamin D and parathyroid hormone with depression, but the relationship has never before been studied systematically. Researchers examined more than 1200 men and women aged 65 to 95.

Nearly 40 percent of the men and 57 percent of women had low levels of vitamin D in their blood; vitamin D levels averaged 14 percent lower among the 195 people suffering from depression. Blood levels of parathyroid hormone, which increase with vitamin D deficiency, were 5 percent higher in people with minor depression and 33 percent higher in those with major depression.

You might also be interested in taking a look at another of my favorite commercials ever.

High blood pressure, kidney damage, even full kidney failure can strike 10 to 20 years later in people who survived severe E. coli infection as children. They can also suffer arthritis after a bout of salmonella or shigella, and a mysterious paralysis that attacks people who had even mild symptoms of campylobacter.

These late effects are believed to make up a very small fraction of the nation's 76 million annual food poisonings, but no one knows just how many people are at risk. A bigger question could be what other illnesses have yet to be scientifically linked to food poisoning.

In a more specific breakdown, pharmaceutical and medical products companies rank first with $227 million in spending, while health insurance companies spent the second-most at $138 million. Hospitals and nursing homes spent $91 million, ranking fifth, and health professionals spent $70 million, ranking 15th. HMOs and health services spent $52 million, ranking 19th.

The pharmaceutical industry has spent $1.3 billion on federal lobbying in the last decade, again more than any other industry. And the drug industry's reported lobbying increased by 25 percent from 2006 to 2007.

The agency’s suppression of the study, along with national coverage of the toxic trailers housing situation in New Orleans, has drawn attention on the agency. Many groups across the nation are saying that these are just two examples of a general pattern of interference in the health data released to the public.

The frequency of use for cough and cold medications for children has never before been scientifically studied. This new finding gives increased weight to recent revelations that cough and cold medication use can lead to serious adverse effects, including death.

However, on a positive note, the overall use of cough and cold medications declined from 12.3 percent in 1999-2000 to 8.4 percent in 2005-2006.

Three out of five Americans have never even tried living on a personal budget that tracks their money. Aaron Patzer, on the other hand, has kept his checkbook fastidiously balanced since age 16.

In 2005, he quit his job and created a Web site called Mint. It offers an online service that sweeps through your bank, brokerage and credit card accounts and updates the data daily.

Mint is a gold mine for those looking to take the tedium out of budgeting. You only need to key in log-ins for financial institutions, and Mint will assemble colorful pie charts so users can see cash balances and debts and easily check to see if they're over budget.

Mint e-mails users when bank balances get low, bills are due and suspicious card charges appear. It analyzes spending habits and lists financial-service options. Patzer boasts that Mint's recommendations save the average user $1,000 the first year.

This means that the number of fat cells in a person remains the same, even after a successful diet.

Until now, it was not clear that adults could make new fat cells. Many believed that fat mass was increased solely by incorporating more fats into already existing fat cells. In fact, people constantly produce new fat cells.

Fat cells are replaced at the same rate that they die, about 10 percent every year. Obesity is determined by a combination of the number of fat cells and their size; they can grow or shrink as fat from food is deposited in them.

A growing body of research suggests that computer mice and keyboards are prime locations for germs. This has most recently been illustrated by tests at a typical office environment in the United Kingdom. British microbiologist James Francis took a swab to 33 keyboards, a toilet seat and a toilet door handle at the London office of a consumer advocacy group.

He found that four of the keyboards tested were potential health hazards -- and one had levels of germs five times higher than those found on the toilet seat.

Celebrex, which is in the same class of medicines as Merck’s recalled Vioxx, is Pfizer’s third-best-selling drug. The product is still on the market, and generated $2.3 billion in sales in 2007. Pfizer withdrew Bextra in April 2005 after it was tied to a potentially fatal skin condition.

Pfizer has already reached settlements with three law firms representing more than 200 of the thousands who sued over the drugs. Firms have been offered $40,000 to $50,000 a client to resolve Bextra cases, and as much as $200,000 a client for Celebrex.

The nationwide recall includes a variety of foods ranging from nine-ounce packages of Gourmet Boutique Wrapanini Meatball Parmigiana to seven-pound containers of Gourmet Boutique Fruit and Nut Honey Chicken Salad Kit. Chicken, turkey, beef and pork are all being recalled.

Listeria can cause listeriosis, whose symptoms may include high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness and nausea.

In the layer of the ocean called the “oxygen-minimum zone”, concentrations of dissolved oxygen are particularly low. This zone has been expanding both upwards and downwards.

Regions of the eastern Pacific Ocean and the northern reaches of the Indian Ocean are now classed as “suboxic”, meaning that the amount of oxygen has dropped sufficiently to harm the functioning of ecosystems.

The dot-com crash should have been followed by decades of financial soul-searching. Instead, even before the old bubble had fully deflated, the housing bubble began.

This great Harper’s article argues that the Internet and housing hyperinflations are only the beginning. There will be many more booms and busts, for without them the economy of the United States can no longer function. The bubble cycle has replaced the business cycle.

Click the link below to read a clear and fascinating analysis of bubbles, finance, and U.S. economics. The author predicts that an alternative energy bubble is most likely the next one coming down the pike.

A review of the evidence found a consistent risk of bladder cancer in male hairdressers and barbers. A second review of the evidence on personal hair dye use found some studies suggesting a possible association with bladder cancer, lymphoma, and leukemia.

However, the panel found that the evidence was inadequate to classify the carcinogenicity of personal hair dye use.

Now, we get into the subtleties of how to apply this nutritional principle. Interestingly, chia seeds are quite similar to flax seeds and hemp seeds. Chia seeds, which come primarily from South America, have been used for ages and are a very beneficial source of omega-3 fats. Like flax seed, they also have water-soluble fiber, and because of this, when you place flax or chia in water, they turn into a gelatinous consistency. The water-soluble fiber provides additional benefits, namely lowering amounts of hormones such as estrogen, and reducing the risk of certain cancers, such as breast and prostate cancer.

So flax and chia seeds are highly beneficial, and ideally, should be complemented with animal-based sources of omega-3 fats; it's not that you should have one or the other, rather, ideally, you should have both. But if you're going to rely on one or the other, you're far better off using an animal-based omega-3 source.

As far as flax and chia seeds, flax is easier to find than chia. One simple way to get chia seeds is to enjoy our Cocoa Cassava bars, a high-energy bar available on our site, a great alternative to snacking on unhealthy foods. This bar, of course, contains chia seeds, an excellent source of omega-3 fats and beneficial fiber.

I'll explain the distinction. In the plant-based omega-3's, there is a lower level, 18-carbon fatty acid called ALA, alpha linolenic acid, that provides the source of omega-3 fats. But in the animal-based type, you have higher levels, which is the 20-carbon chain, EPA, and the 22-carbon chain, DHA. The DHA is the one that's primarily in our brains, and you really need quite a bit of it.

You'll run into problems if you supplement exclusively with DHA or EPA. You really need the whole spectrum of fatty acids because each are important. Your body requires all of them.

Let's cover some of the basics. If you use only plant-based, 18-carbon fatty acid, then your body has to upregulate, or convert, those into EPA. If you happen to have conditions associated with high insulin levels, the enzyme needed for this conversion is impaired, thereby inhibiting optimal conversion of fatty acids; probably less than 1-2% will be converted to the higher order fats like EPA and DHA. So, be careful about this.

How do you know if you have high insulin levels? Well, there are conditions that are typically associated with elevated insulin, such as overweight, high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure or diabetes, and about 85% of our population have these. So, make sure that you get animal-based omega-3 fats.

Regarding the plant sources, the most common one is flax seed. If you use this, be sure it's fresh. You certainly may take it in oil form, but ideally, you'll want to get it from fresh, organic flax seeds, grind a few tablespoons fresh in a little coffee grinder and use it in your meals. That's really the best way. Flax seed oil is highly perishable and will easily oxidize once exposed to air, leading to rancid fatty acids, which you'll want to avoid, as they're quite unhealthy.

Another way to get animal-based omega-3's is with fish. Of course, most fish are contaminated with mercury and other pollutants, which is why you'll want to select high-quality supplements. Fish oil is one. Another animal-based source is Krill Oil, recently recommended for a number of reasons, one of which is, there's a far more easily- replenished supply of krill. There is great concern over dwindling numbers of ocean fish, which are being rapidly depleted, so will not be sufficient to provide our population with the needed amount of beneficial fatty acids. The alternative is to use a more readily-replenished supply such as Krill Oil, one of the most common ocean-food sources.

A key advantage to using krill is its clinical efficacy. It's attached to a phosphate bond, which increases absorption; so you need less of it, and it's taken up by the brain much more readily. Additionally, it's digested more easily, without the burping commonly associated with fish oils.

There's also an antioxidant in krill, which actually serves to protect these highly-perishable fatty acids; so, there's less likelihood of rancidity.

I'd like to thank Duane for his great question by sending him a bottle of Krill oil. Remember, simple basic information like this will help you take control of your health. Keep in mind the importance of a regular source of omega-3 fats. Please make sure you identify one and make sure you and your family are taking it regularly, as it's such an important way to stay health and to take control of your health.

Video Transcript:

Dr. Mercola here. I want to welcome you to another question and answer video update. As I was preparing for today's video, I noticed that there were many people who had asked questions that were already answered on the site. Apparently, were not yet aware that I've been doing this work on the site for over ten years, and that there are over 100,000 pages of free information they can access just by going to the link at the top of the page. There, they'll find a text box where they can write their question, click "Search", and then receive a list of articles relative to that topic I've written over the last ten years. They're ranked by Google, to present the most appropriate first.

But let's get onto today's question. The first one comes from Joe from Savannah, Georgia. Joe tells us he's economically strapped, and he has a question about the use of Radical Fruits and Krill Oil, and wonders which one he should use.

Well, I believe that one of the most important things that we all need are a source of omega 3 fats. Ideally, that should be primarily from animals, though we can certainly supplement that with some plant-derived omega 3's. Most benefits come from DHA/EPA, as I've mentioned in many of my articles.

If you're not going to go through the relatively-expensive source of finding a clean source of fish, usually from the Artic or Alaska, then it's going to be critical to find another good, high-quality source of omega-3 fats. My personal preference is krill oil. So that would be something that should be taken on a regular basis.

Radical Fruits is also another great product. However, it's not as important as the omega 3. It's very safe to take the Radical Fruits every day, and probably ideal. But if the economics of it are challenging, you can just restrict the use of the Radical Fruits to immediately before you exercise, especially intensive exercise, because that's going to decrease the production of free radicals. That's exactly what I do myself.

Now, the next question comes to us from Anthony from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and he asks a very good question about sudden death from heart disease. The most common symptom of heart disease is sudden death. Yes, indeed. This is a challenge that many of us need to be concerned about. Anthony had asked if there is anything other than omega 3 fats and water that might be useful to help prevent death.

In my experience, there are three simple lab tests, and we do these tests on every person who comes into our clinic, because I think they're really vital, not only as a step for protecting against heart disease, but against cancer as well.

The first test, probably the most important, is one for fasting insulin levels, which should be below 5. If it's over 5, you've got a problem. If it's over 10, you have a serious problem. Ideally, you'd want it below 3. So, that's clearly a goal for you.

The second one is going to be very important also, and this is not your total cholesterol, but your ratio of good-to-total cholesterol. That ratio is so important. I like to use it as a percentage of the total cholesterol. You can do the inverse, which will work too. This seems to be more the convention. But I've become accustomed to doing it that way. So if you simply divide your total cholesterol into your HDL, you'll get the percentage of your HDL that is present.

Ideally, that number should be over 30%, somewhere between 25% and 30%. If your HDL percentage is in the teens, you have a serious problem. If it is in the single digits, you are a heart attack waiting to happen, and you need to aggressively address that.

Now remember, you are not looking to change or modify this through the use of drugs. I've written extensively about how you can do this simply through changing your food intake. Now, this is good for well over 90% of the people who have been told they have high cholesterol. There is a very small minority of people who have a genetic problem. In my practice of over 15,000 patients, I've had to put only 5 people on cholesterol-lowering drugs, such as the statins. Most nearly everyone else does not need them.

Five or six years ago, I learned a hidden, or stealth, way to screen for heart disease, and that is addressing sources of hidden iron in your blood. If you're a menstruating woman, with monthly cycles, this is probably not an issue. But if you're a postmenopausal woman or a male, there is a tendency to accumulate iron over time, and iron is a very potent oxidative stress, and when it accumulates to a high level, it can clearly and easily accelerate the risk of atherosclerosis and heart disease.

So, ideally, you want to measure a blood protein called, "ferritin", which is a transport carrier for iron; this should ideally be between 20 and 80. If it's above 80, you've got a problem, and ideally, you should lower your iron level. The simplest and easiest way is to not supplement with iron, and also, to donate your blood. Now, if for whatever reason, you are unable to donate your blood, you can have your doctor write a prescription for a therapeutic phlebotomy (blood draw), and that will easily lower it back into a safe range.

One of the other hidden sources of heart disease is simply vitamin D deficiency. And I'm not talking about the vitamin D you swallow. I'm talking about having as much skin exposed to the sun as possible, to raise your levels of vitamin D up. For most people watching this video, we're approaching summer, and you can do that. So you clearly want to have adequately-high vitamin D levels. If you have a low vitamin D level, which is a 25-hydroxy-D level below 20, you are at high risk, not only for heart disease, but for cancer.

So, you've learned of four tests that you can use to help clearly identify your cardiac risk. If these four tests are normal, your risk for developing heart disease is very, very low.

As a thank you to Joe and Anthony for their questions, I'm sending them a few bottles of Krill Oil, and hopefully, help get them on the path, making sure that they have enough good omega 3 in their systems. So, thanks for the great questions.

UVB Blocking Sunglasses & Vitamin D

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