These and related diseases can be prevented by Healthy Living

Diabetes and Obesity has become epidemic everywhere. Along with these, Cardiovascular Diseases, Alzheimer and Cancer has also become more prevalent in last few decades. These are all a group of. diseases that has started devastating adverse effects on our life span, health and well being and quality of life. It is only logical to think that these conditions have been taking it’s root because of our indiscriminate acceptance of modern ways of living, which precludes us from enough Vit D, lack of exercise, high calorie diet rich in Carbohydrate and more so with Fructose and relative Omega 3 deficiency.

We need to agree to change our life styles without giving up the fruits of progress and modernization. May be some sacrifices have to be accepted for a better quality of life.

Let’s all work towards ensuring that we correct our ways of living and enjoy the modernization without it’s associated problems causing toll on our well being. This requires a conscious decision on part of all of us and a political will in leaders to accept the truth and logic and shun all doubtful vested interests in the better interests of public. First of all make the regulatory bodies have enough teeth to bite those who are hurting us in the name of progress and modernization and then get these agencies to accept truth and recommend the same to lay general public.

There is a lot of information out there. But much of it seem to be suppressed. Lay person does not know any better. He follows the consensus built up by the vested interests. Urgent help to lay public is needed and where necessary change in legislation needs to be adopted.

Yes, the difference is this: the problem with fructose is that it is mostly produced from: a) GM corn, b) Digestion of fructose in liver, as against every cell in body. Hence concentration in liver causing damage there. Continue reading “Issues with fructose; our recent addition to sugars” »

I have watched Dr. Robert Lustig’s lecture on UTube. He describes fructose as poison for human body. His arguments are very forceful and his conclusions surely seem to have scientific basis.

Circumstantially also his conclusions are well supported. Our modern life style and changed pattern of food containing much higher calories and most of them coming from plain sugars and fructose also makes us draw the same conclusion that increased incidences of diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular diseases and cancers are all interconnected. It makes us look in the direction of sugar, since when low fat, low cholesterol craze has taken root particularly the post WWII time frame. And after late 1970s the fructose seem to have made that impact worse in the shape of exponential rise in incidences of these diseases.

Unfortunately though, FDA can not intervene because fructose is not acute toxin. At best it may be described as chronic toxin, which will show its untoward effects in several months. But this does not mean that with the amount of evidence that we already have, we should wait for FDA to initiate something to save everyone’s health. If FDA can not do anything because it is not their charter, we citizens must start working on it with something like “we are against fructose in our diet” or even “fructose is a toxin, don’t consume it” kind of slogans on social medias.

This certainly warrants urgent attention of all regulatory and disease control organizations, both government and private to gear up their research onto these. We must also agitate and call upon our congressmen and get the message across, because it is not only us but their loved ones are at risk from such poison.

This should also be joined on the First Lady Michelle Obama’s recent work on obesity, “Let’s Move”, instead of duplicating and thinning out our efforts. Hopefully we will then be able to prevent many of these serious conditions and save a lot of miseries in the future.

Should it be considered unethical to participate in shareholdings of Cigarette companies since tobacco is attributed to causing cancer? Is it against religious beliefs of Jews, Christians and Muslims to participate in Pork and alcohol industries? Holy Books forbid it? My answer to both the above questions is an unequivocal YES. On the same premise it is also unethical and immoral for the Health Insurance Companies to benefit from miseries of sick and in some cases dying human beings. I believe it is our moral duty to campaign against such businesses that profit from human suffering.

Tradition and Culture develops into Laws, Morals and Ethos:

We have had this debate going for a long time; what is right and what is wrong when viewed in the context of morality, ethics and legality. Some of us feel very strongly against it, some take it in stride.

Those who closely follow their religious, ethical and moral teachings would not invest in interest bearing deposits or pig and alcohol related (Haram or Non-Kosher) food businesses. In the last few decades the ethical dilemma has been stretched into the tobacco  industry, which causes lung diseases including cancers and hence considered to be morally wrong  to participate in industries that are  likely to harm mankind  or  to that matter any living being, since they all are  the creation of God Almighty.

Animal lovers have organized themselves in “societies for prevention of cruelty” to soothe their conscience and tell the world it is unfair to treat the living being cruelly or kill them unnecessarily. Most religions, on which almost all ethos and cultural philosophies are based, also teach this.

There has been hot and high profile debates concerning   dog fights, cock and snake fights based on the same principle.  We have discussions even on the plight of chicken being fattened with hormones for human consumption, and kept in compacted   spaces in poultry farms. And very rightly so, we should respect every living thing and not harm them. This is only humane.

Morality, Ethics and Legality of Health Insurance Profits:

But here is the human paradox. While we are touched by and are remorseful of the treatment that is meted out to birds and animals, we seem to remain less concerned to human suffering in many instances. Except of course in the developed and rich countries of the world such as US and Europe where measures are in place to provide food, shelter and clothing for their needy citizens and to be followed by universal education and necessary health care. However, with best possible intentions, it is a fact that even in such rich countries and nations some human beings die of some curable diseases. And this is highly regrettable that rich nations should allow its citizens to die from curable diseases because he or she cannot afford to buy the treatment.

Health Insurance companies in USA:

Unfortunately that has been the state of affair in one of the richest country; USA because of long overdue health care reforms. We hope this situation will change when these reforms come into effect. However, an indirect pressure on common citizen still remains potently hurting their other affairs of life; namely the cost of the health insurance.

Before the reforms, various statistics published reported   the adverse effect of this high cost of insurance and how it has kept a large number of Americans uninsured.  That situation has unfortunately not been addressed in these reforms because of the vested interest of health insurance companies. We are at the same time zone as we once were with regards to cigarette industry, when no one could talk about  them, but now legally no cigarette can be sold without a clear warning form surgeon general on each packet. Same with alcohol industry, which got prohibition removed some years ago. These industries have one common denominator and that is their objective to optimize their profit from every possible avenue including the suffering of human beings.

Not many of us know that USA is the only country in the world where health insurance companies are allowed to make profits for their share holders from the premiums paid by insured. This model of health insurance provision was started in Germany back in 1891 by way of contribution of employers and employees and such funds managed by a health insurance company. This model is still the most popular all over the world and USA is also following it. However, there is a large difference in the way these insurance companies work all over the world and those in USA.

Whereas, health insurance companies everywhere in the world are “not for profit” entities, the US companies are “for profit” entities. This means these insurance companies are owned by share holders and they make profit from the premiums that are paid by the insured. Such profits constitute as much as one fifth (almost 20%) of the premiums. Additionally since the executives of these companies make such handsome profits for the shareholders, they are also generously compensated with big bonuses. This is what we commonly describe as “I scratch your back and you scratch my back” situation. No other country in the world has such insurance companies and their executives making profits from the premiums paid by insured. Every country with “not for profit” health insurance system hence uses 100% of the premium money for the benefit of the insured, which is the real purpose. Unfortunately our ingenious capitalist system has created a business and a profit model out of the human sufferings.

This is obviously wrong to the insured that have paid premiums in advance with a hope that they will get the services in return when needed. They do get such services, but at that point in time as much as more than 20% has been skimmed off by the share holders and executives of the health insurance companies. Aside from this as much as more than 5% is spent on executive bonuses, and unnecessary expenses like having a big army of personnel to find ways to refuse the claims of the insured and his/her providers, like Hospitals, Doctors, Lab and X-Ray services. Hence the insured receive at least 25% less in return in the shape of services for the money paid in advance. Sometime they are totally refused such return of services for one or the other flimsy reason by the functionaries of the health insurance companies to ensure and fatten the bottom line of their company. In fact almost all these insurance companies have a troop of people assigned to do the work of refusal as often as is possible, not only for the insured but for their service providers like Labs, X-rays, Hospitals etc. It may certainly be good for their profits and perhaps it may be necessary to ascertain the legitimacy of the bills and claims, but it causes a lot of problems and psychological commotion to the insured. And all this “refusal staff” are also an additional expense at the cost of the insured’s benefit, which is reduced by as much as the expenses are made on this account

No other country in the world has such a farce of unfriendly practice particularly directed to someone who is paying money. Worse still this mockery of the pay-master is being practiced in open and under protection of law, which has been promoted by the vested interests. In comparison to such travesty, in some of the countries where this system exists, of course through the “not for profit” insurance companies, there are advertisements promotions by them to compete with each other, as to how quickly they are ready to pay the reimbursement of payment made to insured by the company, or to the service provider that they have contracted with, to supply such services when needed by the insured without delay or hindrance.

With the passage of the Health reforms and its becoming a law now, the insurance companies in USA are still unfortunately armed with a lot of clout with which they are likely to continue their wrong doing under the protection of law through their lobbying practices. We must have further reforms to bring in “not for profit” companies as soon as possible to compete with these mal-practicing insurance companies.

Let us campaign against such unethical practices:

One of the simplest way will be to campaign against the investment into such companies which thrive on the sufferings of their insured patients, maiming them and sometime killing them by refusing the treatment that they have paid for in advance with a hope that they will receive their help when needed. Instead they get refused, their providers are not paid their full work’s worth of money, sometime they are cut off from their treatment leaving them high and dry, only to make profits for the share holders, which is their fiscal but secondary responsibility after the primary responsibility to the patients who have aid in advance.

We all must try and remove ourselves from such sham practices which have been made legit by vested interest groups, and campaign to stop these wicked practices of these companies to make profits for their share holders at the expense of their primary and legal responsibilities to their patients. We need your support to be able to do this in a big way. Please respond by spreading these ideas to as many people as you can and create a momentum for this.

Japan is used to face earthquakes because the country sits on a geological fault and suffers several hundred tremors in a year. Most of them are minor and people do not even notice it since they have gotten used to it in their daily life. However, some tremors are bad and may even be devastating. One of the worse earthquakes hit East coast of Japan on March 11^th, causing tsunami reaching across the Pacific basin to Hawaii and the West coast of America.

Unfortunately for Japan though, the tsunami which followed the quake was almost unprecedented proportion. Yet further misfortune which coincided all this is the fact that Japan has Nuclear Power generator on the East coast, about 100 miles from the epicenter. As per their precaution program, the reactor stopped working immediately as the earthquake struck. However, the spent fuel pools, which need a continuous cooling to cool down the used uranium rods lost its cooling mechanism by water because of tsunami waters flooding the diesel generators which were providing power to run the pumping machines, which in turn were bringing the water to cool down the rods. On top of that the backup battery power was available for only a few hours. Hence the spent fuel rods created yet another crisis with a risk of radioactive rods coming out naked from the pins they are held in and melting down spreading the radiation to surrounding areas in vast amount. The hot rods started creating fires also adding to the risk of melting of radioactive rods.

This awakens the whole world to the possible risk that we are all inviting by using Nuclear power reactors for electricity. There are hundreds of such reactors in different countries of the world. Most enthusiastic country in installing such reactors is France, which has 58 reactors with a major portion of its electricity supply from them. Europe has over 150 reactors in all and US has over 100 while many other countries have these reactors to find clean and perhaps cheap electricity.

As we are writing this after about a week from the earthquake, there has been a lot of worry expressed by many experts including those who have been very strong proponent of the nuclear reactors for electricity. Germany has stopped using 7 of their reactors which are old, US is thinking to have another look at all those reactors (23 of them) which use the same technology for cooling and have second though about new ones which were being brought in. other countries are also watching with discomfort.

We ought to have a United Nations Committee to deliberate on the future of the nuclear reactors for electricity. They should put a moratorium on new ones until its safety is undeniably guaranteed and there must be a watchdog committee to look at all existing facilities to stress test them for any future accidents.

The world has accepted the Nuclear Reactors to produce electricity because several reasons. Most important being the industrialized world has become addicted to the modern ways of life, which are driven by electricity. In the rest of the third world also overgrowing population is causing scarcity of the electricity, which has become an essential part of life in the past century.

While most of the electricity is produced from coal, a substantial portion is produced from petroleum products like, furnace oil, natural gas, etc. However, because the combustion of coal or petrochemical cause environmental pollution. Hence when the electricity was found to be produced from the nuclear fission, its cleanliness became the most attractive attribute for everyone.

Most of the Europe and US started building nuclear power plants, with France being most enthusiastic with biggest dependence on nuclear from its 58 reactors. US has over 100 and Europe as a whole has over 150 reactors with Japan and many third world countries also wetting their feet in this clean and initially expensive but on ongoing basis cheap source of electricity.

Nuclear fission is something new to mankind. Ionizing radiation experience has been only once tested on large scale in WWII by US in the shape of two atomic bombs struck in Japan to end that destructive war. Since then no real experience of the destructive ability of the nuclear radiation has been experienced except in accidents like Chernobyl in Russia and Three Mile Island in US, which happened in nuclear reactors. Despite that and the problem of having to store the spent fuel rods for many thousands of years, the nuclear remained attractive option for many countries. US have been promoting to give more licenses to establish more reactors for this clean electricity.

However, the large catastrophe of Japan in March 2011 has now made everyone think again on the dangers of the nuclear as a source. Japan accident was too unfortunate to have one of the largest earthquake followed by tsunami and that in turn causing radiation scare from the spent rods, which could not cooled well enough because of loss of water, and pumping stations due to electricity failure, the very commodity that the reactor was producing.

It is only just about a week since the accident happened in Japan and all measures to contain it is being taken. However, we all need to put our heads together to start thinking as to what is right for our coming generations. Should we use nuclear source or not with its associated problems, scare and real dangers.

United Nations should take lead and do the following;

• Take a real stock of present facilities and its precaution and protective mechanisms.
• A commission needs to estimate the real issues of natural gas as source, since it is abundant.
• If we need to decide on nuclear, what are the minimum but robust precaution need be taken.
• Until we find answers to this a moratorium be placed on new facilities
• Old facilities with any speck of doubt of its safety must be closed until found to be acceptable.