By Dr. Mercola

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control have long claimed that between 1998 and 2008, there were two deaths from raw milk.

This number is often used in media reporting about raw milk. 

But those illnesses actually appear to have come from a form of cheese that isn't legal under current FDA regulations, called queso fresco.

In December, Mark McAfee, the owner of Organic Pasture Dairy, challenged claims on the Centers for Disease Control web site stating that raw milk is dangerous.

The agency actually agreed to make some slight changes to its language on the site, but did not change a reported death from Salmonella Typhimurium in California. 

But the state was not reporting that death. 

He did not receive a response from the CDC until he threatened to file a Freedom of Information Act request.  At that time, he discovered the death was from that same form of cheese mentioned above, queso fresco.

According to Health Impact News Daily:

"Why is this important? Because statistics have become important weapons in the war over food rights. When the CDC says there have been two deaths from raw milk between 1998 and 2008, that statistic carries a powerful message: you can die from drinking raw milk...

If it turns out that the two people it says died from drinking raw milk didn't, in fact, die from drinking raw milk, then the CDC has lost an important weapon in the government's campaign of fear around raw milk. If no one died in that 11-year period, suddenly, raw milk isn't quite the danger it has been made to appear. "

The CDC defends the use of mercury in vaccines and fluoride in your water, yet tells you to be afraid—be very afraid—of raw milk. Does this make sense?

No!

What the CDC is telling you about the dangers of raw milk is completely upside down from the truth. The truth is that the risk of foodborne illness from many other foods (such as pasteurized milk, mass-produced meat and poultry, and bagged greens) is much greater than from raw milk, provided the raw milk comes from a dairy that adheres to proper standards. The CDC and the FDA both continue to misuse, manipulate and suppress data in order to frighten the public.

Secrets, Lies, and Raw Propaganda

The CDC's bias against raw milk is not new. A 2007 press release by A Campaign for Real Milk (part of the Weston A. Price Foundation) shines a light on the CDC's concealment of the truth. The article came on the heels of a cautionary reminder to the public by the FDA and CDC that raw milk is "dangerous."

The article states:

"The joint FDA /CDC reminder claims that between 1998 and 2005, raw milk was implicated in 45 outbreaks, 1007 cases, 104 hospitalizations and 2 deaths. Yet the reference cited, CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report for the week of March 2, 2007 (MMWR for 03-02-07), provides no such information; nor is any such information found in any other FDA or CDC document. Numerous requests to the FDA for clarification have not been answered."

So, not only were the two deaths NOT due to drinking raw milk, but according to Sally Fallon (president of the Weston A. Price Foundation), the FDA and CDC have never provided a single reference to support the claim of widespread illness from raw milk during that seven-year period. Fallon stated:

"Reports of individuals becoming ill after drinking raw milk do exist, although none were cited in the recent CDC and FDA Reminder. But even these reports do not usually provide proof that raw milk caused illness. When someone who drinks raw milk becomes ill, these agencies immediately report an 'association' with raw milk, ignoring other vectors of disease and subsequent tests showing the milk to be clean. FDA and CDC definitely have a double standard when it comes to raw milk."

Pasteurized milk is responsible for far more illnesses and deaths. For example, according to RealMilk.com, the United States' largest recorded outbreak of Salmonella resulted from pasteurized milk, but alarmingly, the CDC never issued a specific Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report for this outbreak.

The incident, occurring between June 1984 and April 1985, resulted in 200,000 illnesses and 18 deaths. This and other outbreaks of illness resulting from the consumption of pasteurized milk somehow evade the public's eye, escaping warnings from both the CDC and FDA. In fact, they have never issued a warning against commercially pasteurized milk! So, it isn't terribly surprising that Mark McAfee was given the cold shoulder by CDC. This is just one more example of the CDC's ongoing bias against raw dairy products.

Raw Milk is a Healthful, Living Food

High quality raw milk has a mountain of health benefits that pasteurized milk lacks. For example, raw milk is:

• Loaded with healthy bacteria that are good for your gastrointestinal tract
• Full of more than 60 digestive enzymes, growth factors, and immunoglobulins (antibodies)
• Rich in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which fights cancer
• Rich in beneficial raw fats, amino acids, and proteins in a highly bioavailable form, all 100 percent digestible
• Loaded with vitamins (A, B, C, D, E, and K) in highly bioavailable forms, and a very balanced blend of minerals (calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron) whose absorption is enhanced by live lactobacilli

It is not uncommon for people who drink raw milk to experience improvement or complete resolution of troubling health issues—everything from allergies to digestive problems to eczema. It is also common for people who have "milk allergies" to tolerate raw milk just fine. Pasteurized milk is a completely different story.

Pasteurization Creates a Dead, White Liquid That is NOT Beneficial to Your Health

Pasteurization turns milk into a dead white liquid whose health benefits are largely destroyed. Consider what pasteurization does to milk:

• The price of killing the pathogenic bacteria is that you also kill the good bacteria which helps digest milk and make it such a nourishing food
• Proteins and enzymes are completely destroyed or denatured, made less digestible and less usable by your body
• Immunoglobulins, metal-binding proteins, vitamin-binding proteins, carrier proteins, growth factors, and anti-microbial peptides such as Lactoferrin are destroyed
• Many vitamins and minerals are rendered biologically unusable
• Fats are damaged and destabilized

Additionally, the bacteria killed by pasteurization are not removed, so their dead carcasses remain in the milk to ignite immune reactions in those who ingest them, which is one major cause of milk allergies. It isn't really an allergy to the milk itself, but to the organic cell fragments it contains.

Making matters worse, cows in CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) are routinely given drugs in an effort to counter the ill health and immune problems caused by their poor living conditions. Feedlots are breeding grounds for all kinds of harmful bacteria. So the cows are snowed with antibiotics. This milk HAS to be pasteurized, because it is simply loaded with bacteria—and not the beneficial kind.

Researchers using a highly sensitive test to determine what drugs and hormones might be present in your pasteurized milk found some startling results. The drugs and hormones they detected included the following:

While all types of milk tested positive for chemicals—even breast milk—cow's milk contained the highest levels. Some of these drugs and hormones were given to the cows directly, while others were likely ingested from the cattle food or contamination on the farm. When you drink raw milk from these massive commercial dairies, you might indeed be risking your health. But this is a far different product than raw milk from smaller farms where the farming practices are more natural, sustainable, clean, and humane. Raw milk from these cows is clean and nutritious and loaded with good bacteria—the kind you need for a healthy gut.

WHO'S Your Dairy?

Why is the CDC still determined to hide the facts and prevent you from access to this beneficial food? If safety isn't the REAL issue, then what is? If raw dairy really caught on, wouldn't the dairy industry simply follow suit and begin producing raw products to meet the demand?

They would if they could, but it would be virtually impossible. In order for conventional dairy farms to produce safe raw milk, they'd be forced to clean up their production practices, raise healthier cows (and likely fewer cows), and give them access to pasture. This would cost them money—and lots of it—if it were even possible…and that's a big "if." Their business DEPENDS on pasteurization, and that is why their powerful lobbyists will stop at nothing to persuade government agencies to keep raw milk bans in full force.

Manipulating or outright lying about statistics is just one means of accomplishing this.

The CDC and others who argue that raw milk is unsafe do not differentiate between REAL raw milk, and raw milk produced under the suboptimal conditions often found in CAFOs. Small dairies that are raising "happy cows" that are allowed to roam on pasture, feed on grass, and are raised without the use of antibiotics and hormones, produce raw milk that is loaded with nutrition and free of pathogenic bacteria and other contaminants, the way milk was produced decades and centuries ago.

The good news is, Big Dairy's worse fear is coming true—raw dairy IS catching on! Raw milk has been gaining popularity for years now.

Take Massachusetts, for example. The number of dairies licensed to sell raw milk grew from 12 to 23 in just two years, while the Northeast Organic Farming Association stated that dairies are selling more raw milk than they were five or six years ago, and consumers are calling in increasing numbers looking for advice on where to find it. The conventional dairy industry, realizing this, has redoubled their efforts to stifle raw milk sales, making every effort to prevent it from becoming mainstream, where it could begin to threaten their very livelihoods.

Ron Paul Championing the Fight for Raw Milk

Total Video Length: 0:20:39
Download Interview Transcript

Presidential candidate Ron Paul has taken up the battle to protect your rights for access to raw milk by introducing House Bill HR 1830, which authorizes the interstate traffic of unpasteurized milk and raw milk products that are packaged for direct human consumption. On May 13, 2011, this bill was sent to the House Subcommittee on Health. This bill would make it legal for farmers to sell and distribute raw milk across state lines.

I cannot urge you strongly enough to support Ron Paul's bill, HR 1830, and inform everyone you know. This issue has nothing to do with whether or not you want to drink raw milk, and everything to do with whether or not you want the right to chose what you feed your family. If we allow the U.S. government to remove our right to raw milk, who knows what could be next?

The Farm-to-Consumer Defense Fund has created a petition page for HR 1830 that also automatically faxes your message to your U.S. Senators and House Representative. You can even choose to send your message to your nearest daily newspaper.

I urge you to take a moment to sign the petition right now!

How YOU Can Protect Your Health Rights

By joining the fight to protect access to raw milk, you're not only standing up for raw milk, but you're standing up for your freedom of choice. No one, and certainly not any government agency or dairy lobby, should be able to restrict your access to pure, unadulterated food.

There are a number of things you can do to make your feelings known on this issue, such as signing the petition described above.

The following is a list of resources that can help you become better informed:

• Organizations like the Weston A. Price Foundation and the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund are working toward true freedom of choice for American consumers, and I urge you to get involved in their causes.
• I invite you to listen to my interview with Mark McAfee, the founder of Organic Pastures, one of the largest producers of raw milk in the United States. There is also great information on his website, www.OrganicPastures.com.
• Consider reading The Raw Milk Revolution by health and business journalist David E. Gumpert, as well as watching his video about the history of pasteurization and its exaggerated health benefits.
• Finally, consider watching Farmageddon: The Unseen War on American Family Farms, a documentary by Kristin Canty that may just make your blood boil.

Sources:

• Health Impact News Daily November 16, 2011
• CDC
• RealMilk
• Library of Congress
• Farm-to-Consumer Defense Fund
• Organic Pastures

• Video Transcript

  Avoid this Popular Beverage Until You Learn the Shocking Details

  The War Over Raw Milk Heats Up

  The Problem with Factory Farms

[Read the rest of this article...]

By Ori Hofmekler

Experimental studies show that all thermolyzed (ultra-heated) proteins can promote colon cancer and so do thermolyzed carbohydrates and fried fat.

Thermolyzed casein in particular has shown to cause the growth of aberrant crypt foci (ACF tumors) and colon cancer.

Ultra-heating makes proteins less digestible as a consequence of cross-linking and racemization – which involve formation of unnatural peptides and amino acids.

As a result of decreased digestibility, more proteins escape from the stomach to the large bowel, where they're fermented into tumor promoting waste products such as ammonia and a variety of toxic phenols.

The colonic protein fermentation could explain several known associations between diets rich in fried food, roasted meats or ultra-heated cheese and colon cancer.

There is growing evidence that conventional household cooking preparations of protein play a major role in the pathogenesis of colon cancer. Exposure of food to high cooking temperatures (over 180ºC) such as with oven roasting or frying can lead to the formation of toxic carcinogenic compounds which include aromatic hydrocarbon, benzopyrene and heterocyclic amine.

Our society likes roasted and fried food. We like grilled meats, French fries and pizza. We like to caramelize or "brown" our food when we cook, particularly our proteins.

Colon Cancer Increases with Heated Protein Intake

Studies sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, Toronto, Canada, indicated that the number of colon cancers increase threefold in animals consuming a diet in which approximately one half of the protein has been heated to a golden brown color. Note that in the typical diet, most of animal flesh and marine protein foods are heated to a golden brown color. Scientists suggest that heat treatment of proteins can lead to isomerization, deamination and other modifications of amino acids. The most obvious cancer promoters are heterocyclic amines which could result from racemization of proteins into d-amino acids and cross linking of proteins into unnatural peptides such as lysinoalanine.

Technically, heated proteins get carcinogenic due to changes in their molecular integrity; reduced digestibility and increased nitrogen waste. The reduced digestibility of cooked proteins increase the load of nitrogenous waste material reaching the colon via fermentation to ammonia and phenols – both of which are cancer promoters.

Note that colon cancer is the third deadliest cancer in the U.S. According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 150,000 people will be diagnosed with colon cancer every year and 55,000 will die as a result of the disease during that time period.

Digestive Resistant Fiber Can Help Prevent Protein Fermentation and Related Cancer

The good news is that starches resistant to digestion (such as digestive-resistant maltodextrin) and other natural water soluble fibers serve as substrates to feed gut flora (friendly gut bacteria) and increase colonic carbohydrate fermentation. This then increases the level of energy reaching the friendly bacteria and thereby REDUCES the level of colonic protein fermentation along with the risk of colon cancer formation.

Conclusions

• Avoid eating roasted or fried proteins and melted cheese – yes, this includes grilled meat or fish, fried chicken, roast beef, barbeque, and pizza. To be on the safe side, avoid all kinds of carmelized sugar, toasted starch and roasted nuts.
• If you still choose to eat grilled, roasted or fried food, try cutting off the burned or browned outer layer part.
• Time under heat is a crucial factor. Short pasteurization is safer than long pasteurization – the longer a protein is heated the more degraded and toxic it gets.
• Make sure your protein product does not include thermolyzed casein – which has shown to be the most carcinogenic among all other thermolyzed food.
• You can still enjoy eating most of your protein foods warm if you cook them in a broth. This will limit the cooking temperature to a 100º Celsius threshold, which has shown to be quite safe and presents minimum health risk. Cooking, stewing or poaching fish, meat or eggs in a broth can be your alternative to frying, grilling or roasting. But note that cheese must be eaten raw. Heating destroys fragile peptides and amino acids in cheese so to be on the safe side, avoid all kinds of pizzas and melted cheese treats.
• Avoid protein powders which are exposed to ultra heat or heat/acid treatment. These often include protein isolates such as casein and whey isolates as well as soy, hemp and rice protein isolates.
• Avoid whey proteins derived from ultra pasteurized milk. If the whey manufacturer fails to provide you with a certificate of conformity (CoC) which clearly declares that their whey is manufactured from raw milk, then most likely the product is ultra pasteurized.
• Increase your fiber consumption particularly in your protein meals. Note that protein supplements formulated with digestive resistant fiber are more digestible, and safer.

About the Author

Ori Hofmekler is the author of The Warrior Diet, The Anti-Estrogenic Diet, Maximum Muscle Minimum Fat, and Unlock Your Muscle Gene.

References

• Corpet, D.E., Yin, Y., Zhang, X.M., Remesy, C., Stamp, D., Medline, A., Thompson, L., Bruce, W.R., Archer, M.C. Colonic protein fermentation and promotion of colon carcinogenesis by thermolyzed casein. Nutr. Cancer. 1995:23(3), 271-281.
• Armstrong, B., Doll, R. Environmental factors and cancer incidence and mortality in different countries with special reference to dietary practices. Int J Cancer. 1975:15;617-631.
• Steineck, G., Gerhardsson de Verdier, M., Avervik, E. The epidemiological evidence concerning intake of mutagenic activity from fried surface and the risk of cancer cannot justify preventative measures. Eur J Cancer Prev. 1993:2;293-300.
• Corpet, D.E., Stamp, D., Medline, A., Minkin, S., Archer, M.C., et al. Promotion of colonic microadenoma growth in mice and rats fed cooked sugar or cooked casein and fat. Cancer Res. 50, 6955–6958.
• Zhang, X-M., Stamp, D., Minkin, S., Medline, A., Corpet, D.E. et al. Promotion of aberrant crypt foci and cancer of rat colon by thermolyzed protein. JNC184. 1992;1026-1030.
• Zhang, X-M., Chan, C.C., Stamp, D., Minkin, S., Archer, M.C., et al. Initiation and promotion of colonic aberrant crypt foci in rats by 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde in thermolyzed sucrose. Carcinogenesis. 1993:14;773-775.
• Macfarlane, G.T., Cummings, J.H. The colonic flora, fermentation, and large bowel digestive function. In Large Intestine: Physiology, Pathophysiology and Disease, S.F. Phillips, J.H., Pemberton, and R.G. Shorter (eds). New York:Raven, 1991, pp51-92.
• Clinton, S.K., Bostwick, D.G., Olson, L.M., Mangian, H.J., Visek, W.J. Effects of ammonium acetate and sodium cholate on n-methyl-n-1-nitro-n-nitrosoguanidine-induced colon carcinogenesis of rats. Cancer Res. 1988:48;3035-3039.
• Bone, E., Tamm, A., Hill, M. The production of urinary phenols by gut bacteria and their possible role in the causation of large bowel cancer. Am J Clin Nutr. 1976:29;1448-1454.
• Boutwell, R.K., Bosch, D.K. The tumor promoting action of phenol and related compounds for mouse skin. Cancer Res. 1959:19;413-424.
• Tudek, B., Bird, R.P., Bruce, W.R. Foci of aberrant crypts in the colons of mice and rats exposed to carcinogens associated with food. Cancer Res. 1989:49;1236-1240.
• Richardson, T., Oh, S., Jimenez-Flores, R., Kumosinski, T.F., Brown, E.M., et al. Molecular modeling and genetic engineering of milk proteins. In Advanced Dairy Chemistry: Proteins, P.F. Fox (ed). London: Elsevier Applied Science, 1992, vol. 1.
• Friedman, M., Finley, J.W., Yeh, L.S. Reactions of proteins with dehydroalanines. Adv Exp Med Biol. 1976:86B;213-224.

[Read the rest of this article...]

TED talk on mushrooms

Ganoderma in the wild

NPR Interview

By Dr. Mercola

Some of the most potent immunosupportive agents come from mushrooms, and science is just beginning to tap into this vast natural medicine warehouse.

There are mushrooms that kill viruses, mushrooms that kill bacteria, and even mushrooms that kill yeast—which may surprise you, given they're both fungi.

Some mushrooms destroy cancer cells, and others facilitate nerve regeneration.

Fungi are incredibly resilient, even surviving radioactivity.

They can actually harness radiation to thrive, as was found by a robot sent to map the inside of the entombed Chernobyl nuclear reactor in 1999.

The robot found a hardy fungus chowing down on 200 tons of melted radioactive fuel.

In addition to bringing us nutrition and powerful medicine, mushrooms offer great benefits for the planet.

You may be surprised to learn that mushrooms have the following green applications:

• Eradication of carpenter ants by producing a pesticide that tricks the ants into eating it
• Producing a low carbon footprint type of ethanol
• Breaking down the neurotoxins in nerve gas
• Producing a fully compostable fungal-based packing material that could potentially replace plastics and styrofoam
• Bioremediation: Cleaning up waste from petroleum, toxic chemicals (PCBs, TNT), and bacteria such as E. coli

Of the 140,000 species of mushroom-forming fungi, science is familiar with only 10 percent, according to world-renown mycologist Paul Stamets in "The Most Powerful Medicine in Nature". About 100 species are being studied for their health-promoting benefits. Of those hundred, about a half dozen really stand out for their ability to deliver a tremendous boost to your immune system.  

I'd like to share some information with you today about a few of the rock stars of Kingdom Fungi. Some of these were discussed in my interview with Steve Farrar, who has worked and studied mushrooms professionally for the last 30 years. If you missed that informative interview, I highly recommend listening to it as well. But first, you need a little understanding about how mushrooms grow and what makes them so unique.

Mycelium: Mother Nature's Internet

Mushrooms are nature's recycling system. If it weren't for mushrooms, we wouldn't have plants, because mushrooms (and their "parent" mycelium) break down rocks and organic matter, turning them into soil that provides the framework to nourish plants..

Mushrooms are actually only the fruiting body of a more vast fungal form—the mycelium. The mycelium is a fascinating cobweb-like mat that infuses nearly all landscapes. It is through the mycelium that the fungus absorbs nutrients from the environment. When two compatible mycelia combine, the resulting mycelium occasionally forms fruiting bodies called mushrooms. The mushrooms make spores, which fly away to make new mycelial colonies, and the lifecycle is complete.

Mycelial mats can be too small to see or cover vast areas of ground.

Their extreme tenacity makes the soil spongy and able to support 30,000 times its weight. A single cubic inch of soil can contain 8 miles of mycelium cells. The largest living organism on Earth is a mycelium in Eastern Oregon that covers 2,200 acres, is ONE cell wall thick and 2,000 years old.

Paul Stamets believes fungal mycelia and the intricate, branching network they form function as "the Earth's Internet," a complex communication highway that is sort of Mother Nature's neural net. In some ways, mycelia are "sentient" and seem to demonstrate learning. If one pathway is broken, it develops an alternate path. According to Stamets, when you step on it, it knows you're there and "leaps up" in the aftermath of your footstep, trying to grab debris. The mycelia—not JUST the mushrooms—contain many of the healing agents for which mushrooms are revered.

Hanging with Fungi Increases Your Odds of Survival

We're more closely related to fungi than we are to any other kingdom. We share the same pathogens, meaning bacteria and viruses. As a defense against bacterial invasion, fungi have developed strong antibiotics, which also happen to be effective for us humans. Penicillin, streptomycin, and tetracycline all come from fungal extracts.

The predominant mushrooms displaying antiviral activities are the polypores, sometimes called bracket fungi or woody conks, tough and fibrous fungi characterized by many tiny holes on the underside of their caps. Polypores have been dubbed the "frontier" of new medicines and are thought to be the ancestors to most of the gilled mushrooms. Interestingly, there are no known poisonous polypores, whereas there are more than one hundred poisonous gilled mushrooms.

Paul Stamets recently discovered that a very rare polypore called Agaricon is effective against the poxviruses—including smallpox. This has the Department of Defense very interested, as smallpox is one of the most feared bioterrorism agents. Agaricon was also found to be effective against flu viruses.

History tells us that living in cooperation with fungi will increase our odds of survival. After major extinction events, it was the fungi that thrived because they didn't need light and lived on dead organic matter. Organisms pairing with fungi flourished, and those that didn't fared poorly.

Many of the mushrooms valued for strong medicinal properties grow on trees, as opposed to the ground dwellers you've likely seen.

These tree fungi concentrate the unique elements that the host tree has absorbed over its lifetime, which may be ten or twenty or even HUNDREDS of years. Many of these mushroom species are long-term residents of Old Growth Forests and play an essential role in nutrient recycling by decomposing old trees. The mushroom wraps itself around these special nutrients, capturing them in the fruiting body of the organism and turning it into a little medicinal powerhouse. Maybe it's time for us to embrace the mushroom and harness it's medicine the way the Asians have done for thousands of years.

Blends of Mushrooms are More Effective Than any One Mushroom Alone

It is therapeutically best to utilize a blend of several mushroom species, because "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." For one thing, it is easier for pathogens in your body to adapt and become resistant to one mushroom than to several. Secondly, each mushroom species has a unique arsenal of anti-infective and immunomodulating agents.

These special agents include:

• Polysaccharides
• Glycoproteins
• Ergosterols (steroid-like compounds that create vitamin D in sunlight)
• Triterpenoids

You might have heard the term "beta glucans." The agents listed above are precursors to the more complex compounds, beta glucans. It is the synergism between ALL of these elements that makes mushrooms so medicinally powerful when consumed as a whole food—mycelium included.

Because mushrooms have such powerful immune-boosting effects, it isn't surprising that some have great potential for battling cancer. Mushrooms with anti-tumor activity appear to increase the number and activity of killer T and natural killer (NK) lymphocytes, with no toxicity to healthy cells. Cancer cells are notorious for "hiding" from chemo agents. New research has shown that certain mushroom extracts help chemotherapy drugs better locate and identify cancer cells by "uncloaking them," thereby making chemo more effective.

This is getting some open-minded oncologists very excited! Medicinal mushrooms also strengthen your immune system if you are undergoing chemo, so cancer patients get a double benefit. The list of health benefits science is revealing to us about mushrooms is still growing, but thus far includes the following:

It's important to eat ONLY organically grown mushrooms. Remember, what makes mushrooms so potent is that they absorb and concentrate whatever they grow in—good OR bad. Mushrooms are known to concentrate heavy metals, and air and water pollutants.

Now that you have the overview, let's take a look at a few of my favorite health-enhancing mushroom species. We'll start with a delicious little mushroom you have probably seen on your dinner plate or at your local market—the shiitake.

Shiitake (Lentinula edodes)

Shiitake is a popular culinary mushroom used in dishes around the world.  It contains a number of health-stimulating agents, including lentinan, the polysaccharide for which it was named. Lentinan has been isolated and used to treat stomach and other cancers due to its antitumor properties, but has also been found to protect your liver, relieve other stomach ailments (hyperacidity, gallstones, ulcers), anemia, ascites, and pleural effusion.

One of the more remarkable scientific studies demonstrating shiitake's antitumor effect was a Japanese animal study, where mice suffering from sarcoma were given shiitake extract. Six of 10 mice had complete tumor regression, and with slightly higher concentrations, all ten mice showed complete tumor regression.

Shiitake mushrooms also demonstrate antiviral (including HIV, hepatitis, and the "common cold"), antibacterial, and antifungal effects; blood sugar stabilization; reduced platelet aggregation; and reduced atherosclerosis. Shiitake also contains eritadenine, which has strong cholesterol-lowering properties.

Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum)

Reishi is known as Lingzhi in China, or "spirit plant." It's also been called "Mushroom of Immortality"—a nickname that kind of says it all. Reishi has been used medicinally in Asia for thousands of years. One of its more useful compounds is ganoderic acid (a triterpenoid), which is being used to treat lung cancer, leukemia and other cancers. The list of Reishi's health benefits includes the following

• Antibacterial, antiviral (Herpes, Epstein-Barr), antifungal (including Candida) properties
• Antiinflammatory, useful for reducing symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis
• Immune system up-regulation
• Normalization of blood cholesterol levels and blood pressure
• Reduction of prostate-related urinary symptoms in men

Cordyceps (Cordyceps militaris)

Cordyceps, also called caterpillar fungus or Tochukasu, is a favorite of athletes because it increases ATP production, strength and endurance, and has anti-aging effects. This parasitic mushroom is unique because, in the wild, it grows out of an insect host instead of a plant host. Cordyceps has an enduring history in both traditional Chinese and Tibetan medicine.

Cordyceps has hypoglycemic and possible antidepressant effects, protects your liver and kidneys, increases blood flow, helps normalize your cholesterol levels, and has been used to treat Hepatitis B. It has antitumor properties as well.

Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor)

Turkey Tail is also known as Coriolis, or "cloud mushroom."  Science is showing that Turkey Tail mushroom holds an arsenal of cancer-blasting compounds. Two polysaccharide complexes in Turkey Tail are getting a great deal of scientific attention, PSK (or "Kreskin") and PSP, making it the most extensively researched of all medicinal mushrooms with large scale clinical trials.

A seven-year, $2 million NIH-funded clinical study in 2011 found that Turkey Tail mycelium improves immune function when dosed daily to women with stage I–III breast cancer. Immune response was dose-dependent, with no adverse effects.

In addition to breast cancer, Turkey Tail has been found to hold promise for other cancers, including stomach, colorectal, lung, esophageal, nasopharyngeal, cervical, and uterine. PSP has been shown to significantly enhance immune status in 70 to 97 percent of cancer patients. Turkey tail is also being used to treat many different infections, including aspergillus niger, Candida albicans, E. coli, HIV, Herpes, and streptococcus pneumonia, and is hepatoprotective. It may also be useful for CFIDS.

Himematsutake (Agaricus blazei)

The last mushroom I'd like to mention is the newcomer on the block: Himematsutake, also called Royal Sun Agaricus, a relative of the common button mushroom. Himematsutake was not cultivated in the East until fairly recently but is now a very popular natural medicine, used by almost a half million Japanese.

Himematsutake mushroom is attracting many scientists worldwide due to its remarkable anticancer properties related to six special polysaccharides.  Like many other medicinal mushrooms, this fungus can also protect you from the damaging effects of radiation and chemotherapy. But its benefits don't stop there—Himematsutake can also decrease insulin resistance in diabetics, normalize your cholesterol, improve your hair and skin, and even treat polio.

There are many more mushrooms deserving mention—far too many to include here. But at least you can begin to appreciate the scope of benefits mushrooms have to offer, based on the handful of examples above.

Final Thoughts

A carefully designed blend of medicinal fungi can deliver a powerful therapeutic punch, whether you just wish to help protect yourself from seasonal colds or flu, or you have a more serious condition such as cancer.  Either way, these special mushrooms can be an excellent adjunct to a healthful diet and lifestyle to improve your immune health. If you are interested in more information about medicinal mushrooms, you might consider visiting the following sites:

• Healing-Mushrooms.net is an encyclopedia of medicinal mushrooms with a searchable database, abundant resources and fungi photos
• MedicalMushrooms.net is another encyclopedic database with information about many of the medicinal mushrooms
• MushroomExpert.com can help you with mushroom identification
• Paul Stamets' YouTube video channel has about 30 videos of wild mushroom hunts and all sorts of informational videos, including mushroom identification and cultivation

References:

• Mushroom-Appreciation.com
• Cosmos Magazine
• TED with Eben Bayer: Are mushrooms the new plastic? July 2010
• "The Most Powerful Medicine in Nature," an interview with David Wolfe (Booklet, 2009)
• Polypore Primer
• GreenMedInfo
• J Cancer Research 1970
• J Nutrition August 1995
• MedicalMushrooms.net
• Life Sci December 2006
• Am J Chin. Med. 2010
• Fungi Perfecti LLC
• Mico Nutri
• Altern Med Rev 2000
• SB3.com

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By Dr. Mercola

Over the course of the past two decades, U.S. spending on prescription drugs increased from $40 billion to more than $230 billion.

Illegal drug company activities are one factor contributing to this inflated spending.

One 2010 study looked at trends in federal and state criminal and civil actions against drug companies in order to assess the impact of such shady activities.

Among other findings, the study showed that while the defense industry used to be the biggest defrauder of the federal government under the False Claims Act, the drug industry has now overtaken them.

Big Pharma: Biggest Defrauder of Federal Government

In fact, the drug industry now tops all other industries in the total amount of fraud payments for actions against the federal government under the False Claims Act.

Four companies stand out as the worst of the worst.

GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Schering-Plough accounted for 53 percent of all financial penalties imposed on pharmaceutical companies between 1990 and 2010.

Most recently, on November 3, the New York Times reported that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has settled another round of litigation against them to the tune of $3 BILLION. (The previous record was held by Pfizer, which in 2009 paid a fine of $2.3 billion for illegal marketing.) The charges against GSK included illegal marketing of the dangerous diabetes drug Avandia, kick-backs to doctors, and manipulation of medical research. Three billion dollars is no chump change, but it's still just a drop in the bucket when you consider the astronomical profits these companies rake in, which are significantly bolstered by their criminal activities.

For example, GSK has an annual revenue of about $28 billion, so how much of a deterrent can $3 billion really be?

The record over the past 20 years tells us that financial fines have done nothing to curb the criminal mindset within the pharmaceutical industry. On the contrary, it has increased in the past several years, despite larger fines being levied. This is largely due to the perversion of corporate influence on the government, as most eloquently explained by one of the most famous political lobbyists of all time who was able to freely spill the beans about the process in the 60 Minutes sequence below, after having served time in federal prison.

Please understand that the drug industry has the LARGEST political lobbying force in the United States.

According to Public Citizen:

"Over the past two decades, especially during the past 10 years, there has been a marked increase in both the number of government settlements with pharmaceutical companies and the size of the accompanying financial penalties. The reasons for these increases are likely related to a combination of increased violations by companies and increased enforcement on the part of federal and state governments.

The danger to public safety and the loss of state and federal dollars that comes with these violations require a more robust response than the government's current practices. Given the relatively small size of current financial penalties when compared to the perpetrating companies' profits, both increased financial penalties and appropriate criminal prosecution of company leadership may provide a more effective deterrent to unlawful behavior by the pharmaceutical industry."

Pharmaceutical Corporations Top the Corporate Criminals List

In August of last year, the Bureau of Investigative Journalists also shed some much needed light on the vast corruption within the pharmaceutical industry. A large number of pharmaceutical companies are guilty of fraud, cover-ups of fatal side effects, and huge kickbacks paid to doctors.

A total of 19 drug companies also made AllBusiness.com's Top 100 Corporate Criminals List for the 1990s. Charges run the gamut from international price-setting, illegal marketing, false claims, hiding serious problems with their drugs and, in one case (Ortho, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson), obstruction of justice and eight counts of persuading employees to destroy documents in a federal investigation.

Between those three sources alone, there's no longer a shred of doubt that the pharmaceutical industry is officially the most crime-infested and crooked industry on the planet—at least in terms of criminal activities that are actually being caught, pursued and prosecuted. (For a running list of the most recent news on False Claims Act cases, see the Taxpayers Against Fraud site.)

Yet toxic drugs designed, manufactured, and peddled by these top criminals are what the medical industry and government health agencies try to pass off as the "best" route to good health… despite the fact that pharmaceutical drugs, taken as prescribed, are also directly responsible for the death of at least 106,000 people annually, on top of everything else.

It would be funny if it wasn't so profoundly tragic.

Main Findings by the Public Citizen's Health Research Group

By scouring through comprehensive databases of all major criminal and civil settlements between federal and state governments and pharmaceutical companies occurring between 1990 and 2010, the Public Citizen's Health Research Group made some sobering discoveries.

For example:

"Of the 165 settlements comprising $19.8 billion in penalties during this 20-year interval, 73 percent of the settlements (121) and 75 percent of the penalties ($14.8 billion) have occurred in just the past five years (2006-2010).

… The practice of illegal off-label promotion of pharmaceuticals has been responsible for the largest amount of financial penalties levied by the federal government over the past 20 years. This practice can be prosecuted as a criminal offense because of the potential for serious adverse health effects in patients from such activities.  

Deliberately overcharging state health programs, mainly Medicaid fraud, has been the most common violation against state governments and is responsible for the largest amount of financial penalties levied by these governments. This type of violation is also the main factor in the considerable increase in state settlements with pharmaceutical companies over time."

The Six Top Thugs of the Medical World

Last year, I also did some of my own research into the biggest wrong-doers. The chart below shows the type of criminal activity, lawsuits and fines or judgments I was able to find for each of the six drug companies featured in that report.

Keep in mind that these are conservative numbers as many records are not available without a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Also, many are not readily available online unless you know exactly what you're looking for, and what year.

United States: 49th in Life Expectancy, First in Health Care Costs

Sadly, all of the statistics included in this article indicate that the pharmaceutical industry shows no signs at all of changing its ways. If anything, their behavior is getting more reprehensible as time goes on, as the price to be paid is never 'costly' enough to deter further malfeasance.

Ditto for the American healthcare system as a whole, which of course is based on the drug paradigm with a pill for every ill... Is it any wonder then that our health statistics are so abysmal? Virtually every measurable index indicates that despite the ever-increasing amounts of money invested, if you live in the U.S., your chances of achieving optimal health through the medical system is only getting worse. While the U.S. spends more than twice the amount on health care as other developed nations, we rank 49th in life expectancy worldwide—lower than a dozen other developed nations!

That alone should tell you that the system is not working. But there's plenty more evidence showing that our health care system is in dire need of a complete overhaul, away from the drug paradigm and toward nutrition and preventive health measures.

In a June 2010 report in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, study authors said that in looking over records that spanned from 1976 to 2006 (the most recent year available) they found that, of 62 million death certificates, almost a quarter-million deaths were coded as having occurred in a hospital setting due to medication errors.

Many more are harmed by other types of medical mistakes. For example, an analysis in the New England Journal of Medicine published in November of last year concluded that, despite efforts to improve patient safety in the past few years, the health care system hasn't changed much at all. Instead, 18 percent of patients were harmed by medical care (some repeatedly) and over 63 percent of the injuries could have been prevented. In nearly 2.5 percent of these cases, the problems caused or contributed to a person's death. In another 3 percent, patients suffered from permanent injury. In all there were over 25 injuries per 100 admissions.

Surely, there must be a better way?

I believe there is, and it all starts with taking control of your diet, exercise, and overall lifestyle.

Optimal Health Can be Reached without Drugs

Most of you know that I rarely recommend pharmaceuticals, and in fact my mission is to catalyze a transformation of the fatally flawed health care system that uses expensive pharmaceuticals, and surgeries –as the primary strategy.  We need to shift the direction and focus on treating and preventing the foundational underlying causes. In many cases, your health will actually improve when you stop taking drugs and are no longer subjected to their side effects.

Naturally, you should not stop any medications you are currently taking until you are working with a knowledgeable natural health care practitioner who can help guide you, but minimizing your use of drugs should be a goal if you want to achieve optimal health. Keep in mind, too, that many drugs are designed to create life-long dependency.

For instance, acid-reducing medications actually induce acid-related symptoms like heartburn and acid regurgitation once treatment is withdrawn. Headache drugs can also cause "medication overuse headaches" leading you to seek another drug to relieve the pain caused by the first one. It's all too common to have to take one or more additional drugs solely to treat side effects caused by your initial drug treatment, so the more you can stay away from this warped system, the better.

The desire to solve problems by taking drugs is a product of our culture, perpetuated by everyone, from drug manufacturers, to doctors, to government health officials, to you.

When you teach your child that the appropriate response to pain or discomfort is to take a pill, the result may be that he seeks comfort by taking drugs when faced with the challenges of adolescence and, later, as an adult. But you CAN take control of your health, and you can typically do so without using medications.

My site is chock full of free comprehensive recommendations that can serve as an excellent starting point. The tools I provide on this site will help you to reduce your reliance on the broken health care system, including its overuse of drugs and provide you with the tools and resources to Take Control of Your Health.

• Public Citizen December 16, 2010

  The 6 Top Thugs of the Medical World… As Ranked by "Top 100 Corporate Criminals" List

  Death by Medicine—An Update

  Prescription Drugs More Likely to Kill You than Recreational Drugs

[Read the rest of this article...]

In the modern era, so-called “medicine” no longer bears any resemblance to the art and science of healing.  Instead of being a practice whereby your body’s innate self-healing capabilities are aided, it has become a business enterprise focused solely on money.  If the truth about your body’s self-regenerative capabilities were acknowledged, conventional medicine would collapse overnight.

No disease is caused by the lack of a drug.  In fact, many diseases are caused by repeated exposure to chemicals that are biologically alien to your body.  Drug based medicine is treating poisoning with poisons -- it may be more accurate to call it a form of sorcery, rather than medicine.  Hundreds of thousands of people die each year in the U.S. as a direct result of medical treatment.

According to Green Med Info:

"A Pharmakós  ... in Ancient Greek religion was a kind of human scapegoat ... expelled from the community at times of disaster ... Calling pharmaceutically-based medicine sacrifice-based, is not just metaphor. Animal sacrifice, in fact, undergirds the entire evidence-based model of drug development and testing, requiring millions of animals be tortured and destroyed every year ... The reality is that medical practice, and the science that informs it, is as much mythos as logos, and one no longer has to look to religion for the absolutist claim to truth. Medical science has laid claim to the body in the same way that religions once laid claim to the soul.”

[Read the rest of this article...]