Watchman News

Research1 published in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle demonstrated once again that grip strength is a reliable biomarker of your biological age. In case you were not aware, your biological age can be a different number than your chronological age.

Biological Age, Health Span and Legal Implications

Chronological age is the number of years you have existed on Earth, while biological age describes the age at which your cells are functioning. For some people, these numbers are the same, and for others, they are vastly different. If you throw another measurement into the mix, your health span is the amount of time in life you are free from age-related disease.

Your health span is intimately related to your biological age. This means as your body’s cells decline in function, they’re more susceptible to a variety of age-related diseases, many of which are in the top 10 leading causes of death recorded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.2 These conditions include heart disease, cancer, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and chronic liver disease.

Researchers believe that biological age is a combination of genetics, lifestyle choices, nutrition and comorbidities.3 You have control over two factors — lifestyle and nutrition — which together influence comorbidities. In other words, you have control over a vast majority of the factors that impact your biological age, and therefore your longevity.

When you consider the world around you, a lot has changed in the last five years. Bioethicists at Harvard University4 question if the distinction between biological and chronological age is significant, should that support a legal age change? While this is a question for another time, you can see how taking control of your health today may hold many benefits later in life, no matter what time in life you begin making changes.

The featured study indicates that grip strength is a reliable biomarker of your biological age, which would indicate that measuring your grip strength can help doctors predict your probability of developing chronic disease or all-cause mortality. One writer ponders5 about the growing number of individuals in their 20s and 30s who are no longer biologically young.

He writes that over the last eight years, a variety of studies have shown that the number of people with serious chronic diseases is growing, alongside a rising infertility rate, rising rate of mental illnesses in young women, and a roughly 70% decline in male testosterone since the 1970s.

He concludes that it is “obvious just how much the quality of human life has declined in just 1-2 decades.”6 Yet, information from the featured study and many others demonstrate that simple lifestyle changes can produce significant results.

Grip Strength Is a Reliable Biomarker for Biological Age

The researchers identified a growing body of evidence that has linked muscular weakness to a host of age-related health outcomes.7 Many researchers have looked at low grip strength as a biomarker of aging. This research team sought to identify the pathways that connect grip strength to negative health consequences by looking at DNA methylation (DNAm) age acceleration.

The researchers used data from the 2006 to 2008 data collection in the Health and Retirement Study in which there were eight to 10 years of follow-up. The researchers looked at longitudinal modeling that examined a potential association between the change in grip strength and DNAm age acceleration.

The data estimated age acceleration using DunedinPoAm, PhenoAge and GrimAge clocks, which are three epigenetic clocks used to estimate biological age based on DNAm patterns.8

At the conclusion of the study, the researchers wrote that there was “a robust and independent cross-sectional association between NGS (normalized grip strength) and DNAm age acceleration for men using the DunedinPoAm, PhenoAge and GrimAge clocks and for women using the DunedinPoAm and GrimAge clocks.”9

Based on the data, the researchers concluded that there is “some initial evidence of age acceleration among men and women with lower NGS and loss of strength over time.”10 They suggest that more research is needed to understand the extent to which DNAm age is associated with grip strength and chronic disease.

This data seeks to explain what other researchers have documented, that grip strength provides evidence of your overall strength and upper limb function, as well as information about bone mineral density, nutrition, cognition, sleep and quality of life.11

Relationship Between Strength and Overall Health

Other researchers have also identified a similar relationship with grip strength, overall health and specific health conditions. According to geriatric medicine specialist Ardeshir Hashmi from the Cleveland Clinic, “Grip strength naturally begins to decline around age 50, and maybe even earlier. People who maintain their grip strength age more slowly. They stay healthier longer and are stronger throughout their bodies.”12

The consensus is that the stronger your grip strength, the better your health and the lower your grip strength the poorer your health. However, there is no consensus on the exact low and high measurements, and they are different based on your chronological age, weight and other factors.13

It’s estimated that grip strength is an indication of general muscle strength, which is crucial for endurance, balance and mobility. The association between hand grip strength and the strength of your immune system was the focus of a 2022 study14 that concluded measuring hand strength allows for “preliminary predictions on the current level of immunity and inflammation in the body.”

Data has also found that hand grip strength is correlated with heart health and can help predict cardiovascular problems alongside family history, blood pressure and other indicators.15 Low grip strength increases the risk of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women and a stronger grip is associated with increased functional independence.16 Grip strength can also affect your stability and increase the risk of accidents when you can’t catch yourself from falling.

Several studies have also found an association between a weaker grip, a reduction in cognitive functioning, an increase in the risk of psychiatric conditions and an increase in dementia.17 A large study published in 2022 associated poor hand grip strength in midlife with cognitive decline roughly 10 years later.18

The study19 published in JAMA Neurology used data from the U.K. Biobank Cohort Study. The researchers concluded that hand grip strength is associated with neurocognitive brain health. They believe this adds to a growing body of research indicating that increasing muscle strength in middle-aged adults may help maintain neurocognitive brain health as you age.

Another 2022 study20 published in BMC Medicine analyzed cross-sectional and longitudinal data from over 40,000 participants. The number in the cohort varied depending on the measurement being analyzed.

The researchers looked at the association between grip strength, behavioral outcomes and brain structure, finding an association between grip strength and increased gray matter volume in regional areas of the brain, as well as several measures of cognition and mental health.

How to Measure Hand Grip Strength

I have known of the correlation between grip strength and longevity for some time now, but was surprised that the instrument to measure it is inexpensive, So, I purchased one for $25 on Amazon and was delighted that my grip strength was off the charts at 129 pounds. I sincerely believe it is largely due to hanging for 90 seconds to two minutes twice a day for the last few years, a practice that I encourage nearly anyone to consider to increase their grip strength.Researchers in the featured study used a Smedley spring-type hand dynamometer to measure grip strength.21 Grip strength measures muscle strength exerted in your hand and forearm muscles. A dynamometer is typically the tool that’s used to measure grip strength but not what’s used to improve your grip strength.

The measurement is typically given in kilograms or pounds. A digital hand dynamometer is the easiest and most reliable way of measuring your hand strength. Owning a hand dynamometer helps you keep track of your grip strength over time. To use a dynamometer be sure to follow the instructions that come with the device. Generally:22

The grip handle should be positioned to fit your hand
Bend your elbow at a 90-degree angle
Apply maximum effort to squeeze the dynamometer
Repeat a total of three times and average the three results

A 2018 study23 used data from 1,232 participants aged 18 to 85 years to extract normative reference values for hand grip strength in that age range. The researchers established ranges based on gender and dominant or non-dominant hands.The cohort was broken into five-year age ranges and an overall range was established for each group as well as identifying those in the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles. Examples of the measurement ranges in the dominant hand include:

Years
Pounds

Men

18-24
103.6 +/- 17.9

35-39
103.8 +/- 26.2

50-54
97.0 +/- 22.7

60-64
84.7 +/- 22.7

70-74
76.5 +/- 19.8

Women

18-24
61.9 +/- 15.7

35-39
64.4 +/- 13.7

50-54
62.2 +/- 13.9

60-64
52.0 +/- 14.3

70-74
47.4 +/- 11.2

Pay Close Attention to Overall Strength

As the lead researcher of the featured study, Mark D. Peterson said, “Grip strength is a proxy indicator of overall muscle strength, meaning that it is highly correlated to other measures of strength. Thus, simply increasing grip strength would not render any changes to health or longevity.”24

While grip strength is just an indicator of your overall strength, you still may want to spend some time improving your grip strength to make everyday tasks easier. Hashmi recommends25 using a racquetball or squash ball as a squeeze ball.

He notes that the size and the material of the ball are important so that you have the right resistance. A tennis ball is too large and may cause an injury while exercising. Other options can include resistance bands and grip and squeeze handles that come in different sizes and levels of resistance. He recommends using a low resistance and working your way up to higher strengths.

While you might think that traditional weightlifting is the only way to build muscle, there are several other options. If you’ve never done any strength training, it may help to begin with resistance bands that come in a variety of different strengths. These allow you to build muscle while you learn the correct form to reduce your risk of injury.

As you get stronger, I highly encourage you to consider my favorite way of strength training — KAATSU, also known as blood flow restriction training. It can help radically improve muscle growth and strength without risking injury. This makes an ideal for people who have never done strength training and for the elderly.

Strength training is vital to prevent age-related muscle loss that leads to frailty and premature death. KAATSU is not only effective in building muscle, even when you’re older, but it also generates some highly beneficial metabolic byproducts, including insulin growth factor 1, growth hormones and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).

You can learn more about the benefits of KAATSU in “How to Optimize Health and Strength — Even if You’re Over 60,” which features my interview with Dr. Marcos de Andrade, a research physician and CEO of BIOHAXS. We met at Dave Asprey’s Biohacking Conference in June 2023, where we ended up arm wrestling. De Andrade was 38 years old and an extreme fitness buff, and I was 69. But I still beat him. So, age doesn’t have to be a determining factor or excuse for poor fitness.

Editor’s Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published May 31, 2018.

According to the National Brain Tumor Society, about 700,000 Americans are living with a primary brain tumor and upward of 79,000 more will be diagnosed with a tumor in 2018.1 At a minimum, a brain tumor of any kind will radically impact your quality of life, whereas the malignant variety affords you little more than a 1 in 3 chance of survival.2

Because the most common form of malignant brain tumor presents with a five-year relative survival rate of less than 6%,3 you’ll want to do all you can to safeguard your brain health. This includes recognizing the most common signs of a brain tumor. Later in this article I’ll share tips on how to reduce your exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) — one of several factors believed to contribute to brain tumors and other serious health conditions.

Eight Common Symptoms of a Brain Tumor

While some of these symptoms could signal a different health condition needing attention, below is a list of symptoms you may experience if you have a brain tumor. Very often, more than one of these symptoms will be present, aiding your doctor in making an accurate diagnosis. Eight of the most common symptoms of a brain tumor are:4,5

Loss of balance — Persistent issues with balance, evidenced by clumsiness with respect to your arms and legs, as well as trouble with fine motor skills, may be signs of a brain tumor. If you previously had good coordination and suddenly begin to fumble and stumble when performing routine activities like reaching for a glass, tying your shoes or walking, you could have a brain tumor.

“Symptoms are often dependent on the location of the tumor,” explains Dr. Donald O’Rourke, neurosurgeon and director of the Human Brain Tumor Tissue Bank at Penn Medicine in Yardley, Pennsylvania. “For example, if you have a tumor on your cerebellum — the part of your brain involved in coordinating sequences of movements — you may have trouble controlling your arms and legs.”6

Memory loss and language issues — Episodes of confusion and forgetfulness may be signs of a brain tumor, especially if they are accompanied by severe memory loss and language issues. As an example, suddenly forgetting the words for common objects like “ball” or “cup” or being unable to recognize words or numbers on a page may be signs of a brain tumor.7

Memory loss may be accompanied by changes in your speech, such as problems understanding or retrieving words, as well as slurring or stuttering.

“Language problems such as stuttering, difficulty naming objects or understanding what others are saying are key symptoms of a tumor in the frontal or temporal lobes, areas of the brain associated with motor function of speech and language comprehension,” says Dr. Christopher Carrubba, a health care and medical education consultant from Jacksonville, Florida.8

Mood and/or behavior changes — A dramatic change in mood and noticeable increases in risky and other acting out behaviors may be signs of a brain tumor. “Patients suffering from a brain tumor may develop depression, anger or anxiety, even if they don’t commonly exhibit these types of emotions,” says Dr. Sumeet Vadera, neurosurgeon at University of California Irvine Health.

“This is related to tumor irritation or compression of portions of the frontal lobe, which is responsible for many of our personality traits.”9

“A large, slowly growing tumor in the frontal lobe can even alter personality and judgment so far as to be mistaken for criminal behavior or psychiatric problems,” notes Dr. Mike Chen, neurosurgeon and associate professor of neurosurgery at City of Hope hospital near Los Angeles.10 That said, uncharacteristic mood/behavior signs to look for that may indicate the presence of a brain tumor include:

Acting overtly sexual
Becoming increasingly and more easily agitated and angered
Engaging in risky behaviors
Showing less inhibition

Nausea and vomiting — While nausea and vomiting may be associated with many illnesses, unexplained, frequent nausea and/or vomiting has been associated with brain tumors. If you have persistent queasiness that has no apparent root cause — and especially if it is accompanied with headaches or other symptoms — be sure to make an appointment with your doctor to have it checked out.

One-sided weakness or numbness — If you experience weakness or numbness, particularly on one side of your body, you may have a tumor in the frontal lobe area of your brain. Very often, the tumor will present on the side of your brain opposite the bodily weakness or numbness. “The right motor cortex controls the left side of your body and the left motor cortex controls the right side of your body,” says Chen.

“If there are tumors anywhere along this pathway, these signals are completely disrupted, and the result is loss of function.”11 If you notice one of your arms or legs suddenly is not responding the way it used to, this may be a sign a tumor is pressing on your motor cortex. Keep track of your symptoms and review them with your doctor.

Persistent headaches — While persistent headaches can be associated with a brain tumor, even doctors find it difficult to distinguish headaches or full-blown migraines caused by brain tumors and those resulting for other reasons. Bring any new, persistent headaches that do not respond to over-the-counter pain relievers to the attention of your doctor.

“The best indicator is a new daily headache that won’t seem to go away,” states Chen. “These headaches tend to get worse over time and are often present when you wake up in the morning, when intracranial pressure is high from lying in bed for … long periods of time.”12

It’s important to note the intensity of your headache pain is not necessarily correlated to the size or growth rate of the tumor. “A small, fast-growing tumor can cause as severe of a headache as a large, slow-growing tumor,” says Dr. Santosh Kesari, neurologist, neuro-oncologist and chair of the department of translational neurosciences and neurotherapeutics at John Wayne Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, California.13

Seizures — While seizures are related to other health conditions besides brain tumors, the sudden convulsions, changes in consciousness and involuntary movements known to characterize seizures may be attributed to the presence of a brain tumor. About seizures, researchers involved in a 2014 study published in the journal The Oncologist said:14

“Seizures are commonly seen in brain tumors, usually in the range of 40 to 60 percent. They often represent the first clinical sign of a brain tumor and count as a favorable prognostic factor, although reappearance or worsening of seizures may indicate tumor recurrence.”

Seizures, which last only a short time, are caused by abnormal electrical activity in your brain. Of the many types of seizures, the kind you experience depends on the area of your brain that is sending out the abnormal electrical signals.

Vision changes — While your vision may change for any number of reasons, getting regular eye exams is one way to monitor changes in your brain that may signal the presence of a brain tumor. If you are experiencing blurred vision, double vision or a partial or complete loss of vision, you need to make an appointment with your eye doctor right away.

Dr. Adam Rubin, optometry specialist in Gaithersburg, Maryland, once completed an eye exam for a 9-year-old boy complaining of severe headaches and blurry vision in one eye.

About the exam Rubin stated, “Right away, I noticed his right pupil wasn’t responding to light. That was alarming, and I continued looking more closely at the right eye.” Upon further examination, Rubin noticed something even more troubling. “The optic nerve was completely discolored, a sign that can indicate a growth in that area. A tumor or large mass can press against the back of the eye, causing a pale-colored optic nerve head,” he said.15

Given those concerns, Rubin referred the boy to a brain specialist who was able to identify the source of the issues — a benign tumor growing near the boy’s pituitary gland. Fortunately, it was surgically removed, and the boy regained his health. Types of vision changes known to signal the presence of a brain tumor include:16

Double vision can be a symptom of a tumor in your brain stem
Loss of your ability to look upward can be caused by a pineal gland tumor
Partial or complete loss of vision could result from a tumor in the occipital lobe or temporal lobe of your cerebrum

There Is No Doubt: EMFs Damage Your Health

The negative effects of EMFs continue to ignite conversations and controversy worldwide. As society becomes increasingly more technologically advanced, you (and your brain) are being exposed to EMFs all day long — both inside and outside your home — whether you realize it or not.

In case you are not clear on what EMFs are or how they affect you, Dave Asprey, founder and CEO of Bulletproof and author of The New York Times best seller, “The Bulletproof Diet,” provides a helpful working definition:17

“An EMF refers to the invisible cloud of electricity that surrounds electrically charged particles. When charged particles are moving (and they always are), they produce magnetic fields. Every living and nonliving thing you come in contact with has its own electromagnetic field.

Your body is designed to handle a fair amount of EMFs. Even if you lived a completely unplugged existence in the middle of the jungle, the planet you’re standing on exposes you to EMFs. We humans emit electromagnetic energy, and there’s no escaping ourselves.”

Most EMF radiation emits from cell towers, cellphones, computers, smart meters and Wi-Fi, to name just a few of the culprits. Because wireless technology is here to stay, it’s imperative you get educated about the negative effects of EMFs on your health and take steps to reduce your EMF exposure as much as possible. If you have been told EMFs are safe and not a danger to humans, you may want to consider:

The telecommunication industry has manipulated federal regulatory agencies, public authorities and health professionals through powerful and sophisticated lobbying efforts, which has left consumers confused and unaware of the health risks associated with EMFs
As was the case with smoking, the negative health effects from EMFs may not be immediately noticeable but will likely develop gradually and become recognized over time
Without a doubt, among all the other EMFs, cellphone use is among the top public health threats of the 21st century

Effect of Cellphone Radiation on Your Health and Your Brain

As mentioned in the video above, a 2015 study published in the journal Pathophysiology18 indicated heavy cellphone use before age 20 increases your risk of developing brain cancer in your late 20s at a rate four to five times greater than those with minimal exposure. You can access more recent studies involving lab animals, which were completed by the U.S. National Toxicology Program19 and Italy’s Ramazzini Institute, by clicking on the source links.20

Those studies found “statistically significant increases in the development of the same type of very rare and highly malignant tumor in the heart of male rats — schwannomas.”21 About the results, Ramazzini study authors said:22

“The Ramazzini Institute findings on far field exposure to radiofrequency radiation (RFR) are consistent with and reinforce the results of the National Toxicology Program study on near field exposure, as both reported an increase in the incidence of tumors of the brain and heart in RFR-exposed … rats.

These tumors are of the same histotype of those observed in some epidemiological studies on cellphone users. These experimental studies provide sufficient evidence to call for the re-evaluation of the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s conclusions regarding the carcinogenic potential of RFR in humans.”

In my view, the primary hazard of cellphone radiation is not brain cancer per se, but rather, systemic cellular and mitochondrial damage. Such damage is not only harmful to your brain but has also been implicated for its contribution to a wide array of other health problems and chronic diseases. Holding a cellphone directly to your head and over your ear canal puts it in the perfect position to send large amounts of radiation into sensitive areas of your body.

Tips on Reducing Your EMF Exposure

There’s no doubt EMF exposure is a significant hazard you need to address to safeguard your health. Below are some tips to help you begin limiting the EMFs in your life:

Seek to radically decrease your cellphone use and avoid carrying it on your body; use it only on speaker phone and hold the phone at least 3 feet away from you

Shut off your cellphone, Wi-Fi and the electricity to your bedroom at night and consider using a battery-powered alarm clock

Swap CFL and LED bulbs with incandescent bulbs and remove all fluorescent lights from your house

Refuse smart meters as long as you possibly can or add a shield to an existing smart meter

Replace your microwave oven with a steam convection oven, which will heat your food as quickly and far more safely

Use wired internet connections for all appliances, baby monitors, computers, game systems, keyboards, mice, phones, printers, thermostats and TVs; set your wired computers to “airplane mode”

While more research is needed to conclusively link brain tumors to EMFs, including cellphone use, you won’t regret taking precautionary measures now to reduce your exposure. The benefits to your overall health will more than make it worth your time and energy.

Fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) look like small flies or gnats. They can be a problem year-round, but are especially common in the summer and fall months. These pesky little flies seem to appear out of nowhere and multiply at a rapid pace. Fruit flies are attracted to the scent of ripened or fermenting produce. Adults reach about one-eighth inch in length and have red eyes.

They lay eggs near the surface of fermenting fruit or other organic materials. When the tiny larvae emerge, they feed on this fermenting mass. Given the opportunity, one fruit fly can lay 500 eggs and will complete a life cycle from egg to adult in about one week.1

The best way to avoid the issue is to eliminate the source. Any produce that is ripened should not be left on the counter, but either eaten, refrigerated or discarded. Any damaged portion of the fruit or vegetable should be cut away and discarded since it may contain eggs or larvae.

Once fruit flies have entered the house, all areas containing any rotting food must be located and eliminated. This includes where juice may have spilled under the refrigerator, or a potato is rotting at the back of a closet. After the source of attraction is eliminated, then it’s time to get rid of the fruit flies that are in the house.

Fruit flies are just one potential challenge that can pop up at home. After discussing how to get rid of fruit flies without damaging chemicals, we’ll dive into other healthy ways of managing home maintenance, cleaning and getting organized.

Fruit Fly, Don’t Bother Me

While some advocate using a pyrethrum-based insecticide2 there are definitely healthier and more natural ways of getting rid of the annoying flying insects. The most popular method has been an apple cider vinegar trap.3

The trap is made by filling a bowl or glass with apple cider vinegar and covering the opening with plastic wrap. Poke small holes in the top and leave the container out to attract the flies. Fruit flies are attracted to the scent of apple cider vinegar and will enter the glass or bowl through the small holes in the plastic wrap. Once they’re in, they can’t get out.

Tom’s Guide lists a few more ways of trapping fruit flies, including using dishwasher detergent with apple cider vinegar to decrease the surface tension so when they land on the apple cider vinegar they drown. Bottles of old beer and wine also attract fruit flies and because the bottleneck is narrow, they can’t escape.

The U.S. Sun calls Sara Snell (TikTok HappyHome_withSara79) a “savvy homeowner” who may have made fruit flies “a problem of the past.”4 They featured her solution to a home invasion of fruit flies, which includes some rotting fruit, a piece of paper, a jar and a few strips of tape.

Sara places some fruit at the bottom of the jar and forms the paper into a cone shape with a small hole at the bottom. The top of the cone becomes as wide as the mouth of the jar and the paper is then taped into place. The smell of the rotting fruit attracts the fruit flies, but the size of the hole is so small they cannot get out again.

According to The U.S. Sun, the post went viral and quickly garnered 1.4 million views and currently has over 200 comments. This is just one video on Sara’s channel5 where she features information about low-tox living, cleaning, organizing and cooking.

Healthy Cleaning Hacks

Household cleaners are as dangerous for your lungs as long-term smoking. Research6 from the University of Bergen and Norway demonstrated that cleaning once a week with cleaning products for 20 years is equivalent to smoking 20 cigarettes a day for 10 to 20 years. The following are nontoxic, healthier ways of cleaning your home and protecting your health.

Fabric softener — Sara features a short video7 on her channel about how bad fabric softener is for the environment and people. In the video, the narrator mentions the many service calls that are directly related to people using fabric softeners. Instead, use a cup of white vinegar in your machine — it softens the clothes and helps keep the pipes clean.

Fireplace — Line the bottom of the fireplace with foil for easy clean up.8 The foil protects the base of your fireplace from damage from heat and abrasion, while extending its life. After the fire is finished and the ashes have cooled, simply fold it with the ashes inside and toss. No more sweeping ashes or getting them on the floor.

Oven cleaner, drain cleaner and carpet deodorizer — Baking soda was used to clean 99 years’ worth of coal tar from the Statue of Liberty in 1986,9 so there’s a good chance it can remove dirt and grime around your house too. Use one cup or more over the bottom of the oven to remove food and grease. Add water to make a thick paste and let it sit overnight before cleaning the next day.
Clean your drains by pouring one-half to 1 cup of baking soda down the drain and then slowly pouring one-half to 1 cup of vinegar after it. Let this sit for 15 minutes and flush it with 1 gallon of boiling water. Deodorize your carpet by sprinkling baking soda on it and waiting 15 minutes before vacuuming thoroughly.

Drain cleaner — If you have a particularly stubborn drain, consider using a wet-dry vacuum to suck out hair and debris first. You can increase suction by creating a seal between the nozzle and the drain with a wet rag.

No iron, wrinkles are gone — Ironing can be time-consuming, especially when you have several items that need the wrinkles out. Instead, try throwing a couple of ice cubes or a wet washcloth in the dryer with lightweight items that need to be ironed.10 Set the dryer for 10 minutes and watch how the steam removes the wrinkles.

Slow shower head — Mineral build-up in the shower head can make for an unsatisfying shower. Remove the shower head and soak it in white vinegar and baking soda for 20 to 60 minutes depending on how much buildup you have.11 Rinse it in hot water and replace it.

Pet hair on the furniture — Yes, sticky tape and pet brushes work to remove pet hair, but if you don’t want to buy one more thing for the house, try textured rubber gloves you use to wash the dishes.12 These will pick up pet hair off your furniture in nothing flat.

Household Maintenance Made Simple

Looking for the light switch in the dark — A dab of glow-in-the-dark paint on the tip of the light switch means you won’t be groping in the dark anymore. This is a particularly important safety tip for older adults living alone.

Maintain a clean toilet — Once the toilet has been cleaned, drop in a denture tablet once weekly to prevent scaly rings around the bowl.13

Shower and bathroom tile — Never clean your tile with acidic cleaners, like white vinegar. This eats away at the grout sealer and destroys the grout, opening small holes so the backboard gets wet and grows mold. Instead, use a squeegee each time you shower and clean the tile with baking soda and water. In high-traffic areas, grout should be resealed yearly.

Stinky garbage disposal — Bits of rotted food in the disposal can make the whole kitchen stink.14 Don’t put your hand in the disposal! Instead, drop in some orange or lemon peel with the water running at half-speed. Run the disposal for about five seconds and let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes. The citrus will help soften the bits of food.
Next, run a few ice cubes through the disposal with the water running. Next, cover the disposal and fill the sink half-full; then pull the plug and run the disposal.

Slow flushing toilet — Mineral deposits and bacteria may have gotten into the rinse holes under the rim and clogged the water flow.15 You can see the condition of the jets using a small mirror. If there are light-colored scales, you have mineral deposits; dark orange or black spots are bacteria buildup. The jet holes can be cleaned with a piece of wire or coat hanger and a hand mirror. Be sure to wear glasses and gloves to protect against any backsplash.

Organic fertilizer — Pasta, rice and potato water contain starch that helps feed your garden plants. Dilute it until it’s not too cloudy.16 Used coffee grounds can boost nutrients and build healthy soil. Either add to your compost pile, sprinkle it around your plants or dilute it in water for liquid fertilizer. Coffee grounds can also help deter some unwanted pests.

Vinegar in the garden — Vinegar is an inexpensive way to control weeds when it’s mixed with dish detergent and salt.17 However, this mixture will kill whatever it touches. Spray vinegar around door and window frames to deter ants.18

No-ladder gutter cleaner — You can make a gutter cleaning wand in 20 minutes19 using half-inch PVC pipe, two elbows, a cap and a garden hose coupling. Place the garden hose coupling on one end of a long piece of PVC pipe that’s long enough to reach the gutter while you’re on the ground. Place one 90-degree elbow on the other end and another 6-inch PVC pipe to make an “L” shape.
At the end place another 90-degree elbow and a 6-inch PVC pipe. You now have a “J” shape with a long handle. At the end of the 6-inch pipe place the cap with 3-1/8-inch holes drilled. Affix each joint with glue and let it dry. Hook this up to your garden hose and spray out your gutters.

Upgrade your pots — When you overwater, it can lead to root rot, but holes at the bottom of the pot may allow the soil to dry quickly. Try adding a couple of old sponges to the bottom of the pot to retain moisture, create airspace and act as a water reserve.

Get Organized

Small items — Ice cube trays make perfect storage containers for small items like jewelry, office supplies and tools. You can even find colored silicone trays to match your decor.

Wrapping paper sleeve — Don’t tape down the loose edges of wrapping paper.20 Instead, cut an empty toilet paper roll lengthwise and slip it over your wrapping paper. Secure it with tape or a rubber band. The next time you need wrapping paper, you won’t waste any paper.

Metal file holders — These are good for more than files or magazines.21 Laid on the long vertical side, they make a perfect holder for water bottles. Placed upright, file holders are a perfect way to store your flip flops, sandals and flats. You can also use them to organize your cleaning supplies under your sinks.

Hanging shoe organizer — Looking for a place to store your extra cords and chargers?22 Label each pocket of a hanging shoe organizer with the type of cord or the piece of equipment to which it belongs.

Don’t shrink clothes in the dryer — If you have clothes in the wash that shouldn’t go into the dryer, try writing on the washing machine lid with a dry-erase marker, noting the clothes that should not go into the dryer.

Storing long-handled garden equipment — It can be difficult to corral all your shovels, rakes and brooms so they don’t fall over. Securely anchor a pallet against the wall and slip your long-handled garden supplies in from the top. They will stay organized and upright for easy access.23

Color code your keys — If you have multiple keys for your home or padlocks, it’s easy to get them confused. Use a dab of matching nail polish on the key and padlock that go together or color code the different keys for your home.

Keeping your car clean — Getting into a clean car can feel good, but it’s not long before your car can be full of empty wrappers, cups and dead leaves. Quickly make a sturdy and stable in-car garbage can using a plastic cereal container with a lid. Glue a hook and loop fastener (brand name Velcro) to the bottom of the container so it will hook to the car carpet and line it with a small kitchen garbage bag.24

Editor’s Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published November 14, 2018.

Cellphones were classified as a Group 2B “possible carcinogen”1 in 2011 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an arm of the World Health Organization and the global gold standard for the classification of toxins.

This classification was based on evidence showing that nonionizing electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation from cellphones can trigger abnormal cell growth and tumors.2,3
In my view, this is a mistake and, just like smoking, I am confident it will be recategorized in the future to a 1A carcinogen.

Earlier this year, preliminary findings of two government-funded animal studies4 were published that further support the notion that cellphone radiation has carcinogenic potential.

The finalized report5 of these two studies — conducted by the National Toxicology Program (NTP), an interagency research program under the auspices of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences — was released November 1, 2018. While the preliminary report released in February 2018 significantly downplayed the findings, subsequent peer review upgraded the findings of risk.

Cellphone Radiation Linked to Brain and Heart Tumors

The NTP rates cancer risk based on four categories of evidence: “clear evidence” (highest); “some evidence;” “equivocal evidence;” and “no evidence” (lowest). According to the NTP’s final report, the two studies, done on mice and rats of both sexes, found:6

• Clear evidence for heart tumors (malignant schwannomas) in male rats. These types of tumors started developing around week 70, and are very similar to acoustic neuromas found in humans, a benign type of tumor that previous studies have linked to cellphone use

• Some evidence of brain tumors (malignant gliomas) in male rats. Glial cell hyperplasias — indicative of precancerous lesions — began developing around week 58.

(Incidentally, incidence of glioblastoma multiforme (the deadliest type of brain tumor) more than doubled in the U.K. between 1995 and 2015.7,8 According to the authors of the analysis, the dramatic increase is likely due to “widespread environmental or lifestyle factors,” which would include cellphone usage)

• Some evidence of adrenal gland tumors in male rats, both benign and malignant tumors and/or complex combined pheochromocytoma

• Equivocal or unclear evidence of tumors in female rats and mice of both genders

The studies also found evidence of:

• Low body weight in female rats and newborns exposed to high levels of radiation during pregnancy and lactation

• DNA damage and damage to heart tissue in exposed male and female rats, but not mice

• Prostate, liver and pancreatic tumors in both rats and mice

Are Humans at Risk?

According to The New York Times:9

“‘We believe that the link between radio-frequency radiation and tumors in male rats is real,’ John Bucher, a senior scientist at the National Toxicology Program, said in a statement.

But he cautioned that the exposure levels and durations were far greater than what people typically encounter, and thus cannot ‘be compared directly to the exposure that humans experience’ …

The lowest level of radiation in the federal study was equal to the maximum exposure that federal regulations allow for cellphone users … The highest level was four times higher than the permitted maximum.”

While the NTP insists the exposure — nine hours a day for two years, which is the lifetime of a rodent — is far more extensive than that of heavy cellphone users, I would strongly disagree, seeing how many, especially the younger generation, have their cellphones turned on and near their body 24/7.

Many are literally sleeping with their phone beneath their pillow. What’s more, cellphones are not the sole source of radiofrequency (RF) EMFs. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled tablets, computers, smart TVs, wireless baby monitors, cordless phones, smart appliances, smart meters and nearby cellular phone basestations are sources of similarly harmful radiation, and most of us are exposed 24/7.

So, my guess is that the duration of RF-EMF exposure is actually far greater than the one tested in the study.

Did NTP Minimize Press Coverage of Their Report?

According to Microwave News, the NTP may have purposely minimized press coverage of its final report, which upgraded the risks. “Reporters were given very little notice to join the NTP teleconference on the release of the report. Nor was there much time to prepare a story for publication,” Microwave News reports,10 adding they were not informed of the teleconference via email until 10:45 a.m. October 31.

The conference was held at 2 p.m. that same day. While NTP refused to state how many reporters were on the call, the transcript reveals only eight reporters asked questions, giving the impression that many likely missed the advisory. Editors also had precious little time to assign a reporter to cover the story. Microwave News adds:

“The news that the NTP now believes the cancer link is “real” was under embargo until the next day, November 1. That gave the news media less than 24 hours to prepare their stories, an unusually short time for a technically complex subject. The main reason for embargoes is to give reporters time to do their homework and prepare a clear and accurate write-up …

Even the fact that the report was coming out in less than a day was embargoed by the NTP. It apparently wanted no advance notice of any kind … There was one exception among major media outlets: The New York Times … As it happened, [William] Broad, a long-time member of the science desk, was already working on the story. He was making background calls a week earlier …

There’s a long history of New York Times science reporters — Broad included — downplaying, if not outright dismissing, news of electromagnetic health effects. Anyone wanting to conceal the fact that NTP had found ‘clear evidence’ that cellphone radiation could lead to cancer would likely leak the story to the Times. And the Times delivered.

Here’s the headline from its web site: ‘Study of Cellphone Risks Finds ‘Some Evidence’ of Link to Cancer, at Least in Male Rats’ … [T]here is the obvious error in the headline: NTP found more than ‘some evidence’ — it saw ‘clear evidence’ … The subhead … ‘Many Caveats Apply, and the Results Involve Radio Frequencies Long Out of Routine Use,’ offers additional — unjustifiable — reasons to discount the NTP finding.”

The New York Times also claims the results are out of date due to the fact they used 2G, which is no longer in widespread use, and that 3G, 4G and 5G are “far less successful at penetrating the bodies of humans” due to the higher frequencies. However, there’s no evidence to suggest the newer technologies are safer. Quite the contrary. As noted by Microwave News:

“Two different German labs have exposed mice to 3G. Cancer promotion was found in each case. The lead author of the second study, Alex Lerchl, concluded that 3G signals ‘obviously enhance the growth of tumors’ … The fact is that we don’t know whether the higher G’s are any safer than 2G. Believing so is simply wishful thinking.”

The NTP also downplayed the risks by stressing that “high exposure” was associated with cancer in male rats, when in fact the results in some instances revealed a greater effect at a lower dose.

Such nonlinear dose response was also found in Lerchl’s study, in which a dose 50 times lower than the highest dose resulted in a greater response. “At this point, one can only guess where the threshold for RF effects may be. It could be lower than now commonly believed, possibly much lower,” Microwave News notes.

Why Rodent Schwannomas Could Spell Trouble for Human Health

As explained by Louis Slesin, Ph.D., editor and publisher of Microwave News, the increased incidence of schwannomas in rodents exposed to radiofrequencies is of great concern for public health:11

“Schwann cells play a key role in the functioning of the peripheral nervous system. They make the myelin sheath, which insulates nerve fibers and helps speed the conduction of electrical impulses. There are Schwann cells just about everywhere there are peripheral nerve fibers. They are present in most organs of the body — whether mice, rats or humans.

Schwann cell tumors are called schwannomas. The NTP found schwannomas in many other organs, in addition to the heart, of rats chronically exposed to cellphone radiation. These included a variety of glands (pituitary, salivary and thymus), the trigeminal nerve and the eye … The NTP also saw schwannomas in the uterus, ovary and vagina of female rats.

The brain has no Schwann cells — the brain is part of the central nervous system. There, glial cells play a similar function. In fact, Schwann cells are a type of glial cell … Tumors of the glial cells are called gliomas. The NTP also saw an increase in glioma among the male rats exposed to GSM and CDMA radiation …

While schwannomas and gliomas are commonly noncancerous tumors, they can develop into malignant schwannomas or glioblastomas … The implication is that instead of searching for consistency in radio frequencies’ ability to cause cancer in specific organs, the emphasis should now be on specific cell types — beginning with Schwann cells in the periphery and glial cells in the brain.”

Mitochondrial Dysfunction Is a Hazard of Cellphone Radiation

In my view, the primary hazard of cellphone radiation is not brain cancer per se but rather systemic cellular and mitochondrial damage,12,13,14,15 which can contribute to any number of health problems and chronic diseases. The process begins when low-frequency microwave radiation activates voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs)16 — channels in the outer membrane of your cells.

Once activated, the VGCCs open up, allowing an abnormal influx of calcium ions into the cell. This increased intracellular calcium and the accompanying increase in calcium signaling appears to be responsible for a majority of the damage that occurs. This is reviewed in more detail in my interview with professor Martin Pall below.

For example, excess calcium activates nitric oxide, and while nitric oxide has many health benefits, massively excessive nitric oxide reacts with superoxide to produce peroxynitrites — extremely potent oxidant stressors.17 Peroxynitrites in turn:

Can cause single-strand DNA breaks18
Modify tyrosine molecules in proteins to create nitrotyrosine and nitration of structural protein.19 Changes from nitration are visible in human biopsy of atherosclerosis, myocardial ischemia, inflammatory bowel disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and septic lung disease20

This pathway of oxidative destruction — triggered by low-frequency radiation emitted from mobile devices — may partially explain the unprecedented growth rate of chronic disease since 1990,21 and is a far greater concern than brain tumors.

Download Interview Transcript

EMF Exposure Can Cause Heart Issues, Neurological Disorders

While an estimated 94,390 U.S. men, women and children will be diagnosed with a brain tumor this year,22 another 787,000 people die from heart disease.23 So, while the relative rarity of brain cancer may lead you to believe that cellphone use is safe, that’s only because you’re looking at a less prevalent outcome.

Cellphone radiation has also been shown to have a significant impact on neurological and mental health,24 contributing to and/or worsening anxiety, depression and dementia, for example, and all of these conditions are rampant and growing more prevalent. (This also makes sense as brain dysfunction will occur much faster than a tumor, which can take decades.)

Research also suggests excessive EMF exposure is contributing to reproductive problems. For example, researchers have found prenatal exposure to power-frequency fields can nearly triple a pregnant woman’s risk of miscarriage.25

According to lead author and senior research scientist at Kaiser Permanente’s research division, Dr. De-Kun Li,26 “This study provides fresh evidence, directly from a human population, that magnetic field exposure in daily life could have adverse health impacts,” adding his findings “should bring attention to this potentially important environmental hazard to pregnant women.”

According to Li, there are at least six other studies, in addition to two of his own, showing this link.27,28,29,30,31 EMF exposure may also play a significant role in testicular cancer and male infertility.

Studies have linked low-level electromagnetic radiation exposure from cellphones to an 8% reduction in sperm motility and a 9% reduction in sperm viability.32,33 Wi-Fi equipped laptop computers have also been linked to decreased sperm motility and an increase in sperm DNA fragmentation after just four hours of use.34

US FDA Stands Firm on Cellphone Safety

NTP’s final report has now been given to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the two agencies involved in the regulation of cellphones and assessment of health risks. Unfortunately, the FDA appears unwilling to change its stance on cellphone safety.

This is no surprise as the telecommunication industry has far more political lobbying influence than Big Pharma and Big Food combined. To expect anything other than full support for the telecommunication industry would be irrational.

In a November 1 press statement, Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, reaffirmed the agency’s position, saying:35

“The Food and Drug Administration is charged with ensuring cellphones — and any radiation-emitting electronic product — are safe for the public to use. Our scientific expertise and input, along with other health agencies, are used by the [FCC] to set the standards for exposure limits of radiation from cellphones, called radiofrequency energy …

We reviewed the recently finalized research conducted by our colleagues at the [NTP] … [W]e disagree, however, with the conclusions of their final report regarding ‘clear evidence’ of carcinogenic activity in rodents exposed to radiofrequency energy.

In the NTP study, researchers looked at the effects of exposing rodents to extremely high levels of radiofrequency throughout the entire body. This is commonly done in these types of hazard identification studies and means that the study tested levels of radiofrequency energy exposures considerably above the current whole body safety limits for cell phones … [T]hese findings should not be applied to human cell phone usage.

NTP hosted a three-day peer review of this study in March, as part of their normal process for issuing scientific reports … which included an assessment of the study methods and data by a panel of 15 peer reviewers to determine the basis of evidence for the final report.

Based on their assessment, the panel voted to upgrade the conclusions from some evidence to clear evidence for malignant heart schwannomas in male rats, and from equivocal (ambiguous) to some evidence for malignant gliomas of the brain and benign tumors of the adrenal gland in male rats. It’s important to note that the vote does not mean new data or findings were reported in the final assessment …

Based on our ongoing evaluation of this issue, the totality of the available scientific evidence continues to not support adverse health effects in humans caused by exposures at or under the current radiofrequency energy exposure limits. We believe the existing safety limits for cellphones remain acceptable for protecting the public health.”

NTP Findings Have Already Been Reproduced

While the FDA insists it “must thoroughly evaluate and take into consideration the totality of the data, and do so within the context of the complete body of evidence rather than drawing conclusions from the results of a single study,” it fails to address the elephant in the room, which is the corroborating evidence published by the Ramazzini Institute just one month after the NTP released its preliminary report in February 2018.

The Ramazzini study36 reproduces and clearly supports the NTP’s findings, showing a clear link between cellphone radiation and Schwann cell tumors (schwannomas)37,38,39 — but at a much lower power level than that used by NTP.

While NTP used radiofrequency (RF) levels comparable to what’s emitted by 2G and 3G cellphones (near-field exposure), Ramazzini simulated exposure to cellphone towers (far-field exposure). Ramazzini’s rats were exposed to 1.8 GHz GSM radiation at electric field strengths of 5, 25 and 50 volts per meter40 for 19 hours a day, starting at birth until the rats died either from age or illness.

To facilitate comparison, the researchers converted their measurements to watts per kilogram of body weight (W/kg), which is what the NTP used. Overall, the radiation dose administered in the Ramazzini study was up to 1,000 times lower than the NTP’s — and below the U.S. limits set by the FCC — yet the results are strikingly similar.

As in the NTP studies, exposed male rats developed statistically higher rates of heart schwannomas than unexposed rats. They also found some evidence, although weaker, that RF exposure increased rates of glial tumors in the brains of female rats.

The fact that the Ramazzini study used a radiation dose well below FCC limits yet still reproduced the NTP’s findings of cancer really weakens the FDA’s claims of safety.

Tech Founders Don’t Want Their Own Kids Using Technology

The good news is that after more than a decade of mounting warnings, many are finally starting to take cellphone exposure seriously — at least as it pertains to their kids. Adults still struggle to curb their own cellphone and computer use, but at least minimizing exposure to children is a step in the right direction, and in my view a really crucial one.

The New York Times recently reported on the trend among Silicon Valley parents to forbid the use of tablets, computers, cellphones and TVs by their young children, and nannies are increasingly having to sign contracts to that end. New York Times contributor Nellie Bowles writes:41

“Even a little screen time can be so deeply addictive, some parents believe, that it’s best if a child neither touches nor sees any of these glittering rectangles. These particular parents, after all, deeply understand their allure … Enter the Silicon Valley nanny, who each day returns to the time before screens.

‘Usually a day consists of me being allowed to take them to the park, introduce them to card games,’ said Jordin Altmann, 24, a nanny in San Jose, of her charges. ‘Board games are huge. Almost every parent I work for is very strong about the child not having any technical experience at all … In the last two years, it’s become a very big deal’ …

The fear of screens has reached the level of panic in Silicon Valley. Vigilantes now post photos to parenting message boards of possible nannies using cellphones near children. Which is to say, the very people building these glowing hyper-stimulating portals have become increasingly terrified of them …

‘The people who are closest to tech are the most strict about it at home,’ said Lynn Perkins, the CEO of UrbanSitter, which she says has 500,000 sitters in the network throughout the United States. ‘We see that trend with our nannies very clearly.'”

Take Safety Precautions to Lower Your Family’s EMF Exposure

> > > > > Click Here

This article was previously published May 8, 2019, and has been updated with new information.

Are artificial sweeteners such as Splenda still part of your daily diet? If so, I would strongly recommend reconsidering. It’s important to realize that while artificial sweeteners have no (or very few) calories, they are still metabolically active,1 and not in a beneficial way.

For example, research2,3 published in the online version of the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health August 21, 2018, shows sucralose — sold under brand names such as Splenda, Splenda Zero, Zero-Cal, Sukrana, Apriva, SucraPlus, Candys, Cukren and Nevella — is metabolized and accumulates in fat cells.

Remarkably, artificial sweeteners have become so ubiquitous, research4 published in the April 2019 issue of Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety refers to them as an “emerging” environmental contaminant, noting they have “high water persistence.”

According to this paper, artificial sweeteners are chemically stable in the environment and water supplies appear to be at greatest risk for contamination. The researchers looked at 24 environmental studies assessing the presence of artificial sweeteners in the environment from 38 locations around the world, including Europe, Canada, the U.S. and Asia.

“Overall, the quantitative findings suggested that the occurrence of non-nutritive artificial sweeteners is present in surface water, tap water, groundwater, seawater, lakes and atmosphere,” the paper states. What the ultimate ramifications for wildlife, especially marine life, and human health might be are still anyone’s guess.

Artificial Sweeteners Promote Obesity, Diabetes and More

As explained in the 2016 paper,5 “Metabolic Effects of Non-Nutritive Sweeteners,” many studies have linked artificial sweeteners to an increased risk for obesity, insulin resistance, Type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. This is in stark contrast to what you’re told by industry, which continues to promote artificial sweeteners as a way to lower your risk of those conditions.

The paper presents several mechanisms by which artificial sweeteners promote metabolic dysfunction:

1. They interfere with learned responses that contribute to glucose control and energy homeostasis — Studies have demonstrated that when sweet taste and caloric intake are mismatched, your body loses its ability to properly regulate your blood sugar.

2. They interact with sweet-taste receptors expressed in digestive system that play a role in glucose absorption and trigger insulin secretion, thereby inducing both glucose intolerance and insulin resistance, which raises your risk of obesity. Sweet taste without calories also increases appetite6 and subjective hunger ratings.7

3. They destroy your gut microbiota — A 2008 study8 revealed sucralose (Splenda) reduced gut bacteria by as much as 49.8%, preferentially targeting bacteria known to have important human health benefits. Consuming as few as seven little Splenda packets may be enough to have a detrimental effect on your gut microbiome.

More recent research,9 published in the journal Molecules in October 2018, confirmed and expanded these findings, showing that all currently approved artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose, saccharin, neotame, advantame and acesulfame potassium-k) disrupt the gut microbiome — in part by damaging the bacteria’s DNA, and in part by interfering with their normal activities.

Another 201810 found Splenda consumption may exacerbate gut inflammation and intensify symptoms in people with Crohn’s disease by promoting harmful gut bacteria. These results echoed those published in 2014,11 where they found Splenda may exacerbate symptoms of Crohn’s disease by augmenting “inflammatory activity at the biochemical level” and altering microbial-host interactions within the intestinal mucosa.

Similarly, research12 published in 2017 implicated sucralose in chronic liver inflammation by altering “the developmental dynamics of the gut microbiome.”

Why You Should Never Cook With Splenda

Splenda (sucralose) is frequently recommended for cooking and baking,13 and is often used in processed foods in which high heat was involved. This, despite the fact that scientists have warned about the dangers of heating sucralose for years.

In the 2013 paper,14 “Sucralose, a Synthetic Organochloride Sweetener: Overview of Biological Issues,” the authors state that “Cooking with sucralose at high temperatures … generates chloropropanols, a potentially toxic class of compounds.” This paper also warns the acceptable daily intake set for sucralose may in fact be hundreds of times too high to ensure safety.

The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) recently issued a report15 on the available data on sucralose, confirming that cooking with sucralose is likely a terrible idea, as chlorinated compounds are formed at high temperatures. As reported by MedicalXpress:16

“When sucralose (E 955) is heated to temperatures higher than 120 degrees C a gradual — and with further continuously increasing temperature — decomposition and dechlorination of the sweetener occurs.

Temperatures of between 120 degrees C [248 degrees Fahrenheit] and 150 degrees C [302 degrees F] are possible during industrial manufacturing and processing of foods, and are also reached in private households during cooking and baking of foods containing sucralose.

This may lead to the formation of chlorinated organic compounds with a health-damaging potential, such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD), dibenzofurans (PCDF) and chloropropanols.”

Chloropropanols, while still poorly understood, are believed to have adverse effects on your kidneys and may have carcinogenic effects.17 One good reason to be suspicious of chloropropanols is because they’re part of a class of toxins known as dioxins, and dioxins are known to cause cancer and endocrine disruption.

The fact that sucralose creates toxic dioxins when heated is also a concern for those who use vaping liquid containing this artificial sweetener. A 2017 study18 found sucralose contributes sweet taste only when used in a cartridge system, and chemical analysis showed the use of a cartridge system also raised the concentration of sucralose in the aerosol.

I find it interesting that these studies are now confirming what I suspected and published in my book, published over 10 years ago — “Sweet Deception” — which was an expose on Splenda.

Sucralose Shown to Have Carcinogenic Potential

Research19 published in 2016 in the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health tested the carcinogenic potential of sucralose by adding it to mouse feed, at various concentrations, starting at 12 days of gestation and continuing throughout their natural life span.

Results showed male mice experienced a significant dose-related increase in malignant tumors and hematopoietic neoplasias (cancer of the blood, bone marrow and the lymphatic system). The dosages tested were 0, 500, 2,000, 8,000 and 16,000 parts per million (ppm). The worst results occurred in males given 2,000 ppm and 16,000 ppm. According to the authors:

“These findings do not support previous data that sucralose is biologically inert. More studies are necessary to show the safety of sucralose, including new and more adequate carcinogenic bioassay on rats. Considering that millions of people are likely exposed, follow-up studies are urgent.”

Pregnant Women Beware

More recent research,20 published in 2018, revealed the artificial sweeteners sucralose and acesulfame-potassium transfer into breast milk — a crucial fact that pregnant women need to be mindful of, considering the harmful effects of these compounds. To determine whether the sweeteners could transfer into breast milk, the researchers enrolled 34 women who were exclusively breastfeeding.

Each of the women drank 12 ounces of Diet Rite Cola, which contains 68 milligrams (mg) of sucralose and 41 mg of acesulfame-potassium, before breakfast. Habitual use of artificial sweeteners was also assessed via a diet questionnaire. Breast milk samples were collected before ingestion and every hour thereafter for six hours. As reported by the authors:

“Owing to one mother having extremely high concentrations, peak sucralose and acesulfame-potassium concentrations following ingestion of diet soda ranged from 4.0 to 7387.9 ng/mL and 299.0 to 4764.2 ng/mL, respectively.”

This is believed to be the first time researchers have demonstrated that infants are in fact exposed to artificial sweeteners even when exclusively breastfed (if the mother consumes them). An accompanying commentary21 by pediatric experts notes:

“NNS [non-nutritive sweeteners] were present in the breast milk of all subjects in physiologically significant amounts, and … at concentrations well above the taste thresholds. Why is this important?

NNS or non-caloric artificial sweeteners (NCAS) are ubiquitous in the modern diet … Despite the approval by the FDA and European Food Safety Authority, concerns, admittedly largely unproven, persist about their safety … The concerns about NNS are three-fold.

First, that they may adversely alter taste preferences. Second, that the ultimate effect may be contrary to what is intended and their ingestion may increase food consumption. Third, that they may adversely alter the gut bacterial microbiome and its metabolites.

All of these concerns are magnified with early exposure in life. The evidence to support these concerns is either inductive or based on experimental models and emerging human data.”

‘Diet’ Beverages Linked to Risk of Stroke and Heart Attack

Another 2018 study22 by the American Heart Association (AHA) found that, compared to drinking none or just one “diet” drink per week, women over 50 who drank two or more artificially sweetened beverages per day had a:23

31% increased risk for ischemic stroke
29% increased risk of coronary heart disease
23% increased risk of all types of stroke
16% increased risk of early death

The risk is particularly high for women with no previous history of heart disease, those who are obese and/or African-American women. The study included more than 81,714 women from the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study, a longitudinal study of the health of 93,676 postmenopausal women between the ages of 50 and 79. The mean follow-up time was close to 11.9 years. According to the authors:

“In women with no prior history of cardiovascular disease or diabetes mellitus, high consumption of ASB [artificially-sweetened beverages] was associated with more than a twofold increased risk of small artery occlusion ischemic stroke … High consumption of ASBs was associated with significantly increased risk of ischemic stroke in women with body mass index ≥30 …”

In an accompanying editorial,24 “Artificial Sweeteners, Real Risks,” Hannah Gardener, assistant scientist in the department of neurology at the University of Miami, and Dr. Michell Elkind at Columbia University, suggest drinking pure water instead of no-calories sweetened beverages, as it is by far the safest and healthiest low-calorie drink there is.

If you want some flavor, just squeeze a little bit of fresh lemon or lime into mineral water. In instances where your cooking, baking or beverage needs a little sweetener, be mindful of your choice.

Sucralose Linked to Liver, Kidney and Thymus Damage

Other recent research25 published in the journal Morphologie found sucralose caused “definite changes” in the liver of treated rats, “indicating toxic effects on regular ingestion.” The researchers warn these findings suggest sucralose should be “taken with caution to avoid hepatic damage.”

In other words, regularly using Splenda could damage your liver. Here, adult rats were given a much higher (yet nonlethal) oral dose of sucralose — 3 grams (3,000 mg) per kilo body mass per day for 30 days, after which the animals’ livers were dissected and compared to the livers of unexposed controls. According to the authors:

“Experimental rats showed features of patchy degeneration of hepatocytes along with Kupffer cells hyperplasia, lymphocytic infiltration, sinusoidal dilatation and fibrosis indicating a definite hepatic damage on regular ingestion of sucralose. Sinusoidal width was also found to be increased in experimental animals as compared to controls.”

Studies have also linked sucralose consumption to liver and kidney enlargement26,27 and kidney calcification.28,29 Another organ affected by sucralose is your thymus, with studies linking sucralose consumption to shrinkage of the thymus (up to 40%30,31) and an increase in leukocyte populations (immune system cells) in the thymus and lymph nodes.32

Sucralose Safety Has Been Repeatedly Questioned

As of April 12, 2022, there are 21,800 references to sucralose in the scientific search engine Google Scholar, so there’s no shortage of studies to review if you’re curious. Here’s a small sampling of papers raising questions about the safety of this artificial sweetener.

Artificial Sweetener Such as Sucralose May Promote Inflammation in Human Subcutaneous Fat-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells, 2017 33 — Research presented at GW Annual Research Days in 2017 shows sucralose consumption caused an increase in superoxide accumulation and cellular inflammation.

The sweetener also Increased expression of a specific sweet taste receptor. According to the researchers, “upregulation of adipogenic genes … cultured in near physiological concentrations of sucralose, indicate possible causality between increased fat deposition and sweetener use.”

The Non-Caloric Sweeteners Aspartame, Sucralose and Stevia sp. Induce Specific but Differential Responses to Compartmentalized Adipose Tissue Accumulation, 201734 — In this study, consumption of sucralose resulted in weight gain and elevated blood glucose and body fat accumulation.

Sucralose Activates an ERK1/2–Ribosomal Protein S6 Signaling Axis, 201635 — Sucralose was found to stimulate insulin secretion much like glucose, but through completely different and poorly understood pathways. According to the authors, these findings “will have implications for diabetes.”

Changes in the Expression of Cell Surface Markers in Spleen Leukocytes in a Murine Model of Frequent Sucralose Intake, 201636 — This study found frequent sucralose intake may affect your immune function. According to the authors:

“Our results show a decrease in the frequency of B lymphocyte population and T lymphocytes in comparison to the control group. In B and T lymphocytes the analysis of co-stimulatory molecules show a lower frequency compared to the control group. The immune response depends on the differentiation and activation of cellular populations.

We hypothesized that chronic ingestion of commercial sucralose might be affecting the immune response by modifying the frequencies of cellular populations, as well as the expression of co-stimulatory and inhibitory molecules … by decreasing the ability of co-stimulation between B an T lymphocytes, with a probable effect on the immune response.

It is necessary to further determine if sucralose intake affects the efficiency of the immune response.”

Popular Sweetener Sucralose as a Migraine Trigger, 200637 — As noted by the authors, “This observation of a potential causal relationship between sucralose and migraines may be important for physicians to remember this can be a possible trigger during dietary history taking.

Identifying further triggers for migraine headaches, in this case sucralose, may help alleviate some of the cost burden (through expensive medical therapy or missed work opportunity) as well as provide relief to migraineurs.”

Healthier Sugar Substitutes

Two of the best sugar substitutes are Stevia and Lo Han Kuo (also spelled Luo Han Guo). Stevia, a highly sweet herb derived from the leaf of the South American stevia plant, is sold as a supplement. It’s completely safe in its natural form and can be used to sweeten most dishes and drinks.

Lo Han Kuo is similar to Stevia, but is my personal favorite. I use the Lakanto brand vanilla flavor which is a real treat for me. The Lo Han fruit has been used as a sweetener for centuries, and is about 200 times sweeter than sugar.

A third alternative is to use pure glucose, also known as dextrose. Dextrose is only 70% as sweet as sucrose, so you’ll end up using a bit more of it for the same amount of sweetness, making it slightly more expensive than regular sugar. But, it is safer than regular sugar, which is 50% fructose.

So, dextrose is well worth it for your health as it does not contain any fructose whatsoever. Contrary to fructose, glucose can be used directly by every cell in your body and as such is a far safer sugar alternative.

This article was previously published May 8, 2018, and has been updated with new information.

If you’re still holding out hope that science will eventually prove artificial sweeteners to be beneficial or at the very least, harmless, you’re likely to be disappointed. Again and again, research shows no-calorie sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose cause the same problems as excess sugar, and then some.

According to 2018 statistics,1 nearly 40% of American adults, over 18% of teens and nearly 14% of young children were obese, not just overweight. By 2021, 42% of American adults had become obese and 35%, overweight2 — and the trend is expected to continue, as the American Obesity Association predicts 50% will be obese by 2025 and 60% by 2030.

What’s causing this weight gain can be attributed to a number of things but, clearly, our diets are forefront, and processed foods and sweetened beverages are driving factors. In an effort to take control of their health and lose weight, many are wisely reducing their sugar intakes. Unfortunately, many make the mistake of thinking artificially-sweetened products are a healthier alternative since they cut down your calories, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Don’t feel alone, though, if you deceived: The international trend of taxing sugary beverages to discourage sugar consumption has also had the unfortunate side effect of causing beverage makers to switch to artificial sweeteners rather than sugar and other calorie-rich sweeteners.

Then, they advertise those artificially-sweetened products as “healthier” — which makes it even more confusing because, when it comes to health, artificial sweeteners cause just as many health problems as sugar does.

What’s worse is that, in their weight loss efforts, most people don’t seem to be catching on that artificial sweeteners may achieve the exact opposite of what you want. In a February 2022 press release, Globe Newswire forecasted that diabetic food sales driven by the sugar-free beverage market will reach $14.66 billion by 2027.3

Artificial Sweeteners Again Linked to Obesity and Diabetes

Over the years, ever-growing numbers of studies have shown artificial sweeteners raise your risk of both obesity and Type 2 diabetes — perhaps even to a greater degree than sugar does. More recently, in 2018, animal research4,5 presented at the annual Experimental Biology conference in San Diego again confirmed that artificial sweeteners raise your risk of obesity and diabetes.

The study, which explored how different sweeteners affect the way food is used and stored in the body, and how they affect vascular functioning, found both sugar and artificial sweeteners result in impairments, albeit through different pathways. As noted by the authors:

“This study tested the response of the vascular endothelium in vitro and the in vivo response of a diabetes susceptible … rat model to glucose, aspartame, and acesulfame potassium supplementation … Through this set of experiments we have identified unique signatures of alterations in lipid metabolism, among others, following artificial sweetener consumption.

Overall, results of this study suggests that exposure to high glucose and artificial sweetener administration lead to unique mechanisms of vascular impairment and homeostatic alterations that may be important during the onset and progression of diabetes and obesity.”

Sugar Vs. Artificial Sweeteners: Differences You Need to Know

In the study above, after being fed a diet high in either artificial sweeteners (aspartame or acesulfame potassium) or sugars (glucose or fructose) for three weeks, detrimental effects were seen in all groups. All had increased blood lipids (fats), but the artificial sweeteners also accumulated in the blood of the animals, which harmed the blood vessel lining to a greater degree. Of the two artificial sweeteners, acesulfame potassium appeared to be the worst.

The results of the study — which used unbiased high-throughput metabolomics, a technique that allows you to investigate how something affects cellular metabolism — indicate that artificial sweeteners alter how your body processes fat and produces energy at the cellular level. So, while operating on completely different chemical pathways, they produce the same kinds of health consequences as sugar.

As noted by lead author Brian Hoffmann, Ph.D., assistant professor in the department of biomedical engineering at the Marquette University and Medical College of Wisconsin,6 “In moderation, your body has the machinery to handle sugar; it is when the system is overloaded over a long period of time that this machinery breaks down.”

Artificial sweeteners, on the other hand, wear the machinery down. “Sweeteners kind of trick the body. And then when your body’s not getting the energy it needs — because it does need some sugar to function properly — it potentially finds that source elsewhere,” he says.7

One alternative sugar source is muscle, and indeed, evidence of protein breakdown was found in the animals’ blood. Essentially, the rats were burning muscle as a source of energy when given artificial sweeteners. Hoffman also notes that this research is different from previous attempts to conclusively tie artificial sweeteners to health problems:

“Most of these sweeteners were approved well before we had the technology to perform studies like my lab is doing. So they weren’t able to look as in-depth at some of the potential effects being caused. By knowing what biochemical changes these are causing through these large-scale studies, we can take an unbiased approach and see what’s changing to give us a better direction.

What I like to tell people is that most things in moderation are going to be fine … It’s when people start to chronically consume these [drinks] — say, a person drinks two, three, four … every day — that we should start to be concerned. Because you’re starting to introduce these biochemical changes and the body has no time to recover.”

Artificial Sweeteners Trick Your Body Into Storing Fat

Similar studies have repeated these findings. In late 2021, for example, researchers found that females who consumed artificial sweeteners felt hungrier and consumed more food than those who simply drank a sugar-sweetened beverage.8,9

What this shows is that, contrary to industry claims, research over the past 30 years has shown that artificial sweeteners stimulate appetite, increase cravings for carbs, and produce a variety of metabolic dysfunctions that promote fat storage and weight gain — often to the researchers’ great surprise. Below is a sampling of other, similar, studies published through the years.

Preventive Medicine 198610 — This study examined nearly 78,700 women aged 50 to 69 for one year. Artificial sweetener usage increased with relative weight, and users were significantly more likely to gain weight compared to those who did not use artificial sweeteners, regardless of their initial weight.

According to the researchers, the results “were not explicable by differences in food consumption patterns. The data do not support the hypothesis that long-term artificial sweetener use either helps weight loss or prevents weight gain.”

Physiology and Behavior 198811 — In this study, they determined that no- or low-calorie sweeteners can produce significant changes in appetite. Of the three sweeteners tested, aspartame produced the most pronounced effects.

Physiology and Behavior 199012 — Here, they found that aspartame had a time-dependent effect on appetite, “producing a transient decrease followed by a sustained increase in hunger ratings.”

Journal of the American Dietetic Association 199113 — In a study of artificial sweeteners performed on college students, there was no evidence that artificial sweetener use was associated with a decrease in their overall sugar intake either.

International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition 200314 — This study, which looked at 3,111 children, found that diet soda, specifically, was associated with higher body mass index (BMI).

International Journal of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders 200415 — This Purdue University study found that rats fed artificially sweetened liquids ate more high-calorie food than rats fed high-caloric sweetened liquids. The researchers believe the experience of drinking artificially sweetened liquids disrupted the animals’ natural ability to compensate for the calories in the food.

San Antonio Heart Study 200516 — Data gathered from the San Antonio Heart Study, which went on for 25 years, showed drinking diet soft drinks increased the likelihood of serious weight gain far more so than regular soda. On average, for each diet soft drink the participants drank per day, they were 65% more likely to become overweight during the next seven to eight years, and 41% more likely to become obese.

Journal of the American College of Nutrition 200517 — In this two-year-long study, which involved 166 school children, increased diet soda consumption was associated with higher BMI at the end of the trial.

The Journal of Pediatrics 200618 — The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study followed 2,371 girls aged 9 to 19 for 10 years. Soda consumption in general, both regular and diet, was associated with increase in total daily energy intake.

Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine 201019 — This review offers a summary of epidemiological and experimental evidence concerning the effects of artificial sweeteners on weight, and explains those effects in light of the neurobiology of food reward. More than 11,650 children aged 9 to 14 were included in this study.

Each daily serving of diet beverage was associated with a BMI increase of 0.16 kg/m2. It also shows the correlation between increased usage of artificial sweeteners in food and drinks, and the corresponding rise in obesity.

Source: Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine June 8 2010: v83(2)

According to the authors:

“[F]indings suggest that the calorie contained in natural sweeteners may trigger a response to keep the overall energy consumption constant … Increasing evidence suggests that artificial sweeteners do not activate the food reward pathways in the same fashion as natural sweeteners … [A]rtificial sweeteners, precisely because they are sweet, encourage sugar craving and sugar dependence.”

Appetite 201220 — Here, researchers showed that saccharin and aspartame cause greater weight gain than sugar, even when the total caloric intake remains similar.

Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism 201321 — This report highlights the fact that diet soda drinkers suffer the same exact health problems as those who opt for regular soda, such as excessive weight gain, Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke.22,23 The researchers speculate that frequent consumption of artificial sweeteners may induce metabolic derangements.

The Journal of Physiology 201324,25 — This study demonstrated that your body is not fooled by sweet taste without accompanying calories, which is yet another reason why artificial sweeteners promote obesity.

When you eat something sweet, your brain releases dopamine, which activates your brain’s reward center. The appetite-regulating hormone leptin is also released, which eventually informs your brain that you are “full” once a certain amount of calories have been ingested.

When you consume something that tastes sweet but doesn’t contain any calories, your brain’s pleasure pathway still gets activated by the sweet taste, but there’s nothing to deactivate it, since the calories never arrive. Artificial sweeteners basically trick your body into thinking that it’s going to receive calories, but when the calories fail to arrive, your body continues to signal that it needs more, which results in carb cravings.

Nature 201426 — This important study was able to clearly show causality, revealing there’s a direct cause and effect relationship between consuming artificial sweeteners and developing elevated blood sugar levels. People who consumed high amounts of artificial sweeteners were found to have higher levels of HbA1C — a long-term measure of blood sugar — compared to nonusers or occasional users of artificial sweeteners.

Seven volunteers who did not use artificial sweeteners were then recruited, and asked to consume the equivalent of 10 to 12 single-dose packets of artificial sweeteners daily for one week. Four of the seven people developed “significant disturbances in their blood glucose,” according to the researchers.

Some became prediabetic within just a few days. The reason for this dramatic shift was traced back to alterations in gut bacteria. Some bacteria were killed off, while others started proliferating.

PLOS One 201427 — This study, which was done on rats, using aspartame, also found an increased risk of glucose intolerance. Animals that consumed artificial sweeteners ended up with raised levels of propionate — short-chain fatty acids involved in sugar production. Consumption of artificial sweeteners shifted gut microbiota to produce propionate, which generated higher blood sugar levels.

Other Ways Artificial Sweeteners Harm Your Health

Artificial sweeteners have also been linked to a number of other adverse effects. For example, the amino acids in aspartame attack your cells, even crossing the blood-brain barrier to attack your brain cells, creating toxic cellular overstimulation (excitotoxicity). Sucralose (sold under the brand name Splenda) is made with real sugar, but chemically altered to make it 600 times sweeter than sugar but with a fraction of the calories,28 has been linked to:

Decreased red blood cells, a sign of anemia, at levels above 1,500 milligrams per kilo per day
Increased male infertility by interfering with sperm production and vitality, as well as brain lesions at higher doses
Kidney enlargement and calcification
Significantly increased risk for miscarriage (in rabbits, spontaneous abortions affected nearly half the rabbit population given sucralose, compared to zero aborted pregnancies in the control group)
Significantly increased death rate (a 23% death rate in rabbits, compared to a 6% in the control group)

Artificial Sweeteners Destroy Your Gut Microbiome, and More

An in-depth scientific review29 of sucralose published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health in 2013 also revealed an extensive list of safety concerns, including toxicity, DNA damage and heightened carcinogenic potential when used in cooking. It turns out that when heated, sucralose releases chloropropanols, which belong to a class of toxins known as dioxins, known to cause cancer and endocrine disruption.

Importantly, this review concluded that sucralose destroys gut bacteria. In fact, animal research30 published in 2008 found it could kill as much as 50% of your microbiome, and appeared to targeted beneficial microorganisms to a greater extent than pathogenic and more detrimental bacteria. This is really important, as any time you destroy healthy intestinal bacteria you open yourself up to unfriendly microorganisms that can cause health problems.

A more recent study in October 202131,32 found that three of six commonly used artificial sweeteners impair the ability of your gut’s bacteria to communicate. Study authors said:

“Our findings suggest that these artificial sweeteners may affect the balance of the gut microbial community via QS-inhibition. We, therefore, infer an effect of these artificial sweeteners on numerous molecular events that are at the core of intestinal microbial function, and by extension on the host metabolism.”

Further studies have also found that sucralose alters glucose, insulin and glucagon-like peptide-1 levels and responses,33 thereby raising your risk for diabetes. Besides worsening insulin sensitivity and promoting weight gain, aspartame and other artificial sweeteners promote other health problems associated with excessive sugar consumption, including:

Cardiovascular disease and stroke34,35,36
Alzheimer’s disease. While poor diet is a major driver of Alzheimer’s in general, the key mechanism of harm here appears to be methanol toxicity, a problem associated with aspartame in particular. In a previous interview, toxicology expert Woodrow Monte, Ph.D., (author of the book “While Science Sleeps: A Sweetener Kills”) explains the links between aspartame and methanol toxicity and the formation of toxic formaldehyde

How Do Processed Foods Promote Drug-Resistant Disease?

In related news, researchers also found an intriguing link between processed foods and drug-resistant disease. Here, a sugar called trehalose is a preferred fuel for two of the most problematic strains of clostridium difficile (C. diff), microbes that cause severe gut infection and can lead to death. Deaths associated with this infection increased fivefold between 1999 and 2007, in part due to C. diff strains having developed resistance against antibiotics.

Moreover, researchers found that more virulent strains of C. diff were outcompeting less harmful strains inside the human gut. To determine how and why, they tested more than 200 different sugars and amino acids to see whether these more virulent strains were somehow able to use some food sources more efficiently than others — and this is precisely what they found.37 As reported by The New York Times:38

“Trehalose occurs naturally in mushrooms, yeasts and shellfish, among other things. It has historically been expensive to use, but in the late 1990s a new manufacturing process made the sugar cheap. That was good news for companies that manufactured prepackaged foods, because trehalose works great for stabilizing processed foods, keeping them moist on the shelf and improving texture.

Since about 2001, we’ve added loads of it to everything from cookies to ground beef. What Dr. [Robert] Britton and his colleagues contend is that, in doing so, we’ve inadvertently cultivated the most toxic C. diff strains, driving what has become a scourge of hospitals. As evidence, he points to the timing of recent C. diff epidemics. The virulent strains existed before 2000, but they didn’t cause as many outbreaks.

Only after large quantities of trehalose entered the food supply did they become this deadly … Britton also found that mice infected with those virulent strains of C. diff that consumed the sugar fared worse than infected mice that were not fed the sugar …

‘What this research shows is that people should be considering the ecological impacts of food stuffs,’ Britton [says]. ‘Our gut bacteria are being bombarded with things that we never ate — or never ate in the concentrations we eat now.'”

For Optimal Health, Drink More Clean Water

I firmly believe ditching soda and other sweetened beverages is one of the most important steps you can take to improve your weight and health, and this includes artificially sweetened beverages as well, because they may in fact be worse for your health than regular soda.

As you can see, the scientific evidence shows artificial sweeteners can stimulate your appetite, increase carb cravings, stimulate fat storage and promote weight gain just like regular soda. As noted above, diet soda is associated with a 50% increased risk of obesity while regular soda (at a rate of one can per day) is associated with a 60% increased risk.

In addition to that, aspartame is associated with a long list of other harmful effects, ranging from brain damage to preterm delivery, while sucralose has been found to be particularly damaging to your intestines.39,40 Unfortunately, many are still in the dark about these health risks. Sugar also promotes unhealthy bacterial growth, and many are already deficient in healthy bacteria due to consuming too many highly processed foods.

This is why I recommend eating fermented vegetables every day, or at the very least taking a high-quality probiotic. Remember, pure water is a zero-calorie drink. You cannot find a beverage that contains fewer calories. If you want some flavor, just squeeze a little bit of fresh lemon or lime into mineral water. In instances where your cooking, baking or beverage needs a little sweetener, be mindful of your choice.

This article was previously published December 13, 2020, and has been updated with new information.

In this interview, we review some of the remarkable benefits of low-dose naltrexone (LDN), including the surprising benefits of microdosed LDN. The two experts featured in this interview are Linda Elsegood, a Briton who founded the LDN Research Trust1 in 2004, and Dr. Sarah Zielsdorf, who has a medical practice in the Chicago area in the U.S.

Elsegood, who was diagnosed with MS in 2000, has been involved in LDN research and public education for 16 years. LDN is a powerful, safe and effective treatment for many autoimmune diseases, yet few, including most health care professionals, know anything about it. Remarkably, LDN may even be helpful in the fight against COVID-19, as it acts to normalize your immune system.2

Elsegood recently published a book on LDN called “The LDN Book, Volume Two: The Latest Research on How Low Dose Naltrexone Could Revolutionize Treatment for PTSD, Pain, IBD, Lyme Disease, Dermatologic Conditions and More.” Each chapter is written by a medical professional with clinical knowledge of the drug’s use. Zielsdorf is one of the contributing authors. Elsegood also hosts a radio show called The LDN Radio Show.3

In the interview, she tells the story of how she discovered LDN and the dramatic benefits she has experienced from it. In summary, beneficial effects became apparent after about three weeks on the drug and, after 18 months, her condition had significantly improved.
We use LDN for nearly all autoimmune conditions, as an adjunct for cancer, and as a treatment for chronic pain. We also use ultra-low dose naltrexone to help potentiate pain relief for people who are on opioids and help them to be less dependent on opioid medications. ~ Dr. Sarah Zielsdorf
Zielsdorf — who has an undergraduate degree in microbiology and a master’s degree in public health microbiology and emerging infectious disease — also has a personal health story that brought her to LDN. She was diagnosed with hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) in 2003. Ten years later, she was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune disorder that affects the thyroid.

“I learned about functional nutrition and triggers for autoimmunity, and started to do all of the things I needed to do to optimize my biomarkers, remove systemic inflammation, and was able to return to my [medical] training. I had been told that I could never have children and surprisingly became pregnant and had a daughter in my second year of training.

After having her, I [had a flareup]. It was then, in 2014, that a doctor put me on LDN. It changed my life … Once I graduated from residency, I started treating patients with a variety of issues with LDN. I’ve treated thousands of patients with LDN.”

Naltrexone — A Rare Gem of a Drug
Naltrexone in low or even microdoses is one of the few pharmaceutical drugs I wholeheartedly endorse. Not only is it remarkably safe, it’s also a profound adjunctive therapy for a wide variety of conditions. As explained by Zielsdorf:

“Naltrexone is one of the few things that actually enables our own bodies, our own immune systems, to be able to function better and really restore function.

After World War II, they were looking for more opioid medications. By accident, scientists figured out how to block the opioid receptor. They did the exact opposite of what they were supposed to do, which is to find morphine analogs for soldiers.

[In] the 1960s, they were able to synthesize naloxone and naltrexone … FDA approved it in the 1980s for opioid addiction at a dose of 50 to 100 milligrams, and then in the 1990s for alcohol dependence.

But it was Dr. Bernard Bihari and Dr. Ian Zagon in the 1970s that had this amazing idea that if you took a very small dose of naltrexone, compounding it in a clean way [down] to a few milligrams, if would briefly block the opioid receptor in the central nervous system — very briefly kissing that receptor and then unblocking it.

This upregulates the body’s immune system by increasing the opioid receptor’s own production of beta-endorphin and met-enkephalins. Beta-endorphins help with mood, pain, sleep and the immune system, and met-enkephalins are also known as opioid-derived growth factor, and there are receptors for these on many different tissues, including the thyroid.

We now use it for nearly all autoimmune conditions, as an adjunct for cancer, and as a treatment for chronic pain. We also use ultra-low dose [microdosed] naltrexone, which I wrote about, to help potentiate pain relief for people who are on opioids and help them to be less dependent on opioid medications.

I’ve actually been able to get patients off of fentanyl patches and get them off chronic oxycodone or Norco use where their pain specialists said, ‘You will never ever get off these pain medications.’ It’s been an incredible journey and I’m a huge advocate of it.”

Naloxone Versus Naltrexone
Naloxone (Narcan) is what is carried on ambulances and used in ERs and trauma bays as an antidote to an opioid overdose. When given at a high enough dose, naloxone or Narcan acts as a complete opioid blocker, which is why it’s used acutely when someone has taken too high a dose of an opioid.

Naltrexone blocks the opioid receptor only briefly, and by a different mechanism. When used in low dosages as LDN, the chief benefit is actually in the rebound effect, after the opioid receptor has been briefly blocked.
Foundational Treatment Strategies for Autoimmune Diseases

With regard to autoimmune diseases, it’s important to realize there are other, equally important, foundational strategies that will benefit most patients with a dysfunctional immune system. These include optimizing your vitamin D level and omega-3 index, for example.

It’s also important to eliminate potential triggers. The reason why people have an autoimmune disease is because they’re exposed to something in the environment which serves as an antigen that their body recognizes as a foreign invader, and as a result attacks it. If you can avoid those antigens, you can often suppress and frequently eliminate symptoms without anything, because you’ve removed the stimulus.

One common autoimmune trigger is lectins, found in many otherwise healthy vegetables. Zielsdorf will typically place her autoimmune patients on a Mediterranean-style paleo diet or an oligoantigenic elimination diet to optimize detoxification, liver and kidney function, and the microbiome.

Others may be placed on a nose-to-tail carnivore diet. As noted by Zielsdorf, it’s “a way of offloading and simplifying what antigens the body is seeing.” Other helpful diets in this respect include the autoimmune paleo diet and the low-histamine or low FODMAP diet.4

“I am a microbiologist and I do a ton of advanced testing, and then we start looking deeper at triggers,” she says. “I used to put everybody on LDN first, but now we know that certain patients will flair because their immune system is so suppressed due to co-infections.

We see it most with Lyme disease and with yeast overgrowth. If I suspect or I have tests confirming that a patient has one of these things, or their immune system is super suppressed … I’ll work on their microbiome before I start LDN …

I test everybody’s gut, and what I see universally is you get this hyper intense intestinal permeability in these cases … What’s so interesting is a leaky gut equals a leaky brain, and we overwhelm our immune system. I do see this. The first step is getting them off the most common triggers, and sometimes I’ll be testing for lectins too.

Universally, for all of my autoimmune patients, is that they can’t eat wheat. There are over 150 antigens in wheat that you can be sensitive to … It is also desiccated with Roundup, glyphosate, right before processing, so we get that extra toxicity. I test my patients for their environmental toxic load, and I see a lot of patients with glyphosate toxicity.

The wheat that we used to eat 10,000 years ago at the beginning of agriculture is not the wheat [we now eat]. It’s not even the same chromosome number as what our bodies ate in small amounts as hunter gatherers.”

Why You Should Avoid Monogastric Animal Meats
As mentioned by Zielsdorf, a nose-to-tail carnivore diet can be an excellent intervention in some cases, especially for those whose immune function is severely suppressed. However, you should avoid monogastric animals, meaning animals that have only one stomach.

Whereas cows have two, chickens and pigs have only one. The reason for this recommendation is because conventionally factory farmed chicken and pork will be very high in the omega-6 fat linoleic acid. This is because they are typically fed corn, which is high in this type of fat, and a high linoleic acid diet can metabolically devastate your health. So, a diet high in chicken and bacon is not doing your body any favors.

Animals with two stomachs are able to fully process omega-6-rich grains and other foods, as they are equipped with gut bacteria that can break it down into a healthier fat. Aside from bovines, this includes buffalo and lamb.
What Can LDN Treat?
Aside from autoimmune diseases, LDN is also used in the treatment of the following conditions. Bear in mind this is not a complete list. Some of these conditions have been featured in various documentaries5 produced by the LDN Research Trust. You can find links to those documentaries in the references.

Cancer6 — Research by professor Angus George Dalgleish and his colleague Dr. Wei Lou showed LDN could bring cancer cells into remission using pulse dosing.7 LDN also works synergistically with cannabidiol (CBD), and works well for cancer, autoimmunity and pain conditions

Opioid addiction, dependence and recovery8 — Using microdoses of 0.001 milligrams (1 microgram), long-term users of opioids who have developed a tolerance to the drug are able to, over time, lower their opioid dose and avoid withdrawal symptoms as the LDN makes the opioid more effective.

For opioid dependence, the typical starting dose is 1 microgram twice a day, which will allow them to lower their opioid dose by about 60%. When the opioid is taken for pain, the LDN must be taken four to six hours apart from the opioid in order to not displace the opioid’s effects

Lyme disease and its coinfections9

Fibromyalgia

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO)

Restless leg syndrome

Depression

Dermatological issues

Infertility

General Dosing Guidelines

Dosing will, of course, depend on the condition being treated, but there are some general guidelines that can be helpful. Downloadable guides can be found on the LDN Research Trust site, and are available in several languages. Keep in mind that LDN is a drug, not something you can buy over the counter, and you need to work with a knowledgeable physician who can prescribe it and monitor your health.

“With a general pain condition, we may use 1.5 to 3 or 4.5 mg. With Hashimoto’s, we start lower and slower because patients with Hashimoto’s may actually have to reduce their thyroid hormone medication if they’re on it because they get reduction of that inflammation and they can produce more of their own thyroid hormone. So, we usually start at 0.5 mg.

For patients with mood conditions … 0.5 to 1 mg. There was an important paper that came out showing LDN is an important agent for depression, for patients who fail those meds or as an adjunct to antidepressants. PTSD patients may have to go higher. There are all sorts of strategies and you just need to find a doctor who’s well-versed in that condition.”

More Information
The LDN Research Trust’s website is an excellent resource for all things LDN. It has a variety of resources to guide patients, prescribing doctors and pharmacists alike. It also has a page where you can find LDN-literate prescribers around the world.

Of course, to learn more, be sure to pick up a copy of “The LDN Book, Volume Two: The Latest Research on How Low Dose Naltrexone Could Revolutionize Treatment for PTSD, Pain, IBD, Lyme Disease, Dermatologic Conditions and More,” and/or “The LDN Book: How a Little-Known Generic Drug ― Low Dose Naltrexone ― Could Revolutionize Treatment for Autoimmune Diseases, Cancer, Autism, Depression and More,” which is the first of the two volumes.

Both books are also available on the LDN Research Trust website, along with videos featuring all of the doctors that contributed chapters to the books. You can also check out The LDN Radio Show.10 Last but not least, LDN Research Trust is a nonprofit that depends on public donations, so if you would like to contribute to the Trust’s LDN research and education efforts, please make a donation.

Today, I have the most important announcement in the quarter of a century history of this newsletter. My goal and passion has always been about supporting you and helping you take control of your health. I am beyond thrilled that there are tens of millions of people who have benefited from what I have shared over the years.
I am filled with joy and gratitude every time I travel and lecture as invariably many people tell me how I’ve changed their lives by providing vital information they couldn’t find anywhere else and even better that was completely free.
These were the times when many of the views I presented were criticized, but that’s to be expected. That was one of the great freedoms we enjoyed. We could have different views and we could speak openly about these views without fear of retribution.
But we are now in a different time. A much darker time. The silence of free speech is now deafening.
Not only is blatant censorship tolerated, it is being encouraged by the very people who were to be entrusted with protecting our freedom of speech.
We are not living from the lessons we’ve learned before. Never in my life, would I believe the sitting President of the United States call out 12 Americans in a McCarthyism like attack in the United States. As you are aware, I was placed at the top of this list.
The last week has brought a tremendous amount of reflections to me, and a lot of unacceptable threats to a company full of amazing people that have helped me support you in this journey.
By now I am sure you know that there was a recent NY Times article attacking me and it was one of the most widely distributed stories in the world. The article was loaded with false statements made about me and my organization.
The report would be laughed at if it were to be submitted for peer review, the groups that created it are funded by dark money and operated by an illegal foreign agent. The press never questioned it, but ran with their orders from above.
I can deal with the CNN crews that chase me by car while I bicycle from my home. I feel sorry for the people in media that have to follow the orders they are given.
It is easy to dismiss the media pawns, but the most powerful individual on the planet has targeted me as his primary obstacle that must be removed. Every three letter agency is at his disposal, and the executive powers have grown beyond what an individual American’s rights can protect against.
A dissenter of medical mandates is now a target and obstacle to be removed. I know – that’s 25 years’ worth of blood, sweat and tears coming down.
I can hardly believe these words are coming out of my mouth. It’s a testament of just how radical things have degenerated in the recent past. However, I will continue to publish new articles, BUT going forward, each article I publish will be available for only 48 hours and will then be removed from the website.
We are at the crossroad where change is unavoidable. We all must make choices that determine our future. To many, this looks like a war … but what we need to find is peace. I am going to find peace through this sacrifice.
Just to be clear, ALL my content will be removed. This includes articles on:

Great Reset
General nutrition
The coronavirus
My interviews with experts

These will be removed to appease the individuals in power who have an arsenal of overwhelming tools at their disposal, and are actively engaged in using them. COVID-19 has activated and authorized emergency powers that have weakened our constitutional rights. Sadly, cyberwarfare and authoritarian forces are beyond our abilities to withstand, and this is now our only way forward.
Over 15,000 articles full of vital information that has helped tens of millions across the world take control of their health, will be removed. There was a time when people could debate and respect each other freely. That time is now gone. I believe laws are best applied like medicine – locally and specifically.
Local food, local democracy – our local community strength is the best way to achieve peace moving forward, and to stop authoritarian technocracy. I also believe we are at our strongest when we can care and maintain respect for each other. This is how we can make our most important decisions in life.
Again I will still be writing my daily articles that I started 25 years ago BUT they will only be available for 48 hours before they are removed. In this way I hope to continue my mission to help you take control of your health – but it’s up to you to download, share and repost this content. I will not be enforcing my copyright on this information so that you may freely share it.
Please also encourage others to read “The Truth About COVID-19,” where you will find much of the information from the past two years that people need to read to wake up and open their eyes. I am donating all earnings to the National Vaccine Information Center.
I want to thank all of you that have supported me over the years. I hope you can understand why I have decided to make this dramatic decision and hope the remaining ephemeral articles will be useful for those who wish to read them.
We will continue through these challenging times together, and remember this:
Your body was designed to stay healthy.

You hold in your hands the power to take control of your health.
Never let anyone take your right to health away from you.
Science can flourish only in an atmosphere of free speech. ~ Albert Einstein

Medical experts and health leaders share insights on important issues affecting your health and well-being.

Medical experts and health leaders share insights on important issues affecting your health and well-being.

Medical experts and health leaders share insights on important issues affecting your health and well-being.

Medical experts and health leaders share insights on important issues affecting your health and well-being.

The celery juice phenomenon is often attributed to Anthony William, who considers himself the originator of the Global Celery Juice Movement.1 The movement has received both social media and major media attention in The New York Times2 and LA Times3 among others.

You can easily grow your own organic celery at home when you keep it cool, give it an unfailing supply of water and plant it in good soil.4 It’s important to choose organically grown celery as it’s one of the more contaminated vegetables available at the grocery store.
Choose Organic Celery for Your Table

Each year the Environmental Working Group (EWG),5 a nonprofit organization aimed at protecting health and the environment, publishes a guide to pesticides in produce. This document is called “The Dirty Dozen;” celery usually makes an appearance on the list.
In 2012, it was No. 2 on the list and the one most likely to contain multiple pesticides, with 96% of the samples testing positive and nearly 90% retaining more than one pesticide.6 By 2019, celery had dropped to number 11, having been overtaken by strawberries, spinach and kale.7
Before testing the fruits and vegetables, the produce was washed and peeled as consumers may be expected to at home.8 The Shopper’s Guide, which the EWG has published since 2004, ranks contamination in 47 fruits and vegetables based on more than 40,900 samples.9 Carla Burns, EWG Research Analyst, commented:10

“The main route of pesticide exposure for most Americans who do not live or work on or near farms is through their diet. Studies have shown that eating fruits and vegetables free of pesticides benefits health, and this is especially important for pregnant women and children.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics11 emphasizes children’s exposure should be limited. Pesticide exposure is linked with poor mental development, pervasive developmental disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Their data also suggest an association with physical birth defects, fetal death and neurodevelopmental effects.
The EWG evaluated the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s tests, which found 225 different pesticides on fruits and vegetables.12 Dr. Philip Landrigan is director of the Global Public Health Initiative at Boston College and one of the writers of the 1993 National Academy of Sciences study, “Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children.”13
He underscores the implications of pesticide exposure and stresses that when possible, steps should be taken to lower a child’s exposure while continuing to offer a diet full of fresh produce.14
The dangers of pesticide exposure continue into adulthood. The Pesticide Action Network reports long-term toxicity at low doses has been associated with Parkinson’s disease, depression, anxiety, asthma and certain cancers.15
Celery Juice Trending: Rising Cost Is a Perfect Storm

Michael Karsch is the CEO of a New York chain of juice bars, Juice Press,16,17 and he tracks juice trends. In 2018 he noticed a rise in celery juice interest and decided to offer a 12-ounce, one ingredient drink for $7. Karsch spoke to The New York Times about the shortage and his take on the future, saying:18

“Within a few days, it was our third best selling beverage, which is astonishing for a one-ingredient offering. I have been historically unimpressed by celery. It’s not vibrant. It’s got a ton of water and a ton of a fiber … Three months ago where we couldn’t provide enough celery juice for about 4 days … Five years ago it was organic almonds, there was kale maybe 7 years ago. Usually what happens is it corrects.”

Vandana Sheth,19 spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, finds these trends are often driven by social media and may be enticing because she believes many people are looking for a quick fix for their health.
She noted moving back and forth between different trending eating plans may be dangerous, and said:20 “I’m seeing a lot more of a disordered way of eating in my practice. It’s not sustainable long-term.”
Sammy Duda,21 senior vice president of Duda Farm Fresh Foods, one of the largest celery growers in the world, spoke to The New York Times about his family’s familiarity with the supply and demand issue when celebrities endorse a specific type of vegetable juice. Out of 10 items listed on their products page, three of those are packaged celery and one is fresh celery.22
The cost not only is affected by demand from the juice trend, but also by the weather. The New York Times23 reports a warm, dry fall in Palm Beach, Florida, where some of the crop is grown, and a cold, wet winter on the west coast where other fields are located, have affected growth and harvest.
The crop on Duda Farm was also impacted by a soil-borne disease, which together added up to a shorter than normal supply in an environment with a greater than normal demand.
Phytonutrients Promote Health Benefits

Although there’s been a push to promote celery as a cure for many different health conditions, scientific evidence supports a more limited number. One cup of raw celery contains 40% of your daily value of vitamin K.24 In addition to this it contains 11% of your daily value of molybdenum,25 a trace mineral your body uses for the detoxification of heavy metals.
Some of the larger threats from heavy metal are associated with cadmium, mercury, arsenic and lead.26 Long-term exposure may result in neurological damage, skin cancers, kidney damage and bone fractures.
Toxicity will depend on several factors including the route of exposure and duration.27 You can read more about how molybdenum functions in heavy metal detoxification in my past article, “The Three Pillars of Heavy Metal Detoxification.”
Celery also contains measurable amounts of folate, potassium and vitamin B2. Celery stalks are a great source of antioxidants, phytosterols, flavanols and flavones, many of which provide anti-inflammatory benefits.28 But, one of the more advantageous compounds found in celery may be apigenin, gaining interest for its potential to fight cancer.29
Apigenin is a flavonoid found in several fruits and vegetables and some Chinese medicinal herbs. It has strong anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antiviral properties and is now being reported as subduing different forms of cancer. This has been found in vitro and in vivo by initiating apoptosis and autophagy, as well as stimulating an immune response.30
Apigenin is associated with stimulating the growth of nerve cells. One animal study demonstrated learning and memory improvements when apigenin was injected or taken orally.31 Studies have also linked apigenin with activating AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in human skin cells.
The results suggest that “one of the mechanisms by which apigenin exerts its chemoprotective action may be through activation of AMPK and induction of autophagy in human keratinocytes.”32 In another published study, scientists looked at the anticarcinogenic properties on the regulation of oxidative stress and DNA damage. They wrote:33

“One of the most well-recognized mechanisms of apigenin is the capability to promote cell cycle arrest and induction of apoptosis through the p53-related pathway. A further role of apigenin in chemoprevention is the induction of autophagy in several human cancer cell lines.”

Large Amounts May Interfere With Kidney Function

Although not high in oxalates, celery has between 11 and 20 mg for every 3 1/2 ounces of the vegetable. Oxalates are found in plant and animal foods with some of the more concentrated sources including spinach, almonds and beet greens.34 Oxalates are related to kidney stone formation and calcium absorption.
Your gut bacteria play a role in how available oxalate will be for absorption. A combination of oxalate and nonoxalate-containing foods will also impact how much soluble oxalate gets absorbed from the digestive tract.35
Calcium oxalate kidney stones are among the more common types of stones. However, it’s not high amounts of calcium that cause the stones but, rather, oxalate.36 Oxalates are compounds that protect plants from predators.37 The oxalic acid binds with calcium to make it less bioavailable and insoluble, increasing the risk of kidney stones.
Oxalates are broken down by gut bacteria, but when your microbiota are compromised the compounds enter the bloodstream and get stored in the kidneys. While 11 to 20 mg of oxalate in one 3 1/2-ounce serving of celery is minor, drinking 16 ounces of celery juice each day may not be.
One 16-ounce glass of celery juice requires one large bunch of celery,38 which often contains 10 stalks39 and weighs about 16 ounces or more.40 Drinking this much celery juice is roughly equivalent to 90 mg of oxalates every day. In addition to other foods, including chocolate, berries, nuts, legumes and grains,41 this may increase your risk for kidney stones. 
Soothing Chamomile Tea — An Option With Similar Benefits

Herbal teas are a rich source of polyphenols and flavonoids with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. One of the most soothing is chamomile tea, belonging to the Asteraceae family42 containing a large number of herbs, shrubs and trees.43
In addition to being used as a tea, chamomile has been praised for many health benefits, including those in the volatile oils found in the flowers. One of the major constituents in the flower is apigenin, primarily found as a glycoside.44
Adults can use the volatile oils from the flower in a bath, as a cream for flaky skin, as an inhalant or tincture to relieve menstrual cramps and to improve sleep. For more information about the benefits of chamomile and how to make a tincture at home, see my past article, “What Are the Benefits of Chamomile?”

During the summer months many take to the local swimming pools to cool off and enjoy time with family and friends. Families may spend time teaching their youngsters the life-saving skill of swimming1 or just hours splashing around and playing games in the water. However you spend your time in or near water, you don’t have to leave with more than you arrived with.
Unfortunately, public swimming pools and hot tubs may be hotbeds of unwanted activity. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia warns children may acquire impetigo, pseudomonas dermatitis and athlete’s foot from swimming in pools.2 The EHA Consulting Group adds exposure to Escherichia coli, cryptosporidium (crypto) and shigella to the group.3
The parasites and bacteria in the list — Escherichia coli, cryptosporidium, and shigella — trigger infectious diarrhea,4 which may be fatal in those who are immunocompromised.5,6 In particular, the CDC warns cryptosporidium is the leading cause of diarrhea outbreaks linked to water and the third linked to animal contact.7
Cryptosporidium outbreaks rising — third leading cause of diarrhea

In June 2019 the CDC8 reported that cryptosporidium outbreaks increased, on average, 13% each year between 2009 and 2017. During this period, 444 cryptosporidiosis outbreaks were recorded, in which 7,465 cases were found in 40 states and Puerto Rico.
The CDC9 defines an outbreak as two or more infections linked to a common source by location and time. These reports of cryptosporidium are voluntarily made to the CDC through the National Outbreak Reporting System. The first outbreak recorded was in 2009 and was the first year for NORS reporting. Of the reported infections, 287 were hospitalized and one person died.10
The most frequently recorded outbreaks associated with recreational water infections were from pools and water playgrounds.11 Of the 444 outbreaks, 35% were linked to treated swimming water; 15% were linked to contact with cattle (in particular, nursing calves); 13% were linked to child care settings and 3% were associated with drinking unpasteurized milk or apple cider.12
As with any food product, it is possible for raw milk to harbor microorganisms. When cattle are raised in concentrated feeding operations the milk must be pasteurized to reduce the possibility of foodborne illness, although it does not eliminate it.13,14,15
A recent study revealed the rate of outbreak in raw milk has effectively decreased by 74% since 2005,16 while leafy greens account for 46% of all foodborne illnesses, according to CDC data.17
Your risk of exposure to cryptosporidium is introduced by swallowing the parasite from contaminated water or uncooked foods. You can also come in contact with it from touching surfaces like bathroom fixtures, changing tables and diaper pails and then touching your hand to your mouth.18
Although not normally serious in those who have strong immune systems, it may be life-threatening for those who are immunocompromised. Those at higher risk19 include people with HIV/AIDS, those with inherited diseases affecting the immune system or cancer and transplant patients taking medications which suppress the immune system.
The CDC warns20 exposure during the peak summer season from a treated recreational water source may result in hundreds or thousands of cases, since one infected swimmer may excrete up to 108 oocysts in one diarrheal incident. The oocysts survive seven days or longer, even in the presence of recommended concentrations of chlorine. Considering that swimmers may use multiple pools, the risk is multiplied even further.
How does cryptosporidiosis develop?

Cryptosporidium begins life as a sporulated oocyst that enters the environment through the stool of an infected host.21 The oocysts are resistant to chlorine treatment and may be found in drinking water supplies. They may also withstand freezing temperatures.
After a suitable host has ingested the spores and the spores enter the intestinal tract, the oocyst releases sporozoites, the motile asexual form of the parasite, which develops inside the oocyst.22 The sporozoites dig into the epithelial lining of the lungs (if the spores were inhaled) or the intestines when the spores were ingested. The cells then undergo asexual reproduction leading to a sexual reproductive stage.23
After fertilization, the resulting zygote develops into one of two types of oocysts. A thick-walled oocyst exits the host into the environment or a thin-walled oocyst will autoinfect the host.24 The infectious thick-walled oocysts are passed through the feces of the host and the cycle begins again.
What are the symptoms of cryptosporidiosis?

An infection with cryptosporidium may result in a variety of symptoms, the most characteristic of which is diarrhea.25 In an immunocompetent individual, the diarrhea is self-limiting and usually resolves within three weeks. The illness may be associated with fever or fatigue, and while the small intestine is chiefly affected, cryptosporidiosis has been found in the pulmonary and biliary tracts.26
Specifically, the diarrhea is watery and may become explosive.27 Explosive diarrhea is a severe form of the condition during which the individual passes liquid and gas when the rectum fills with more than it may hold.28
Normally, the large intestine is the last stop for waste products traveling through the gastrointestinal tract and is where excess fluid is absorbed. However, during a diarrheal process, the intestines move too quickly for the large intestine to absorb fluid.29
Use precautions at the pool

It is important to use precautions before going into a public or private swimming pool. Diarrheal illnesses in swimmers may be passed through pool water. Anyone who currently has diarrhea or who may have been sick with in the last two months will risk contaminating the pool with bacteria or parasites.30 Microscopic feces may contaminate an entire pool or hot tub, making other swimmers sick if they ingest the water.31
While many public and private pool owners seek to maintain a healthy pool environment, it’s important to remember sporulated cryptosporidium are able to withstand the chlorine treatment. Giardia is another that may survive for up to 45 minutes in chlorinated pools.32
Precautions33 everyone should take before getting into the water include showering to remove as much dirt and bacteria before entering a pool. Importantly, don’t pee or poop in the water and don’t swallow the water. The CDC34 recommends taking children on bathroom breaks every hour, changing diapers away from the pool area and drinking plenty of fluids to stay hydrated.
The first line of defense is to keep those with any illness out of a swimming pool, public or private. While it is difficult to stop children from drinking pool water, it is considerably easier to prevent them from using toys like cups and buckets that might encourage them to put water in their mouth.
Test the water and report your symptoms

Another step you may take is to check inspection scores posted by the health department. This is similar to the way restaurants post scores of their sanitation practices. While many public pools are subject to testing, private pools usually are not. To test yourself, consider getting inexpensive test strips at big box stores.
In a survey conducted for the Water Quality and Health Council (WQHC), it was reported that 25% of adults said they would swim within one hour of having diarrhea, 50% never shower before going into a pool and 60% said they’ve swallowed pool water.35 The same survey reported that 72% of adults said they were unaware crypto was a parasite often spread by water.
In a press release from the CDC36 in 2016, the agency released inspection data collected in 2013 from five states with the most recreational water venues, including public pools and hot tubs. Data on 84,187 routine inspections found 1 in every 8 resulted in an immediate closure because of serious violations, while almost 80% identified at least one violation. The most common violations were improper pH, safety equipment issues and problems with disinfectant concentration.37
The CDC recommends38 that when visiting swimming pools you should complete your own inspection for some of the more common health and safety problems, including using test strips to determine chlorine and bromine concentrations. Make sure the drain at the bottom of the deep end is visible and check that the drain covers are secure and in good repair.
If a lifeguard is not on duty, make sure there is safety equipment nearby, such as a rescue ring.39 Since cryptosporidium may remain in the small intestine for as long as two months, during which you may pass the infection,40 if you’ve been sick with diarrhea, it is important to stay out of the pool and report your symptoms to the local or state health department, which reports to the CDC.41
Avoid hyperchlorination of your private pool or hot tub

Following an outbreak of cryptosporidium in Ohio,42 during which multiple cases were identified and linked to one swimming pool, researchers reported the offending pool was subsequently hyperchlorinated. A case-control study was launched to find the source of the outbreak; 150 confirmed and probable cases were identified and associated with the swimming pool.
Researchers found through this investigation that proactive measures may decrease transmission and prevent an outbreak. However, while hyperchlorination was used in this situation, there are dangerous compounds that form when chlorine is mixed with carbon-based compounds such as urine, poop and dirt.43
In one study,44 researchers mixed uric acid derived from human urine with chlorine and discovered it created two highly toxic detergent byproducts (DBPs): cyanogen chloride and trichloramine. Cyanogen chloride is classified as a chemical warfare agent with known pulmonary, heart and central nervous system toxicity.45 Trichloramine has been linked to lung damage in pool workers.46
The combination of chlorine and carbon compounds creates more than these two DBPs. In one study,47 researchers found spending just 40 minutes in a chlorinated pool was linked to DNA damage by these chemicals. The cancer risk of the DBPS is greater from skin exposure than from drinking water.48
Lack of cryptosporidium awareness may increase risk

Cryptosporidium has become one of the most common causes of waterborne disease.49 The parasite may be found throughout the U.S. and the world.50 Washing your hands thoroughly after using the bathroom or changing diapers becomes more urgent as you become aware that diseases are caused by a parasite that’s basically spread through exposure to feces.51
The parasite spreads when you touch your mouth with contaminated hands. Your hands become contaminated after touching objects that were perhaps first touched by infected hands.52 Objects such as stair railings, elevator buttons, door knobs and baby toys are all fair game.
You’re not always able to tell by looking if something has been in contact with fecal matter since only a minute amount is necessary to pass cryptosporidium spores. To reduce the spread of the parasite it’s important for you help to spread the word to friends and family and share why showering before entering the pool is one preventive step they may take.53
The parasite is notorious for being impervious to chlorine.54 In order to kill or inactivate it in drinking water, the water must be brought to a rolling boil for one minute. If you live at elevations above 6,500 feet, the water must be boiled for three minutes.55 The water should then be cooled and stored in a clean, sanitized glass container with a tight cover in the refrigerator.

Bayer has come up zero for 3 in the first lawsuits alleging that Roundup herbicide caused cancer, with the latest verdict ordering the chemical giant to pay $2 billion to its victims.
The verdict came from the third case, heard before the Alameda County Superior Court of California, in which a married couple, Alva and Alberta Pilliod, claim they both developed Non-Hodgkin lymphoma after regular use of Roundup. The pair had been using Roundup since the 1970s, stopping only a few years ago.
The jury heard 17 days of testimony and deliberated for less than two days before deciding in the Pilliods’ favor. Bayer, which is the largest seed and pesticide company in the world due to its $63 billion purchase of Monsanto in 2018, must now pay $2 billion in punitive and compensatory damages.
Bayer to Pay $2 Billion, Guilty of ‘Malice, Oppression or Fraud’

The guilty verdict against Bayer includes a $1 billion payout to Alberta, who developed Non-Hodgkin lymphoma brain cancer in 2015. Another $1 billion is owed to Alva, who was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which has spread from his bones to his spine and pelvis, in 2011. A total of $55 million in damages was awarded for past and future medical bills and pain and suffering.1
In order to award punitive damages, U.S. Right to Know reported, “The jury had to find that Monsanto ‘engaged in conduct with malice, oppression or fraud committed by one or more officers, directors or managing agents of Monsanto’ who were acting on behalf of the company.”2
The plaintiffs’ attorney, Brent Wisner, also stated, “From day one, Monsanto has never had any interest in finding out whether Roundup is safe.”3 Wisner based his request for punitive damages on the $892 million in gross profits Monsanto reported in 2017, and this was just from its agricultural chemicals division.
Bayer plans to appeal the verdict, and the damages may ultimately be reduced, as it’s generally upheld that punitive damages shouldn’t be more than 10 times higher than compensatory damages. Still, the $2 billion verdict sent a shockwave through the system.
Bayer shares have fallen about 45 percent since the Monsanto purchase, and dropped as much as 5% when the third verdict was announced.4,5 Now, with at least 13,400 lawsuits still looming from people who claim exposure to their glyphosate-containing Roundup herbicide caused them health problems, including cancer, the likelihood of a settlement grows stronger.
Some analysts have suggested settlement costs could exceed $14.6 billion, and while the company, according to Moody’s, may be able to absorb payments of $5.6 billion, if costs reach $22.4 billion it could be a blow to their credit rating.6
Bayer Lawyers Complained About Celebrities at Trial

During the third trial, the plaintiffs’ lawyers presented evidence including internal emails and advertising that showed Monsanto’s lack of regard for safety. One such advertisement showed a man killing backyard weeds while wearing shorts and a T-shirt to the tune of an Old West film, while Monsanto studies have recommended the chemical only be applied while wearing chemical boots and overalls.7
Internal Monsanto emails, meanwhile, mentioned ghostwriting scientific papers and payments to front groups, such as the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), to promote glyphosate’s safety.
Bayer attorneys, while maintaining that Roundup is safe, tried another tactic: distraction. They brought up completely unrelated “concerns” in front of jurors, like the fact that the plaintiffs’ attorneys had posed for a photo with environmental activists Daryl Hannah and Neil Young.8
The trials have revealed disturbing evidence against the chemical giant, including the fact that Monsanto allocated about $17 million in one year to discredit the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) scientists who spoke out against glyphosate.9
In March 2015, IARC determined glyphosate to be a “probable carcinogen” based on evidence showing the popular weed-killing chemical can cause Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and lung cancer in humans, along with “convincing evidence” it can also cause cancer in animals.
For instance, in 2017, Henry Miller was thoroughly outed as a Monsanto shill during the 2012 Proposition 37 GMO labeling campaign in California. Miller, falsely posing as a Stanford professor, promoted genetically engineered foods during this campaign.
In 2015, he published a paper in Forbes Magazine attacking IARC’s findings after it classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen. Later it was revealed that Miller’s work was in fact ghostwritten by Monsanto.
Two Prior Roundup Lawsuits Led to Similar Payouts

In August 2018, a jury ruled in favor of plaintiff Dewayne Johnson in a truly historic case against Monsanto. Johnson — the first of the cases pending against the chemical company — claimed Roundup caused his Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and the court agreed.
Monsanto was ordered to pay $289 million in damages to Johnson, although the award was later reduced to $78 million. Bayer asked the court to throw out the judgment in April 2019, going so far as to ask for reversal of the damages awarded based on the fact that Johnson is near death.10
In a second case, a judge ruled in favor of the plaintiff, ordering Bayer to pay more than $80 million. The jury agreed that Edwin Hardeman’s repeated exposures to Roundup, which he used to kill weeds on his 56-acre property, not only played a role in his cancer diagnosis but also that the company did not warn consumers that the product carried a cancer risk.11
The case was split into two phases, with jurors first finding the chemical to have caused the cancer on purely scientific grounds and the next phase finding that Bayer is liable for damages.12 Ultimately, Hardeman was awarded $75 million in punitive damages, $5.6 million in compensatory damages and $200,000 for medical expenses.13
The Government Has Bayer’s Back

In the midst of Bayer facing billions in damages due to glyphosate causing cancer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in their latest review of glyphosate, released a draft conclusion stating the chemical poses potential risks to mammals and birds that eat treated leaves, as well as risks to plants,14 but “no risks of concern” for people and “is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans.”15
It’s not surprising, considering the EPA’s history of siding with and protecting Monsanto. As far back as 1983, when a Monsanto study revealed an increased cancer risk in mice exposed to glyphosate, the EPA asked for further studies, but the company simply refused. They claimed the study wasn’t a concern because one mouse not exposed to glyphosate also developed a tumor, and used this to support its safety.
Johnson’s lawyer, Timothy Litzenburg, told Rolling Stone, “They fought over that one mouse’s kidney for years, spent millions of dollars on experts, instead of just doing the test again. The EPA even offered a compromise — let’s just do a kidney and liver test. Monsanto said ‘no.’ It’s amazing how often they’re able to say no to the EPA.”16
In an opinion piece in The Guardian, Nathan Donley, a scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, and Carey Gillam, an investigative journalist, ask the question we all should be asking:17

“Precisely because the chemical has been treated as so much safer than other pesticides, over the past 45 years glyphosate has become virtually ubiquitous: residues of the chemical have been documented in food, air, water and soil samples, as well as within the bodies of people who have never used the pesticide. The chemical has even been detected in raindrops.

It all raises this troubling question: if what has been touted as perhaps our ‘safest’ widely used pesticide actually causes cancer, what assurance do we have about the hundreds of other pesticides that the EPA has assured us are safe?”

Bayer’s Shareholders Are Outraged
At Bayer’s annual general meeting in Bonn, Germany, 55.5% of shareholders voted against ratifying the management’s actions, in large part due to the Monsanto acquisition.18 Some are calling the takeover “disastrous,”19 and investors had complained that Bayer was not revealing enough about its strategy for defeating upcoming lawsuits.
The vote was symbolic in nature and won’t legally change anything, but highlights the growing unrest within the company, which will only be heightened with the latest $2 billion verdict.
According to Bloomberg, “Markus Mayer, an analyst at Baader Bank AG, said the ruling increases the probability that Bayer becomes vulnerable to a takeover or a target for more activist investors like Paul Singer’s Elliott Management Corp. pushing for a split between agriculture and health assets.”20
Bayer was even caught making a hit list after French media raised accusations about Monsanto’s 2016 “stakeholder mapping project.” Monsanto had compiled lists of supportive and critical stakeholders, which may have violated both ethical principles and legal regulations. In a bit of damage control, Bayer posted the following:21

“Following an initial review, we understand that this initiative has raised concerns and criticism. This is not the way Bayer seeks dialogue with society and stakeholders. We apologize for this behavior.

Currently, we have no indication that the preparation of the lists under discussion violated any legal provisions. Bayer will ask an external law firm to investigate the project Monsanto commissioned and evaluate the allegations.

The law firm will also inform all of the persons on the lists of the information collected about them. Bayer will fully support the public prosecutor’s office in France in its investigations.”

Glyphosate Is Still Being Sprayed With Abandon

Nearly 300 million pounds of glyphosate are used in the U.S. each year, with usage being heaviest in the Midwest due to extensive production of genetically engineered (GE) corn and soy. In fact, more than 90 percent of corn and soy grown in the U.S. is genetically engineered, and these ingredients are common in processed foods.22
The chemical was detected in more than 90 percent of pregnant women tested living in Central Indiana, and levels of the chemical were associated with shortened pregnancy lengths.23 Aside from cancer, in 2017, separate research revealed that daily exposure to ultra-low levels of glyphosate for two years led to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in rats.24
What’s more, glyphosate is in fact patented as an antibiotic, and when broken down, the word antibiotic means “anti-life.” In addition to promoting antibiotic resistance by priming pathogens to more readily become resistant to antibiotics,25 Roundup causes disturbances to a soil fungus called Aspergillus nidulans26 and may be causing serious damage to non-target plants.
Glyphosate is also a popular tool for desiccating (or accelerating the drying out) crops like wheat and oats. In testing done by Friends of the Earth (FOE), 100 percent of oat cereal samples tested positive for residues of glyphosate.27 If you want to avoid this chemical as much as possible, choose organic or biodynamic foods, and install a filter on your drinking water.
If you’re curious how much glyphosate is in your body, the Health Research Institute (HRI) in Iowa developed the glyphosate urine test kit, which will allow you to determine your own exposure to this toxic herbicide.
Ordering this kit automatically allows you to participate in the study and help HRI better understand the extent of glyphosate exposure and contamination. In a few weeks, you will receive your results, along with information on how your results compare with others and what to do to help reduce your exposure. We are providing these kits to you at no profit in order for you to participate in this environmental study.

Are artificial sweeteners such as Splenda still part of your daily diet? If so, I would strongly recommend reconsidering. It’s important to realize that while artificial sweeteners have no (or very few) calories, they are still metabolically active,1 and not in a beneficial way.
For example, research2,3 published in the online version of the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health August 21, 2018, shows sucralose — sold under brand names such as Splenda, Splenda Zero, Zero-Cal, Sukrana, Apriva, SucraPlus, Candys, Cukren and Nevella — is metabolized and accumulates in fat cells.
Remarkably, artificial sweeteners have become so ubiquitous, research4 published in the April 2019 issue of Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety refers to them as an “emerging” environmental contaminant, noting they have “high water persistence.”
According to this paper, artificial sweeteners are chemically stable in the environment and water supplies appear to be at greatest risk for contamination. The researchers looked at 24 environmental studies assessing the presence of artificial sweeteners in the environment from 38 locations around the world, including Europe, Canada, the U.S. and Asia.
“Overall, the quantitative findings suggested that the occurrence of non-nutritive artificial sweeteners is present in surface water, tap water, groundwater, seawater, lakes and atmosphere,” the paper states. What the ultimate ramifications for wildlife, especially marine life, and human health might be are still anyone’s guess.
Artificial Sweeteners Promote Obesity, Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome
As explained in the 2016 paper,5 “Metabolic Effects of Non-Nutritive Sweeteners,” many studies have linked artificial sweeteners to an increased risk for obesity, insulin resistance, Type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. This is in stark contrast to what you’re told by industry, which continues to promote artificial sweeteners as a way to lower your risk of those conditions.
The paper presents several mechanisms by which artificial sweeteners promote metabolic dysfunction:

1. They interfere with learned responses that contribute to glucose control and energy homeostasis — Studies have demonstrated that when sweet taste and caloric intake are mismatched, your body loses its ability to properly regulate your blood sugar.
2. They interact with sweet-taste receptors expressed in digestive system that play a role in glucose absorption and trigger insulin secretion, thereby inducing both glucose intolerance and insulin resistance, which raises your risk of obesity. Sweet taste without calories also increases appetite6 and subjective hunger ratings.7
3. They destroy your gut microbiota — A 2008 study8 revealed sucralose (Splenda) reduced gut bacteria by as much as 49.8%, preferentially targeting bacteria known to have important human health benefits. Consuming as few as seven little Splenda packets may be enough to have a detrimental effect on your gut microbiome.

More recent research,9 published in the journal Molecules in October 2018, confirmed and expanded these findings, showing that all currently approved artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose, saccharin, neotame, advantame and acesulfame potassium-k) disrupt the gut microbiome — in part by damaging the bacteria’s DNA, and in part by interfering with their normal activities.

Another 201810 found Splenda consumption may exacerbate gut inflammation and intensify symptoms in people with Crohn’s disease by promoting harmful gut bacteria. These results echoed those published in 2014,11 where they found Splenda may exacerbate symptoms of Crohn’s disease by augmenting “inflammatory activity at the biochemical level” and altering microbial-host interactions within the intestinal mucosa.

Similarly, research12 published in 2017 implicated sucralose in chronic liver inflammation by altering “the developmental dynamics of the gut microbiome.”

Why You Should Never Cook With Splenda
Splenda (sucralose) is frequently recommended for cooking and baking,13 and is often used in processed foods in which high heat was involved. This, despite the fact that scientists have warned about the dangers of heating sucralose for years.
In the 2013 paper,14 “Sucralose, a Synthetic Organochloride Sweetener: Overview of Biological Issues,” the authors state that “Cooking with sucralose at high temperatures … generates chloropropanols, a potentially toxic class of compounds.” This paper also warns the acceptable daily intake set for sucralose may in fact be hundreds of times too high to ensure safety.
The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) recently issued a report15 on the available data on sucralose, confirming that cooking with sucralose is likely a terrible idea, as chlorinated compounds are formed at high temperatures. As reported by MedicalXpress:16

“When sucralose (E 955) is heated to temperatures higher than 120 degrees C a gradual — and with further continuously increasing temperature — decomposition and dechlorination of the sweetener occurs.
Temperatures of between 120 degrees C [248 degrees Fahrenheit] and 150 degrees C [302 degrees F] are possible during industrial manufacturing and processing of foods, and are also reached in private households during cooking and baking of foods containing sucralose.
This may lead to the formation of chlorinated organic compounds with a health-damaging potential, such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD), dibenzofurans (PCDF) and chloropropanols.”

Chloropropanols, while still poorly understood, are believed to have adverse effects on your kidneys and may have carcinogenic effects.17 One good reason to be suspicious of chloropropanols is because they’re part of a class of toxins known as dioxins, and dioxins are known to cause cancer and endocrine disruption.
The fact that sucralose creates toxic dioxins when heated is also a concern for those who use vaping liquid containing this artificial sweetener. A 2017 study18 found sucralose contributes sweet taste only when used in a cartridge system, and chemical analysis showed the use of a cartridge system also raised the concentration of sucralose in the aerosol.
I find it interesting that these studies are now confirming what I suspected and published in my book, published over 10 years ago — “Sweet Deception” — which was an expose on Splenda.
Sucralose Shown to Have Carcinogenic Potential
Research19 published in 2016 in the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health tested the carcinogenic potential of sucralose by adding it to mouse feed, at various concentrations, starting at 12 days of gestation and continuing throughout their natural life span.
Results showed male mice experienced a significant dose-related increase in malignant tumors and hematopoietic neoplasias (cancer of the blood, bone marrow and the lymphatic system). The dosages tested were 0, 500, 2,000, 8,000 and 16,000 parts per million (ppm). The worst results occurred in males given 2,000 ppm and 16,000 ppm. According to the authors:

“These findings do not support previous data that sucralose is biologically inert. More studies are necessary to show the safety of sucralose, including new and more adequate carcinogenic bioassay on rats. Considering that millions of people are likely exposed, follow-up studies are urgent.”

Pregnant Women Beware
More recent research,20 published in 2018, revealed the artificial sweeteners sucralose and acesulfame-potassium transfer into breast milk — a crucial fact that pregnant women need to be mindful of, considering the harmful effects of these compounds. To determine whether the sweeteners could transfer into breast milk, the researchers enrolled 34 women who were exclusively breastfeeding.
Each of the women drank 12 ounces of Diet Rite Cola, which contains 68 milligrams (mg) of sucralose and 41 mg of acesulfame-potassium, before breakfast. Habitual use of artificial sweeteners was also assessed via a diet questionnaire. Breast milk samples were collected before ingestion and every hour thereafter for six hours. As reported by the authors:

“Owing to one mother having extremely high concentrations, peak sucralose and acesulfame-potassium concentrations following ingestion of diet soda ranged from 4.0 to 7387.9 ng/mL and 299.0 to 4764.2 ng/mL, respectively.”

This is believed to be the first time researchers have demonstrated that infants are in fact exposed to artificial sweeteners even when exclusively breastfed (if the mother consumes them). An accompanying commentary21 by pediatric experts notes:

“NNS [non-nutritive sweeteners] were present in the breast milk of all subjects in physiologically significant amounts, and … at concentrations well above the taste thresholds. Why is this important?
NNS or non-caloric artificial sweeteners (NCAS) are ubiquitous in the modern diet … Despite the approval by the FDA and European Food Safety Authority, concerns, admittedly largely unproven, persist about their safety … The concerns about NNS are three-fold.
First, that they may adversely alter taste preferences. Second, that the ultimate effect may be contrary to what is intended and their ingestion may increase food consumption. Third, that they may adversely alter the gut bacterial microbiome and its metabolites.
All of these concerns are magnified with early exposure in life. The evidence to support these concerns is either inductive or based on experimental models and emerging human data.”

‘Diet’ Beverages Linked to Increased Risk of Stroke and Heart Attack
Another 2018 study22 by the American Heart Association (AHA) found that, compared to drinking none or just one “diet” drink per week, women over 50 who drank two or more artificially sweetened beverages per day had a:23

31% increased risk for ischemic stroke
29% increased risk of coronary heart disease
23% increased risk of all types of stroke
16% increased risk of early death

The risk is particularly high for women with no previous history of heart disease, those who are obese and/or African-American women. The study included more than 81,714 women from the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study, a longitudinal study of the health of 93,676 postmenopausal women between the ages of 50 and 79. The mean follow-up time was close to 11.9 years. According to the authors:

“In women with no prior history of cardiovascular disease or diabetes mellitus, high consumption of ASB [artificially-sweetened beverages] was associated with more than a twofold increased risk of small artery occlusion ischemic stroke … High consumption of ASBs was associated with significantly increased risk of ischemic stroke in women with body mass index ≥30 …”

In an accompanying editorial,24 “Artificial Sweeteners, Real Risks,” Hannah Gardener, assistant scientist in the department of neurology at the University of Miami, and Dr. Michell Elkind at Columbia University, suggest drinking pure water instead of no-calories sweetened beverages, as it is by far the safest and healthiest low-calorie drink there is.

If you want some flavor, just squeeze a little bit of fresh lemon or lime into mineral water. In instances where your cooking, baking or beverage needs a little sweetener, be mindful of your choice.

Sucralose Linked to Liver, Kidney and Thymus Damage

Other recent research25 published in the journal Morphologie found sucralose caused “definite changes” in the liver of treated rats, “indicating toxic effects on regular ingestion.” The researchers warn these findings suggest sucralose should be “taken with caution to avoid hepatic damage.”
In other words, regularly using Splenda could damage your liver. Here, adult rats were given a much higher (yet nonlethal) oral dose of sucralose — 3 grams (3,000 mg) per kilo body mass per day for 30 days, after which the animals’ livers were dissected and compared to the livers of unexposed controls. According to the authors:

“Experimental rats showed features of patchy degeneration of hepatocytes along with Kupffer cells hyperplasia, lymphocytic infiltration, sinusoidal dilatation and fibrosis indicating a definite hepatic damage on regular ingestion of sucralose. Sinusoidal width was also found to be increased in experimental animals as compared to controls.”

Studies have also linked sucralose consumption to liver and kidney enlargement26,27 and kidney calcification.28,29 Another organ affected by sucralose is your thymus, with studies linking sucralose consumption to shrinkage of the thymus (up to 40%30,31) and an increase in leukocyte populations (immune system cells) in the thymus and lymph nodes.32
Sucralose Safety Has Been Repeatedly Questioned

At the time of this writing, there are 27,400 references to sucralose in the scientific search engine Google Scholar, so there’s no shortage of studies to review if you’re curious. Here’s a small sampling of papers raising questions about the safety of this artificial sweetener.

Artificial Sweetener Such as Sucralose May Promote Inflammation in Human Subcutaneous Fat-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells, 2017 33 — Research presented at GW Annual Research Days in 2017 shows sucralose consumption caused an increase in superoxide accumulation and cellular inflammation.
The sweetener also Increased expression of a specific sweet taste receptor. According to the researchers, “upregulation of adipogenic genes … cultured in near physiological concentrations of sucralose, indicate possible causality between increased fat deposition and sweetener use.”

The Non-Caloric Sweeteners Aspartame, Sucralose and Stevia sp. Induce Specific but Differential Responses to Compartmentalized Adipose Tissue Accumulation, 201734 — In this study, consumption of sucralose resulted in weight gain, elevated blood glucose and body fat accumulation.

Sucralose Activates an ERK1/2–Ribosomal Protein S6 Signaling Axis, 201635 — Sucralose was found to stimulate insulin secretion much like glucose, but through completely different and poorly understood pathways. According to the authors, these findings “will have implications for diabetes.”

Changes in the Expression of Cell Surface Markers in Spleen Leukocytes in a Murine Model of Frequent Sucralose Intake, 201636 — This study found frequent sucralose intake may affect your immune function. According to the authors:

“Our results show a decrease in the frequency of B lymphocyte population and T lymphocytes in comparison to the control group. In B and T lymphocytes the analysis of co-stimulatory molecules show a lower frequency compared to the control group. The immune response depends on the differentiation and activation of cellular populations.
We hypothesized that chronic ingestion of commercial sucralose might be affecting the immune response by modifying the frequencies of cellular populations, as well as the expression of co-stimulatory and inhibitory molecules … by decreasing the ability of co-stimulation between B an T lymphocytes, with a probable effect on the immune response.
It is necessary to further determine if sucralose intake affects the efficiency of the immune response.”

Popular Sweetener Sucralose as a Migraine Trigger, 200637 — As noted by the authors, “This observation of a potential causal relationship between sucralose and migraines may be important for physicians to remember this can be a possible trigger during dietary history taking.
Identifying further triggers for migraine headaches, in this case sucralose, may help alleviate some of the cost burden (through expensive medical therapy or missed work opportunity) as well as provide relief to migraineurs.”

Healthier Sugar Substitutes

Two of the best sugar substitutes are Stevia and Lo Han Kuo (also spelled Luo Han Guo). Stevia, a highly sweet herb derived from the leaf of the South American stevia plant, is sold as a supplement. It’s completely safe in its natural form and can be used to sweeten most dishes and drinks.

Lo Han Kuo is similar to Stevia, but is my personal favorite. I use the Lakanto brand vanilla flavor which is a real treat for me. The Lo Han fruit has been used as a sweetener for centuries, and is about 200 times sweeter than sugar.

A third alternative is to use pure glucose, also known as dextrose. Dextrose is only 70% as sweet as sucrose, so you’ll end up using a bit more of it for the same amount of sweetness, making it slightly more expensive than regular sugar. It is safer than regular sugar, which is 50% fructose.

Still, it’s well worth it for your health as it does not contain any fructose whatsoever. Contrary to fructose, glucose can be used directly by every cell in your body and as such is a far safer sugar alternative.

It may surprise you to learn that celery is part of the same family of plants, called Apiaceae, as carrots and parsley, but it’s probably not a surprise that it’s also related to celeriac, a root vegetable.
Most people think of celery as a pleasingly crunchy veggie that goes well with carrots and radishes on party platters. But recent studies have revealed the pale green stalks, aka Apium graveolens, also have a substantial array of health benefits, as do the tiny seeds and even the juice, in spite of the fact that the stalks are fully 95 percent water.
Celery juice, it turns out, is touted as one of the latest super beverages, and according to The Guardian,1 as of October 2018, it’s quadrupled in sales compared to kale juice, which apparently is so 15 minutes ago. In fact, sales in the U.S. have recently increased by 454 percent, and the craze is moving to Britain.
The Celery Juice Phenomenon

The phenomenon is attributed to Anthony William, who calls himself the originator of the Global Celery Juice Movement since he’s successfully managed to market it as “a healing tool for every symptom and condition imaginable.”2 William says the most benefits come from drinking it in the morning on an empty stomach, not mixing it with other substances and waiting 15 minutes to eat anything else.
The benefits he lists extend to “autoimmune conditions, acne, eczema, psoriasis, migraines, acid reflux, addictions, anxiety, depression, fatigue, weight issues, bloating (and) constipation.”3
Scientists believe celery has benefits for your digestive tract and cardiovascular system, and the seeds have been used as a natural pain reliever. One of the most advantageous compounds in celery is apigenin, a molecule that is gaining interest for possible cancer-fighting properties.4
Apigenin is a flavonoid found in many herbs, including parsley, thyme and chamomile. One reason it’s so significant is because it enhances the neurons in your brain. In fact, one study5 showed that when apigenin was applied to a petri dish containing human stem cells, 25 days later the stem cells had turned into neurons.
Further, the synapses connecting the neurons were “stronger and more sophisticated,” something that didn’t occur without the apigenin. The upshot is that stronger neurons bolster several aspects of your brain function. In addition to growing new brain cells, apigenin has been associated with fighting cancer, particularly breast cancer.6
This compound has also been linked to reduced damage to your body due to inflammation. Eating celery and other foods with apigenin on the ingredients list was observed in a study published in PloS One to restore immune balance even in the presence of inflammation, the study explains:

“Apigenin inhibits LPS (lipopolysaccharide)-induced inflammatory response through multiple mechanisms in macrophages. These results provided important scientific evidences for the potential application of apigenin as a therapeutic agent for inflammatory diseases.”7

According to the Online Textbook of Bacteriology,8 lipopolysaccharides are associated with the outer membrane of E. coli, salmonella, shigella and other gram-negative pathogens. In short, apigenin reduces the toxic effects, and “Exert[s] effective anti-inflammatory activity in vivo by reducing LPS-induced expression … thereby restoring immune balance,” an Ohio State University study9 shows.
Health Benefits of Eating Celery

There’s a healthy dose of vitamin K in celery, necessary to provide healthy blood clotting and to help prevent arterial calcification, and providing 37 percent of the dietary reference intake (DRI) in a single cup. The next highest nutrient celery provides is 11 percent of the molybdenum, a trace mineral that’s critical for the detoxification of heavy metals. I’ve written before about how molybdenum functions as a cofactor for four crucial enzymes:

Sulfite oxidase

Xanthine oxidase 

Aldehyde oxidase 

Mitochondrial amidoxime reducing component (mARC)

Other nutrients in celery include vitamins A and C, folate and potassium, and it’s a rich source of antioxidants, phenolic acids, phytosterols, flavones and flavonols, along with several more obscure phytonutrients.
Again, not only is eating celery good for you, the seeds are, too. Studies indicate that while celery may be a simple food, it has a complex chemical makeup with components able to produce a relaxing, dilating effect to help lower your blood pressure.10 The featured study explains:

“Celery seed extracts have antihypertensive properties, which appears to be attributable to the actions of its active hydrophobic constitutes such as NBP (n-butylphthalide) and can be considered as an antihypertensive agent in chronic treatment of elevated BP.”11

Studies indicate that 3nB is identified as a compound useful in managing brain-based vascular diseases, including stroke and vascular dementia.12 There have been studies that suggested viable blood pressure reduction in rats, such as one published in the Journal of Medicinal Food,13 but subsequent human studies have shown that celery seed extract does indeed reduce hypertension levels.
Case in point: For the 30 study participants with mild to moderate hypertension who took the prescribed 75 milligram (mg) doses of celery seed extract twice a day for six weeks, the results were measurable: Mean blood pressure baseline measurements dropped 8.2 mm Hg systolic and 8.5 diastolic from baseline. However, to realize a similar benefit, you’d have to eat about 50 pounds or 530 celery stalks.14
Celery Compounds That Combat Cancer and Stimulate Neurogenesis

Regarding neurogenesis, apigenin may also stimulate the growth and development of nerve cells in mice and improve their learning and memory capabilities, as well as be useful for the treatment of neurological diseases, disorders and injuries, according to a study15 conducted at the Dublin City School of Biotechnology in Ireland.
Besides apigenin in celery, there’s also the flavonoid luteolin, which has been shown to have anticancer properties. This takes place, the study authors explain,16 because the presence of luteolin renders cancer cells more vulnerable to therapy agents. Apigenin was also shown to inhibit growth in four pancreatic cancer cell lines.17
Additionally, researchers in 2017 found that luteolin may also be effective in reducing women’s’ risk of developing metastasis from triple-negative breast cancer. Salman Hyder, professor in tumor angiogenesis and biomedical sciences at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, tested cells in petri dishes and explained:

“Triple-negative breast cancers are cancer cells that lack three receptors targeted by current chemotherapy regimens. Because of this lack of receptors, common cancer drugs can’t ‘find’ the cells, and doctors must treat the cancer with extremely aggressive and highly toxic treatment strategies.
Women with this type of breast cancer also frequently develop metastatic lesions that originate from drug-resistant cells … (They’re) highly mobile in the body, which helps them metastasize to other organs throughout the body. We found that luteolin inhibits that migration and also can kill cancer cells.”18

Other benefits are suggested by historical literature in regard to the effectiveness of celery. Its compounds may soothe your nervous system, alleviate pain and treat an array of maladies such as arthritis, gout, water retention, muscle spasms, colds and flu, although scientists say more evidence is needed to verify these uses.
Digestive Tract Advantages From Celery

Celery has long been known to be a great snack because it’s not only crunchy and has a mild flavor, but because the fiber it offers is substantial. Live Science asserts:

“Fiber is well-known for its digestive benefits. It helps keep your bowel movements regular, thereby reducing constipation; helps keep your bowels healthy, and aids in weight maintenance … One cup of celery provides about 6 percent of your daily fiber needs. Some recent research suggests that the antioxidants in celery could also help improve stomach lining and reduce the risk of gastric ulcers.”19

Things To Be Aware of Regarding Celery Consumption

When eating celery, there are some things to be aware of. First, celery is a healthy snack and/or food eaten raw, but how it’s cooked can affect its nutritional attributes. Studies show it loses between 38 percent and 41 percent of its antioxidants when boiled or blanched, which is a significant amount, but when it’s steamed for about 10 minutes, it retains between 83 percent and 99 percent of its antioxidant nutrients.20
Medical News Today notes that celery belongs to a small group of foods that can cause a severe allergic reaction, and this can lead to a potentially fatal condition known as anaphylactic shock, and that “those who are allergic to the celery should be cautious and check food labels, as even small traces of celery can cause a reaction.”21
Many natural foods have toxic elements if eaten raw in very large quantities and all at one time, and celery is one of them. In fact, it could cause goiters, which are swellings on the neck that could lead to breathing problems and even hypothyroidism.
“Celery can act as a goitrogen if eaten in very large quantities, especially if it’s not cooked … This is because great amounts of uncooked celery can interfere with the process of iodine functioning in the thyroid,” SF Gate noted.22
In addition, many plants contain natural compounds known as psoralens that could increase your sensitivity to ultraviolet light, and celery is one that may cause a skin reaction or rash if you should get drops of celery juice on your skin and go out into the sun within 12 to 36 hours.
In fact, the rash or hyperpigmentation could cause a burning sensation and last three to five days, or even months, according to a Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings article published in 2000.23
One more thing: Pesticides have become a big business and, unfortunately, substances such as glyphosate, among other pesticides, are applied by farmers to the tune of nearly 5 billion pounds worldwide, and 300 million pounds applied on U.S. farmland. A class of pesticides called organophosphates (OPs) also has been implicated for brain-destroying health risks, such as attention and memory deficits, autism and lower IQs.
Unfortunately, celery is No. 10 on the Environmental Working Group’s notorious Dirty Dozen List24 of the fruits and vegetables with the most pesticide residue. Organic foods are always preferred over the conventionally grown and sold at your local supermarket due to the use of harmful pesticides.
If organic celery is not available or you’re just not sure, washing your fruits and vegetables before eating them is recommended, even if they will be peeled before it’s eaten. Better yet, grow your own celery, organically.