Stop GMO Salmon...contact your congressional representative

Congress Close to Stopping GMO Salmon, Write Your Representatives Today!

The US House of Representatives last week passed an amendment that blocks the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from approving genetically engineered salmon - the first genetically modified animal intended for human consumption.

During full floor debate of the Fiscal Year 2012 Agriculture and FDA appropriations bill, members of the House passed an amendment offered by Reps. Don Young (R-AK) and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) to prohibit use of FDA funds to approve any application for approval of genetically engineered salmon.

The full appropriations bill, The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 2112), passed on Thursday by a 217-203 vote.

As the Agriculture Appropriations Act heads to the Senate and then to a conference committee, there's no guarantee that the provision blocking GMO salmon will remain in the bill and become law.

Your support is needed! Please write your Senators and Congressperson today! Here is a link to a handy form you can send right now

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Take with a grain of salt....

A new study in Europe is turning our presumptions about salt and heart disease upside down. The study followed 3 ,681 middle-aged Europeans who did not have high blood pressure or heart disease. The group was divided into three categories. Low salt, moderate salt and high salt. The heart disease risk in the low salt group was highest..56 % higher than the other groups…and the conclusion was the less salt participants ate, the higher the risk of dying from heart disease.

The bottom line is this…not everyone reacts the same way to salt..some people are salt sensitive and adding salt will definitely bring their blood pressure higher, which is inarguably harmful to heart health. But many people can handle salt..some are not harmed at all.

So..you need to watch your blood pressure…if it is high..or even moderately high..see if cutting salt back brings it down. We all want to have consistant blood pressure levels of 120/70 or less. And watch out for hidden salt. 75% of the salt in any persons diet comes from prepared foods, and restaurant foods, especially fast foods.

One final thought…sea salt provides trace minerals that are actually healthy for your heart...

Cinnamon may be the spice of life for MS patients.

A neurological scientist at Rush University Medical Center has received a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to determine if cinnamon, a common food spice and flavoring material, might halt the destructive disease process of multiple sclerosis (MS)

In earlier published studies, the principal investigator Kalipada Pahan, PhD showed that sodium benzoate, a metabolite of cinnamon, inhibits the expression of various pro-inflammatory molecules in brain cells and blocks the disease process of MS in mice.

Cinnamon’s anti-inflammatory properties counteract and inhibit the glial activation that causes brain cell death.

Current medications to treat the symptoms of MS are prohibitively expensive, have many side effects, and are only 30-40 percent effective.

If the Rush study is successful, there may be a day when just a teaspoonful of ground cinnamon per day on oatmeal or with with milk, tea or honey, allows MS patients to manage the disease process and reduce the drug cost drastically to approximately $10 per month.