As hard as it is to believe, until fairly recently medical doctors insisted that tiny babies did not feel pain. Even now some doctors and nurses do not want to administer painkillers to babies, saying they don’t need them.

But mounting evidence, indicates that babies do feel pain. Monitoring their blood pressure and other indicators shows that they do. (Not to mention that it is just common sense!)

Furthermore, it is now know that experiencing extreme or chronic pain in infancy affects people in later on in life. Although they do not consciously remember pain in infancy. Babies who have experienced painful medical conditions go on to have greater sensitivity to pain in later life. They also are more prone to other conditions such as attention deficit disorder.

Even now very little is known about what painkillers to use for babies. All the research conducted on anesthesia has been done with adults.

Doctors, nurses and parents worry about treating babies with morphine and methadone, which are the normal treatments for adults in cases of acute pain. Sadly they often refuse to administer painkillers to babies who clearly need them.

Furthermore, in the past it was very difficult to tell when babies are in pain. They can’t talk, and they cry for many other reasons. It is still not easy, but in recent years some progress has been made.

New research nowadays is providing hope for a solution. Computer face recognition may soon make it possible to have computers monitor babies visually 24 hours a day to make sure they are not in pain. That is especially important for premature babies who often are subjected to repeated painful treatments.

Already some progress has been made, and the prospects look good. For more information, watch the following video:

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For years we have been told that soy is the new wonder food. Better for us than meat, milk, and a host of other foods.

The Dark Side of Soy

Authors Sally Fallon and Mary Enig, PhD, have investigated the available medical research findings and discovered that we have been dangerously, horrifyingly wrong. Soy is bad for us! And very, very bad for our babies!

You can read their complete article “Soy, the Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food at http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/darkside.html. Meanwhile, here is a quick summary.

Even a Little Bit Hurts

New research shows that eating soy even a couple of times a week can suppress the thyroid, causing Alzheimer’s-like symptoms in younger people. In very sensitive people, even the small amount of soy flour that is in bread can cause problems.

Medical research shows that if you are taking thyroid medication, even a tiny bit of soy can cancel it out. Soy has long been known to cause thyroid enlargement in women and children. If medical researchers knew that, why were we not told?

How Much Is Too Much Soy?

If you think you never eat soy products, think again. Soy is in much of our food. Start reading labels in the grocery store, and try to find a loaf of bread that does not contain soy flour. Good luck!

Here are some of the common foods that contain soy, typical quantities, and how many milligrams of soy each contains:

Bread with added soy flour, 2 slices 4 mg
Meatless chicken nuggets, 1/2 cup 15 mg
Soy hot dog 15 mg
Soymilk, 8-ounce glass 20 mg
Miso, 1/4 cup 21 mg
Tofu, 1/2 cup 28 mg
Soy cheese, 1/2 cup 31 mg
Soymilk skin or film , cooked, 1/2 cup 51 mg
Tempeh, cooked, 1/2 cup 53 mg
Soybean chips , 1/2 cup 54 mg
Revival soy-based meal replacement, 1 serving 160 mg

Is it Alzheimer’s, or Is it Soy?

Symptoms of severely low thyroid include mental symptoms similar to Alzheimer’s disease, such as memory loss, confusion, slowness, paranoid depression and even hallucinations. Other symptoms of low thyroid (hypothyroidism) include fatigue, loss of hair, difficulties at menopause, digestive problems, constipation, infertility, brittle bones, and heart disease.

Vitamin and Mineral Deficiencies Caused by Soy

Part of the problem with soy is caused by phytoestrogens, plant substances that mimic estrogen. But there are other problems. One is phytic acid which blocks the absorption of zinc. You need zinc for your brain to work properly.

And there is more: Modern processed soy foods have high levels of MSG, fluoride and aluminum, which are toxic to the nervous system. And food processing creates at least two kinds of carcinogens: lysinealanines and nitrosamines.

Soy products also contain certain enzymes that make it difficult to absorb protein and that irritate the digestive tract.

Even rats that were fed soy protein isolates (which are in many foods) became deficient in vitamins E, K, D and B12 and in the minerals calcium, magnesium, zinc and many others.

Asians Actually Do Not Eat Much Soy

Soy enthusiasts say that soy is a staple food in Asia, but that is not true. Asians use soy only as a condiment.

People in China average only two teaspoons of soy a day. People in Japan average about 1/4 cup of soy a day, but they also eat large quantities of seaweed, which is very high in iodine. That somewhat protects them from the negative effects of soy.

But that is not the worst. Americans often eat much more soy than Asians, because it is hidden in so many foods. It is even in baby formula. At the rate at which many Americans eat soy, it can cause hormone disruption in women and developmental problems in children.

Bad for Babies

Even worse, infants who are given only soy-based baby formula are taking in 4 to 11 more soy than most adults in proportion to their body weigth. Babies who are fed soy-based formula have been found to have 13,000 to 22,000 times more isoflavones in their blood than babies fed milk-based formula.

In fact, a New Zealand toxicologist, Dr. Mike Fitzpatrick, estimates that a baby that is fed only soy formula is getting the equivalent in phytoestrogen of five birth control pills per day—or more.

Are you wondering if Asians give their babies soy-based baby formula? Well, they don’t. They use cow milk or buffalo milk instead.

What We Thought We Knew Was Wrong

For awhile, researchers thought that premature development of menstuation and sex characteristics in children was caused by meat. Well, the evidence is in. The actual culprit seems to be soy-based baby formula.

New research links soy baby formula learning disabilities, extreme emotional behavior, depression, asthma, immune system problems, pituitary insufficiency, thyroid disorders and irritable bowel syndrome.

News of Soy Effects Repressed by Researchers?

But here is what is really scary: Some researchers have suppressed the negative findings about soy because they were assured by the soy industry that soy was perfectly safe!

What to Do if You Are Hurt by Soy Products

Consumer groups in Canada and New Zealand are working to ban soy infant formula. The law firm of Johnston Lawrence in New Zealand is collecting the names of victims for a class action lawsuit in New Zealand. They will then follow up in the US.

If you believe your child has been hurt by soy infant formula, or if you have suffered thyroid problems from ingesting soy, write to PO Box 1213, DX SP 20004, Wellington, New Zealand or roger@johnlaw.co.nz and tell them your story.

In America the Weston A. Price Foundation is working to have soy baby formula taken off the market. If you think your child may have been harmed by soy baby formula, write to the following congressmen, and send a copy of the letter to the Weston A. Price Foundation:

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA)
United States Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee
328A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Senator Orin Hatch (R-UT)
Senate Subcommittee on Health Care of the Finance Committee
Caucus of Complementary and Alternative Health Care
219 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Dan Burton (R-IN)
Chairman, House Committee on Government Reform
Caucus of Complementary and Alternative Health Care
2157 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
Caucus of Complementary and Alternative Health Care
U.S. House of Representatives
1730 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Weston A. Price Foundation
PMB 106-380 4200 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20016

Reference Sources

www.csa.com/hottopics/thyroid/oview.html
soyonlineservice.co.nz
www.westonaprice.org

Who Are Sally Fallon and Mary Enig?

Sally Fallon is the author of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, with Mary G. Enig, PhD (NewTrends Publishing 877-707-1776). She is the founding president of the Weston A. Price Foundation (www.westonaprice.org) and founder of A Campaign for Real Milk (www.realmilk.com).

Mary Enig, PhD is the author of Know Your Fats: The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils and Cholesterol (Bethesda Press 301-680-8600). She is President of the Maryland Nutritionists Association and Vice President of the Weston A Price Foundation, Washington, DC.

I just ran across a great health info blog by Dr. Erika, who specializes in hormones and hormone replacement therapy. Every woman, every doctor, and many men should read Dr. Erika’s blog.

It is easy to read. It is full of great info and links to more info. It is also a real eye-opener.

Please go to Dr. Erika’s blog and subscribe to it or bookmark it. If you are a woman who cares about her health, this blog should be one of your favorite sites:

http://drerika.typepad.com/

In case you didn’t realize it, what we think we know about hormones and hormone replacement (and other health issues) is often carefully shaped by big drug companies and fed to us by the corporate media (TV networks, radio, magazines…).

That is done not only through advertising but also through canned video news releases or prewritten PR scripts that appear to be part of the news. Ever wonder why Dan Rather took the time to warn you about the “dangers” of using herbs when there are wars, famines, and other important events going on around the world?

Much of what passes for programming on morning talk shows is also simply PR for drug companies. The networks are in cahoots with their biggest advertisers. And the drug companies supply a lot of free programming that looks good, because it is expensively produced.

There is a lot more money to be made in disease and designer drugs than there is in natural health and wellness. So we are often criminally propagandized and misinformed to keep us buying drugs that do more to harm us than the diseases they are supposed to cure.

Worse, the FDA, which is charged with ensuring our health and safety, is actually working for the other side. FDA has recently banned bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, even though it has been medically proven to be safe and effective. Now they have banned therapeutic use of the natural hormone estriol, which has also been proven effective and safe.

So take a look at Dr. Erika’s blog, especially if you are a woman over 30. It might just save your life or that of someone you love.

Dr. Luc Montagnier, the French doctor who first identified the AIDS/HIV virus, warns that we vastly underestimate the danger of the AIDS virus nowadays. We seem to think that with drugs to treat it, we are now safe.

That is not so, says Dr. Montagnier, and our overconfidence puts us all in danger. Over 25% of the people in the seven top industrialized nations believe that AIDS is no longer a threat. Nothing could be farther from the truth, says Dr. Montagnier. He explains why in the following video.

Imagine having kids eager to eat spinach? What if you could sneak it into desserts? And how about secretly filling hamburgers with mixed vegetables? Or adding yellow and orange veggies to macaroni and cheese? And what if the kids would gobble them all up and never know the difference! Well, now you can.

It took a health food magazine editor (who had children who were picky eaters) to come up with The Sneaky Chef, a delightful cookbook that features recipes like Breakfast Ice Cream and Breakfast Cookies. You won’t believe all the vegetables that can be hidden in the foods that children love.

This is also a great book for adults who turn up their noses at vegetables. Since you can’t taste the difference, they never have to know that you are feeding them things that are good for them. You can even make these goodies for yourself.

How about highly nutritious (and delicious) cookies and cupcakes for snackers on the go? Can you imagine the possibilities for healthful holiday treats?

Well, see for yourself how easy it is….

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Baby Einstein, Brainy Baby, and other TV shows and DVDs for making babies smarter have been shown to actually slow down their development of language skills. While the study found no evidence that such programs make babies smarter in any way, a new study shows that they do cause babies to be slower to learn to talk.

In fact, the more TV and DVDs babies watch before the age of three years old, the poorer their language skills. A chart in the following video shows the direct relationship: more TV, fewer words learned. This is serious business.

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Just when European drug companies have made herbal remedies and potent vitamins almost impossible (or illegal) to buy in Europe, and U.S. drug companies are doing their best to catch up, there’s this news.

According to recent medical studies, black cohosh, a cheap, common herb that some women take to prevent unpleasant symptoms of menopause, actually slows the growth of breast cancer. I hope more people read this story and draw the obvious conclusion: We ought to be able to take whatever herbs and nutritional supplements we choose. Sometimes the old ways are the best.

We must not let corporations deprive us of the right to natural remedies that have stood the test of time as safe and effective treatments for which no prescription is necessary. Of course, healthy people don’t buy as many drugs. So natural remedies and good nutrition will never be popular with ruthless capitalists in a society dominated by corporate interests.

Hmmm. Maybe you should plant an herb garden while you still can. Read the following article, and then decide.

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