Progresso® Soup Cooks Up “Soup Worth Talking About” for Coming Soup Season
MINNEAPOLIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Consumers will find a lot to talk about in the soup aisle this fall as Progresso launches a line of ethnic-inspired soups, adds cholesterol-lowering benefits to some soups and introduces two “firsts”, including the first cream-based Light soup in the ready-to-serve category, and Progresso’s first chili soup as part of its High Fiber lineup. “We have worked hard to develop exciting new flavors and health enhancements to many of our soups to deliver the taste, quality
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New Financial Regulatory Law Shows Signs of Progress, Senate Witnesses Say
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – A new federal law to prevent major banks from disrupting the nation’s economy shows early signs that it is restoring the confidence of investors, according to witnesses at a Senate hearing Thursday.
The heads of financial regulatory agencies testified on progress of the Dodd-Frank Act on Financial Regulations, which President Barack Obama signed into law July 21.
“We’re certainly seeing movement in the right direction,” Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee.
The new law takes away some discretion of investment banks on how they invest their own and customers’ money. It also gives the government the right to take over a financial institution’s operations when it is close to a business collapse that could hurt the nation’s economy.
The law fulfills Obama’s pledge that he would not allow any more businesses to depend on government bailouts to save them when they make bad decisions.
Bernanke said some banks that halted their investments in new business during the recession that started in December 2007 are starting to re-invest.
However, they are timid after suffering severe losses.
“Given the fact we just came through a crisis, banks are not taking risks,” Bernanke said.
The financial crisis started largely as a result of banks loosening credit terms for home buyers to increase their revenue from mortgage payments.
As homeowners defaulted on the loans, bank failures caused $1.8 trillion in financial losses internationally.
The crisis also prompted the federal government to provide huge financial bailouts to companies such as investment firm Bear Stearns Cos. and insurance giant American International Group Inc.
Bernanke said the biggest challenge facing government regulators is ensuring they work under a single set of policies for the entire financial industry.
He has said previously the government focused its regulations on large public banks but overlooked the damage that could be caused by private investment companies.
The Dodd-Frank Act broadens government oversight of the financial industry to include private investment firms.
The Federal Reserve is writing 50 new regulations and working on 250 projects to comply with the new financial reform law.
“Given all these overlapping responsibilities, I think coordination will be extremely important,” Bernanke said.
The Federal Reserve plans to hand over some of its authority to a new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, which will ensure there will be no more banks that are what Obama called “too big to fail” without government bailouts.
“Work is well under way to transfer … responsibilities,” Bernanke said.
The Federal Reserve is scheduled to update Congress with more detail on how well financial bailouts helped restore the nation’s economy in a report due Dec. 1.
Other witnesses agreed that managing new responsibilities in the Dodd-Frank Act are their greatest challenge.
“We’re all sort of learning a new thing here,” said Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodities Future Trading Commission.
Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, urged the agency chairmen to be careful in their decisions.
“You’ll set the tone for years to come,” he said.
Among projects of the regulatory agencies is the development of new economic models for predicting financial collapses. The old models failed to predict the housing bubble that led to the recession, according to economists.
“I think the key challenge over time is going to be how to assess system risks,” said John Walsh, the Treasury Department’s acting comptroller of the currency.
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Real Cause of Heart Disease Revealed – The Culprits The Fda, Ama or Aha Aren’t Telling You About
You probably know about the terrible statistics on heart disease. It’s the #1 killer in the United States. Heart disease kills one person every 34 seconds in the U.S. alone.
What you may not know is the true cause of heart disease… the real culprits.
Is it cholesterol?
Is it saturated fats?
The AMA (American Medical Association) and the AHA (American Heart Association) as well as the food industry have been telling us so forever. Okay, maybe not forever, but a long time!
If we know what the cause is, why have heart disease escalated into becoming our nation’s #1 killer?
3 Reasons Why Cholesterol and Saturated Fats Are Not the True Causes of Heart Disease
1. How can it be that as the consumption of saturated fats and cholesterol declined sharply from the levels it used to be, heart disease increased proportionately? It appears that the statistics are telling a different story than what the AMA, AHA, and the food industry has been telling us.
2. Just look at significant role that saturated fats and cholesterol play in our bodies. It will probably surprise you to know that saturated fats comprise at least 50% of your cell membranes (every single one of your trillions of cells), giving them stiffness and integrity. Cholesterol also makes up part of the cell membrane, regulating its fluidity (what passes in and out) as well as giving stiffness and stability to the cell membrane. Additionally, cholesterol is a precursor to bile (which is produced in the liver and gall bladder to emulsify fats), Vitamin D, the steroid hormones (that help us deal with stress), and the sex hormones. Cholesterol is also very important for proper development of the brain and nervous system, so mother’s milk is very cholesterol-rich, and contains a special enzyme to help the baby utilize this nutrient. How can saturated fats and cholesterol possibly be the bad guys in light of this information?
3. HDL and LDL are NOT forms of cholesterol! That’s right, HDL and LDL are really lipoproteins, carrier molecules for cholesterol and other fats. Because cholesterol and other fats are not water-soluble, they require a carrier molecule to transport them through the blood stream. Even more interestingly, these carrier molecules have built-in cell-targeting signals, directing them to specific target cells. Don’t you wonder why?
Over Twenty Years of Research Has Established Inflammation’s Key Role in Atherosclerosis
But what’s causing the inflammation?
Is it cholesterol or saturated fats, as the AMA, AHA and food industry has led us to believe? It is NOT. We already proved it above.
The mechanism by which periodontal disease causes inflammation via free radicals produced by the immune system is well-known and accepted. But the role saturated fats and cholesterol play in inflammation is unknown to medical doctors. That’s because something else is causing the inflammation leading to atherosclerotic plaques. That something else happens to be the very polyunsaturated oils touted as “heart healthy” by the AMA, AHA, and the food industry. All of this information is well supported and detailed in my book, Revolutionizing Your Health.
How the Supposedly “Heart Healthy” Oils Are the True Causes of Heart Disease…
Polyunsaturated oils go rancid and become oxidized very easily by heat and light, which mean they become a free radical. Free radicals are very unstable molecules missing an electron. In the body, they try to stabilize themselves by “stealing” an electron from neighboring cells. This continues in a domino effect, wreaking cellular destruction and producing inflammation. In fact, the high heat used in processing these oils often creates free radicals before the oil even leaves the processing plant. Additionally, when these oils are used for cooking, and especially for frying, they produce tremendous amounts of free radicals.
Earlier, it was discussed that saturated fats make up at least 50% of cell membranes, along with cholesterol. The trouble is that our bodies don’t distinguish between saturated fats and polyunsaturated oils. A diet high in polyunsaturated oils will then be incorporated into cell membranes in place of the more stable and functional saturated fats. In effect this makes weaker cell membranes that are loaded with free radicals. This produces the inflammation that cardiologists now know to be at the root of heart disease. Cholesterol is simply the “repair substance” the body uses to repair the cellular damage produced by the free radicals in polyunsaturated oils.
Now that you know the true cause of heart disease, you’ll know exactly what to stay away from. You can beat heart disease through diet, nutrition, prevention and natural cures. To learn more, I invite you to check out my new book, “Revolutionizing Your Health”
Giving More People Statins Is Cost-Effective: Study
Giving cholesterol-lowering statin drugs to more people could be a cost-effective way of preventing heart attacks, U.S. researchers said on Monday….
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Congress Moves To Ban Term “Retarded”
Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The House of Representatives has approved a bill that bans the use of the terms “retarded” and “retardation” in medical, education and labor laws.
The bill alters the terminology from “mental retardation” to “intellectual disability” and “mentally retarded individual” to “individual with mental instability.” The change would make the terms correspond more with language already used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United Nations and the White House, reports stated.
Rosa’s Law passed in the Senate in August of this year, and will now be put in front of President Obama for signature. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) sponsored the bill.
The bill was named after Rosa Marcellino, a girl from Edgewater, MD, who has Down syndrome. Her school labeled her retarded, a term Marcellino’s mother does not allow her children to use.
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Clinical Studies Show Bergamonte™ Exhibits Breakthrough Results for Healthy Blood Sugar and Cholesterol Support†
BRADENTON, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Bergamonte is a breakthrough product for Healthy Cholesterol, Blood Sugar. Human Clinicals show a decrease in LDL, Triglycerides and Blood Sugar; an increase in HDL. Exclusive to HP LifeScience.
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Virgina Executes First Woman in 100 Years
Jarratt, VA, United States (AHN) – A Virginia woman was executed Thursday night, becoming the first woman in 100 years to be put to death in the state. Teresa Lewis was convicted of organizing the 2002 murder of her husband and stepson.
Lewis, 41, used sex and money to convince two men she met at a Wal-Mart to commit the crime.
The men, Matthew Shallenberg and Rodney Fuller, entered the home on Mischief Night, the day before Halloween. They woke up Lewis and then Shallenberg shot and killed Lewis’ husband while Fuller shot the stepson several times with a shotgun.
After the two were shot, Lewis took $300 from her husband’s wallet and gave the cash to the men.
She waited an hour before calling police but when authorities arrived Julian Lewis was still clinging to life and said, “my wife knows who done this to me.”
Lewis even recruited her 16-year-old daughter into the scheme and had her sleep with one of the men.
She also promised the duo part of a $200,000 life insurance claim.
“The night of my crime I had Jesus telling me not to let this happen and the Devil telling me to do it!” Lewis wrote in a statement last month, according to The Roanoke Times.
“Well, stupid me chose Satan’s way,” she wrote.
Her lawyer, James Rocap, feels her death is a tragedy.
“Tonight, the machinery of death in Virginia extinguished the beautiful, childlike and loving human spirit of Teresa Lewis,” Rocap said in a statement Thursday night. “For her family and friends, for her fellow inmates at Fluvanna, and for her thousands of supporters in Virginia, the United States and around the world, her death is a tragic loss.”
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Statins may delay prostate problems in older men
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Taking statins for high cholesterol appears to significantly delay the development of an enlarged prostate, a common condition in older men that can lead to incontinence and other distressing symptoms, researchers at the Mayo Clinic report.
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Cholesterol Drug Crestor Possible Treatment For Prostate Cancer
Toronto, Canada (AHN) – Rosuvastatin—a commonly prescribed cholesterol drug sold as Crestor—may be effective in treating prostate cancer.
Researchers found that it suppresses the growth of transplanted human prostate cancer cells in mice.
“Our data provided solid pre-clinical evidence and a strong rationale for clinical trials of statins in the treatment of prostate cancer,” said Dr. Xiao-Yan Wen at St. Michael’s Hospital., whose research appears in the September issue of European Urology.
The link gives hope to medical professionals and those suffering from the disease because despite improvements in treatments such as surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, many patients still progress to advanced stages.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in men. Prostate cancer affected 18 percent of American men and caused death in 3 percent in 2005. In Canada, where the study was conducted, one in seven men will develop the disease during his lifetime and one in 27 will die from it.
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Study: Video Games Linked to Increasing Brain Power
Milan, Italy (AHN) – New research finds that playing video games may prepare your child to become a laparoscopic surgeon one day. Reorganization of the brain’s cortical network gives them an advantage not only in playing the games but also in performing other tasks requiring visual motor skills.
Lauren Sergio, associate professor in the Faculty of Health at York University said, “We tested how the skills learned from video game experience can transfer over to new tasks, rather than just looking at brain activity while the subject plays a video game.”
The study found that during the tasks the less experienced gamers were relying most on the parietal cortex (the brain area typically involved in hand-eye coordination), whereas the experienced gamers showed increased activity in the prefrontal cortex at the front of the brain.
The findings offer hope for future research into the problems experienced by Alzheimer’s patients, who struggle to complete the simplest visual motor tasks.
The study results in their entirety can be read published in the October 2010 issue of Elsevier’s Cortex.
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