Arsenic is a naturally occurring element that can contaminate groundwater used for drinking and irrigation in areas where it’s abundant, such as parts of New England, the Midwest and the Southwest. Consumer Reports went shopping in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York in August and September 2011, buying 28 apple juices and 3 grape juices. Their samples came from ready-to-drink bottles, juice boxes and cans of concentrate. Five samples of apple juice and four of grape juice had total arsenic levels exceeding the 10 ppb (parts per billion) federal limit for bottled and drinking water. Levels in the apple juices ranged from 1.1 to 13.9 ppb and grape juice levles were even higher, 5.9 to 24.7 ppb. Most of the total arsenic in the samples was inorganic. Inorganic arsenic is a carcinogen known to cause bladder, lung and skin cancer in people and to increase risks of cardiovascular disease, immunodeficiencies and type 2 diabetes.

To reduce your family’s risk you can do the following:

1) Test your water. If your home isn’t on a public water system, have the home’s water tested for arsenic and lead. To find a certified lab, contact your local health department or call the Federal Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 800-426-4791.

2) Limit children’s juice consumption. Nutrition guidelines set by the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants younger than 6 months shouldn’t drink juice; children up to 6 years old should consume no more than 4 to 6 ounces a day. Diluting juice with water can help meet those goals.

3) Consider your food. Buying certified organic chicken makes sense because organic standards don’t allow the use of chicken feed containing arsenic.

In closing, as always it is buyer beware. Read your labels and look up what the chemical make up of that ingredient is. If it doesn’t sound healthy to you it probably isn’t.

Healthy Martin website is designed to assist persons and organizations for natural health, alternative health, holistic health in Martin County – Stuart, Palm City, Jensen Beach, Hobe Sound, Palm Beach County – Jupiter FL, North Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, the Palm Beaches and the Treasure Coast of Florida to find healthy alternatives. We encourage health organizations and alternative health businesses to use this website to help promote natural, holistic, organic and alternative health lifestyle choices to America.

New studies indicate that the unrefined virgin coconut oil now available in many health food stores is not chemically treated and is trans-fat free.  The main saturated fat in virgin coconut oil is lauric acid, a medium-chain fatty acid that can help increase levels of HDL (good cholesterol) .

Based on the above findings, it would make sense to use coconut oil in meal preparations instead of canola oil.

Healthy Martin website is designed to assist persons and organizations for natural health, alternative health, holistic health in Martin County – Stuart, Palm City, Jensen Beach, Hobe Sound, Palm Beach County – Jupiter FL, North Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, the Palm Beaches and the Treasure Coast of Florida to find healthy alternatives. We encourage health organizations and alternative health businesses to use this website to help promote natural, organic lifestyle choices to America.

As reported in USA Today;

Americans are mostly clueless about whether the food they buy has been genetically altered. But in a nation increasingly concerned about food ingredients, there’s a new push for that to change.

Today, a coalition of 300 companies, organizations and doctors will announce that it has filed a petition with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to require that all genetically engineered foods include a label that advises consumers they’re eating food that has been altered. Food makers in the U.S. currently don’t have to say boo about selling food whose molecules have been changed.

The actions come at a time when American consumers are more closely reading product labels and are showing greater concern about the ingredients in the foods they buy.

more of this article at USA Today

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“Working together for better health choices for you, your family and friends.”

Healthy Martin website is designed to assist persons and organizations in Martin County Health (Stuart, Palm City, Jensen Beach, Hobe Sound) Jupiter FL and the Treasure Coast of Florida to find healthy alternatives. We encourage health organizations and alternative health businesses to use this website to help promote natural, organic lifestyle choices to America.

BY Rebecca White-Martin, a Your Health & Wellness Magazine contributor:

Many people will remember a famous TV ad where a woman races to her washing machine, fabric softener in hand, only to arrive just as the wash ends. This woman who “forgot to add the fabric softener” was actually doing herself and her family a favor.

Although they may make your clothes feel soft and smell fresh, fabric softener and dryer sheets are some of the most toxic products around.

Here is a list of just some of the chemicals found in fabric softeners and dryer sheets:

• Benzyl acetate: Linked to pancreatic cancer
• Benzyl Alcohol: Upper respiratory tract irritant
• Ethanol: On the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Hazardous Waste list and can cause central nervous system disorders
• Limonene: Known carcinogen
• A-Terpineol: Can cause respiratory problems, including fatal edema, and central nervous system damage
• Ethyl Acetate: A narcotic on the EPA’s Hazardous Waste list
• Camphor: Causes central nervous system disorders

Are “Soft” Clothes Worth It?

Fabric softeners are made to stay in your clothing for long periods of time. As such, chemicals are slowly released either into the air for you to inhale or onto your skin for you to absorb. Dryer sheets are particularly noxious because they are heated in the dryer and the chemicals are released through dryer vents and out into the environment. Health effects from being exposed to the chemicals in fabric softeners include:

• Central nervous system disorders
• Headaches
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Dizziness
• Blood pressure reduction
• Irritation to skin, mucus membranes and respiratory tract
• Pancreatic cancer

HealthyMartin.com
“Working together for better health choices for you, your family and friends.”

The above information is opinion based except where noted. Always contact a licensed professional for information on the above subject or BEFORE applying or practicing the above information.
HealthyMartin.com is designed to assist you in finding medical doctors, dentists and alternative, organic & holistic health, fitness and sports professionals in the Treasure Coast Florida areas of Martin County, Palm Beach County, Saint Lucie County and Indian River County. “Healthy Martin, working together for better health choices for you, your family and friends”.

As reported by TC Palm

HOBE SOUND — Encouraging organic farming in western Martin County to reduce the pollution running off into waterways such as the St. Lucie River emerged Thursday as one of the top new goals for the Martin County Commission in 2009.

“Organic farming has been an unbelievable growth industry over the last 10 years,” said Commissioner Sarah Heard. “It’s not like any other farming. It doesn’t pollute. It will clean up our waters, which will improve tourism, which will improve the economy.”

With 200,000 acres of agricultural land, Martin County could become the organic farming mecca of South Florida, Heard said. The county also could enlist experts from the Center for Organic Agriculture at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences to assist local organic farmers.

more of this article at TC Palm

HealthyMartin.com.”
“Working together for better health choices for you, your family and friends.”

Healthy Martin website is designed to assist persons and organizations in Martin County Health (Stuart, Palm City, Jensen Beach, Hobe Sound) Jupiter FL and the Treasure Coast of Florida to find healthy alternatives. We encourage health organizations and alternative health businesses to use this website to help promote natural, organic lifestyle choices to America.

A bacterium found in soil is a showing promise as a way of delivering cancer drugs into tumours.

Spores of the Clostridium sporogenes bacterium can grow within tumours because there is no oxygen.

UK and Dutch scientists have been able to genetically engineer an enzyme into the bacteria to activate a cancer drug.

Experts said it would be some time before the potential benefits of the work – presented to the Society of Microbiology – were known.

The work is being presented to the society’s autumn conference at the University of York.

The spores grow only within solid tumours, such as breast, brain and prostate tumours and not in other tissue in the body, where oxygen is present.

…more on “soil bacteria helps kill cancers”

HealthyMartin.com.”
“Working together for better health choices for you, your family and friends.”

Healthy Martin website is designed to assist persons and organizations in Martin County Health (Stuart, Palm City, Jensen Beach, Hobe Sound) Jupiter FL and the Treasure Coast of Florida to find healthy alternatives. We encourage health organizations and alternative health businesses to use this website to help promote natural, organic lifestyle choices to America.