Food For Thought

Articles of Note

Researcher Warns of Cancer Risk From rBGH (non-organic) Dairy Foods

CHICAGO, March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The following was released today by Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., Professor Environmental Medicine, University of Illinois Chicago, School of Public Health:

As reported in a January 23, 1998 article in Science, men with high blood levels of the naturally occurring hormone insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) are over four times more likely to develop full-blown prostate cancer than are men with lower levels

While warning that increasing IGF-1 blood levels by treating the elderly with growth hormone (GH) to slow aging may increase risks of prostate cancer, the 1998 report appears unaware of the fact that the entire U.S. population is now exposed to high levels of IGF-1 in dairy products. In February 1995, the Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of unlabelled milk from cows injected with Monsanto's genetically engineered bovine growth hormone, rBGH, to increase milk production. As detailed in a January 1996 report in the International Journal of Health Services, rBGH milk differs from natural milk chemically, nutritionally, pharmacologically and immunologically, besides being contaminated with pus and antibiotics resulting from mastitis induced by the biotech hormone.

Most critically, rBGH milk is supercharged with high levels of abnormally potent IGF-1, up to 10 times the levels in natural milk and over 10 times more potent. IGF-1 resists pasteurization and digestion by stomach enzymes and is well absorbed across the intestinal wall. Drinking rBGH milk would thus be expected to increase blood IGF-1 levels and to increase risks of developing prostate cancer and promoting its invasiveness. Apart from prostate cancer, multiple lines of evidence have also incriminated the role of IGF-1 as risk factors for breast, colon, and childhood cancers.


ANTIBIOTICS AND 'SUPERBUGS' – STRAIGHT FROM FARM TO TABLE
16 AUGUST 2002 The University of Sydney News - Volume 34 No 13

Trade pressures will force the Australian agricultural industry to abandon practices which promote "superbugs" – diseases resistant to antibiotics, according to Associate Professor Peter Collignon from the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University of Sydney's Canberra Clinical School.

Delivering a Faculty of Medicine Dean's lecture last week, Dr Collignon traced a range of evidence linking the use of antibiotics in animals to the increasing resistance humans are showing to antibiotics. He argued that much of this use had minimal, if any, benefits for animals, and was indefensible in the light of the importance of antibiotics for fighting disease in humans.

While acknowledging that resistance has been a problem since antibiotics were first used, and saying that medical practitioners had a duty to minimize their use, Dr Collignon said there was no doubt that resistant bacteria can come across the food chain.

The continuous in-feed use of antibiotics began in agriculture in the early 1950s, especially in the pig, poultry, cattle and aquaculture industries. Antibiotic resistance is an increasing problem around the world, and is exacerbated by international travel. Already, treatment is very difficult – and sometimes impossible – for people with infections caused by acinetobacter, Staph aureus, pneumococcus, E coli, and enterococcus. "While most of these resistant bacteria are human in origin, a number of them such as enterococcus, E. coli and salmonella, can be spread via the food chain," Dr Collignon said.

"Since a related antibiotic is now being used in human medicine we wish to avoid any likelihood of antibiotic resistance developing and affecting people," he said in a statement. "Cancelling its use as a growth promotion in animals is the way to do this." There have been growing concerns that the use of certain antibiotics, particularly in the chicken industry, is leading to antibiotic resistance in human patients. Virginiamycin is most commonly used by the chicken and pork industries to boost growth in animals.
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Of particular concern is the rise of the "superbug" known as VRE, vancomycin resistant enterococcus, which is extremely difficult and costly to treat.

Dr Collignon also opposes the use in animals of "last line" antibiotics such as fluoroquinolones. "If resistance to them develops there may be no other antibiotics available to treat serious infections in people," he said.

(FDA Consumer magazine January-February 2001)

Poultry growers use fluoroquinolone drugs to keep chickens and turkeys from dying from Escherichia coli (E. coli) infection, a disease that they could pick up from their own droppings. But the size of flocks precludes testing and treating individual chickens--so when a veterinarian diagnoses an infected bird, the farmers treat the whole flock by adding the drug to its drinking water. While the drug may cure the E. coli bacteria in the poultry, another kind of bacteria--Campylobacter--may build up resistance to these drugs. And that's the root of the problem.

People who consume chicken or turkey contaminated with fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter are at risk of becoming infected with a bacteria that current drugs can't easily kill. Campylobacter is the most common bacterial cause of diarrheal illness in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's estimated to affect over 2 million persons every year, or 1 percent of the population.

Commonly found in chickens, Campylobacter doesn't make the birds sick. But humans who eat the bacteria-contaminated birds may develop fever, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps. In people with weakened immune systems, Campylobacter can be life-threatening. Eating undercooked chicken or turkey, or other food that has been contaminated from contact with raw poultry, is a frequent source of Campylobacter infection. Not washing utensils, countertops, cutting boards, sponges, or hands after coming into contact with raw poultry can also spread the bacteria and cause infection. People infected with Campylobacter may be prescribed a fluoroquinolone--which may or may not work.


BAHAN MAKANAN BEGINI MENJEJASKAN KESIHATAN,PERLU BIJAK MEMILIH.

Pelajarilah keadaan ini ,natural food banyak kebaikan.Ayam dan lembu yang dipelihara secara biasa lebih terjamin mutunya.Ayam diternak secara komersial memang disuntik untuk menjamin pertumbuhan ayam itu sendiri. Bergantung kepada penternak itu sendiri ,jika hatinya suci dan sentiasa mengigati setiap pekerjannya dihisab ,mereka tidak akan berani menjualkan hasil ternakan yang boleh mudaratkan orang yang membeli lantaran lebihan ubat atau tempoh rehat selepas disuntik mencukupi masa. Begitu juga dengan penanaman sayuran dan buah2an . Sekiranya ada rasa tanggungjawab semuanya terjamin selamat dan diberkati Allah.

Makan dirumah menjadikan kita peka terhadap bahan makanan .Sikap suka makan di luar seringkali menjadi punca permasalahan kesihatan. Tidak dinafikan makan di luar adalah cara paling mudah untuk menikmati hidangan yang enak dan menyelerakan tetapi kesedapan sebenarnya mampu menjadi `racun’ kepada kesihatan.
Ramuan untuk penyediaan makanan adalah di luar pengetahuan pengguna tentang status halal dan juga mutunya yang boleh menimbulkan tanda tanya kepada pengguna. Ramuan dalam masakan yang sebenarnya boleh memudaratkan seperti penggunaan serbuk perisa, pewarna, minyak low quality ,mungkin terdapat lebihan gula dan garam dalam masakan akan menjejaskan kesihatan ..

Langkah terbaik untuk menjaga kesihatan di peringkat awal ini adalah amalan menyediakan atau memasak juadah hasil air tangan sendiri. Sedikit sebanyak ia juga dapat memberi kepuasan serta menjamin kebersihan, lantas kesihatan sekeluarga dapat dipelihara.Makanan lebih berkat kerana semasa membasuh amalan membaca Selawat dibuat dan membaca Bismillah setiap kali melakukan apa saje pergerakan didapur.
Watch out your food!

Kebersihan Satu Keutamaan

MENJAGA kebersihan adalah amalan terpenting dalam kehidupan seharian. Kebersihan menjadi manifestasi keteguhan iman seseorang kepada Allah SWT.Rasulullah SAW bersabda yang bermaksud: “Kebersihan itu sebahagian daripada iman.”

Dalam konteks kebersihan diri, bukan hanya setakat kebersihan luaran, tetapi merangkumi kebersihan hati nurani. Bebas daripada perkara2 yang boleh membawa kepada bahaya dan dosa termasuk perbuatan mensyirikkan Allah.Sebagai hamba Allah, kita hendaklah mengabdikan diri kepadaNya setulusnya.

Allah berfirman yang bermaksud: “Sesungguhnya Allah mengasihi orang yang banyak bertaubat dan mengasihi orang-orang yang sentiasa mensucikan diri.” (Surah Al-Baqarah, ayat 222)

Kebersihan hati , bermula daripada permakanan kita .Apa yang dimakan akan membentuk peribadi kita. Awasilah agar makanan yang dimakan adalah bersih daripada segi fizikal,iaitu bersih dari bahan tercemar seperti bahan pengawet, sakibaki racun serangga yang disembur pada sayuran dan buah2an .Keadaan atau rupa bentuk bahan makanan itu sendiri mestilah masih segar dan meyakinkan kita bahawa apa yang dimakan nanti akan memberi manaafaat kepada tubuh.

Sebelum meyediakan makanan , jaga kebersihan diri, barang2 penyediaan makanan, persekitaran dan air yang diguna mestilah bersih.Mengabaikan kebersihan bermakna kita dengan sengaja mengundang pelbagai penyakit seperti cirit-birit dan keracunan makanan.

Sumber makanan itu mestilah bersih dari kontek rohnya .Dibeli atau didapati dengan cara yang dianjurkan ,halal.Kebersihan itu melambangkan keteguhan iman seseorang kepada Allah.