According to a recent study presented at the 26th United European Gastroenterology (UEG) Week, the plastics surrounding the food we eat has now made it into our gut. Researchers from the Medical University of Vienna and the Environment Agency Austria tested eight volunteers from a variety of countries, including Finland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, the U.K., and Austria. These volunteers were asked to keep a food diary for a week leading up to having a stool sample taken. Of the 8 volunteers, none of them were vegetarian, and six reported eating sea fish. After analyzing the samples they collected, researchers confirmed that every single volunteer had microplastics in their stool. Scientists identified nine different kinds of plastics, including polypropylene (PP), polyethylene-terephthalate (PET), and others. Dr. Philipp Schwabl is the lead researcher who presented the findings at the 26th UEG Week.

This is the first study of its kind and confirms what we have long suspected, that plastics ultimately reach the human gut. Of particular concern is what this means to us, and especially patients with gastrointestinal diseases. While the highest plastic concentrations in animal studies have been found in the gut, the smallest microplastic particles are capable of entering the blood stream, lymphatic system and may even reach the liver. Now that we have first evidence for microplastics inside humans, we need further research to understand what this means for human health.”

Related: How to Detox From Plastics and Other Endocrine Disruptors

Where Is It From?

The researchers of this study chose to focus on food packaging. Plastic food packaging is everywhere. In 2013, the plastic industry produced 78 million metric tons of packaging and only 28 percent of that was recycled. The amount of non-bottle plastic packaging containers (dairy tubs, deli containers, lids, etc.)  recycled in the U.S. reached nearly 1.3 billion pounds in 2015. If that number is 28 percent of all of the non-bottle plastic in the U.S., the total amount of plastics directly touching deli meats, dips, spreads, sandwiches, and other popular foodstuffs is roughly 4.6 billion pounds. How do you avoid that?

It’s possible to limit your exposure to plastics through the food you eat. Shopping at the farmer’s market, bringing your own packaging to stores, and choosing items packaged in paper or glass are all potential options. That’s not the only way a person is exposed to microplastics, though. Water is another avenue of exposure. An analysis of popular bottled water brands found that 90 percent of them contained microplastics. The actual water bottle could be the source of those pieces, but a study of the water in major metropolitan areas found that 83 percent of samples contained plastic microfibers.

Related: Microplastics in Sea Salt – A Growing Concern

We Are the Fish Now

Microplastics enter our environment through a myriad of ways, like cosmetics, manufacturing processes, fishing gear, and packaging. Once microplastics are in the water, they are impossible for fish and other marine life (including coral) to avoid and can sometimes even get stuck in gills. These plastics are more than an irritant. They also contain BPA and other similar substances and can disrupt the endocrine system and cause serious health concerns.

We’ve known about plastics pollution in the oceans since the 1960s and 70s. Our use of it has increased dramatically since then. Four years ago, it was estimated there were between 15 and 50 trillion pieces of plastics in the oceans, and scientists have been discovering significant amounts of plastic in whales, birds, and fish. This study is confirmation that we are no different.

Related: Many Hand-me-down Plastic Toys Are Toxic for Kids

Sources:

• In a first, microplastics found in human poop – National Geographic
• UEG Week: Microplastics discovered in human stools across the globe in ‘first study of its kind’ – United European Gastroenterology
• Guess What Is In Your Poop: Plastic, Suggests A Study – Forbes
• Fifteen Plastic Packaging Statistics That Will Scare You – Ribble
• Food and Beverage – Plastic Packaging Facts

A rare condition reminiscent of polio that causes weakness and paralysis of the arms and legs is on the rise nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The condition is called acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), and it impacts the nervous system, also leaving some who contract it struggling with breathing difficulties. Like polio, AFM primarily affects children. There have been 362 cases on AFM since 2014 as of September 30, 2018. Scientists are unsure of the cause or a cure for the condition.

What We Know

AFM is a relatively rare condition, occurring every one in a million people. Over the past four years, the majority of AFM cases are reported in August, September, and October. The timing of these spikes has led the CDC to link the condition to viral illnesses. An outbreak of Enterovirus d-68, a respiratory illness, in 2014 coincided with several cases of AFM and supported that theory, but instances of AFM have also happened after cases of West Nile virus or adenovirus.

The CDC reports that there are 38 confirmed cases of AFM spread across 16 different states this year. However, health officials from 26 different states are reporting a higher number of recent cases. Local offices say they have confirmed 52 cases. One reason for the discrepancy? An AFM diagnosis takes longer to confirm, often lasting more than a month and requiring a barrage of tests, including an examination of the spinal cord. Only then can a case of AFM be confirmed. The process also depends on the state the case occurs in. Some states don’t require healthcare providers to reports AFM cases, though we do know, at the time of this article’s publication, that the latest outbreaks have occurred in Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Texas, Washington, and Pennsylvania.

Related: How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children

The V Word

You can’t write an article about a polio-adjacent illness without addressing polio and vaccination. Most scientists believe that polio was eradicated due to vaccines. Yet now almost all cases of polio reported are vaccine-derived. A 2017 study reported six cases of “wild” polio in comparison to 21 cases of vaccine-derived polio (Dr. Sherri Tenpenny says there were ten). Polio vaccines contain a live virus in a weakened state, but there is evidence that the virus is capable of returning to full strength. According to Raul Andino, one of the authors of the study and a professor of microbiology at the University of California at San Francisco,

We discovered there’s only a few [mutations] that have to happen and they happen rather quickly in the first month or two post-vaccination…As the virus starts circulating in the community, it acquires further mutations that make it basically indistinguishable from the wild-type virus. It’s polio in terms of virulence and in terms of how the virus spreads.”

In other words, the weakened poliovirus in polio vaccines mutates, allowing the virus to regain full strength. It’s a familiar story. Microbes evolve in response to their environment. It’s their nature, and those evolutions are part of many of the most urgent health issues facing the world, like antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

https://youtu.be/T1CULm76N5Q?t=369

When we eliminate these viruses through vaccines, nature abhors a vacuum. And so when viruses are eliminated or bacteria for that matter, like when Prevnar takes out thirteen strains of strep, of which there are more than 80, the more virulant strains come to the surface.” – Dr. Sherri Tenpenny

Be sure to check out the video above. Dr. Sherri Tenpenny believes the vaccine industry is “priming the pump” for a new vaccine.

Related: How To Heal Your Gut

How Can We Know

There is no way to say for sure that the increasing outbreaks of AFM are a mutation of the poliovirus or if a savvy microbe saw an opportunity and took it. There are holes in polio research; we are lacking basic information to determine things like how it’s caused. Of those infected with polio, nearly three-fourths of them will not present with any symptoms. A quarter of those infected will appear to have the flu and recover with no other symptoms within 2 to 5 days. And there is an opportunity for a weakened live virus (like the vaccine) to return to full strength and perhaps mutate into something more upsetting.

Sources:

• Rare, polio-like paralyzing disorder affecting children on the rise, CDC says – USA Today
• AFM Investigation – CDC
• 12 More Possible Cases Of A Polio-Like Illness Have Been Seen In Children In Pennsylvania And Illinois – Buzzfeed
• Polio-like illness is on the rise with 87 possible cases – NBC News

A new study from the Lancet Child & Adolescent Health found that higher test scores for United States students aged 8 through 11 came down to three factors: a minimum of 60 minutes of physical activity a day, nine to 11 hours of sleep a night, and no more than two hours a day of recreational screen time. Kids who did all of those things had test scores that were four percent higher. Of the 4520 students examined, only 216, or 5 percent, of them met that criteria.

Recommended: Myth of Moderate Alcohol Benefits Debunked, and How Science Gets Corrupted

Take Advantage of Synergy

All three of these factors amplify each other, making this a compelling study.

Of the three elements identified, more children were getting enough sleep and watched less than two hours of screens a day. Only 18 percent of kids were getting at least 60 minutes of physical activity daily. Many adults are in the same boat, with the CDC reporting that only 23% of adults in the U.S. get enough exercise.

Getting enough exercise or physical movement can also affect sleep in profound ways. A study in the journal Sleep Medicine found that insomniacs got 85 more minutes of sleep a night after working out for four months. Sleep is especially important for young people. Another study recently found that high school students who got less than six hours of sleep a night were twice as likely to report drug use or poor decision-making skills.

One of the most commonly cited reasons for insufficient sleep? Screen time, especially before bed. Screens can delay bedtime. They also make it harder for kids to wind down and disrupt the body’s natural circadian rhythms. Excess screen time for children can lead to issues with cognitive functions, like language ability, memory, and task completion.

Recommended: Foods Most Likely To Contain Glyphosate

In Combination

When you consider how intertwined all of these factors are, it makes sense that kids that get enough sleep, exercise, and avoid excess screens are scoring higher on tests. Our take? Check out their diet, too. While we’re all aware of the effect of too much sugar on kids and bedtime, getting the right nutrition goes way beyond that. This study examines the steps needed to set students up for success, and diet is absolutely the foundation.

Sources:

• Too much screen time, too little horseplay for kids: study – Digital Journal
• Associations between 24 hour movement behaviours and global cognition in US children: a cross-sectional observational study – The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health
• The Sleep and Exercise Connection That Can Change Your Life and Your Workouts – Shape
• Study flags later risks for sleep-deprived kids – Harvard Gazette
• New Study Shows Lack of Sleep in Teens Is Associated with Risky Behavior – Boston Magazine

It’s about time the bees get some good news! A new study finds that sunflower pollen can lower the rates of certain infections in two different kinds of bees, the bumblebee and the European honeybee. The pollen lowered the rates of Crithidia bombi (a particular pathogen) infection in bumble bees (Bombus impatiens) and also reduced another pathogen, Nosema ceranae, of the European honey bee (Apis mellifera). Bumblebees who consumed sunflower pollen also produced more eggs, larvae, and had a higher probability of pupating. Rebecca Irwin is a professor of applied ecology at NC State and one of the senior co-authors of the study.

We’ve tried other monofloral pollens, or pollens coming from one flower, but we seem to have hit the jackpot with sunflower pollen…None of the others we’ve studied have had this consistent positive effect on bumble bee health.”

Bad News for Bees

The bee crisis has been in headlines more than ever lately. Neonicotinoids, a class of pesticides acknowledged as particularly toxic to bees, damage bee’s immune systems, promote disorientation, disrupt gut microbes, and shorten their life cycles. Recent studies have also found that the problem may be more serious than previously thought. Bees can develop a preference for pesticides. These agricultural chemicals are also impairing bees’ ability to remember and learn things.

Recommended: Foods Most Likely to Contain Glyphosate

Benefits of Sunflowers

While sunflower pollen won’t be able to address the harm bees suffer from pesticides, the flower can still provide protection from certain infection.

Sunflower seeds have a plethora of nutrients, especially vitamin E. That might hold the key to sunflower’s ability to help the bees fight off disease. Vitamin E is a great source of antioxidants, has anti-inflammatory properties, contains zinc for the immune system, and have even been shown to fight infections in human infants. A vitamin E deficiency can lead to neurological issues like balance problems and lack of coordination. These neurological problems also sound like things bees experience when they’re repeatedly exposed to sunflower seeds. Could vitamin E, through sunflower seeds, do even more for the bees?

As They Go, So Do We

Bees are crucial to our food supply. Thirty-five percent of the world’s crops depend on pollinators like bees. The bees needed for that are disappearing at a rapid rate. A survey of beekeepers found that 33 percent of their bees died in 2016 and 2017. Our food system depends on them. The discovery of sunflower pollen as a potential support for bees is a step in repairing the massive damage inflicted on these insects.

Recommended: How to Detox From Plastics and Other Endocrine Disruptors

Sources:

• Sunflower Pollen Has Medicinal, Protective Effects on Bees – NC State University
• Medicinal value of sunflower pollen against bee pathogens – Nature.com
• 34 Amazing Benefits Of Sunflower Seeds (Surajmukhi Ke Beej) For Skin, Hair, And Health – Style Craze
• Benefits of Sunflower Seeds – Nuts.com
• Pesticides are making bees dumber – Popular Science

The more fluoxetine an E.coli microbe is exposed to, the more likely that bacteria is to develop multidrug resistance, says a new study from the University of Queensland in Australia. What is fluoxetine, and why is this a big deal?

Fluoxetine is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and the active ingredient in some of the world’s most prescribed anti-depressants like Prozac and Sarafem. E.coli bacteria were exposed to fluoxetine for 30 days in different concentrations. The bacteria were then exposed to antibiotics like chloramphenicol, amoxicillin, and tetracycline. The microbes exposed to the fluoxetine showed an increased resistance to antibiotics that was 50 million-fold higher than the experiment control. The more the bacteria were exposed to the SSRI, the more quickly the drug resistance developed. Jianhua Guo is one of the authors of the study.

Fluoxetine is a very persistent and well-documented drug in the wider environment, where strong environmental levels can induce multi-drug resistance…This discovery provides strong evidence that fluoxetine directly causes multi-antibiotic resistance via genetic mutation.”

Related: Sugar Leads to Depression – World’s First Trial Proves Gut and Brain are Linked (Protocol Included)

Ubiquitous Fluoxetine

Fluoxetine is an incredibly popular drug. Healthcare practitioners issued more than 28 million prescriptions for it in 2018. It’s almost always among the top 30 medications prescribed worldwide. It’s everywhere, and the link between the antidepressant and antibiotic-resistant bacteria could have serious consequences.

This study is a lab-based study, and it’s fair to wonder how the drug and the bacteria interact in a real-world scenario. Scientists don’t know. When a drug this popular has the potential to hasten the evolution of multidrug-resistant bacteria though, we need more studies.

In People

Most antidepressants are taken for longer than a year. But even a short period on fluoxetine can give harmful bacteria the time they need to develop resistance. Prozac takes longer to exit the body than other SSRI medications like Paxil or Zoloft. While those examples 99 percent out of the body after 5 and 6 days respectively, Prozac takes nearly a month. These medications “fix” problems by disrupting the endocrine system. A disruption like that allows infections to flourish in the body.

Related: How To Heal the Gut

Not to Be Depressing…

We’re not ready for the level of antibiotic-resistant bacteria developing in our society. We know that antibiotics fed to food animals are a major source of those developments. Yet U.S. farmers are still using antibiotics regarded as “crucial to human health.” The authors of this study found that triclosan, an ingredient in antibacterial soaps, causes antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Now antidepressants have been linked to multidrug resistance.

We aren’t taking confirmed causes of this health seriously, and we are constantly finding new potential causes we hadn’t even considered. It’s a recipe for disaster.

Sources:

• One of The Most Widely Used Antidepressants Has Just Been Implicated in Breeding Antibiotic Resistance – Science Alert
• Antidepressant may cause antibiotic resistance – University of Queensland Australia
• Antidepressant fluoxetine induces multiple antibiotics resistance in Escherichia coli via ROS-mediated mutagenesis – Science Direct
• Fluoxetine Hydrochloride Drug Usage Statistics, United States, 2005 – 2015 – ClinCalc
• Going off antidepressants – Harvard Health Publishing

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have released their investigation into a string of multidrug-resistant campylobacter infections that affected 118 people from 2016 to 2018. The cause? Puppies sold at 6 different pet stores across 18 different states.

The first cases of Campylobacter jejuni were identified in Florida. After reviewing the data, scientists linked them to a national pet store chain based in Ohio. At the end of a collaborative investigation between the CDC and local state health departments, where officials from six states collected puppy fecal samples, antibiotic records, and traceback information, 118 people were found to have contracted campylobacter from the pet store puppies. Twenty-nine of the people affected were employees of the 6 pet companies linked to the infections. The specific bacteria isolated in this investigation was traced back to 25 different breeders and 8 distributors of dogs.

Shoddy Practices

Of the 149 puppies investigated for this study, 142 of them had received at least one course of antibiotics. The majority of research into antibiotic-resistance and animals has focused on animals raised for food like cattle and chicken. In fact, the bacteria that caused this infection, Campylobacter jejuni, is one of the most common causes of food poisoning in the U.S. and Europe and most commonly found on raw poultry. But this discovery suggests that the same issue we’re experiencing with factory-farming could be taking place with pets, especially those raised in puppy mills.

Recommended: How To Heal Your Gut

Puppy mills and unscrupulous breeders are notorious for poor living conditions for the animals that live there. Dogs are kept in overcrowded, unsanitary cages for nearly 24 hours a day. The conditions in these frequently unlicensed facilities mirror those in your typical factory farm. This is one of the first studies to suggest that those comparisons extend to potentially dangerous pathogens found at both kinds of farms.

The Future

This outbreak shows another way antibiotics have snuck into our daily life. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria pose one of the most potent threats to public health in the future. Within the next thirty years, these microbes will likely kill more people than cancer. There also aren’t new antibiotics in development. Managing antibiotic resistance through the avoidance of unnecessary antibiotics is more crucial than ever before.

Recommended: After Taking Antibiotics, This Is What You Need To Do To Restore Healthy Intestinal Flora

Sources:

• CDC: Drug-resistant infection in 118 people linked to pet store puppies – Click on Detroit
• Multidrug-Resistant Campylobacter jejuni Outbreak Linked to Puppy Exposure — United States, 2016–2018 – CDC
• About Puppy Mills – The Puppy Mill Project
• WHO Says the World Will Run Out of Antibiotics Able to Treat Bacteria Superbugs – Organic Lifestyle Magazine

A new study now links “safe” levels of Bisphenol-A (BPA) and the development of type-2 diabetes, insulin resistance, and other metabolic disorders. The Food and Drug Administration considers BPA safe at oral exposure levels of 50 micrograms per every kilogram of body weight every day. Published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society, researchers based at the University of Missouri wanted to determine if humans exposed to BPA exhibited the same symptoms as mice. Frederick vom Saal, an endocrinologist at the MU College of Arts and Science and co-author on the study, thinks this study provides a compelling argument that they might.

This exploratory study needs to be replicated because it suggests that BPA exposure at a dose considered safe by U.S. regulators could alter glucose-stimulated insulin responses in humans…Our study is an initial step toward investigating whether exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals, such as BPA, contributes to insulin resistance and eventually Type 2 diabetes.”

Methods

For this study, researchers gave non-diabetic men and postmenopausal women oral doses of the FDA’s safe level of BPA. They also administered a placebo. Those who were given the BPA had altered insulin responses. Those results occurred both when scientists used an oral glucose tolerance test and a hyperglycemic clamp.

Related: How to Detox From Plastics and Other Endocrine Disruptors

Bad News BPA

Most people know BPA is bad, even if they don’t know why it’s bad. In addition to insulin resistance, the chemical has been associated with inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, cancer, and a whole host of hormonal issues. It’s been banned in the majority of children’s products, but the alternatives to BPA aren’t much better. A recently released Washington State University study found that BPA alternatives like bisphenol-S caused genetic abnormalities similar to those caused by the product they’re replacing.

Related: How to Heal the Gut

Even something as simple as a cash register receipt can be a big deal. The BPA found in register receipts is unbounded, meaning it is loose and more readily absorbed through the skin. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency conducted receipts tests in 2014 and found that the thermal paper used in 18 hospitality business had from 54–79 micrograms of BPA per square centimeter of paper. That’s more than the accepted safe oral dose of BPA.

Death By a Thousand Cuts

At this point, it’s plastics. There are several different types of plastic, and not all of them have inspired a cause for concern. Part of that can be attributed to a desire from good enough by plastics manufacturers and government officials. But good enough has so far led to a steady increase in mystery illnesses that linger and seriously impact a person’s quality of life.

Sources:

• BPA exposure in U.S.-approved levels may alter insulin response in non-diabetic adults – MU News Bureau
• Experimental BPA Exposure and Glucose-Stimulated Insulin Response in Adult Men and Women – Oxford Academic
• How to Detox From Plastics and Other Endocrine Disruptors – Organic Lifestyle Magazine
• BPA in thermal paper – Minnesota Pollution Control Agency