The vaccine discussion just got more complicated as California governor Jerry Brown signed SB 277. Just one day after lawmakers sent him the bill, Brown signed it into law, eliminating all personal and religious exemptions for vaccines for California’s schoolchildren.

It defies common sense. It negates basic human rights. But Governor Brown has chosen to take away the right to exempt children from vaccinations for religious and personal (philosophical ) reasons for anyone who wants their child to attend school.

Even though California is only the third state to eliminate these vaccine exemptions, they are the largest and most public. Since the initial proposal of the bill by Democratic state senator Richard Pan, protests and petitions against it have been rampant, and opponents say that they are planning to use every avenue available to them to have the law repealed.

This new bill is a change from Governor Brown’s previous stand on the issue when he left religious exemptions intact but required parents to speak to a health professional before obtaining an exemption. With 67% of California’s adults in favor of the bill and increased pressure from the vaccine and pharmaceutical lobbyists, this bill is not a measured and thoughtful response. It is a frantic scramble after a very public, but very overblown, health scare. Unfortunately, many lawmakers have not fully considered the consequences of their decision.

Opponents of the legislation claim it restricts parents’ rights to chose their children’s care. Opponents vowed to challenge the law immediately.

“We need to wait until someone actually gets thrown out of school until we can challenge it,” an action that will not occur until after the bill takes effect in 2016, said Christina Hildebrand, founder of the group A Voice For Choice. “But we will likely have a referendum on it.” – Sacramento Bee

California is not the only state that denies exemptions. Currently Mississippi and West Virginia also deny exemptions.

SB 277 Questions

When does the law take effect?

On January of 2016 schools will “…ensure kids entering kindergarten and seventh grade are vaccinated in July 2016, ahead of the 2016-17 school year.” – Sacramento Bee
Required Vaccines

• Diphtheria
• Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib meningitis),
• Measles, mumps
• Pertussis (whooping cough)
• Poliomyelitis
• Rubella (German measles)
• Tetanus
• Hepatitis B
• Chickenpox

Can children keep personal belief exemptions they already have?

If a child is currently exempted (or gains an exemption before the law goes into effect in 2016), that exemption remains in effect until the child enters the seventh grade. No child can enter kindergarten or the seventh grade without vaccinations unless they obtain a medical exemption. Any unvaccinated child with an exemption who enters the seventh grade before the law goes into effect will not have to be vaccinated.

Are medical exceptions allowed?

Medical exemptions are allowed at a doctors discretion. The doctor can take earlier responses to a vaccine into account as well as family history, including reactions of siblings.

Conclusion

Parents are forced to vaccinate their children if they want their child to attend school. The mounting evidence of corruption and careless abandonment of all ethical and moral standards of the pharmaceutical companies who make vaccines is appalling. They recommend an outrageous number of vaccines for our children in the name of preventative medicine while lying about the risks involved. Children are dying all over the world and other countries are refusing our vaccines due to death and injury, but here in America we keep hearing the mantra, “Vaccines are safe and effective.”

Big Pharma is running the show, honing the message, and pulling the strings. They own the media. Mainstream news is afraid to speak out due to the real threat of loss of revenue. Government is just a puppet, pulled along and pushed around by propaganda and our representatives are shamefully bought off with dirty money. How many more children will be neurologically damaged or killed while their parents feel they have no choice but to comply?

Wake up America. Something is very, very wrong when corporations rule the nation, not the people.
We must learn more about the very real dangers of vaccinations and why they are so much more dangerous now for the current generation. To learn more about the flu shot and the MMR, check out the sources below.

Detoxification is essential after vaccination. Learn more with how to detoxify from vaccinations. To learn more about states’ vaccine exemptions, click here.

Further Reading:

• How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children
• Doctors Against Vaccines – Hear From Those Who Have Done the Research
• Scientists Against Vaccines – Hear From Those Who Have Done the Research
• Influenza Vaccine – A Comprehensive Overview of the Potential Dangers and Effectiveness of the Flu Shot
• The MMR Vaccine – A Comprehensive Overview Of the Potential Dangers and Effectiveness
• How Plumbing, Not Vaccines, Eradicated Disease
• Autism and Vaccines: CDC Whistleblower Exposes Vaccine Dangers, Lies, and Cover-ups

France is the latest country to ban the private sale of Monsanto’s favorite carcinogen – glyphosate. France has been in the alternative news quite a bit lately, asking the makers of Nutella to stop using palm oil, insisting all new rooftops be covered in solar panels or plants, and mandating the donation of all supermarket food waste. This new move by their Ecology Minister is the latest result of their forward thinking.

The French aren’t the only people around the world waking up to the effects of Roundup. Governments are now more likely to look for independent research to explain the uptick in the rates of diseases like cancer. Monsanto continues to bleat about the safety of glyphosates and their inability to harm humans, claiming that “the dose makes the poison.” With the levels of glyphosates on the rise in our food, our soil, our air, and water, at what magic point does the saturation of our environment turn from harmful to poison? Are we willing to wait until that switch has been flipped with no hope of going back?

The List of Governments Waking Up Keeps Growing

The fight against GMOs and Monsanto has made waves the world over, and as the United States deals with a food system where 80 percent of products now likely contain GMOs, Europe continues their crackdown against the damage caused by Monsanto and all of their products. While most of the focus has been on Monsanto crops, the tremendously influential study from the International Agency for Research on Cancer has caused many to consider banning all of their products. The Netherlands, Bermuda, and Sri Lanka preceded France in banning over the counter sales of Roundup. It is worth noting that Bermuda and Sri Lanka have prohibited the use of glyphosates in all applications, including commercial ones, unlike the Dutch and the French.

Monsanto Maintains the Same Response as Always

It’s business as usual for the PR department of Monsanto, as they continue to refine their denial skills. Glyphosate was introduced as Roundup in the 1970s, and in that time it has expanded to become the most produced weed killer is the world. As Monsanto is a company willing to throw their financial weight around, it’s been easy for government institutions to look the other way, and it was easy to keep the public in the dark before the Internet. In 1985, the Environmental Protection Agency listed glyphosate as a possible carcinogen. Six years later the memo had been changed, despite several scientists supporting the original classification. With it officially listed as a 2A carcinogen, it’s become more difficult to accept Monsanto’s manipulation in the face of growing public outrage.

Monsanto’s variations on the theme that “glyphosate is non-toxic” are endless. They frequently argue that studies that find any fault with their products ignore important information. Some statements have referred to Roundup as low risk to human health, but that has been the extent of any admission of guilt.

It’s time to acknowledge that Monsanto is an irresponsible corporation with enough money, power, and manipulation to sway government agencies. Nothing will change until the public steps up and says, “Enough!” The tipping point is near – that point at which our planet is too saturated with environmental disruptors. Groups like Occupy Monsanto and March Against Monsanto are great place to start if we are ready to step up and heal our environment.

Further Reading:

• GMO Science – Understanding How GMOs Are Created, and What Prominent Scientists Are Saying
• Understanding and Detoxifying Genetically Modified Foods
• The Difference Between Heirlooms, Hybrids, and GMOs
• Foods That Are GMO

Sources:

• France says “no more” to selling Roundup over the counter – com
• Roundup weedkiller banned from French garden centres over ‘probable’ link to cancer – independent.co.uk
• Monsanto gets sued for falsely advertising glyphosate as non-toxic to humans – com
• Mainstream Media Blackout: Another Country Bans Monsanto’s Roundup Herbicide – collective-evolution.com

Chipotle made waves earlier this year when they announced that they would be eliminating GMOs from their menu. After eliminating GMO cornstarch from its tortillas, the company is now further streamlining its tortilla recipe in an attempt to offer its customers a product as close to a homemade tortilla as possible. From an admittedly short list of eleven ingredients, Chipotle’s downsizing its ingredient list even further to a mere four: whole-wheat flour, oil, salt, and water.

Mass-producing this tortilla presents a number of problems, chief among them taste, shelf life, and logistics. Early test runs have created tortillas with the elasticity needed for burritos and a nutty taste most likely be attributed to Chipotle’s decision to use more health-conscious whole-wheat flour. But when a company is serving upwards of 800,000 tortillas a day, taste and texture are not the only concerns. It needs to produce a product that is consistent and always available. The typical means to increase shelf life would be the addition of preservatives to the product. Being health conscious, Chipotle said no to preservatives and found a solution both simple and elegant: sourdough.

The Oldest Leavened Bread

Fermentation is one of the earliest forms of food preservation. Sourdough has rich history as the first leavened bread, and its use of naturally occurring yeast has made it accessible to anyone since it was recognized. Using this time-tested method for insuring its bread would last longer, Chipotle is able to keep the shelf life its tortillas without lab derived chemicals and provide a healthier product that appeals to the informed consumer.

Lactobacilli bacteria is responsible for the unique sourdough flavor as it ferments the bread, breaking down gluten and other proteins. The bacteria also acts as a probiotic. This breakdown makes sourdough easier to digest than breads made with conventional yeast, making sourdough bread a potential option for those who are unable to easily digest modern bread products.

Of course there are logistical issues, as sourdough requires a consistent temperature, a quiet place to develop, and the time to properly ferment. Starting and maintaining a sourdough culture can be a daunting task. A tortilla factory is accustomed to expanding commercial dough balls with yeast and then immediately pressing, baking, and packaging tortillas for sale. So far Don Pancho Authentic Mexican Foods in Salem, Oregon, which is serving as the test factory, is dealing with the logistics needed for fermentation by designating a separate room where the sourdough cultures can ferment before being shaped and baked. Chipotle plans on perfecting the process then expanding it throughout the entire chain, region by region.

Our Food Conversation

Chipotle’s commitment to serve “Food with Integrity” is the culinary equivalent of the canary in the coalmine – can fast food be both healthy and profitable?

Though the average diner may not have entered the conversation about what’s in our food, where it’s coming from, and what our planet can actually sustain, there is a growing number of people who want quality, healthy dining options.

This conversation needs to continue on an increasingly larger scale. Though Chipotle has always been a part of this conversation due to their transparency, they entered it in a big way when they banned GMOs. It’s up to us to reward this business for its courage and integrity. Remember, as always, we vote with our dollars.

Further Reading:

• Foods That Lead to a Leaky Gut
• Understanding and Detoxifying GMOs
• Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases
• Is Wheat Poison? What’s Behind The Rise Of Celiac Disease And Gluten Intolerance?
• Fermented Foods Optimize Your Health

Sources:

• Chipotle’s Quest to Develop a Better Tortilla – NY Times
• Tortilla Journey – Chipotle
• The History Of Sourdough Bread – Sourdough

Microbeads were introduced into products like face washes and toothpaste as an extra scrubbing agent. These tiny pieces of plastic were originally added to personal care products as a cheaper replacement for natural exfoliators like walnut husks and diatomaceous earth.

What Are They?

Microbeads are usually made with polyethylene or polypropylene, two of the more commonly used plastics. A single tube of face wash can contain more than 300,000 beads. In a 7oz bottle of face cleanser, roughly three-quarters of an ounce is microbeads. Each of these beads is smaller than 1mm, which is 5 times smaller than the traditional definition of microplastic. Deliberately designed to be rinsed down the drain, their tiny size allows them to slip past water filtration services. This is how they end up in bodies of water, fish stomachs, and our own bodies.

Related: How to Detox From Plastics and Other Endocrine Disruptors

Environmental and Health Issues Caused by Microbeads

Much of the data regarding microbeads and their effect on the environment comes from the Great Lakes. The New York state attorney general released a report on microbeads that stated, they found as much as 19 tons of microbeads are discharged into NY waters. In Lake Ontario, the most contaminated of the Great Lakes, 1.1 million microbeads per square kilometer were found in the lake bed. It is believed that wildlife mistake the tiny plastic particles for fish eggs and get them lodged in their digestive tracts. Not only do these beads cause damage as they end up in the environment, but the damage is magnified by the plastic’s ability to absorb pollutants like industrial chemicals, phthalates, PCBs, and estrogen-disruptors. These toxins are then passed on to the animals that consume them – seagulls, turtles, fish, and humans.

The initial push for legislation against microbeads came from the dental industry after professionals began finding bits of blue plastic stuck in patients’ mouths. Microbeads leave the mouth at greater risk of infections like gingivitis and periodontal disease due to their ability to absorb industrial chemicals and bacteria. Microbeads also may be hormone disruptors, which makes it even more upsetting to have them lodged between your teeth and gums. The American Dental Association cites a lack of clinical evidence supporting the health risks of the microbeads, conveniently mirroring the stance of major retailers.

Related: Microplastics in Sea Salt – A Growing Concern

How to Find and Avoid Microbeads

The FDA maintains that microbeads are safe and they are even approved for uses in food (Think about it; the FDA is totally cool with you eating bits of plastic). The good news is, many companies are noticing the public and state pressure concerning the safety of microbeads and are removing them from their products. Many of them are still in the process of removing them, though, and knowing how to read your ingredients can help you avoid microbeads right now. Polyethylene is the most important ingredient to look for. Other ingredients that indicate the presence of micro beads are polypropylene, poly-e-terephthalate, and polymethyl methacrylate. Some of the major brands using microbeads in their face wash, body scrubs, and toothpastes include:

• Proctor and Gamble (this includes Crest and Olay)
• Johnson & Johnson (this includes Neutrogena and Aveeno)
• L’Oreal (this includes Garnier and the Body Shop)
• Proactiv
• Nivea
• Estee Lauder (this include Clinique)
• Discount lines from Walgreens, CVS, and other retailers

Obviously not every product has them, which makes it even more important to check out the ingredients of personal care products you use. Using wildcrafted or organic personal care products from a trusted business also eliminates the health and environment pollution of microbeads.

Legislation Regarding Microbeads

Illinois is the first state to have legal action in place concerning non biodegradable microbeads. Starting in 2017, microbeads will be phased out of all products until the total ban of them in 2019. Colorado, Maine, and New Jersey have laws resembling Illinois’. Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Wisconsin are close behind with similar bills having been presented to their legislation. One issue with these bills is the fact that they leave the possibility open for companies to claim that their microbeads are actually “biodegradable.” California is addressing that issue by approving a bill that will ban microbeads in all forms. If that bill makes it into law, it could be the end for microbeads because of the prohibitive cost of making microbead-free products for only one state. The businesses that don’t see anything wrong with microbeads despite growing evidence otherwise are only going to stop using them when it becomes too costly to use them in their manufactured products.

Internationally, non-government organizations have been quicker to sound the microbead alarm. In 2011, a Dutch NGO, the North Sea Foundation, began asking major businesses to remove microbeads from their products due to their negative environmental impact. Companies responded to initial entreaties with vague, unsubstantiated claims about the safety of their products. In 2012, the North Sea Foundation joined with the Plastic Soup Foundation to create Beat the Microbead, a campaign to end the use of microbeads. This campaign has met success worldwide, with the biggest coup coming when international corporate giant Unilever agreed to stop using microbeads in its global portfolio with 2015 as its target year. This campaign is a great example of how grassroots activism can make a difference using consumer pressure to have a positive impact on harmful business practices.

Microbeads might seem like a tiny thing to be worried about, but the ripple effects from them can have a big impact. The wildlife in the Great Lakes is already feeling it, as every time they mistake a microbead for dinner they ingest a piece of plastic that will add to their demise. In the human health arena, maintaining your oral health is important to your overall health. Digestion starts in the mouth, and wedging teeny tiny pieces of plastic along your gumline is a horrible way to treat yourself. States are slowly coming around to the idea that these microbeads are not only dangerous, but unnecessary. There are alternates to these products, and who doesn’t want to feel good about the personal care products they use?

Sources:

• Your Toothpaste May Be Loaded With Tiny Plastic Beads That Never Go Away – Mother Jones
• Why dentists are speaking out about the plastic beads in your toothpaste – The Washington Post
• Plagued by Plastics, Microbeads in the Great Lakes – Watershed Council
• Unseen ­Threat: How Microbeads Harm New York Waters, Wildlife, Health And Environment –(404) State of New York
• Plastic Microbeads: The Newest Threat To The Great Lakes – EWG
• International Campaign Against Microbeads In Cosmetics – (404)Beat the Microbead

Guess what? The nice folks charged with taking care of everyone have finally decided we were getting too much fluoride. The U.S. Public Health Service changed our drinking water standards for the first time since 1962.

The previously agreed upon level of fluoride was 0.7 to 1.2 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water, the amount of fluoride found in a single use of 95% of the toothpastes available on the market in the United States.

Is Fluoride Even Necessary?

Advocates claim that the addition of fluoride to the water supply is the reason for the decline in tooth decay since the 1950s. These same advocates ignore the fact that the same decline in decay rates occurred in all western countries. The majority of European countries that do not use fluoride have seen a 75% reduction in tooth decay over a forty-year period.

Fluoride’s Unsafe History

Where does fluoride come from? Before fluorine gas (the element that fluoride is derived from) was isolated, chemists dealing with it suffered from severe injuries, especially to the soft tissues of the respiratory tract. Manmade fluoride comes from industrial waste, and the FDA hasn’t carefully assessed it.

Forty percent of 12-15-year-olds in America show signs of fluorosis, an overexposure to fluoride that causes white spots on teeth. The deputy surgeon general is citing fluorosis as the main reason for the lowering of the recommended amount of fluoride in drinking water. Unfortunately, that’s not the only reason to reduce and eliminate fluoride in our drinking water.

Harvard scientists decided that the effect of fluoride on the young brain was a high priority topic of study, as several studies have found children’s IQs were reduced by fluoride exposure. It has also been linked to damaged learning and memory centers in the brain.

Fluoride is also toxic for bones, as the chronic ingestion of fluoride has been linked to skeletal fluorosis. It’s clear that the rate of dental damage from fluoride is on the rise, and it makes sense that the same damage is occurring in the skeletal system. There have also been links between fluoride and damage to the kidneys and thyroid.

Say No to Fluoride

With the growing tide of research confirming that fluoride is harming the brain and bones as well as the teeth it’s purportedly designed to help, 0.7 of fluoride per liter of water as the new standard still seems high considering it’s merely the low end of the previous recommendation. The fact that it has taken more than 50 years for the Public Health Service to lower the levels of fluoride in our water in the face of damning evidence shows how unwilling our government is to consider current research.

While the lowering of the recommended amount of fluoride is a step in the right direction, it is not enough. There are things that you can do to take care of and protect yourself even further. Learn about the best water to drink (see links 8 and 2 below) and learn how to make your own fluoride free toothpaste.

Further Reading:

• What’s the Best Water for Detoxifying and For Drinking?
• Symptoms of Dehydration & Benefits of Proper Hydration – Are you Getting Enough Water?
• Why Water Fluoridation Continues, Despite Flying in the Face of Science
• What’s in Your Water?

Sources:

• Feds Say It’s Time To Cut Back On Fluoride In Drinking Water – Shots, Health News from NPR
• Heal Cavities, Gum Disease, Naturally with Organic Oral Care – Toothpaste Recipes Included – Organic Lifestyle Magazine
• Why Water Fluoridation Continues Despite Flying in the Face of Science – Organic Lifestyle Magazine
• Tooth Decay Trends In Fluoridated Vs. Unfluoridated Countries – Fluoride Alert
• Fluorine – Chemistry Explained
• Fluoride & IQ: The 43 Studies – Fluoride Alert
• What are the long-term effects of ingesting fluoride on our bones? – com
• What’s the Best Water for Detoxifying and Drinking? – Organic Lifestyle Magazine

Many people believe the word “superfood” is a term used for click bait and nothing more, but superfoods not only exist, they are the superheroes of the food world. Spirulina is one such food.

In the Central African Republic, Catholic nuns are using the blue-green algae to fight malnutrition at the St. Joseph Health Center. Bangui, where the nuns are located, has been dealing with the effects of a conflict that has made resources scarce. The lack of food has had an especially pronounced effect on children in the region.

After a meeting with a French pharmacist who advised them on how to grow spirulina, the nuns at St Joseph Health Center were able to successfully harvest the algae to combat malnutrition.

Spirulina is a remarkable source of nutrients, containing the highest natural source of complete proteins, omega fatty acids, iron, and antioxidants. The health applications of a superfood like spirulina can translate across countless circumstances, from saving lives in the Central African Republic to providing everyday nutrients to anyone around the world.

Working Smarter – and Making a Difference

The number of children who suffer from severe malnutrition in the Central African Republic is on the rise. Compared to last year, reported cases of acute malnutrition have tripled as conflicts in the region leave families unable to plant crops, to earn a living, or to access sanitation, clean water, and health care. Provisions from aid organizations are an inconsistent food source, as security issues often keep the protein supplements from reaching their intended targets. These are the struggles facing the nuns at St Joseph as they care for vulnerable children and mothers.

Spirulina has given them an inexpensive, effective, and reliable way to feed the people who come to the health center. Once a solution to the malnutrition problem presented itself, the nuns obtained the materials to build the algae tanks from the community through begging and borrowing. People are paying attention to St Joseph Health Center because of how effective the spirulina has been and the inspiring initiative shown by the nuns who work there.

The sisters at St. Joseph are proud of how many children they are able to help. After such great results, others in the Central African Republic and areas beyond who suffer from malnutrition see the sisters as both an inspiration and a source of practical knowledge.

Why Spirulina is Awesome

Most people are familiar with algae. It’s the murky, clingy, dingy green stuff in ponds and dirty aquariums. Unappetizing as it sounds, spirulina is among the most nutritious foods on the planet with 18 vitamins and minerals, 8 amino acids, chlorophyll, antioxidants, and essential fatty acids. The stuff is loaded. In addition to that goodness, its soft cell walls make it easy to digest. It also absorbs heavy metals and toxins. Eating algae plain might not be for the squeamish, but a quality green nutrition powder can give you the benefits of spirulina without the slime.

Spirulina is incredibly eco-friendly; it yields 25% more nutrition per square foot than any other plant. If you find yourself inspired by the nuns at St Joseph and want to try some DIY spirulina at home, the Internet is here to help. Great DIY tutorials like the one here can get you started on a window aquarium filled with spirulina. It may take more than one try to get it to work, but, in time, you’ll be able to guarantee a quality supply of homegrown spirulina, perfect for survival and prepping, too! The use of spirulina in the Central African Republic has shown the great impact it can have on health. This Total Nutrition Formula is the perfect recipe for your spirulina, and it’s the best multi-vitamin/mineral/protein supplement I know of. Even if building an algae farm isn’t a viable option, finding a quality source of it can give you access to even better health.

Recommended Supplements:

• Shillington’s Total Nutrition Formula

Further Reading:

• Total Nutrition – Make your own Homemade Multivitamin and Mineral Formula
• Top 5 Foods that Detox Heavy Metals and Toxins

Sources: 

• Algae-growing nuns in Central African Republic fight malnutrition with ingenuity – PBS.org
• To Fight Malnutrition, These African Nuns Grow Protein-Rich Spirulina Behind Their Health Clinic – True Activist
• Press release Three times more children treated for severe acute malnutrition in Bangui hospital than this time last year – UNICEF
• Food of the Future: Window DIY Spirulina Superfood – Instructables

We often hear that professional football players are in the best shape of their lives. Their level of fitness cannot be denied, but what about their overall health, specifically their brain health? There has been increasing concern over the long-term effects of the concussions football players routinely suffer from collisions on the field. A professional football player will receive 900-1500 blows to the head during a single season and will have a 75% chance of suffering a concussion.

Previously, players sacrificed their brain health for the love of the game, for money and opportunities, or because they felt they had no choice. Now a 24-year-old professional football player named Chris Borland has decided the risks of football aren’t worth it. He’s not the first, but he is the youngest and the one who has shocked a country that is still actively resisting the idea of putting their health first until it’s too late. There is an important distinction between a young athlete protecting himself and an aging athlete trying to preserve whatever brain function he has left. It’s an example of a new mindset, one concerned with health and armed with more information than ever before.

The Football-Concussion Connection

Common sense says that being hit over the head with a heavy object is not a good idea. It follows that the effect of football on players has been a concern for a long time, but determining the level of damage and consequences of repeated trauma has been harder to do. In 1994, the NFL formed the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee, paying lip service to health concerns over players and giving the NFL the opportunity to control the concussion narrative.

Athletes who are willing to ignore, or those who don’t know, the long-term health effects of what they’re doing are essential to the financial well being of professional football. The growing wealth of information available on concussions and brain health is available to anyone with the Internet, and it’s impossible to avoid the identification of sports and football as a major cause of these issues. The Internet’s ability to disseminate information has taken the latter away from the NFL, and the public and players are beginning to ask if football is worth the health risks. It’s also posed the question of trust. Are the people receiving the financial benefits from a 9 billion industry really the ones players should trust to care for them and their quality of life?

Degenerative Brain Disease Links

A concussion is an injury to the head that leads to a temporary loss of brain function. While the effects of a mild concussion are usually temporary, people who have had a concussion are more likely to suffer from another, and the damage from repeated brain injuries does accumulate. Recent research has found that NFL players who have suffered from multiple concussions have increased rates of memory and attention deficits and are more likely to develop Parkinson and Alzheimer like symptoms. Older athletes who experienced concussions were tested. It was found that the cortex had thinned, which combined with the presence of abnormal proteins in the brain, echoes the brains of those with Alzheimer’s. Technology has made studies like this possible and provides a great resource for people who are concerned about the effects of playing an aggressive and violent sport like football.

Degenerative Disease Can Strike Anyone’s Brain

There are a few ways to look at these findings. An increasing number of players are retiring while they are still relevant and able to play at a high level. Chris Borland, Patrick Willis, and others are hanging up their cleats early because they feel like the game is no longer worth the health risks. On the flip side, playing sports professionally is a huge opportunity for others, and trading their potential quality of life in their later years for the shot at sports fame and fortune is something they’re willing to do. Concussions can have a serious effect on the brain. As people weigh the benefits of football against the costs, more people, especially parents, are deciding that it’s simply not worth it.

For more on brain health, intelligence, and for repairing brain damage, check out  Increase Your IQ With The Right Foods, Herbs, and Vitamins (check out the brain tonic recipe).

Further Reading:

• Candida and Depression
• How Insomnia Leads to a Filthy Mind
• Increase Your IQ With The Right Foods, Herbs, and Vitamins

Sources:

• 49ers player retires at age 24, says football isn’t ‘worth the risk’ in groundbreaking decision – Business Insider
• How do you determine that an athlete is OK to Return to Play? – Concussion Treatment
• Chris Borland’s retirement shows concussion awareness makes a difference – Chicago Tribune
• Tom Brady’s Balls: Why They Matter – Natural News
• Concussions Cause Long-Term Effects Lasting Decades – Medical News Today