Caution, heavy load: Children are damaging their backs with excessively full school rucksacks

School kids are damaging their backs by carrying heavy rucksacks, a report has found.

The most commonly-diagnosed conditions are scoliosis, or curvature of the spine, followed by lower back pain and involuntary muscle contractions.

The Archives of Disease in Childhood report found many teens carry rucksacks which top 15% of their body weight.

The authors said: "Many children transport excessively loaded backpacks, an excess which would not be allowed for workers in employment.

“We strongly encourage the medical and educational community to start advising parents and school children about the risks posed by heavy school bags and the fact this risk can be easily reduced.”

Experts at the University of Santiago de Compostela, La Coruna, Spain, analysed the back health of 1403 pupils aged between 12 and 17 from 11 schools.

The teens were weighed twice, with and without the rucksacks they carry to school.

Their height was taken, along with information about their lifestyle, exercise levels and any underlying health problems.

Statins can cause muscle damage without necessarily exhibiting pain symptoms

Wednesday, March 14, 2012 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
(NaturalNews) If you take statin drugs to lower your cholesterol levels, these medications could be damaging your muscles without you even knowing it. Several studies not typically mentioned by the pro-statin drug lobby reveal that HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors can cause skeletal muscle damage that may not always exhibit obvious pain symptoms -- and yet the perpetual damage caused by statin use will likely persist long after the medication is ceased.

According to Duane Graveline, M.D., M.P.H., a retired family physician, the cholesterol-lowering properties of statins directly damage muscle fibers, and are responsible for eroding cell walls and altering the way muscles work. This is why many statin drug users report chronic pain symptoms that did not exist prior to having started statin regimens (http://www.spacedoc.com/muscle_pain_statins.htm).

USDA plans to keep feeding 'pink slime' to your kids

Thursday, March 15, 2012 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
(NaturalNews) After garnering nationwide attention for being secretly added to processed hamburgers and beef products, including those served in school lunchrooms, "lean finely textured beef," aka "pink slime," is reportedly on its way out from the menu offerings of McDonald's, Taco Bell, and Burger King. But according toMother Jones, theU.S. Department of Agriculture(USDA) plans to keep ordering this imitation, ammonia-laced product for use in itsNational School Lunch Program(NSLP), a taxpayer-funded government food program that serves low-income students.

Pink slime gained much notoriety after being featured in the acclaimed 2008 documentaryFood Inc.. Robert Kenner, the film's director, revealed an inside look intoBeef Products International(BPI), a South Sioux City, Neb.-based processing plant that produces most of the nation's supply of pink slime. The product, which is composed of bovine connective tissue and random beef scraps doused in ammonia and formed into a paste, is commonly used as a beef filler because it is low-cost and supposedly less risky compared to conventional ground beef.

You can watch a disturbing clip fromFood Inc.featuring footage from the BPI plant and commentary by BPI founder Eldon Roth at the following link:
http://youtu.be/RHQHPNoyO7c


FDA, USDA say ammonia-laced 'pink slime' is safe for children

Though BPI claims that pink slime is safer than conventional ground beef because of the ammonia treatment, tests conducted by NSLP between 2005 and 2009 have revealed that the meat-like matter routinely tests positive for salmonella at four times the rate of conventional beef. Ammonia is also a highly-corrosive poison that is known to cause respiratory illness and lung damage, liver problems, and cancer. TheChemical Encyclopediasays ammonia is "highly toxic" if swallowed (http://healthychild.org/issues/chemical-pop/ammonia/).

And yet both theU.S. Food and Drug Administration(FDA) and the USDA insist that pink slime is safe, even though there is absolutely no evidence to prove this. And now the USDA's NSLP is reportedly ordering seven million pounds of pink slime to serve to students, a shocking move that even the nation's most notoriously unhealthy fast-food chains are unwilling to make.

Reports indicate that top USDA officials have routinely ignored all data showing that pink slime is a "high risk product," and have instead continued to endorse the product as safe for human consumption. And the worst part about the situation is that, just like with genetically-modified (GM) products, pink slime is secretly added into raw ground beef without being properly labeled.

"They've taken a processed product (ammonia), without labeling it, and added it to raw ground beef," said microbiologist Gerald Zirnstein recently toThe Daily. "Science is the truth, and pink slime at this point in time is a fraudulent lie" (http://www.takepart.com/article/2012/03/05/pink-slime-still-menu).

Sources for this article include:
http://motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2012/03/pink-slime-school-lunch
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://www.naturalnews.com/035241_pink_slime_beef_ammonia.html
Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/035255_pink_slime_USDA_school_lunches.html#ixzz1p9znaXL6

About Dr Kevin Lau

Dr Kevin Lau DC is the founder of Health In Your Hands, a series of tools for Scoliosis prevention and treatment. The set includes his book Your Plan for Natural Scoliosis Prevention and Treatment, a companion Scoliosis Exercises for Prevention and Correction DVD and the innovative new iPhone application ScolioTrack. Dr Kevin Lau is a graduate in Doctor of Chiropractic from RMIT University in Melbourne Australia and Masters in Holistic Nutrition. He is a member of International Society On Scoliosis Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Treatment (SOSORT), the leading international society on conservative treatment of spinal deformities. In 2006 I was awarded the "Best Health-care Provider Awards" by the largest Newspaper publication in Singapore on October 18 2006 as well as being interviewed on Primetime Channel News Asia as well as other TV and Radio. For more information on Dr Kevin Lau, watch his interviews or get a free sneak peek of his book, go to: http://www.hiyh.info.