Nuns grow spirulina for malnourished children - You can grow this superfood at home

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.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/049275_nuns_spirulina_malnourished_children.html#ixzz3XTFE7izv

10 Reasons Your Child Should Be Outside Right Now

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that kids these days just aren’t getting outside very much. Drive through any suburban neighborhood on a Saturday and the groups of bicycling youngsters and impromptu street football games that were so common just a couple of decades ago just aren’t there.

Corralled indoors by over-protective parents and the allure of passive electronic entertainment (Did you know that the average American kid spends 53 hours a week using entertainment media? Where do they find the time?), today’s kids are missing out on the vast benefits of being outdoors. Here are some reasons to make Little Johnny back away from the game controller, slip on some shoes (or not… but it might be cold outside), and head out into nature. He might grumble and complain, but someday he’ll thank you for it.

And you should probably get up and head out there with him. There are plenty of benefits for adults, too.

1. Exercise. Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic that has more than doubled in the past decade and is the most visible symptom of sedentary indoor life. Children’s bodies were made to move, to run and jump and climb, not sit for hours on end with only thumbs in motion over game controllers or tapping out texts to their “friends”. It is in the outdoors, where big movements don’t threaten expensive furniture, fragile heirlooms, or parental sanity that children are likely to burn the most calories.

2. Sleep. Exposure to sunshine stimulates the pineal gland, a small endocrine gland located deep in the brain, releasing melatonin which helps to regulate sleep patterns. It’s not just an old wives tale that playing outside makes children sleep better. It’s a biological fact.

3. Happier Mood. Sunlight also boosts the body’s level of the hormone seratonin. Seratonin is a neurotransmitter that helps regulate mood, memory, and appetite. More sunlight means less depression and happier kids. So if your kid is feeling sulky or irritable or just generally grumpy, he might just need a trip outside. There was a reason our mothers sent us to play outside when we were sullen and grouchy. They knew what they were doing without reading all the newest scientific research.

4.Healthy Immune System. Playing in the dirt actually makes kids healthier. The body learns by doing (just like the brain) and early exposure to germs teaches the body the proper immune response to foreign invaders. As an added bonus, sunshine on bare skin stimulates the body’s production of Vitamin D which helps the body fight off infection and helps prevent the development of autoimmune diseases (like rheumatoid arthritis). Research in adults suggests that Vitamin D helps lower the chance of developing heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer. (Really great reasons to get outdoors ourselves. Playing outside isn’t just for the very young.)

5. Social Skills. Free and unstructured play with peers outdoors helps children develop problem-solving and cooperation skills. Even if neighborhood playmates just aren’t available, playing alone outside improves self-awareness and self-discipline, handy tools in later interpersonal relationships.

6. Improved Learning. Studies have shown that being outside, even for just a few minutes, helps people diagnosed with ADHD to better focus. Other surveys indicate that schools still offering students free-play recess have higher test scores (While admittedly not always the best indicator of actual learning, it is the one most readily available). Being outside also helps improve memory, which proves that trees and fields and flowers are the best cognitive enhancers.

7. Free Thought. Spontaneous, self-initiated play outdoors fosters independence, ingenuity, and resourcefulness in a way that structured and supervised play does not. Highly structured rote learning (like the kind seen in most modern classrooms) creates a population of factory workers prepared to follow instructions. Unstructured play develops creativity and sparks imagination. It inspires individual problem solving and self-directed exploration. Free outdoor play produces innovators and pioneers, people who aren’t afraid to step outside the accepted boundaries of conformed thought and make groundbreaking discoveries.

8. Stress Relief. While it might seem absurd to suggest that children suffer from stress, you might want to consider the pressure they experience daily to test well, get good grades, and sit still and quiet for hours on end in the school environment. For a kid, school life can be incredibly stressful. Studies have shown that people spending time in nature have lower levels of cortisol (a hormone released during times of stress). Also, among office workers (and our kids’ classrooms are often very similar to sterile office environments), even a glimpse of nature through a window is associated with lowered stress and higher satisfaction.

9. Better Vision. A rather large body of research proves outdoor play has a protective effect on children’s eyesight. “Increasing time spent outdoors may be a simple strategy by which the the risk of developing myopia (nearsightedness) and its progression in children and adolescents,” concluded one 2012 study published by the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

10. Hope For The Future. In a world where the important things are often cast aside for what we want right now, it’s important to develop forward thinking, especially in the future generation. One study suggests that exposure to nature helps us to focus into the future, perhaps helping develop real solutions to long-term problems like resource exploitation, population growth, substance abuse, and the obesity epidemic. So while Little Johnny is focusing on rolling in the grass at this very moment, he may actually be developing the kind of forward thinking that just might save us all.

Image credits: ShutterShock

http://themindunleashed.org/2015/03/10-reasons-your-child-should-be-outside-right-now.html

This Infographic Shows What Soda Does to Your Body

Just one sip of soda can have health consequences on your body. This infographic explains the dangers of what happens when soda enters your body.

11 Toxic Chemicals Affecting Brain Development In Children
Alice G. Walton

The list of chemicals that can affect brain development in children has grown. In a study out today in The Lancet Neurology, researchers outline new chemicals that may be contributing to what they dub the “global, silent pandemic of neurodevelopmental toxicity.” In 2006, the team had released a list of five neurotoxins that may contribute to everything from cognitive deficits to attention problems. Now that list is expanded, based on new research that has since accumulated on chemicals linked to developmental disorders in children. Today, they outline six more.

“The greatest concern is the large numbers of children who are affected by toxic damage to brain development in the absence of a formal diagnosis,” said study author Philippe Grandjean, of the Harvard School of Public Health. “They suffer reduced attention span, delayed development, and poor school performance. Industrial chemicals are now emerging as likely causes.”

Neurobehavioral problems, like autism, ADHD, and dyslexia, affect about 10-15% of kids born today, the authors say. Genes play a large role in some of these disorders – but not that large. Only about 30-40% of the cases of the disorders can be accounted for by genes alone, so environment must make up the other part. Outlining those compounds can be difficult, but the research is mounting, and pointing to a growing list of chemicals that we should avoid.

Because of the frequency with which these chemicals are present in our everyday lives – even banned ones – and the rising rates of developmental disorders in children, the authors say that urgent change should take place: “A new framework of action is needed.”

Here are the 11 chemicals for which there is strong evidence of connection to neurodevelopmental disorders in children:

Lead–This is one of the most extensively researched compounds in terms of neurodevelopment, and has been consistently linked to serious deficits, including low IQ. Its effects seem to be permanent, leading to the conclusion that there is no safe level of exposure.

Methylmercury–Affecting the neurological development of the fetus,exposure often comes from maternal intake of fish containing high levels of mercury, according to the World Health Organization and the EPA.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) – This family of chemicals has routinely been associated with reduced cognitive function in infancy and childhood. It is often present in foods, particularly fish, and can be passed along in breast milk.

Arsenic – When absorbed through drinking water, this chemical has been linked to reduced cognitive function in schoolchildren. Follow-up studies from the Morinaga milk poisoning incident have linked it to neurological disease in adulthood.

Toluene – Used as a solvent, maternal exposure has been linked to brain development problems and attention deficit in the child, according to the EPA and OSHA.

Manganese – In the drinking water in Bangladesh, for example, this chemical has been linked to lower scores in math, diminished intellectual function, and ADHD.

Fluoride – Higher levels of this chemical has been connected with a 7-point decrease in IQ in children.

Chlorpyrifos and DDT (pesticides) – Linked to structural abnormalities of the brain and neurodevelopmental problems that persist up to age 7. These pesticides are banned in many parts of the world (U.S. included), but still used in many lower-income countries. They have recently been linked to Alzheimer’s disease as well.

Tetrachloroethylene (AKAperchlorethylene)– These solvents have been linked to hyperactivity and aggressive behavior, and increased risk of psychiatric diagnosis. Mothers in certain professional roles, like nurse, chemist, cleaner, hairdresser, and beautician had higher levels of exposure.

The polybrominateddiphenyl ethers – These flame retardants are banned now, but believed to be neurotoxins. Prenatal exposure has been linked to neurodevelopmental disorders in the child.

Two more compounds of concern are bisphenol A (BPA), a common plastics additive, and phthalate, found in many cosmetics. BPA is an endocrine (hormone) disruptor, and, strongly suspected to affect neurodevelopment in children, it has been banned in baby bottles and sippy cups. Phthalates, which are common in personal products like nail polish and hair spray, have been routinely linked to shortened attention span and impaired social interactions in children.

The developing human brain is incredibly vulnerable to chemical exposures, both in utero and in early childhood, and these changes can be lifelong. “During these sensitive life stages,” say the authors, “chemicals can cause permanent brain injury at low levels of exposure that would have little or no adverse effect in an adult.”

The neurotoxin “pandemic” is disturbing enough that the authors strongly recommend having mandatory tests for chemicals, which many have been arguing for years. One common complaint has been that when one compound does finally become banned, another equally toxic and often untested chemical may take its place. More rigorous testing, though complicated to carry out, might address this major issue.

“The problem is international in scope,” says Grandjean,“and the solution must therefore also be international. We have the methods in place to test industrial chemicals for harmful effects on children’s brain development—now is the time to make that testing mandatory.”

Avoiding these chemicals can be difficult, because they are so prevalent, and present in food, cosmetics, receipt papers, and containers. 

But reading labels and avoiding certain products is a start.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2014/02/15/11-toxic-chemicals-afffecting-brain-development-in-children/