Health Benefits Of Rapeseed Oil

Raw Honey Is Best.
It is often hailed as a natural, healthy sweetener – but in most cases, honey bought from supermarkets today is simply sugar syrup with no nutritional value at all.
To reap the true benefits of what was dubbed ‘the food of the Gods’ by the Ancient Greeks, you have to look for the raw variety.
Perfectly clear honey has usually undergone a process of ultrafiltration and pasteurization, which involves heating and passing it through a fine mesh, to ensure it remains runny at any temperature.
This strips away many of the unique chemicals and compounds that make it a nutritious and healing health food.
Even the word ‘organic’ on a label does not guarantee that a honey is raw.
Unless the jar specifies that it is raw, look for a cloudy honey with a white residue of pollen sitting on the top of the jar.
Raw honey might crystallise over time, but this is not a sign of rot – raw honey is a natural preservative.
The jar just needs to be submerged in a bowl of hot water for 15 minutes to liquefy the contents.
You should be able to find raw honey at most supermarkets.

Health Benefits Of Rapeseed Oil.
Olive oil has long been held up as the healthy oil, but in many ways it is surpassed by rapeseed, not least because it contains 50% less saturated fat than olive oil.
Rapeseed oil also contains the beneficial fats in the form of Omega 6 and 3, in a ratio of which is considered by nutritionists to be favourable.
Beneficial fats have several roles in a healthy diet as they are anti-inflammatory and can help reduce overall cholesterol levels.
Mono-unsaturated fats that constitute 59% of rapeseed have been shown to reduce low-density lipoprotein, the ‘bad’ type of cholesterol.
Many of the benefits of the Mediterranean diet are linked to the inclusion of olive oil and fish, both of which contain Omega 3 fats.
As rapeseed oil contains more than five times the omega 3 levels of olive oil, you can replicate the benefits.
Rapeseed oil found its way into supermarkets only in 2005, but sales are now increasing by about 30% a year.

Someday we shall look back on this dark era of agriculture and shake our heads.
How could we have ever believed that it was a good idea to grow our food with poisons.
( Jane Goodall )

Anti-Cancer Autumn Crocus.
A ‘smart bomb’ drug which zaps cancer without harming healthy cells could bring hope to millions across the world.
The drug, based on a 400-year-old herbal gout remedy, starves a tumour of blood, destroying it without damaging healthy parts of the body.
Early tests show it is effective on a range of cancers, and clinical trials are due to start within 18 months.
Derived from the autumn crocus, the drug’s anti-cancer properties are well known, but it has not been used before because it is too poisonous.
Now researchers have found a way to direct its power solely at a tumour’s blood vessels.

Reduce Salt And You Reduce Deaths.
Reducing salt intake by a third would save millions of lives worldwide.
The three-gram cut, or half a teaspoon less each day, would prevent 20,000 deaths by strokes and heart attacks in the UK alone each year, say scientists.
And with three-quarters of the salt coming from processed food, they want limits on how much producers add to their products.
The same three-gram cut in the USA would result in up to 120,000 fewer cases of coronary heart disease, up to 66,000 strokes and 99,000 heart attacks annually.
Evidence from a very wide variety of studies shows a consistent direct relation between salt intake and blood pressure.
Researchers say targeting consumers is not enough as most salt is added before products are sold.

Bladder Cancer Risk For Smokers.
Smokers are much more likely to get bladder cancer, research says.
They have four times greater chance of developing it than non-smokers, compared with a three-fold raised risk in previous studies.
Women were also found to be in most danger from the disease.
The U.S. National Cancer Institute, blames higher levels of chemicals like Beta-Naphthylamine, a bladder carcinogen, in cigarettes.
More than 10,000 people a year are diagnosed with bladder cancer in the UK and half die.

The NHS took great strides forward under the last Labour government.
Unfortunately, under this Tory-led regime, the NHS is ailing and that’s bad for us all.
( Daily Mirror, September 2011 )

The Deaf Are Being Denied Lip-Reading Skills.
About ten million people in the UK are deaf or hard of hearing.
For many, lip-reading is a vital communication skill, especially for those with acquired hearing loss.
Typically, people who are born deaf, who represent just 10% of those with hearing loss, communicate through sign language.
Lip-reading prevents social isolation, increases confidence and independence, and helps keep people in work.
In 2005 the Skills Funding Agency (then the Learning and Skills Council) deemed that lip-reading wasn’t a basic learning skill and, since it is not attached to a vocational qualification such as an NVQ, classed it instead as Adult and Community Developing Learning.
Other classes in this category include cake decorating and balloon modelling.
Where classes do exist, an increasing number are no longer free.
Some learners are being charged as much as £240 per year and such high costs put people off enrolling.
There is only one training course for lip-reading tutors in the UK.
Based in London, it presents a barrier for people living outside the South-East who want to train.

High Blood Pressure Raises The Risk Of Cancer.
The millions of people who are suffering from high blood pressure are more likely to get cancer, scientists have found.
Both men and women run an increased risk with men’s chances of contracting cancer up to 20% higher.
Nearly 13 million Britons have high blood pressure raising men’s risk of oral, bowel, lung, skin, bladder and kidney cancers.
In women it is linked to more liver, pancreas, cervix, womb and skin cancer.
The scientists’ 12-year study analysed the health of almost 600,000 men and women from Norway, Sweden and Austria.
The study leader said: “Our study shows that blood pressure is a risk factor for incident cancer in men and fatal cancer in men and women.”