Lyn Thyer returned to jail!

In a dramatic turn of events, Lyn Thyer has been rearrested by French authorities and returned to jail according to sources close to her defence team. Such is the desire to stamp out natural treatments for cancer that the French Court of Appeals has endorsed the decision of the EU Court of Justice from last Thursday, when it was decided that arrest warrants issued by French prosecutors were valid regardless of the EU Court of Human Rights’ decision that they were invalid. David Noakes remains at liberty despite the best efforts of authorities to arrest and extradite him to France.

Natural healthcare shown to be safe – again!

The latest Annual Report from the American Association of Poison Control Centers’ (AAPCC) National Poison Data System (NPDS) shows there were no deaths from any dietary supplements, herbal medicines, homeopathic remedies or traditional medicines recorded in 2018. Trawl back through previous reports and you’ll find similar data. Natural approaches have long been used to restore and maintain health. Unlike prescription drugs, which come with a myriad of harmful side effects, they are inexpensive, sustainable and demonstrably safe. All furthering why they should be formally incorporated into healthcare solutions and disease prevention strategies. However, their increasing popularity and long history of benefits mean that they pose a significant threat to the continued dominance of pharmaceutical drugs.

CBD novel food applications

In a bid to support the ongoing development of a legal, safe and regulated CBD market, the UK Association for the Cannabinoid Industry (ACI) has announced it is now ready to start processing novel food applications for CBD on behalf of its raw-product members. In order to support the application process, the ACI is partnering with Global Regulatory Services. It is anticipated that submissions to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will start to be made within the first six months of 2020. This is good news not just for the protection of a fledgling CBD industry, but those consumers increasingly relying on a natural product with a long history of safe use to support their health.

Outdated advice to combat obesity epidemic

Labelling foods with the amount of exercise needed to ‘burn off’ calories eaten could help deal with the obesity crisis. That’s the conclusion of researchers from Loughborough University writing in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. However, the systematic review continues to promote the outdated and debunked calorie in/calorie out theory and fails to take into account it’s the type of fuel and quality of the food being eaten, not the calories that matter. The data included in the review did not reflect real-world conditions with the effects being marginal at best. Concern has also been expressed that such labelling could act as a trigger to those vulnerable to eating disorders.

Ultra-processed foods increase diabetes risk

Eating ultra-processed foods (UPFs) puts you at greater risk of developing diabetes. The link between what we eat and the development of Type 2 diabetes (T2D) isn’t new news, but a recent study published in JAMA offers fresh evidence of the irrefutable link. Researchers found the more UPFs consumed the higher the risk of developing T2D. We take this opportunity to say once again, that caught early enough T2D is both preventable and reversible using changes to diet and lifestyle.

GM by any other name

‘New Breeding Techniques’ sound innocuous enough. But it is in fact genetic modification (GM) in disguise. In an effort to conceal the hazards of new GM technologies, such as CRISPR and soften the public to accept them more readily, the industry is renaming gene-editing techniques. In an interview with Euractiv, Bayer scientist Dr Larry Gilbertson admits that both older GM technologies and newer ones are in fact “the same”, adding “there’s no intrinsic difference in the risk”. Despite such attempts to conceal the continued manipulation of natural organisms the safety of such techniques is still very much unknown, particularly in terms of knock-on effects that can’t be properly assessed or controlled once released into the natural environment.

European Commission urged to include agroecological systems in green policy

The European Commission were urged this week in an open letter by IFOAM EU to ensure agroecological farming practices, such as organic, are put at the heart of its new ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy. The letter focuses on the importance of such systems to reducing the impact of farming practices on the climate. Not only do agroecological systems benefit the climate, they support both the environment and the economy of the communities surrounding them — not to mention the increased health benefit to people consuming the produce.

Global antibiotic over-prescription revealed

More than 40% of all prescriptions for antibiotics issued in the US aren’t necessary. This is the shocking reveal from a new study in The BMJ stating that only 57% of antibiotic prescriptions were deemed to be appropriate. Patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes were more likely to be prescribed antibiotics for non-bacterial infections. In other research, the high level of unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions given to children under the age of 5 in low- and middle-income countries has been revealed. Given the world is facing a catastrophic failure of antibiotics it is now more important than ever for doctors to ensure such drugs are used only when entirely necessary and seek alternative ways of treating minor and non-bacterial infections.