Moderate Drinkers Live Longer Than Tee Totallers

According to the recent study published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Research, epidemiological research suggests that moderate to high alcohol consumption is associated with a reduced overall mortality risk compared to non- and light drinkers.

Their study included over 1,800 people, aged 55 to 65 when the study began. Sixty-nine percent of the participants were men. The subjects were followed for 20 years.

Surprisingly, the group with the lowest mortality rate was moderate drinkers, who had one to three alcoholic drinks per day, followed by heavy drinkers, and then light drinkers, while non-drinkers had the highest mortality rate of them all.

Part of the theory as to why this is so has to do with the modern increase in methanol in food (and cigs), and the physiology by which ethanol helps us to process methanol. Methanol (wood alcohol) is a toxin. Mercola (the first source) offers a good rundown on a variety of possible factors, as well as some warranted warnings about the risks involved in alcohol consumption. Also it is worth noting here that the majority of study participants were male, and females have considerably more difficulty metabolizing ethanol.

SOURCES
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/09/14/why-do-heavy-drinkers-outlive-nondrinkers.aspx
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01286.x/pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19896282

( abstract of study on ethanol )

Dosing Schedule of Pneumococcal Vaccine Linked to Multiresistant Strain

Pneumococcal Vaccine Dosing Schedule Linked to Higher Risk of Acquiring Multiresistant Strain and
Guidelines Updated for Use of 23-valent Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Vaccine in Adults
medscape articles posted by Laurie Barclay, MD
( notes from medscape keeping up with concerns and ACIP, these notes pulled for black book )

Cockroach Brains May Be a Source of New Antibiotics

...the central nervous systems of American cockroaches produce natural antibiotics that can kill off bacteria often deadly to humans, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and toxic strains of Escherichia coli, scientists said this week.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/09/100909-cockroach-brains-mrsa-ecoli-antibiotics-science-health/

Honey is Good For You

7/2010 report from Cardiff School of Health Sciences in Wales
n = 655 men
41 of those men reported eating honey regularly
followed them for 25 years, examined diets
honey eaters significantly less likely to die
‘hazard ratio for all-cause mortality’ dropped 56% even when adjusted for possible confounders
(95% confidence limits 0.23, 0.86; P<0.017)

( abstract and lots more honey info )

On Parenting

Nice article here:
http://lesleyreidcross.wordpress.com/2010/09/09/the-absolute-greatest-thing-we-have-to-offer-our-children/