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One thing that I have found to give relief from the itch is an ice pack. I usually get a rash from the leaves each year. Finally, I decided that since an itch is like pain, why not try ice? The ice pack will give relieve when nothing else will and it will help for hours. I know. Good article.
actually, in an era when medicinal cures were still in theit infancy, blood-letting, using leeches or cupping, was a good thing, as it encouraged the body to produce more antibodies, to fight the disease... leeches are being used more and more, today, in an effort to encourage blood circulation after reattachment of amputated digits and limbs
"A recent government analysis"
The FDA is increasingly discouraging the consumption of whole natural foods and endorsing processed foods with GMO ingredients and cloned meats. they have recently told the diamond nut co. that their walnuts are considered to be classified as drugs because they advertised them as being health promoting. i would rather eat a natural rat turd than that GMO crap!
I eat a handful of walnuts almost daily, both for their health benefits and because they're delicious.
This blog isn't the place to launch a discussion into the FDA's 2010 warning letter to Diamond Food regarding the health claims the company made on its website and its label (not to mention the broader topic of health claims companies can make in advertising/promoting food items)
The letter itself is loaded with specific references to laws, regulations, and the definitions they include. However, I don't see anything in the letter that could be construed as discouraging walnut consumption or disparaging whole, natural foods.
In fact, the widespread publicity about the research on walnuts and other tree fruits seems to be working to encourage folks to eat more nuts The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that tree nut consumption in the U.S. has risen from 1.7 pounds to 3 pounds per capita since 1977.
http://U.S. per capita use of all tree nuts was over 3.0 pounds (shelled basis) in recent years, up from 1.7 pounds in 1977.
As I concluded my post: Do your research. Here's a start. Here's a place to begin scanning the published research on walnuts.
Here's new research about nuts: Nut Consumption Linked to Lower Mortality. Eating nuts is good, but researchers admit they still have a lot to learn about why, which nuts, and how many.
Lower mortality? Funny, I always thought the mortality rate of humans was 100% - eventually. So - - do you really mean to say that if we eat nuts and figure out which ones and how many, there is a chance of getting off this rock alive? :-)
Hah! Good one, Jaime. I see this use of "lower mortality" all the time in research reports, especially medical research.
It really means that during the study period, fewer subjects who consumed nuts died than those who didn't eat nuts.
[snip]
During 3,038,853 person-years of follow-up,16,200 women and 11,229 men died.
Compared with participants who did not eat nuts at all, those who ate nuts less than once per week had a 7% decrease in mortality risk (pooled multivariate hazard ratio [HR], 0.93; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.90 - 0.96), after adjustment for other known or suspected risk factors, including total sodium intake, adherence to a Mediterranean diet, and olive oil intake. Pooled multivariate HRs were 0.89 (95% CI, 0.86 - 0.93) for eating nuts once per week, 0.87 (95% CI, 0.83 - 0.90) for 2 to 4 times per week, 0.85 (95% CI, 0.79 - 0.91) for 5 to 6 times per week, and 0.80 (95% CI, 0.73 - 0.86) for 7 or more times per week (P < .001 for trend).
There were also significant inverse associations between nut consumption and deaths resulting from cancer, heart disease, and respiratory disease.