Shady warnings from the Surgeon General

A few weeks ago, I was sitting outside on a gorgeous sunny day with my beagle, Remington. I was reading the newspaper, minding my own business, when I turned the page and got admonished by a message from the Surgeon General. The pronouncement? Indoor AND outdoor tanning must stop!

Honestly? Do, we really need the Surgeon General to tell us to get out of the sun? How many times have we heard that message by now?

Don’t get me wrong, I agree that too much exposure to UV radiation is dangerous. And while I recommend getting 20 minutes a day of direct sun exposure WITHOUT sunscreen, it’s important to wear it the rest of the time you’re outside. (Just make sure to choose a natural, organic, non-toxic sunscreen like Lavera, Aubrey, Earth’s Best, or Soleo.)

Yes, skin cancer is on the rise. But the skin cancers emerging now are often from damage done to the skin 20, 30 or even 40 years ago. Considering no one was aware of the potentially harmful effects of excess sun exposure back then—and no one wore sunscreen—of course we are going to see increasing numbers of skin cancer now.

Now, I’m not encouraging you to go sit in a tanning bed. But I think enough light (or should I say shade) has been shed on this topic. Today, everyone is well aware of the importance of sunscreen.

So what prompted this new, dire warning from the Surgeon General?

Well, it seems that 5 million Americans are treated for skin cancer each year at a cost of $8 billion.

Ok—point taken.

But let’s compare that to the yearly cost of obesity and all of its associated illnesses in the U.S. That annual sum adds up to a whopping $700 billion. And overweight and obesity affects roughly 200 million Americans.

Now that’s something that a Surgeon General needs to address.

But knowing our government, I can only imagine what “urgent” warning he’ll move on to next.

Sugar kills—in more ways than one

In this month’s issue of my Logical Health Alternatives newsletter, I wrote about a recent Swedish study that discovered a certain chemical in the blood called “high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T”—or troponin for short—can predict heart attack risk with tremendous accuracy.

Now there’s new evidence that troponin may be especially dangerous for diabetics—and it may be able to predict much more than just heart attack risk.

In this new study, researchers at Johns Hopkins looked measured troponin levels in more than 9,300 people enrolled in a long-term heart risk study. None showed any signs of heart disease. But around half of those people had trace amounts of troponin in their bloodstream, which indicates that the heart muscle is suffering damage (even though the damage isn’t visible… yet).

Here’s the kicker: The researchers noted that those with diabetes were more than twice as likely to have elevated levels of troponin than non-diabetics. And people with pre-diabetes were around 30 percent more likely to have levels of troponin in their blood.

The reason this finding is so important? Diabetics with elevated troponin levels were six times more likely to develop heart failure and almost four times more likely to develop heart disease, compared to people without diabetes.

As I’ve warned you many times before, diabetes paves the way to many, many other serious health problems. So getting your blood sugar under control with a healthy diet (one like my New Hamptons Health Miracle, that includes plenty of lean protein, healthy fats, and fresh, organic fruits and vegetables) and regular exercise should be your No. 1 priority.

Bottom line: sugar kills—in more ways than one.

Sources:

“Diabetes Mellitus, Prediabetes, and Incidence of Subclinical Myocardial Damage,” Circulation 2014; 130:1,374-1,382

“New look at the diabetes, heart risk relationship.” ScienceDaily, 9/10/14  (www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140910120222.htm)