HOW SAFE ARE YOU FROM EMF RADIATION IN YOUR ELECTRIC CAR?

 

Is Your Electric Car Zapping You With EMF Radiation?

By ANH-USAOn 01/24/2023 https://anh-usa.org/is-your-electric-car-zapping-you-with-emf-radiation/

Electric cars are becoming more popular, but do they come with new risks?

Electric cars are on the rise. Their share of new vehicle sales almost doubled in the first nine months of 2022. The number of Tesla vehicles on the road rose 33 percent in 2022. Many automakers are planning to switch to electric in the coming years. This may have benefits for the environment, but what, if any, are the human health implications? Concerns about cars as a source of exposure to electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation are well-founded, but these concerns are not exclusive to electric cars.

There are, of course, many different types of cars on the road—different manufacturers, different models, years, gas-powered, diesel, hybrids, and electric. Due to the variety of different cars that are available, the EMF dangers also vary. 

With that said, electric cars can have elevated EMF levels for a number of reasons. They operate on large AC batteries that are generally placed much closer to where people sit; in Teslas, they are placed directly underneath the floor of the car cabin. These batteries emit extremely low frequency (ELF) EMF radiation, and the closer you are to them, the more radiation you are exposed to. Additionally, charging electric cars creates substantial amounts of dirty electricity. Dirty electricity, or electrical pollution, is a form of EMF that is generated by electronic devices that, when they operate, convert AC power to DC, creating high-frequency voltage spikes that flow back into the power grid, piggy-back on existing electrical wiring, and radiate into the environment. It is yet another route of exposure to harmful EMF that has been linked to a variety of negative health outcomes. Studies have shown that taking steps to reduce dirty electricity (by installing filters that short out high frequencies and reduce transients on electrical wiring) reduced headaches, general weakness, asthma, depression, anxiety, and skin irritation.

But almost all cars, including gas powered vehicles, contain EMF-emitting components. Many cars are now equipped with Bluetooth connections for phones, radars for crash prevention, back up cameras, and provide WiFi hot spots, to name just a few examples. All of these components emit EMF. In fact, some informal testing of EMF levels from cars found that gas-powered cars registered EMF readings just as high as electric cars. Consumer Reports also did some testing back in 2010 and found that the Chevy Cobalt, a gas-powered car, emitted far more EMF radiation than the Toyota Prius, a hybrid. Given that nearly all cars are sources of EMF radiation, it is important to look at cars individually, rather than by category, in weighing the risks.

Should we be concerned about the level of EMF emitted by cars? Digging into the details is not reassuring. The FCC set limits for maximum permissible exposure to EMF radiation in 1996. These levels were designed to protect against thermal effects as a result of short-term exposure to EMF radiation—that is, the potential of EMF radiation to heat body tissue like a microwave. 

As we all know, a lot has changed since 1996, and our daily exposure to EMF radiation has increased dramatically. The changing technological landscape spurred scientists to issue an appeal to the World Health Organization, warning of “serious concerns regarding the ubiquitous and increasing exposure to EMF generated by electric and wireless devices.” They go on to explain that “numerous recent scientific publications have shown that EMF affects living organisms at levels well below most international and national guidelines.” These health effects include increased cancer risk, cellular stress, increase in free radicals, genetic damage, changes in the reproductive system, neurological disorders, and more. These concerns were echoed in an October 2022 paper published in Environmental Health, which flatly stated: “Exposure limits for RF radiation are based on numerous assumptions; however, research studies published over the past 25 years show that most of those assumptions are not supported by scientific evidence.” This all means that our current safety standards are woefully inadequate to protect us from the dangers of constant EMF exposure. 

As we noted with our coverage of cell phone dangers, the problem is that many health and safety studies on EMF, particularly with regard to cell phones, are bought and paid for by the telecoms industry. For example, an analysis of safety studies on cell phone use concluded industry-funded studies were two and a half times less likely than independent studies to find a biological effect from cell phone radiation. 

So, should we be concerned? Experts in the field seem to think so, but their voices are likely to be drowned out by industry-funded studies that conveniently and predictably find no evidence of harm, providing the government cover to keep EMF safety standards rooted in a time when flip phones were revolutionary technology. With the rapid rollout of 5G technology, with its dense network of EMF-emitting “small cells,” this problem is poised to get even worse.

There are ways to lower your EMF exposure in your car. Choose standard options that limit the wireless bells and whistles. You could also opt for used older cars that do not have many of these components. If possible, turn off Bluetooth, though in newer car models this may not be an option. Remember, too, that we need to think about EMF exposure as a whole, so we need to look at our homes (hard wiring computers instead of using WiFi, avoiding smart meters if possible), our cell phone use (using speaker phone whenever possible, avoiding Bluetooth headphones), and our work environment, in addition to our cars, to try to limit our exposure to EMF.

Why are you not healing?

 Recently Dr Mark Hyman posted this on his Instagram...

"Most people don't talk about how your spirit, emotional health, your beliefs can actually help determine so much about your health.

Your thoughts, your feelings, your emotions, your beliefs literally communicate with every aspect of your biology, every second."                      ~ Dr Mark Hyman

If you believe and deeply trust that a certain treatment, supplement etc will not help then it won't and if you believe it will, then you are on your way to better health.

The placebo effect is real. Many people do not realize how powerful their minds are and how it basically conditions every aspect of their lives and how they respond to the world.

Our emotions are such an important factor of healing. So many different emotions get stored in the body. Fear in the kidneys, grief in the lungs and pain in the heart. Low self esteem in the gut/stomach area and stress in our adrenals, to mention just a few organ associations. It is vital to deal with trauma when it occurs, to feel all the feelings and investigate the thoughts and beliefs you have and form around events in your life because they become the lens through which you see the world and that shift in energy is what you continue to attract to your world. And you judge everyone and everything from this new viewpoint, that was created by your trauma.  Your perceptions are a mirror of your internal emotions, thoughts and beliefs.

What you believe about yourself, your world and others helps create a world in which that belief system gets validated. You have the power to change your beliefs and your thoughts. It takes effort at first because we have become accustomed to our thoughts running us instead of us running our thoughts and the same goes for our emotions. We also live our lives so attached to our beliefs. They change so much over a lifetime that it seems crazy to become attached to them.

We tend to respond emotionally and thoughtlessly to a lot of the situations in our life without paying attention to the impact it has on our being.

It is time to consider healing your wounds, becoming the master of your mind and truly investigating where your beliefs come from. You may discover that they aren't yours at all (the beliefs, thoughts) but someone else's that you decided to own and live your life as if they are factually yours and real.

There are many modalities available to help you heal your emotions, take charge of your thoughts and shift your beliefs, so that they are more in harmony with your spirit. I invite you to start investigating what may be the best modality to help you become the beautiful, healthy and happy being you deserve. It is your birthright to be abundant, healthy, happy and to share that with the world.

I love meditating and doing my own self healing and energy balancing and I practice mindfulness so that I may find the emotions that are locked in my system as well as the thoughts and beliefs that have formed around them. I do this so that I can heal and be more loving and caring and have more clarity, so that I don't spew my pain all over the world and cause more trauma for anyone else.

You may not be healing a persistent issue due to the fact that you have some underlying emotional trauma or thoughts and beliefs that are prohibiting the total release of energy there. Some people have identified themselves with their diagnosis and/or they may be receiving attention that they desperately seek and desire and therefore they continue to hold unto the ailment. (these are some possibilities)

Many of the reasons why we don't heal are things we don't want to look at or change.

Ask yourself, am I willing to heal, change and let go of that which has brought me to the imbalance, this particular point in my health, or not?

It takes courage to say yes and then act. And it is with courage that we change our lives, our health, our thoughts, our beliefs and eventually our world. Be courageous.

www.naturalhelathhaven.net

Dream a better world into being with eagle courage....

 It is a new year and I am working on shifting my perspective to bring in more conscious awakening within myself and to inspire it within others. I love the Shamanic views of the four directions and the animal totems and powers they encompass and I wish to incorporate that energy into my life and being, so I often call upon the eagle to share it's courage and teach me to be more courageous and to fly wing tip to wing tip with great spirit and to be able to see and rise above the obstacles of life.

I invite you to embrace and call upon the Eagle Courage to empower you and to dream a better world into being for yourself and others.

I share this wonderful piece written by Alberto Villoldo from The Four Winds:

https://thefourwinds.com/eagle-courage/

Eagle Courage:

In eagle consciousness, we’re plugged into the divine matrix, aware that we’re at one with the infinite force of the universe.  To be truly creative and draw inspiration from this level – that of Spirit, of genuine originality – is the highest form of courage.

Now originality doesn’t mean figuring out how to build a better mousetrap; it means conceiving of a world where mice and humans live in harmony and our lives are all fulfilling, abundant, and sustainable.  This can only happen when we stip perceiving mice as adversaries that are separate from our world . . . which comes to us easily when we’re in eagle consciousness.

I recently read of a boy in Canada who exhibited great eagle courage.  Ryan Hreljac was just six years old when he learned in school that there are people in Africa who have no access to clean water and, as a result, they often die of disease at a young age.  Ryan couldn’t believe that anyone would have to walk all day to get to a clean water source – so although he was only a first grader, he became determined to find a way to finance a well for an African village.  He started by asking his parents if he could do chores to earn some cash, and when he brought his meager savings to a charity that builds wells in Africa, they were so impressed by his efforts that they promised to match any more money he brought in.

Newspaper stories about this bighearted child began to appear all over the world, and as more and more people heard the story, they began contributing to what became known as “Ryan’s Well.” Eventually, Ryan was able to pay for his well in Africa; his charity has inspired many people to contribute to the cause, and many more villages have received wells as the result of his efforts.

So we can see that when we have courage at the level of eagle, we have a perspective that’s beyond our years and experience. We don’t collude in the nightmare of powerlessness but instead trust that we will find the resouces we need to manifest our dream.  Eagle gives us the nerve to enter the unknown and trust that possibilities will present themselves.  In this state of creativity, all the filters in our mind that tell us why we can’t accomplish something disappear.

Experiencing creativity at the level of eagle is what some of us call “being in the zone,” or in perfect rhythm with whatever we’re doing.  Because we’re co-creating with the divine, the sculpture leaps out of the stone that’s been encasing it, or tennis match seems effortless, and so on.  Eagle creativity is fresh, original, and courageous; we don’t need a story to describe it because we can simply enjoy it in all its whimsy, messiness, confusion, brilliance, and beauty.

Are you ready to dream your world into being with eagle courage?

Stress and inflammations contribution to chronic disease

 

The Impact of Stress

Large bodies of research indicate that chronic stress, whether experienced in early life or as an adult, is linked to increased coronary heart disease risk.1,6 In particular, childhood adversity, including physical and sexual abuse in childhood, has been shown to relate to higher morbidity of cardiovascular events.7,8 Work-related stressors, poor sleep, and emotional disturbances have been correlated with adult-related cardiovascular disease.1 Racism and discrimination create additional daily stressors for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, impacting their increased cardiovascular disease risks.9-12

A 2018 finding using data from the Jackson Heart Study suggested that in African American adults, global stress (overall stress level) and major life events were associated with increased risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) severity.13 Additionally, men and women’s MetS and stress responses varied in severity. For example, men significantly increased their MetS severity at medium levels of stress, whereas women significantly increased their MetS severity at high levels of stress.13

LEARN MORE ABOUT FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE

Chronic psychological stress and inflammation are also associated with a greater risk of depression, autoimmune diseases, upper respiratory infections, and poor wound healing.3 In a large study published in 2019 in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, a team of researchers from Cambridge examined the link between depression and coronary heart disease.14 Their findings suggest that the connection between these two conditions cannot be explained by a common genetic predisposition; rather, it is environmentally related. They used Mendelian randomization to investigate 15 biomarkers associated with the risk of coronary heart disease; of these biomarkers, they found that triglycerides and the inflammation-related proteins IL-6 and CRP were also risk factors for depression. What’s more, the authors note that with regard to shared environmental factors, the depression–coronary heart disease comorbidity could be linked with early-life factors influencing inflammatory regulation, such as impaired fetal development or childhood maltreatment/trauma. Low birth weight and childhood maltreatment were associated with increased levels of circulating inflammatory markers, depression, and coronary heart disease in adulthood.14

Similarly, researchers have for years speculated that disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, are related to stress and inflammation,15 but the underlying mechanism remained largely unresolved. An elegant 2018 study in mice suggests a clue, showing that chronic stress disturbs gut microbiota, triggering an immune system response and facilitating dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis.16 Recently, a 2020 systematic review of 19 clinical prospective cohort studies also concluded that while evidence suggests that psychological factors have a weak to moderate causal involvement in inflammatory bowel disease symptom exacerbation, overall results remain inconclusive and additional studies are warranted.17

Managing Stress

With a wide range of stress-related chronic diseases on the rise, how can functional medicine clinicians target stress-related factors with interventions that improve the health of their patients? Accumulating evidence points to the beneficial effects of regular exercise in preventing or improving the metabolic and psychological comorbidities brought about by chronic stress.18 Recent meta-analyses indicate that physical exercise improves the inflammatory state in children with obesity19 and improves inflammatory biomarkers in middle-aged and older adults.20

In 2017, a first-of-its-kind study on yoga and meditation showed improvement in biomarkers of cellular aging, which are associated with oxidative stress and complex lifestyle diseases like depression, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.21 The researchers suggested that the improvement in stress and inflammatory response was mediated by changes in cortisol, ?-endorphin, IL-6, and other factors, with regulation by changes in the brain through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.21

Many diseases stemming from chronic stress and inflammation have early warning signs, meaning some cases may be prevented or improved with lifestyle changes that help manage stress. The functional medicine model focuses in on identifying stress as a cause of dysfunction and utilizing specific interventions like exercise, meditation, and yoga that work for the individual patient. Tools such as the functional medicine timeline can also help clinicians identify areas of life where stress may be problematic and design treatments that focus on improving stress management.Learn more about tools and strategies to help patients achieve sustainable lifestyle change and improve their well-being through IFM’s new course Lifestyle: The Foundations of Functional Medicine.

References

1. Liu YZ, Wang YX, Jiang CL. Inflammation: the common pathway of stress-related diseases. Front Hum Neurosci. 2017;11:316. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2017.00316
2. Furman D, Campisi J, Verdin E, et al. Chronic inflammation in the etiology of disease across the life span. Nat Med. 2019;25(12):1822-1832. doi:10.1038/s41591-019-0675-0
3. Cohen S, Janicki-Deverts D, Doyle WJ, et al. Chronic stress, glucocorticoid receptor resistance, inflammation, and disease risk. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012;109(16):5995-5999. doi:10.1073/pnas.1118355109
4. Miller GE, Cohen S, Ritchey AK. Chronic psychological stress and the regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines: a glucocorticoid-resistance model. Health Psychol. 2002;21(6):531-541. doi:10.1037//0278-6133.21.6.531
5. Walsh CP, Bovbjerg DH, Marsland AL. Glucocorticoid resistance and ?2-adrenergic receptor signaling pathways promote peripheral pro-inflammatory conditions associated with chronic psychological stress: a systematic review across species. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2021;128:117-135. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.06.013
6. Su S, Jimenez MP, Roberts CTF, Loucks EB. The role of adverse childhood experiences in cardiovascular disease risk: a review with emphasis on plausible mechanisms. Curr Cardiol Rep. 2015;17(10):88. doi:10.1007/s11886-015-0645-1
7. Rich-Edwards JW, Mason S, Rexrode K, et al. Physical and sexual abuse in childhood as predictors of early-onset cardiovascular events in women. Circulation. 2012;126(8):920-927. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.111.076877
8. Kreatsoulas C, Fleegler EW, Kubzansky LD, McGorrian CM, Subramanian SV. Young adults and adverse childhood events: a potent measure of cardiovascular risk. Am J Med. 2019;132(5):605-613. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2018.12.022
9. Acosta JN, Leasure AC, Both CP, et al. Cardiovascular health disparities in racial and other underrepresented groups: initial results from the All of Us research program. J Am Heart Assoc. 2021;10(17):e021724. doi:10.1161/JAHA.121.021724
10. Javed Z, Maqsood MH, Amin Z, Nasir K. Race and ethnicity and cardiometabolic risk profile: disparities across income and health insurance in a national sample of US adults. J Public Health Manag Pract. 2022;28(Suppl 1):S91-S100. doi:10.1097/PHH.0000000000001441
11.  Javed Z, Haisum Maqsood M, Yahya T, et al. Race, racism, and cardiovascular health: applying a social determinants of health framework to racial/ethnic disparities in cardiovascular disease. Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes. 2022;15(1):e007917. doi:10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.121.007917
12.  Panza GA, Puhl RM, Taylor BA, Zaleski AL, Livingston J, Pescatello LS. Links between discrimination and cardiovascular health among socially stigmatized groups: a systematic review. PLoS One. 2019;14(6):e0217623. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0217623
13.  Cardel MI, Min YI, Sims M, et al. Association of psychosocial stressors with metabolic syndrome severity among African Americans in the Jackson Heart Study. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2018;90:141-147. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.02.014
14.  Khandaker GM, Zuber V, Rees JMB, et al. Shared mechanisms between coronary heart disease and depression: findings from a large UK general population-based cohort. Mol Psychiatry. 2020;25(7):1477-1486. doi:10.1038/s41380-019-0395-3
15.  Pereira C, Grácio D, Teixeira JP, Magro F. Oxidative stress and DNA damage: implications in inflammatory bowel disease. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2015;21(10):2403-2417. doi:10.1097/MIB.0000000000000506
16.  Gao X, Cao Q, Cheng Y, et al. Chronic stress promotes colitis by disturbing the gut microbiota and triggering immune system response. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018;115(13):E2960-E2969. doi:10.1073/pnas.1720696115
17.  Schoultz M, Beattie M, Gorely T, Leung J. Assessment of causal link between psychological factors and symptom exacerbation in inflammatory bowel disease: a systematic review utilising Bradford Hill criteria and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. Syst Rev. 2020;9(1):169. doi:10.1186/s13643-020-01426-2
18.  Tsatsoulis A, Fountoulakis S. The protective role of exercise on stress system dysregulation and comorbidities. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2006;1083:196-213. doi:10.1196/annals.1367.020
19.  Sirico F, Bianco A, D’Alicandro G, et al. Effects of physical exercise on adiponectin, leptin, and inflammatory markers in childhood obesity: systematic review and meta-analysis. Child Obes. 2018;14(4):207-217. doi:10.1089/chi.2017.0269
20.  Zheng G, Qiu P, Xia R, et al. Effect of aerobic exercise on inflammatory markers in healthy middle-aged and older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Front Aging Neurosci. 2019;11:98. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2019.00098
21.  Tolahunase M, Sagar R, Dada R. Impact of yoga and meditation on cellular aging in apparently healthy individuals: a prospective, open-label single-arm exploratory study. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2017;2017:7928981. doi:10.1155/2017/7928981

Highly processed foods as Addictive as Tobacco

 Highly Processed Foods 'as Addictive' as Tobacco: <https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/984600>

LONDON — Highly processed foods meet the same criteria as tobacco for addiction, and labeling them as such might benefit public health, according to a new US study that proposes a set of criteria to assess the addictive potential of some foods.

The research suggests that healthcare professionals are taking steps towards framing food addiction as a clinical entity in its own right; it currently lacks validated treatment protocols and recognition as a clinical diagnosis.

Meanwhile, other data, reported by researchers last week at the Diabetes Professional Care (DPC) 2022 conference in London, UK, also add support to the clinical recognition of food addiction.

Clinical psychologist Jen Unwin, PhD, from Southport, UK, showed that a 3-month online program of low carbohydrate diet together with psychoeducational support significantly reduced food addiction symptoms among a varied group of individuals, not all of whom were overweight or had obesity.

Unwin said her new data represent the first widescale clinical audit of its kind, other than a prior report of three patients with food addiction who were successfully treated with a ketogenic diet. 

"Food addiction explains so much of what we see in clinical practice, where intelligent people understand what we tell them about the physiology associated with a low-carb diet, and they follow it for a while, but then they relapse," said Unwin, explaining the difficulties faced by around 20% of her patients who are considered to have food addiction.

Meanwhile, the authors of the US study, led by Ashley N. Gearhardt, PhD, a psychologist from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, write that the ability of highly processed foods (HPFs) "to rapidly deliver high doses of refined carbohydrates and/or fat appear key to their addictive potential. Thus, we conclude that HPFs can be considered addictive substances based on scientifically established criteria."

They assert that the contribution to preventable deaths by a diet dominated by highly processed foods is comparable to that of tobacco products, and as such, like Unwin, the authors seek clinical recognition and a more formalized protocol to manage food addiction.

"Understanding whether addiction contributes to HPF intake may lead to new treatments, as preliminary research finds that behavioral and pharmacological interventions that target addictive mechanisms may reduce compulsive HPF intake," they state

The study led by Gearhardt was published this month in the journal Addiction, and the study led by Unwin was also recently published in Frontiers in Psychiatry.

Addiction Criteria Similar to Tobacco

HPFs can be associated with an eating phenotype "that reflects the hallmarks of addiction," say Gearhardt and co-authors; typically, loss of control over intake, intense cravings, inability to cut down, and continued use despite negative consequences.

Acknowledging the lack of a single addictive agent, they explain that food addiction reflects mechanisms implicated in other addictive disorders such as smoking.

As such, in their study, Gearhardt and colleagues propose a set of scientifically based criteria for the evaluation of whether certain foods are addictive. "Specifically, we propose the primary criteria used to resolve one of the last major controversies over whether a substance, tobacco products, was addictive."

They consider certain foods according to the primary criteria that have stood the test of time after being proposed in 1988 by the US Surgeon General to establish the addictive potential of tobacco: (1) they trigger compulsive use, (2) they have psychoactive effects, and (3) they are reinforcing.

They have updated these criteria to include the ability to trigger urges and cravings, and add that "both these products [tobacco and HPFs] are legal, easily accessible, inexpensive, lack an intoxication syndrome, and are major causes of preventable death."

For example, with compulsive use, tobacco meets this criterion because evidence suggests that most smokers would like to quit but are unable to do so.

Likewise, write Gearhardt and colleagues, even "in the face of significant diet-related health consequences (eg, diabetes and cardiovascular disease), the majority of patients are unable to adhere to medically recommended dietary plans that require a reduction in HPF intake.”

Reinforcement, through tobacco use, is demonstrated by its 'being sufficiently rewarding to maintain self-administration" due to its ability to deliver nicotine, they say, quoting the Surgeon General's report, and likewise, with food addiction, "both adults and children will self-administer HPFs (eg, potato chips, candy, and cookies) even when satiated."

Online Group Food Addiction Intervention Study

Unwin and co-authors want people with food addiction to be able to access a validated treatment protocol. Their study aimed to evaluate an online group intervention across multiple sites in the United States, Canada, and the UK, involving an abstinent, low-carbohydrate diet and biopsychosocial education focused on addiction and recovery in people self-identifying as having food addiction.

"Lots of people with food addiction go to GPs who don't clinically recognize this, or if they attend addiction services and psychiatry, then they tend to only specialize in drugs, alcohol, and gambling. Eating disorder services are linked but their programs mostly don't work for a food addict," Unwin remarked in an interview with Medscape Medical News.

"We feel running groups, as well as training professionals to run groups, is the best way to manage food addiction," she said, reflecting on the scale of the problem, with around 10% of adults in the UK general population considered to have food addiction. In Unwin's study, some people had type 2 diabetes and some overweight/obesity, but she added that some participants were underweight or of normal weight.

Initially, the 103 participants received weekly group (8-24 people) sessions for 10-14 weeks, and then monthly maintenance comprising follow-up that involved coaching participants on how to cope with relapse and get back on track.

Food addiction symptoms were assessed pre- and post-program using the modified Yale Food Addiction Scale (mYFAS) 2.0; ICD-10 symptoms of food-related substance use disorder (CRAVED); and mental health well-being measured using the short version of the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing scale and body weight.

"The program eliminates processed foods with a personalized, abstinence food plan that involves education around mechanisms involved," said Unwin, who explained that processed foods deliver a dopamine high, and in response to this, the brain lowers the number of dopamine receptors to effectively counteract the increase in dopamine. This drop in dopamine receptors explains the depression often associated with food addiction.

Unwin reported that food addiction symptoms were significantly reduced, with the mYFAS dropping by 1.52, the CRAVED score by 1.53, and body weight by 2.34 kg (5.2 lb). Mental health, as measured by the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing scale, improved by 2.37 points.

"We were very interested in mental health and well-being because it impacts so much across our lives, and we saw significant improvements here, but we were less interested in weight because food addicts come in all shapes and sizes with some people underweight," remarked Unwin. "Food addiction symptoms were significantly improved in the group, but we now need to look at the longer-term outcomes."

Unwin runs a low-carbohydrate program for type 2 diabetes with her husband David Unwin, MD, who is a GP in Southport, UK. She said that they ask patients if they think they have food addiction, and most say they do.

"I always try to explain to patients about the dopamine high, and how this starts the craving which makes people wonder when and where they can find the next sugar hit. Just thinking about the next chocolate bar gets the dopamine running for many people, and the more they tread this path then the worse it gets because the dopamine receptors keep reducing."

Lorraine Avery, RN, a diabetes nurse specialist for Solent NHS Trust, UK, who attended the DPC conference, welcomed Unwin's presentation.

"My concern as a diabetes nurse specialist is that I'm unsure all our patients recognize their food addiction, and there are often more drivers to eating than just the food in front of them," she told Medscape Medical News. "I think there's an emotional element, too. These people are often 'yo-yo' dieters, and they join lots of expert companies to help them lose weight, but these companies want them to regain and re-join their programs," she said.

"I think there is something about helping patients recognize they have a food addiction and they need to consider that other approaches might be helpful."

Addiction. Published online November 9, 2022. Full text

Front Psychiatry. Published online September 28, 2022. Full text

Unwin has reported no relevant financial relationships; some other authors have fee-paying clients with food addiction. Gearhardt and Avery have reported no relevant financial relationships.

Tucker Carlson interviews Dr Aseem Malhotra on the corruption of medicin...

Breath

 I breathe in and all dissolves. I breathe out and create anew.  Every breath is an opportunity to create.   I get to choose that creation as I am recreated with every breath.