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Warning to Dog Owners: This Toad Can Fatally Poison Your Dog

The cane toad originally comes from South and Central America. It is now spreading to other countries and often endangers dogs.

What makes the animal so dangerous for dogs?

In the 1930s, Australian farmers imported the animals to fight sugar cane beetles on the plantations. But the animals didn’t eat the beetles at all. Because the insects stayed in the tops of the cane, the toads couldn’t get to them. Instead, the animals ate snakes, birds and rats. The cane toad multiplies incessantly and gradually displaced native animal species. A female toad can lay up to 35,000 eggs. There are now several million toads in Australia alone. In the meantime even crocodiles fall victim to the toad. However, this is due to the extremely toxic secretion that the animals secrete.

Animal venom is a defense mechanism. The cane toad secretes it through its parotid glands when threatened. If dogs or cats mistake the animal for a toy and put it in their mouths or lick it, this can even be fatal. The four-legged friends can die within 15 minutes. Numerous animals have already died from the toad’s poison.

The voracious giant toads feel particularly at home in wet areas. Anyone who lives near streams, ponds or rivers should therefore be careful and prefer to walk the dog on a leash. Care should also be taken in the garden, as many cane toads settle there. It is still questionable how much the toads will spread and how their population can be contained.

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Food

“Coconut Oil is Pure Poison”: Professor Warns of the Superfood

Is coconut oil healthy or not? A hotly debated topic and currently a major debate on the Internet. Responsible for this is the lecture of a Harvard professor who urgently warns against the superfood coconut oil and even describes it as one of the worst foods ever. That’s what we think about it.

Coconut oil is currently on everyone’s lips again. A 50-minute lecture on the topic “Coconut oil and other nutritional errors” by Karin Michels, director of the Institute for Prevention and Tumor Epidemiology at the University of Freiburg and professor at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, went viral and reached a large number of people within a very short time People. Due to the spread of the controversial appearance on the Internet, the YouTube video now has over a million views.

What is the lecture about?

With her lecture, Professor Karin Michels would like to clarify all nutritional errors and present the “truth based on the data”. Among other things, it is about coconut oil, which is considered a superfood, with which you introduce your presentation and cause a sensation right from the start.

The key message from Michels is short and sweet: Coconut oil is pure poison. She justifies her statement by saying that the controversial superfood coconut oil consists largely (92 percent) of saturated fatty acids, which raise cholesterol levels and clog arteries; which can lead to heart disease. She refers to the latest recommendations of the American Heart Association (AHA) and accuses the responsible German societies of “always lagging behind the international recommendations”.

“Coconut oil is more dangerous to you than lard”

Coconut oil is consistently recognized as having health benefits, as well as being touted as being good for skin and hair care. For Michels, it’s all “complete nonsense. Coconut oil is one of the worst foods you can eat,” she says in her presentation. There hasn’t been a single human study that shows or confirms any beneficial effects of coconut oil. The reactions in the crowd show the extent of the discussion about the superfood coconut oil with its quite provocative formulations.

The next controversial statement is not long in coming: “Coconut oil is more dangerous for you than lard,” said Michels. She assumes that everyone knows that lard is probably not particularly healthy.

That’s why coconut oil is even worse than lard, according to Michel: the saturated fatty acids in coconut oil clog the coronary arteries and significantly increase the risk of a heart attack, or as she puts it: “lead to certain cardiac death”. Michels urgently warns against the “pure poison” since it does not contain any of the essential fatty acids that our body needs.

There is another boost from coconut oil

After her personal statement on coconut oil and her classification that it is definitely not a superfood, but the complete opposite, she now goes into the classification of fats and differentiates between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids and trans fats. She demonizes butter, lard, coconut oil, and palm fat (saturated fatty acids), but artificially hardened trans fats, which can be found in margarine, for example, are even worse than the controversial superfood coconut oil and the like.

She likes unsaturated fats, including monounsaturated fats like olive and canola oil, both of which are good for heating, and polyunsaturated fats, including omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, which shouldn’t be heated. “In particular, we should consume a lot of omega-3 fatty acids,” says Michels. Here she advises above all to use linseed and fish oil.

Are Saturated Fats Really That Unhealthy?

Because saturated fats are straight and have no kinks, they are very close together. Therefore, fats that are high in saturated fat are solid at room temperature. These include milk fats such as butter and clarified butter, but also coconut and palm kernel oil. They are quite insensitive, can be stored for a long time, and can be heated well.

Saturated fatty acids are often demonized and opinions are so divided on hardly any nutritional topic. Michels does not believe in saturated fatty acids, as she emphasizes several times in her presentation. She believes that these fatty acids increase blood cholesterol and clog our heart arteries, which can lead to cardiovascular disease. So far, however, there is no scientific proof of this.

Why we should all eat more fat

Saturated fat is better than its reputation. Recent studies show that these fatty acids are not harmful. You can raise good cholesterol as well as bad cholesterol. When evaluating cholesterol, the quotient is crucial and this is in the green area for high good cholesterol.

The PURE study, published in 2017, examined the connection between the intake of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins and mortality in 135,000 people from 18 different countries. The result: Those who ate a lot of carbohydrates had an increased risk of dying. In contrast, high fat consumption led to lower mortality—this was also true for saturated fats. Cardiovascular diseases were considered separately as the causes of death. However, neither increased carbohydrate consumption nor high fat intake indicated a higher cardiovascular risk.

Saturated fats do not harm us

This is the current status! So far, no study has been able to prove otherwise. A study by Russell de Souza from McMaster University in Canada showed again that the amount of saturated fat in food does not increase the risk of diabetes or heart disease in healthy people, nor does it increase mortality.

Even the DGE deletes the indication that too many saturated fatty acids increase the risk of dyslipidemia and cardiovascular diseases. Instead, the Nutrition Society recommends using health-promoting fats, even if they contain a lot of calories.

Conclusion: Don’t panic! There is nothing wrong with occasionally consuming coconut oil. In culinary terms, it can enrich the kitchen in terms of taste and the same applies here: consume in moderation. Then you don’t have to worry at all and you can even benefit from coconut oil.

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Food

Poison in Honey: How Contaminated is it With The Highly Toxic Ragwort?

Traces of Jacob’s Ragwort have been found in honey. This is a highly poisonous plant that is now even being fought nationwide. The poison can cause severe liver damage.

Ragwort is becoming a problem in pastures

Jacob’s ragwort is not a popular sight on the pastures of cattle, sheep or horse farmers.
As a rule, the inedibility of the animals is noticed by the animals before they are eaten, but even the smallest amounts are enough to poison the grazing animals over a long period of time. In the silage or in the hay, the ragwort can no longer be recognized by the animals as such and they eat it with them.

The herb can have fatal consequences for the grazing animals, but for our bees it is a blessing due to the lack of food and the lack of flowering areas. Bees like to use ragwort as an alternative forage plant.

Liver-damaging toxin in honey

The proliferation of ragwort probably has something to do with the fact that wild rabbit populations are declining sharply. Rabbits are resistant to the plant’s toxin and prefer to eat the plant’s roots.

In the meantime, the poisonous plant, which is spreading rapidly, is being combated by uprooting it and mowing it in a targeted manner before it flowers, so that propagation via flying seeds can no longer take place.

Furthermore, it is recommended to pay attention to the careful disposal of the clippings after mowing the Ragwort so that there is no new sowing.

Imported honey particularly polluted

Because bees and other pollinators value ragwort as an alternative food source, ragwort has made its way into some foods, such as honey and teas. So far, German honey has been less contaminated with the liver toxin of Jacob’s ragwort than honey imported from abroad. Not infrequently, however, German honey is mixed or diluted with honey imported from abroad.

Due to the high level of toxicity of the plant, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment requires zero tolerance for the detection of the plant’s poison in food. To this day, however, we have no regulations, guidelines or controls on the maximum levels of the poison from ragwort in food. It is currently unclear when and if this requirement will be implemented at all.

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health

Stress is the Anti-Beauty Poison

People have been trying to study and understand the impact of stress on the human body for ages. Stress is a hormone that is released in the human body under certain circumstances. In most cases, these circumstances have to do with external influences. It is often a feeling of discomfort.

Consequences of stress

Direct consequences of stress in everyday life and at work are sweating nervousness and a lack of concentration. Overall, the long-term consequences of stress are numerous. These include, for example, severe headaches, skin irritations, cold sores, muscle tension, moodiness, aggressiveness, sleep disorders, anxiety, and digestive disorders.

How does stress arise?

Stress occurs in the human nervous system. In stressful situations, the most important control center of the autonomic nervous system, the hypothalamus, releases various stress hormones. These include adrenaline, cortisol, and norepinephrine. These act like an energy drink on the body. All senses are sharpened and the body prepares for possible danger. The problem here is that in the past of mankind these stress hormones were released in such situations by fight or flight. So they had no effect on the human body. Nowadays, people no longer break down these stress hormones because they are too busy with other things. So these hormones remain in the human body and cause the already mentioned consequences of excessive stress.

Tips to fight stress

Fortunately, nowadays there are many different ways to effectively reduce stress. It doesn’t always have to be an expensive beach vacation or a long break in a Buddhist monastery. There are simple tricks and means to minimize stress in the long term and thus do something good for your own health. Therefore heed the following tips:

1) Sport against stressful everyday life

First of all, sport is a very good option. Sport stimulates the fight or flight, which in earlier times ensured that the stress hormones were broken down. Regular exercise also breaks down these hormones and the body relaxes and regenerates after exercise. It doesn’t matter what kind of sport you do. Any sport that increases the pulse and trains the heart and circulation is beneficial.

2) Fight stress with good sleep

Getting enough good sleep is also essential. But most people don’t get enough sleep. I recommend getting at least 7-9 hours of sleep. This restful sleep reduces your stress level and is important for your health. You can also reduce so many other health problems.

3) Eating right reduces stress

Diet also plays an important role. Stress causes many people to skip a meal or resort to fast food. It helps to take the time to prepare the food. That’s why you should cook on your own. In addition, use an activated carbon filter for cooking. It filters the gases that are produced, which can also lead to stress. Such an extractor hood filter is underestimated by many people.

It ensures that the gases and vapors that are produced during cooking are quickly sucked in. On the one hand, this reduces the heat generated in the kitchen. In addition, the filter does not fog up panes or windows in the room. Finally, the steam is bad for the skin and causes breakouts. Using the filter will prevent this as the vapor will disappear straight away.4) More tips to combat stress

4) More tips to fight stress

In addition, with two other simple changes in everyday life, you can effectively reduce your stress level and go through the day more relaxed. This will keep you healthy and young longer:

Avoid multitasking. Because if you do too many activities at the same time, it stresses you out a lot. Therefore, it is better to concentrate on one activity and finish it. In this way, you achieve a larger part of your goals.
The organization is everything. So plan your day well in advance. Here you should build in enough time buffer. This is how you avoid stressful situations. In addition, this organization can reduce the stress hormone cortisol in the body.

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