Life is Healthy

Don Matesz at Primal Wisdom put up a post a few days ago that I think is worth reading. It follows an e-mail discussion between us concerning a paper on magnesium restriction in rats (executive summary: moderate Mg restriction reduces the hormone form of vitamin D by half and promotes osteoporosis). In his post, Don cites several papers showing that vitamin D metabolism is influenced by more than just vitamin D intake from the diet and synthesis in the skin.

Celiac disease patients have low 25(OH)D3, the circulating storage form of vitamin D, which spontaneously corrects on a gluten-free diet. There are numerous suggestions in the medical literature that overweight and sickness cause low vitamin D, potentially confounding the interpretation of studies that find lower levels of illness among people with low vitamin D levels.

Don't get me wrong, I still think vitamin D is important in preventing disease. But it does lead me to question the idea that we should force down huge doses of supplemental vitamin D to get our 25(OH)D3 up to 60, 70 or even 80 ng/mL. When the dosage of supplemental D goes beyond what a tan Caucasian could conceivably make on a day at the beach (4,000 IU?), that's when I start becoming skeptical. Check out Don's post for more.

"Indonesia has helped the difficult circumstances in Palestine and even rehabilitated our hospital in Gaza in January last year,” Younis Al-Khatib, president of the Palestinian Red Crescent, told a media conference on Thursday during a visit to the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), which Kalla now heads.

He said that during the military conflict, checkpoints into Gaza were blocked by the Israeli Army, and Palestinian authorities had major difficulty transferring relief and medical supplies to affected areas. “But PMI and other Indonesian organizations were able to cross the border and deliver aid during the war that affected more than 400,000 Palestinians,” he added.

To thank Indonesia for its efforts, Younis said he would like Kalla to visit Palestine to personally see the progress made since the conflict. “We would be very honored if Mr. Jusuf Kalla is willing to pay us a visit,” he said.

Kalla said that he was grateful for the invitation, but was not able to set an exact date for the visit. “I still have to arrange the schedule and wait for the right moment to come and visit Palestine — it’s all still being worked out,” he said.

During Younis’s visit, Kalla also handed over $100,000 in relief funds to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

In February last year, PMI delivered 2,000 blankets and $120,000 for victims of the conflict in Gaza.

Indonesia also donated Rp 20 billion ($2.2 million) to build a new hospital to help victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Half of the funding was provided by the government and the rest was collected from public donations through the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee, or MER-C.

Antara News, Friday, April 2, 2010 20:41 WIB

Karawang, W Java (ANTARA News) - Hundreds of flood victims in Karawang district, West Java, on Friday received free medical treatment from the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI).

The chief of the PMI branch in Karawang, Eli Amalia, asked flood victims to always check their health because they were highly vulnerable to flood-related diseases.

"The PMI branch in Karawang will maintain a health command post until the end of the emergency response period (on April 4). The command post`s task is merely to help check the flood victims` health," he said.

He said during the emergency response period the district government would focus its attention on providing maximum health services to the flood victims.

Anom, a flood victim, said she came to the PMI health command post because she could not afford to see a doctor.

"When flood water inundated my house I did not evacuate because I hoped the flood water would recede soon. But after it did not recede for few days I decided to evacuate. Maybe because I was too much exposed to flood water, I developed itches," the 57-year old woman said.

Floods triggered by the overflowing of the Citarum river affected at least nine subdistricts in Karawang last month.

Telukjambe Timur subdistrict was the hardest hit by the floods with 17,658 homes inundated.

The floods inundated at least 7.517 homes in Karawang Barat subdistrict, 1,533 homes in Pakisjaya subdistrict, 1,308 homes in Rengasdengklok subdistrict, 1,192 homes in Jayakerta subdistrict, 604 homes in Telukjambe Barat subdistrict, 412 homes in Karawang Timur subdistrict, 250 homes in Batujaya subdistrict, 97 homes in Klari subdistrict and 81 homes in Ciampel subdistrict.

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 04/02/2010 3:38 PM

28 suspicious personal bank accounts in the Health Ministry worth Rp 21.7 billion (US$2.3 million) found by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) are not illegal, a ministry official says.

"Those personal accounts have been proposed to be returned to the ministry," Health Ministry spokesperson Tritarayati said Friday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com

Tritarayati admitted there were also 17 additional bank accounts allocated to receive grants, but the accounts had been approved by the Finance Ministry.

Not only is smoking deadly, but new research alleges that pigs' blood is used in the manufacture of filters of the kind used in Indonesian cigarettes.

In a claim likely to cause consternation to many Indonesians of the Muslim faith, a Dutch author has published a book that claims that pigs’ blood is used in the manufacture of cigarette filters.

Professor Simon Chapman from the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney was quoted on the university’s Web site as saying, “Many devout Islamic and Jewish smokers and some vegetarians would be horrified to think they were putting a filter in their mouth which contained a pig product,” Chapman said.

Pig 05049, written by Christien Meindertsma, lists 185 different ways that pigs’ bodies can be used, including, according to the Web site, the manufacture of sweets and shampoo, to bread, body lotion, beer and bullets.

Pig hemoglobin is, according to the book, used to filter harmful chemicals contained in cigarettes.

Kartono Muhammad, the former head of the Indonesian Doctors Association, told Detik.com that Indonesia imported filters for locally made cigarettes.

The Muslim Consumer Association of Malaysia has called on authorities there to investigate the claims.

Eny Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 04/01/2010 11:17 PM

The South Jakarta District Court on Thursday suspended detention Susandhi bin Sukatma aka Aan, a defendant in an drug possession case, citing reasonable assurance from his lawyers that his client will not flee.

Presiding Judge Artha Theresia said the decision took into effect since April 1 until the court issued its verdict over the case.

“We grant the lawyer's request to delay the detention while keep on asking for the defendant to attend all court sessions, Artha said.

One of the considerations, she said, was that the defendant had undergone torture during a preliminary questioning session from officers of the Maluku Regional Police Office on Dec. 14, 2009.

“I can only say alhamdulilah (thank God). I thank to my lawyers [over the suspension of the detention],” Aan said after the trial.

Aan's lawyer Edwin Partogi said he was expecting the delay of the detention would become an input for the prosecutors for not being hesitant to demand his client be acquitted from all of the charges.

Today's trial was supposedly scheduled to hear demand from state prosecutors for the second time against Aan. However, prosecutor Sri Haryanto said he had yet to be ready to read the demand without giving any clear reasons.

The court will resume next Thursday to hear the demand.

Aan was arrested by the Jakarta Police on Dec. 14 at the Artha Graha building of South Jakarta after the police found 0.1427 grams of drugs in his wallet. He was detained at the Cipinang Penitentiary one day after the arrest.

Ambon (ANTARA News) - A health services provision program dubbed "Operation Surya Baksara Jaya" will be conducted at seven villages in Ambon July 29-August 3, in conjunction with the international marine event Sail Banda 2010.

"A similar program as part of Sail Banda 2010 will also be conducted in Banda Neira, Central Maluku district at the same time," Sail Banda local committee chairman Cak Saimima said here on Thursday.

He said the health operation activity by using floating hospital would be conducted at Mamala, Morella, Liang, Waai, Tulehu, Passo, and Hutumuri villages on the island of Ambon.

"The Surya Baksara Jaya health operation will be supported by the biggest United States Navy floating hospital USNS MERCY T-AH19," Saimima said.

Technically and aesthetically, the 273-meter long USNS MERCY T-AH19 with 955 medical personnel and doctors is arguably the most sophisticated vessel in its class to assist KRI Dr Soeharso in giving medical services to the people of Maluku.

Saimima said that the so-called Sailing Medical Service (SMS) program would also help the people in the districts of Buru Selatan, West Southeast Maluku (MTB), and Southwest Maluku (MBD) from April to August 2010.

"A health simulation program will be conducted in Ambon, Banda Neira, and MBD district town of Wonreli in Kisar island from July 1 to August 10," Saimima said.

He said naval ships from Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia would be sent to Maluku to support the Surya Baksara Jaya operation in the districts of West Seram, West Southeast Maluku, and Southwest Maluku.

The floating hospital`s operations will be coordinated the health ministry assisted by the Maluku health office and so will be the target areas of the Surya Baksara Jaya operation program.

"We welcome the support from the US, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore in the operation because indirectly they also promote Maluku`s tourism potential and the Sail Banda event," Saimima said.