Children – Freedom First Network

Ultra-Processed Foods Threaten Children’s Liver Health

Dr. Joseph Mercola — Sat, 16 Nov 2024 12:02:31 +0000

Ultraprocessed foods are linked to liver disease and insulin resistance in obese children, with high consumption associated with metabolic disorders
These foods are low in nutrients and high in unhealthy additives, contributing to poor health outcomes
The prevalence of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is increasing among adolescents
Insulin resistance is a key factor in metabolic health issues, underscoring the importance of choosing healthy foods
Ways to encourage children to increase their intake of whole, natural foods are outlined below

(Mercola)—It’s long been acknowledged that obesity in American adults is a public health problem. However, there’s a related issue on the rise — childhood obesity. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 1 in 5 children and adolescents are now obese.¹

Much of the reason for the rise in childhood obesity is the preference for ultraprocessed foods. An estimated 67% of calories in children’s and teenagers’ diets come from these unhealthy products.² In addition, research is showing that these foods are causing liver problems in children.

The Threat of Ultraprocessed Foods to Liver Health

Could the ultraprocessed foods your child regularly consumes be silently fueling serious liver diseases? According to a study³ published in Nutrients, the answer is a resounding yes, depending on the food you give them. Specifically, high intake of ultraprocessed foods is closely linked to metabolic-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), insulin resistance, and increased adiposity in obese youth. MASLD is of particular concern. According to the researchers:⁴

“MASLD is a multisystem disease affecting various metabolic pathways and is strongly linked to insulin resistance and obesity. Mechanistically, fat overload in the liver may lead to the accumulation of diacylglycerol, which activates protein kinase Cε (PKCε), impairing insulin signaling and leading to insulin resistance.

Body fat, particularly trunk fat, promotes insulin resistance through increased hepatic lipogenesis, leading to metabolic disturbances in the liver. When insulin resistance occurs, the oxidation of fatty acids in the liver decreases, promoting further fat accumulation and worsening hepatic steatosis. This process disrupts insulin signaling in the liver and increases fat accumulation, triggering inflammatory responses.”

For the study, researchers selected 149 participants aged 8 to 17 years old who were assessed for their dietary intake using detailed food diaries. Other biomarkers were taken as well, such as body weight and blood results.⁵

To measure the liver fat percentage, a technique called magnetic resonance imaging proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) was used. This noninvasive method provides a detailed image of the liver. A liver fat percentage exceeding 5% is typically indicative of MASLD.⁶

The study, which lasted six months from baseline through follow-up, revealed that higher consumption of ultraprocessed food was strongly associated with increased insulin levels, a hallmark of insulin resistance. Furthermore, the research established a clear correlation between ultraprocessed food consumption and MASLD.

Children and adolescents who had the highest intake of ultraprocessed food were 1.75 times more likely to develop MASLD compared to those who ate less. The risk was even more pronounced for moderate-to-severe MASLD, where high ultraprocessed food consumers faced over four times the likelihood of developing advanced liver disease.

Other Research Highlights the Growing Concern of MASLD

The Nutrients study is not the only one to notice the increasing cases of MASLD among the youth. A study⁷ published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism reveals that an alarming 23.77% of U.S. adolescents aged 12 to 19 years are grappling with MASLD.

Using data taken from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2017 and 2020, researchers noted that participants with MASLD were also predisposed to other health issues, such as increased triglyceride levels, elevated glucose levels and obesity.

While the study didn’t go into the specifics of the cause, the answer is already right in front of everyone — ultraprocessed foods. Again, as much as 67% of a child’s calories come from these products.

Tips to Help Reduce Your Child’s Intake of Ultraprocessed Food

While kids enjoy the taste of ultraprocessed foods such as frozen pizzas and fish sticks, keeping up this habit will eventually ruin their liver health, as well as their overall health. Ultimately, your goal is to reduce — and eventually eliminate — ultraprocessed foods in your children’s diet, and this requires a multifaceted approach:

Eliminate seed oils — Your first order of business is removing all seed oils. This ingredient is loaded with harmful linoleic acid (LA), which I believe is the most destructive ingredient in our modern diet today. A majority of ultraprocessed foods contain high amounts of LA, so make this your top priority.
Replace ultraprocessed foods slowly — Gradually replace the ultraprocessed foods your child eats with whole foods. Start by replacing a snack or meal with whole foods, such as swapping out chips for fresh fruit. A slow approach helps children get used to new flavors without feeling overwhelmed.
Get children involved — One powerful technique that will inspire children to eat more fresh food is by inviting them in meal planning and preparation. Let your kid choose recipes, and even shop for ingredients and cook the food. This way, they’ll develop a sense of ownership and pride in their food.By getting them involved, their willingness to try healthier meals will grow. Plus, teaching them to cook builds valuable life skills at a young age. Start by letting them with simple tasks, such as washing the produce, then move on to more complicated chores as they grow older.
Change your family’s eating habits — The way your family eats during mealtimes will significantly impact your child’s consumption of ultraprocessed foods. Encourage them to eat meals together without distractions, such as TV or phones. Also, teach them to savor each bite of their food, as well as making them aware of their body’s hunger and fullness cues. This helps avoid mindless snacking while allowing them to build a healthy relationship with eating.
Engage with the people around you — Community-based programs, such as food assistance benefits from local farmers markets, community gardens and cooking classes will contribute to a culture focused on whole-food consumption. These programs also increase the availability of fresh produce, which helps families to make better choices.
Take advantage of technology — There are many available tools nowadays that help educate children and track their eating habits. For example, there are now apps that allow children to scan barcodes in food to learn about the ingredients in an engaging way. Some apps even go beyond by turning healthy eating into a game.

Removing Ultraprocessed Foods — The Foundation of Your Child’s Health

The evidence is clear — ultraprocessed foods will harm your child’s health in the long run. While designed to be convenient and appetizing, these products are wreaking havoc on their young minds and bodies, disrupting natural bodily processes, altering gut microbiomes and creating nutrient deficiencies. The health care costs are also alarming. According to the CDC, childhood obesity costs the U.S. economy $1.3 billion annually.⁸

While change starts at home, society must also walk in step to protect the long-term health of our youth. Advocating for policy changes, better education and environmental changes will result in a robust framework for reducing children’s consumption of ultraprocessed foods.⁹

The CDC and Pfizer Withheld Evidence That Covid “Vaccines” Increased the Risk of Myocarditis in Children

Ava Grace, Natural News — Sat, 12 Oct 2024 05:12:22 +0000

(Natural News)—Pfizer and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) withheld evidence that the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines increased the risk of myocarditis in children, according to two sets of documents made public.

Confidential Pfizer documents leaked by Project Veritas show that Big Pharma had “evidence that suggests patients who received a (COVID-19) vaccine are at an increased risk of myocarditis.”

Meanwhile, heavily redacted CDC documents obtained by the Children’s Health Defense (CHD) via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request indicate that the agency provided an undercounted figure of post-COVID-19 vaccination myocarditis cases to Israel’s Ministry of Health in early 2021.

The latest revelations come as Germany, Japan and other governments are raising questions about the significant numbers of severe adverse events recorded in individuals following the administration of the vaccines.

“This study clearly shows that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine provides almost no benefit to children and adolescents, but does increase their risk of myocarditis and pericarditis,” said Dr. Brian Hooker, CHD’s chief scientific officer. “It begs the question: Why does the CDC continue to recommend these unlicensed shots for kids? Where is the data they use to support their statement that the benefits of these vaccines outweigh the risks?”

The Pfizer vaccine provided children and teens in England with only about 14 to 15 weeks of protection against the virus, as per a preprint study of over 1.7 million children ages five to 15.

Moreover, researchers investigating the safety and effectiveness of Pfizer’s vaccine in fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated, and unvaccinated children and teens, also found cases of myocarditis and pericarditis only in vaccinated children. The study found that vaccinated children required slightly fewer emergency room visits and hospital stays, but that those outcomes were extremely rare in children and teens across all groups.

COVID-19 vaccine provides almost no benefit to children, study reveals

Public health agencies in the United Kingdom and the U.S. granted authorization to the Pfizer vaccines based on clinical trials that measured immunogenicity and efficacy against infection.

Their research confirmed that even in 2021, when the vaccine was first authorized for children and teens, that age group did not face a high risk for COVID-19-related serious outcomes, including death or the need for emergency care, hospitalization or critical care.

The researchers tested the effectiveness of the first vaccine dose versus no vaccine and of two doses versus a single dose. They matched each vaccinated child with an unvaccinated one, and participants were matched by age, sex, region, prior COVID-19 testing and childhood vaccination status.

Of the 1,262,784 children in the adolescent part of the study, vaccinated and unvaccinated, there were only 72 emergency room visits, 90 COVID-19 hospitalizations and no deaths. There were nine cases of pericarditis and three cases of myocarditis, all in the vaccinated group.

Among all of the children in the vaccinated versus unvaccinated group, there were no emergency visits, only six hospitalizations and no deaths related to COVID-19. There were three cases of pericarditis, all in vaccinated children.

The researchers concluded that in adolescents, the vaccine reduced the rate of hospitalization more than it increased the risk for myocarditis and pericarditis, but for children, the increased risk of pericarditis was higher than the reduction of risk for hospitalization.

Visit VaccineInjury.news for similar stories. Watch this video featuring a discussion on COVID accountability. This video is from the Sanivan channel on Brighteon.com.

Sources include:

Children’s Diets Are Now “Over 70%” Ultra-Processed Foods, Dietitian Warns

Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 10:58:51 +0000

(Zero Hedge)—It looks like the “Make America Healthy Again” movement could be showing up right on time…

At least according to one registered dietitian nutritionist in Los Angeles, who recently took to Fox News to lay out the risks from ultra-processed foods in the American diet.

Ilana Muhlstein said on Fox news that America’s diet is 60% ultra-processed, but that kids consume even more than that.

“With children, it’s actually over 70%. That is really wild when you think about it,” she said. “What we eat defines how our cells work, how our organs work, and we’re seeing a strong decline in mental health and well-being.”

And a recent BMJ study found that 60% of Americans’ daily calories come from ultra-processed foods (UPFs), which are linked to 32 poor health outcomes, including mental, respiratory, cardiovascular, and metabolic issues like cancer, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes, according to Fox.

Muhlstein added: “We’re actually seeing that this next generation might be the first generation to … have a shorter lifespan than their parents due to nutrition and lifestyle factors.”

A nutritious diet boosts children’s mental well-being, behavior, and academic performance, says Muhlstein, a nutritionist and instructor of “Raising Balanced Eaters.”

While cutting ultra-processed foods entirely is unrealistic, Muhlstein advocates for reversing the typical 70/30 ratio of processed to whole foods, recommending an “80/20 rule”—80% whole foods like eggs, fish, and vegetables, and 20% indulgent foods like chips and ice cream.

For healthier options, Muhlstein suggests swapping ketchup for marinara sauce on chicken nuggets and fries, opting for chicken strips over mechanically processed nuggets, and choosing hamburgers over nitrite-laden hot dogs. Each small change reduces the overall level of food processing.

The nutritionist warns that poor eating habits won’t resolve on their own and encourages exposing kids to diverse flavors and textures early on.

The Fox News report says that sitting down for family meals—without screens—can reduce the risk of eating disorders and promote a healthy relationship with food. Just three to five family meals a week can make a positive difference, fostering better eating habits and family connection.

‘Kids on Pills’ — The Long-Term Impacts of Medicating Children

Dr. Joseph Mercola — Sat, 05 Oct 2024 14:35:36 +0000

Rates of mental illness in children are rising rapidly, with psychotropic drugs being the conventional solution. The documentary “Kids on Pills” examines treatment options and long-term impacts of medicating children
U.S. doctors are more likely to diagnose children with conditions like bipolar disorder and prescribe multiple medications, while European doctors tend to be more conservative in their approach
Children in the U.S. often receive cocktails of powerful psychotropic drugs that have numerous side effects and health risks, with minimal evidence of benefit in many cases
The long-term effects of polypharmacy in children remain unclear. Some experts warn these drugs alter brain development when prescribed at young ages, causing lasting changes
Alternative therapies like occupational therapy and family-based interventions are encouraged. As parents, you must advocate for your children and consider nondrug approaches to address behavioral issues

(Mercola)—Rates of mental illness in children have risen at an alarming rate, and the conventional solution? Psychotropic drugs. Today, it’s no longer uncommon for children to receive a cocktail of medications to manage their mental health. But is this really the best course of action? Or are we just subjecting our children to severe side effects while inadvertently worsening their mental health in the long run?

The 2022 documentary “Kids on Pills: Happiness Out of a Bottle” from Only Human¹ takes a closer look at the treatment options for children with mental disorders. Directed by Stefanie Schmidt and Lilian Franck, the film compares how American and European children are treated and medicated for these conditions, and what the long-term impact on their health might be.

Rate of US Children with Bipolar Disorder Has Increased 4,000%

The documentary follows the lives of several children who have sought treatment from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston for their mental health disorders. The doctors in Boston have been the subject of criticism and controversy for several years due to their early diagnosis of mental disorders among children, some only a few years old.

Siblings Anna and Will Birtwell, 9 and 6 years old respectively, have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder (manic depression), and often struggle with unpredictable mood swings. Their mother, Kelli, narrates:²

“The tiniest thing would set off a two-hour rage or crying fit. She [Anna] might start saying things that someone says when they’re depressed. For instance, one week would be drawing butterflies and flowers and rainbows and all sorts of things that [are] happy. And then the next week, she would take a black crayon and scribble and rip the paper through, and she would say just things like ‘I don’t want to be alive anymore.’”

Jaylene Quijada, also a patient at Massachusetts General Hospital, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when she was just 3 years old. In her case, the manic aspects of the condition are more evident. Jaylene’s psychiatrist, Dr. Robert Doyle, who is also the chief medical director at the hospital, comments:³

“Looking back, she was the most classic bipolar kid, with these full-blown, manic, giddy laughing, out of control, unable to be redirected children I’ve ever seen.”

However, physicians in Europe diagnose psychiatric irregularities like this differently. According to Dr. Martin Holtman,⁴ who has a clinic in Frankfurt, if the factors used to diagnose bipolar disorder in the U.S. were to be considered as mere behavior descriptions instead, then the children would be diagnosed with milder disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Holtman recounts how young American patients in Frankfurt might be given psychostimulants for their ADHD, but when these children go to the U.S. for vacation, they return with additional prescription medications, saying they’ve been diagnosed in the States as bipolar.⁵

Children in America Often Fall Victim to Polypharmacy

Polypharmacy refers to the use of multiple medications to address a health condition, and it is becoming prevalent among both the elderly and the youth. According to a recent study published in the Journal of Pediatrics,⁶ out of 302 pediatric patients surveyed, 68.2% have experienced polypharmacy.

In the featured documentary,⁷ Jaylene’s mother, Elizabeth, shared how Doyle has prescribed various types of medications to manage her daughter’s condition:

“About [age] 6, she started with the anxiety. So, I mentioned that to him [Doyle] and he said, ‘Well, let’s give her an antianxiety medication.’ So, at that point, he gave her Lorazepam to calm her down. That didn’t do anything. It just made her more hyper; it just made her more stimulated. So, he said, ‘Well let’s try Klonopin.’ We tried that — [it] didn’t help her. Nothing would help.

So, at that point we went back and forth. He just kept mixing the medication[s], like the Risperdal. That was the only thing that really helped her. So, we just kept upping the dose, upping the dose, splitting the doses up to see if that would help.”

Doyle adds that he even tried giving Jaylene small doses of lithium — a mood stabilizer with side effects like memory problems and seizures.⁸ It even poses a risk for kidney failure when used long-term.⁹ But it still didn’t work out, as Jaylene started to become confused and couldn’t think clearly, causing him to halt the lithium treatment.¹⁰

Meanwhile, Anna, who has been taking a new drug called Abilify to curb the manic side of her condition,¹¹ is shown to be struggling with severe mood swings and crying fits. Her mother says that according to her doctor, the new drug works to get rid of “the manic side” of the condition, but as a result, the depression manifests more, causing Anna’s intense outbursts.¹²

Indeed, U.S. children are now being plied with powerful drugs to treat mental health concerns. Rarely do these medications address the root of the problem. Plus, they create new issues of their own. The result? More symptoms that are then treated with additional medications.

Giving Children a Cocktail of Drugs Provides Very Little to No Benefit

There’s no doubt that overprescribing medications is ultimately setting children up for a downward spiral of increasing side effects and worsening health. The documentary mentions some of the side effects of psychotropic drugs on children, including weight gain, growth dysfunction, sleep problems, nervousness and mood swings. Medicated children are also at higher risk of diseases like heart disease and diabetes.¹³

What’s even more alarming is that drug cocktails have been shown to provide very little or no benefit. For example, a 2021 review published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology¹⁴ found that when selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were added to other ADHD treatments, there was only “minimal evidence of benefit for mood or anxiety comorbidities.”

In addition, the drug Strattera (atomoxetine) led to “mixed reports of benefit, including the only small RCT [randomized controlled trial] showing no benefit.” The study also highlighted that taking drug combinations frequently resulted in more side effects — as expected.

And although six million children in the U.S. are now taking psychotropic medications,¹⁵ many of these drugs are not approved for use in children. According to the featured film:

“Doctors can justify prescribing other medications earlier as ‘individual healing attempts’ — this is a regular occurrence in the U.S., which accounts for the majority of the 17 million children taking psychotropic drugs worldwide.”¹⁶

Dr. Dominik Riccio, director of the Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology, explains why giving antipsychotic medications to children could be particularly damaging:¹⁷

“When you give an antipsychotic drug to anyone, especially children, you are causing an imbalance. It’s an exogenous substance that you’re putting into the brain and you’re causing a purposeful imbalance.

You’re doing very damaging things, in my opinion, to the child because you’re shutting down the centers of the brain that are responsible for creativity, for loving, for emotion, for feeling — the very things that make us human beings and discriminate us from the animals.”

The Long-Term Effects of Polypharmacy in Children Are Still Unclear

Eleven-year-old Raul, who has ADHD and bipolar disorder, has been on a cocktail of psychotropic drugs since he was diagnosed. According to his adoptive parents, Tessa and Terrence Williams, some of the prescription medications he was given include antianxiety medications like Buspar, stimulants like Concerta and Ritalin (methylphenidate), and even Depakote, an antiseizure drug.¹⁸

They also describe an incident in which Raul’s outbursts took a turn for the worse, and he became violent and had a seizure. He was hospitalized in the psychiatric ward for a month. Terrence shares how he was “very upset” as he was hopeful that the medications were working. “We thought perhaps we were turning a corner, but they actually really [went] downhill,” he said.¹⁹

The film states that without definitive studies, the long-term consequences of these drugs cannot be concluded, and with incidents like Raul’s, it’s often unclear whether it’s the illness or the medication that’s really responsible for the behavior.²⁰

European doctors also highlight the long-term risks associated with prescribing psychotropic drugs to young children. According to Dr. Bruno Müller-Oerlinghausen, a clinical psychopharmacologist, these drugs are “excitatory potent” — patients who take them often experience sleep disturbances, coordination problems, agitation and even suicidal thoughts.²¹

Dr. Gerald Hüther, a German neurobiologist who has done in-depth studies on Parkinson’s disease, also voices his concern about long-term methylphenidate use among young children, saying:²²

“Medication that changes the functioning of the brain, and is prescribed very early, also leads to the alteration in the maturation of the brain. If one prescribes the same psychotropic medication for an adult, then it’s as if one sets a wobbling train back on the tracks. But the tracks are all already there.

If these drugs are given to a child whose brain is still in the stage of development, then it’s as if it affects the building of the tracks. That means the train can drive somewhere else and that is then also verifiable.”

Nondrug Approaches for ADHD

In Europe, even though they still prescribe drugs to children, doctors are more conservative than U.S. doctors when it comes to prescribing multiple medications at a time. According to Holtman:

“We’re not quick to prescribe medication. In most cases, we don’t give high doses. We don’t give several types of medication. The Americans almost always don’t just take one type of medication. You could say they are taking a cocktail of drugs. So, we are being careful.”²³

In addition, seeking alternative therapies are encouraged, such as enrolling in rehab centers where children with ADHD work with their family and other families to develop traditional values, such as trust and strengthening the child-parent relationship to manage their condition. Jens Missler, whose young children Marc-Andre and Jan-Phillip have both been diagnosed, says:²⁴

“I don’t think that you can call it a general remedy. You try to integrate into daily life what you have learned as much as possible. It won’t always be easy, that’s obvious, but of course, you have to see what you alone have got out of it. We have to see what he wants to put into practice for himself, at his age and of course, how far we can propel him in that direction.”

Marc-Andre, before doing therapy, was unable to do simple tasks like catching a ball or hopping on one foot. After two years of occupational therapy, his concentration has improved, as well as his dexterity and ability to focus on one task at a time.²⁵

Yet, there’s no doubt that the urge to seek medication as a primary treatment is also increasing in Europe. Despite his successes in occupational therapy, Marc-Andre’s parents are planning to put him on methylphenidate, as he is set to begin school in a few months.²⁶

Be Your Child’s Advocate

In 2008, physicians from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital made headlines after it was discovered that they received millions of dollars of funding from pharmaceutical companies. It’s a clear indication of how Big Pharma is pulling strings to ensure that medications become the first line of treatment for adults and children alike.

In the documentary, Dr. John Abramson, a former psychologist and author of the book “Overdosed America,” comments:²⁷

“There’s definitely a relationship to the funding system of how the knowledge is produced and disseminated that creates the impression that physicians who are trying their best to help children will realize that goal by using drugs and expensive drugs instead of by doing what they did before these expensive drugs became the recognized therapy for pediatric bipolar disease.”

Advocating for your child is your responsibility as a parent; it is imperative that you stand up against allowing powerful corporations to rake in profits at the cost of your child’s well-being. If your child is dealing with an emotional or mental challenge, I recommend seeking help from a trustworthy physician who does not consider psychotropic drugs as the first choice of treatment.

“The treatment of children with psychotropic drugs is a science that is still partly experimental. Only the future will tell if the parents of these children have made the right decisions, and by then it will be too late to go back,” the film concludes.²⁸

You must also realize that most behavioral problems in children are related to an unhealthy diet, emotional upset and exposure to toxins. For example, paying attention to the health of your and your child’s gut microbiome is crucial. Research shows that the makeup of gut flora at birth and during a child’s first year of life plays a key role in the development of neurodevelopmental disorders like ADHD.²⁹

Other toxic substances that have been associated with an increased risk of ADHD include lead, phthalates, BPA, pesticides and air pollution, as they disrupt brain development and neurotransmitter systems, affecting your child’s behavior and cognitive function. For more information on this, I recommend reading my article, “Why Do 1 in 9 Children Now Have ADHD Diagnosis?”