Oprah Pushes Pharmaceuticals for Diabetes
February5,2010
USA Today
By Mary Brophy Marcus
Responding to a diabetes epidemic that many experts consider a health crisis, Oprah Winfrey is dedicating her show today to the disease. She will announce an opportunity for all Americans to take a free test that can tell whether a person is at risk for type 2 diabetes.
“Diabetes is a ticking time bomb. It’s a silent killer,” Winfrey said during a taping of Thursday’s show. She expressed particular concern for African Americans, who are 80% more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than non-Hispanic whites.
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The episode will feature Oprah’s health compatriots, celebrity physician Dr. Mehmet Oz and exercise physiologist Bob Greene. It also will have an audience full of fans with diabetes, including a group of church women from Dayton, Ohio, who e-mailed the entertainer about their weight worries.
Oprah and her health team will encourage viewers to go to their nearest 24-hour Walgreens pharmacy Friday to get a free blood glucose reading that will tell them whether they could be at risk for type 2 diabetes.
Results indicating whether a person is at risk will be available right away.
Walgreens spokesman Jim Cohn says that the pharmacy chain is in all 50 states and that almost 90% of Americans are within 30 miles of a location offering the test. He says pharmacists, nurses, and nurse practitioners will be on hand Friday and over the next two weeks at select stores to give the tests to those over 18. For information, visit walgreens.com/diabetes.
Walgreens will offer diabetes education to anyone who could be at risk for type 2, when the body’s cells can not properly use the carbohydrates for energy. The test, however, is not an accurate predictor of type 1 diabetes, which occurs when the pancreas does not produce the hormone insulin, which helps cells metabolize carbohydrates.
“Oprah’s doing a good thing,” says Duke endocrinologist Susan Spratt. “Any time a diabetes diagnosis can be made early is a good thing.”
Unmanaged over the long term, type 2 diabetes can lead to nerve damage, kidney and heart disease, amputations and blindness, Spratt says.
Walgreens can screen people for diabetes even if they have eaten before the test. A simple finger prick for a drop of blood will be required.
Spratt says anyone whose test flags them as at-risk should follow up with his doctor.
“A lot of the time people can have a normal fasting blood glucose test, but their post-meal glucose test can be high enough to be considered in the diabetes or pre-diabetes range,” she says.
A second check is always important, Spratt say. “You don’t diagnose someone with diabetes after just one abnormal number.”
Because 60% of Americans are either overweight or obese and those are the people most at risk for type 2 diabetes, Winfrey’s episode will spend a chunk of time focusing on healthful eating, says Oz, who adds that they will discuss avoiding highly processed “white foods,” which are often higher in carbohydrates, to drop pounds.
Spratt says people shouldn’t ditch carbs altogether, though.
“We all need carbohydrates in a healthy diet, even if you have diabetes. Just stick to healthy ones, like whole-grain breads and fruit instead of fruit juice,” she says.
Oz says Winfrey will take viewers into a hospital to meet a woman with diabetes on dialysis, who is a double amputee.
“It’s a very emotional story as she tells America what diabetes did to her and wishes she’d been more aggressive about treating it,” Oz says.
Says Richard Bergenstal, the American Diabetes Association’s president of medicine and science: “We hope that the show will convey the seriousness of diabetes. We also hope the show will empower people and provide hope. Many of the devastating complications of diabetes can be prevented or lessened.”
Says Oz: “The main goal is to give people a wake-up call about diabetes, then leave them with a request that they get their numbers tested.”
Genetically Modified Crops Cause Kidney and Liver Damage
February 2, 2010
MailOnline
By David Derbyshire
Fresh fears were raised over GM crops yesterday after a study showed they can cause liver and kidney damage.
According to the research, animals fed on three strains of genetically modified maize created by the U.S. biotech firm Monsanto suffered signs of organ damage after just three months.
The findings only came to light after Monsanto was forced to publish its raw data on safety tests by anti-GM campaigners.
They add to the evidence that GM crops may damage health as well as be harmful to the environment.
The figures released by Monsanto were examined by French researcher Dr Gilles-Eric Seralini, from the University of Caen.
Yesterday he called for more studies to check for long-term organ damage.
‘What we’ve shown is clearly not proof of toxicity, but signs of toxicity,’ he told New Scientist magazine. ‘I’m sure there’s no acute toxicity but who’s to say there are no chronic effects?’
The experiments were carried out by Monsanto researchers on three strains of GM maize. Two of the varieties contained genes for the Bt protein which protects the plant against the corn borer pest, while a third was genetically modified to be resistant to the weedkiller glyphosate. All three strains are widely grown in America, while one is the only GM crop grown in Europe, mostly in Spain.
Monsanto only released the raw data after a legal challenge from Greenpeace, the Swedish Board of Agriculture and French anti- GM campaigners.
Dr Seralini concluded that rats which ate the GM maize had ‘ statistically significant’ signs of liver and kidney damage. Each strain was linked to unusual concentrations of hormones in the blood and urine of rats fed the maize for three months, compared to rats given a non-GM diet.
The higher hormone levels suggest that animals’ livers and kidneys are not working properly.
Female rats fed one of the strains also had higher blood sugar levels and raised levels of fatty substances caused triglycerides, Dr Seralini reported in the International Journal of Microbiology.
The analysis concluded: ‘These substances have never before been an integral part of the human or animal diet and therefore their health consequences for those who consume them, especially over long time periods are currently unknown.’
Monsanto claimed the analysis of its data was ‘based on faulty analytical methods and reasoning, and does not call into question the safety findings for these products’.
Click here for the full report.
Vitamin D Linked to Cardiac Deaths in Blacks
January 7, 2010
Business Week
By Ed Edelson
New research indicates that the darker skin of blacks may increase their risk of heart disease and stroke because it reduces production of vitamin D, which is made during exposure to sunlight.
Several studies have associated low levels of vitamin D with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and “the biggest source of vitamin D levels is sunlight,” said Dr. Kevin Fiscella, a professor of family medicine and community and preventive medicine at the University of Rochester, and co-author of a paper in the January/February issue of the Annals of Family Medicine. “People with dark skin who live at higher latitudes, where the intensity of sunlight is less, may be at greater risk.”
But the issue abounds with unanswered questions, starting with whether there is a real cause-and-effect relationship of vitamin D levels and cardiovascular risk, and ending with whether supplements that increase blood levels of the vitamin lower that risk, Fiscella said.
“We don’t truly know the answer,” Fiscella said. “That is the really pivotal question, what happens to cardiovascular risk if you correct blood levels of vitamin D. We do know that small supplements for middle-aged people don’t seem to have any effect.”
In the study, Fiscella and Dr. Peter Franks of the University of California, Davis, looked at data on more than 15,000 U.S. adults in a national nutritional study. They found that overall, the 25 percent of adults with the lowest levels of vitamin D had a 40 percent higher risk of cardiovascular death. When they singled out blacks, the report found a 38 percent higher incidence of such deaths than among whites. Most of that difference was related to lower levels of vitamin D.
“The first issue is clarifying whether vitamin D is truly an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease,” Fiscella said. There are reasons to believe that it is, since too-low levels of the vitamin are associated with development of high blood pressure, kidney disease and diabetes, he said, but the case is not proven.
A second issue concerns the proper level of intake of the vitamin. “A consensus is evolving that the current levels recommended are too low, and those with darker skin need higher levels,” Fiscella said.
The current recommendation is a daily intake of 400 International Units (IUs) for most adults, and 600 IU for those over 70. Fiscella declined to make a recommendation.
There was no such hesitation on the part of Dr. James O’Keefe Jr., director of preventive cardiology at the Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, who has done his own studies of vitamin D and the heart.
“I recommend for most people 2,000 IU a day,” O’Keefe said. “African-Americans probably need closer to 4,000 or 5,000.”
Too few Americans have their vitamin D levels checked regularly, “so I tell people to get their vitamin D levels checked,” O’Keefe said. “Three out of four Americans will need a vitamin D supplement.”
While it hasn’t been proven that raising vitamin D levels reduces cardiovascular risk, studies now underway will answer that question, O’Keefe said. Meanwhile, he said, “vitamin D supplements are very cheap” and it is difficult to overdose on the vitamin, although bone problems can develop with a daily intake of 10,000 or more IU, he said.
Fiscella is much more cautious. “I don’t think we have great data on what happens at very high levels,” he said. “If you recommend very high doses, some people will develop very high blood levels, and we don’t have good enough data to say on the population level what the impact of very high levels would be.”
Aspartame Causes Kidney Failure
December 17, 2009
Natural News
By E. Huff
Scientists from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston have revealed results from a study outlining some of the effects of artificial sweeteners on the body. Conducted on a group of 3,000 women, the results indicated that those who drank two or more artificially-sweetened beverages a day doubled their risk of more-rapid-than-normal kidney function decline.
The study accounted for various other risk factors including the woman’s age, her blood pressure, if she smoked, and if she had any other pre-existing conditions such as heart disease or diabetes. The 11-year study evaluated the effects of all sweetened drinks on progressive kidney decline and discovered that two or more diet drinks leads to a two-fold increase in rapid kidney decline incidences.
Though study results did not show any correlation between sugar- or corn syrup-sweetened drinks and the onset of rapid kidney decline, these ingredients are implicated in causing diabetes and obesity and should not be perceived as safe merely because they did not have a direct correlation in this particular study topic.
High sodium intake was also implicated in the study as promoting progressive kidney decline. Since diet soda contains excessive amounts of sodium, higher than sugar soda, it is no surprise that diet sodas were the primary offenders in the study. However it is unclear from this particular study which ingredient plays the larger role in progressive kidney decline, the artificial sweeteners or the sodium content.
Click here for the full report
Doctors Experimenting With ‘Risky Donor’ Kidneys for Transplant
December 8, 2009
BBC News
by Michelle Roberts
So far five patients have been treated by the team at Baltimore’s University of Maryland School of Medicine.
The US surgeons say the technique offers a vital lifeline to patients with end-stage renal failure who could die waiting for a healthy donor organ.
None of the patients has yet developed cancer urology journal BJUI reports.
Before the transplants took place, the doctors said they had detailed discussions with the patients and the donors about the discovery of the cancer in the donor kidneys so that they were both aware of the risks, including recurrence of the cancer.
Urologist and head of the surgical team, Dr Michael Phelan, said: “Transplanting a living donor kidney which has been affected by a renal mass is controversial and considered high risk.
“However, the ongoing shortage of organs from deceased donors, and the high risk of dying while waiting for a transplant, prompted five donors and recipients to push ahead with surgery after the small masses were found in the donor kidneys.”
Measured risk
The kidneys were removed from the donors, put on ice and taken to the operating rooms for preparation for transplantation.
The surgeons then removed all visible traces of the tumours – five masses ranging from 1cm to 2.3cm in size, three being malignant and two benign – before transplanting them in to the recipients.
One of the recipients has since died, from an unrelated accident.
But the remaining four are well between nine and 41 months on.
Dr Phelan told the Journal of the British Association of Urological Surgeons this was proof that ‘risky’ kidneys could be a viable option for some.
Hospital No Longer Able to Treat Illegal Immigrants
November 23, 2009
New York Times
By Kevin Sack
Each had crossed the border years before, smuggled across the desert by a coyote, never imagining the journey would lead to a drab and dusty clinic on the ninth floor of Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.
Some knew before the crossing that they had diabetes or lupus or high blood pressure, but it was only after they arrived that their kidneys began to fail. To survive, they needed dialysis at a cost of about $50,000 a year, which their sporadic work as housekeepers, painters and laborers could not begin to cover.
And so they turned to Grady, a taxpayer-supported safety-net hospital that would provide dialysis to anyone in need, even illegal immigrants with no insurance or ability to pay. Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning, the 15 or so patients would settle into their recliners, four to a room, and while away the monotonous three-hour treatments by chitchatting in Spanish.
That all changed on Oct. 4, when the strapped public hospital closed its outpatient dialysis clinic, leaving 51 patients — almost all illegal immigrants — in a life-or-death limbo.
For Grady, which has served Atlanta’s poor for 117 years, it was an excruciating choice, a stark reflection of what happens when the country’s inadequate health care system confronts its defective immigration policy.
Like other hospitals, particularly public hospitals, Grady has been left to provide costly treatments to nonpaying illegal residents who most likely could not have obtained such care in their home countries. American taxpayers and health care consumers have borne the expense.
Over time, the mounting losses have compromised Grady’s charitable mission, forcing layoffs, increases in fees and the elimination of services.
“Years and years of providing this free care has led Grady to the breaking point,” said Matt Gove, one of the hospital’s senior vice presidents. “If we don’t make the gut-wrenching decisions now, there won’t be a Grady later. Then, everyone loses.”
But for the dialysis patients, the sudden end to their reassuring routine has prompted a panic.
“We didn’t know what to do,” said Ignacio G. Lopez, 23, who had been sustained by the clinic for more than three years. “We can pass away if we stay like two weeks without dialysis. They were just sending us out to die.”
Click here for the full report
Eliminate Diet Soda and Excess Salt to Keep Kidney Disease at Bay
November 13, 2009
Natural News
By S.L. Baker
According to the American Society of Nephrology (ASN), the number of people in the US diagnosed with kidney disease has doubled over the past 20 years. About 20 million Americans are at risk for developing kidney disease and the ASN web site states another 20 million Americans already have some evidence of chronic kidney disease. And when chronic kidney disease progresses, it often leads to kidney failure or end stage renal disease (ESRD) — resulting in ongoing, expensive dialysis treatments or even kidney transplants.
But like countless other diseases and conditions, kidney disease doesn’t just strike out of the blue. It is often the result of what people do to their own bodies. And researchers have just reported two direct ways diet appears to be associated with declining kidney function. The culprits? Eating food high in sodium (like the fast foods and processed junk snacks Americans love) and drinking artificially sweetened sodas.
Those are the findings of two new studies, both conducted by Julie Lin, MD, and Gary Curhan, MD, ScD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, which were recently presented at the American Society of Nephrology’s annual meeting held in October in San Diego, California. The first study, entitled “Associations of Diet with Kidney Function Decline,” examined the impact of specific dietary components on declining kidney function over 11 years in more than 3,000 women who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study. Dr. Lin and Dr. Curhan found that “in women with well-preserved kidney function, higher dietary sodium intake was associated with greater kidney function decline, which is consistent with experimental animal data that high sodium intake promotes progressive kidney decline.”
In previous research, scientists using information collected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a long-term collection of studies designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the US, had found a link between sugar containing sodas and urinary protein. However, they did not collect data on any kidney function changes related to drinking sweetened sodas. So, in their second study, Dr. Lin and Dr. Curhan, decided to specifically check for any kidney function decline in women who drink sodas regularly. Once again, they used data from the Nurses’ Health Study.
In a statement for the media, Dr. Lin reported they found “a significant two-fold increased odds, between two or more servings per day of artificially sweetened soda and faster kidney function decline; no relation between sugar-sweetened beverages and kidney function decline was noted.” Moreover, this association persisted even when the researchers accounted for age, obesity, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, physical activity, calorie intake, diabetes and cigarette smoking. Clearly, artificially sweetened sodas are detrimental to kidney health.
“There are currently limited data on the role of diet in kidney disease,” said Dr. Lin in a statement to the press. “While more study is needed, our research suggests that higher sodium and artificially sweetened soda intake are associated with greater rate of decline in kidney function.”
Click here for the full report
Colloidal Silver – The Natural Antibiotic
November 13, 2009
Natural News
By Mike Adams
Colloidal silver is one of the best natural antibiotics yet discovered in human history. For many health applications, it’s safer, cheaper and far more effective than traditional antibiotics. The effectiveness of colloidal silver is such a huge threat to the pharmaceutical industry that the FDA (and even the FTC) has engaged in an all-out assault to threaten and intimidate colloidal silver companies in order to drive them out of business.
Aren’t you curious to find out what they don’t want you to know about colloidal silver?
To help provide answers to NaturalNews readers, we’ve gathered this collection of supporting quotes describing the seemingly-miraculous properties of colloidal silver. Read and enjoy!
Colloidal silver vs. antibiotics
Silver was used 1,200 years ago by Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, sailors, and then by the pioneers who populated our country. They used it for various illnesses and to keep their foods and liquids from spoiling. Prior to 1938, before antibiotics, colloidal silver was used by doctors as their main substance to fight bacteria in a more natural way than through the antibiotics they use today. Antibiotics can harm our kidneys and liver functions. Colloidal silver promotes healing.
- Defeat Cancer by A. Gore Gregory
Olive leaf extract, colloidal silver, acidulous, royal jelly, and mushroom extracts are examples of products that may be a better first choice than antibiotics. When our bodies are toxic the immune system becomes the garbage collection system. Saunas and hot baths help to eliminate toxins that overwhelm the body’s immune system. This is a natural way to boost your immune system by freeing it up to do what it does best. The bottom line is this – you need to stay away from antibiotics.
- More Natural Cures Revealed: Previously Censored Brand Name Products That Cure Disease by Kevin Trudeau
I’m not suggesting that colloidal silver should be avoided altogether. I think it is ideal for some purposes and might be of use in an emergency or for last-ditch treatment of a bacteria that has grown resistant to antibiotics. However the use of this medication must be approached very cautiously. Because colloidal silver loses its potency over time, the best bet is also a kit that permits mixing the solution and using it immediately. You should then discard any excess you cannot use. Whenever you use it, keep in mind the fact that the silver will be accumulating in your body.
- Attaining Medical Self Sufficiency by Duncan Long
Colloidal silver is a natural broad-spectrum antiseptic that fights infection, subdues inflammation, and promotes healing. It is a clear golden liquid composed of 99.9 percent pure silver particles approximately 0.001 to 0.01 micron (1/1 to 1/100,000 millimeter) in diameter that are suspended in pure water. It can be taken by mouth, administered intravenously, or applied topically. Colloidal silver is available in health food stores.
- Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 4th Edition: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements by Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
Click here for the full report
Experts Pushing for Less Cancer Screenings
November 12, 2009
Natural News.com
By S. L. Baker
(NaturalNews) According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, affecting over 200,000 women in the U.S. each year and killing more than 40,000. For American men, cancer of the prostate is the type of malignancy that strikes with the greatest frequency.
The ACS says an estimated 192,280 men will be diagnosed with the disease in 2009 and around 27,360 men will die from it. Based on the assumption that finding breast and prostate cancers in the earliest stages will make them easier to cure and slash mortality rates, for over twenty years the U.S. medical establishment has pushed for mass screenings for these common cancers.
So after two decades, all this testing must have resulted in a huge decline in deaths from these diseases, right?
Wrong.
In an opinion piece published in the October 21st issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), experts from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the University of Texas (UT) Health Science Center explain that overall breast and prostate cancer rates are higher and far more men and women are being treated. However, the incidence of aggressive or late stage cancers has not been significantly reduced at all. Bottom line: the huge and highly hyped effort to screen the adult population for breast and prostate cancers has not brought about the anticipated decrease in deaths.
“Screening does provide some benefit, but the problem is that the benefit is not nearly as much as we hoped and comes at the cost of over diagnosis and over treatment,” said one of the paper’s authors, Laura Esserman, MD, MBA, in a statement to the media. Dr. Esserman is a professor of surgery and radiology, director of the UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center, and co-leader of the breast oncology program at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.
“We need to focus on developing new tools to identify men and women at risk for the most aggressive cancers, to identify at the time of diagnosis those who have indolent or ‘idle’ tumors that are not life-threatening. If we can identify groups of patients that don’t need much treatment, or don’t need to be screened, wouldn’t that be great?” she stated. “Screening is by no means perfect. We should want to make it better. For both breast and prostate cancer we need to invest in changing our focus from the cancers that won’t kill people to the ones that do.”
The JAMA article points out that screening costs an enormous amount of money — more than $20 billion is spent annually in the U.S. to check people for prostate and breast cancer. And the sheer number of people convinced to have these tests has resulted in far more early cancers being detected than in the past. For example, because of regular prostate screening antigen (PSA) testing, now considered “necessary” for most middle-aged men, the number of American men diagnosed with prostate cancer has almost doubled since l980. The number of woman being diagnosed with breast cancer has nearly doubled over that time as well.
So why do the authors of the JAMA article write “the contribution from screening is uncertain”? Because while screening increases the detection of slow growing tumors, the JAMA authors point out, it too often misses the most aggressive cancers which grow so fast that they are not detected early enough to be cured in many cases. And the cancer experts also point out that many patients are undergoing treatment from cancers that actually pose minimal risk. That’s right: despite all the fear and scary statistics loudly publicized about these diseases, having breast or prostate cancer doesn’t necessarily mean you have a dangerous disease.
“Without the ability to distinguish cancers that pose minimal risk from those posing substantial risk and with highly sensitive screening tests, there is an increased risk that the population will be over-treated,” the authors of the JAMA article conclude.
“The basic assumption that screening programs that find and treat early stage disease will then prevent late-stage disease, or prevent cancer from spreading, may not always be correct. If a tumor is aggressive, finding it early may not prevent death,” one of the authors, Ian Thompson, MD, said in a statement to the media. Dr. Thompson is professor and chairman of the Department of Urology at the Cancer Therapy and Research Center at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio and has authored about 400 scientific articles addressing prevention, early detection, and treatment for prostate, kidney, and bladder cancers.
The JAMA authors are not condemning all cancer screening but getting the word out that it is “most successful when pre-malignant lesions can be detected and eliminated” such as during colonoscopies. And they are calling for these specific recommendations for early detection and prevention:
• The development of tests that distinguish between cancers that are lethal and those that are low-risk.
• A reduction in treatment for low-risk disease. “Diagnosing cancers that don’t kill the patient has led to treatment that may do more harm than good,” they stated.
• Developing tools for doctors and patients to help them make informed decisions about prevention, screening, biopsy and treatment. This includes providing individualized treatments tailored to a person’s specific tumor.
• Working to identify those who are at the highest risk for cancer and using proven prevention interventions to keep them from developing a malignancy in the first place.
Click here for the full report
How I Stay Warm During the Cold Season…
November 10, 2009 by KT
Filed under Kevin's Blog
If you’re wearing a hat and gloves 24/7, there are things you can do to keep warm besides blasting the heater or wearing wool from head to toe.
How to Stay Warm During the Cold Season
Poor circulation may be one reason why hands and feet get cold, however, it could also be caused by thyroid activity level, kidney and heart disease, anemia, hypertension, high cholesterol, smoking, and poor diet. See your doctor to be sure you do not have a medical condition. Then, try some of these ways to increase your circulation and to stay warm:
- Eat warming foods such as miso soup, red meat, whole grains, root vegetables, cayenne pepper and ginger; not ice cream or soft drinks.
- Indulge in heavier foods. Use more oils when sautéing, or dribble some ghee onto your rice or vegetables. Eat cooked rather than raw vegetables and fruit.
- Drink hot teas containing spices such as cinnamon, ginger, pepper and cardamom.
- Take hot baths, which are soothing and warm the body through and through.
- Try acupuncture, which increases circulation by stimulating nerves that relay information to the brain.
- Practice your favorite stress-reduction technique – meditation, yoga, therapy, laughter, and sex….
- Keep moving; your body generates heat as a byproduct when it moves. Get your heart rate up with brisk walks, bicycling or other forms of exercise.
- Use a rebounder or inversion machine to get the blood moving throughout your body. Much of your body heat is circulated via the blood stream, so wiggle those toes and fingers.
- Open blinds on south-facing windows during the day to let in the sun. Bask in it.
- Remember the old water bottle? Pour some boiling water into it, wrap it, and sleep with it at night to stay cozy. For extra warmth, try placing the bottle under your armpits or on the inside of your upper thighs. Your arteries are close to the surface of your skin there, and your blood can gain a little extra heat to circulate.
- Surprise, surprise – drink plenty of water to keep your machine “well-oiled.” It’s important to keep hydrated, and to use good moisturizing skin products during the cold season as well as the heat of summer.
- Mix raw, organic honey with some soothing cardamom pods into a cup of hot, boiled milk; light some lovely, natural scented candles; relax and enjoy the warmth.
- Flannel sheets and a thick down comforter make night time extra warm and inviting to snuggle into on even the coldest of nights!
If your house is just too cold, there are new space heating technologies such as convection heat and radiant heat that are worth looking into. A portable radiator-type oil heater uses a lot of power, but not nearly as much as a furnace. Tightening up the house by stopping air leaks, having insulated interior coverings on all windows, putting plastic up on the outside of windows, and putting a “jacket” on the hot water heater, all help. Close the heater vents and shut the doors to unused rooms in your home. Warning: electrical emissions from electric blankets and similar warming devices may be hazardous to your health.
Have a great week,
KT
