Bronchitis & Conjunctivitis Sufferers Can Skip Antibiotics

A study found that bronchitis sufferers who are otherwise healthy do not get better any faster by taking antibiotics. "Antibiotics for the vast majority of people don't seem to make much difference," said Dr. Paul Little, author of the five-year study of patients in England. Moreover, many bronchitis cases are caused by viruses, which antibiotics do not fight.

Little said that otherwise healthy patients can skip the drugs to treat the chest infections, even though they will feel crummy for a couple of weeks. But patients with conditions such as chronic lung and heart disease that can cause bronchitis to develop into pneumonia should see their doctors, he said.

In the study, coughing lasted an average of 11 days after patients saw their doctors, whether they got antibiotics or not. Other symptoms, such as phlegm and shortness of breath, were reduced by less than a day for people treated with amoxicillin or erythromycin.

The study, based on 640 patients ages 3 and older, was published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association. The study excluded patients with conditions that could complicate their bronchitis, such as asthma or heart and lung disease.

Courtesy of AP 6/22/2005

One in eight children develop the eye condition conjunctivitis each year and in many cases family doctors use the antibiotic chloramphenicol to treat it.

But an Oxford University study in the Lancet said the cure rate was nearly the same if the drops were used or not.

Researchers urged parents to wash children's eyes with warm water rather than use the drops.

The Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the UK drugs regulator, announced earlier this month the eye drops would become the first antibiotic to be made available without prescription.

Steve - Like this is a surprise? We have been saying for years that antibiotics do not treat viral infections. Finally, doctors are starting to take notice and reducing the amount of antibiotics they prescribe.

2005 MyPyramid: What the USDA Won’t Tell You

by Bonnie C. Minsky, MA, MPH, LDN, CNS

With all the bravado and excitement concocted since the release of MyPyramid 2005, there is a seedy underbelly aching to be exploited. Specifically, I am talking about a $500 billion dollar food industry influencing a wing of government that has no business overseeing our nation’s nutrition policy, because their loyalties are not to the American public.

We should have known it was doomed from the start. From the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee handpicked by special interests to MyPyramid.gov incapacitated for the first 24 hours it was online, we should have known.

Other than a few positive changes (consuming more fruits and vegetables and promoting more exercise), MyPyramid reeks badly.

This is what we've been waiting thirteen years for? This is what a marketing firm hired by the USDA for $2.4 million of our tax dollars came up with?

Last food pyramid was a failure
Actually, this is one thing the USDA did tell you. Dr. Eric Hentges, Director of the Center for Nutrition and Food Policy, said as much. As far back as 2001, The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and The National Institutes of Health (NIH) admitted at a conference for health professionals that the Food Guide Pyramid was a total failure. 80% of Americans recognized the symbol, but have become sicker and heavier than at any other time in recorded history since it was updated in 1992.

My Pyramid is not based upon sound science

In 2004, the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons pontificated that, “the 2005 changes in the Dietary Guidelines and Food Guide Pyramid will add complexity but will not correct the errors.”

Harvard School of Public Health and the top genetic researchers in America agree that our genes and dietary needs have changed very little (about 0.005 percent) since the beginning of the agricultural revolution over 10,000 years ago. At that time, a human’s system, taste buds, and food supply, were in harmony. Our ancestor’s diet consisted mostly of game meats, fish, shellfish, small mammals, tubers and sprouted vegetables, fruits, and nuts. They consumed very little grain except wild emmer wheat and barley when they couldn’t get enough other foods. They consumed no dairy products. They consumed no concentrated or refined sugars. No mention of genetic variation as it relates to dietary needs was ever considered in the pyramid or in the dietary guidelines.

As anticipated, grain and milk make up the largest sections of MyPyramid. 80% of the pyramid is carbohydrates and milk products. Wheat (the grain most prominent on MyPyramid.gov) is the number two allergen in the United States. In excess, whole wheat blocks the absorption of essential minerals. There is a strong correlation between gluten intolerance (the grain that holds grains together) and diabetes, osteoporosis, thyroid malfunction, and autoimmune disease. The Glycemic load (how fast carbohydrates are metabolized as sugar into the bloodstream) shows that whole grains are not much better than refined carbohydrates and are much worse than fruit and vegetable carbohydrates.

MyPyramid makes no mention of added sugars, and the 2005 Dietary Guidelines simply say’s, “choose your carbohydrates wisely.” A study done by Dr. Shanthy Bowman, a nutritionist at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, showed that people who got more than 18% of their calories from added sugars had “the least adequately nutritious diets,” than two other groups with 10-18% or less than 10%. Considering millions of Americans are in the more than 18% group, and the study came from one of its own, would one not expect there to be a stronger phrase than “choose carbohydrates wisely?” We’ve actually regressed with regard to the sugar issue. In 1980, it was “avoid too much sugar.” In 2000, it was “choose beverages and foods to moderate your intake of sugar.” In 2005, it is “choose your carbohydrates wisely.”

Now that the amount of dairy servings has been increased to three daily from 2-3 in the last food pyramid, let’s look at the sound science. Two-thirds of the world is lactose intolerant (the sugar in milk and dairy products). Many others are allergic to casein (milk protein). Milk is the number one allergen in the United States. A 2005 Pediatrics review study found that milk is not essential for healthy bone growth in young children if they get calcium from other sources and exercise adequately. Countries, such as Finland, consuming the most cows’ milk have a high rate of the “calcification” form of heart disease and the most osteoporosis in the hip areas. Countries consuming virtually no cow’s milk products, such as Japan, have lower levels of osteoporosis than the US and the lowest rates of heart disease and cancer in the world.

Public relations firm Porter Novelli created the MyPyramid symbol. Of course you would want to hire them again when 80% of the American public recognized the last symbol. But the problem is, why were they involved in the science, as shown by their inclusion as a member of the March 2004 Naturally Nutrient Rich Symposium (see below)?

USDA hired a PR/Marketing firm

USDA paid marketing/pr firm Porter Novelli, as it did back in 1992, to create the new pyramid symbol for $2.4 million and has received $59 million in federal grants since 1997. The problem is that Porter Novelli also represents food conglomerates such as Campbell Soup Company, The Dole Food Co., Proctor & Gamble, and McDonald’s.

MyPyramid symbol looked different as little as one year ago

Based upon a graphic published in the March/April 2005 issue of Nutrition Today, as far back as 2003, Porter Novelli, the public relations and marketing firm hired by the USDA, knew exactly what the new MyPyramid symbol was going to look like. They just were not sure which food categories would dominate.

The March 2004 Naturally Nutrient Rich Symposium held in Washington D.C., which involved Dan Snyder, a Porter Novelli partner, exhibited the graphic that is now the 2005 MyPyramid symbol. What is fascinating is that based on the nutritional experts’ advice at the time, the milk category was much smaller and less prominent than it is now. As the graphic showed, the milk, yogurt, and cheese group was smaller than the meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, and nuts group, was the same size as the fats and oils group, and was dwarfed by the vegetable, fruit, and bread/cereal/rice/pasta group.

At this symposium, according to Nutrition Today, Snyder said that he did not want to send conflicting messages to consumers. As the current MyPyramid symbol shows now, "milk" is the second most prominent group behind "whole grains." How did dietary recommendations change so much in one year? Is that not a conflicting message?

Lobbyists and special interest groups play a huge role in nutrition policy

Many critics have used the phrase “it’s like putting the fox in charge of the hen house,” when referring to the USDA’s role in nutrition policy. Intense lobbying from the $500 billion food industry has already questioned the validity of the new food pyramid and dietary guidelines. Seven of the thirteen Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee members have received food industry funding to support their research or have been paid by food companies as consultants. The USDA bases its nutrition policy on their suggestions.

The Wheat Foods Council nominated Janet King Advisory Committee Chair. Connie Weaver, another committee member, conducted paid research for The National Dairy Council. Is it a surprise that wheat and dairy are most prominent in MyPyramid? General Foods is putting the MyPyramid symbol on 100 million of their Big G brand cereal boxes. The Dairy Council has put on the full court-press with their “3-a-Day Campaign.” It is believed that the problems associated with the intake of refined sugars were downplayed due to the intense pressure from the sugar industry.

The USDA should be ashamed of themselves. Even after they were found guilty in U.S. District Court in 2000 for not disclosing the Committee’s special interest affiliations in the 2000 Revised Dietary Guidelines, they still tried to hide the 2005 Committee’s special interests.

USDA itself is a conflict of interest

Two years ago, lawmakers lobbied to move nutrition policy from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of Health and Human Services, but to no avail. The USDA gives $15 billion in farming subsidies each year, but does not reflect what the USDA wants Americans to eat to stay healthy. Instead, foreign trade and farm politics dominate the delineation of subsidies. Fruit and vegetable farmers, which combined make-up the largest portion of MyPyramid, receive no subsidies. While corn, soybeans, cotton, rice, wheat, dairy, and sugar receive most of the subsidies.

USDA funds “check off programs,” which are marketing initiatives that encourage consumers to eat more of specific foods and commodities. “Got Milk” and “Beef: it’s what’s for dinner,” are prime examples of check off programs. In 2002, dairy received check off funding totaling $254 million, fluid milk $100 million, beef $86 million, and pork $62 million. Dairy also receives $2 billion annually because of the Milk Income Loss Contract. Is this a conflict of interest?

USDA has not taken into account the citizens who need it most
The My Pyramid symbol is more ambiguous than the last version. One can derive nothing from the symbol itself. There are no icons or text listing what the colored sections mean. You must go to mypyramid.gov to figure out what the symbol means. This alienates many lower income and elderly citizens who do not have a computer, are computer illiterate, or cannot afford Internet access. When asked how a citizen can get the information other than the web, our Agricultural Secretary Mike Johanns said one would need to see a health professional or order it from the government bookstore. A licensed health professional’s rate is minimum $60/hour, and the cost to order printed copies from the bookstore, depending on detail, ranges anywhere from $12-$66.

In a poll done by Opinion Dynamics one week after MyPyramid’s release, only 29% of minorities polled had seen the new symbol as opposed to 49% with household incomes of $75,000 per year or more.

What they call individualization is a mirage
MyPyramid offer’s 12 individualized pyramids based upon only three criteria: age, sex, and physical activity. Surprisingly, all 12 pyramids recommend 3 servings of milk products daily. Is this individualized?

USDA has set unattainable Goals

According to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines and MyPyramid, we should all exercise a minimum of 30 minutes daily. How can we follow this advice when our Agricultural Secretary Mike Johanns cannot? He said at the MyPyramid press conference that he only exercises 20 minutes five days weekly!

In an Opinion Dynamics poll taken one week after MyPyramid’s release, 46% believe that it is equally useful as the old symbol, which was a failure!

Serious omissions in MyPyramid

There is no safe level of trans fats. The Pyramid and Dietary Guidelines do not state that people should avoid trans fats. My Pyramid and the Dietary Guidelines hardly mention olive oil and fish, two of the healthiest menu options and recognized by other branches of our government as heart-healthy. There is a poverty of protein. Why does MyPyramid recommend that only about 15% of the diet come from protein when complete amino acids are required for the formation, maintenance, and repair of all bodily tissue and organ systems? It is a biochemical fact that no carbohydrate is essential for human nutrition. Yet, 55-60% of the USDA’s recommendations are carbohydrates (grains, fruits, and vegetables).

The protein category is called “Meat and Beans.” Beans are mostly carbohydrates and do not contain complete proteins. Why was “Meat,” and not meat, poultry, fish, and eggs specifically mentioned.

MyPyramid brilliantly avoids any “eat less” messages. Organizations like the American Pediatrics Association and some of the most prestigious journals in the world can say, “Don’t drink sodas. Don’t drink juice with added sugar.” But our government, cannot?

Conclusion
We, as consumers, should not be surprised, but angry. This was a golden opportunity to seize the moment at a time where our country is fatter and sicker than it has ever been. What have we done? We have let special interests run the show and I predict we may be worse off because of it. I am sick and tired of the USDA and special interests coming into our kitchens and children’s classrooms telling us what to eat.

It is time for the USDA to remove their influence over the food pyramid and dietary guidelines and to transfer the power of nutrition policy to an independent agency. Worldwide scientific and nutrition research should also be compiled and coordinated with the World Health Organization and other international health agencies, especially from countries that boast the greatest longevity and optimum health.

The Director of the Center for Food and Nutrition Policy, Eric Hentges, said that a food chart could not be done in one icon. That's the reason for the twelve pyramids in MyPyramid. I disagree. I can prove that it can be done and done well.

My Circle of Health Food Chart, scaled to an average dinner plate, exhibits exactly what is required to maintain normal weight, and most importantly, optimal health. In addition, the Circle of Health plan encompasses a simple how-to, in which every version of the Dietary Guidelines and Food Pyramid has failed to accomplish.

I gave the USDA the Circle of Health and copious amounts of data when they requested input from health professionals back in 2003. I figured it was a ceremonial plea to alert the public it was seeking their input, but gave it a try anyway. They did not take an ounce of my advice, which I also expected. I am not a special interest. I am only a twenty-year health professional, working in the trenches with thousands of Americans, and see every day how our government’s nutrition policy is not working for us, but against us.

Bonnie Minsky, LDN, MPH, MA, CNS is President and Wellness Director of Nutritional Concepts, Inc., established in 1985. Bonnie counsels individuals, corporations, schools, and has performed hundreds of speaking engagements. Minsky has authored two books, Our Children’s Health and Nutrition in a Nutshell. Bonnie’s website, nutritionalconcepts.com, is widely respected as a credible and cutting edge source for nutrition and public health information.

© Copyright 2005

USDA Won't Enforce Rules against Junk Food Sales in Schools

The junk food industry won a major victory yesterday, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture rejected a petition that it enforce its own competitive foods rule, which prohibits public schools from selling "foods of minimal nutritional value" during mealtimes in school cafeterias. The rule was designed to promote the health of school children, but enforcement today is lax to non-existent. The petition simply requested that the USDA enforce the rule as written.

A Wall Street Journal poll in February, 2005, found that 83% of American adults believe "public schools need to do a better job of limiting children's access to unhealthy foods like snack foods, sugary soft drinks and fast food."

In March, the USDA admitted in a report that it does not know whether schools are complying with prohibitions against the sale of foods of minimal nutritional value during school mealtimes. The report stated, "it is unclear to what extent federal and state regulations [against the sale of foods of minimum nutritional value] are enforced at the local level".

Foods of minimal nutritional value are defined as soda pop, water ices, chewing gum, and certain types of candies, such as hard candies, jellied candies, licorice and marshmallows.

Bonnie & Steve - What could we add to this that is not said already?

Fish may protect against colorectal cancer

People who regularly eat fish are less likely to develop colorectal cancer, reveals new data out today from the biggest ever investigation into diet's impact on cancer incidence.

The new study, based on data from around half a million participants in the EPIC trial, also confirmed that red meat consumption significantly raises the risk of this cancer, while fibre protects against it.

The findings are reported in today’s issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (vol 97, no 12).

In contrast, eating 100 grams of fish daily reduces the disease risk by half. People eating less than 14g of fish a day were 40 per cent more likely to develop the cancer than those eating more than 50g per day, the researchers report.

Vitamin D may cut prostate cancer risk, suggests sunlight study

High sun exposure halved the risk of prostate cancer in men participating in a US trial, said researchers today, likely because of their body’s higher vitamin D stores.

If future studies continue to show that sunlight lowers prostate cancer risk, men may be advised to increase their vitamin D intake from diet and supplements as a safer option to sunbathing, they say.

Writing in today’s issue of Cancer Research, researchers noted that in men with certain gene variants, high sun exposure reduced prostate cancer risk by as much as 65 per cent.

Previous research has shown that the prostate uses vitamin D to promote the normal growth of prostate cells and to inhibit the invasiveness and spread of prostate cancer cells to other parts of the body.

"The genes involved are those that determine the type of vitamin D receptors a person has," said co-author Gary Schwartz of Wake Forest University. "These receptors, which function with vitamin D like a lock and key, vary in their ability to bind vitamin D and thus to influence cell behaviour."

The trial compared 450 non-Hispanic white patients in the San Francisco Bay area who had advanced prostate cancer with a matched control group of 455 men who did not have prostate cancer.

Courtesy of nutraingredients.com

Non-Dieters Weigh the Same, but They're Happier

In a paper published this month in The Journal of the American Dietetic Association, researchers found that obese women who used a nutrition and behavior approach that ignored weight and body mass index, or B.M.I., a common measure of weight in relation to body size, were psychologically healthier at the end of a two-year trial period than those on conventional weight-loss diets.

Forty-one percent of dieters dropped out of the program; only 8 percent of nondieters quit. Nondieters lost no weight during the trial. Dieters initially lost weight, and then gained it back, showing no weight loss after two years. Nondieters felt significantly better about their bodies and showed highly significant decreases in depression, as measured by a widely used test.

"There is an extraordinary amount of scientific research that documents that dieting is not an effective health or weight-loss strategy," said Dr. Linda Bacon, the lead author. But, she said, "there is abundant research to show that when people make lifestyle changes, they improve health."

Courtesy of NY Times 6/14/05

Bonnie - Amen. It should not be about dieting. Discovering what foods are right for you and making those changes should be considered a lifestyle change. That is why I have never liked to use a scale or B.M.I. I have found in most cases for it to be counter-productive. When an individual is eating the right foods for their genetics and make the effort to change their lifestyle, weight comes off naturally and healthfully.

Calcium, vitamin D combat premenstrual ills-study

A diet high in calcium and vitamin D could reduce the risk of getting premenstrual syndrome, according to a report published on Monday.

Previous studies have shown calcium supplements helped treat the problem, but "this is the first, to our knowledge, to suggest that calcium and vitamin D may help prevent the initial development of PMS," said the report.

The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine did not say why the combination provided a protective effect.

Bonnie - the combination is effective because calcium and vitamin D are not just essential for bone health. The two nutrients are essential for almost every organ system, especially the endocrine and hormone systems, which affect menstruation.

Children can learn to like healthful foods with some encouragement from their families

Excerpts taken from article by Sally Squires, Special to The L.A. Times

Children can indeed learn to eat smart and move more. And they do so, a new study finds, if their parents give them access to healthy food, encourage regular physical activity and set a good example for these habits themselves.

The Dietary Intervention Study in Children focused on 663 children ages 8 to 10, for which fatty snacks, desserts and pizza accounted for about a third of the daily calories, as they do for most children today.

All participants were encouraged to daily get 60 minutes of physical activity. Half the children were then randomly assigned to a control group that received standard educational material on heart-healthy eating. The other half — the intervention group — enrolled in a yearlong, intensive program that included group meetings, individual sessions with registered dietitians, behavioral training and advice about boosting daily physical activity. These youngsters and their families received a guide that categorized food into three groups:

• "Go" foods that are nutrient rich and have little saturated fat, trans fat or cholesterol, such as fruits and vegetables without sauces or butter; whole grains; lean meat and poultry without the skin; egg whites; beans and nonfat or 1% dairy products; water and diet soda.

• "Slow" foods that are higher in fat and cholesterol, including Canadian bacon, lean ground beef, low-fat salad dressings and mayonnaise, 2% milk and 100% fruit juice, sports drinks and dried fruit.

• "Whoa" foods that should be eaten "once in a while" because they are calorie-dense or high in unhealthy fat. Examples include French fries, fruit in heavy syrup, fatty cuts of meat, chicken with the skin, whole eggs, cookies, cake, buttered popcorn, whole milk and regular soda.

Not only did the lower-calorie, low-fat regimen have no adverse effects on growth or development, but the study found that children learned healthy habits that lasted. Three years after the study began, kids in the intervention group consumed 67% of their calories from heart-healthy "go" foods, compared with 57% for the control group.

The results show that "families can learn to enjoy healthy foods and to be selective about their food choices" if they have "the right tools to help them make positive lifestyle changes," said Elizabeth G. Nabel, director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which funded the study.

To provide those tools, the National Institutes of Health last week launched the We Can! program to help reduce childhood obesity, increase physical activity and cut sedentary behavior.

Here are some suggestions:

• Help kids reach for "go" foods.

• Get youngsters moving. Children are more likely to be active — and stay active — if you do physical activities with them.

• Fists are for food. Serving sizes are usually too large for most kids, so use your child's fist as a portion size for food.

• Quench thirst with water.

• Serve dessert, but make it fruit. The study found that even children who otherwise improved their eating habits fell short on fruit.

• Make fruit and vegetables part of each meal. Linda Van Horn, professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University and lead author of the study, says, "Hungry kids will eat whatever is there, even the healthy stuff."

The study appears in the journal Pediatrics. www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/wecan/index.htm.

Steve - We say similar things to parents who are deathly afraid of changing their children's eating habits. It takes time and a lot of hard work, but we have seen many, many success stories! You can do it!

Higher protein better for elderly bone mass

Elderly women may need more protein than currently recommended to protect their bones from risk of fracture, suggests a new study.

The effect of protein intake on bone density is still uncertain but research increasingly suggests that it may be more important than previously thought.

Researchers from the University of Western Australia in Perth and other Australian institutions used data from a cross-sectional and longitudinal study of a population-based sample of 1077 women aged around 75 years old.

The results show a positive correlation between protein intake and qualitative ultrasound of the heel, as well as hip bone mineral density, even after adjusting for age, body mass index, and other nutrients, write the researchers in this month's issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (vol 81, no 6, pp1423-1428).

For those women with the lowest intake, (less than 66g of protein per day), ultrasound of the heel was 1.3 per cent higher than women with the highest intake (more than 87g protein per day) and hip BMD was 2.6 per cent more.

Group Calls on FDA to Crack Down on Dannon, General Mills, and Maker of Lactaid

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) petitioned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today, requesting it put an end to false and misleading claims by dairy product manufacturers that contend milk consumption promotes weight and fat loss.

PCRM is calling on the FDA to declare all dairy products labeled with these claims as “misbranded,” to institute a product recall, and to require the manufacturers to publish corrective ads and food labels.

“The vast majority of scientific studies show that milk either causes weight gain or else has no effect at all on weight or body fat,” says Amy Joy Lanou, Ph.D., senior nutrition scientist of PCRM. “Nonfat milk is 55 percent sugar, while whole milk is nearly 50 percent fat, as a percentage of calories. Neither one is a formula for weight loss.”

New research by the Harvard Medical School backs up PCRM. The study, published in the June issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, analyzed milk intake data from more than 12,000 children from 1996-1999, and concluded that the more milk children drank, the more weight they gained. Children consuming three servings a day of milk—including low-fat milk—were 35 percent more likely to become overweight than those consuming even one or two servings daily.

The dairy industry’s weight-loss campaign is based solely on two small, poorly controlled studies conducted by Michael Zemel, Ph.D., a professor of nutrition at the University of Tennessee whose funding comes from dairy industry sources.

Since 1998, Zemel has accepted $1.68 million in research grants from the National Dairy Council (NDC), a promotional arm of the American dairy industry, and $275,000 from General Mills. Among the industry manufacturers using Zemel’s research are international food giants Dannon Company, Inc.; General Mills, Inc., the nation’s second largest cereal maker and the manufacturer of Yoplait brand yogurt; and McNeil Nutritionals, LLC, the maker of Lactaid.

Omega-3 offers hope for new anti-breast cancer drugs

Omega-3, the fatty acid found in oily fish, could be combined with a commonly used anesthetic to develop drugs to treat breast cancer, according to research published today in the journal Breast Cancer Research. Compounds of Omega-3 fatty acids and propofol reduce the ability of breast cancer cells to develop into malignant tumours, inhibiting cancer cell migration by 50% and significantly reducing their metastatic activity. These new compounds could be developed into a new family of anti-cancer drugs.

Dr Rafat Siddiqui, from the Methodist Research Institute and Indiana University in Indianapolis, and his colleagues studied the effect of two Omega-3 fatty acids, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), combined with propofol on a breast cancer cell line in vitro. Omega-3 fatty acids such as DHA and EPA have a minimal effect on cancer cells when applied alone. Propofol is a potent anti-oxidant known to inhibit cancer cell migration by only 5-10%.

The results of the study show that propofol and DHA or EPA have a much more significant effect on cancer cells when used in combination, as conjugates, than when used alone. The conjugates inhibit cancer cell adhesion by 15% and 30% respectively, reduce cell migration by 50% and increase apoptosis by 40%.

"These results suggest that the novel propofol-DHA and propofol-EPA conjugates reported here may be useful for the treatment of breast cancer" conclude Siddiqui and colleagues.

Cauliflower a weapon against breast cancer

Women who eat cauliflower regularly could provide the body with powerful tools to help fight breast cancer, as a new Italian study reveals the chemopreventive compounds of this popular vegetable.

Cauliflower is a member of the Brassicaceae mustard/cabbage family that includes brussels sprouts and broccoli, and a raft of studies have already suggested these ubiquitous winter vegetables could be an important source of health benefiting compounds.

“Cell growth inhibition was accompanied by significant cell death at the higher juice concentrations,” they report in the June issue of The Journal of Nutrition.

The scientists stressed that they found all cauliflower varieties tested suppressed cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner.

Raisins fight oral bacteria

Compounds found in raisins appear to fight bacteria in the mouth that cause cavities and gum disease.

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago said yesterday that one of five raisin compounds tested, oleanolic acid, was particularly effective in killing bacteria.

The findings counter the public perception that raisins promote cavities.

"Raisins are perceived as sweet and sticky, and any food that contains sugar and is sticky is assumed to cause cavities," said lead author of the study Christine Wu, professor and associate dean for research at UIC.

"But our study suggests the contrary. Phytochemicals in raisins may benefit oral health by fighting bacteria that cause cavities and gum disease."

The data, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology running in Atlanta this week, come as food manufacturers and oral care companies show increasing interest in natural compounds that can fight gum and tooth disease.

Dental floss and other products containing cranberry extracts have recently been launched in the US on the back of research showing that the fruit contains compounds that prevent adhesion of the bacteria Streptococcus mutans, an agent for dental caries, to teeth.

The new study shows that a raisin compound may have the same action.

Courtesy of nutraingredients.com

Senator Releases Report Exposing FDA & Drug Companies

Conspiracy of Silence: How the FDA Allows Drug Companies to Abuse the Accelerated Approval Process

Download this document if you have time to read twenty-five compelling pages. Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) has put together a very concise report showing how medications are rapidly approved without adequate safety data. Markey's report also lists many of the medications with safety data still pending, even though they are being marketed to consumers (some as far back as 1996).

http://www.house.gov/markey/Issues/iss_health_rep050601.pdf

Steve

Milk may cause weight gain in kids

A survey of more than 12,000 children aged 9 to 14 showed that those who drank more milk weighed more than those who drank less.

"Children who drank the most milk gained more weight, but the added calories appeared responsible," the team at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard University in Boston wrote in their report, published in the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

"The take-home message is that children should not be drinking milk as a means of losing weight or trying to control weight," Berkey said.

Dr. Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health, who worked on the study, said he was concerned about the heavy advertising of milk.

"The basic beverage should be water," Willett added. "We know that in many parts of the world, kids don't drink any milk at all and they end up with healthy bones."

In March a study in the journal Pediatrics showed that exercise was at least as important for building strong bones in children as eating calcium-rich foods was.

Children who drank more than three servings a day were 25 percent more likely to become overweight than those who drank two to three servings a day.

Bonnie - The USDA's 2005 MyPyramid now recommends 3 dairy servings daily for everybody!

Apples = Antioxidants!

A Canadian government study that measured the levels of antioxidants in eight varieties of apples found that Red Delicious contain the highest concentrations of the health enhancing chemicals.

The skin of Red Delicious apples — the most common variety grown in the United States — contains over six times more antioxidant activity than the flesh.

The study, to be published in the June 29 issue of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, compared apple varieties popular in Canada, some of which are available only regionally in the United States.

Red Delicious, which account for 27 percent of U.S. apple production, has more than six times the antioxidants as the bottom-ranked Empire variety. Northern Spy was No. 2, followed by Cortland, Ida Red, Golden Delicious, McIntosh and Mutsu.

And in every variety tested, the skins of the apples contained substantially higher levels of antioxidants than the flesh.

Though apples have significantly lower concentrations of antioxidants than other fruits, especially many berries, researchers say year-round availability and greater popularity might make them a better source for many people.

Courtesy of AP 6/6/2005

Fuel born from carbohydrates could be clean and easy.

The diesel fuel in your car could one day come from plants rather than oil wells, according to chemists who have converted plant chemicals into useful hydrocarbons.

Biomass fuels are often touted as a green alternative to oil. Although the carbon dioxide they produce when burnt is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, in theory it should be sucked up by the following year's crop as it grows.

The easiest way to extract energy from plants is simply to burn them, and convert the heat to electricity. Although this is good for stationary power plants, it isn't ideal for cars. Electric cars have to be recharged frequently, which may make them unsuitable for long journeys.

A better idea is to convert plant material into fuel that vehicles can use directly. This has been done with the fatty acids in vegetable oils, which make up a small part of plant material. But now researchers have found a way to create fuel from the carbohydrates that make up about 75% of a plant's dried weight.

The result is a much more efficient use of plant material, report James Dumesic, a chemist from University of Wisconsin, Madison, and his colleagues in Science.

The plant-derived hydrocarbons are just like conventional diesel, notes Jens Rostrup-Nielsen of Haldor Topsoe, a chemical technology company based in Lyngby, Denmark, so they can be distributed through existing infrastructure. This makes the fuel easier to use than hydrogen, for example, which requires a different kind of pumping station and storage system.

If all goes according to plan, Dumesic estimates one could grow enough plants in the United States to power a significant percentage of the country's vehicles.

Chain of fuels

Carbohydrates have proven an expensive source of fuel in the past. Glucose, for example, can be fermented into ethanol and then added to gasoline. But this process is very inefficient, largely because of the energy it takes to boil ethanol away from water at the end of the fermentation.

Dumesic's team reasoned that this energy-intensive process could be avoided if plant carbohydrates were converted directly to the long-chain hydrocarbons that make up diesel fuel. Because oil and water do not mix, these hydrocarbons float to the top of the reaction mixture, where they are easily siphoned off.

The chemists first used a platinum catalyst to make carbohydrates containing five or six carbon atoms react with hydrogen gas: plant material provides both the carbs and the gas².

A magnesium-based catalyst then knits these molecules together to create the longer carbon chains required for diesel fuel. Adding more pressurized hydrogen, and removing any remaining oxygen atoms with a platinum catalyst, delivers the finished fuel.

If this can be streamlined into a simpler process, it would be able to compete commercially with ethanol production, says Dumesic.

The next challenge is to work out how to extract the all-important carbohydrates from plant matter. The chemists used a pure carbohydrate supply in their tests, and Dumesic says that plants may have to undergo extensive processing to remove unwanted chemicals.

"We don't know how dirty a biomass stream we can tolerate," he says. "That's where the uncertainty lies."

Courtesy of Nature 6/2/2005

Steve - This is what we can do with the surplus of excess grain carbs!

Vitamin B12 supplements correct deficiencies as well as injections

Taking supplements of vitamin B12 appear to correct deficiencies of the vitamin just as efficiently as B12 injections but the doses needed would far exceed the RDA of this vitamin.

Elderly people often develop vitamin B12 deficiencies as the effects of ageing impact the body’s ability to absorb nutrients from food. Yet the vitamin has been shown to reduce levels of the amino acid homocysteine, high levels of which are linked to increase risk of heart disease and Alzheimer’s.

Traditional treatment for this vitamin deficiency is through injections of cobalamin but taking supplements is a painless and therefore, preferable method.

Researchers investigated the doses of cyanocobalamin supplements needed to correct this deficiency, they found that only daily doses of at least 647 mug of cyanocobalamin could reduce the deficiency by 80-90 per cent.

Their study tested different daily doses of vitamin B12 supplements in 120 people over the age of 70.

“The lowest dose of oral cyanocobalamin required to normalize mild vitamin B12 deficiency is more than 200 times greater than the recommended dietary allowance, which is approximately 3 mug daily,” the authors write in the 23 May issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Courtesy of nutraingredients.com

Lower yeast, longer life

It is not how much you eat, but what you eat that could influence life span, say UK researchers, investigating how calorie quality, not quantity, may dictate longevity.

In April, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study challenging the conventional wisdom that eating less promotes longevity.

Backing up the study, new research carried out by scientists at the University College London revealed that flies can actually live longer without reducing calories but by eating proportionally less yeast.

Their findings suggest the food industry adage that there is ‘no good or bad food, just a good or bad diet’ may ring true in the fight against obesity.

Fresh figures released in March show in excess of 200 million adults across the EU may be overweight or obese.

And the number of European kids overweight is rising by a hefty 400,000 a year, according to data from the International Obesity Task Force (IOFT).

“These results make a strong case that calories per se are not the salient factor in prolonging life - at least in fruitflies,” say the study authors.

And further, their findings suggest that the dramatic impact of reducing yeast suggests that protein or fat plays a greater role in fly longevity than sugar.

For the latest study, published in the PLoS Biology, dietary restriction in Drosophila flies involved diluting the nutrients in the fly's standard lab diet of yeast and sugar to a level known to maximise life span.

Since both yeast (which contributes protein and fat) and sugar (carbohydrates) provide the same calories per gram, the authors (William Mair, Matthew Piper, and Linda Partridge at UCL ) could adjust nutrient composition without affecting the calorie count, allowing them to separate the effects of calories and nutrients.

Reducing both nutrients increased the flies' life spans, but yeast had a much greater effect: reducing yeast from control to dietary restriction levels increased median life span by over 60 per cent.

In contrast, those switched from the standard restriction diet to the sugar-restricted diet began to die at the same rate as flies on the control diet.

Bonnie - Music to my ears! Many of my patients have yeast issues, and the allopathic medical community consitently brushes yeast off as a non-factor. As I've said before, we do not usually post animal studies because we like to see human research. Although, in an area that scant research is available, such as yeast, we find this data extremely compelling.

Modern diet may cause depression

Scientists have long maintained that a lack of omega-3 may contribute to depression, but the latest study suggests that an excess of omega-6 – the fatty acid which is more prevalent in the modern diets – may have more to do with it.

Natural sources of omega-3 include oily fish, canola and flaxseed oils, soybeans and nuts. But while these foods were more commonly eaten 50 years ago, these days consumers’ palates tend to favor foods that contain higher levels of omega-6, such as meat, eggs, poultry, cereals, breads, baked goods, vegetable oils, and margarine.

Previous studies into fatty acids and depression have measuring omega-3 levels in the blood of depressed humans, giving rise to the ‘phospholipid hypothesis’ which proposes that decreased omega-3 fatty acid intake, and hence decreased brain omega-3 fatty acid content, could be responsible for the disease.

Because of the high dietary variability of humans and the obvious inability to study their brains, Dr Pnina Green of Tel Aviv University and Dr Gal Yadid of Bar-Ilan University chose to test the theory by comparing the brains of normal and depressed rats.

Their findings, published in the June issue of the Journal of Lipid Research, took fatty-acid research surprising direction.

The two groups of rats were fed the same diet, but their brains showed marked differences in levels of omega-6 fatty acid levels. All regions of the depressed rats’ brains studied had significantly higher concentrations of arachidonic acid (ARA), a long-chain unsaturated metabolite of omega-6 fatty acid.

"The finding lends itself nicely to the theory that increased omega-3 fatty acid intake may shift the balance between the two fatty acid families in the brain, since it has been demonstrated in animal studies that increased omega-3 fatty acid intake may result in decreased brain arachidonic acid.” Green suggests that, in the future, depression may be controlled by shifting the balance between the two fatty acids – cutting back on omega-6 and increasing intake of omega-3 to bring levels back in line with those of our forebears.

According to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, depression is the most common serious brain disease in the United States, affecting more than 23 million adults each year.

Steve - As previously discussed, we do not usually pay mention to animal studies, but we felt this was significant because for the first time a study focused on excessive omega-6 intake instead of lack of omega-3 intake.

Chromium supplements good for the diabetic heart

Chromium supplementation may be good for the heart in people with type 2 diabetes, according to study findings. It appears to lead to a shortening of a harmful heart rhythm, which may lower cardiovascular risk in type 2 diabetics.

Researchers also note in the American Heart Journal that blood insulin levels decreased significantly after 3 months of chromium supplementation and this may be partly responsible for the QT interval (heart rhythm) shortening.

A prolonged QT interval has been associated with high blood sugar levels, high insulin levels and reduced sensitivity to insulin in type 2 diabetics, they explain. Chromium supplementation improves sensitivity to insulin, lowers blood insulin levels and improves glucose homeostasis.

Courtesy of Reuters 5/25/2005

Breastfeeding lowers children's blood pressure

Breastfeeding is as good for children's blood pressure as exercise and dietary salt restriction, finds a new study.

And the longer the period of breastfeeding, the lower the blood pressure reading, shows the research published in Archives of Disease in Childhood.

The research team assessed the impact of breastfeeding on elements of the metabolic syndrome in over 2000 randomly chosen children from Denmark and Estonia, aged between 9 and 15.

The metabolic syndrome refers to a combination of conditions that raise a person's risk of coronary artery disease. These include high blood pressure, diabetes, high insulin levels, high triglyceride levels, and low HDL cholesterol levels.

Breastfeeding did not have an impact on every element of the metabolic syndrome. But children who had been exclusively breastfed had lower systolic blood pressure than those who had not, said the researchers.

And the longer a child had been exclusively breastfed, the lower was his or her systolic blood pressure.

The effect may increase as a child ages, because the results showed that the greatest impact was on the older children, although the figures were not statistically significant.

Nutraingredients.com 5/25/2005

Probiotics may help against travelers' diarrhea

Australian researchers have modified probiotic microbes -- "good" bacteria -- that may be useful in preventing or treating travelers' diarrhea, an all too common problem during trips to certain countries.

The microbes work against a type of E. coli bacteria that causes diarrhea by producing a chemical that is toxic to intestinal cells. The probiotic microbes carry a molecule that looks a lot like the toxin receptor found on intestinal cells. This mimicry causes the toxin to bind to the microbes instead of the intestinal cells.

Lab tests showed that these organisms could bind and neutralize a significant amount of enterotoxin, according to the report in the medical journal Gastroenterology.

Courtesy of Reuters 5/25/2005

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Tidbits

Bonnie and Steve - As we did in April, once per month we summarize the most important discoveries in our favorite nutrition journal.

Effects of low-glycemic load diet on cardiovascular risk factors in obese young adults -
Compared with a conventional, energy-restricted, low-fat diet, a low-glycemic load diet may be more efficacious for cardiovascular risk and weight loss. While the difference in weight loss was not great (-8.4% low-glycemic to -7.8% low-fat), reduction in triglycerides and PAI-1 were significant in the low-glycemic group. Note - low glycemic load means carbohydrates that take longer turning into sugar than high glycemic load carbohydrates (i.e., apple versus slice of white bread).

Dairy, calcium, and vitamin D intakes and prostate cancer risk -
Dairy consumption may increase prostate cancer risk through a calcium-related pathway. Those consuming low-fat milk was associated with increased risk, but whole milk consumers were not. Researchers cannot confirm, but postulate that because vitamin D is fat soluble, and low-fat milk has very little fat, vitamin D is not absorbed as well as it is in whole milk, and hence, calcium can roam freely. This assumption further cements the critical link between calcium and proper vitamin D absorption.

Micronutrient requirements in older women -
The recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) and dietary reference intakes are not specific to women living to advanced ages, and little research has been conducted specifically on the micronutrient needs of older women. Older adults are at greater risk for nutritional deficiencies. The need for energy decreases and the requiremnts for protein increase with age. Among the micronutrients, the significant ones that may be associated with deficiencies include vitamin B12, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D, calcium, iron, zinc, and other trace minerals.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition May 2005

Medical Journal Editor Slams Drug Companies

According to Dr. Jeffrey M. Drazen, editor-in-chief of New England Journal of Medicine, three of the largest drug companies pick and choose what they release in the clinical studies they register with the government. He called out Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Merck & Co specifically for noncompliance and warned that some important medical publications may avoid publishing their studies.

Drazen based his comments on a review of the information drug companies posted on clinicaltrials.gov. Of the 400 companies with trials listed on the registry, only 5 failed to list specific names of their drugs, often calling it "investigational drug." Merck did not provide a name 90% of the time, Glaxo 53%, and Pfizer 36%. These companies were also vagues in outlining the primary and secondary outcome measures of their studies.

Coutresy of Associated Press 5/24/2005

AstraZeneca's Crestor doubles side effects-study

AstraZeneca's cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor has more than double the side effects of rival statin drugs, including deaths, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

Adverse effects include muscle damage known as myopathy, including a severe form known as rhabdomyolysis; proteinuria or protein in the urine; nephropathy, a reduced ability of the kidneys to filter toxins from the blood; and kidney failure.

Dr. Richard Karas of the Tuft-New England Medical Center in Boston, who led the study, said his team found a rate of 28 adverse events per million prescriptions of Crestor, known generically as rosuvastatin.

Karas said there were 6 per million deaths on Crestor as compared to 3 per million for Zocor, 1 per million with Bristol Myers Squibb's Pravachol and 2 per million for Lipitor.

In March, the FDA denied a petition by the consumer group Public Citizen to ban Crestor, saying it disagreed with arguments that Crestor was more dangerous than other statins.

Journal Circulation, Courtesy of Reuters 5/23/2005

Female body is complex

We thought this 5/9/2005 LA Times article and the research it exhibited from The Society for Women's Health Research was telling:

Autoimmune Diseases
-Women are 2.7 times more likely than men to acquire an autoimmune disease.
-Almost three-fourths of those who suffer from rhuematoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and myasthenia gravis are women.
-Lupus affects nine times as many women as men.
-Twcie as many women suffewr from multiple sclerosis.
-About 90% of all people with fibromyalgia are women.

Heart Disease
-Heart Disease is the leading killer of U.S. women.
-Forty percent of women who have cardiac arrest report having stress, such as divorce or depression, before the event, contrasted with 16% of men.

Vitamin E may protect against Parkinson's

Eating food rich in vitamin E may help protect againstParkinson's Disease, scientists said on Thursday.

A review of eight studies that looked into whether vitamin E had an impact on the odds of developing the progressive brain disease showed that a moderate intake lowered the risk.

"Our data suggest that diets rich in vitamin E protect against the development of Parkinson's disease," said Dr. Mayhar Etminan, of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Quebec, Canada, in a report in The Lancet Neurology journal.

The scientists, who looked at relevant studies from 1966 to March 2005, said more research is needed to confirm their findings.

Vitamin E is an antioxidant that protects cells from damage. Foods rich in the vitamin include nuts, seeds, wheat germ, spinach and other green leafy vegetables.

Courtesy of Reuters 5/23/2005

Vitamin D deficiency may contribute to osteoporosis

According to a study presented at the meetings of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, more than half of osteoporosis sufferers did not consume enough vitamin D. Of 1554 otherwise-healthy menopausal women receiving medication for osteoporisis, 52% had suboptimal vitamin D levels.

Steve - This is the third or fourth study over the past year showing the vital link between vitamin D and bone health. What's crucial is that sufficient quantitites of vitamin D are taken at a young age as a preventative. Once osteoporosis is full-blown it can be suppressed but much harder to reverse. If one cannot get at least 15 minutes of unencumbered sunshine daily, then the most bioavailable source of vitamin D is Cod Liver Oil.

Benefits of aspirin may not outweigh the risks for elderly

For persons over 70 years of age, a daily baby aspirin, which is commonly recommended by doctors, may cause more harm then good. Bleeding risk, and that the elderly often have stronger side effects to medications, lead the researchers of this study to believe that large, randomized trials should be done to better study the effects of aspirin.

British Medical Journal March 18, 2005

Bonnie - This is not first and will not be the last study raising risk-awareness about aspirin. Especially when it comes to aspirin, one size does not fit all. At least 25-30% of us genetically cannot tolerate aspirin. In the elderly, it is believed that the percentage is even higher. Aspirin is pure salicylic acid, which can be extremely harsh on the digestive system, especially in those with a salciylate sensitivity. Ask your physician to perform a detoxification test prior to taking aspirin to make sure you can tolerate it. Over the next 5-10 years, this testing will be become more common.

Yoga may help improve pregnancy outcome

The practice of yoga during pregnancy seems to improve birth weight and reduce prematurity and overall complications, Indian researchers report.

They studied 169 pregnant women trained in the integrated approach to yoga and in 166 "controls" who received routine prenatal care.

Fourteen percent of deliveries were premature in the yoga group compared with 29 percent in the controls. Rates of pregnancy-related high blood pressure were also lower in the yoga group, the researchers report in the Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine.

Courtesy of Reuters Health 5/23/2005

Pregnancy Warning on Antidepressants

Women who take Prozac or certain other antidepressants late in pregnancy raise the risk that their babies will suffer jitteriness, irritability and serious respiratory problems in their first couple of weeks, researchers say.

Babies born to women taking antidepressants in the last three months of pregnancy were three times more likely to develop drug-related symptoms than those born to women who did not use the drugs or took them only in early pregnancy, according to a University of Pittsburgh study that pooled previous research.

The study was published in Wednesday's issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Most of the symptoms were mild and usually disappeared after about two weeks, but some required hospitalization in intensive care, the researchers said.

The drugs involved include Prozac, Paxil and other antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRI's, and also serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, which include Effexor.

Courtesy of AP 5/18/2005

Vitamin D May Help in Prostate Cancer

Men dying from prostate cancer may be able to extend their lives, thanks to a potent form of vitamin D developed at Oregon Health & Science University.

Adding the experimental vitamin pill DN-101 to chemotherapy increased the average expectancy to roughly two years.

A two-year survival "is the highest ever seen in a randomized study," said Dr. Bruce Montgomery, a Seattle Cancer Care Alliance prostate cancer expert who was not involved in the research. "It clearly is a big step forward."

Although researchers know DN-101 added at least seven months to the average survival, they can't yet calculate the new median life expectancy, because half the men who took DN-101 in the study are still alive.

Such late-stage cancers kill more than 30,000 U.S. men every year.

The study followed 250 men, randomly assigned to receive either docetaxel alone or with DN-101.

Montgomery said the DN-101 study is part of a push to find safe medicines that make cancers more susceptible to the toxins in chemotherapy drugs.

Courtesy of The Oregonian 5/18/2005

Breakfast Essential for Children

Researchers reviewed 47 nutrition studies and concluded that children and adolescents who ate breakfast had better mental function and better school attendance records than those who did not. And breakfast eaters, even though they consumed more calories, were less likely to be overweight than those who skipped breakfast. The review appears in the May issue of The Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

Vitamin E Safe Says New Study

Flying completely under the news radar, a new study funded by The National Institute's of Health found vitamin E safe. In the prestigious Women's Health Study, 40,000 healthy women took either 600IU of vitamin E or placebo every other day for ten years. The vitamin did not cause harm, and reduced the risk of heart-related death, including cardiac arrest, by 24%, according to Harvard's Julie Buring.

Courtesy of Jean Carper of USA Weekend 5/15/2005

Kudzu may help alcoholics

Heavy drinkers who tried the herbal extract kudzu for one week downed fewer drinks than people who received an inactive placebo treatment, according to new study findings released Monday.

Study author Dr. Scott E. Lukas of McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical Center in Massachusetts explained that during the experiment, people drank their first beer right away, but were less likely to want more beer if they had taken kudzu the previous week.

He said that kudzu may also help deliver blood to the brain, making people more satisfied with less alcohol. "We can see this in the data because people took more sips in order to finish each beer, but the sips were much smaller," Lukas said.

Kudzu contains isoflavones, antioxidants believed to confer a variety of health benefits. Previous research has shown that kudzu extracts help discourage drinking in rats and hamsters.

In the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, Lukas and colleagues note that kudzu naturally contains only 1 percent isoflavones. To investigate further if kudzu might affect humans' desire to drink, the team developed a more concentrated extract of kudzu that contained 25 percent isoflavones.

Courtesy of Reuter's Health 5/17/2005

Steve - Kudzu has also been researched for treating postmenopausal symptoms, although on a much more minor scale than soy.

Anti-depressants can cause internal bleeding

Some popular anti-depressant drugs can cause internal bleeding similar to that triggered by aspirin and related painkillers, researchers said on Monday.

The anti-depressants involved are Prozac-type selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, the report from the Northwestern University Medical School said.

A review of the medical records of 549 patients admitted to hospitals for acute gastrointestinal bleeding found that ongoing use of such anti-depressants caused a risk of bleeding similar to that caused by the regular use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, such as aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen.

"While more research needs to be conducted ... physicians must closely monitor for this serious adverse event, especially in patients who are taking both SSRIs and NSAIDs," said Michael Jones, a physician who was the report's chief author.

Courtesy of Reuters 5/17/2005

Coconut Oil May Help Cholesterol Levels

Coconut oil's long shelf life and high melting point once made it and other tropical oils, such as palm oil, popular ingredients in processed snacks. But, like butter, whole milk and red meat, coconut oil contains saturated fat, which experts have said contributes to high cholesterol, clogged arteries and heart disease. More recently, however, researchers have revealed that the fat molecules in coconut oil are shorter than those in animal-derived saturated fat. Some say that this subtle difference may explain why the traditional Polynesian diet — high in tropical oils, like coconut — appears to lead to relatively low rates of heart disease.

Uses: Some people are now turning to coconut oil to combat hypothyroidism and obesity and improve their cholesterol levels.

Dose: Proponents say a tablespoon a day or more is needed to reap coconut oil's health benefits. The oil is sold in tubs for cooking and as a dietary supplement in softgel (pill) form.

Courtesy of LA Times 5/16/2005

Low-sugar has become the new low-carb

Food makers are rushing to meet demand from consumers concerned with their waistlines and healthier eating by providing an array of new products, some of them aimed at children. But scientists are divided over how positive this development is, questioning whether the change will help people lose weight, and how healthful the artificial sweeteners are.

According to a survey done by the Grocery Manufacturers Association, a food industry trade group, almost 50 percent of all grocery shoppers said they were looking for products with reduced sugar.

Propelled in part by the popularity of the sugar substitute sucralose, or Splenda, the food industry last year introduced 2,225 sugarless or sugar-reduced products in the United States, according to the research firm Productscan Online. This figure is more than double that of two years ago and represents 11 percent of all new products in 2004.

While many nutritionists champion artificial sweeteners as a way to cut calories and reduce sugar, others say these products are not the answer to America's weight and health problems. Some critics voice concern about the increased consumption of what are essentially chemical sweeteners, especially among children.

Dr. Susan Schiffman, a sweetener specialist and professor of medical psychology at Duke University Medical Center, says she has safety concerns about sucralose, which is the nation's fastest-growing sugar replacement, according to the Freedonia Group, a research firm. She points to the Food and Drug Administration's 1998 report giving approval for sucralose, which said the compound is "weakly mutagenic in a mouse lymphoma mutation assay," meaning it caused minor genetic damages in mouse cells.

The report also said one of the substances produced when sucralose is broken down in the body is "weakly mutagenic in the Ames test." An Ames test is the standard method used to detect possible carcinogens.

"The sucralose people keep saying 'It's just a little bit of a mutagen,' " Dr. Schiffman said. "Well, I don't want a little bit of a mutagen in my food supply. How do you know what happens in a long life span or to the next generation or to your eggs and sperm? I don't feel like the issues have been answered."

Bonnie - This nutritionist is no champion of Splenda (sucralose). I have had many clients complain of side effects related to sucralose consumption, mainly g.i.-related. Once these clients went off sucralose, their symptoms went away. We already went through a sugar-free phase twenty years ago with aspartame (Equal, Nutrasweet) and saccharin (Sweet & Low). Reducing overall added sugar intake by eating real foods is the answer. Eating fake foods loaded with artifical sweeteners is not.

If you need to use an alternative sweetener, I recommend the herb stevia, which has no glycemic properties, no calories, helps regulate blood sugar, and has no side effects. I have hundreds of clients who use it daily with no problems.

Head of Expert Panel for 2005 Dietary Guidelines and MyPyramid Weighs in on Milk

The spinning has begun! Janet King, PhD., wrote an editorial in the May issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, which is a blatant attempt to admonish herself from any blame or criticism that has come with the release of 2005 Dietary Guidelines and MyPyramid. Her arguments for milk are feeble, her arguments against milk are telling, and most exciting is what she does not say.

Dr. King was nominated by the Wheat Foods Council to chair the expert science panel that recommended to the USDA what dietary advice should be included in the new Dietary Guidelines and Food Guide Pyramid. The fact that she published an editorial on the heels of MyPyramid release should come as no surprise.

What is astonishing is that Dr. King, a nutrition expert, uses potassium as her major defense for drinking milk. She says that the increase to 3 cups per day was done to help Americans meet their recommended potassium intake. Any dietitian can tell you that potassium is easy to get in our diet. In fact, there are many foods far richer in potassium than milk. Depending on the fat percentage in milk, potassium content can range anywhere from 371mg - 407mg per 8 oz. glass. One large baked potato packs 1630mg of potassium; sweet potato 400mg; 6 oz. V-8 juice 620 mg; 3 o.z chicken breast 210 mg; banana 467mg; 1/4 cup raisins 310 mg. You get the picture...potassium is a bountiful nutrient in a wide variety of foods.

What we find extremely exciting is that Dr. King never mentions calcium, which has been the Dairy Council's calling card. The absence of calcium speaks volumes to what many experts now believe, that calcium from milk is not an optimal source.

Suprisingly, Dr. King mentions that milk does not create weight loss, which is contrary to another marketing ploy the Dairy Council is forcing down our throats in their "3-a-Day" campaign.

Her argument that lactose intolerance is not as big of an issue as we believe, is weak. I guess the World Health Organization stating that 62% of the world is lactose intolerant, all the top geneticists in the world conclude that milk is contraindicated genetically in humans, and that milk is the number one allergen in the United States, is no big deal.

The fact that Dr. King discusses the risk of prostate cancer from increased milk consumption and the carcinogenic effects of high estrogen content in milk should raise eyebrows.

What is most pitiful is that Dr. King makes a measly ten reference effort to back up her opinion. The geneticists whose study confirmed that milk and dairy are contraindicated genetically in humans, had hundreds.

Bonnie

Children should reject soft drinks to stay healthy

US researchers this month reported that excessive consumption of sugar sweetened drinks may be a key reason for the troubling increase in childhood obesity.

A commentary in the The Journal of Pediatrics (May), reviewed previous research concerning the role of soft drinks in childhood obesity. They found, perhaps not unsurprisingly, that there was a strong correlation between soft drink consumption and the risk of childhood obesity.

Dr. Murray concluded that "the typical teen consumes approximately two-12 ounce cans of soft drinks per day, containing 300 calories and 20 teaspoons of sugar."

Hence, although current guidelines recommend a limit of 10 per cent of daily calories from added sugars, they actually account for 18-20 per cent of children's daily calories, with soft drinks and sweetened fruit drinks accounting for over 40 per cent of these total added sugars.

Dr Murray recommended that schools concentrate on providing lower calorie beverage choices in their vending machines such as water, and 100 percent vegetable juices.

"Altering the energy (calorie) gap by 100 calories a day - which, ironically, is the equivalent of one 8-oz. serving of a sweetened soft drink -would prevent excessive weight gain in most Americans," he said.

This weight gain needs to be stopped as scientists have estimated that 25 percent of obese children show signs of glucose intolerance and "a child who is diagnosed with type II diabetes mellitus at age 10 years may lose between 17 and 26 life-years to the disease."

Courtesy of nutraingredients.com

Changing carbs for protein helps reduce stomach fat

Substituting a modest amount of protein for carbohydrate may reduce abdominal obesity, say researchers reporting on data gathered from a diverse multi-ethnic population.

Their findings do however seem to support the evidence showing that high protein, low-carbohydrate diets can help with overall weight loss.

A Canadian team carried out a cross-sectional study among 617 Canadians of Aboriginal, South Asian, Chinese, and European origins, with diet evaluated using validated, culture specific, interviewer-administered food frequency questionnaires.

Abdominal obesity was measured as a waist-hip ratio.

The mean proportion of energy intake from protein in the diet was 17.4 per cent for the lowest tertile of waist hip ratios compared to 15.8 per cent for those in the highest tertile, they report in this month’s issue of the Journal of Nutrition (issue 135, pp 1196-1201).

Energy-adjusted protein substituted for an equivalent amount of carbohydrate was associated with a reduction in waist-hip ratio after accounting for age, sex, ethnicity, smoking status, BMI, alcohol intake, height, physical activity, and total energy.

Courtesy of Nutraingredients.com

Supplements not sunbeds to lift vitamin D levels

Supplements, and not increased exposure to either natural or artificial ultraviolet (UV) light, should be the preferred way of topping up vitamin D levels.

There is growing evidence – and increasing debate surrounding this data -that many people in the northern hemisphere, especially the elderly and and darker-skinned individuals, may be lacking sufficient vitamin D.

Findings from the conference white paper are published in the May 2005 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (vol 52, no 5, p 868).

The benefits of vitamin D are well documented and include, most notably, improved bone health and fracture prevention, better muscle health and a reduced risk of falling in older individuals.

However research suggest that many elderly are lacking in the vitamin. A study done by Danish health authorities last year found that in the oldest age-groups close to 80 per cent have vitamin D insufficiency and 25 per cent are vitamin D deficient.

Some researchers have caused controversy by suggesting that increased exposure to sun could help remedy such deficiencies. But the US authors noted that photosynthesizing vitamin D through natural sunlight is maximized after 20 minutes of ultraviolet B (UVB) exposure, with extended sun exposure providing no additional benefit but instead increasing the likelihood of photodamage and skin cancer.

Bonnie - This is what I have suggested for years. Fifteen to twenty minutes of unencumbered sunlight five times weekly is all you need for adequate vitamin D. But for most if us, this is not an option. Our next best option is high quality cod liver oil.