Wellness Weekly

Vitamin D: Nothing more to say really except that it was in the news again this week and continues to be the vitamin of the month. Get some.

Genes: Happy to report that some states are trying to get in front of the problems that can occur from DTC (direct to consumer) marketing of genetic testing. Because having a certain gene may or may not = disease in much the same way NOT having it may or may not = no disease, California has sent cease and desist letters to approximately 13 companies. My only hesitation (I agree that the tests are misleading) is this – If a person really needs to pay upwards of 1000 dollars to hear “eat right and exercise” and actually DO it, well, maybe they are on to something.

Drugs: Speaking of DTC advertising, pharmaceutical companies and their trade organization PhRMA have been busy lobbying congress this year and one agenda item was to block legislation to curtail their ads. According to an article written by M. Asif Ismail which quotes the Center for Public Integrity, the pharmaceutical industry spent 168 million in 2007, just on lobbying. Not to worry, they can afford it. They can make more than a billion off just one drug. And we are helping because we sure like our pills.

Screening: Risk Vs Benefit. Prostate, Lung and Breast Cancer are three diseases for which invasive and expensive tests have been developed. This includes Xrays, ultrasound and MRI. No test is 100% predictive of disease and all have some rate of false positives. False positives at the very least increase stress and often result in even more invasive and costly testing and can lead to life changing surgery. The medical community and health insurance companies grapple with these issues for us. This week the attention was on breast cancer prevention. When is a mammogram sufficient? When does one add ultrasound which may still miss a cancerous lesion, should all women instead be given the 1000 dollar MRI? Last year the ACS updated their screening recommendations and based them on individual risk factors. These risk factors put a woman in average, elevated or high risk and advised testing accordingly. See their website for more. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_2_3X_ACS_Cancer_Detection_Guidelines_36.asp

Stents: Stents are very small metal wires used to prop open arteries that had become clogged with plaque. This is often done after a first heart attack or sign of heart disease, usually after an angioplasty or bypass surgery. Once upon a time there were only bare metal stents and in 2004 a drug coated stent was approved by the FDA. Since then, the stent market too has been a billion dollar battlefield. ( Keep eating those fatty foods, the markets need you. ) Anyways, there has been controversy and concern. The bare metal stents often reclog and repeat procedures are needed. That would make the drug coated stents a better option except there are issues with them as well. They can cause clotting and a person needs to be able to tolerate the anticlotting drugs. Previously there was concern of heart attack death being more common with the new stents, but additional research has not bore that out. A study from the NIA and Robert Wood Johnson foundation did not report more adverse events with either group. The overall mortality rate is also the same for both groups. The bottom line then is not having to have this done twice. MY BOTTOM LINE< not having to have it done ONCE.

Milk Update: Last week I learned that there was the equivalent of x tsp of butter fat in milk. The poster gives the info per HALF gallon. So, one percent milk has 4.5 tsp of butter fat and two percent milk has 9 tsp of butter fat, per ½ gallon.

Wishing you Wellness