wellness weekly

Calories in a Bottle: An article written by the director of Bay County Health Department bemoans the incidence of overweight and obesity in this country and the author opines on the irony of how sports drinks exacerbate this issue. Of course, I read with commiseration. He pondered the likely hood of being able to sell water with sugar and salt in it to people who were overweight and perhaps trying to lose weight. He made good points about schools that removed soda and added Gatorade. He noted how a 200 pound man mowing his lawn hydrated with a 200 calorie drink. He even went so far as to question the parents of little soccer stars who came to games with half time snacks and after game meals AND sports drinks. He thought that the child might have been better off at home watching TV. I haven’t made exactly the same correlations as he, but I do believe that sports drinks, low calorie ones at that, are meant for people who are in vigorous activity for an hour or more. I also strongly endorse the Elete Electrolyte drink which has no calories at all. Oh yes, and then there is this stuff called water.
Pharmaceutical Cliffs: It may benefit me to stop reading the Wall St Journal as it presents health information from the view of companies that create drugs and the stockholders who want that drug to be profitable. No, I love the WSJ. It does put things in a new and uncomfortable light sometimes. Take this example. This week the journal reported on Norvatis’ concern that their billion dollar blockbuster hypertension pill, Diovan will soon be coming off patent. That means that people who need to take this medication will be able to take a generic form at a much reduced price. This is good news for the consumer, bad news for the company. They also do no have a newer blood pressure pill ready to take its place. That is what companies try to do as they switch the patient to that new drug before the patent expires on the other. Because this is not an option for them now and because the FDA is making it harder to introduce new drugs, the company is heading for a “cliff”. Has creating a medication to treat an illness ever NOT been about making money? To me, the best way to combat the high price of prescription drugs is to not need them at all. I know that is not always possible, but it is a helluva a lot more possible than people think. PREVENTION is no mystery.
Genes, Supplements and Cancer: Without repeating the stories and headlines that I have seen on these issues this week, I will just report the outcome. Scientists are telling us that based on the research to date, supplements do not protect against cancer the way that foods with antioxidant properties do. Thus I will say to you again, taking fruit and vegetable PILLS, (they really make them) will not reduce your baseline risk of cancer. Nutritious meals may. Further, it was said this week that the research into genes that are linked to certain cancers (and illness) is sketchy at best and very new at the least. At this time, ones lifestyle has a much greater impact on whether or not chronic disease will develop. It may be a broken record at this point, but this could be the day that someone decides to listen so I will say it again none the less, do some physical activity that increases your heart rate, every day. Eat in moderation. Eat foods that are low in fat and limited in processing. Keep sugar intake at very low levels. Consume lean proteins and plenty of fruits and more vegetables. Watch for starchy produce and do not eat with such abandon. Ie , more spinach than potato and more apples than pineapples or banana. Remember too that low fat, low sugar, and 0 TFA does not mean low calorie. You still need to look at the labels.
Charles Grassley: On CNN, Anderson Cooper often talks about “Keeping them Honest.” I like to think that this Senator is doing just that as he calls for scrutiny of drug companies.
Second Hand Smoke: It is my assertion from research that second hand smoke does nearly everything adverse to a person that first hand smoke does. Both active and passive smoke causes lung cancer by scientific fact though the dose and frequency are influential. In other words, a person would need to breathe more second hand smoke for more years to have the same risk of lung cancer as the smoker. Cigarette smoking has also been causally linked to heart disease and heart attack. Once again, a city that has put a public smoking ban in place reports a lower incidence of emergency room visits for heart attack by NON smokers. What is interesting in this new study is that they didn’t just compare their own admissions but that of the hospitals in surrounding cities that did NOT have a ban. The finding stands. Second Hand Smoke kills and banning smoking in public is an effective public health strategy. As I like to say, there is no amount of cigarette smoke, in any form, that is safe.
.Scientists in the Hot Seat: Just briefly. In the past I talked about a company that was trying to make a pill that would have the effect of resveratrol in controlling the aging process. I think that this is a snake oil and was most upset when the company referred to diabetes as a disease of aging and said that their pill could extend healthy life years. One company working on this , Shaklee and another GSK (Sirtris) have been using a doctor from Harvard as a spokesman for this product and have paid him millions of dollars. This doctor is now resigning from their board. Another doctor is being questioned about his endorsement of Risperdal, an antipsychotic medication, in children. There is NO reason that I can fathom for starting a child on a class of medication with so many unpleasant and life threatening side effects. I am happy to see that these types of conflicts are making it to press and I also think that the aforementioned Senator will see to it that this continues.

New Year is Here…. Get out and PLAY