Odds and Ends

Yes, I am blogging during the SuperBowl, but it is almost half time and of course, I have the TV on. Well, O&E are not supposed to require much thought anyways.

HFCS: Do you know what that stands for? Do you at least know that it is bad for you? AH - well. It is High Fructose Corn Syrup or highly concentrated sweetness. It came up twice for me this week. The first incident was a positive thing. I noticed on my Kraft 100 calorie chocolate covered pretzels (OH MY) that they did NOT contain any HFCS. It was written on the label. Pretty cool I thought. First we get rid of TFAs and now HFCS - awesome. The second incidence was in a recipe I was reading in a running magazine. It said, "choose tomato or spaghetti sauce with NO HFCS for a healthier option." WHAT?! I guess I never considered that there would be HFCS in pasta sauce, of course, I make my own. :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d6haqapyYE

Insane Workout: I was watching TV - no- the TV was on and I heard a commercial for some type of fitness product and the spokesperson claimed that results, muscle building results,would be seen with 11 minutes of training a day. The person claimed this was an "insane workout" and I thought, "yeah, and so are the claims." But you know what? It really isn't an insane claim. IF you spend 11 specific and intense minutes on ONE muscle group and you do that seven days a week, alternating muscles, I guess that could be the same as doing a full body workout twice a week (as I do). So I am going to give them there due on that one.

The Power of Thoughts: You know - it is OK to ask yourself, "Why in the world am I doing this?" And this could be any number of things - riding your bicycle 50 miles on a Saturday, getting up to walk every day at 6 a.m., swimming five days a week - training for a triathlon - lifting weights when it BURNS . It is okay to ask "WHY?" and of course, you know the answer - "To meet a challenge, to improve your health, to lose weight." It is however, NEVER okay to say, "I can't" I can't get up this early, I can't swim that far, I can't pedal anymore - the I Can'ts Must GO.

H1N1: I know I have already said this, but seriously, they can't give the vaccine away these days. Interestingly, I heard a story, an allegation, recently. It regarded the power of the companies that made the vaccines (I think there were four). What?? drug companies have power and influence???? SIGH. Apparently, there is some concern that they were telling the World Health Organization how bad a "pandemic" we were going to have and how imperative a multinational vaccine campaign was. I understand that these companies want to sell the drug they spent money and took risk to make, but they cannot control the universe... can they?

Mexican Children: I printed this story a week ago and never got a chance to really explore it. The article ran on Yahoo News and lamented the obesity problem with Mexican children. What stunned me really, was that the children were still living in Mexico. I had been under the impression that people moved here and became obese by eating our food. Though I must admit that Mexican food in America anyway, seems to be incredibly fat and calorie dense. And so it is in Mexico as well. In fact, the article states that Mexico's children have the highest obesity rates in the world. What a horrible distinction. It is indeed what they eat and what they fail to do - exercise or get active. The adults have the highest overweight rates as well. The president of the country states that the issue will be addressed by modeling a program out of France. That program, called EPODE, concentrates on physical activity, fruit, vegetable and water intake and monitoring the weights of the children.

Skateboarder: Yes, again, I was passed by a kid on a skateboard that was motorized. This time I actually said, "use your legs!" Out loud. He did turn back and look at me, but I am not sure he actually heard me. I think he was in his 20s.

Smoker: OK, so I was on a roll today. Along the same route (I was running) I came upon a man, a man who appeared to be 60-70 years old ( too old to still be smoking). He was stopped and had an unlit cigarette in his mouth. He was about to light it as I ran by.. I said, "Don't do it!" I imagine he did anyway, but I tried.

Ok, half time is over, thank goodness too - these commercials really are not worth the money this year, but the game is interesting.

EVERYTHING in Moderation - really? EVERYTHING?

And you know where I am going with tonight's post.

It is a funny thing, this mantra of many. Everything in moderation. Where did that come from exactly? (well, I know where it came from, a Greek temple and it was "nothing in excess", but anyway) This is the phrase we like to voice when we either want more of something that we'd be better off without or we want to do less of something we really should be doing more. For example, french fries and ice cream are really NOT something we should have in moderation, but something we should limit, but when we want to eat them we say, "everything in moderation." Physical activity and exercise are things we should do more of - a lot of - every day of - but we see the people who walk or run most days of the week when we don't and shake our heads saying, "everything in moderation."

So let us think about the recommendation guidelines from health experts that are meant to improve our health and well being and are based in science. Science of course is dynamic, meaning what we knew 60 years ago does not always mesh with what we know today. It is dynamic, ever changing, and so must we be. I gander to say that even antediluvian postulations did not call for consumption of everything and anything at moderate levels. But we do not have to go back to biblical times to do our work, we can start with the 1800s. Lucky for me, a young woman named Lisa Green who is a student at UF, has a webpage that describes the history of our food guidelines. We are most familiar with the Basic 4, the 4 Food Groups. According to Lisa's history, President Roosevelt had actually commissioned the USDA to create the Basic 7, but that was too complicated. I remember the 4 Food Groups from school. But since then we have have the Food Guide Pyramid (USDA), the DASH diet (NHLBI), the Mediterranean Diet (classified by research and highly recommended), the New Food Guide Pyramid (Harvard -Walter Willett), New American Plate(AICR), the Go Slow Whoa program (NHLBI) and the AHA's recommendations on eating to prevent heart disease. And yes, a two years ago, , the US Government came out with its first recommendations for physical activity. (other agencies have done so for ten or twenty years)

Every single one of the aforementioned guides distinguishes food amounts by food type. For example, saturated fats, oils, butters, whole milk and whole milk products and sugars are to be consumed in limited quantities while vegetables, according to Dr. Willett are to be consumed with abandon. Alcohol should only be one or two glasses of the measured amount per day. Trans fats are to be avoided at ALL COSTS and ALL TIMES. Red meat is to be consumed much less and fish much more... I can stop now can't I? No , no I really can't, it is just who I am.

The absolute best advice, scientific advice, is to eat a variety of foods with special attention to lean meats or proteins, low or no fat dairy products, whole grains and complex carbs, fish, mono unsaturated fats, many fruits and most vegetables, measured alcohol intake, and little to no saturated fats and sugars.

The CDC has great information about fats, and that is a perfect example. We are asked to keep our fat intake between 20-30% of our total daily calories and our saturated fat intake at no more than 10%. They say on this web page that even though some fats are health promoting we STILL need to keep overall intake under 30%. Which is why you cannot eat cups of almonds all day!
http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/basics/fat/index.html

Fat is just one example. There are very specific and different recommended daily allowances for salt, for fiber, for protein, for carbs, and oh my gosh WATER, which is very individually specific. etc. So if it IS everything in moderation - then it must follow that some things are more moderate than others. Moderation means nothing to excess, but it also means nothing at a level that is considered harmful and that is the real issue.

Fats, sugars and alcohol can be harmful at much lower levels than people who enjoy them would like to acknowledge. Additionally, exercise levels have to be much higher than sedentary people would like to believe before considered harmful. Remember the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans state:
Additional health benefits are provided by increasing to 5 hours (300 minutes) a week of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity, or 2 hours and 30 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity physical activity, or an equivalent combination of both. With an additional two days of strength training. For most health outcomes, additional benefits occur as the amount of physical activity increases through higher intensity, greater frequency, and/or longer duration and the benefits of physical activity far outweigh the possibility of adverse outcomes.

I repeat - Moderation means nothing to excess, but it also means nothing at a level that is considered harmful and that is the real issue.

(side note: you can eat the right amount of a food and still get a belly ache and you can do the right amount of exercise and still strain a muscle - we are not talking about these acute things!)

(second side note, if you receive this blog in your email, you may have to come to the website to see the links and to leave comments)

ASU or Avocado Soybean Unsaponifiables

If you are from the Southeast ASU likely made you think Appalachian or Arizona State University, but instead it is a type of supplement that I read about today. It MAY be showing some benefit in research studies with regard to osteoarthritis, or OA.

I read a few pages of material today that was presented at a recent American College of Rheumatology Conference. The information that I read was titled Advances in Osteoarthritis Management and it included scientific reports regarding studies in preventing progression or reversing the condition, as well as pain management for it. The basis for the report are conclusions from several clinical studies and the rigorousness of the research was noted as to give sway or pause to the findings.

Just a few points to note from this review:

At this time no treatment, medicinal or otherwise, has been found to reverse the condition which is the most common cause of disability in this country. OA is loss of cartilage in joints and usually effects knees, hips or the spine. There is promising research in regards to preventing further deterioration but more work needs to be done to prove efficacy and safety of the compounds involved. It IS true that ASU has been found to be helpful, however, when I looked up the term I saw an ad that boasted it as the only thing proven effective or some such false statement. ASU stands for Avocado Soybean Unsaponfiable. (an unsaponfiable is a substance, an oily substance, that will not turn to soap when mixed with lye) At this time NO supplement, not even glucosamine is recommended by experts.

It is true that OA is often associated with being overweight, but injury and imbalances can also cause the wear and tear. In regards to treatment of the condition, some additional good points were made.

OA is a debilitating and limiting condition because it is painful. Expert Louis Kuritzky was interviewed by Medscape and he suggests that clinicians first make an assessment of the patients level of pain. OA is different from rheumatoid arthritis and perhaps gets less respect because of the differences, but there is no blood test or scan that will tell how much pain a person is in. Several questionnaires do exist to elicit the information.

The next step according Dr. Kuritzsky is to convince the person that losing weight and participating in physical therapy WILL have a real benefit. He introduced the term proprioception which is a little hard to explain, but it has to do with how our musculoskeletal receptors respond to stimuli or cues in our environments. For instance, we may have this way of sensing that we are walking up an incline and the body automatically adjusts for that so we keep our balance. In patients with OA, proprioception is impaired, but physical therapy and weight loss can have a positive effect on that. So it doesn't lesson the cartilage loss but it DOES improve ones ability to function and thus their quality of life.

Dr. Kuritzky also notes that exercise is important for everyone and that it is especially true here EVEN when use of the joint causes some pain. He worries because we have a growing number of persons with diabetes, hypertension and obesity and physical activity IS a treatment for those conditions. It can reverse them. Often, the patient with osteoarthritis is also suffering another chronic disease and the less active they become the worse all disease outcomes will be.

Medications were also discussed. Most importantly, the clinician should begin with the lowest dose of the least toxic drug and work his way up until the pain is managed. Tylenol can be used as can ibuprofen. Even Cox - 2 NSAIDs and opioids are options, but a clinical decision has to be made with that patients specific needs, history and environment in mind.

I did learn that a topical form of NSAID has been found to be effective in clinical studies, though intuitively it would seem to be less toxic (gi bleeds) than an oral NSAID, that is still under study. The ingredient to look for in a topical, and I do not know if OTC meds are available, is diclofenic sodium at 1%.

Other medicinal therapies for pain management are being created and studied, including medicines that interrupt neurotransmitter uptake in the brain, specifically serotonin and norepinephrine.

I found the material to be quite enlightening and so shared it with you today. Take home messages are that wear and tear may occur in every one's body over time, but the extent is not the same with everyone. Some things that can make it worse are being overweight, being inactive, having had joint injuries and, being out of alignment. Other risk factors include genetics and sex (female).

You do have control over your weight and activity level, even if you have limitations. You may also be able to avoid some sports injuries or accidents, or at the least follow physical therapy recommendations when healing from them, and some imbalances can be corrected by orthotics or therapeutic procedures.

the FLU

This week I began to see signs, you know those yard signs, at clinics, drug stores and libraries, advertising both seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccines, either free or for 25 dollars and anyone could come in and get it. Even with a substantial recall of a certain batch of a certain company's doses, we still have plenty to go around. (that recall was for potency NOT safety)

I did not see any lines for the vaccine, though there were some in the past months. We now have supply and less demand. Sounds familiar. My fear is that we end up throwing it out. Of course, this is not compelling me to go and get either vaccine.

In a way, I do a disservice to my profession by saying that, but I do not want it. That does not mean you shouldn't get it.

I do have some relevant and trusted information to share with you from Medscape and an infectious disease expert in the US, Dr. John Bartlett.

There are 11 monitoring or surveillance systems in place for the vaccines including the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System and the Vaccine Safety Datalink. According to these sources, there were very few events reported, with 204 incidents out of 46 million doses. There was a higher rate for both any reaction and serious reaction with the H1N1 vaccine than the seasonal flu vaccine. This could be related to reporting more than actual incidents. There were 13 deaths reported after the vaccine was given, but remember, that does not mean the vaccine caused it. For example, someone died in a car crash.

There are some interesting things to know about anti viral medications. The available antivirals are by brand name, Tamiflu, Relenza and Flumadine. Their efficacy in treating symptoms is associated with the type of flu. It is important to know which flu strain a patient has before prescribing an antiviral. In recent cases where resistance to Tamiflu was found, it was in patients who had been exposed to that medicine in the past, so it may be the right drug to use in persons with swine flu who have not been previously exposed to it. (therefore, don't take it for minor things!)

It is thought that of the 22 million Americans who have been infected with H1N1, 3900 have died and 198 were children. Most of the time it is a bacterial infection that caused the death. This is important. The infection can be treated if identified soon enough.

In an evaluation of some data out of Australia, a clear difference in who was hospitalized because of serious complications with H1N1 than seasonal flu was noted. For example, the median age of those admitted was 43 and of those who died, 53. With regular flu, most deaths occur in the elderly. This may not repeat itself in the US, but it is something to consider.

The second wave of H1N1 has died down, though it is still considered at epidemic levels (affecting many people at the same time). There may or may not be a third wave. We have not yet had an uptake in seasonal flu. Health experts fear that the two strains of flu will occur together and complicate treatment efforts.

It is recommended and strongly encouraged by health agencies that persons get a vaccine for both strains. Only persons who had the H1N1 flu (proved by testing) can skip that vaccine.

Oh, the flu is approaching its 50th week and in this time, 99 percent of the cases that were tested for subtype WERE the swine flu - or more technically 2009 Influenza A (H1N1).

Eat right, exercise, sleep, drink water, wash your hands, cough into your elbow... etc..

Colorectal Cancer Deaths Decline

Several non profit cancer research, surveillance and advocacy/ educational organizations put out a report this week stating that deaths from colorectal cancer had declined and were expected to continue to do so.

I am writing about it today because someone at my office printed the article but never took it off the copy machine so I thought - hmmm, I guess someone should take that article and read it, so I did.

Here is what concerns me. The scientists never say that the incidence of this cancer has gone down or will go down, only that deaths from it will. That is of course good news, I just wish it were better news.

Chemotherapy and surgery are used to treat this cancer and most of us know that the intervention is not without complications, risks or unpleasantness. Early detection is important as well and that requires a colonoscopy and or a blood fecal occult test. Insurance coverage for testing and treatment will certainly affect the outcomes as well.

The authors of the report, which is considered too optimistic by some, for the reasons I noted above (early detection and access to treatment), include the American Cancer Society, The National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries.

In a recent blog post of mine, the number one cancers by incidence and death were noted.

The number one cause of death in our country is not cancer, but heart disease. Cancer is the second leading cause of death and in that category, more persons DIE from lung cancer than any other (because it is hard to detect and then harder still to maintain or treat). Colorectal (colon and rectum) cancer deaths were the second leading cancer death in 2006. In case you forget, for women, breast is next and for men,prostate (except with the change noted here, the 2009 estimates move breast cancer deaths into second for women). Still breast cancer has good survival rates because of early detection and treatment while prostate cancer isn't necessarily cured, but grows slow enough so that the patient dies from something else first, like heart disease.

Anyway, the reason some persons feel that the assertion made in the report of a 50% decline in colorectal deaths from the year 2000 to 2020 is because the leading causes of the disease may not be addressed as fervently as they need to be.

The situations that put a person most at risk for this cancer are : smoking, being obese and eating red meat more than twice a week or more than 6 to 8 ounces a week. Are you making the necessary modifications in your life style? Seriously, because those are the same things that increase your risk for a heart attack.

Staging

I am once again about to travel. This trip is going to be very quick and I will actually have more time to blog both Friday and Saturday than I feel I have right now. [I will be on a three hour plane ride both days!]

So when I travel, as you already know, I pack my lunch box more seriously then I do my suitcase and when staying in a hotel I find out about the fitness opportunities and request a room with a refrigerator and microwave. It is easier for me to travel and stay at hotels then to stay with family, but tomorrow night I will be with family. (because as a guest it is hard to make special requests but as a paying customer... well , that is different)

What I do to get ready for a trip is what one of my quit smoking clients recently referred to as "staging". She has also been recovering from polysubstance dependence and learned the term there. But she uses the staging to help her to feel more comfortable with being a dinner guest also. She will call the hostess and gently remind her that she is a vegetarian and ask if she may bring a dish to share or inquire as to what the menu may be. It could sound rude, but the other way to look at it is being"thoughtful" . My client does not eat meat, what if they served her a nice juicy steak. An embarrassing moment would occur! She has also used this technique to help her avoid some triggers that might increase the chance of a smoking relapse. She recently called ahead and asked if the couple still allowed smoking in their house. [very few people do you know] But she said that she had recently quit smoking and it was hard for her sometimes and that is why she was asking. [instead of sounding like a reformed and hostile ex smoker!] In fact, the hostess told her that since so many of their friends HAD quit smoking, they had decided to only let people smoke in the garage...

So staging. Make the event as "safe" as you can, set the stage for your success, and then be prepared for things that may work against you.

Tomorrow I am going to be in good hands. I am staying with my niece who has already asked me what I would like for breakfast and called to tell me that she would have a salad for me at her party and what would I like on it (as opposed to eating the baked ziti OR BBQ pork). Incredible and thoughtful young woman! I told her it was really okay, that I always had my lunch box and I would not go hungry. She probably remembers our last big family party when my Mom commandeered the wait staff and demanded I be brought a salad because I did not eat whatever it was they served. It was embarrassing, but MAN the salad was indeed beautiful.

Anyways, my niece said to me, no bother, no worries, it is what families do for each other. Ah but that is not always true. Some people in my family would rather I just get over myself and eat what every body else is eating. SO, staging...........because in the end - you are the only one that lives in your skin and you have to be loyal to what makes that work for you.

HRT and Damages

Pfizer currently owns companies that produce hormone replacement therapies, both with estrogen alone and with combination estrogen -progestin. According to an article in the New York Times (D. Wilson) earlier this week, there are over 10,000 lawsuits pending in this country (USA) over Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) and breast cancer. In the same article it was said that 10 out of 12 cases that went to jury were concluded in favor of the women. The pills still bring in over a billion dollars a year, though at one time that was closer to 2 billion. Even after a case was lost this week, Pfizer's shares were UP!

What I find fascinating is that the hormone pills, though found to be a causal factor in breast cancer, are still FDA approved for use in treating menopausal symptoms. What has changed since the Women's Health Initiative study uncovered the link, is the label. The label on the product now cautions that the pills should be used at the lowest dose for the shortest amount of time.

Women who are involved in the lawsuits used HRT for years, as was once the standard of care. The lawsuits are often twofold. There is compensation claims and there is punitive damages. Some lawyers are alleging that the companies, Wyeth and Pharmacia, knew the risks before the federal government stepped in and they tried to down play them.

Pfizer contends that the handful of cases that they have lost will be overturned on appeal because they are not doing anything wrong. One point they make is that the drug is STILL FDA approved for use. Now how can you argue with that and WHY is that?

Odds and Ends

Well this week I am ensconsed in my very own chair in my very own living room and I like that better. I just have a few points to offer, and I have to say, the majority are owed to ONE source - a friend and blog reader, JESS, who kept me busy with her "need to see" links this week. She knows me and this blog...

Let's start then with what she sent me:

Pop the Pig: I am not a parent and may have missed this if not for someone sending it to me. It was an advertisement for an actual toy. I cannot believe this isn't an SNL skit. Nope, instead of Kerplunk, which is what I played, we have Pop the Pig. Children take turns, maybe by rolling the dice, to put little plastic cheeseburgers or burgers into a pigs mouth until eventually, someone will put the one burger in that POPS the pig. OMG, you just cannot be serious>>>>>

FEASTING: Again, I didn't find this on my own, but my friend did while watching Mary Poppins. I assure you, I watched the musical when I was young. In the show there is a line that is VERY relevant not just for this Thursday but for ANY day and it is, "Sometimes enough IS a feast." Amen sister. Let me add, sometimes the conversation is the feast!

Sesame Street: Well, I could be wrong, but I think it was from SS. They have little skits about healthy eating, drinking and exercise, so there is hope. The skits are by the Organ Wise Guys.

Meridia: Another FDA alert reached my mailbox in the last two days. This warns of some adverse cardiovascular outcomes with the weight loss drug Meridia. Let me copy the message right in the text:
FDA notified healthcare professionals and patients that it is reviewing preliminary data from a recent study suggesting that patients using sibutramine have a higher number of cardiovascular events (heart attack, stroke, resuscitated cardiac arrest, or death) than patients using a placebo (sugar pill). Sibutramine is marketed as Meridia, a prescription drug, in the United States. Meridia was approved by FDA in 1997 for the management of obesity, including weight loss and maintenance of weight loss, in conjunction with a reduced calorie diet. Meridia is only recommended for obese patients with an initial body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m2, or BMI ≥ 27 kg/m2 with other risk factors (e.g., diabetes, high cholesterol, controlled high blood pressure).The analysis of these data is ongoing and FDA is making no conclusions about the preliminary findings at this time. These findings highlight the importance of avoiding the use of sibutramine in patients with a history of coronary artery disease (heart disease), congestive heart failure (CHF), arrhythmias, or stroke, as recommended in the current sibutramine labeling.

Smoking and Weight Control: The above blurb reminded me of something else that occured to me this week. A report was released with the most recent rates of obesity per state. I noticed that the states with the highest rates of obesity, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee - were ALSO the states with the highest smoking prevelance. Which begs the question or challenge- "If smoking keeps you thin, why are the states with the most smokers the fattest?" And the answer is .....Because - food makes you fat or thin - PERIOD>

Testing: This week recommendations regarding mammograms and Pap smears were released and the former still has everyone in an uproar and the latter, less so. Now the politicians are getting involved. You know, we have to do this research and we have to let people tell us the results without fear of being blackballed over it.

Nails: One of few indulgences that I allow myself, and only in the last two years, is an eyebrow wax. [i am Italian and unibrows are NOT attractive]. I never have my nails done, no mannis and peddis for me... I do not always go to the same shop, but the women seem to all be Asian and often Vietnamese. I went today. The young girl exclaimed that she remembered me. I was the one that liked to exercise (once I went there after a run at the beach). She gave me lots of compliments about looking young and healthy, etc. She said not everybody was like that. I knew what she meant, though she did struggle finding her words. I summed it up for her with this observation, "Some people care more about their nails then their bodies."

I may not post on Thanksgiving - but I will try to keep it up till then. Be mindful to exercise and eat right before AND after your holiday - it is just a day.... all bets should not be off because of it.

Odds and Ends

I observed a beach cleanup this weekend which involved a group of children who appeared to be middle school aged. They did a great job and obviously learned about our environment and the effects of littering and pollution. The cleanup occurred at one of Florida’s tobacco free beaches. I was dismayed however when I saw that their reward included French fries, Fritos and soda. I bet they would have loved some water melon and a cool water bottle.

Speaking of food! I made it through airport security in Tampa with all my food this time. I did not try any freezer pack but was happy to eat my Wasa crackers and Laughing Cow 35 calorie cheese wedge on the plane. Other items in my lunch bag included, grapes, an orange, veggie lunch meat, string cheese, two or three cookies (low cal of course), a granola bar and self made peanut butter crackers. Well… I was going from Tampa to Madison WI. Oh and there is a grocery store one half mile from my hotel.

Speaking of traveling J I was rather stunned at the amount of disabled persons at the airport. I guess because it was the second time I have traveled recently and have seen a lot of older persons in wheel chairs. I do not remember it this way. I guess itI could be for a number of reasons. There are more older persons and there are more diseases related to poor lifestyles that can lead to disability. I read today that there were 12 million persons aged 65 and older who were considered disabled.

To follow up on my breastfeeding blog yesterday I want to give the definition of exclusive breastfeeding that is used to conduct the studies. Exclusive breastfeeding, based on the WHO definition , refers to the practice of feeding only breast milk (including expressed breast milk) and allows the baby to receive vitamins, minerals or medicine. Water, breast milk substitutes, other liquids and solid foods are excluded. Also, I failed to mention yesterday that the issue with the infant formula in Vietnam also included advertisements that allude to outcomes of intelligence and height in children who are given the formula……….

In regards to disability, much can be prevented by adopting an exercise routine. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans includes recommendations for every single age group and the disabled. Even older persons are encouraged to do 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity 5 days a week. There is no UPPER limit, the guidelines states that more is better. The minimal 30 x 5, the better 60 x5 and the exchange is vigorous activity instead of moderate at 25 x 3 or 25 x 6. (that is minutes per day but 150 minutes or 300 minutes total of moderate, 75 to 150 vigorous, it is better to spread it out though)

Health Care Reform bills are promoting measures to include wellness programs and disease prevention. It is hoped that after passage of a bill, insurance companies will cover these types of programs and providers will be compensated for encouraging weight maintenance and physical activity. Now, to overcome the providers’ reluctance to “hurt your feelings” we may have to pay a lot… plus an additional reward for providers taking their own advice!

A Change of Plan

The Wellness Weekly is getting a makeover, in fact, it will cease to be. Ironically, I began doing a weekly news update because of how fast new research was coming out and how important it was to keep people in the know. That is all still true but blogging has also emerged since I began writing in 2000 and my understanding is, the more you blog, the better your blog will be. So:
I am going to try to blog on current issues more frequently, ideally that would be daily. Instead of keeping my bits of paper for the weekend, I will share research and thoughts as it or they come to me. And you know by now, my opinions are without limit.

My hope is to one day be a self employed health and wellness advocate and when that happens I should be able to greatly improve the blog entries.
Research and teaching are my great passions. I would hope to increase my knowledge constantly and then not only write, but also speak at conferences and consult with communities. This is very important because I am not able to reach a significant portion of the population by Internet and they need this service as much if not more than my web based audience.

My topics for the blogs will include anything that can improve a person's lifestyle in order to avoid disease or to improve disease outcome. I will share research on medication and supplements as well as side effects; on prevention screening; on health promoting foods and how to cook them; on exercise and where and how to start and more. At times I will dedicate a page to a recipe, but will post most of my food videos on You Tube.

I have added a few links this week and changed a few things along the side of the blog.

Next time I will talk about one of the stories I followed this week, but all this change talk has wore me out for now.

wellness weekly

Okay back to the regular news and a video meal:

The News:

Prescription Drugs: I believe that anyone who has read at least three of my blog entrees, even ones from the early 00s, knows that I have a very strong inclination against prescription drugs. It is also true that when a disease can be controlled or cured and quality life years added, I support pharmacotherapy. That is my little disclaimer I guess. I don’t want people to think that I never advocate for meds. I am not doing so today however. This past week has been a disturbing one in several ways. One big pharma is reported to have paid less taxes than one would expect due to a certain way that they closed a deal, and another kept worrisome clinical trial results hidden from people taking a certain antipsychotic drug. By the way, this is NOT the first case like that. Another company is in trouble for over charging Medicaid. All are being investigated. I also spoke to a man this week who listed six or seven prescription meds he has to take, though he couldn’t name any chronic disease that he had. Another woman told me that the doctor keeps putting her adult daughter on more and more meds and is stymied because she isn’t losing weight. The mother said to me, “He doesn’t understand. She eats like a pig.” Another woman told me how when she was first diagnosed with emphysema, she continued to smoke and could not make her inhaler last for the whole month. On a positive note, she told me that she has quit smoking and hardly needs to use the inhaler. That is EXACTLY why it is never too late to quit smoking. If you have a disease and are in treatment for it, that treatment will be more effective if you stop the activity that is causing the disease. I know, I am so smart. Back to the drug companies, one of them markets an inhaler for COPD in TV commercials and actually says during the commercial that the medicine can be used by current smokers. WHAT?!?!?! Too many meds, too many side effects, and too little personal responsibility. Remember, at least four of the ten leading causes of death and disability CAN and should be prevented.

Omega 3s: I want to say more about this today. First I advise that you read a little more from a trusted source, i.e, a non profit volunteer agency that does not also sell supplements! The American Heart Association. Here is a direct link: Fish and Omega-3 Fatty Acids. I want to revisit this for two reasons. First, last week I reported that Dr. K Cooper said in his lecture that everyone needs to take Omega 3s in supplement form and that the dose is 1g per day. I know he said 1 gram and that it should be 60% DHA/EPA, both of those statements are supported in other literature but the AHA has different dosage recommendations based on an individuals health. According to the AHA for example, I do not need to take the supplement but someone wanting to reduce their LDL or with existing heart disease should. Also they recommend even higher doses for some people, with physician supervision. You must make your own educated decisions. But here is the second thing I want to emphasize. The amount and type of Omega 3 that these companies are adding to your bread, eggs, milk and whatnot, are both WRONG. I checked out a milk carton today that very boastfully claimed 36 mg of Omega 3, well, great, where are you going to get the other 964 mg you need to get 1 GRAM. One place is in salmon, but oh my gosh, there is another awesome link on the AHA, it lists mercury content in one column and omega 3 in the other (by gram). This is wonderful and the kind of info I need to bring out to the community. Fish, Levels of Mercury and Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Device Recall Hits ‘em Where it Hurts: Drugs and devices, both types of companies can get seedy with their direct to consumer advertising and their doctor pandering. More reason to eat your fish and not your chips! We have had recalls of pacemaker batteries, wires that misfire, defibrillators, stents that reclog and more, but this time Medtronic got in trouble with a bone graft device that doctors recommended and used for off label conditions. They can do that, but the concern is that they may have been paid consulting or speaking fees and indirectly marketed the device for a treatment for which it was not FDA approved. Things have gotten bad because a lot of adverse health outcomes were reported for the off label use. Seriously, the FDA didn’t seem that keen on the device for the regular use either. This off label stuff is serious business, I myself had to sign a disclaimer before talking to docs about tobacco addiction treatment. Anyway, according to the WSJ this week, there has been a near 70% profit drop for Medtronic and jobs are being cut.
Fitness: Just a short bit to remind you that physical fitness is measured by muscle strength and endurance as well as flexibility and cardiovascular conditioning. It is important and imperative to good health to exercise your heart. Cardiovascular activity, what we often think of as aerobic, includes activities that get your heart rate up. A weight bearing exercise is not necessarily cardio and cardio is not necessarily weight bearing. What does weight bearing have to do with it? Weigh bearing exercises help men and women prevent bone loss. So running is an example of both cardio and weight bearing while swimming and cycling are just cardio. Of course walking can really get your heart rate up and you can cycle without increasing your heart rate much. Effort counts! Weight training for fitness is not the same as weight training for a competition. Ladies, relax, really, you won’t bulk up unless you spend hours and hours and hours in the gym weekly. Flexibility can be gained through simple stretches, yoga, pilates, etc. Whatever You are willing to do. You can work your core also without doing crunches, by doing the plank for example.

Okay then what are you doing? Don’t just sit there you have diseases to prevent…


Live Well
Deirdre

the following video is a dinner I put together after work one day. enjoy

Wellness Weekly

The News:

Migraines and Me: Today I do not have a headache…. I have not known such gratefulness since I experienced severe back pain, which also resolved. A long time ago, pre 2002, I had a migraine on Christmas Day… my first. After that experience I would always be clear in stating that I had a severe headache or even a submigraine, from time to time, but having had a migraine I would NEVER mis categorize a headache. Since that Christmas Day I may have had two more migraines and I have never sought assistance for them as I am determined NOT to be someone who suffers from migraines. That changed this week. I have had more migraines in the last ten days than in my over 40 years of life. I did everything I usually do and could not barrel through them. I saw my doctor. Good news is that he believes something in the environment triggered a severe episode that just cascaded into migraine after migraine with remission but not resolution. He did say we had to break the cycle. He did say we had to do it with a medication. Readers know that I do not do prescription medication. And my bigger fear is (was) to become someone who has to keep medication on hand. He believed that this is or was an isolated incident and I trust him in that. I also appreciate how he presented the options, there were three. He discussed cost, side effects and other people’s responses. I accepted a sample of a medicine by Pfizer… I know, that alone almost killed me, but I was beyond my capacity to withstand any more pain. I am a distance runner.. I CAN endure pain and thus it was THAT bad. So I took my samples home and I took the first pill and lied (or laid) there two hours waiting for it to work. I was under the impression that I was going to have almost immediate relief and feel like I took morphine or something. HA. The pain trickled away, it did not stop abruptly. That was Wednesday night. Thursday I was traumatized and scared to tears that it would come back… today I feel somewhat more confident. I am writing mostly to address the prescription drug issue as I continue to think pills should be a very last resort, that they are entirely too expensive and the side effects are not to be taken lightly. That being said, Wednesday I did not read the label of my new medicine. The doctor warned of GI upset and that I thought would be tolerable. I can tell you that as I lie there I considered that this prescription drug could kill me and I did not care. So maybe this experience offers me a little empathy to why some people risk horrible side effects when they take meds though it does not change my belief that wherever possible prevention of disease is the better “medicine”.
Attention Parents: Childhood Obesity: I am taking a course through the University of Tennessee for my health educator credential (CEUs) and have a few interesting pearls to share with you. The course is taught by MDs, RDs, and PhDs. Dr. Velasquez-Mieyer noted that what we see in adults started as children. Dayle Hayes, M.S., R.D. encourages people who are concerned about children’s nutrition to join their school health advisory committee, also known as SHAC. And Dr. Hollie Raynor offers important strategies for dealing with the treatment of obesity in children. Dr. Raynor is by far my favorite lecturer in this series. She and her team do provide intensive treatment to overweight elementary school aged children. They do this within the university setting and thus can apply rigorous research protocols as well. There are things in her methodology that you can apply at home right now whether or not your child is obese. This includes focusing on behaviors. For example, she does have young children weigh themselves (not a standard thing you should do, this is for children in a targeted obesity treatment program) but when there is a 2 pound weight loss, for example, she offers positive reinforcement and encourages the child to pinpoint what behavior may have led to that. Which of the actions is the cause of the weight change - less TV time, more walking or riding the bike, or even more green foods then red foods (my favorite traffic light program!)? It is also part of this family centered program that the parents adopt the SAME behavior as the child. If the child has to eat less of the red foods, so does the parent! Parents must also increase the physical activity. Even better, she talks about covert and overt food restriction. Dr. Raynor prefers covert. Covert restriction involves not having the food in the house at all. Overt is like buying ice cream but telling the child they can’t have any. This might lead to tantrums and all kinds of issues, but if the food isn’t there it isn’t there! Sure they might eat it somewhere else, but they aren’t eating it at home. Another good point she made was that in children we want to change the food preference. So there may be a less bad option of a food, say baked chips instead of regular chips, but they are still chips. Don’t serve chips! Changing preferences. Serve wheat and or whole grain bread, no other kind. I could go on. Ok one last thing. We want kids to be more active, so TVs out of their bedrooms and action toys available. If they like to ride their bike, then make sure the tires are good and the bike is easily accessible.
Generics: Okay, even though Pfizer appears to have helped me out, I am not going to abandon my quest for fairness with pharmaceuticals. I am happy then to report that there are a few versions of bills circulating in the US Congress which attempt to stop drug companies from paying generic makers to HOLD OFF on the release of their cheaper versions. Often times during this extension, the brand name company works to tweak the medicine in question, as I have described before, perhaps making it a long acting type or a liquid type and then convincing the user that they need the new kind. So months later the generic of the medicine you have taken for years is available but your doctor has switched you to the extended release formula and the generic doesn’t come in that. What a bunch of bunk. I hope this is addressed by our legislators.
HFCS: High Fructose Corn Syrup is bad. We don’t really need to get into the hows and whys, but it is a highly processed thing and is worse than sugar, even simple white sugar. I bring it up now because I made a comment at work this week regarding one of my favorite portion controlled snacks. These sugar wafer cookies made and or marketed by a Mexican company are lower in calories than other brands. Four of the wafers (chocolate, strawberry or vanilla) have 120 calories. They are long and thin and compared to other sugar wafers, even ones that say they are sugar free, these have less calories. I think the label must be wrong. Still, one of my awesome coworkers (many of my coworkers are indeed awesome) said it is because the other types have HFCS and that is more caloric. HMM. Intuitively I think that the corn syrup is just a big vat of sticky sweet stuff and way high in cals yes, but wouldn’t that mean you’d use less of it than you would sugar. I did check my cookie label, and YES Beth is right so far… NO HFCS. Now, let me do a little Google check and see if I learn anything to uphold the theory…. BRB>>>>>>>>>>>
Oh My Gosh. I should have seen this coming…now HFCS is still evil, but it does not have more calories than sugar, in fact it has less. Sugar is a carb with 4 kcals per gram while HFCS has 3/g. So I started looking up all the sugar wafers, esp. the sugar free ones, which mine are not. The culprit isn’t the sugar it is FAT. Mine have 4g of fat per serving whereas the Voortman and Murray…have 8g. That is it right there; they replaced the sugar with fat. I will be damned. Oh and be assured it is not monounsaturated fat. Now I am not claiming my Mexican sugar cookies are a green (GO) food, but that I like sweets too and these are lower in calories. YEAH! Remember neither fat free nor sugar free means calorie free and yes, there is more calorie per gram of fat than sugar – 5 more to be exact.

Okay, let’s do some cooking. A Stir Fry Volumetrics Dinner is featured today.

Ingredients include:

Spices: Onion and Garlic Powder, Cumin and Turmeric
Veggies: Zucchini, Sweet Potato, Red Pepper
Stir Fry ingredients: Shredded cabbage, onion, mushroom and tomato
Protein: Smart Strips steak style (found in the produce section – no nitrates)
Fruit: Apple with Waldon Farms SF Marshmallow Dip

Oh non fat spray and water is also needed.

That will bring us to today’s cooking video. The point of these videos is to assist you in eating food, lots of food really, without adding non nutritive and even disease promoting extras.. like saturated FAT and sugar.
BTW, I may have had one of those headaches in this video… I apologize if I am less than bubbly today. Seriously.

Live Well
Deirdre

Wellness Weekly with video recipe

Most of the articles that caught my eye this week, or my ire, as it were, appeared in the Wall St Journal or on My Yahoo homepage. Interestingly, I emailed the reporter for one of the stories so I could have more information for my readers. I will hit a few highlights, but I also want to provide a little history about this blog site and newsletter.
I began writing a weekly email newsletter in 2000 and it was first for the Social Work / Case Management Dept at WFUBMC. I was the department’s appointed wellness ambassador for our Action Health (employee wellness) program. Things rather cascaded from there. I received some fitness and nutrition certifications (nothing gold standard) and the newsletter went out to a lot more people and was also at one time posted at two Fitness Centers, in NC. Originally it ended with a recipe. I put many recipes together into a small cook book as well. At the time I was a social worker doing some personal training and catering on the side. In 2004 I went back to college, to grad school and received the Public Health master’s and the credential of Certified Health Education Specialist. This blog came about because many people wanted to keep getting their “News” even as I moved to FL and my web page attempt was tedious.. My goal has been the same for four or five years now, and is the premise of the blog. I want only to prevent disease or progression of disease in myself and the people I know and the people with whom I share this world. My next goal is to have this influence as an “expert” but for now, I do it as I can and as a layperson. Many times I share my ideas about food with my friends, coworkers and family. I have a gift.. I am sure that I do. I can revise any recipe and make it healthier. I have learned tricks on the preparation and the selection of foods. I believe 100% in the Volumetrics concept of Dr. B. Rolls and not at all in any dieting. My cooking tricks, techniques and ideas are hard to put in writing and for some time I have considered video taping my cooking. If you checked in lately, you can see that I have taken a stab or two at doing just that. As I work to make this better I do have to wonder about the balance between the news and the cooking.. or I might find a way to compartmentalize. Bear with me as once again the Weekly News, now nine years old, gets a makeover. Today’s column will end with my most famous and historic recipe, Cereal Bars, with a demo video.

The News:

Treating Stroke: Tom Burton of the Wall St Journal described an interesting debate regarding what is the best treatment for preventing a stroke. This is timely as we hear talk about effective treatment and comparative research. Tom noted a study that compared surgery to stenting but which does not answer the question about drug therapy as the third option. In the article, Tom explains the stenting. This is to insert a small metal tube in the neck to open the blocked artery. We have spoken of stents a lot so you know the risks with them. This is also known as something that is noninvasive, but to me, a tube in my arteries IS invasive. The surgery has been around a long time and is considered effective for clearing clogged arteries. [just writing this scares hell out of me and is exactly why I eat the way I do] The surgery is referred to as a carotid endarterectomy and Tom says that this cutting open the artery and then cutting away the fatty plaque is “pretty routine”. A third option is the use of medication. There is some evidence that drugs like statins can keep the plaque from building up more and in some cases may even reduce it. The next step would be in evaluating if the drugs, the endarterectomy or the stents prevent the most strokes and of course, which have the highest adverse outcomes. Now if this doesn’t make you want to avoid high fat foods I don’t know what will. And that would be the fourth option, preventing plaque buildup in the first place.

Knees and Knee Parts: I am sure that there are people who receive knee replacements and have an improved quality of life, I haven’t met them. Research comparing physical therapy to arthroscopic knee surgery, for instance, did not show a better outcome for surgery. I have said this before but here again… some people choose surgery over physical therapy HOWEVER<>

Speak Up: This week also brought an article that encourages the recipients of health care, you and me, to speak up about the quality even to a white coat. Yes, it is okay to say, gee Doc could you wash your hands please? In reading this article I recalled one time that I did not speak up and wished I had and others where I do speak up but have a hard time being heard. The first was ten or more years ago when my Dad was in the hospital and had to have his blood taken. The phlebotomist (I think that is the term) did not wear gloves. I remember thinking that he must think my dad is a safe stick, because he is 70ish etc, but that doesn’t mean the person drawing the blood was “safe”. More personally, because I am a health educator and study this stuff, I know that to get a good blood pressure read, the patient should be seated for several minutes and their arm should be at a 90 degree angle. How many times do you walk in and right away the cuff is placed for the BP?

Colds: I like oh so much to be right, so let me share some info from Melinda Beck’s Health Journal from Tuesday. Basically, it is ok, even beneficial, to work out when you have a cold, she said swim or run. It is not helpful to take those supplements and herbals that claim to protect you from getting colds or shorten their duration. Research supports that getting plenty of exercise, sleep and vitamin D (some from sunlight for sure) is protective for preventing colds or minimizing symptoms and duration. To ease symptoms these three things were suggested, decongestant sprays, hot beverages and acetaminophen. The researcher stated that there was no evidence to support use of antihistamines or cough medicines. True that.

Ok that is enough news.

Here is the recipe. These cereal bars are, in my opinion, wonder bars. They keep you feeling full, they level your blood sugar, they assist in the removal of LDL cholesterol and they keep you regular, which would intuitively also protect against colon cancer and a cranky mood. [omg, I crack myself up]. Let me add a disclosure, what I mean to say is that the ingredients in these bars will do the above, the bars themselves have not been used in a research study… yet.

Cereal Bars

1 ¾ c Kashi Good Friends Cereal (in red box) or Kashi Go Lean

3 c All Bran original

½ c loose oat bran (buy at a whole foods store)

1/4 c skim milk plus 1+ cup water

¼ c Waldon Farms sugar and calorie free syrup

1/4 c apple sauce(no sugar added)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 c egg substitute

mix all together in a bowl and pour into 8 ½ by 11 inch pan that has been thoroughly sprayed with butter flavored non-fat cooking spray. Bake at 375 about 40 / 45 min, if spring to touch they are done. When completely cooled, place on cutting board, cut in half and then each half into 12 bars, will have Approx. 40 calories each and about 4 g of fiber. (I use a brown glass dish and I cool over night in the fridge for easier cutting. These are small, cut into twelve pieces for 80 cals each).

Very important note, before you add the milk/water mixture (last) have the oven heated and the pan sprayed so that as soon as you stir it you fold it into the pan and place in oven, otherwise, the water is quickly absorbed by the cereals and it’ll dry out. The mixture should be wet, but not too loose. It’ll be trial and error. I use almost 2 cups of milk/water mix.

Wellness Weekly

The Brain: I took note of a researcher’s recommendation while reading an article about the aging brain. The study was in regards to loss of attention, distraction and remembering. The science community is a bit concerned about the depth of this problem when baby boomers, as they are now, start turning 65 and older. It is expected that in the year 2050 the largest age group will be those over 65. Interesting. If they age well this could be good, though it is not expected that the majority will. My notes were that the brain can be protected if its host stimulates it with mental challenges, like learning new things or doing cross word puzzles and by exercising and eating food that is nutrient but not calorie dense. Sounds like a hell of a motivator to me.
Alcohol: Quick regurgitation here. Research states that women who have more than two drinks a day significantly increase their chance of having the type of irregular heart beat that can lead to stroke. It did not say that drinking was bad, it said that too many drinks is bad. Please recall serving sizes for alcohol. Wine is 4 ounces, beer is 12 and liquor is 1.5. Measure your drinks if you have to. Your life may depend on it. (by the way, saving your one to two drinks a day for one or two weekend days, NOT RECOMMENDED)
Tobacco and Pregnancy: I read a few things on this topic in the past week, some new, some older. First, it is a fact according to our US Surgeon General’s reports, that maternal smoking and exposure to second hand smoke can lead to low birth weight babies. It is also true by research, that low birth weight babies are 20 to 25% more likely to die in the first years of life than normal weight babies. In regards to poor birth outcomes it is also said that the mother’s weight is a factor. An overweight or obese mother has twice the chance of an adverse pregnancy outcome than an underweight mother. In regards to tobacco use again, very new research which should be tested through repetition, has shown that the adult children of mothers who smoked or who were exposed to significant amounts of second hand smoke, have artery changes indicative of heart disease. When you add that to the fact that many of those children were sedentary and overweight as well, the assertion that the generation will not live longer than the one before seems to gain credence.
Assistive Devices: The WSJ had a feature this week on devices that may make it easier for those baby boomers to age in place, in their homes, even though they may have some physical limitations as they get older. There were some interesting items and appliances in the works, however, the note I wrote regarded Moen’s special grab bars that will hold the weight of a 350 pound person. Now they would not be spending the money to make these special grab bars if they did not think there was a market for them. Pretty much I don’t know of many people who could be considered at a healthy weight if they were more than 200 pounds at any height, so that pretty much sums up a lot of our problems doesn’t it.
5210: This was explained to me in passing (ok, it wasn’t really in passing, it was while I was having my two beers and I wasn’t taking notes) so I may not get it just right. There is a right way as it is a campaign by one of our respected health and wellness agencies. The gist is that we should strive, on a daily basis, to have 5 fruits and vegetables, no more than 2 hours of screen time, at least 1 hour of physical activity and 0 sugary drinks. Pretty neat.


Happy Weekend
Don’t smoke!
Eat Well
Move more

Weekly Wellness

Alzheimer’s Nursing Homes and Psychotropcis: There has been some press regarding off label use of anti psychotic medications in the elderly, especially older persons with Alzheimer’s disease. AD is a progressive, debilitating, brain illness. Basically the brain degenerates. Tissue actually dies and on a SPEC or PET scan one can see black spaces where brain matter should be. For whatever reason, some patients with dementia have significant behavioral problems. [Well, it actually makes sense in the same way that people who have brain trauma and lose brain matter often act out]. Sometimes in the AD cases, the behavior is related to an acute illness, like a delirium. Many times persons not familiar with geriatrics mistake these acute symptoms for a progression of the Alzheimer’s or even a chronic Alzheimer’s feature. There are actually so many things that can be happening which do lead Assisted Living Facilities or Nursing Homes to bring these residents to the ER. I say all this because I was one of the people on a multidisciplinary psychiatry in patient team who sought to stabilize these people. Our role was to manage their symptoms and return them to long term care. It was often a fight to return them to the SAME facility. It is absolutely not as simple as some consumer groups would have us think. I whole heartedly agree that zyprexa, risperdal, haldol, abilify and the like should NOT be used. I argue that acute illness be ruled out first, upon examination, i.e. bowel and bladder disturbance, renal disease, and blood sugar extremes. Just because an 80 year old has a diagnosis of dementia does not mean they don’t have a urinary tract infection. I fully support efforts to change the environment in the facilities as well. Add staff to redirect wandering, excitable, confused and scared persons. Yes, more staff. Another problem is that hospitals and facilities are scared to death of falls and thus a medicated person who won’t get up is a lot better on so many levels than a frail walking un medicated one. But I digress. That kind of hands on, low resident to staff ratio seldom occurs, in doesn’t occur in Medicare Medicaid facilities. In the hospital, physicians are pressured to get the patient out as soon as possible and the long term care facilities won’t take an aggressive restless person back so the only solution is overmedication. Family members often agree to the meds because they have no other choice for “placement” as they call it. Thus now you know, it is NOT that simple. What is simple is this. Dementia is NOT a normal part of aging.

Fish – Fish OIL: Ironically, the health benefits associated with the Omega 3s in fish include heart and brain health. The question is yet unanswered as to if the fish oil capsules are as protective as the fish itself. A recent study still leaves room for doubt. It is very important again that one read beyond the headline. The study involved a small group, two groups, of women. Less than 30 people total and that is too small to allow for any type of population generalization. Any way. One group took capsules while the other got the same mg of Omega 3s in actual fish. Afterwards both groups had the same blood level concentration of Omega 3s. That does not answer the question, “ Is the effect the same?” A long term study would be needed for that and frankly; you don’t have time to wait for that. Eat your fish. They contain additional elements, protein, minerals, and yeah, well ok, a little mercury, cadmium…….. Oops.

SWEET! Oh I like this study from a place called Kaleida Health in Buffalo NY. Actually more than one study and the results are also more suggestive than causal. Oxidative stress and inflammation occur often in our bodies. Bad things like smoking cause it. But good things like exercise also cause it as do necessary things like eating. There appears to be an inflammation process to all cellular activity and free radical release. The accumulation of free radicals is quite harmful and inflammation in the blood (c reactive protein, homocystiene) can be a marker of heart disease. We also have a built in clean up effect, the antioxidant process which can be enhanced when we eat foods like blue berries and fruits and vegetables. Obese persons generally have more inflammation and high fat foods themselves increase oxidative stress, acutely. A healthy, active person of normal weight may still have an oxidative response when they eat, but it abates quickly. The researchers found that normal vs. obese subjects who ate the same high fat high calorie (1800) meal [meal? That is what I eat in a DAY] had the same spike but it lasted much longer in the obese group. That will increase their already higher risk of heart disease, and heart attack. However, there was also a study in which the same 1800 calories was in high fruit and high fiber and there was NO SPIKE. I don’t recall if that included both normal and overweight persons.

Radiation: It has been said that X-rays should not be used with reckless abandon as radiation exposure can change cells and damage DNA which is one way cancer can initiate. Now there is a concern about warning people who have been given radiopharmaceuticals. This would be chemotherapy as well as perhaps dyes used in bone scans. Apparently it leaves the patient a little radioactive themselves. Enough so that days and months later the person will set off an alarm at the airport. Doctors are being asked to warn persons of this possibility. Geez.