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Misc. News
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L.etter to E.ditor
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Nov 3, 2006, 10:45
D.iet & H.ealth
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C.ancer
Nutritionist: Drinking too much milk promotes cancer growth After 27 years of animal studies, Dr. T. Collin Campbell, Emeritus professor from Cornell University, came to a shocking conclusion that drinking too much milk promotes cancer growth. The details were revealed in his book titled "China Study". Dec 8, 2006, 22:47
F.ood & H.ealth
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T.echnologies
Mushrooms Have a Future in Fighting a Fowl Parasite Wide use of a mushroom extract to protect poultry against a major parasitic disease is now closer, thanks to an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist and her South Korean colleagues. Dec 8, 2006, 09:38
F.ood & H.ealth
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Agri. & Environ.
Pesticides linked to high risk of pediatric cancers Rare pediatric cancers have been found not so rare in a potato-farming community of 14,000 residents on the western tip of Canada's Prince Edward Island, Global and Mail reported Wednesday Dec. 6. Dec 7, 2006, 21:34
F.ood & H.ealth
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L.aws & P.olitics
Congress Passes Sober Truth on Preventing (STOP) Underage Drinking Act Passage of the STOP Act represents a long-overdue acknowledgement of the need to do more as a nation to address the harm caused by underage drinking. Unlike illicit drugs, for which we have a comprehensive government-wide strategy, there has been no credible national plan to combat alcohol problems, Dec 7, 2006, 19:01
D.iet & H.ealth
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C.ancer
High Protein Diets May Boost Cancer Risk Eating a low-protein diet may protect against certain cancers, while a diet high in protein may increase the risk for malignancies, a new study suggests. Dec 7, 2006, 14:36
Misc. News
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C.onsumer A.ffair
Cereal prices surge to highest levels in decade Cereal prices, particularly for wheat and maize, have reached levels not seen for a decade, according to FAO’s latest Food Outlook report. Dec 7, 2006, 14:32
D.iet & H.ealth
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B.ody W.eight
Nasal spray intended to treat obesity A Boston company named Compellis Pharmaceuticals said that it obtained an initial patent for a nasal spray that aims to treat obesity by blocking the olfactory activity in the nose, Boston.com reported Wednesday Dec. 6. Dec 7, 2006, 11:17
Misc. News
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C.onsumer A.ffair
Not to pile on Taco Bell, but how many times does lightening need to strike? In early December, 2000, Lake County Florida Health Department (LCHD) learned of seven hepatitis A cases, including five hospitalizations, in Lake and neighboring Sumter Counties in a two week span. During the previous two years, the total number of known hepatitis A cases in Lake County was twenty-two. Dec 7, 2006, 10:34
F.ood & H.ealth
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L.aws & P.olitics
FDA investigating E. colo 0157 infections linked with Taco Bell The Food and Drug Administration is assisting in the investigation of an outbreak of E. coli O157 infection in consumers associated with eating food from several Taco Bell restaurants in Northeastern states. Dec 6, 2006, 23:31
D.iet & H.ealth
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C.hildren & W.omen
Infants & Fluoride: New Warning from Dentists In a little-noticed but dramatic turnaround, the nation's leading fluoride advocate, The American Dental Association (ADA), issued an alert on November 9th urging parents to avoid fluoridated water when reconstituting infant formula. Dec 6, 2006, 15:46
Misc. News
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C.onsumer A.ffair
Taco Bell Removes Green Onions From Its Restaurants (HealthDay News) -- Preliminary tests have linked the E. coli outbreak at Taco Bell restaurants in three northeastern states to samples of green onions possibly contaminated with a harsh strain of the bacteria. Dec 6, 2006, 13:04
D.iet & H.ealth
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C.ancer
Eating greens may cut skin cancer risk Skin cancer survivors may halve their chance of relapse by eating lots of leafy green vegetables, a new Australian study suggests. Dec 6, 2006, 11:50
Misc. News
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C.onsumer A.ffair
Schools Getting Raw Deal from Bottlers Most school beverage deals aren't very lucrative, raising an average of only $18 per student per year, according to the first-ever multi-state analysis of school systems' contracts with beverage companies. Dec 6, 2006, 11:11
F.ood & H.ealth
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L.aws & P.olitics
Raw milk advocate says government made a big mistake Michael Schmidt, living off nothing but raw milk and water for almost two weeks, was cited as saying the provincial government is messing with the wrong man, adding, "They made a big mistake. They should have known that I'm very determined, and that the public is too well educated to buy all their crap. Dec 6, 2006, 11:07
F.ood & H.ealth
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L.aws & P.olitics
Give consumers choice in milk If consumers want raw milk so badly, then government should, according to this editorial, relax the rules and make it available. Dec 6, 2006, 11:00
Misc. News
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Non-f.ood Things
Minnesota Tops State Health Rankings For the fourth straight year, Minnesota has taken first place in state health rankings in the annual United Health Foundation report, which also found Americans 0.3 percent healthier in 2006 than they were last year. Dec 5, 2006, 16:47
F.ood & H.ealth
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L.aws & P.olitics
FSIS to Hold a Public Meeting to Help Define 'Natural' Label The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) today announced a public meeting to discuss a petition to establish a definition for the voluntary claim "natural" and to gather comments on conditions under which the claim should be allowed to be used on the labels of meat and poultry products. Dec 5, 2006, 16:38
Misc. News
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R.ecalls & A.lerts
Cleugh's Frozen Foods Inc. Recalls Frozen Strawberries Sold to Jamba Juice Cleugh's Frozen Foods Inc., Salinas, CA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SunOpta Inc. (NASDAQ-STKL) (TSX-SOY), today announced a voluntary recall of frozen strawberries sold exclusively to Jamba Juice for use in strawberry smoothies Dec 5, 2006, 16:21
Misc. News
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R.ecalls & A.lerts
Jamba Juice Issues Alert Regarding Strawberry Smoothies Jamba Juice of San Francisco, CA in consultation with the FDA is notifying the public that smoothies containing strawberries which were sold at its Jamba Juice stores in Arizona, Southern Nevada and Southern California between November 25 - December 1, 2006, may have been contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. Dec 5, 2006, 16:20
D.iet & H.ealth
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G.eneral H.ealth
Anorexia nervosa: what you need to know
A person with anorexia (a-neh-RECK-see-ah) nervosa, often called anorexia, has an intense fear of gaining weight. Someone with anorexia thinks about food a lot and limits the food she or he eats, even though she or he is too thin. Dec 5, 2006, 16:14
D.iet & H.ealth
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G.eneral H.ealth
Bulimia: What you need to know Bulimia (buh-LEE-me-ah) nervosa, often called bulimia, is a type of eating disorder. A person with bulimia eats a lot of food in a short amount of time (binges) and then tries to prevent weight gain by getting rid of the food, called purging. Dec 5, 2006, 16:09
F.ood & H.ealth
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L.aws & P.olitics
NYC Trans Fat, Calorie Labeling Initiatives Approved Congratulations to the New York City Board of Health, Health Commissioner Tom Frieden and Mayor Michael Bloomberg for adopting these bold new measures to promote the public’s health. When New York City's major chain restaurants comply with these sensible new regulations, I hope they make the changes nationwide. Dec 5, 2006, 13:17
April 10 (foodconsumer.org)- American scientists have developed a new tool to fight fat - a high intensity laser beam. This beam, which originates from a machine called a free-electron laser (FEL), targets and melts fat under the skin and could be the best weapon to fight heart disease, cellulite and acne.
This path breaking laser technique has been devised by researchers at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. Using this technique it is possible to target and melt fat without causing any adverse effects on the overlying skin.
The findings of this study are to be presented at the 26th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery (ASLMS) in Boston, Mass.
For the study, researchers conducted the experiment in two phases. In the first phase, they used surgically discarded normal tissue to extract human fat and exposed it to varying wavelengths in the fat absorption spectrum. This spectrum typically lies in the infrared laser light (800-2600 nanometers).
At the Free-Electron Laser facility at Jefferson Lab, the researchers tabulated the effect of the selected wavelengths on the fat and compared the results to similar experiments with pure distilled water. They found that the water was efficiently heated at most selected wavelengths. However, three wavelengths, 915, 1210 and 1720 nm were found to be more effective in heating fat than water.
In the second phase of the experiment, the researchers exposed fresh, intact pig skin-and-fat tissue samples to free-electron laser infrared light in the range of two wavelengths. The two inches thick samples were exposed to 1210 and 1720 nm of infrared laser light.
To ensure that the experiment was conducted in conditions that closely mirrored potential surgical conditions, the researchers placed the pig skin near a cold window, which served as a cold compress prior to laser beam exposure.
The skin was then zapped with beams of infrared laser light in the range of eight to 17 mm wide for 16 seconds. It is found that the 1210 nm wavelength was able to heat the pig fat to a depth of 1 cm without causing any adverse effect to the overlying skin.
At the same wavelength, the heat generated in the fat was twice that of the overlying skin, while at 1720 nm, it was 1.7 times that of the overlying skin. The researchers feel that the results of the study are proof of the fact that using selective photothermolysis (selectively heating tissues with light) has a myriad of medical applications.
According to Dr Rox Anderson, the lead author of the study and a practicing dermatologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the researchers are especially enthusiastic about use of this technique to target sebaceous glands, the principal cause of acne.
"The root cause of acne is a lipid-rich gland, the sebaceous gland, which sits a few millimeters below the surface of the skin," Anderson said. "We want to be able to selectively target the sebaceous gland, and this research shows that if we can build lasers at this region of the spectrum, we may be able to do that."
Dr Anderson is hopeful that the laser treatment could eventually replace the currently available treatment for acne, which uses a drug called isotretinoin (trade name Accutane). This particular drug has a number of adverse effects, most notably the high incidence of birth defects in children whose mothers have used the drug in pregnancy.
Dr. Anderson is also hoping that the treatment will work in diseases, which have a high degree of lipid-rich tissues like atherosclerosis, the leading cause of heart attacks and strokes. Atherosclerosis is the deposition of fatty plaques in blood vessels, which could be fatal when they rupture.
This artery disease kills over a million people every year. Previous attempts at using laser to treat the disease have ended in failure, but the current treatment promises to stabilize lipid plaques in a more efficient manner. "We can envision a fat-seeking laser, and we're heading down that path now," Anderson observed.
The laser therapy could also be an effective tool to combat unwanted cellulite, a dimpling of the skin caused by the deposition of fat in the dermis layer of the skin. The condition, also called orange peel effect, affects more than 85 percent of postpubescent females and is a cosmetic disaster. Previous therapies including liposuction have not offered any satisfactory remedy to this condition.
The researchers plan to develop laser devices that are capable of producing desirable fat-busting results, according to Dr Anderson.
