Grapefruit and Drugs Often Don't Mix - NYTimes.com

This is somewhat shocking information but you may see one of your medications on the list.  It is very informative to go to the list and compare the drugs you take currently with the list to protect yourself from harm.

List:  http://www.cmaj.ca/content/suppl/2012/11/26/cmaj.120951.DC1/grape-bailey-1-at.pdf

 

John Cohoe

The Consumer

Advice on money and health.

The patient didn’t overdose on medication.  She overdosed on grapefruit juice.

The 42-year-old was barely responding when her husband brought her to the emergency room. Her heart rate was slowing, and her blood pressure was falling.

Doctors had to insert a breathing tube, and then a pacemaker, to revive her.

They were mystified: The patient’s husband said she suffered from migraines and was taking a blood pressure drug called verapamil to help prevent the headaches. But blood tests showed she had an alarming amount of the drug in her system, five times the safe level.

Did she overdose? Was she trying to commit suicide? It was only after she recovered that doctors were able to piece the story together.

“The culprit was grapefruit juice,” said Dr. Unni Pillai, a nephrologist in St. Louis, Mo., who treated the woman several years ago and later published a case report.

“She loved grapefruit juice, and she had such a bad migraine, with nausea and vomiting, that she could not tolerate anything else.”

The previous week, she had been subsisting mainly on grapefruit juice. Then she took verapamil, one of dozens of drugs whose potency is dramatically increased if taken with grapefruit. In her case, the interaction was life-threatening.

Last month, Dr. David Bailey, a Canadian researcher who first described this interaction more than two decades ago, released an updated list of medications affected by grapefruit. There are now 85 such drugs on the market, he noted, including common cholesterol-lowering drugs, new anticancer agents, and some synthetic opiates and psychiatric drugs, as well as certain immunosuppressant medications taken by organ transplant patients, some AIDS medications, and some birth control pills and estrogen treatments. (The full list is online; your browser must be configured to handle PDF files.)

“What drove us to write this paper was the number of new drugs that have come out in the last four years,” said Dr. Bailey, a clinical pharmacologist at the Lawson Health Research Institute, who first discovered the interaction by accident in the 1990s.

How often such reactions occur, however, and how often they are triggered in people consuming regular amounts of juice is debated by scientists. Dr. Bailey believes many cases are missed because doctors don’t think to ask if patients are consuming grapefruit or grapefruit juice.

Even if such incidents are rare, Dr. Bailey argued, they are predictable and entirely avoidable. Many hospitals no longer serve juice, and some prescriptions carry stickers warning patients to avoid grapefruit.

“The bottom line is that even if the frequency is low, the consequences can be dire,” he said. “Why do we have to have a body count before we make changes?”

For 43 of the 85 drugs now on the list, consumption with grapefruit can be life-threatening, Dr. Bailey said. Many are linked to an increase in heart rhythm, known as torsade de pointes, that can lead to death. It can occur even without underlying heart disease and has been seen in patients taking certain anticancer agents, erythromycin and other anti-infective drugs, some cardiovascular drugs like quinidine, the antipsychotics lurasidone and ziprasidone, gastrointestinal agents cisapride and domperidone, and solifenacin, used to treat overactive bladders.

Taken with grapefruit, other drugs like fentanyl, oxycodone and methadone can cause fatal respiratory depression. The interaction also can be caused by other citrus fruits, including Seville oranges, limes and pomelos; one published case report has suggested that pomegranate may increase the potency of certain drugs.

Older people may be more vulnerable, because they are more likely to be both taking medications and drinking more grapefruit juice. The body’s ability to cope with drugs also weakens with age, experts say.

Under normal circumstances, the drugs are metabolized in the gastrointestinal tract, and relatively little is absorbed, because an enzyme in the gut called CYP3A4 deactivates them. But grapefruit contains natural chemicals called furanocoumarins, that inhibit the enzyme, and without it the gut absorbs much more of a drug and blood levels rise dramatically.

For example, someone taking simvastatin (brand name Zocor) who also drinks a small 200-milliliter, or 6.7 ounces, glass of grapefruit juice once a day for three days could see blood levels of the drug triple, increasing the risk for rhabdomyolysis, a breakdown of muscle that can cause kidney damage.

Estradiol and ethinyl estradiol, forms of estrogen used in oral contraceptives and hormone replacement, also interact with grapefruit juice. In one case in the journal Lancet, a 42-year-old woman taking the birth control pill Yaz developed a very serious clot that threatened her leg several days after she started eating just one grapefruit a day, said Dr. Lucinda Grande, a physician in Lacey, Wash., and an author of the case report.

But Dr. Grande also noted that the patient had other risk factors and the circumstances were unusual. “The reason we published it as a case report was because it was so uncommon,” she said. “We need to be careful not to exaggerate this.”

Some drugs that have a narrow “therapeutic range” — where having a bit too much or too little can have serious consequences — require vigilance with regard to grapefruit, said Patrick McDonnell, clinical professor of pharmacy practice at Temple University. These include immunosuppressant agents like cyclosporine that are taken by transplant patients to prevent rejection of a donor organ, he said.

Still, Dr. McDonnell added, most patients suffering adverse reactions are consuming large amounts of grapefruit. “There’s a difference between an occasional section of grapefruit and someone drinking 16 ounces of grapefruit juice a day,” he said.

And, he cautioned, “Not all drugs in the same class respond the same way.” While some statins are affected by grapefruit, for instance, others are not.

Here is some advice from experts for grapefruit lovers:

¶ If you take oral medication of any kind, check the list to see if it interacts with grapefruit. Make sure you understand the potential side effects of an interaction; if they are life-threatening or could cause permanent injury, avoid grapefruit altogether. Some drugs, such as clopidogrel, may be less effective when taken with grapefruit.

¶ If you take one of the listed drugs a regular basis, keep in mind that you may want to avoid grapefruit, as well as pomelo, lime and marmalade. Be on the lookout for symptoms that could be side effects of the drug. If you are on statins, this could be unusual muscle soreness.

¶It is not enough to avoid taking your medicine at the same time as grapefruit. You must avoid consuming grapefruit the whole period that you are on the medication.

¶In general, it is a good idea to avoid sudden dramatic changes in diet and extreme diets that rely on a narrow group of foods. If you can’t live without grapefruit, ask your doctor if there’s an alternative drug for you.

 

Readers may submit comments or questions for The Consumer by e-mail to consumer@nytimes.com.

A version of this article appeared in print on 12/18/2012, on page D6 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Grapefruit Is a Culprit In More Drug Reactions.

Grapefruit and Drugs Often Don't Mix - NYTimes.com

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/grapefruit-is-a-culprit-in-more-drug-reactions/

Synthetic Pot Sends Thousands to Hospital | Sci-Tech Today

Not only is getting sick from the stuff a problem...


Synthetic Pot Sends Thousands to Hospital
By Donna Leinwand Leger

December 8, 2012 8:52AM





The Drug Abuse Warning Network says drugs like Spice and K2, marketed as legal, fake pot and labeled as herbal incense, are sending teenagers and young adults to emergency rooms around the country. In 59% of the cases, doctors found no other substance, differing from most emergency department visits involving illicit drugs.



K2, Spice and other synthetic drugs that mimic a marijuana high sent 11,406 people -- mostly teenagers and young adults -- to the emergency room in 2010, according to the first report on the substances from the federal government's Drug Abuse Warning Network.

The report, the first to analyze the impact of the popular herbal incense, found that children ages 12 to 17 accounted for a third of the emergency room visits. Young adults ages 18 to 24 accounted for an additional 35%.

In 59% of the cases involving patients ages 12 to 29, doctors found no other substance, differing from most emergency department visits involving illicit drugs and painkiller abuse.

Marijuana, the most popular illicit drug with 18 million regular users, sent 461,028 people to the emergency room in 2010.

"This report confirms that synthetic drugs cause substantial damage to public health and safety," Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske said.

Spice and K2, marketed as legal, fake pot and labeled as herbal incense, emerged in 2009 as popular drugs among teens and college students, who could buy the substances online and in convenience stores.

Problems quickly emerged. Doctors reported teenagers arriving in the emergency room with high fevers and strange behavior.

Police in Nebraska in 2010 arrested a teenage boy who had smoked Wicked X, herbal incense coated with synthetic cannabinoids. The teen careened his truck into the side of a house and then continued driving.

At least 18 states outlawed the substances and the Drug Enforcement Administration instituted an emergency ban. In July, Congress banned sales of K2, Spice and other synthetic drugs under the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act.





© 2012 USA TODAY under contract with YellowBrix. All rights reserved.














Synthetic Pot Sends Thousands to Hospital | Sci-Tech Today

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ALCOHOL'S DAMAGING EFFECTS ON THE BRAIN

Number 63                          October 2004

ALCOHOL’S DAMAGING EFFECTS ON THE BRAIN

Difficulty walking, blurred vision, slurred speech, slowed reaction times, impaired memory: Clearly, alcohol affects the brain. Some of these impairments are detectable after only one or two drinks and quickly resolve when drinking stops. On the other hand, a person who drinks heavily over a long period of time may have brain deficits that persist well after he or she achieves sobriety. Exactly how alcohol affects the brain and the likelihood of reversing the impact of heavy drinking on the brain remain hot topics in alcohol research today.
We do know that heavy drinking may have extensive and far–reaching effects on the brain, ranging from simple “slips” in memory to permanent and debilitating conditions that require lifetime custodial care. And even moderate drinking leads to short–term impairment, as shown by extensive research on the impact of drinking on driving.
A number of factors influence how and to what extent alcohol affects the brain (1), including

• how much and how often a person drinks;
• the age at which he or she first began drinking, and how long he or she has been drinking;
• the person’s age, level of education, gender, genetic background, and family history
• of alcoholism;
• whether he or she is at risk as a result of prenatal alcohol exposure; and
• his or her general health status.

This Alcohol Alert reviews some common disorders associated with alcohol–related brain damage and the people at greatest risk for impairment. It looks at traditional as well as emerging therapies for the treatment and prevention of alcohol–related disorders and includes a brief look at the high–tech tools that are helping scientists to better understand the effects of alcohol on the brain.

BLACKOUTS AND MEMORY LAPSES

Alcohol can produce detectable impairments in memory after only a few drinks and, as the amount of alcohol increases, so does the degree of impairment. Large quantities of alcohol, especially when consumed quickly and on an empty stomach, can produce a blackout, or an interval of time for which the intoxicated person cannot recall key details of events, or even entire events.
Blackouts are much more common among social drinkers than previously assumed and should be viewed as a potential consequence of acute intoxication regardless of age or whether the drinker is clinically dependent on alcohol (2). White and colleagues (3) surveyed 772 college undergraduates about their experiences with blackouts and asked, “Have you ever awoken after a night of drinking not able to remember things that you did or places that you went?” Of the students who had ever consumed alcohol, 51 percent reported blacking out at some point in their lives, and 40 percent reported experiencing a blackout in the year before the survey. Of those who reported drinking in the 2 weeks before the survey, 9.4 percent said they blacked out during that time. The students reported learning later that they had participated in a wide range of potentially dangerous events they could not remember, including vandalism, unprotected sex, and driving.

Binge Drinking and Blackouts

• Drinkers who experience blackouts typically drink too much and too quickly, which causes their blood alcohol levels to rise very rapidly. College students may be at particular risk for experiencing a blackout, as an alarming number of college students engage in binge drinking. Binge drinking, for a typical adult, is defined as consuming five or more drinks in about 2 hours for men, or four or more drinks for women.

Equal numbers of men and women reported experiencing blackouts, despite the fact that the men drank significantly more often and more heavily than the women. This outcome suggests that regardless of the amount of alcohol consumption, females—a group infrequently studied in the literature on blackouts—are at greater risk than males for experiencing blackouts. A woman’s tendency to black out more easily probably results from differences in how men and women metabolize alcohol. Females also may be more susceptible than males to milder forms of alcohol–induced memory impairments, even when men and women consume comparable amounts of alcohol (4).

ARE WOMEN MORE VULNERABLE

TO ALCOHOL’S EFFECTS ON THE BRAIN?

Women are more vulnerable than men to many of the medical consequences of alcohol use. For example, alcoholic women develop cirrhosis (5), alcohol–induced damage of the heart muscle (i.e., cardiomyopathy) (6), and nerve damage (i.e., peripheral neuropathy) (7) after fewer years of heavy drinking than do alcoholic men. Studies comparing men and women’s sensitivity to alcohol–induced brain damage, however, have not been as conclusive.
Using imaging with computerized tomography, two studies (8,9) compared brain shrinkage, a common indicator of brain damage, in alcoholic men and women and reported that male and female alcoholics both showed significantly greater brain shrinkage than control subjects. Studies also showed that both men and women have similar learning and memory problems as a result of heavy drinking (10). The difference is that alcoholic women reported that they had been drinking excessively for only about half as long as the alcoholic men in these studies. This indicates that women’s brains, like their other organs, are more vulnerable to alcohol–induced damage than men’s (11).
Yet other studies have not shown such definitive findings. In fact, two reports appearing side by side in the American Journal of Psychiatry contradicted each other on the question of gender–related vulnerability to brain shrinkage in alcoholism (12,13). Clearly, more research is needed on this topic, especially because alcoholic women have received less research attention than alcoholic men despite good evidence that women may be particularly vulnerable to alcohol’s effects on many key organ systems.

BRAIN DAMAGE FROM OTHER CAUSES

People who have been drinking large amounts of alcohol for long periods of time run the risk of developing serious and persistent changes in the brain. Damage may be a result of the direct effects of alcohol on the brain or may result indirectly, from a poor general health status or from severe liver disease.
For example, thiamine deficiency is a common occurrence in people with alcoholism and results from poor overall nutrition. Thiamine, also known as vitamin B1, is an essential nutrient required by all tissues, including the brain. Thiamine is found in foods such as meat and poultry; whole grain cereals; nuts; and dried beans, peas, and soybeans. Many foods in the United States commonly are fortified with thiamine, including breads and cereals. As a result, most people consume sufficient amounts of thiamine in their diets. The typical intake for most Americans is 2 mg/day; the Recommended Daily Allowance is 1.2 mg/day for men and 1.1 mg/day for women (14).

Wernicke–Korsakoff Syndrome

Up to 80 percent of alcoholics, however, have a deficiency in thiamine (15), and some of these people will go on to develop serious brain disorders such as Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome (WKS) (16). WKS is a disease that consists of two separate syndromes, a short–lived and severe condition called Wernicke’s encephalopathy and a long–lasting and debilitating condition known as Korsakoff’s psychosis.
The symptoms of Wernicke’s encephalopathy include mental confusion, paralysis of the nerves that move the eyes (i.e., oculomotor disturbances), and difficulty with muscle coordination. For example, patients with Wernicke’s encephalopathy may be too confused to find their way out of a room or may not even be able to walk. Many Wernicke’s encephalopathy patients, however, do not exhibit all three of these signs and symptoms, and clinicians working with alcoholics must be aware that this disorder may be present even if the patient shows only one or two of them. In fact, studies performed after death indicate that many cases of thiamine deficiency–related encephalopathy may not be diagnosed in life because not all the “classic” signs and symptoms were present or recognized.

Human Brain

Schematic drawing of the human brain, showing regions vulnerable to alcoholism-related abnormalities.

Approximately 80 to 90 percent of alcoholics with Wernicke’s encephalopathy also develop Korsakoff’s psychosis, a chronic and debilitating syndrome characterized by persistent learning and memory problems. Patients with Korsakoff’s psychosis are forgetful and quickly frustrated and have difficulty with walking and coordination (17). Although these patients have problems remembering old information (i.e., retrograde amnesia), it is their difficulty in “laying down” new information (i.e., anterograde amnesia) that is the most striking. For example, these patients can discuss in detail an event in their lives, but an hour later might not remember ever having the conversation.
Treatment

The cerebellum, an area of the brain responsible for coordinating movement and perhaps even some forms of learning, appears to be particularly sensitive to the effects of thiamine deficiency and is the region most frequently damaged in association with chronic alcohol consumption. Administering thiamine helps to improve brain function, especially in patients in the early stages of WKS. When damage to the brain is more severe, the course of care shifts from treatment to providing support to the patient and his or her family (18). Custodial care may be necessary for the 25 percent of patients who have permanent brain damage and significant loss of cognitive skills (19).
Scientists believe that a genetic variation could be one explanation for why only some alcoholics with thiamine deficiency go on to develop severe conditions such as WKS, but additional studies are necessary to clarify how genetic variants might cause some people to be more vulnerable to WKS than others.

LIVER DISEASE

Most people realize that heavy, long–term drinking can damage the liver, the organ chiefly responsible for breaking down alcohol into harmless byproducts and clearing it from the body. But people may not be aware that prolonged liver dysfunction, such as liver cirrhosis resulting from excessive alcohol consumption, can harm the brain, leading to a serious and potentially fatal brain disorder known as hepatic encephalopathy (20).
Hepatic encephalopathy can cause changes in sleep patterns, mood, and personality; psychiatric conditions such as anxiety and depression; severe cognitive effects such as shortened attention span; and problems with coordination such as a flapping or shaking of the hands (called asterixis). In the most serious cases, patients may slip into a coma (i.e., hepatic coma), which can be fatal.
New imaging techniques have enabled researchers to study specific brain regions in patients with alcoholic liver disease, giving them a better understanding of how hepatic encephalopathy develops. These studies have confirmed that at least two toxic substances, ammonia and manganese, have a role in the development of hepatic encephalopathy. Alcohol–damaged liver cells allow excess amounts of these harmful byproducts to enter the brain, thus harming brain cells.
Treatment

Physicians typically use the following strategies to prevent or treat the development of hepatic encephalopathy.

• Treatment that lowers blood ammonia concentrations, such as administering L–ornithine L–aspartate.
• Techniques such as liver–assist devices, or “artificial livers,” that clear the patients’ blood of harmful toxins. In initial studies, patients using these devices showed lower amounts of ammonia circulating in their blood, and their encephalopathy became less severe (21).
• Liver transplantation, an approach that is widely used in alcoholic cirrhotic patients with severe (i.e., end–stage) chronic liver failure. In general, implantation of a new liver results in significant improvements in cognitive function in these patients (22) and lowers their levels of ammonia and manganese (23).

ALCOHOL AND THE DEVELOPING BRAIN

Drinking during pregnancy can lead to a range of physical, learning, and behavioral effects in the developing brain, the most serious of which is a collection of symptoms known as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Children with FAS may have distinct facial features (see illustration). FAS infants also are markedly smaller than average. Their brains may have less volume (i.e., microencephaly). And they may have fewer numbers of brain cells (i.e., neurons) or fewer neurons that are able to function correctly, leading to long–term problems in learning and behavior.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Children with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) may have distinct facial features.

Treatment

Scientists are investigating the use of complex motor training and medications to prevent or reverse the alcohol–related brain damage found in people prenatally exposed to alcohol (24). In a study using rats, Klintsova and colleagues (25) used an obstacle course to teach complex motor skills, and this skills training led to a re–organization in the adult rats’ brains (i.e., cerebellum), enabling them to overcome the effects of the prenatal alcohol exposure. These findings have important therapeutic implications, suggesting that complex rehabilitative motor training can improve motor performance of children, or even adults, with FAS.
Scientists also are looking at the possibility of developing medications that can help alleviate or prevent brain damage, such as that associated with FAS. Studies using animals have yielded encouraging results for treatments using antioxidant therapy and vitamin E. Other preventive therapies showing promise in animal studies include 1–octanol, which ironically is an alcohol itself. Treatment with l–octanol significantly reduced the severity of alcohol’s effects on developing mouse embryos (26). Two molecules associated with normal development (i.e., NAP and SAL) have been found to protect nerve cells against a variety of toxins in much the same way that octanol does (27). And a compound (MK–801) that blocks a key brain chemical associated with alcohol withdrawal (i.e., glutamate) also is being studied. MK–801 reversed a specific learning impairment that resulted from early postnatal alcohol exposure (28).

Though these compounds were effective in animals, the positive results cited here may or may not translate to humans. Not drinking during pregnancy is the best form of prevention; FAS remains the leading preventable birth defect in the United States today.

GROWING NEW BRAIN CELLS

For decades scientists believed that the number of nerve cells in the adult brain was fixed early in life. If brain damage occurred, then, the best way to treat it was by strengthening the existing neurons, as new ones could not be added. In the 1960s, however, researchers found that new neurons are indeed generated in adulthood—a process called neurogenesis (29). These new cells originate from stem cells, which are cells that can divide indefinitely, renew themselves, and give rise to a variety of cell types. The discovery of brain stem cells and adult neurogenesis provides a new way of approaching the problem of alcohol–related changes in the brain and may lead to a clearer understanding of how best to treat and cure alcoholism (30).
For example, studies with animals show that high doses of alcohol lead to a disruption in the growth of new brain cells; scientists believe it may be this lack of new growth that results in the long–term deficits found in key areas of the brain (such as hippocampal structure and function) (31,32). Understanding how alcohol interacts with brain stem cells and what happens to these cells in alcoholics is the first step in establishing whether the use of stem cell therapies is an option for treatment (33).

SUMMARY

Alcoholics are not all alike. They experience different degrees of impairment, and the disease has different origins for different people. Consequently, researchers have not found conclusive evidence that any one variable is solely responsible for the brain deficits found in alcoholics. Characterizing what makes some alcoholics vulnerable to brain damage whereas others are not remains the subject of active research (34).
The good news is that most alcoholics with cognitive impairment show at least some improvement in brain structure and functioning within a year of abstinence, though some people take much longer (35–37). Clinicians must consider a variety of treatment methods to help people stop drinking and to recover from alcohol–related brain impairments, and tailor these treatments to the individual patient.
Advanced technology will have an important role in developing these therapies. Clinicians can use brain–imaging techniques to monitor the course and success of treatment, because imaging can reveal structural, functional, and biochemical changes in living patients over time. Promising new medications also are in the early stages of development, as researchers strive to design therapies that can help prevent alcohol’s harmful effects and promote the growth of new brain cells to take the place of those that have been damaged by alcohol.

SIDEBAR Using High–Tech Tools to Assess Alcoholic Brain Damage Researchers studying the effects of alcohol use on the brain are aided by advanced technology such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), positron emission tomography (PET), and electrophysiological brain mapping. These tools are providing valuable insight into how alcohol affects the brain’s structure and function. Long–term heavy drinking may lead to shrinking of the brain and deficiencies in the fibers (white matter) that carry information between brain cells (gray matter). MRI and DTI are being used together to assess the brains of patients when they first stop chronic heavy drinking and again after long periods of sobriety, to monitor for possible relapse to drinking (38). Memory formation and retrieval are highly influenced by factors such as attention and motivation (39). Studies using MRI are helping scientists to determine how memory and attention improve with long-time abstinence from alcohol, as well as what changes take place when a patient begins drinking again. The goal of these studies is to determine which alcohol–induced effects on the brain are permanent and which ones can be reversed with abstinence. PET imaging is allowing researchers to visualize, in the living brain, the damage that results from heavy alcohol consumption (40). This “snapshot” of the brain’s function enables scientists to analyze alcohol’s effects on various nerve cell communication systems (i.e., neurotransmitter systems) as well as on brain cell metabolism and blood flow within the brain. These studies have detected deficits in alcoholics, particularly in the frontal lobes, which are responsible for numerous functions associated with learning and memory, as well as in the cerebellum, which controls movement and coordination. PET also is a promising tool for monitoring the effects of alcoholism treatment and abstinence on damaged portions of the brain and may help in developing new medications to correct the chemical deficits found in the brains of people with alcohol dependence. Another high–tech tool, electroencephalography (EEG), records the brain’s electrical signals (41). Small electrodes are placed on the scalp to detect this electrical activity, which then is magnified and graphed as brain waves (i.e., neural oscillations). These brain waves show real–time activity as it happens in the brain. Many male alcoholics have a distinctive electrophysiological profile—that is, a low amplitude of their P3 components (see figure). P3 amplitudes in women alcoholics also are reduced, although to a lesser extent than in men. For many years it was assumed that the P3 deficit observed in alcoholics was the result of alcohol’s damage to the brain. Then it was determined that while many of the clinical symptoms and electrophysiological measures associated with alcoholism return to normal after abstinence, the P3 amplitude abnormality persists (42). The P3 component is reduced in alcoholics compared with control subjects. This continued deficit in long–term abstinent alcoholics suggests that P3 deficits may be a marker of risk for alcohol dependence, rather than a result of alcohol use. In fact, a number of studies have since reported low P3 amplitudes in young people who have not started drinking alcohol but who are at high risk for developing alcoholism, such as young sons of alcoholic fathers (43,44). Markers such as the P3 can help identify people who may be at greatest risk for developing problems with alcohol. END OF SIDEBAR

References

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(18) Martin, P. “Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome: Alcohol–related dementia.” Family Caregiver Alliance Fact Sheet, 1998. (19) Cook, C. “The Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome can be treated.” The Medical Council on Alcohol, vol. 19, 2000. (20) Butterworth, R.F. Hepatic encephalopathy—A serious complication of alcoholic liver disease. Alcohol Research & Health 27(2):143–145, 2003. (21) Mitzner, S.R., and Williams, R. Albumin dialysis MARS 2003. Liver International 23(Suppl. 3):1–72, 2003. (22) Arria, A.M.; Tarter, R.E.; Starzl, T.E.; and Van Thiel, D.H. Improvement in cognitive functioning of alcoholics following orthotopic liver transplantation. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 15(6):956–962, 1991. (23) Pujol, A.; Pujol, J.; Graus, F.; et al. Hyperintense globus pallidus on T1–weighted MRI in cirrhotic patients is associated with severity of liver failure. Neurology 43:65–69, 1993. (24) Chen, W–J.A.; Maier, S.E.; Parnell, S.E.; and West, J.E. Alcohol and the developing brain: Neuroanatomical studies. Alcohol Research & Health 27(2):174–180, 2003. (25) Klintsova, A.Y.; Scamra, C.; Hoffman, M.; et al. Therapeutic effects of complex motor training on motor performance deficits induced by neonatal binge–like alcohol exposure in rats: II. A quantitative stereological study of synaptic plasticity in female rat cerebellum. Brain Research 937:83–93, 2002. (26) Chen, S.Y.; Wilkemeyer, M.F.; Sulik, K.K.; and Charness, M.E. Octanol antagonism of ethanol teratogenesis. FASEB Journal 15:1649–1651, 2001. (27) Spong, C.Y.; Abebe, D.T.; Gozes, I.; et al. Prevention of fetal demise and growth restriction in a mouse model of fetal alcohol syndrome. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 297:774–779, 2001. (28) Thomas, J.D.; Fleming, S.L.; and Riley, E.P. Administration of low doses of MK–801 during ethanol withdrawal in the developing rat pup attenuates alcohol’s teratogenic effects. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 26(8):1307–1313, 2002. (29) Altman, J., and Das, G.D. Autoradiographic and histological evidence of postnatal hippocampal neurogenesis in rats. Journal of Comparative Neurology 124(3):319–335, 1965. (30) Crews, F.T., and Nixon, K. Alcohol, neural stem cells, and adult neurogenesis. Alcohol Research & Health 27(2): 197–204, 2003. (31) Nixon, K., and Crews, F.T. Binge ethanol exposure decreases neurogenesis in adult rat hippocampus. Journal of Neurochemistry 83(5):1087–1093, 2002. (32) Herrera, D.G.; Yague, A.G.; Johnsen–Soriano, S.; et al. Selective impairment of hippocampal neurogenesis by chronic alcoholism: Protective effects of an antioxidant. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the U.S.A. 100(13):7919–7924, 2003. (33) Crews, F.T.; Miller, M.W.; Ma, W.; et al. Neural stem cells and alcohol. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 27(2):324–335, 2003. (34) Oscar–Berman, M., and Marinkovic, K. Alcoholism and the brain: An overview. Alcohol Research & Health 27(2):125–133, 2003. (35) Bates, M.E.; Bowden, S.C.; and Barry, D. Neurocognitive impairment associated with alcohol use disorders: Implications for treatment. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology 10(3):193–212, 2002. (36) Gansler, D.A.; Harris, G.J.; Oscar–Berman, M.; et al. Hypoperfusion of inferior frontal brain regions in abstinent alcoholics: A pilot SPECT study. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 61:32–37, 2000. (37) Sullivan, E.V.; Rosenbloom, M.J.; Lim, K.O.; and Pfefferbaum, A. Longitudinal changes in cognition, gait, and balance in abstinent and relapsed alcoholic men: Relationships to changes in brain structure. Neuropsychology 14:178–188, 2000. (38) Rosenbloom, M.; Sullivan, E.V.; and Pfefferbaum, A. Using magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging to assess brain damage in alcoholics. Alcohol Research & Health 27(2):146–152, 2003. (39) Kensinger, E.A.; Clarke, R.J.; and Corkin, S. What neural correlates underlie successful encoding and retrieval? A functional magnetic resonance imaging study using a divided attention paradigm. Journal of Neuroscience 23(6):2407–2415, 2003. (40) Wong, D.F.; Maini, A.; Rousset, O.G.; and Brasíc , J.R. Positron emission tomography—A tool for identifying the effects of alcohol dependence on the brain. Alcohol Research & Health 27(2):161–173, 2003. (41) Porjesz, B., and Begleiter, H. Alcoholism and human electrophysiology. Alcohol Research & Health 27(2):153–160, 2003. (42) Porjesz, B., and Begleiter, H. Human brain electrophysiology and alcoholism. In: Tarter, R., and Van Thiel, D., eds. Alcohol and the Brain. New York: Plenum, 1985. pp. 139–182. (43) Begleiter, H.; Porjesz, B.; Bihari, B.; and Kissin, B. Event–related potentials in boys at risk for alcoholism. Science 225:1493–1496, 1984. (44) Polich, J.; Pollock, V.E.; and Bloom, F.E. Meta–analysis of P300 amplitude from males at risk for alcoholism. Psychological Bulletin 115:55–73, 1994.

Resources

Source material for this Alcohol Alert originally appeared in the journal Alcohol Research & Health, “Alcoholic Brain Damage” (Vol. 27, No. 2, 2003). Alcohol Research and Health is the quarterly, peer–reviewed journal published by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Each issue of AR&H provides in–depth focus on a single topic in the field of alcohol research. Back issues of Alcohol Research & Health and additional resources can be downloaded from NIAAA’s Web site, www.niaaa.nih.gov. Subscriptions are available from the Superintendent of Documents for $25. Write to New Orders, Superintendent of Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250–7954; or fax 202/512–2250.

---

All material contained in the Alcohol Alert is in the public domain and may be used or reproduced without permission from NIAAA. Citation of the source is appreciated.
Copies of the Alcohol Alert are available free of charge from the
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Publications Distribution Center
P.O. Box 10686, Rockville, MD 20849–0686.

---

Prepared: October 2004

Source:
ALCOHOL'S DAMAGING EFFECTS ON THE BRAIN

 http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa63/aa63.htmhttp://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa63/aa63.htm

WHAT'S IN A CHICKEN DOG?

Chicken Hot Dog

calumet412:

Poster for the Chicken Redhot Company, 1928, Chicago.

Source:  
Mostly Forbidden Zone

 http://zoomar.tumblr.com/

Robin Williams on Alcoholics - YouTube

Robin Williams on Alcoholics

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Comedy

License:

Standard YouTube License

Robin Williams on Alcoholics - YouTube

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLtPp_xIpC4

Modern wheat a "perfect, chronic poison," Wheat Belly doctor says - CBS News

(CBS News) Modern wheat is a "perfect, chronic poison," according to Dr. William Davis, a cardiologist who has published a book all about the world's most popular grain.

Davis said that the wheat we eat these days isn't the wheat your grandma had: "It's an 18-inch tall plant created by genetic research in the '60s and '70s," he said on "CBS This Morning." "This thing has many new features nobody told you about, such as there's a new protein in this thing called gliadin. It's not gluten. I'm not addressing people with gluten sensitivities and celiac disease. I'm talking about everybody else because everybody else is susceptible to the gliadin protein that is an opiate. This thing binds into the opiate receptors in your brain and in most people stimulates appetite, such that we consume 440 more calories per day, 365 days per year."

Asked if the farming industry could change back to the grain it formerly produced, Davis said it could, but it would not be economically feasible because it yields less per acre. However, Davis said a movement has begun with people turning away from wheat - and dropping substantial weight.

"If three people lost eight pounds, big deal," he said. "But we're seeing hundreds of thousands of people losing 30, 80, 150 pounds. Diabetics become no longer diabetic; people with arthritis having dramatic relief. People losing leg swelling, acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, and on and on every day."

To avoid these wheat-oriented products, Davis suggests eating "real food," such as avocados, olives, olive oil, meats, and vegetables. "(It's) the stuff that is least likely to have been changed by agribusiness," he said. "Certainly not grains. When I say grains, of course, over 90 percent of all grains we eat will be wheat, it's not barley... or flax. It's going to be wheat.

"It's really a wheat issue."

Some health resources, such as the Mayo Clinic, advocate a more balanced diet that does include wheat. But Davis said on "CTM" they're just offering a poor alternative.

"All that literature says is to replace something bad, white enriched products with something less bad, whole grains, and there's an apparent health benefit - 'Let's eat a whole bunch of less bad things.' So I take...unfiltered cigarettes and replace with Salem filtered cigarettes, you should smoke the Salems. That's the logic of nutrition, it's a deeply flawed logic. What if I take it to the next level, and we say, 'Let's eliminate all grains,' what happens then?

"That's when you see, not improvements in health, that's when you see transformations in health."







Watch Davis' full interview in the video above.






Source:

Modern wheat a "perfect, chronic poison," doctor says - CBS News

Why Do Vegetarians Live Longer?

Nearly a decade of extra life -- that's what you get when you move away from eating animal foods and toward a plant-based diet. This is really exciting science for anyone seeking healthy longevity (and who isn't?)!

According to a recent report on the largest study of vegetarians and vegans to date, those eating plant-based diets appear to have a significantly longer life expectancy. Vegetarians live on average almost eight years longer than the general population, which is similar to the gap between smokers and nonsmokers. This is not surprising, given the reasons most of us are dying. In an online video, "Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death," Michael Greger, M.D. explores the role a healthy diet can play in preventing, treating, and even reversing the top 15 killers in the United States. Let's take a closer look at what the good doctor has pulled together...

Heart disease is our leading cause of death. The 35-year follow-up of the Harvard Nurses Health Study was recently published, now the most definitive long-term study on older women's health. Dietary cholesterol intake -- only found in animal foods -- was associated with living a significantly shorter life and fiber intake -- only found in plant foods -- was associated with living a significantly longer life. Consuming the amount of cholesterol found in just a single egg a day may cut a woman's life short as much as smoking five cigarettes daily for 15 years, whereas eating a daily cup of oatmeal's worth of fiber appears to extend a woman's life as much as four hours of jogging a week. (But there's no reason we can't do both!)

What if your cholesterol's normal, though? I hear that a lot. But here's the thing: having a "normal" cholesterol in a society where it's "normal" to drop dead of a heart attack is not necessarily a good thing. According to the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Cardiology, "For the build-up of plaque in our arteries to cease, it appears that the serum total cholesterol needs to be lowered to the 150 area. In other words the serum total cholesterol must be lowered to that of the average pure vegetarian."

More than 20 years ago, Dr. Dean Ornish showed that heart disease could not just be stopped but actually reversed with a vegan diet, arteries opened up without drugs or surgery. Since this lifestyle cure was discovered, hundreds of thousands have died unnecessary deaths. What more does one have to know about a diet that reverses our deadliest disease?

Cancer is killer number two. Ah, the dreaded "C" word -- but look at this hopeful science. According to the largest forward-looking study on diet and cancer so far performed, "the incidence of all cancers combined is lower among vegetarians." The link between meat and cancer is such that even a paper published in the journal Meat Science recently asked, "Should we become vegetarians, or can we make meat safer?" There are a bunch of additives under investigation to suppress the toxic effects the blood-based "heme" iron, for example, which could provide what they called an "acceptable" way to prevent cancer. Why not just reduce meat consumption? The meat science researchers noted that if such public health guidance were adhered to, "Cancer incidence may be reduced, but farmers and [the] meat industry would suffer important economical problems..." Hmmm, so Big Ag chooses profit over health; what a surprise.

After Dr. Ornish's team showed that the bloodstreams of men eating vegan for a year had nearly eight times the cancer-stopping power, a series of elegant experiments showed that women could boost their defenses against breast cancer after just two weeks on a plant-based diet. See the before and after here. If you or anyone you know has ever had a cancer scare, this research will make your heart soar. Because there is real, true hope -- something you can do to stave off "the big C."

So, the top three leading causes of death used to be heart disease, cancer, then stroke, but the latest CDC stats place COPD third -- lung diseases such as emphysema. Surprisingly, COPD can be prevented with the help of a plant-based diet, and can even be treated with plants. Of course, the tobacco industry viewed these landmark findings a little differently. Instead of adding plants to one's diet to prevent emphysema, wouldn't it be simpler to just add them to the cigarettes? Hence the study "Addition of Açaí [Berries] to Cigarettes Has a Protective Effect Against Emphysema in [Smoking] Mice." Seriously.

The meat industry tried the same tack. Putting fruit extracts in burgers was not without its glitches, though. The blackberries "literally dyed burger patties with a distinct purplish color," and though it was possible to improve the nutritional profile of frankfurters with powdered grape seeds, there were complaints that the grape seed "particles became visible" in the final product. And if there's one thing we know about hot dog eaters, it's that they're picky about what goes in their food!

Onward to strokes: The key to preventing strokes may be to eat potassium-rich foods. Though Chiquita may have had a good PR firm, bananas don't even make the top 50 sources. The leading whole food sources include dark green leafy vegetables, beans, and dates. We eat so few plants that 98 percent of Americans don't even reach the recommended minimum daily intake of potassium. And if you look at killer number five -- accidents -- bananas (and their peels) could be downright dangerous!

Alzheimer's disease is now our sixth leading killer. We've known for nearly 20 years now that those who eat meat -- including chicken and fish -- appear three times more likely to become demented compared to long-term vegetarians. Exciting new research suggests one can treat Alzheimer's using natural plant products such as the spice saffron, which beat out placebo and worked as well as a leading Alzheimer's drug.

Diabetes is next on the kick-the-bucket list. Plant-based diets help prevent, treat, and even reverse Type 2 diabetes. Since vegans are, on average, about 30 pounds skinnier than meat-eaters, this comes as no surprise; but researchers found that vegans appear to have just a fraction of the diabetes risk, even after controlling for their slimmer figures.

Kidney failure, our eighth leading cause of death, may also be prevented and treated with a plant-based diet. The three dietary risk factors Harvard researchers found for declining kidney function were animal protein, animal fat, and cholesterol, all of which are only found in animal products.

Leading killer number nine is respiratory infections. With flu shot season upon us, it's good to know that fruit and vegetable consumption can significantly boost one's protective immune response to vaccination. Check out the short video "Kale and the Immune System," and you'll see there's not much kale can't do.

Suicide is number 10. Oh yes, vegan food even has something good to offer on this one! Cross-sectional studies have shown that the moods of those on plant-based diets tend to be superior, but taken in just a snapshot in time one can't tease out cause-and-effect. Maybe happier people end up eating healthier and not the other way around. But this year an interventional trial was published in which all meat, poultry, fish, and eggs were removed from people's diets and a significant improvement in mood scores was found after just two weeks. It can take drugs like Prozac a month or more to take effect. So you may be able to get happier faster by cutting out animal foods than by using drugs.

Drugs can help with the other conditions as well, but instead of taking one drug for cholesterol every day for the rest of your life, maybe a few for high blood pressure or diabetes, the same diet appears to work across the board without the risk of drug side-effects. One study found that prescription medications kill an estimated 106,000 Americans every year. That's not from errors or overdose, but from adverse drug reactions, arguably making doctors the sixth leading cause of death.

Based on a study of 15,000 American vegetarians, those that eat meat have about twice the odds of being on antacids, aspirin, blood pressure medications, insulin, laxatives, painkillers, sleeping pills, and tranquilizers. So plant-based diets are great for those that don't like taking drugs, paying for drugs, or risking adverse side effects.

Imagine if, like President Clinton, our nation embraced a plant-based diet. Imagine if we just significantly cut back on animal products. There is one country that tried. After World War II, Finland joined us in packing on the meat, eggs, and dairy. By the 1970s, the mortality rate from heart disease of Finnish men was the highest in the world, and so they initiated a country-wide program to decrease their saturated fat intake. Farmers were encouraged to switch from dairies to berries. Towns were pitted against each other in friendly cholesterol-lowering competitions. Their efforts resulted in an 80 percent drop in cardiac mortality across the entire country.

Conflicts of interest on the U.S. dietary guidelines committee may have prevented similar action from our own government, but with our health-care crisis deepening, our obesity epidemic widening, and the health of our nation's children in decline, we may need to take it upon our selves, families, and communities to embrace Food Day ideals of healthy, affordable, sustainable foods by moving towards a more plant-centered diet. If we do, we may be afforded added years to enjoy the harvest.


For a plan on how to eat this way, check out The Lean!

For more by Kathy Freston, click here.

For more on diet and nutrition, click here.

Also on HuffPost:

We asked two experts in plant-based eating -- Amy Lanou, Ph.D., an associate professor of health and wellness at the University of North Carolina Asheville, and Vandana Sheth, R.D., C.D.E, a Los Angeles-based dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics -- for their advice for people who are just starting out on a vegan diet.


                                  






Vegetarians Live Longer, Study Finds

By Annie Hauser Some vegetarians can be awfully superior about the health benefits of their plant-based diet. What they might not know is they...




Vegan Diet Mistakes: 5 Common Pitfalls When Starting A Purely Plant-Based Diet

Thinking about adopting a purely plant-based diet? We get it -- after all, it's been linked with decreased stress and increased happiness. And who can...




'The Plant-Powered Diet' Cookbook Extols The Benefits Of Going Meatless

By Dorene Internicola NEW YORK, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Nutrition writer and registered dietitian Sharon Palmer believes that for weight loss, optimal health and longer...




8 Ways Vegetarian Is Good For The Planet

Plant-based diets are growing in popularity with every passing day. An estimated 5 percent of the U.S. population was vegetarian or vegan in 2011, compared...















Kathy Freston: Why Do Vegetarians Live Longer?

 Link:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/plant-based-diet_b_1981838.html

Weight Watchers Winning $61 Billion War On Fat - Forbes

  

If you’re an American, odds are good that you’re overweight or obese. 

That’s bad for your health but good for those who try to help you fight the war on fat.

After all in 2009, direct medical and healthcare costs spent on overweight or obese Americans hit $159 billion — up at a 9.4% annual rate from 2003. 

Any by 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services expects that figure to climb at a 6.5% annual rate to $319 billion.


By the end of 2012, those overweight or obese Americans are expected to spend $61 billion on products and services to help them drop weight, including:

• Diet foods, drinks, and low-calorie sweeteners;
• Health clubs and workout videos;
• Medically supervised and commercial weight loss programs;
• Children’s weight-loss camps;
• Diet books; and
• Appetite suppressants.

It doesn’t take much to start a business that takes a piece of this action. 

So there’s no wonder that there are 24,900 competitors vying for it, according to IBISWorld.

And they try to win based on their program’s recognition, reputation, effectiveness, safety and price.


In this highly fragmented industry, IBISWorld estimates the market shares of four leaders:

• Weight Watchers International (WTW): 3% market share and $1.8 billion in 2012 revenue, 
• Nutrisystem (NTRI): 0.7% and $400 million,
• Medifast (MED): 0.6% and $365 million, and
• Nestle’s Jenny Craig: 0.5% and $319 million.

Then there are privately held rivals like Dr. Dean Ornish’s Preventative Medicine Research Institute (PMRI).


Weight Watchers

As David Burwick, President, North America, explained in an October 10 interview, Weight Watchers has a great founding story — experiencing three major stages in its development.

According to Burwick, “Weight Watchers was started in 1963 by a Queens housewife, Jean Nidetch, who was trying to lose weight.”

Nidetch attended sessions at the obesity clinic run by the New York City Board of Health that advised her “No skipping meals. Fish five times a week. Two pieces of bread and two glasses of skim milk a day. More fruits and vegetables.”

Nidetch lost weight but did not like the way the leader ran things so she started hosting friends in her living room, and eventually the group expanded until “dozens were crowding in.”

In  those meetings, people discussed the challenges of losing weight and shared new strategies to help them reach their goals.

With advice from a pair of people who attended her meetings, Nidetch launched Weight Watchers International in 1963; and went global in 1967 with 102 franchises in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Great Britain and Israel.

In 1979, H.J. Heinz  paid $71 million for Weight Watchers but disgorged it in 1999 to Invus (Invest in the U.S.).

Invus is an investor group founded by the Boston Consulting Group consultants who had advised a Belgian sugar company’s owners to sell their business and use some of the proceeds to  invest in the U.S. — and that included buying Weight Watchers from Heinz. In November 2001, Invus sold shares to the public.  Their value has risen 84% since then.


Weight Watchers offers consumers two services:

• Weight Watchers meetings:  Weight Watchers staff “give members a private and confidential weigh-in, followed by a meeting facilitated by a Leader who also lost weight with the program.  Members receive helpful tools, guides, strategies and tips in a supportive and caring environment, with 24 hour access to mobile and internet resources.  Meeting fees vary with an average of $42.95 per month,” according to Burwick.
• Weight Watchers Online:  Subscribers receive tools to follow the program “completely online at their own pace.  Site are customized for the specific needs of men and women.  Subscribers have access to “more than 40,000 food options, 3,500 recipes, and interactive tools to help manage daily food choices and activity. Prices vary starting at $5.00 per week.”

Burwick credits some of Weight Watchers recent success to its Points Plus program, based on “the latest nutritional science that factors in the way your body processes food.

Foods are assigned a PointsPlus value based on fat, fiber, carbohydrates and protein guiding you to make smarter food choices.”

Burwick pointed out that  “foods laden with sugar and fat would have a higher PointsPlus value than a lean protein.  Plus, all fruits and most vegetables have a zero PointsPlus value.

Members can also earn PointsPlus values for activity above and beyond regular daily activity.”

Burwick also pointed out that Weight Watchers is developing a so-called business-to-business strategy. Weight Watchers provides companies with membership options, including hosting meetings on their premises. This makes it possible for workers to obtain the benefits of the service without needing to leave the office.


Nutrisystem
 
Nutrisystem focuses just on the food. Its weight-management system is priced between $300 and $400 per month — consisting of monthly food packages, which contain a 28-day supply of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and desserts.

But Nutrisystem is struggling thanks to that high sticker price that is costing the company some customers.

In 2011, it introduced price discounts that sliced into profits and may have contributed to the board’s decision not to renew CEO Joe Reding’s contract — though it has yet to hire a replacement.


Medifast

Medifast is doing better. As Medifast Chairman and CEO, Michael MacDonald, explained in an October 19 interview, MacDonald took over in February 2012 from his late brother, Brad MacDonald, Executive Chairman of the Board of Medifast Emeritus.

Brad, who fostered Medifast’s growth and played a key role in building up the company’s highly successful Take Shape For Life division in which “10,800 happy Medifast health coaches provide encouragement, education, and mentoring to clients and guide then as they lose weight on the Medifast 5 & 1 Plan.”

Medifast sells weight-loss products including “meal options that range from bars and shakes to hearty soups.” The Medifast weight loss program requires that clients “choose five of 70 Medifast meals” eat one bar at breakfast, another at lunch, and then consume one meal that they prepare for themselves.

Medifast distributes its products through four channels: Medifast Direct (its e-commerce site), Take Shape for Life, 88 corporate and 32 franchise Weight Control Centers, and medical providers.

Within the next five years, MacDonald forecasts that Medifast will become a billion dollar company. He sees its Take Shape for Life unit growing from its current $200 million; its franchises expanding from 32 amd to open 40 more centers in the next three or four years; and its partnership with MedEx, a Mexican pharmaceutical company that will distribute its products as a way prevent obesity among citizens in Mexico City through 5,000 physicians.


Jenny Craig

Jenny Craig – it offers personalized counseling through 700 retail outlets, over the phone or Internet and sells 80 food items — is struggling.

According to its June 2012 Half Year report, ”Unfortunately, [Jenny Craig] continues to be under pressure in the U.S.  We continue to take corrective actions and it’s taking longer time for us to see some results to materialize.”

But as Jenny Craig CEO, Dana Fiser, explained in an October 26 interview, the company has a huge growth opportunity thanks to its approach to alleviating the growing obesity and epidemic.

According to Fiser, “Projected increases in obesity rates and heart disease by 2030 are shocking.”

Fiser believes that  Jenny Craig meets the need — underscored by this epidemic — for a “more proactive approach to weight loss and weight management.”


PMRI

PMRI is tapping its influence — Bill Clinton is a fan of Ornish’s approach — and reams of medical research to encourage people to make diet and lifestyle changes that can reverse heart disease, cancer, and other diseases.

In an October 10 interview from his Sausalito, Calif.-office, Ornish explained that he set up PMRI in 1993 as a public non-profit research institute to  investigate the effects of diet and lifestyle choices on health and disease.

Ornish cited a series of studies published in medical journals indicating that changes to diet and lifestyle could:

• Reverse heart disease,
• Help people lose 16 pounds within a year,
• Slow the growth of prostate cancer, and
• Change the makeup of genes by adding telomerase to them.

He took his program around the U.S. — training health care practitioners from “Nebraska to the Cleveland Clinic.” And he found the program could achieve very good results for other practitioners – “Blue Cross/Blue Shield reduced the cost to treat patients for certain cases by 50% in the first year and 20% in the second and third years.”

Ornish was proud to note that after years of PMRI’s effort, Medicare officials reviewed the medical research necessary to conclude that Medicare should cover patients’ costs for the Dean Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease, which teaches a plant-based, meatless diet, meditation and regular exercise.

This program costs about $30,000 per patient. In 2010, Medicare officially approved this program as an intensive cardiac rehab program, and the first patients started in May 2011.

But making money is not Ornish’s goal; instead he says, “I should make enough to get by. 

The true measure of my life will be how many lives I changed for the better.”

The opportunity to help Americans fight fat is huge and growing — and in this fragmented market there are plenty of ways to make money off of it. 

Whether any of them permanently reverse the trend remains to be seen.

Weight Watchers Winning $61 Billion War On Fat - Forbes

 Link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2012/11/14/weight-watchers-winning-61-billion-war-on-fat/2/

Twinkie Factories Closed by Hostess

Hostess products are shown on Nov. 15, 2012, in Chicago. Hostess has warned striking workers with the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union that it will move to liquidate the company if plant operations don't return to normal levels by this afternoon. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)







A Hostess Twinkies sign is shown at the Utah Hostess plant in Ogden on Nov. 15, 2012. Hostess, the maker of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread, announced today that it is winding down operations and has filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court seeking permission to close its business and sell its assets, including its iconic brands and facilities. (Rick Bowmer/AP file)

Hostess Brands says it's going out of business after striking workers across the country crippled its ability to make its Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Wonder Bread and other snacks.

The company had warned employees that it would file a motion with U.S. Bankruptcy Court Friday seeking permission to shutter its operations and sell assets if plants didn't resume normal operations by a Thursday evening deadline.

The closing would mean the loss of about 18,500 jobs....

Hostess, founded in 1930, was fighting battles beyond labor costs. Competition is increasing in the snack space and Americans are increasingly conscious about healthy eating. 

Hostess also makes Dolly Madison, Drake's and Nature's Pride snacks.

Hostess had said that production at about a dozen of its plants were seriously affected by the strike. Three plants were closed earlier this week.

 
 


Twinkie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 Link to Silicon Valley.com/ Mercury News:
 http://www.siliconvalley.com/latest-headlines/ci_22010018/hostess-close-cites-nationwide-worker-strike

Oakland: 145 workers affected by Hostess nationwide plant closures - SiliconValley.com

Annie Leonard on her book "The Story of Stuff" full show - YouTube

                                 uploaded by AllanGregg on Sep 13, 2010

              

       

Activist turned filmmaker, Annie Leonard  talks about "The Story of Stuff", her book based on her travels around  the globe, tracking what happens to the stuff we produce, consume and  throw away.

   

Category:    

Education

License: Standard YouTube License  

Source:
Annie Leonard on her book "The Story of Stuff" full show - YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaIhOhk0RV0&feature=related

Just one fatty meal can damage arteries, studies say | CTV News

 

 

Perhaps there are no exceptions when it comes to indulging in “just one” fatty meal.

A single junk food meal is all it takes to damage your arteries, according to two Canadian studies, one by researchers at the Montreal Heart Institute’s EPIC Center and another by researchers at the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta.

The first study, out of Montreal, reached that conclusion after enlisting the help of 28 non-smoking men and getting them to eat two very different meals.

The first was a Mediterranean-style meal of salmon, almonds and vegetables cooked in olive oil. Just over half the calories in the dish came from fat, mainly monounsaturated and polyunsaturated.

A week later, the men were given a second meal. This time, the dish consisted of a sausage sandwich, an egg, a slice of cheese and three hash browns -- a meal similar to some fast-food breakfasts.

The second meal was loaded with saturated fat, and contained no Omega-3 fats.

The participants received ultrasounds after each meal so researchers could monitor how the foods had affected their vascular endothelium, the inner lining of the blood vessels.


Researchers, led by the University of Montreal’s Dr. Anil Nigam, found that the arteries of the study participants dilated 24 per cent less after the junk food meal.

By comparison, the researchers found that participants’ arteries dilated normally after the Mediterranean-style meal.

“We believe that a Mediterranean-type diet may be particularly beneficial for individuals with high triglyceride levels, such as patients with metabolic syndrome, precisely because it could help keep arteries healthy," Dr. Nigam said in a statement issued Tuesday.

The research has been published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.

The second study tested how the blood vessels reacted when a group of non-smoking university students began their day with a 900-calorie breakfast sandwich that had a whopping 50 g of fat.

Two hours after the students ate the sandwiches, the researchers found that their arteries’ ability to increase blood flow under stress had decreased by 15 to 20 per cent.

Lead study author Dr. Todd Anderson said if the arteries’ decreased capacity to increase blood flow under stress becomes a chronic condition, there is an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

“The message is that completely normal individuals with no risk factors, these things can cause problems in the short term,” Anderson told CTV News. “And we should think more about what we put into our bodies.”


The findings were presented Tuesday at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress.

Dr. Yoni Freedhoff of the Bariatric Medical Institute said he supports the underlying message that one high-fat meal can have an impact on the body.

However, he said his biggest concern is how people eat day in and day out.

“My advice to people all the time is, eat at home, make food at home,” Freedhoff told CTV.

“The food we eat when we purchase it outside the home contributes greatly to our weight and chronic disease.”


With a report from CTV’s medical specialist Avis Favaro and producer Elizabeth St. Philip

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/just-one-fatty-meal-can-damage-arteries-studies-say-1.1017405#ixzz2Ar8UKYhj

 Source:
Just one fatty meal can damage arteries, studies say | CTV News

 http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/just-one-fatty-meal-can-damage-arteries-studies-say-1.1017405