Unhappy Meals

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

That, more or less, is the short answer to the supposedly incredibly complicated and confusing question of what we humans should eat in order to be maximally healthy. I hate to give away the game right here at the beginning of a long essay, and I confess that I’m tempted to complicate matters in the interest of keeping things going for a few thousand more words. I’ll try to resist but will go ahead and add a couple more details to flesh out the advice. Like: A little meat won’t kill you, though it’s better approached as a side dish than as a main. And you’re much better off eating whole fresh foods than processed food products. That’s what I mean by the recommendation to eat “food.” Once, food was all you could eat, but today there are lots of other edible foodlike substances in the supermarket. These novel products of food science often come in packages festooned with health claims, which brings me to a related rule of thumb: if you’re concerned about your health, you should probably avoid food products that make health claims. Why? Because a health claim on a food product is a good indication that it’s not really food, and food is what you want to eat.

Uh-oh. Things are suddenly sounding a little more complicated, aren’t they? Sorry. But that’s how it goes as soon as you try to get to the bottom of the whole vexing question of food and health. Before long, a dense cloud bank of confusion moves in. Sooner or later, everything solid you thought you knew about the links between diet and health gets blown away in the gust of the latest study.

Last winter came the news that a low-fat diet, long believed to protect against breast cancer, may do no such thing — this from the monumental, federally financed Women’s Health Initiative, which has also found no link between a low-fat diet and rates of coronary disease. The year before we learned that dietary fiber might not, as we had been confidently told, help prevent colon cancer. Just last fall two prestigious studies on omega-3 fats published at the same time presented us with strikingly different conclusions. While the Institute of Medicine stated that “it is uncertain how much these omega-3s contribute to improving health” (and they might do the opposite if you get them from mercury-contaminated fish), a Harvard study declared that simply by eating a couple of servings of fish each week (or by downing enough fish oil), you could cut your risk of dying from a heart attack by more than a third — a stunningly hopeful piece of news. It’s no wonder that omega-3 fatty acids are poised to become the oat bran of 2007, as food scientists micro-encapsulate fish oil and algae oil and blast them into such formerly all-terrestrial foods as bread and tortillas, milk and yogurt and cheese, all of which will soon, you can be sure, sprout fishy new health claims. (Remember the rule?)

By now you’re probably registering the cognitive dissonance of the supermarket shopper or science-section reader, as well as some nostalgia for the simplicity and solidity of the first few sentences of this essay. Which I’m still prepared to defend against the shifting winds of nutritional science and food-industry marketing. But before I do that, it might be useful to figure out how we arrived at our present state of nutritional confusion and anxiety.

The story of how the most basic questions about what to eat ever got so complicated reveals a great deal about the institutional imperatives of the food industry, nutritional science and — ahem — journalism, three parties that stand to gain much from widespread confusion surrounding what is, after all, the most elemental question an omnivore confronts. Humans deciding what to eat without expert help — something they have been doing with notable success since coming down out of the trees — is seriously unprofitable if you’re a food company, distinctly risky if you’re a nutritionist and just plain boring if you’re a newspaper editor or journalist. (Or, for that matter, an eater. Who wants to hear, yet again, “Eat more fruits and vegetables”?) And so, like a large gray fog, a great Conspiracy of Confusion has gathered around the simplest questions of nutrition — much to the advantage of everybody involved. Except perhaps the ostensible beneficiary of all this nutritional expertise and advice: us, and our health and happiness as eaters.

FROM FOODS TO NUTRIENTS

It was in the 1980s that food began disappearing from the American supermarket, gradually to be replaced by “nutrients,” which are not the same thing. Where once the familiar names of recognizable comestibles — things like eggs or breakfast cereal or cookies — claimed pride of place on the brightly colored packages crowding the aisles, now new terms like “fiber” and “cholesterol” and “saturated fat” rose to large-type prominence. More important than mere foods, the presence or absence of these invisible substances was now generally believed to confer health benefits on their eaters. Foods by comparison were coarse, old-fashioned and decidedly unscientific things — who could say what was in them, really? But nutrients — those chemical compounds and minerals in foods that nutritionists have deemed important to health — gleamed with the promise of scientific certainty; eat more of the right ones, fewer of the wrong, and you would live longer and avoid chronic diseases. (CONTINUED): Unhappy Meals

100 percent juices found as beneficial to health as fruits and vegetables

When it comes to some of today’s health issues, 100 percent fruit and vegetable juices do help reduce risk factors related to certain diseases.

This conclusion is the result of a European study designed to question traditional thinking that 100 percent juices play a less significant role in reducing risk for both cancer and cardiovascular disease than whole fruits and vegetables.

Juices are comparable in their ability to reduce risk compared to their whole fruit/vegetable counterparts say several researchers in the United Kingdom who conducted the literature review. The researchers analyzed a variety of studies that looked at risk reduction attributed to the effects of both fiber and antioxidants. As a result, they determined that the positive impact fruits and vegetables offer come not from just the fiber but also from antioxidants which are present in both juice and the whole fruit and vegetables.

This 2006 review of the literature states, “When considering cancer and coronary heart disease prevention, there is no evidence that pure fruit and vegetable juices are less beneficial than whole fruit and vegetables.” The researchers add that the positioning of juices as being nutritionally inferior to whole fruits and vegetables in relationship to chronic disease development is “unjustified” and that policies which suggest otherwise about fruit and vegetable juices should be re-examined.

The researchers who authored the paper “Can pure fruit and vegetable juices protect against cancer and cardiovascular disease, too? A review of the evidence” suggest that more studies in certain area are needed to bolster their findings. The study was published in the International Journal of Food Science and Nutrition (2006).

“Although this independent review of the literature is not designed to focus on any particular 100 percent juice, it does go a long way in demonstrating that fruit and vegetable juices do play an important role in reducing the risk of various diseases, especially cancer and cardiovascular heart disease,” says Sue Taylor, RD, with the Juice Products Association, a non-profit organization not associated with this research. She adds that appropriate amounts of juices should be included in the diet of both children and adults, following guidelines established by leading health authorities.

Taylor also points to a large epidemiological study, published in the September 2006 issue of the Journal of Medicine, which found that consumption of a variety of 100 percent fruit and vegetable juices was associated with a reduced risk for Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, that study found that individuals who drank three or more servings of fruit and vegetable juices per week had a 76 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease than those who drank juice less than once per week.

News - New Therapy to Treat Patients With Severely Elevated Cholesterol Levels
PHILADELPHIA, PA -- January 11, 2007 -- Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have demonstrated the potential of a new type of therapy for patients who suffer from high cholesterol levels.

The findings are in the January 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). In this study, patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), a high-risk condition refractory to conventional therapy, had a remarkable 51% reduction in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or "bad cholesterol" levels.

"Our study shows that targeted inhibition of the microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) is highly effective in reducing cholesterol levels in these very high risk patients," stated Daniel J. Rader, MD, Director of Preventive Cardiology and the Clinical and Translational Research Center at Penn, and principal investigator of this study. "Furthermore, there are many other patients who have cholesterol levels that are difficult to treat or who are not tolerant to treatment with statins. New therapies are required for these patients as well, and it is possible that after further research MTP inhibition could eventually be used for such patients."

Genetic defects in MTP lead to profoundly low levels of LDL. Using this information, Bristol-Myers Squibb began to search for inhibitors of this protein and discovered the study drug, originally known as BMS-201038. Bristol-Myers Squibb then donated it to Penn for use in clinical trials in patients with severe cholesterol problems. Rader and his team at Penn designed and carried out the current study in homozygous FH patients with support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Due to the success in this study, Penn has licensed the drug to Aegerion Pharmaceuticals Inc for further development as AEGR-733.

Patients who suffer from homozygous FH typically respond poorly to standard drug therapy and have a very high risk of premature cardiovascular disease.

Homozygous FH is caused by loss-of-function mutations in both alleles of the LDL receptor gene. It is a rare form of hypercholesterolemia affecting approximately one in every million people. Patients with this disorder typically have plasma cholesterol levels of more than 500 mg per deciliter. If untreated, patients develop cardiovascular disease before they are 20-years-old and generally do not live past the age of 30. Because existing cholesterol lowering drugs are relatively ineffective in this patient population, new therapies to reduce LDL levels are needed.

In this study, researchers conducted a dose-escalation study to examine the safety, tolerability and effects on lipid levels of an inhibitor of MTP in six patients with homozygous FH. Patients received the MTP inhibitor at four different doses, each for four weeks, and returned for a final visit after an additional four-week drug washout period. Analysis of lipid levels, safety laboratory analyses, and magnetic resonance imaging of the liver for hepatic fat content were performed throughout the study.

All patients tolerated titration to the highest dose studied. In addition to the 51% reduction in LDL cholesterol, treatment at this dose also decreased total cholesterol levels by 58%, triglyceride levels by 65% and apolipoprotein B levels by 56% from baseline. In contrast to statin drugs, which have relatively little effect on cholesterol levels in homozygous FH patients, the MTP inhibitor was shown to reduce the liver's ability to produce LDL. The most notable adverse events in the study were loose stools and elevation of liver transaminase levels and accumulation of hepatic fat in some but not all of the patients studied.

Rader concluded, "Although our study establishes proof of concept, a longer-term study in more patients will be required to determine the benefits and risks of this approach as a potential new therapy for homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia." Marina Cuchel, MD, PhD, a co-investigator in this study at Penn, is now the principal investigator of a Phase III study for this compound in homozygous FH patients that is funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Orphan Drug program and planned for later this year.

Rader points out that this study is a superb example of "translational research" in which discoveries in basic science are "translated" into use in humans for the development of novel therapies. Rader is an internationally recognized leader in translational research in the areas of cholesterol metabolism and heart disease prevention. Penn recently created a new Cardiovascular Institute that is charged with promoting translational research in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cardiovascular disease. Additionally, Penn was recently awarded a large NIH grant to foster the further development of translational research under the auspices of the newly created Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics.

The results of this study are in The New England Journal of Medicine (http://content.nejm.org). The article is titled "Inhibition of Microsomal Triglyceride Transfer Protein in Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia."

Healthy Fats For Life Will Help You To Understand The Difference Between 'Good' Fats And 'Bad' Fats: "Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c47485) has announced the addition of 'Healthy Fats for Life: Preventing and Treating Common Health Problems with Essential Fatty Acids, 2nd Edition: Revised and Updated' to their offering.

You CAN eat fat and be healthy!

For years we have been told that 'fat' is bad for us. But the low- fat and no- fat- diets designed to improve our health have instead created an overweight society with skyrocketing rates of heart disease and diabetes. Recent scientific research has shown that certain types of essential fatty acids (EFAs) -- healthy fats -- improve immune and hormone functions, and play a vital role in treating all forms of degenerative disease, including cancer.

Healthy Fats for Life will help you to understand the difference between 'good' fats and 'bad' fats, while providing a simple plan for obtaining essential fats to reach optimum health. Learn how to:

-- reduce your weight

-- lower your cholesterol

-- control your diabetes

-- prevent heart disease

-- reduce the risk of cancer

-- improve brain function

-- develop stronger bones

-- increase your longevity

-- eliminate arthritis symptoms

-- protect the prostate

-- improve fertility

-- give birth to a healthier baby

You will discover the important role of essential fatty acids for health and learn how to easily incorporate them into your diet to reduce the risks of disease.

About the author

Lorna Vanderhaeghe is a medical journalist who has been researching and writing on the subject of nutritional medicine for over 20 years. Her list of accomplishments include: working at the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine at the Canadian Schizophrenia Foundation; past editor- in- chief of Healthy Living Guide; senior editor of the Encyclopaedia of Natural Healing (winner of the prestigious Benjamin Franklin Award in 1998). She is currently an associate editor for Total Health magazine in the United States and alive magazine in Canada. Lorna is co- author of the award winning and bestselling book The Immune System Cure, now published in six countries, and translated into French, Dutch and German, and author of the Canadian bestseller Healthy Immunity: Scientifically Proven Natural Treatments for Conditions from A- Z, released in September 2001. Her most recent co- authored book, No More HRT: Menopause Treat the Cause, was released in September 2002. An internationally- known lecturer, she believes in empowering people with health knowledge so they can achieve optimal wellness.

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APP.COM - Shape-up Santa! CLICK FOR MORE: "Sure, Santa Claus has some attributes in his health's favor. His jolly, ho-ho-ho attitude indicates good mental health, despite living at the North Pole, which is plunged into darkness this time of year.

His longtime marriage to Mrs. Claus is a plus, because married men tend to live longer than single men.

He doesn't seem to be a high-strung, Type A personality. He must delegate well to his elves.

Keeping track of who's been naughty, who's been nice and what's on everyone's wish lists is a good intellectual challenge to ward off dementia.

Traveling by reindeer-pulled sleigh keeps him off the roads and away from car exhaust, which is a health benefit.

But that plump belly?

Very risky.

Asked about Santa's health, physicians, exercise and diet specialists all said that if Santa was their patient, they'd be concerned.

A man whose waistline is 40 inches or larger is more likely to develop heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

The experts encourage Santa to get out and play with the reindeer in the snow. Take walks through the toy workshop. Put on some music and get dancing with Mrs. Claus..."

Power of Hallucinogenic Mushrooms Revealed: "Power of Hallucinogenic Mushrooms Revealed

Call it a 'shroom with a view: Researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that people who took psilocybin, the active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms, ranked the experience as one of the most meaningful experiences in their life. This is the first detailed examination of the psychological impact of psilocybin since the late 1960s, when hallucinogens came under regulatory scrutiny.

Roland Griffiths and his colleagues worked with 36 subjects who had never taken hallucinogens before, but all reported at least intermittent participation in religious or spiritual activities such as church services, prayer, or meditation. In two or three 8-hour sessions, with two months in between each session, the volunteers were given either psilocybin or Ritalin. Seven hours later, and again months afterward, they completed questionnaires about their experience. More than 60 percent of the subjects who received psilocybin had what they described as a 'complete mystical experience.' Only 11 percent of the placebo group did. Two months later, 71 percent recalled it as one of the five most spiritually significant events in their lives..."

The Top 13 Medicine Stories of 2006 CLICK FOR MORE: "Every year, like clockwork, DISCOVER digs through reams of newspapers and gigabytes of Web sites to find the 100 most important and interesting science stories of the year. We're unveiling the top stories from 2006 over the next couple of weeks, one subject at a time. Here's the whole list (only subscribers get access to the whole special package immediately).

Tissue Engineering Triumph: Lab-Grown Bladders
Artificial bladders can be grown from a patient's own cells and successfully implanted...

Fast-Food Fats Prove Health Hazard
Small daily amounts of trans fats cause weight gain, atherosclerosis, and insulin resistance...

Drugs Aim to Silence Bad Genes
RNA interference helped launch an entirely new class of drugs into trials...

World Trade Center Fallout Fails Health Test
A report revealed widespread, persistent respiratory illness among rescue and recovery workers...

Mouse Breast Grown in Lab
To make a breast, all you need is a single cell...

Bird Flu Risk Explained
The deep infection makes it difficult to spread the avian flu virus...

First Face Transplant
Attaching the nose, chin, cheeks, and lips of a 46-year-old brain-dead woman...

New HIV Drugs
Three new categories of anti-HIV drugs are in the pipeline...

British Clinical Drug Trial Goes Spectacularly Awry
Six of the test subjects wound up with massive organ failure...

Stem Cells Reverse Parkinson's in Rats
Embryonic stem cells helped rats suffering from Parkinson's-like symptoms...

Power of Hallucinogenic Mushrooms Revealed
People who tripped ranked the experience as one of the most meaningful in their life...

Low-Fat Diet A Bust?
Cutting fat from the diet doesn't significantly reduce the incidence of breast or colorectal cancer, heart disease, or stroke...

Fat Vaccine Works in Rats
In August, immunologist Kim Janda grabbed headlines with reports of a vaccine against obesity...
Tissue Engineering Triumph: Lab-Grown Bladders

On April 15, the British medical journal The Lancet carried a landmark article showing that it is now possible to engineer a complex organ to replace one ravaged by disease. Anthony Atala, a surgeon and director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, reported that artificial bladders can be grown in the lab from a patient's own cells and successfully implanted. Over the past six years, seven children have received the organs, which are functioning well..."

Yoga for Everyone CLICK FOR MORE: "
Yoga for Everyone
Tone your body, improve your flexibility and de-stress your mind with these simple moves

Why is yoga so popular these days? It's much more than just a trend. People of all shapes, sizes, ages and fitness levels are catching on to the many benefits of this ancient practice. Yoga can tone and strengthen your body and improve your flexibility and posture. It can get you energized for a busy day or help you decompress and clear your mind after a long, stressful one.

Yoga isn't about competing with yourself or anyone else—it's about tuning in to your body and modifying the moves to fit your needs. Whether you take five minutes to try just one of these moves or do a full series, you'll be doing your body and brain a favor. So start stretching and have fun!

• Getting started: To do these moves you'll need comfortable clothes (elastic or drawstring waistbands are best) and bare feet. If you don't have an exercise mat, you can do the standing poses on the floor and the seated and reclining poses on a rug or blanket. You may also want to keep a sturdy blanket, a phone book or dictionary, plus a belt or one of your husband's old ties, handy. These props can be helpful if you find that you are unable to stretch fully into a pose."

Study says new blood tests are no better than the old methods for predicting heart attacks CLICK FOR MORE: "New blood tests that doctors hoped would more accurately predict which patients are headed for a heart attack or stroke are no better than cholesterol levels, blood pressure and other conventional measurements, a study found.

Doctors in recent years had become excited over substances in the blood that appeared to be powerful new predictors of a heart attack. These substances included C-reactive protein, or CRP; homocysteine; and BNP, or B-type natriuretic peptide.

An increasing number of family doctors have been ordering expensive tests for these substances, and some patients have started requesting them, in hopes of identifying people who do not have the standard risk factors but are still likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke.

But the new research, by scientists at the highly regarded Framingham Heart Study, found that tests of CRP, BNP, homocysteine and seven other substances are only a couple of percentage points better at predicting outcomes than the standard, commonsense risk factors that doctors have known for decades."

New heart disease markers no better than old: study� CLICK FOR MORE: "Sophisticated screening tests are no better at predicting life-threatening heart problems than simple old-fashioned risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, a study showed on Wednesday.

Thomas Wang of the Massachusetts General Hospital and his colleagues looked at 10 'biomarkers' that try to evaluate risk for heart disease, including C-reactive protein and homocysteine.

Their conclusion to be published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine: don't bother.

'The traditional risk factors that have stood the test of time turn out to be the best evaluation of risk,' Wang told Reuters.

He said some of the tests have other functions in medicine and might help doctors better understand heart disease.

But when it comes to using them to routinely test patients to assess their risk, 'there doesn't seem to be a role for keeping these biomarkers,' he said.

The conclusion is based on the longtime Framingham Heart Study in Massachusetts in which 3,209 participants were followed for up to 10 years to see if any of the markers could foretell who would have a heart attack, stroke, or heart failure..."

New heart disease markers no better than old: study� CLICK FOR MORE: "Sophisticated screening tests are no better at predicting life-threatening heart problems than simple old-fashioned risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, a study showed on Wednesday.

Thomas Wang of the Massachusetts General Hospital and his colleagues looked at 10 'biomarkers' that try to evaluate risk for heart disease, including C-reactive protein and homocysteine.

Their conclusion to be published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine: don't bother.

'The traditional risk factors that have stood the test of time turn out to be the best evaluation of risk,' Wang told Reuters.

He said some of the tests have other functions in medicine and might help doctors better understand heart disease.

But when it comes to using them to routinely test patients to assess their risk, 'there doesn't seem to be a role for keeping these biomarkers,' he said.

The conclusion is based on the longtime Framingham Heart Study in Massachusetts in which 3,209 participants were followed for up to 10 years to see if any of the markers could foretell who would have a heart attack, stroke, or heart failure..."

Shock Waves Can Save Hearts: "Extracorporeal cardiac shock wave therapy sounds like something Capt. Picard might need after a run-in with the Borg. But it's actually a new, real-life way to treat end-stage heart disease.
A team of Japanese researchers found that blasting the heart with shock waves helps patients grow new blood vessels and increase blood flow.
Coronary artery disease -- a leading cause of death in men and women in the United States -- happens when plaque builds up in blood vessels, blocking the flow of oxygenated blood to the heart muscle. Medication, angioplasty or bypass surgery can sometimes treat the disease. But when these approaches aren't enough, the only hope is to grow new blood vessels. Gene and cell therapies can also engender new blood vessels, but those procedures require surgery, which is risky for elderly or severely sick patients..."

Over 40, female and fat around the middle? Beware your risk for diabetes or heart disease CLICK FOR MORE: "Getting fatter around the middle? Have a family history of heart disease or diabetes? You could be headed for the same trouble, especially if you're over 40 and female.
There are no obvious symptoms from high blood sugar or the condition called insulin resistance, so few people realize it is creeping up and putting them on the path to diabetes, heart disease or both.
But insulin resistance, a type of pre-diabetes, is a growing national problem: Some experts believe half of all overweight or obese American adults are insulin-resistant.
Yet, even many women with a family history of heart disease or diabetes don't know they need to eat a healthier diet and get more exercise to avoid those problems -- two of the nation's top killers.
'We think this is a very important new issue for women,' said Audrey Sheppard, chief executive of the National Women's Health Resource Center. 'There's very little awareness..."

Jumping for American Heart Association CLICK FOR MORE: "Heart disease is the number one killer in America today. But there's good news. Research shows that the habits and choices developed in childhood influence whether or not a person develops heart disease later in life. Reducing the risk of many forms of heart disease can be easy.

Students at the Fort Stockton Intermediate School participated in 'Jump Rope for Heart.' They experience the fun of jumping rope and the joy of physical activity. That's a positive message that can bring a lifetime of benefits. 'Jump Rope for Heart' supports the American Heart Association's fight against heart disease and stroke.
The funds the students raised will be used for cardiovascular research, as well as educational programs and materials that teach our children how to help prevent these diseases. For the 2006/2007 school year, Intermediate students collected a total of $1747.15. Total money collected for the past 17 years has been $40,986.48..."

Trans Fat War Threatens Restaurants CLICK FOR MORE: "Cheap man-made vegetable oil in foods is a killer. Health professionals blame it for causing coronary heart disease, which kills or disables 730,000 Americans annually.

But banning these so-called trans fats could kill something else--restaurant sales and profits. Tobacco was the scourge of the 1990s. The latest populist health cause is banishing trans fat--the cheap hydrogenated vegetable oil that browns foods and makes them taste great.

A fight is shaping up nationally over trans fat. Lawmakers are attacking the $510 billion (sales) restaurant industry. New York fired the first shot. The city outlawed trans fats earlier this month, giving restaurateurs 18 months to change their cooking oils or face a $2,000 fine per violation. The 60,000-member National Restaurant Association is considering filing a lawsuit to overturn the ban, says spokesperson Sue Hensley..."

Surviving a silent killer CLICK FOR MORE: "take rat poison every day, and I'm happy to have the chance. Of course, it's in small amounts and under close medical supervision – but it's what keeps me alive.

Thanks to this drug (a blood thinner) and the availability of good medical care in our area, plus a stroke of luck, I not only survived a massive blood clot, but two weeks later could do everything I did before, including some fairly serious volleyball on the grass at Mission Bay Park.

As a new member of the Coumadin Club, I've learned some fascinating and frightening facts. First of all, this is not a very exclusive club. According to the National Institutes of Health, 2 million Americans each year develop this condition, called deep vein thrombosis, or DVT. Of these, 600,000 – nearly one out of three – will progress to a pulmonary embolism (a piece breaks loose and goes to the lung), which is fatal for at least 10 percent..."