The Ultimate Guide to Understanding the Food Crisis: How it Started, Who it Hurts Most, and How to Solve the Problem

If you’ve picked up a paper the last few weeks, odds are you’ve seen a frenzy of stories about rising food prices. And if even if you haven’t, you’ve definitely felt the hit in your wallet. American grocery costs have risen around 5% over the last year, while salaries have only gone up 3.5%. That means we’re paying more for loaves of bread and our paychecks aren’t making up the difference. And in certain nations? The food situation is so bad, they WISH they had our problems.

While some journalists are taking the age-old EVERYBODY PANIC! approach, most are calmly disseminating inflation information as best they can. Unfortunately, it’s complicated stuff - difficult to explain and even harder to cover thoroughly. While I’ve perused dozens of great articles on one certain aspect of the crisis (global impact, farmer prosperity, etc.), I haven’t seen one that gives an overview of the situation: why prices are rocketing, how it affects the entire globe, and where we’re going to come up with solutions.

So, here’s a shot. Hopefully, it’ll help clarify a few things. And readers, if I’ve gotten something wrong (which is pretty normal around here), please set me right.

WHAT IT IS (in a sentence)

For a variety of interconnected reasons, food prices are rising globally, causing economic strife in the U.S. and dangerous shortages in dozens of poorer countries.

WHY IT’S HAPPENING

1) Population growth. According to The New York Times, “the world’s developing countries have been growing about 7 percent a year, an unusually rapid rate by historical standards.” Simply, this increases demand for food in countries that can’t necessarily keep up.

2) Global adoption of the Western diet, especially in India and China. Newly-affluent nations are seeing high numbers of people move into the middle class. This is ostensibly a good thing, since more have access to health care and housing. However, many are also switching to the Western diet, choosing meat, dairy, and convenience foods over traditional chow like vegetables and grains. This puts a strain on current production methods, driving prices up.

3) Bad weather. This one’s pretty simple. Australia, Canada, and Ukraine, all huge exporters of rice and grains, got meteorologically screwed last year. It put stress on other sources to make up the difference. Forecasts are looking up, though, so that’s good news.

4) Gas prices. Oil is ludicrously expensive the world over, making it hard to grow, fertilize, harvest, package, and transport food – especially to places that can’t afford it.

5) Diversion of crops to make biofuel/ethanol. Since fuel prices are insane, the U.S. is trying to come up with cheaper alternatives, focusing mainly on corn-based ethanol. In fact, Newsweek's Daniel Gross states that, “Last year, one fifth of the U.S. corn crop was diverted to ethanol refineries.” This means three things: A) corn prices rise because it’s now a more valuable commodity, B) the costs of OTHER crops increase since they’re scarcer than before, and C) meat goes up as well, since corn is the main source of animal feed.

6) Investors. These guys are betting on high food prices over the next few years, driving costs up even more. This hurts every single person but the investor, “upsetting business plans, sparking inflation, causing political instability and inflicting widespread economic pain.” (If you hear of someone doing this, smack him. I give you permission.)

HOW IT’S AFFECTING/WILL AFFECT AMERICANS

First off, unless something apocalyptic happens, U.S. citizens will not starve. Many won’t even notice there’s an issue. Let’s get that out of the way, so we can stop adding to the hysteria by hoarding 50-pound bags of rice from Costco. In the meantime, here are the real effects:

1) Rising costs passed on to the consumer. This one’s the doozy. All of the aforementioned reasons (but mostly the last four) have contributed to skyrocketing prices on common edibles. According to various sources, milk is up about 15%, white carbs (pasta and bread) about 13%, and eggs a staggering 25% over 12 months ago. The New York Times claims, “With a few exceptions, nearly every grocery category measured by the Labor Department … has increased in the last year.” If this really is a full-on recession (which, yep), it probably won’t get better anytime soon, if at all.

2) Inadequate nutrition for the poor. “The Congressional Budget Office projects that a record 28 million Americans will require food stamps this year,” says Newsweek. This is not so good, as it means people in a lower economic bracket are increasingly unable to afford fundamental, healthy meals. Food banks are taking a hit, too, and one Iowa director “estimates that her group's food bills have increased 30 to 40 percent in the past year.”

3) Smaller portions and packaging. Next time you visit a supermarket, you might notice the 1.5-liter containers of soda and orange juice going for the same price the 2-liter guys used to. It’s the same with Skippy Peanut Butter (old: 18oz, new: 16.2 oz), Ramen (old: 4 oz, new: 3.5 oz), and a slew of other products, as companies are looking to save a buck wherever they can.

4) Restaurant cutbacks. Eatery owners – especially family-owned independent ones - are being hit HARD by inflation. Wholesalers raised prices over 7% last year, transportation costs are mounting, and customers are cooking at home more, reducing earnings. According to The Wall Street Journal's Juliet Chung, “Ruth's Chris Steak House saw fourth-quarter profit in 2007 fall 62% compared with the same period a year earlier. Similarly, fourth-quarter profit was down 48% at Domino's Pizza and 35% at the Cheesecake Factory.” Restaurants are compensating by serving smaller portions, using cheaper cuts of meat, and offering more pasta dishes, but the benefits may be marginal.

5) Ethanol controversy. Expect this to be a hot-button issue over the next presidency, as we search for alternatives to oil. The problem is, a lot of people are making bucks off ethanol, including farmers who’ve never seen that kind of money before. Which brings us to …

6) Happy farmers. One of the positive side effects of this whole conundrum is that American farmers are finally seeing profits. David Streitfeld of the New York Times says, “The Agriculture Department forecasts that farm income this year will be 50 percent greater than the average of the last 10 years.” Of course, fuel, fertilizer, and labor (among other things) are becoming more expensive, too, and there’s that whole volatility/who-knows-what-will-happen-next-year issue. But for now, Mr. Green Jeans in Nebraska is probably doing okay.

WHO IT’S HITTING HARDEST
(Hint: it’s not the U.S.)

If prices have skyrocketed for Americans, they’ve been blown out of the stratosphere for a number of nations around the globe. This sampling of statistics from the Economist is just to give you an idea:

"Last year wheat prices rose 77% and rice 16%. These were some of the sharpest rises in food prices ever. But this year the speed of change has accelerated. Since January, rice prices have soared 141%; the price of one variety of wheat shot up 25% in a day."

The U.N. has called it "a silent tsunami which knows no borders sweeping the world,” and it’s no wonder why. 121 countries are experiencing crisis-level food shortages, and there are estimates that 100 million people “on every continent” will go hungry. Egypt, Mexico, India, Cameroon, Indonesia, and Haiti have already seen protests and riots, and if food production and distribution continues as-is, the situation will only deteriorate.

The saddest part is, according to one economist, “In 2003, we were talking about ending world hunger—and it looked like a sensible target.” It’s something to think of next time I complain that egg prices went up again.

LARGE-SCALE SOLUTIONS

1) The United Nations task force. The U.N. has developed a two-pronged plan to address the immediate needs of the hungry and provide tools needed for self-sustainable farming. This will come at a cost of $1.7 billion, $475 million of which has already been secured.

2) Small-scale agriculture. Globally, farmers have suddenly become V.I.P.s, as millions increasingly depend on their crops and labor opportunities to survive. Due to this trend, many are citing smaller, more localized growing as a possible fix to the food shortage. Malawi in particular has been heralded as an example, as their harvest increased 100% in a single year after officials “established a special fund to help its farmers get fertilizer and high-yield seeds.”

3) Moving away from ethanol. Again, a controversial subject, but experts say it could help alleviate budget strain.

4) Time. Since growing food takes awhile, new agricultural strategies won’t produce results for a few years now. But positive weather forecasts, a slight shift back toward wheat farming, and plans put into affect now mean good things for the future.

PERSONAL SOLUTIONS

1) Economize. Plan ahead. Recycle. DIY. Cut costs. Shop smart. Employ ideas you’ve only read about up ‘til now.

2) Stay informed. Watch the news. Read the paper. Research the issues.

3) Take action. Brush up on local politics. Attend a town hall meeting. Write your senator. Boycott. Protest the shameful profiteering of oil companies.

4) Donate and volunteer. The benefits of giving money are immediate and apparent. As for volunteering, it will not only cut labor costs for philanthropies, but you’ll get to experience up close what the food problem means for so many people. Charity Navigator and Idealist.org are great places to start.

5) Don’t panic. And stop hoarding food, dangit!

And that’s it. Readers, I’d love to hear opinions and (definitely) corrections. Where do you see this all going? What are you doing to alleviate the situation? Bring the noise.

FURTHER READING/SOURCES

Assessing the Global Food Crisis (BBC, 4/08)
Biting Into Your Budget (Newsweek, 4/08)
Costs Surge for Stocking the Pantry (New York Times, 3/08)
Cutback Cuisine (Wall Street Journal, 3/08)
How to be a Foodie Without Breaking the Bank (SFGate, 3/08)
How to End the Global Food Shortage (Time, 4/08)
The New Face of Hunger (Economist, 4/08)
Now it's the $6 Loaf of Bread (Newsweek, 5/08)
Price Volatility Adds to Worry on U.S. Farms (New York Times, 4/08)
Readers Write in With More Examples of Shrinking Products (Consumerist, 3/08)
U.N. Sets Up Food Crisis Task Force (Time, 4/08)
What's Going on With Rice and Flour? (Chicago Tribune, 4/08)
The World's Growing Food-Price Crisis (Time, 2/08)

(Photo courtesy of Flickr member (kerry) .)

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Posted in: Buying Food,Do-Gooding,Frugality

FDA leaves cancer-causing foot gel on the market

Ever wonder what the Rockville rowdys are up to at tax-payer expense? Maybe it is just pushing harmful drugs through the revolving door, with not regard for your health.

Maybe these folks enjoy a work environment where Big Pharma has a gun at their head and a hand in their wallet.

And, of course, this is not the only example!

There are very effective ways to prevent and heal skin ulcers that many people with diabetes suffer with from time to time. These are natural treatments so it is very unlikely that you will learn about them from mainstream medicine.

You might do better to have a visit with a podiatrist. Here you might learn about a papaya based ointment.

Even the most seemingly innocent drugs can carry fatal side effects. The FDA just announced a study showing that the foot gel Regranex could be causing cancer. And yet, amazingly, Regranex is still on the market!

The prescription foot gel is manufactured by Johnson & Johnson and is often used by diabetics who develop leg and foot ulcers that are difficult to heal.

Apparently, diabetics who'd been prescribed the gel three or more times were at increased risk of death from cancer. With incredible gall, the spokesperson for J&J insisted that Regranex is safe when used as directed. What? This is a topical foot gel—if these people are applying it to the sores on their feet and legs, they ARE using it as directed. Should any foot gel be capable of giving you CANCER!? Does this make sense to you?

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Consumers Exploring Homeopathy

What is it they say about back to the future or history repeats itself?

Quite a lot when it comes to homeopathy.

This happens to be my favorite method of care, and really what I devote so much of my time to these days through our educational programs.

I am so convinced that homeopathy IS the medicine of the future that we chose this format- in our Simply4Health line - for the 21st Century version of BioSupplemente, in order to maintain it for perpetuity.

We expect RK BioDrops to arrive soon, as the labels are currently being designed.

NEW YORK—Rising numbers of consumers around the world are turning to homeopathy as an effective system of natural medicine, according to a new report from Global TGI; however, there is still considerable divergence of opinion. According to Global TGI, the highest level of “trust” in homeopathic medicine was in India, at 62 percent, followed by Brazil (58 percent) and Saudi Arabia (53 percent). On the other end of the spectrum, only 15 percent of Britons and 18 percent of Americans said they trust in homeopathy.

According to the market research company, consumers who have faith in homeopathy are more likely to have suffered from chronic or recurrent conditions, the areas where homeopathy is typically used. For example, in the United States, homeopathy supporters are 57 percent more likely than average to suffer from eczema or psoriasis, 29 percent more likely to have asthma, and 22 percent more likely to suffer from allergies or hay fever. <04/24/2008>

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Where have these folks been all these years?

I guess I would attribute this latest oversight to health care providers who fail to read the literature about the drugs they prescribe to people for chemo.

Really there is no excuse because if I knew this and warned people of these very risks for a few decades, why is it taking so long foe the oncologists to own up to this grievous error and breach of trust, not overlooking the issue of informed consent...

Study Calls For Action On Heart Risks From Certain Anti-cancer Drugs

Conceptual representation of a constellation of factors that synergize with cardiotoxicity induced by a known cardiotoxic drug and make cardiac events occur at lower than expected cumulative doses of that drug. (Credit: Courtesy of P. Menna, E. Salvatorelli and G. Minotti)

ScienceDaily (Apr. 28, 2008) — Heart damage from certain anti-cancer drugs no longer should be regarded as a rare or relatively unimportant complication, scientists in Italy have concluded in a new overview of research on the cardiotoxicity of anti-cancer drugs. Their review recommends that drug regulatory agencies, physicians, and toxicologists join in a focused research effort to combat the problem.

In the new study, Giorgio Minotti, Pierantonio Menna, and Emanuela Salvatorelli point out that the risk of cardiotoxicity may be higher than previously believed, especially in older patients and those with high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, and other risk factors. Studies of long-term survivors of childhood and adult cancer -- more than 10 million people in the United States alone -- also suggest an increased risk of symptomatic cardiac events.

Their review found that newer, targeted drugs can damage the heart, particularly when combined with old-generation chemotherapeutics. "Toxicologists and regulatory agencies and clinicians should therefore join in collaborative efforts that improve early identification of cardiotoxicity and minimize the risks of cardiac events in patients," the article notes.

The article "Cardiotoxicity of Antitumor Drugs" is scheduled for the May 19 issue of Chemical Research in Toxicology,

Adapted from materials provided by American Chemical Society, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

American Chemical Society (2008, April 28). Study Calls For Action On Heart Risks From Certain Anti-cancer Drugs. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 29, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/04/080428091709.htm

and while you consider this concern you might want to learn that your insurance company is up to new tricks, just as the "care centers" seem to be.

Cash Before Chemo:Hospitals Get Tough
Bad Debts Prompt Change in Billing;$45,000 to Come In
By BARBARA MARTINEZ
April 28, 2008; Page A1

LAKE JACKSON, Texas -- When Lisa Kelly learned she had leukemia in late 2006, her doctor advised her to seek urgent care at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. But the nonprofit hospital refused to accept Mrs. Kelly's limited insurance. It asked for $105,000 in cash before it would admit her.

Sitting in the hospital's business office, Mrs. Kelly says she told M.D. Anderson's representatives that she had some money to pay for treatment, but couldn't get all the cash they asked for that day. "Are they going to send me home?" she recalls thinking. "Am I going to die?"
A growing trend in the hospital industry means cancer patients like Lisa Kelly are being asked to pay cash upfront before receiving treatment.

Hospitals are adopting a policy to improve their finances: making medical care contingent on upfront payments. Typically, hospitals have billed people after they receive care. But now, pointing to their burgeoning bad-debt and charity-care costs, hospitals are asking patients for money before they get treated.

Hospitals say they have turned to the practice because of a spike in patients who don't pay their bills. Uncompensated care cost the hospital industry $31.2 billion in 2006, up 44% from $21.6 billion in 2000, according to the American Hospital Association.

The bad debt is driven by a larger number of Americans who are uninsured or who don't have enough insurance to cover medical costs if catastrophe strikes. Even among those with adequate insurance, deductibles and co-payments are growing so big that insured patients also have trouble paying hospitals.
FINANCIAL HEALTH

• The Issue: Hospitals are asking patients for payment before receiving treatment.
• The Background: Hospitals say the practice is needed because of an increase in the number of people not paying their bills.
• The Bottom Line: While hospitals provide care to the poor, uninsured and underinsured people are likely to be hardest hit.

Letting bad debt balloon unchecked would threaten hospitals' finances and their ability to provide care, says Richard Umbdenstock, president of the American Hospital Association. Hospitals would rather discuss costs with patients upfront, he says. "After, when it's an ugly surprise or becomes contentious, it doesn't work for anybody."

M.D. Anderson says it went to a new upfront-collection system for initial visits in 2005 after its unpaid patient bills jumped by $18 million to $52 million that year. The hospital said its increasing bad-debt load threatened its mission to cure cancer, a goal on which it spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

The change had the desired effect: The hospital's bad debt fell to $33 million the following year.
[Lisa Kelly]

Asking patients to pay after they've received treatment is "like asking someone to pay for the car after they've driven off the lot," says John Tietjen, vice president for patient financial services at M.D. Anderson. "The time that the patient is most receptive is before the care is delivered."

M.D. Anderson says it provides assistance or free care to poor patients who can't afford treatment. It says it acted appropriately in Mrs. Kelly's case because she wasn't indigent, but underinsured. The hospital says it wouldn't accept her insurance because the payout, a maximum of $37,000 a year, would be less than 30% of the estimated costs of her care.

Tenet Healthcare and HCA, two big, for-profit hospital chains, say they have also been asking patients for upfront payments before admitting them. While the practice has received little notice, some patient advocates and health-care experts find it harder to justify at nonprofit hospitals, given their benevolent mission and improving financial fortunes.

In the Black

An Ohio State University study found net income per bed nearly tripled at nonprofit hospitals to $146,273 in 2005 from $50,669 in 2000. According to the American Hospital Directory, 77% of nonprofit hospitals are in the black, compared with 61% of for-profit hospitals. Nonprofit hospitals are exempt from taxes and are supposed to channel the income they generate back into their operations. Many have used their growing surpluses to reward their executives with rich pay packages, build new wings and accumulate large cash reserves.

M.D. Anderson, which is part of the University of Texas, is a nonprofit institution exempt from taxes. In 2007, it recorded net income of $310 million, bringing its cash, investments and endowment to nearly $1.9 billion.
[chart]

"When you have that much money in the till and that much profit, it's kind of hard to say no" to sick patients by asking for money upfront, says Uwe Reinhardt, a health-care economist at Princeton University, who thinks all hospitals should pay taxes. Nonprofit organizations "shouldn't behave this way," he says.

It isn't clear how many of the nation's 2,033 nonprofit hospitals require upfront payments. A voluntary 2006 survey by the Internal Revenue Service found 14% of 481 nonprofit hospitals required patients to pay or make an arrangement to pay before being admitted. It was the first time the agency asked that question.

Nataline Sarkisyan, a 17-year-old cancer patient who died in December waiting for a liver transplant, drew national attention when former presidential candidate John Edwards lambasted her health insurer for refusing to pay for the operation. But what went largely unnoticed is that Ms. Sarkisyan's hospital, UCLA Medical Center, a nonprofit hospital that is part of the University of California system, refused to do the procedure after the insurance denial unless the family paid it $75,000 upfront, according to the family's lawyer, Tamar Arminak.

The family got that money together, but then the hospital demanded $300,000 to cover costs of caring for Nataline after surgery, Ms. Arminak says.

UCLA says it can't comment on the case because the family hasn't given its consent. A spokeswoman says UCLA doesn't have a specific policy regarding upfront payments, but works with patients on a case-by-case basis.

Federal law requires hospitals to treat emergencies, such as heart attacks or injuries from accidents. But the law doesn't cover conditions that aren't immediately life-threatening.

At the American Cancer Society, which runs call centers to help patients navigate financial problems, more people are saying they're being asked for large upfront payments by hospitals that they can't afford. "My greatest concern is that there are substantial numbers of people who need cancer care" who don't get it, "usually for financial reasons," says Otis Brawley, chief medical officer.

Mrs. Kelly's ordeal began in 2006, when she started bruising easily and was often tired. Her husband, Sam, nagged her to see a doctor.

A specialist in Lake Jackson, a town 50 miles from Houston, diagnosed Mrs. Kelly with acute leukemia, a cancer of the blood that can quickly turn fatal. The small cancer center in Lake Jackson refers acute leukemia patients to M.D. Anderson.

When Mrs. Kelly called M.D. Anderson to make an appointment, the hospital told her it wouldn't accept her insurance, a type called limited-benefit.

"When an insurer is going to pay the small amounts, we don't feel financially able to assume the risk," says M.D. Anderson's Mr. Tietjen.

An estimated one million Americans have limited-benefit plans. Usually less expensive than traditional plans, such insurance is popular among people like Mrs. Kelly who don't have health insurance through an employer.

Mrs. Kelly, 52, signed up for AARP's Medical Advantage plan, underwritten by UnitedHealth Group Inc., three years ago after she quit her job as a school-bus driver to help care for her mother. Her husband was retired after a career as a heavy-equipment operator. She says that at the time, she hardly ever went to the doctor. "I just thought I needed some kind of insurance policy because you never know what's going to happen," says Mrs. Kelly. She paid premiums of $185 a month.

A spokeswoman for UnitedHealth, one of the country's largest marketers of limited-benefit plans, says the plan is "meant to be a bridge or a gap filler." She says UnitedHealth has reimbursed Mrs. Kelly $38,478.36 for her medical costs. Because the hospital wouldn't accept her insurance, Mrs. Kelly paid bills herself, and submitted them to her insurer to get reimbursed.
[health costs]
See documents related to Mrs. Kelly's case.
• Mrs. Kelly's certificate of coverage1 through the AARP.
• Mrs. Kelly's May 2007 bill2 from M.D. Anderson.
• One of the letters Ms. Wallack sent3 on behalf of Mrs. Kelly, questioning some of M.D. Anderson's charges
• The hospital's response4
• Letter from M.D. Anderson5 to Mrs. Kelly, regarding a refund for a misbilled item
• Collection notice6 sent to Mrs. Kelly
• Letter from M.D. Anderson7 offering a 10% discount for paying the balance in full by April 30.

M.D. Anderson viewed Mrs. Kelly as uninsured and told her she could get an appointment only if she brought a certified check for $45,000. The Kellys live comfortably, but didn't have that kind of cash on hand. They own an apartment building and a rental house that generate about $11,000 a month before taxes and maintenance costs. They also earn interest income of about $35,000 a year from two retirement accounts funded by inheritances left by Mrs. Kelly's mother and Mr. Kelly's father.

Mr. Kelly arranged to borrow the money from his father's trust, which was in probate proceedings. Mrs. Kelly says she told the hospital she had money for treatment, but didn't realize how high her medical costs would get.

The Kellys arrived at M.D. Anderson with a check for $45,000 on Dec. 6, 2006. After having blood drawn and a bone-marrow biopsy, the hospital oncologist wanted to admit Mrs. Kelly right away.

But the hospital demanded an additional $60,000 on the spot. It told her the $45,000 had paid for the lab tests, and it needed the additional cash as a down payment for her actual treatment.

In the hospital business office, Mrs. Kelly says she was crying, exhausted and confused.

The hospital eventually lowered its demand to $30,000. Mr. Kelly lost his cool. "What part don't you understand?" he recalls saying. "We don't have any more money today. Are you going to admit her or not?" The hospital says it was trying to work with Mrs. Kelly, to find an amount she could pay.

Mrs. Kelly was granted an "override" and admitted at 7 p.m.

Appointment 'Blocked'

After eight days, she emerged from the hospital. Chemotherapy would continue for more than a year, as would requests for upfront payments. At times, she arrived at the hospital and learned her appointment was "blocked." That meant she needed to go to the business office first and make a payment.
[photo]
Lisa Kelly

One day, Mrs. Kelly says, nurses wouldn't change the chemotherapy bag in her pump until her husband made a new payment. She says she sat for an hour hooked up to a pump that beeped that it was out of medicine, until he returned with proof of payment.

A hospital spokesperson says "it is very difficult to imagine that a nursing staff would allow a patient to sit with a beeping pump until a receipt is presented." The hospital regrets if patients are inconvenienced by blocked appointments, she says, but it "is a necessary process to keep patients informed of their mounting bills and to continue dialog about financial obligations." She says appointments aren't blocked for patients who require urgent care.

Once, Mrs. Kelly says she was on an exam table awaiting her doctor, when he walked in with a representative from the business office. After arguing about money, she says the representative suggested moving her to another facility.

But the cancer center in Lake Jackson wouldn't take her back because it didn't have a blood bank or an infectious-disease specialist. "It risks a person's life by doing that [type of chemotherapy] at a small institution," says Emerardo Falcon Jr., of the Brazosport Cancer Center in Lake Jackson.

Ron Walters, an M.D. Anderson physician who gets involved in financial decisions about patients, says Mrs. Kelly's subsequent chemotherapy could have been handled locally. He says he is sorry if she was offended that the payment representative accompanied the doctor into the exam room, but it was an example of "a coordinated teamwork approach."

On TV one night, Mrs. Kelly saw a news segment about people who try to get patients' bills reduced. She contacted Holly Wallack, who is part of a group that works on contingency to reduce patients' bills; she keeps one-third of what she saves clients.

Ms. Wallack began firing off complaints to M.D. Anderson. She said Mrs. Kelly had been billed more than $360 for blood tests that most insurers pay $20 or less for, and up to $120 for saline pouches that cost less than $2 at retail.

On one bill, Mrs. Kelly was charged $20 for a pair of latex gloves. On another itemized bill, Ms. Wallack found this: CTH SIL 2M 7FX 25CM CLAMP A4356, for $314. It turned out to be a penis clamp, used to control incontinence.

M.D. Anderson's prices are reasonable compared with other hospitals, Mr. Tietjen says. The $20 price for the latex gloves, for example, takes into account the costs of acquiring and storing gloves, ones that are ripped and not used and ones used for patients who don't pay at all, he says. The charge for the penis clamp was a "clerical error" he says; a different type of catheter was used, but the hospital waived the charge. The hospital didn't reduce or waive other charges on Mrs. Kelly's bills.

Continuing Treatment

Mrs. Kelly is continuing her treatment at M.D. Anderson. In February, a new, more comprehensive insurance plan from Blue Cross Blue Shield that she has switched to started paying most of her new M.D. Anderson bills. But she is still personally responsible for $145,155.65 in bills incurred before February. She is paying $2,000 a month toward those. Last week, she learned that after being in remission for more than a year, her leukemia has returned.

M.D. Anderson is giving Blue Cross Blue Shield a 25% discount on the new bills. This month, the hospital offered Mrs. Kelly a 10% discount on her balance, but only if she pays $130,640.08 by this Wednesday, April 30. She is still hoping to get a bigger discount, though numerous requests have been denied. The hospital says it gives commercial insurers a bigger discount because they bring volume and they are less risky than people who pay on their own.

The hospital has urged Mrs. Kelly to sell assets. But she worries about losing her family's income and retirement savings. Mrs. Kelly says she wants to pay, but, suspicious of the charges she's seen, she says, "I want to pay what's fair."

Write to Barbara Martinez at Barbara.Martinez@wsj.com8
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120934207044648511.html

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Diagnostic Downfalls

I am always working on improving the process I use that helps identify nutritional weaknesses in body systems in order to help people understand what they can do to reverse their health concerns. My increased efforts of late seem to be focused on a planned patent application in the future.

I arrived at this point because for years now I have met with people who have been to doctors and medical naturopaths (the hybrids) and have come away with less than happy results.

Many of the complaints are a lack of diagnosis, an incorrect diagnosis, or no improvement in their health after spending a lot of money. Often, and maybe I should say 'always', I find that the person knows little or nothing about the drugs or treatments prescribed.

And herein lies the reason I provide the kind of service I do. It is called education.

Seemingly that education helps because as a result of it people gain tools to better maneuver in the health care mess we have in the US today.

Will You Be Misdiagnosed? How Diagnostic Errors Happen

ScienceDaily (Apr. 29, 2008) — How frequently do doctors misdiagnose patients? While research has demonstrated that the great majority of medical diagnoses are correct, the answer is probably higher than patients expect and certainly higher than doctors realize. In a Supplement to the May issue of The American Journal of Medicine, a collection of articles and commentaries sheds light on the causes underlying misdiagnoses and demonstrates a nontrivial rate of diagnostic error that ranges from <5% in the perceptual specialties (pathology, radiology, dermatology) up to 10% to 15% in many other fields.

The sensitive issue of diagnostic error is rarely discussed and has been understudied. The papers in this volume confirm the extent of diagnostic errors and suggest improvement will best come by developing systems to provide physicians with better feedback on their own errors.

Guest Editors Mark L. Graber, MD, FACP (Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Northport, NY and Department of Medicine, SUNY Stony Book) and Eta S. Berner, EdD (School of Health Professions, University of Alabama at Birmingham) oversaw the development and compilation of these papers. Drs. Berner and Graber conducted an extensive literature review concerning teaching, learning, reasoning and decision making as they relate to diagnostic error and overconfidence and developed a framework for strategies to address the problem.

They write, "Given that physicians overall are highly dedicated and well-intentioned, we believe that if they were more aware of these factors and their own predisposition to error, they would adopt behaviors and attitudes that would help decrease the likelihood of diagnostic error. ...Being confident even when in error is an inherent human trait, and physicians are no exception. The fact that most of their diagnoses are correct, and that effective feedback regarding their errors is lacking, reinforces this inclination. When directly questioned, many clinicians find it inconceivable that their own error rate could be as high as the literature demonstrates. They acknowledge that diagnostic error exists, but believe the rate is very low, and that any errors are made by others who are less skillful or less careful. This reflects both overconfidence and complacency. ...In medicine, the challenge is to reduce the complacency and overconfidence that leads to failure to recognize when one's diagnosis is incorrect."

Dr. Pat Croskerry and Dr. Geoff Norman review two modes of clinical reasoning to understand the processes underlying overconfidence. Ms. Beth Crandall and Dr. Robert L. Wears highlight gaps in knowledge about the nature of diagnostic problems, emphasizing the limitations of applying static models to the messy world of clinical practice.

In any endeavor, "Learning and feedback are inseparable," according to Dr. Gordon L. Schiff, who discusses the numerous barriers to adequate feedback and follow-up in the real world of clinical practice. Taking another approach, Dr. Jenny W. Rudolph and Dr. J. Bradley Morrison provide an expanded model of the fundamental feedback processes involved in diagnostic problem solving, highlighting particular leverage points for avoiding error. In the final commentary, Dr. Graber identifies stakeholders interested in medical diagnosis and provides recommendations to help each reduce diagnostic error.

These papers also emphasize a second theme. Medical practitioners really do not use systems designed to aid their diagnostic decision making. From early systems in the 1980s to more recent efforts, physicians have underutilized decision-support systems and misdiagnosis rates remain high.

Donald A.B. Lindberg, MD, Director of the National Library of Medicine, writes in an introduction to the Supplement, "I sympathize with and respectfully salute these present efforts to study diagnostic decision making and to remedy its weaknesses...I applaud especially the suggestions to systematize the incorporation of the 'downstream' experiences and participation of the patients in all efforts to improve the diagnostic process."

"In my view, diagnostic error will be reduced only if physicians have a more realistic understanding of the amount of diagnostic errors they personally make," summarizes Paul Mongerson, who created a foundation to promote computer-based and other strategies to reduce diagnostic errors. "I believe that the accuracy of diagnosis can be best improved by informing physicians of the extent of their own (not others) errors and urging them to personally take steps to reduce their own errors."

The Supplement appears in The American Journal of Medicine, Volume 121, Issue 5A (May 2008) published by Elsevier. This supplement was sponsored by the Paul Mongerson Foundation through the Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund. Many of the ideas expressed here emerged from discussions at a meeting among the authors in Naples, Florida, in December 2006 that was sponsored by the University of Alabama at Birmingham with support from the Paul Mongerson Foundation.

Adapted from materials provided by Elsevier Health Sciences, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Elsevier Health Sciences (2008, April 29). Will You Be Misdiagnosed? How Diagnostic Errors Happen. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 29, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/04/080428092956.htm

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Big Pharma Player gets NO from FDA on Proposed Drug

Merck is told NO on it's application for the experimental drug MK-0524A. Another government agency also gave a NO on Merck's proposed trade name for the product, Cordaptive. Merck says it will continue to press on to get the drug approved and file for a different trade name.

Now this is two strikes. The third strike already exists but is ignored by Big Pharma because it clings tightly to the cash cow category of unnecessary cholesterol lowering drugs.

Cholesterol lowering is a category designed to allow for the sale of these drugs, many taken off the market because of deaths, and disliked by patients because of the untoward side effects.

Ultimately, the drugs do little to protect your health, lead to cancer, Alzheimer's, liver failure, kidney failure, muscle wasting, cardiovascular problems and numerous other side effects.

What seems so strange is that this proposed drug contains niacin, or vitamin B3, known to reduce cholesterol. Some people do not like the 'flushing' side effect of B3, but this is a way to let you know the vitamin is working. Niacinamide is non-flushing B3, but it take a longer time to be effective.

Some say the flushing can be counteracted with an aspirin, but I would not encourage increasing the use of aspirin because it has other problems. And besides, why mask the positive effects of B3.

The compound Merck wants to combine with B3, to "offset the side effects of niacin", is laropiprant.

Searching around for information about laropiprant I came up with its chemistry on the AMA web site.

It is interesting to note that lapopriant uses a THERAPEUTIC CLAIM of treating atherosclerosis, dyslipidemia, and related conditions when administered with niacin. And I can't seem to find what it does alone.

But the kicker here is its another fluoride compound with the following chemical names -

1. Cyclopent[b]indole-3-acetic acid, 4-[(4-chlorophenyl)methyl]-7-fluoro-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-5-(methylsulfonyl)-, (3R)-
2. (-)-[(3R)-4-(4-chlorobenzyl)-7-fluoro-5-(methylsulfonyl)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrocyclopenta[b]indol-3-yl]acetic acid.

Remember Baychol? That was a fluoride based anti-cholesterol drug removed from the market.

And look at the problems with fluoride based drugs in other categories like antibiotics, antidepressants and osteoporosis drugs.

Why would you want another round?

But Merck has other ideas.

"We plan to meet with the FDA and to submit additional information to enable the agency to further evaluate the benefit/risk profile of MK-0524A," said Peter Kim, president of Merck Research Laboratories.

"We firmly believe that MK-0524A provides physicians with an important option to manage their patients' cholesterol," he said in a statement.

"We are encouraged that on April 24, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommended marketing approval for MK-0524A in Europe, and we will continue to pursue approval within individual markets in the EU and around the world."

Perhaps you might want to have other plans too, and one should be to stay away from this and other cholesterol lowering drugs.

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Tuesday Megalinks

It's a saucy batch of links today, folks. Opinions abound on the impending recession/ever-increasing grocery prices, and bloggers aren't afraid to get all up in ... uh, somebody's ... face. Read on and don't forget to express yo'self! (Note: Not necessarily Madonna-style.) (Note: Though, if you have a cone bra, go for it.)

Chief Family Officer: No Surprise – Cooking at Home is Cheaper
Cathy summarizes an LA Times article that discovers full-blown gourmet meals can be prepared in one’s kitchen for a little over half the price. THAT'S whaI'mtalkin'bout!

The Digerati Life: Coupon Tips and Tricks That Can Cut Your Grocery Bill By 80%
TDL presents the best, most exhaustive outline of couponing strategies I’ve seen yet. Trick #8 is the key to LIFE. Read it. Absorb it. Make sweet love to it.

Gen X Finance: Maybe Higher Food Prices Are Really Good For Us as a Society
It’s the literary equivalent of castor oil, in which a recent CNN article is absolutely picked apart for its tremendous “duh” quotient. You’ll eat your recession and like it!

Jezebel: Dear America – Maybe Leave the Hoarding to Countries that Can’t Live Off Their Fat for a Few Months
The incredible femme-blog presents eight highly recommended sources for Food Crisis updates. I’ll have lots more on this in tomorrow’s article, so stay tuned, my pets. (P.S. Am I allowed to say “my pets”? I’m only 30, and am not one of Disney’s evil stepmothers, so I’m not sure.)

New York Times: Boy or Girl? The Answer May Depend on Mom’s Eating Habits
Wow! A link has been found between baby genders and skipping meals. Here’s a preview: “There was also a strong correlation between women eating breakfast cereals and producing sons.” This could mean strange things for cereal-naming professionals. Anyone up for a nice bowl of Cracklin’ Oat Man? How about Honey Boy-nches of Oats? (Gah. Sorry.)

New York Times: Recession Diet Just One Way to Tighten Belt
While the article takes a wholesale (no pun intended) approach to cutting back, it does offer a few illuminating restaurant and food stats. Much better than the CNN piece.

New York Times: Strategic Spending on Organic Foods
Turns out that peaches, strawberries, sweet bell peppers, celery, and lettuce get pretty good bang for the buck, while you don't really need to bother buying organic onions, mangoes, asparagus, broccoli and eggplant. Read the mile-long comment section for more.

Serious Eats: Buying Produce for One
As god is my witness, I shall never buy romaine for a family of 12 again! (Note: Because it’s just me and The Boyfriend, you see.) (Note: Anyway, lots of good suggestions here.)

Serious Eats: Cooking for the Pope – Lidia Bastianich Comes Full Circle
Sweet Lidia presents her papal menu for Benedict’s U.S. tour. I’ve had the good fortune to eat those pear/romano raviolis before, and they are heaven on a stick. (Note: they don’t actually come on a stick. It’s an expression.) (Note: That I made up just now.) (Note: Now I'm just babbling.)

Wall Street Journal: Load Up the Pantry
Stockpiling is usually a good idea, but Iiiiiiii dunno about this piece. It's a tad alarmist, and the first of what will surely be many, “OKAY, IT’S TIME FOR EVERYBODY TO FREAK OUT!” articles on rising food prices. There’s no shortage in the U.S., so I'm thinkin' everybody needs to chill out for a sec. (Thanks to Like Merchant Ships for the link.)

Photos courtesy of Flickr member ptharriet and BiologyBlog.)

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Posted in: Links

Improving Hospital Health

For a very long time I have been monitoring the problem with hospital and community induced super infection, what most people refer to as MRSA.

I proposed a natural treatment option, but because it is not drug based it has attracted little attention, except by those who needed help, used my options, and recovered.

As I see it, the bickering still continues about "what to do". It is, I guess, like the Little Red Hen, and 'NO', the sky is 'NOT' falling.

Here is something I find amazing. A hospital takes a novel approach to reducing those testy nocosomial infection rates, and seem to do it well. Where are all the others in this?

I also have to admit chuckling a little bit because some years back the FDA attack me and my web site for material I posted about the history of the use of silver in medicine. Even though silver is common in burn therapy, the FDA still likens it to quackery. Maybe this is my pay back!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2005/0910-killing_germs.htm

Killing Germs
In Hospitals, Air Ducts with Silver-Based Coating Stay Germ-Free
September 1, 2005 — Preventing hospital infections -- from such stubborn bugs as Staphylococcus aureus -- could get a little easier with a new non-toxic, silver-based material. Used in coating, it helps keep hospital air ducts bacterium- and fungus-free. The material is also used in a number of products including athletic footwear, door hardware, pens and business supplies.

DUARTE, Calif.--For more than 6,000 years, humans have used silver to fight germs, also known as microbes. Now, some hospitals are using a silver compound to reduce hospital infections.

You can't see them, but millions of microorganisms are living quietly among us, in places where we least expect them.

Cancer patient Steve Measer worries about germs a lot. "In the last two months I have been in three separate hospitals." But at the Helford Clinical Research Hospital at City of Hope in Duarte, Calif., where he is receiving treatment, microbes are hard to find.

Dr. James Miser, Chief Executive Officer at City of Hope National Medical Center, says, "The room which we are currently standing is as free of germs as medically possible in a hospital."

This is possible because the ducts delivering air to patients' rooms are coated with a silver-based anti-microbial compound called AgION. It can kill bacteria, viruses and fungus. Jeffrey Trogolo, Chief Technology Officer at AgION Technologies, Inc. in Wakefield, Mass., says, "When the conditions are right, it turns on, and that's where the silver comes out."

Agion technologies is using silver, a centuries-old germ killer, in a unique compound to coat surfaces and instruments that could spread disease. When bacteria are detected, the compound releases silver ions to the surface, killing existing microbes and any new ones that come along. "We have virtually no organisms grown," Dr. Miser says.

It's potent enough to kill germs, but is safe to use on virtually any surface. Trogolo says, "It's less toxic than table salt and less irritating than talcum powder. Ultimately we hope this will result in less infections and actually better outcomes for the patients."

The silver compound can also kill germs in your kitchen, on shopping cart handles, even in your sneakers. It's already used in a number of products including athletic footwear, door hardware, pens and business supplies.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BACKGROUND: Concern over infections acquired in hospitals has intensified over the last several months. AgION Technologies has developed a safe, long-lasting antimicrobial compound based on silver. Researchers have found it to be effective in fighting a wide variety of germs and other pathogens commonly found in healthcare environments. The Clinical Research Hospital at City of Hope in Duarte, Calif., is one of the first in the nation to use AgION-coated antimicrobial steel to minimize infection risks.

HOW IT WORKS: Silver has natural germicidal properties and is one of the oldest antimicrobial agents known. Humans have used silver to ward off disease since the ancient Egyptians; the Greeks used silver vessels for water to keep it fresh. It is still used by settlers in the Australian outback, who suspend silverware in their water tanks to keep spoilage at bay. Silver fell out of favor with the discovery of antibiotics, but interest in its germ-fighting properties has resurged with the rise of drug-resistant organisms and concern over possible epidemics that don't respond to conventional treatment.

RISK FACTORS: Silver is harmless if ingested in small amounts, but like most metals, large doses can be toxic, sometimes fatal. Among other effects, excess silver can be deposited in the skin and tissues, causing discoloration.

The American Society for Microbiology contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

Note: This story and accompanying video were originally produced for the American Institute of Physics series Discoveries and Breakthroughs in Science by Ivanhoe Broadcast News and are protected by copyright law. All rights reserved.

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Just Say YES to Vitamins

So you are one of those millions taking expensive drugs or you are in the next 'cash-cow' wave of Baby Boomers targeted by the pharmaceutical industry to be put on the drug wagon.

You, like many people taking Rx drugs I hear from daily, complain about how you feel and you don't like it.

So what's a body to do about it?

Here is a short list of vitamin deficiencies created by commonly prescribed drugs. Reading this over you just might find a reason to look to supplements.

We are here to help you and are able to offer our drug review service that includes recommendations based on our 50+ years of expertise in the natural health arena. You will also enjoy our selection of very high grade supplements at affordable cost.
Just contact us for more information.

"A healthy diet that provides sufficient amounts of vitamins and minerals is essential to good health, but many studies have shown that numerous common medications can drain vital nutrients from your body. A lack of proper nutrients can contribute to the development of many diseases including cardiovascular disease and cancer.

For example, birth control pills are known to drain vitamins C, B6, B12, folate, riboflavin, selenium and the amino acid tyrosine. And low vitamin C levels are associated with a dramatically increased risk of cervical cancer. Birth control pills also sap magnesium, and women taking these over many years are not only more prone to developing cancer, but they are at greater risk during subsequent surgery and chemotherapy.

Low folate (folic acid) levels have been linked to a variety of cancers, especially those of the breast, cervix and colon. New studies have consistently shown that folate powerfully prevents colon cancer and may slow the growth of other existing cancers.

At least one type of diabetes medication (biguanides) significantly exhausts folate. And aspirin, as well as other over-the-counter pain medications such as ibuprofen, greatly lower folate levels.

A number of medications used to treat high blood pressure are known to reduce levels of such vital nutrients as vitamins B1, K and B6, ascorbate, as well as magnesium, zinc, calcium and CoQ10. In particular, the body’s supply of CoQ10, a critical anticancer nutrient, is siphoned off through use of hypertensive and antidiabetic medications, statins (cholesterol-lowering drugs) and certain antidepressants (phenothiazines and tricyclics).

Statin drugs are notorious when it comes to robbing the body of nutrients. Studies show that they pilfer vitamins A, B12, D, E and K, beta-carotene and folate, as well as calcium, zinc, phosphorus and magnesium.

Magnesium depletion is especially associated with the use of certain chemotherapy drugs, such as cisplatin. In fact, levels can fall so low that the result is heart damage and brain injury.

If you have been taking vitamin-depleting medications for years, you are at great risk, and most doctors are either unaware of the problems or simply choose to ignore the danger."

And how about these comments -

Dozens of factors can cause memory loss like that associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Another one that’s currently overlooked is the use of the highly popular statin drugs. One of my first recommendations would be to avoid the use of all drugs if possible. And for any that you decide to take, make sure you know the stated side effects and keep an eye out for those such as dementia and other neurological problems.

The public is constantly being prescribed drugs without being informed of the ultimate consequences. I have serious doubts that “preventive” drug treatment prolongs life; instead, I think it just changes the cause of death. Examples could fill a book.

One example is the anti-cholesterol statin drugs. Two large drug trials come to mind. One trial known as CARE (Cholesterol And Recurrent Events) found that the drug Pravachol reduced the risk of a heart attack by 24 percent. It also found that it increased the risk of women developing breast cancer by 1,100 percent.

The PROSPER trial followed 5,000 participants, aged 70 to 82 years old, who took a statin for three years. The drugs reduced deaths from cardiovascular disease by a remarkable 24 percent. What wasn’t well publicized, however, was that those on statins developed cancer at a higher rate, and the drug showed no benefits whatsoever in women.

And statins aren’t the only drugs where the patients don’t get the full story. The list is seemingly endless.

One of the most common methods of treating high blood pressure is through use of diuretics or “water pills,” and hydrochlorothiazide is one of ones most frequently used. Studies have consistently shown that these diuretics significantly increase the likelihood of developing diabetes. How many doctors tell their patients that?

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Roasted Chickpeas: Wrong Way, Right Way

Mornin’ everybody! Hope y’all had a lovely weekend, and that the weather was half as nice as it was here in Brooklyn: blooming trees, perfect skies, visible patch of grass – the whole nine. Even our neighborhood Incredibly Frightening Drunk Who Hangs Out 24-7 at the Last Remaining Pay Phone on Earth was suitably enchanted.

My weekend was fantastic, spoiled only briefly by a botched attempt at Roasted Chickpeas. I got ‘em right the second time around, but wanted to transcribe the wrong directions, just in case anyone ever attempts them. Here goes:

1) Comb Food Blog Search for acceptable Roasted Chickpea recipe.

2) Settle on Roasted Chickpeas at Anne’s Food. Revel in Scandinavian…ness, as she is fellow Swede.

3) Resolve to visit Sweden, see if everyone is really blonde/lithe.

4) Rinse and dry chickpeas. Place on cookie sheet. Place in preheated 425ºF oven.

5) As chickpeas roast, play Scrabulous with friend F. Watch in horror as F spells “EQUATES” and “SLUGGED” one after the other, scoring 86 and 79 points, respectively.

6) Retaliate with “NOOSE,” as F has just essentially hanged you.

7) Resolve to start socializing with dumber people.

8) Attempt to remove chickpeas from roasting vessel. Instead, spill entire pan in oven.

9) Gnash teeth. Traumatize backyard squirrel with volume of yelled obscenities.

10) One by one, painstakingly pick 150 chickpeas out of ancient, formerly scorching oven, taking care not to burn digits and/or face off by accidentally leaning on blazing surface.

11) Burn digit and/or face off by accidentally leaning on blazing surface.

12) Yell more obscenities. Resolve to enroll backyard squirrel in therapy.

13) Realize (with horror) oven has not been cleaned since the Paleozoic era.

14) Resolve to clean oven.

15) Realize you will never clean oven.

16) Resolve to get roommate to clean oven.

17) Realize roommate will never, ever clean oven, as roommate rarely cleans anything.

18) Ponder life.

19) Attempt recipe again, using correct directions (listed below).

20) Succeed!

21) Lose Scrabulous by record 4 billion points. Remain happy due to ultra-cheap, highly tasty chickpea recipe.

Roasted Chickpeas
4 servings
Adapted from Anne's Food.

1 14.5 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon olive oil
¼ - ½ teaspoon salt (1/2 will be very salty. - Kris)
5 dashes cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon cumin

1) Preheat oven to 425°F.

2) Place chickpeas on baking/cookie sheet. Roast for 10 minutes. Shake the pan. (Do not spill on kitchen floor.) Roast another 10 minutes.

3) In a medium bowl, combine chickpeas, oil, salt, and spices. Stir well to combine.

4) Spread chickpeas back out on baking sheet. Roast between 5 and 15 more minutes, until they're browned and super crunchy. Serve.

Approximate Calories, Fat, and Price Per Serving
135 calories, 4.3 g fat, $0.15

Calculations
1 14.5 oz can chickpeas: 500 calories, 4.8 g fat, $0.50
1 teaspoon olive oil: 39 calories, 4.5 g fat, $0.03
¼ - ½ teaspoon salt: negligible calories and fat, $0.01
5 dashes cayenne pepper: negligible calories and fat, $0.02
1 teaspoon cumin: negligible calories and fat, $0.02
TOTAL: 539 calories, 9.3 g fat, $0.58
PER SERVING: 135 calories, 4.3 g fat, $0.15

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Posted in: Desserts and Snacks,Vegan,Vegetarian

Comments of the Week! (Now With Extra !)

A bunch this week on the diet foods post, including Dani’s sugar substitutes, Anne’s Tasti D-Light observations, and Kelly’s inventive SnackWells sandwiches. Plus, check out Slinkystar2002’s solid, extensive comment on Touchy Subjects: Confronting Loved Ones About Weight and Money Problems. It’s a bit long to cut-and-paste here, but her stories provide some good insight on the subject. (It’s the last one.) Finally, three cheers for Elaine, who dropped 50 pounds! Nice!

On Popovers and Out

Collier: I woke up starving this morning with nothing in the house but egg whites, flour, skim milk and pam. so i made this recipe substituting pam for shortening and using three egg whites in place of one egg and two whites. they are delicious, and cooked in 20 minutes under 450. the batter made 12 popovers at about 50 calories a serving.

On The Problem with Diet Foods

Dialectially_yours: To make things 'fast food easy' and to control portion sizes a bit more, I sit down and portion out snacks into the plastic snack bags. It's a good visual activity to SHOW someone how quickly those calories have stacked up.

Jaime: 90% of the time, I'm much happier eating a mango and a small piece of dark chocolate than 2 100-calorie packs of Oreo wafers. Of course, the other 10% I'm clutching a bag of BBQ Fritos like my life depends on it, so who am I to say.

Annie K. Nodes: One thing I've noticed lately...I rarely see anyone who's thin eating Tasty D-Lite.

Elaine: I know ALL about the SnackWell Syndrome. I think that's part of how I gained weight a number of years back. BTW, in the last year I've lost 50+ pounds, mostly by reducing portion sizes & taking up bike commuting.

Kelly: On Snackwell's syndrome: in high school, I used to take a Snackwell's brownie, slice it in half lengthwise, and fill it with peanut butter. This was my favorite side dish for a while. The more I pay attention to nutrition and to my eating habits, the more I'm convinced that eating as little processed food as possible - diet or regular - is the way to go. If I eat, say, a Lean Cuisine for lunch, I'm hungry again almost before I'm done eating. The same calories in homemade beans and rice fill me up all afternoon!

Sally Parrott Ashbrook: It's taken my taste buds a couple of years to adjust to a whole-foods, no-fake-sugar diet, but honestly, now that they have adjusted, a much smaller portion of the sweet stuff (the real sweet stuff), homemade or from a bakery, is far, far more satisfying than a larger portion of diet foods is. And I have the ability now (that I previously did not possess at ALL) to tell that some foods are actually too sweet to enjoy much of.

Daniel Koontz: What worked for us was this: instead of buying diet foods, we switched most of our weekly meals to vegetarian. Vegetarian cuisine is typically higher in fiber, more nutritious, less energy-dense and best of all, cheaper. We still eat meat, but only on occasion.

Dani: To cure sweet cravings, go cold turkey on sugar and use an unprocessed equivalent like muscovado or rapadura. They're not addictive and you'll find that in no time at all the sweet cravings have gone.

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Posted in: Reader Comments

Cantaloupe Soup: The Pop Quiz

Hey everybody! It’s multiple choice time! So gather your wits, sharpen your, uh, keyboard and let’s get going.

Cantaloupe is:
A) Surprisingly easy to chop, though the juice gets dang near everywhere.
B) Difficult to spell, with that whole “loupe” thing.
C) Something your roommate might confuse for a hatstand.
D) Meant for better things than fruit salad.

Orange juice is:
A) Pretty friggin’ expensive, man.
B) Orange.
C) Being suspiciously cut back to 51 ounce containers (rather than 64) by some companies.
D) A good base for any liquid with additional fruits.

Soup is:
A) Eaten with a spoon. Or a fork if you’re looking for a challenge.
B) Blind Melon’s second album.
C) Not something you throw at your sister.
D) An anytime kind of dish made from nearly any substance on Earth.

A beverage is:
A) Seriously, where are you going with this?
B) Because I’m not sure where it’s leading.
C) And it’s making me hungry.
D) A nourishing liquid taken from a glass.

Based on your previous answers, how would you evaluate a cantaloupe/orange juice-based liquid that makes a refreshing, fruity summer soup, but would also be delicious in a scotch glass with a jigger of vodka?
A) Ohhhhhh. I get it. Okay. I’m ready to answer now.
B) A soup, dummy. It’s spoonable, yes?
C) A drink. Who ever heard of fruit soup? You need a brain checkup.
D) Enh, it could really go either way, dawg.

And that concludes our quiz. You can find the answers at the bottom of this post, but before you go there and/or look at the recipe, a few notes on AllRecipe’s Cantaloupe Soup:

1) Make sure your cantaloupe is ripe. In the supermarket, you can tell when it’s ready to go by taking a whiff of the little circle at the top. If it smells, uh, cantaloupe-y, you’re in.

2) On the advice of AllRecipes reviewers, I cut a cup of orange juice out of the original recipe, which makes it more soup-like, but brings the servings down from a small six to a medium-sized four. If you’re making a drink instead of a soup, feel free to add the extra O.J. back in.

3) This is one of the easiest dishes ever. My sister and/or a slightly dumb monkey could do it. (Not to say my sister is a monkey, but rather that she’s not so good with the cooking. Love you, L!)

Enjoy!

Cantaloupe Soup
4 servings
Adapted from All Recipes.

1 cantaloupe - peeled, seeded and cubed
1 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1) In a blender or food processor, combine cantaloupe and 1/2 cup orange juice. Blend until completely smooth. Pour into a big bowl. Add lime juice, cinnamon, and other 1/2 cup of orange juice to bowl. Stir. Cover with plastic wrap and stick in fridge for at least 60 minutes. Like mint? Sprinkle some on top right before serving.

Approximate Calories, Fat, and Price Per Serving
78 calories, 0 g fat, $0.40

Calculations
1 cantaloupe: 188 calories, 1 g fat, $0.98
1 cups orange juice: 120 calories, 0 g fat, $0.27
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice: 5 calories, 0 g fat, $0.33
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon: negligible calories and fat, $0.01
TOTAL: 313 calories, 1 g fat, $1.59
PER SERVING: 78 calories, 0 g fat, $0.40

ANSWERS: All of them. Everything was correct! You get an A++++! Now go buy that Red Rider carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time, but for pete’s sake, don’t shoot your eye out.

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Posted in: Drinks,Soups and Stocks,Vegan,Vegetarian

Natural Health Care has Validation

In the states it often happens that when something good is available to the people, either some would-be elitist tries to establish a monopoly or the concepts are attacked.

I suggest this is something likened to the on-going attack on supplements proffered by the FDA in conspiracy with the AMA and Big Pharma.

It is also very much like the establishment of restricted access to traditional care by four schools of the new hybrid form of naturopathy, coined "naturopathic medicine".

The schools also seem to want to control who practices using herbs, flower essences, aromatherapy and other related modalities.

Of course the end result is less access to care, more control over what kind of care is offered and higher costs to users.

Idaho is one state where the right of choice and access to care is protected, at least for now. A number of other states do not have legislation limiting care to those who have finished up a degree at the four pro ND licensing schools (some with primary hope to get third-party insurance reimbursement and pay down school loans).

It seems the attack has started in the UK.

As an activist, I would encourage readers to speak out loudly to prevent any further damage -

Alternative medical degrees 'harm' universities
By Tom Peterkin
Last Updated: 2:43am BST 24/04/2008

A growing number of universities are offering "bogus" degrees in alternative and complementary medicine, researchers warn today.

Greenwich offers five BSc degrees including aromatherapy

The increasing number of courses in subjects such as homeopathy, acupuncture and Chinese medicine is "besmirching the reputation" of the country's higher education system, they say.

A top five list of institutions offering "unscientific" degrees has been compiled to highlight the extent to which alternative medicine is being taught in universities.

The rankings, which are topped by Westminster University, have been drawn up to provoke vice-chancellors into debating the scientific basis for such degrees.

"We want to embarrass them into acknowledging the pseudo-scientific degrees they are offering," said the authors of the survey, which is published in the Times Higher Education magazine.

advertisementWestminster University offers five BSc honours degrees, which cover Chinese medicine and acupuncture, complementary therapies, homoeopathy, naturopathy plus remedial massage and neuromuscular therapy.

An MSc in Chinese herbal medicine is also available.

Students at Middlesex can choose from three BSc (Hons) courses in complementary health sciences and Chinese medicine, plus two MSc degrees in Ayurvedic medicine, native to the Indian subcontinent, and Chinese medicine.

Greenwich offers five BSc degrees including aromatherapy and complementary stress management therapies. Counselling, Chinese medicine, homoeopathy and acupuncture are on offer in Salford University's four BSc complementary medicine degrees.

At Thames Valley University, students can study for a BSc (Hons) in homoeopathy or complementary medicine in healthcare or an MA in Naad yoga.

The table was drawn up by Edzard Ernst, a professor of complementary medicine at Exeter University, and Simon Singh, a science author.

They went through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service and university websites and found 43 institutions offering a total of 155 "unscientific" courses.

Westminster University said its courses included research and criticism. Middlesex University said Indians and Sri Lankans had considered Ayurveda a science for thousands of years.

Tim Duerden, a complementary medicine lecturer at Salford, said students were given the chance to develop their critical faculties.

Greenwich said the survey had wrongly listed three different courses, which were in fact three different strands of the same degree. Two others had been withdrawn.

Thames Valley said the yoga course was not part of its science department.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/24/nuni124.xml

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charity: water
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Totally Unrelated Extra Special Bonus of the Week
“Bowie in Space” by Flight of the Conchords
New Zealand’s fourth most popular novelty folk band, the Conchords are the funniest musical act to come along since Weird Al was still wearing specs. Stick with “Bowie” through the preamble – it’s funny, but the song is killer. For supplemental extra-credit listening, try “Albi the Racist Dragon” and “Business Time.”

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Posted in: Links

Peppermint takes on a Medical Mask

Peppermint Oil May Relieve Digestive Symptoms, Headaches

Authors and Disclosures
Laurie Barclay, MD, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Charles P. Vega, MD, FAAFP, has disclosed that he has received grants for educational activities from Pfizer.

April 13, 2007 — Peppermint oil is effective in treating digestive disorders and other conditions including headaches, although high dosages may cause adverse effects, according to the results of a review reported in the April 1 issue of American Family Physician.

"The medicinal use of peppermint and other mint plants probably dates back to the herbal pharmacopoeia of ancient Greece, where peppermint leaf traditionally was used internally as a digestive aid and for management of gallbladder disease; it also was used in inhaled form for upper respiratory symptoms and cough," write Benjamin Kligler, MD, MPH, from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York, and Sapna Chaudhary, DO, from the Beth Israel Continuum Center for Health and Healing in New York. "Peppermint oil, which is extracted from the stem, leaves, and flowers of the plant, has become popular as a treatment for a variety of conditions, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), headache, and non-ulcer dyspepsia."

Specific applications of note are as follows:

Peppermint leaf and oil have a long history of use for digestive disorders.

Enteric-coated peppermint oil is a safe alternative to effectively reduce some IBS symptoms, recent evidence suggests, although some evidence is conflicting (evidence rating, B).

Peppermint oil combined with caraway oil appears moderately effective in treating nonulcer dyspepsia (evidence rating, B).

Peppermint oil applied topically may effectively treat tension headache (evidence rating, B).

Peppermint oil has relaxant effects on smooth muscle. When given via enema, it has been shown to be modestly effective in relieving colonic spasm in patients undergoing barium enemas (evidence rating, B).

Although peppermint oil is well tolerated at the commonly recommended dosage, it may cause significant adverse effects at higher dosages. Common adverse effects include allergic reactions, heartburn, perianal burning, blurred vision, nausea, and vomiting. Interstitial nephritis and acute renal failure are rare.

Because peppermint oil may inhibit the cytochrome P450 1A2 system, it may interact with drugs metabolized via this system.

Peppermint oil is contraindicated in patients with hiatal hernia, severe gastroesophageal reflux, and gallbladder disorders and should be used with caution in pregnant and lactating women.

The recommended dosage is 0.2 to 0.4 mL of peppermint oil 3 times daily in enteric-coated capsules for adults, and 0.1 to 0.2 mL of peppermint oil 3 times daily for children older than 8 years. Cost is approximately $24 to $32 for a 1-month supply.

"Peppermint oil should not be used internally or on or near the face in infants and young children because of its potential to cause bronchospasm, tongue spasms, and, possibly, respiratory arrest," the authors conclude. "However, the amount of peppermint in over-the-counter medications, topical preparations, and herbal teas is likely safe in pregnant and lactating women and in young children."

The authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

Am Fam Physician. 2007;75:1027-1030.

Clinical Context
Peppermint has been used as a medicinal substance for thousands of years. Most modern preparations of peppermint use its oil, which usually is provided with an enteric coating to prevent gastroesophageal reflux. This oil contains menthol, menthone, cineol, and other oils, and there is evidence that this combination of compounds can relax gastrointestinal smooth muscle as well as lower esophageal sphincter pressure.

Peppermint oil has been used to treat not only gastrointestinal complaints but also headache. The current article reviews the efficacy and safety of peppermint oil for these indications.

Study Highlights
Peppermint oil appears to be mildly effective in reducing symptoms of IBS, particularly flatulence, abdominal pain, and distension, in adults. However, there has been significant heterogeneity among research into this subject.

A study of children between the ages of 8 and 17 years who had IBS found that peppermint oil was more effective than placebo in reducing the severity of abdominal pain.

Two(2)trials have demonstrated that treatment with peppermint oil reduced the risk for gastrointestinal spasm during barium enema, with peppermint associated with up to a 3-fold increase vs placebo in the rate of having a procedure free of spasm.
The combination of 90 mg of peppermint oil plus 50 mg of caraway oil has been demonstrated to reduce symptoms of nonulcer dyspepsia, including fullness, bloating, and spasm. This combination should be used cautiously for patients with dyspepsia, as peppermint oil may promote gastroesophageal reflux.

2 studies have delineated the efficacy of topical peppermint oil in tension headache. In 1 study, a combination of peppermint and ethanol was superior to placebo in terms of analgesia. Another trial demonstrated that topical peppermint oil was similar to acetaminophen in terms of treatment efficacy.

The therapeutic dosage in most trials of peppermint oil and IBS was 0.2 to 0.4 mL taken 3 times daily in enteric-coated capsules. The 1 trial examining its use for childhood IBS used a dosage of 0.1 mL of peppermint oil 3 times daily for children weighing less than 45 kg.

Peppermint oil can be toxic in overdose, leading to interstitial nephritis and acute renal failure. Because it may promote gallstone formation, it should not be used in patients with cholelithiasis or cholecystitis. Peppermint oil also may trigger menstruation and should not be used during pregnancy.

The most common adverse events associated with peppermint oil include allergic reactions, heartburn, perianal burning, blurred vision, nausea, and vomiting. Peppermint oil may inhibit the cytochrome P450 1A2 system.

Pearls for Practice
Peppermint oil contains menthol, menthone, and cineol and may work by relaxing smooth muscle in the gastrointestinal tract. Peppermint oil also may reduce lower esophageal sphincter pressure and therefore usually is supplied with enteric coating.
Peppermint oil offers mild efficacy for symptoms of IBS and may improve colonic spasm associated with barium enema. Topical formulations of peppermint oil may improve tension headache.

PEPPERMINT

TRADITIONAL HERBAL USES
---Medicinal Action and Uses---Peppermint oil is the most extensively used of all the volatile oils, both medicinally and commercially. The characteristic anti-spasmodic action of the volatile oil is more marked in this than in any other oil, and greatly adds to its power of relieving pains arising in the alimentary canal.

From its stimulating, stomachic and carminative properties, it is valuable in certain forms of dyspepsia, being mostly used for flatulence and colic. It may also be employed for other sudden pains and for cramp in the abdomen; wide use is made of Peppermint in cholera and diarrhoea.

It is generally combined with other medicines when its stomachic effects are required, being also employed with purgatives to prevent griping. Oil of Peppermint allays sickness and nausea, and is much used to disguise the taste of unpalatable drugs, as it imparts its aromatic characteristics to whatever prescription it enters into. It is used as an infants' cordial.

The oil itself is often given on sugar and added to pills, also a spirit made from the oil, but the preparation in most general use is Peppermint Water, which is the oil and water distilled together.

Peppermint Water and spirit of Peppermint are official preparations of the British Pharmacopoeia.

In flatulent colic, spirit of Peppermint in hot water is a good household remedy, also the oil given in doses of one or two drops on sugar.

Peppermint is good to assist in raising internal heat and inducing perspiration, although its strength is soon exhausted. In slight colds or early indications of disease, a free use of Peppermint tea will, in most cases, effect a cure, an infusion of 1 ounce of the dried herb to a pint of boiling water being employed, taken in wineglassful doses; sugar and milk may be added if desired.

An infusion of equal quantities of Peppermint herb and Elder flowers (to which either Yarrow or Boneset may be added) will banish a cold or mild attack of influenza within thirty-six hours, and there is no danger of an overdose or any harmful action on the heart. Peppermint tea is used also for palpitation of the heart.

In cases of hysteria and nervous disorders, the usefulness of an infusion of Peppermint has been found to be well augmented by the addition of equal quantities of Wood Betony, its operation being hastened by the addition to the infusion of a few drops of tincture of Caraway.

ESSENTIAL OIL
Botanical Name: Mentha piperita
Common Method of Extraction: Steam Distilled
Color: Clear with a Yellow Tinge
Consistency: Thin
Perfumery Note: Top
Strength of Initial Aroma: Strong

Aromatic Description: Minty, reminiscent of peppermint candies, but more concentrated. More fragrant than spearmint.

Peppermint

Possible Uses: Asthma, colic, exhaustion, fever, flatulence, headache, nausea, scabies, sinusitis, vertigo. [Julia Lawless, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils (Rockport, MA: Element Books, 1995), 59-67.]

Constituents: Menthyl Acetate, Menthone, Cineole, Limonene, Phellandrene, Pinene, Beta-Caryophyllene [Shirley Price, The Aromatherapy Workbook (Hammersmith, London: Thorsons, 1993), 54-5.]

Safety Information: Avoid in cardiac fibrillation, epilepsy, fever. Mucous membrane irritant and neurotoxic (toxic to the nerves). Some of this information applies to oral use, but is provided for informational purposes (no essential oil should be taken internally without the guidance of a qualified aromatherapy practitioner). [Robert Tisserand, Essential Oil Safety (United Kingdom: Churchill Livingstone, 1995), 160.]

May cause sensitization. [Julia Lawless, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils (Rockport, MA: Element Books, 1995), 175.]

Important Note: The information provided in the Oil Profiles area is for educational purposes only. This data is not considered complete and is not guaranteed to be accurate.

General Safety Information: Do not take any oils internally without consultation from a qualified aromatherapy practitioner. Do not apply undiluted essential oils, absolutes, CO2s or other concentrated essences onto the skin. If you are pregnant, epileptic, have liver damage, have cancer, or have any other medical problem, use oils only under the proper guidance of a qualified aromatherapy practitioner. Use extreme caution when using oils with children and give children only the gentlest oils at extremely low doses. It is safest to consult a qualified aromatherapy practitioner before using oils with children. A skin patch test should be conducted prior to using an oil that you've never used before. Instructions on conducting a skin patch test and more safety information can be found by visiting the Safety Information page. For very in-depth information on oil safety issues, read Essential Oil Safety by Robert Tisserand.

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