Wednesday, August 25, 2004

Denmark bans Kellogg's vitamins Danish health officials yesterday banned the cereal company Kellogg's from adding vitamins and minerals to its famous food brands, saying they could damage the health of children and pregnant women. The company, which expressed incredulity at the decision, had hoped to enrich 18 breakfast foods and cereal bars with iron, calcium, vitamin B6 and folic acid, just as they already do in many countries including Britain. But the Danes said the manufacturer of Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies and Special K wanted to include "toxic" doses which, if eaten regularly, could damage children's livers and kidneys and harm foetuses in pregnant women. . COMMENT: WATCH OUT FOR THE 'ENRICHED' LABEL ON FOODS .."The term "enriched" is especially misleading when looking at the final product. Such a term readily invokes the impression and visceral response that any food that is deliberately enriched must truly be an especially good food to eat. In fact, so much is taken out of the grain products in the first place that the subsequent addition of some vitamins and minerals to those products barely mitigates their loss when they were initially removed from the grain. To use an analogy, if a robber takes the last ten dollars out of your wallet, you've definitely been acutely and totally depleted of your immediate financial resources. However, if that robber became suddenly sympathetic to your acute financial deficit and decided to return to you one dollar, it is not likely that you would consider yourself "enriched." Rather, you would just consider yourself a little bit less massively depleted of your money. And so it is with grains and modern food processing. Enrichment really only means slightly less massively depleted."...   9:38:49 PM    comment [] INSIDER TELLS ALL...Ex-New England Journal of Medicine Editor Criticizes Drug Companies After resigning from her position as interim editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in June 2000, Dr. Marcia Angell decided it was time to write a book on the stronghold drug companies have over clinical trials and the way medicine is practiced today. Throughout her 20 years at the NEJM Angell witnessed the drug companies increased interactions and influence over top players in the medical field. This prompted her to write a book detailing the accounts of the drug companies and their close ties with some of the leading medical journals, doctors and government agencies. The book, titled “The Truth about Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It,” is now available in bookstores. http://www.alternet.org/story/19540/ 9:23:30 PM    comment [] UH OH! Here come the 'pharm' boys again - right into our spice cabinet. Cinnamon joins cholesterol battle The next drug in your medicine cabinet might come from the spice aisle of the grocery store.  Although research is still preliminary, doctors and researchers are getting excited about the  diabetes and cholesterol-fighting potential of cinnamon. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2004/08/24/cinnamon_joins_cholesterol_battle>; 9:20:26 PM    comment [] Your smile of the day Free, complete nutrition in a convenient dispenser The breast: it's best for babies. It's a message that is gaining a lot of attention lately as the Bay Area Breastfeeding Coalition wraps up its celebration of August as World Breastfeeding Month. We hope that the idea of a mother nursing her infant takes hold with more families in the future. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services aims to have 75 percent of all new mothers breast-feeding their newborns by 2010. http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1093360500195610.xml 9:11:44 PM    comment [] PLEASE JOIN OUR 'SAVE A LIFE' CRUSADE. All you need do is pass along this information to everyone you know - the life you save may be your own! This story will explain why heart disease is now the LEADING cause of death in women, and why far more women than men now die without warning from the nation's most serious epidemic - and what you can do to prevent this happening to you or someone you love. Please read and respond responsibly. http://www.healthsavers.info/savealife.htm 9:05:46 PM    comment [] Study Finds Vioxx Increases Heart Attack Risk Patients taking Merck & Co. Inc.'s Vioxx arthritis drug had a 50 percent greater chance of heart attacks and sudden cardiac death than individuals using Pfizer Inc.'s rival Celebrex medicine, according to a large study financed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The study, presented at an epidemiologists conference in Bordeaux, France, on Wednesday, is the latest to suggest that the $2.5-billion-a-year drug increases the danger of heart attacks. Lingering safety concerns have badly hurt sales of Vioxx in recent years. http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&;storyID=6070975§ion=news 9:01:38 PM    comment []

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