The FDA has proposed relaxing its rules on labeling of irradiated foods; it may allow some irradiated products to be labeled "pasteurized."

The change would require companies to label irradiated food only if the irradiation causes a material change to the product, such as changes to the taste, texture, smell or shelf life of a food.

Pasteurization usually means heating a product to a high temperature and then cooling it rapidly. The FDA proposed letting companies use the term "pasteurized" to describe irradiated foods if the radiation kills germs as well as the pasteurization process does.

The consumer group Food & Water Watch has urged the FDA to drop the idea. The FDA has acknowledged that the proposed change could confuse consumers.

USA Today April 4, 2007

MSNBC April 3, 2007

How Could Drugs in Your Drinking Water Affect Your Health

Pharmaceutical and personal care products, or PPCPs, are entering rivers from sewage treatment plants or leaching into groundwater from septic systems.

The waterways in the United States contain residues of birth control pills, antidepressants, painkillers, shampoos, and many other chemical compounds.

The EPA has found these substances, called "emerging contaminants," almost everywhere that they have looked for them.

The extent and consequences of human exposure to these compounds are unknown, according to a 2005 FDA review. Scientists in a number of government and private agencies are trying to devise new ways to measure and analyze the compounds and their effects.

A number of states have added pharmaceuticals to the list of hazardous household waste products, such as leftover paint and insecticides, that must be periodically collected for safe disposal. Otherwise, there is a risk that leftover medications will be flushed down the drain.

New York Times April 3, 2007 (Registration Required)

The Ledger April 3, 2007

Potential Deception and Destruction of Healthy Chocolate

Members of the Chocolate Manufacturers of America (CMA), such as Hershey, Nestle and Archer Daniels Midland, initially posing as an interested citizens group, have covertly petitioned the FDA to "modernize food standards" by allowing products containing little or no cocoa butter to still be labeled chocolate.

This would allow products that were essentially a mix of milk, artificial sweeteners and hydrogenated trans fats to be sold as chocolate.

Trans fats have been directly linked to several debilitating illnesses, including heart disease. They lower levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol while increasing levels of LDL ("bad") cholesterol. Increased LDL makes the arteries more rigid and causes arterial clogging.

Cocoa prices have increased recently due to speculation that a dry summer this year could impair cocoa production in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. The ingredients that could be used to replace cocoa, under the terms of the proposal, are considerably cheaper.

NewsWithViews.com May 4, 2007

Hidden Story Behind Baby Carrots

"Baby" carrots are not actually young carrots, or even carrots that are grown specifically to be small. In fact, the concept of the baby carrot was born 21 years ago by a California farmer wanting to sell more of his carrots that he was throwing away due to imperfections -- they were too knobby, twisted or broken.

After cutting the less-than-perfect carrots down to a uniformly smaller size, they were fed through an industrial potato peeler to smooth the edges and remove the skin. This marked the birth of the "baby" carrot market.

The success of baby carrots may be a reflection of the desire for food that is uniform in appearance and taste, and for food that is sterile, prewashed, and prepackaged.

Wise Bread May 13, 2007

Does the Height of Your Ceiling Affect the Way You Think?

Recent research suggests that the way people think and act is actually affected by ceiling height.

A research paper titled, "The Influence of Ceiling Height: The Effect of Priming on the Type of Processing People Use," found that, depending on the situation, ceiling height will benefit or impair consumer responses.

Variations in ceiling height can evoke concepts that affect how consumers process information. A person in a room with a 10-foot ceiling tends to make more free and abstract connections than a person in a room with a lower ceiling. A person in a room with an eight-foot ceiling would be more likely to focus on specifics.

This work could have important implications for retailers who wish to understand the thought processes of consumers at the point of purchase.

Science Daily April 25, 2007

Processed Foods Are Even Sweeter Than You Think

Food companies have doubled the amount of sugar they add to many of their products. Soups, cereals, and other foods have been heavily sweetened to attract more customers.

Breakfast cereals have seen some of the biggest increases, but even whole grain bread now routinely contains almost a teaspoon of sugar in every three slices.

In 1978, Kellogg's Special K contained about 10 grams of sugar for every 100 grams of cereal, but that amount has now increased to 17 grams, very close to the sugar level of vanilla ice cream. Over the same period, the sugar per 100 grams in tomato soup has increased from less than 3 grams to more than 6 grams.

Processed foods contain some of the highest sugar content, often with levels close to or higher than 20 grams of sugar per 100 grams of food.

Sugar consumption has been implicated in rising levels of tooth decay, diabetes, and obesity.

Times Online May 6, 2007

Daily Mall May 6, 2007

Is Your Doctor Being PAID OFF by the Drug Industry?

According to the results of a national survey, virtually all doctors asked reported some sort of financial relationship with medically related industries such as pharmaceutical companies.

The financial connections ranged from free lunches to payments for consulting and lecturing.

The survey was sent to more than 3,000 practicing anesthesiologists, cardiologists, family practitioners, general surgeons, internists and pediatricians, and just over half responded. Some 94 percent of the respondents acknowledged some kind of relationship with the drug industry, although 80 percent of them primarily accepted free food or drug samples.

However, research has shown that even inexpensive gifts can influence behavior.

In addition, more than one-third of the respondents were paid by the drug industry to travel to professional meetings or attend medical education classes. Family practitioners said they met an average of 16 times a month with industry reps, the most of any specialty surveyed. However, cardiologists were more than twice as likely as family practitioners to receive direct payments from industry.

Doctors were more likely to receive payments from industry if they were male, had any role in training doctors or developing medical guidelines, or had few uninsured patients or patients on Medicaid.

New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 356, No. 17, April 26, 2007: 1742-1750 (Free Full-Text Study)

USA Today April 26, 2007

Washington Post April 29, 2007

Another Reason Seniors Need to Avoid Aspirin

Seniors who regularly take regular aspirin to prevent strokes could instead actually be increasing their risk. In healthy older people, aspirin may very well be doing more harm than good.

Researchers looked at data on intracerebral hemorrhagic strokes that occurred between 1981 and 1985, and between 2002 and 2006.

The number of strokes caused by high blood pressure fell by 65 percent over this period. But in people over 75, so many more strokes occurred among patients taking blood-thinning drugs such as aspirin and warfarin, known as antithrombotics, that the overall rate of strokes remained the same.

Between the two periods studied, the proportion of stroke patients on antithrombotic drugs increased from 4 percent to 40 percent. The number of strokes associated with these drugs increased by a factor of seven.

The increasing use of these drugs means that they may soon overtake high blood pressure as the leading cause of intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke in those over 75.

The Lancet Neurology May 1, 2007 (Registration Required)

BBC News May 1, 2007

Debating the Health Benefits of Coffee

A "controversy session" about the health benefits and dangers of drinking coffee was recently held in Washington, DC.

The scientists attending the meeting discussed the evidence that coffee can help ward off type 2 diabetes, and that it can help prevent certain cancers while increasing the risk of developing others.

Coffee may protect against colon, rectal, and liver cancers through several mechanisms, including reducing the amount of cholesterol, bile acid and natural sterol secretion in the colon.

But coffee can also raise the risks for leukemia and stomach cancer.

Coffee could also help reduce type 2 diabetes risks, possibly through the action of its component chlorogenic acid, which slows the absorption of glucose in the intestines.

Yahoo News May 1, 2007

How You Can Use Your Body's Bacteria for Better Health

Many scientists have begun to argue that the trend of using antibacterial soap and other antibacterial products may actually cause diseases like eczema, irritable bowel syndrome and even diabetes.

What's more, the solution may be to feed patients bacteria.

Probiotics, which are pills containing bacteria, have resulted in complete elimination of eczema in 80 percent of the patients treated with it. Probiotics have also been used to treat irritable bowel disease, acne and premenstrual syndrome. In one recent study, infants given a probiotic were, after two years, 25 percent less likely to develop eczema.

From 50 trillion to 100 trillion bacteria live in your digestive system, where they have a complex relationship with digestion and health. Antibacterial products can disrupt the balance that protects you from allergies and malfunctioning immune responses.

Wired April 26, 2007

Why You Want to Keep Your Baby Away From the TV!

Allowing children under 3 to watch television can impair their linguistic and social development, and also put them at risk of health problems including attention-deficit disorder, autism and obesity.

Before the age of 3, children's brains go through rapid development and are being physically shaped in response to whatever they are exposed to.

Exposing children to fast-moving images for sustained periods at this time can inhibit their ability to sustain attention, and hinder their development of social skills.

Research suggests that television can also cause irregular sleep patterns for infants and toddlers, and decrease their resting metabolic rate, which compounds the physiological problems that come with lack of exercise.

At least one study suggests that early exposure to TV can be a trigger for autism.

Guardian Unlimited April 24, 2007

Hidden Dangers of New Birth Control Pill

The U.S. FDA is likely going to approve Lybrel, a birth control pill that eliminates monthly menstruation entirely, in the near future.

No extra risks are known to be caused by this form of the pill, but many people are uneasy about the idea.

Some doctors have cautioned that little research has been conducted on potential long-term effects. The subject has caused debate within the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research, which studies medicine and social science relating to menses.

In 2003, the group issued a position statement that more research was needed before women could make an informed decision. Some members have pointed out that the same hormones that work on the menstrual cycles also act on the brain, bones, and skin.

Lybrel is the next step in a growing trend of pills that alter the 28-day menstrual cycle. The first was 2003's Seasonale, which results in four periods each year.

The Ledger April 20, 2007

International Herald Tribune April 19, 2007

Knowing Where Your Food Comes From is Vital to Your Health

Twinkies are made from 39 ingredients, most of them requiring elaborate processing themselves, in addition to packaging and marketing.

But they, like many other processed foods, are cheaper than a similar quantity of carrots, which require no processing or marketing, and little or no packaging. How is this possible?

The answer is a piece of legislation called the farm bill, which is renewed every five years (including this year), and sets guidelines for the American food system -- including which crops will be subsidized and which will not.

Processed foods like Twinkies are made from carbohydrates and fats extracted from corn, soybeans and wheat, which, along with rice and cotton, are the products supported with $25-billion subsidies from the U.S. government.

But the farm bill does almost nothing to support farmers growing other forms of produce, such as more nutrient-rich vegetables. The result is a food system flooded with corn-derived added sugars, and soy-derived added fats. Meanwhile, the real price of fruits and vegetables increased by nearly 40 percent between 1985 and 2000, while the real price of soft drinks (made with high-fructose corn syrup) actually declined by 23 percent.

The farm bill has far-reaching effects on health, the economy, and the environment. A growing body of activists are becoming aware of the implications, and are pressing for changes to the bill, which has remained largely unchanged for decades.

New York Times April 22, 2007 (Registration Required)

Simple Trick to Help Your Memory by Moving Your Eyes

Moving your eyes horizontally, from side-to-side, for about 30 seconds may be all it takes to give your memory a boost, according to researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University in England.

After hearing a list of words, the study found that those who moved their eyes side-to-side for 30 seconds correctly remembered more than 10 percent more words, and falsely recognized about 15 percent fewer "lure" words, compared to those who moved their eyes up and down or did nothing.

Why would moving your eyes influence your memory?

The researchers suspect it's because the horizontal eye movements cause the two hemispheres of the brain to interact more, and communication between the left and right brain hemispheres is known to help us remember certain things.

The researchers aren't sure whether the eye movements will help people in their daily lives ... but it's certainly worth a try the next time you've misplaced your keys or forgotten your grocery list at home!

LiveScience.com April 25, 2007

Alcohol Harms Women Faster Than Men

A study in Russia confirms that the brain-damaging effects of alcohol affect women more quickly than men.

Researchers asked more than 100 alcoholics between the ages of 18 and 40, as well as 68 non-alcoholics, to complete a series of brain function tests.

Female alcoholics performed worse on tests of visual working memory, cognitive flexibility, and spatial planning and problem solving, even though the duration of alcohol use was significantly longer for men (averaging 15 years) than women (averaging 11 years).

However, 91 percent of the women reported binge drinking, as opposed to only 72 percent of the men.

Other physiological damage resulting from alcoholism, such as heart and liver problems, were already known to occur more quickly in women than in men, an effect known as telescoping.

Women metabolize alcohol more quickly than a man of the same weight, because men have more alcohol-diluting water in their bodies, and women have less of an enzyme that makes alcohol inactive.

Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, Vol. 31, No. 5, May 2007: 745-754

Yahoo News April 23, 2007

Can the Pet Food Calamity Also Harm You?

According to the FDA, thousands of hogs in a number of states, as well as poultry at a Missouri farm, ate pet food that had been laced with the industrial chemical melamine.

This means that the contaminant, which has been responsible for the deaths of pets across the United States, has potentially entered the human food supply.

Urine from hogs in California, North Carolina, and South Carolina tested positive for melamine, and it is possible that hogs in New York, Utah, and Ohio may have done so as well.

The FDA believes that melamine was added to Chinese products to artificially inflate their nitrogen content, and therefore their price. FDA inspections have steadily dropped over the past few years, while at the same time the use of imported food has increased greatly.

The FDA plans to begin tests of imported Chinese corn gluten and corn meal, soy protein, rice bran and rice protein concentrate, and wheat gluten.

These products are used as ingredients in many foods ranging from breakfast cereal to baby formula. The now recalled pet food contained contaminated wheat gluten that had been designated suitable for human consumption, although there is as yet no evidence that it directly entered the human food supply.

Boston.com April 25, 2007

USA Today April 20, 2007

Cell Phones May be Why Honeybees Are Disappearing

Scientists are having a difficult time explaining the rapid decline of the honeybee population in the United States and Canada, known as colony collapse disorder, that could affect crops depending on these insects for pollination.

Research presented some four years ago speculates the radiation emitted from cellular phones may contribute to the problem.

When cellular phones were placed near hives, the radiation generated by them (900-1,800 MHz) was enough to prevent bees from returning to them, according to a study conducted at Landau University.

Scientists believe the radiation produced by cellular phones may be enough to interfere with the way bees "communicate" with their hives. Cellular phones may create a resonance effect that interferes with the movement patterns bees use as a kind of language.

The Independent April 15, 2007

Telegraph.co.uk April 16, 2006

Science a Go Go April 16, 2007

Working in Dirt Can Actually be Healthy!

Exposure to certain forms of soil bacteria can boost the immune system, which can in turn improve mood as effectively as antidepressant drugs.

Mice exposed to a benign soil microbe, Mycobacterium vaccae, performed better on a behavioral task commonly used to test the effectiveness of antidepressants.

The mice were placed in water and observed to see how long they continued swimming before giving up. The mice who had been exposed to Mycobacterium vaccae continued swimming for a much longer time.

These results are similar to those from a previous study, in which human cancer patients treated with the bacteria reported significant improvements in their quality of life.

Researchers suspect that the microbes are affecting the brain indirectly by causing immune cells to release chemicals called cytokines, which stimulate the production of the mood-regulating chemical serotonin.

The lead researcher on the study, Chris Lowry, added that, "These studies help us understand how the body communicates with the brain and why a healthy immune system is important for maintaining mental health. They also leave us wondering if we shouldn't all be spending more time playing in the dirt."

Neuroscience March 28, 2007

LASIK Surgery Can Cause Drug-Resistant "Superbug" Infections

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a form of drug-resistant bacteria, can be a serious post-operative complication. A recent study found MRSA infections in the eyes of 12 patients after LASIK surgery.

One case involved a nurse whose LASIK-corrected vision took a quick turn for the worse within two weeks. He developed an infection in his left eye that got worse despite treatments, until doctors discovered it was related to MRSA.

So far, his vision has only been partially recovered.

American Journal of Ophthalmology, Vol. 143, No. 4, April 2007: 629-634

Science Daily April 10, 2007

More Reasons to Avoid Processed Meats

A pair of recent studies have identified potential health problems related to the consumption of processed meats, including breast cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The consumption of red and processed meats was linked to a higher incidence of breast cancer, a connection that was particularly strong among postmenopausal women.

One explanation may be compounds produced when meat is grilled, such as heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, that have been shown to promote tumor growth.

Another study of more than 7,000 patients -- most of them seniors -- showed that cured, processed meats like ham, bacon and sausage were connected to lower lung functioning and a much higher risk for COPD, even taking into account numerous dietary and other risk factors. Patients who consumed the most processed meats often ate fewer fruits and vegetables than others did as well, which may have compounded the problem.

American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Vol. 175, No. 8, April 15, 2007: 798-804

British Journal of Cancer, Vol. 96, No. &, April 10, 2007: 1139-1146 (Free Full-Text Study)

Reuters April 16, 2007

Even in 1918 Drugs Made the Flu WORSE

A report comparing how well the city of St. Louis survived the flu epidemic of 1918 versus those living in Philadelphia has uncovered some of the reasons that St. Louis fared significantly better.

Most importantly, St. Louis officials took steps sooner than Philadelphia did to limit exposure to the flu once the first cases were reported.

However, St. Louis did not act by doling out drugs; instead, officials enforced shutdowns of public schools, churches and other places where people congregate and very likely pass around the flu, while quarantining the infected from the healthy.

Because Philadelphia officials delayed their preparations by two weeks, the death toll in that city was more than double that of St. Louis. More than 700 out of every 100,000 Philadelphians died during the 1918 flu epidemic (a total of more than 12,000) versus 347 per 100,000 in St. Louis.

The CDC noted that "those who used nonpharmaceutical measures effectively were able to mitigate the impact of the severe pandemics, and this is consistent with some of the 21st-century simulation models."

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences April 6, 2007 (Free Full-Text PDF)

New York Times April 17, 2007 (Registration Required)

Tuscaloosa News April 17, 2007

Eating Fish May Actually Cause Diabetes

Evidence suggests that pollutants found in oily fish may be a cause of type 2 diabetes.

Korean researchers have found evidence that people who consume fish containing high levels of persistent organic pesticides (POPs) are more prone to developing insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes. POPs are synthetic chemicals that accumulate in the fatty tissue of animals.

Many POPs have been banned in developed countries, but they remain in the food chain. Oily fish are prone to accumulating these fat-soluble chemicals.

This may be one reason the obese are more prone to diabetes -- more fat in the body can result in higher levels of POPs. Obese patients with low POP levels have a lower incidence of diabetes than those with higher levels.

Diabetes Care, Vol. 30, No. 3, March 2007: 622-628

New Scientist April 12, 2007

BBC News April 12, 2007

Simple Fat Change Radically Improves Mental and Physical Health

A new study adds to the evidence suggesting that the imbalance of fatty acids in the typical American diet could be associated with a sharp increase in heart disease and depression over the course of the last century.

The more omega-6 fats people had in their blood compared with omega-3 fats, the more likely they were to suffer from depression, and the more likely they were to have higher blood levels of inflammation-promoting compounds.

Inflammation-promoting compounds, such as tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-6, have been linked to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, arthritis and other ailments.

Omega-3 fats are found in foods such as fish, flax seed oil and walnuts. Omega-6 fats are found in refined vegetable oils, which in modern times are used in many products ranging from margarine to baked goods to snack foods.

The amount of omega-6 fats in the Western diet increased greatly when refined vegetable oils became part of the diet in the early 20th century.

Psychosomatic Medicine March 30, 2007

Reuters April 17, 2007

Doctors Getting Your Message and Avoiding Drug Sales Reps!

Seven percent of doctors nationwide now refuse to meet directly with drug sales reps, and in some regions that number can be as high as 50 percent.

Formal group practice policies are increasingly restricting the access that drug sales reps have to individual doctors. These "closed door" policies are becoming more and more common around the country, especially in Washington, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Managed care policies that favor low-cost generics are also making it more difficult for sales reps to push expensive name-brand drugs.

As a result, drug sales reps are facing massive layoffs and falling incomes as commissions drop. Pfizer is laying off 2,200 sales reps, about one-fifth of its U.S. sales force.

CNNMoney.com April 4, 2007