Disease Proof : Disease Proof : Health & Nutrition News & Commentary : Dr. Joel Fuhrman

Mankind has a lot of nasty habits. Arguably the worst is our tendency to pollute. We pollute the air with smog, television with American Idol, and the ocean with Mercury. And, mercury contamination probably goes unrealized by millions of people everyday. This report by EurekAlert confirms it:

The health risks posed by mercury contaminated fish is sufficient to warrant issuing a worldwide general warning to the public — especially children and women of childbearing age-to be careful about how much and which fish they eat. That is one of the key findings comprising "The Madison Declaration on Mercury Pollution" published today in a special issue of the international science journal Ambio.


Developed at the Eighth International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant last August in Madison, Wis., the declaration is a synopsis of the latest scientific knowledge about the danger posed by mercury pollution. It presents 33 principal findings from five synthesis papers prepared by the world's leading mercury scientists and published in the same issue of Ambio. The declaration and supporting papers summarize what is currently known about the sources and movement of mercury in the atmosphere, the socioeconomic and health effects of mercury pollution on human populations, and its effects on the world's fisheries and wildlife.

Dr. Fuhrman has been screaming about the dangers of mercury contamination for a long time. He issues a lot of warnings in Eat to Live, take a look:

Fish is a double-edged sword, especially because fish has been shown to increase heart attack risk if polluted with mercury.1 It seems that the cardioprotective effects of eating a little fish is lost when you eat lots of fish, most likely because lots of fish exposes you to high mercury levels, which can promote lipid peroxidation.3 Lipid peroxidation plays a major role in the development of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis…


… Higher levels of mercury found in mothers who eat more fish have been associated with birth defects, seizures, mental retardation, developmental disabilities, and cerebral palsy.2 This is mostly the result of women having eaten fish when they were pregnant. Scientists believe that fetuses are much more sensitive to mercury exposure than adults, although adults do suffer from varying degrees of brain damage from fish consumption.3 Even the FDA, which normally ignores reports on the dangers of our dangerous food practices, acknowledges that large fish such as shark, swordfish, and yellowfin and bluefin tuna, are potentially dangerous. Researchers are also concerned about other toxins concentrated in fish that can cause brain damage way before the cancers caused by chemical-carrying fish appear.

Now, I barely eat any animal products anymore, but, from time to time I do like a nice piece of fish. So, what’s safe and what’s not safe to eat? Back to Eat to Live:

Fish with Highest and Lowest Mercury Levels

Highest

• tilefish
• swordfish
• mackerel
• shark
• white snapper
• tuna

Lowest

• salmon
• flounder
• sole
• tilapia
• trout

Okay, even though Dr. Fuhrman points to these five varieties of fish as safer choices, he still warns that people shouldn’t eat fish more than twice a week.
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Usually you have to rent a good Mafia movie to watch people take bribes, but, some doctors are just a guilty as Tommy Two Chins or Joey Bag of Doughnuts. Gardiner Harris and Janet Roberts of The New York Times examine the link between drug makers and doctors:

There is nothing illegal about doctors’ accepting money for marketing talks, and professional organizations have largely ignored the issue.


But research shows that doctors who have close relationships with drug makers tend to prescribe more, newer and pricier drugs — whether or not they are in the best interests of patients.

“When honest human beings have a vested stake in seeing the world in a particular way, they’re incapable of objectivity and independence,” said Max H. Bazerman, a professor at Harvard Business School. “A doctor who represents a pharmaceutical company will tend to see the data in a slightly more positive light and as a result will overprescribe that company’s drugs.”

In an e-mail message, Dr. Allan Collins [President of the National Kidney Foundation and director of a government-financed research center on kidney disease] said he personally received in 2004 less than $10,000 from Amgen for educational presentations. “The contract amount of $1.9 million from Amgen was paid to the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation (MMRF) for the research contract, on which I am the designated senior researcher,” Dr. Collins wrote. He wrote that he did not work for or serve on the board of directors of the foundation. Dr. Collins discloses on his Web site and research papers that he is a consultant to Amgen, among other companies.

This issue drives Dr. Fuhrman crazy. So, instead of grabbing a Tommy Gun, a long trench coat, and taking care of business Eliot Ness-style. He simply shares his thoughts on the subject:

Some day the public will wake up to the medicalization of America and the collusion between the drug companies, the medical profession and the government. They pay doctors millions because it is money well spent. These influential doctors then market the drug to other doctors. It is a form of multi-level marketing.

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Oh no, those poor pharmaceutical companies. Since we had a “mild flu season” millions of expiring flu shots are set to be destroyed. The good news is they don’t expire until June 30th. That means there’s plenty of time for the media to over-hype a new Bird Flu scare. More from Marilynn Marchione and Mike Stobbe of the Associated Press:

Millions of doses of flu vaccine will expire at midnight June 30, unsold during this year's mild flu season and written off as trash. Still perfectly good, and possibly useful for a few more years, the vaccine will wind up being destroyed. This annual ritual is supposed to ensure that Americans get the most up-to-date vaccine, but the leftovers -- more than 10 million of a record 110 million doses produced -- will be destroyed before a new supply is guaranteed.


An Associated Press examination of this long-standing practice raises questions about its consequences. For years, policymakers have talked about letting doctors keep unused vaccine until new doses are in hand, donating leftover supplies to poor countries, or pushing back the expiration date. Wasted vaccine means lost money for drug companies and one stopped making flu shots because of it -- setting the stage for a flu shot shortage in 2004.

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You hate to read news like this, but according to new research workers exposed to some chemicals may have an increased risk of stomach cancer. More proof that it’s hard to make a living in this world. Check out The Cancer Blog:

An article recently published in the International Journal of Cancer says that airborne exposure to some occupational carcinogens appears to increase the risk of noncardia gastric cancer among men.


Noncardia gastric cancer refers to cancer that is in the middle or lower part of the stomach. Researchers from Sweden recently conducted a clinical study to evaluate potential occupational airborne exposures that may be associated with the risk of developing noncardia gastric cancer. This study included over 256,000 men with 200 different jobs.

This is a very important topic on DiseaseProof, here are some earlier posts on the subject:

• Chemicals and Birth Weight
• Toxins: Heavy Metals and Your Home
• Silicone in Again?
• Secret Chemicals in Our Food
• Living Near Landfills

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Over the past month antibiotics have really made the headlines. First the FDA restricted a particular antibiotic due to incidents of severe liver problems. Next, HealthDay News reported that many pneumonia patients receive antibiotics when they don’t really need them. And finally, it seems some chickens possess antibiotic resistant bacteria—all very scary stuff.

Well, it gets worse. According to the Associated Press new research has determined that antibiotics commonly prescribed for sinus infections might not be a good idea because most cases are caused by a virus rather than bacteria. Timberly Ross reports:

The researchers say the findings are troubling because overuse of antibiotics is leading to more virulent and even drug-resistent bacteria. Their concerns echo those of doctors who've studied the effectiveness of antibiotics on ear infections.


"We don't want to be using up our antibiotics on these people," said Dr. Don Leopold, chair of the University of Nebraska Medical Center's Department of Otolaryngology who worked on the sinus study.

The study, which appears in the March issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology, looked at two national surveys of patient data from 1999 to 2002. They showed 14.28 million doctor visits were for diagnosed chronic rhinosinusitis and another 3.12 million for acute rhinosinusitis.

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We’ve all heard someone say that mass flatulence from livestock is harming the environment, but is it true? To the casual observer it might seem like an urban legend. But sadly, unlike a good fart joke, it’s no laughing matter. Take a look at this report Dr. Fuhrman emailed me from The UN News Centre, pretty scary stuff:

Cattle-rearing generates more global warming greenhouse gases, as measured in CO2 equivalent, than transportation, and smarter production methods, including improved animal diets to reduce enteric fermentation and consequent methane emissions, are urgently needed, according to a new United Nations report released today…


…The livestock business is among the most damaging sectors to the earth’s increasingly scarce water resources, contributing among other things to water pollution from animal wastes, antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and the pesticides used to spray feed crops.

Another great thing about this report is it’ll give you a glimpse at how the “magic” happens here at DiseaseProof. Check out the brief email exchange between me and Dr. Fuhrman regarding this article:

Dr. Fuhrman:
I am sending it over to Gerry, he may want to blog about it. I know he loves things related to flatulence.


Me:
Yes, I do fancy myself a bit of a fart connoisseur.

Hey, not all our collaborations can be winners!

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Hazardous chemicals aren’t exactly man’s best friend. But could they be making us fat? New search sheds light on dangerous chemical compounds called phthalates. Amanda Gardner of HealthDay News reports:

The chemicals, known as phthalates, have already been implicated in male reproductive problems including low sperm counts and low testosterone levels. However, it's too soon to know whether they are actually causing these health problems, cautioned the researchers and others.

"It's premature for folks to be alarmed," said study author Dr. Richard Stahlhut, a resident in preventive medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry in New York.. "What is more alarming is the reason we are doing studies like this. Another study showed that testosterone levels had dropped about 22 percent in men, and that sperm counts had dropped to levels that are considered subfertile or infertile."

"It's an important observation that chemical exposures could be contributing to obesity and diabetes in the general population," added Dr. Ted Schettler, science director for the Science and Environmental Health Network. "This is one more example of a family of chemicals that may be contributing to this problem, but this study has obvious limits that the authors acknowledge in great detail."

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I’m sure happy I stopped eating chicken. Friday we learned about the arsenic-chicken feed connection. Pretty scary, right? And now, HealthDay News is reporting that antibiotic resistant bacteria can be found in chickens on antibiotic-free farms and even in chickens raised in pristine laboratory conditions. Robert Preidt explains:

Dr. Margie Lee, a professor in the University of Georgia's College of Veterinary Medicine, said her findings suggest that when poultry arrive at farms, they already harbor antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which may be acquired as they're developing in their eggs.


This means that reducing or eliminating the use of antibiotics on poultry farms will have little or no impact on lowering rates of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can pose a threat to human health.

"The resistances don't necessarily come from antibiotic use in the birds that we eat, so banning antibiotic use on the farm isn't going to help. You have to put in some work before that," Lee said in a prepared statement.

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Last week new research came out linking copper to the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Dr. Fuhrman knows a thing or two about dietary copper. Here’s what he had to say:

I thought I would mention that I do NOT have copper in my Gentle Care Formula and do not recommend people take copper. Copper (rich in animal products) is sometimes considered a marker for a high-protein diet. Higher intake of copper is linked to increased cancer and overall mortality and increased risk of Alzheimer’s dementia. The absence of copper (and beta carotene, iron and Vitamin A) is a key feature that makes my multi unique.

So I guess my suggestion not to eat a steaming plate of pennies was a good idea—kudos to me. Dr. Fuhrman also emailed me some studies that help crystallize his position on copper, take a look:

Zinc, copper, and magnesium and risks for all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular mortality.
Epidemiology. 2006; 17(3):308-14 (ISSN: 1044-3983)


Leone N ; Courbon D ; Ducimetiere P ; Zureik M
Unit 744 National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), Lille Pasteur Institute, Lille, France.

BACKGROUND: Experimental data suggest that zinc, copper, and magnesium are involved in carcinogenesis and atherogenesis. Few longitudinal studies have related these minerals to cancer or cardiovascular disease mortality in a population. METHODS: Data from the Paris Prospective Study 2, a cohort of 4035 men age 30-60 years at baseline, were used to assess the association between serum zinc, copper, and magnesium and all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular disease mortality. Serum mineral values measured at baseline were divided into quartiles and classified into low (1st quartile, referent group), medium (2nd-3rd quartiles), and high (4th quartile) values. During 18-year follow up, 339 deaths occurred, 176 as a result of cancer and 56 of cardiovascular origin. Relative risks (RRs) for each element were inferred using Cox's proportional hazard model after controlling for various potential confounders. RESULTS: High copper values (4th quartile) were associated with a 50% increase in RRs for all-cause deaths (RR = 1.5; 95% confidence interval = 1.1-2.1), a 40% increase for cancer mortality (1.4; 0.9-2.2), and a 30% increase for cardiovascular mortality (1.3; 0.6-2.8) compared with low values (1st quartile). High magnesium values were negatively related to mortality with a 40% decrease in RR for all-cause (0.6; 0.4-0.8) and cardiovascular deaths (0.6; 0.2-1.2) and by 50% for cancer deaths (0.5; 0.3-0.8). Additionally, subjects with a combination of low zinc and high copper values had synergistically increased all-cause (2.6; 1.4-5.0) and cancer (2.7; 1.0-7.3) mortality risks. Similarly, combined low zinc and high magnesium values were associated with decreased all-cause (0.2; 0.1-0.5) and cancer (0.2; 0.1-0.8) mortality risks.

CONCLUSIONS: High serum copper, low serum magnesium, and concomitance of low serum zinc with high serum copper or low serum magnesium contribute to an increased mortality risk in middle-aged men.

High dietary iron and copper and risk of colorectal cancer: a case-control study in Burgundy, France.
Nutr Cancer. 2004; 49(1):66-71 (ISSN: 0163-5581)

Senesse P ; Meance S ; Cottet V ; Faivre J ; Boutron-Ruault MC
Registre Bourguignon des Cancers Digestifs, Faculta de Madecine, Dijon cedex, France.

Several hypotheses have been proposed for colorectal carcinogenesis, including formation of free radicals. A case-control study compared nutrient intake in 171 colorectal cancer cases versus 309 general population controls, using a detailed face-to-face food history questionnaire. A food composition table enabled us to determine the mean composition of the diet in macro- and micronutrients. Dietary intakes were separately categorized into quartiles by gender. Logistic regression models were adjusted for age, sex, energy, exercise, and body mass index. High energy, copper, iron, and vitamin E intakes were associated with an overall increased risk of colorectal cancer. The odds ratios associated with the fourth quartile of intake were 2.3 (95% confidence interval, 1.3-4.0), 2.4 (1.3-4.6), 2.2 (1.1-4.7), and 1.8 (1.0-3.4) for energy, copper, iron, and vitamin E, respectively. There were no significant associations with dietary fiber, folate, calcium, or antioxidant vitamins other than vitamin E. These findings regarding iron and copper suggest that free radicals play an important role in colorectal carcinogenesis, while the findings regarding vitamin E are so far unexplained

Trace elements and cognitive impairment: an elderly cohort study.
Arch Gerontol Geriatr Suppl. 2004; (9):393-402 (ISSN: 0924-7947)

Smorgon C ; Mari E ; Atti AR ; Dalla Nora E ; Zamboni PF ; Calzoni F ; Passaro A ; Fellin R Second Department of Internal Medicine, University of Ferrara, Via Savonarola, 9 - 44100 Ferrara, Italy.

Dementia is one of the most pressing public health problems with social and economic implication. The form called cognitive impairment non-dementia (CIND)represents a subclinical phase of dementia. Different studies have shown a possible effect of micro- and macro-nutrients on cognitive function. Trace elements, being involved in metabolic processes and redox reactions in the central nervous system (CNS), could influence the cognitive functions. This study evaluated the presence of an eventual correlation between serum trace element concentrations and cognitive function in a group of subjects with CIND and manifest dementia (Alzheimer dementia = AD, and vascular dementia = VaD), and compared them with a control group. Thirty -five patients were enrolled in this study. Each patient underwent a clinical and biochemical examination. We also performed a neuropsychological and functional assessment (the Milan overall dementia assessment = MODA, activities of daily living = ADL, and instrumental activities of daily living = IADL), and a computerized tomographic (CT) cerebral scan. Patients were than divided in 4 groups according to the obtained diagnosis (Controls, CIND, AD, VaD).The presence of any acute or chronic conditions, affecting cognitive functions, was considered as exclusion criteria. A blood sample was collected to determine iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), selenium (Se), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu),molybdenum (Mo) and aluminium (Al) serum concentrations (chromatographic,spectrophotometric methods). In our cohort we found a positive correlation between cognitive function, expressed as the MODA score, and Se, Cr, Co and Fe serum levels,while a negative correlation was observed between MODA score, Cu and Al serum levels.Moreover, some statistically significant differences in Se, Cr, Co, Cu and Al concentrations were found among the groups. According to these results, we may suppose that Se, Cr and Co protect cognitive function, Cu influences the evolution of cognitive impairment, while Al contributes to the pathogenesis of AD.

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Go ahead, search the word antibiotic on DiseaseProof. You’re bound to come up with quite a few posts discussing the over use of antibiotics. It’s a hot topic, and one that is slowly getting more and more attention. Like this report, according to a new study many pneumonia patients receive antibiotics when they don’t really need them. Amanda Gardner of HealthDay News explains:

The study, conducted in 2005, followed a group of 152 emergency room patients who met eligibility criteria for receiving antibiotics. Of this group, 65.1 percent received antibiotics within four hours of arriving at the hospital. The remaining 34.9 percent were identified as "outliers," and more than half (58.5 percent) of the outliers did not have a final diagnosis of pneumonia. And 43 percent of the outliers had an abnormal chest X-ray, compared with 95 percent of those who received antibiotics…


… "It was not possible in many of the cases to actually have given them antibiotics because a lot of them didn't actually have pneumonia or got a diagnosis later," said Dr. Jesse Pines, author of an accompany editorial in the journal, and an attending physician in the department of emergency medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He supports the study findings.

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It seems the pursuit of bigger plumper chickens might be biting—or should I say pecking—us in the behind. Apparently arsenic added to chicken feed since the 1960s poses a serious contamination risk. Don Hopey of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports:

Organic arsenic is added to the feed of some 70 percent of the 7 billion roasters grown annually in the United States. The inorganic arsenic is found in poultry waste, which is used as fertilizer.


That increases the risk that the inorganic arsenic will contaminate surface water and groundwater drinking supplies in farming areas where the chicken litter fertilizer is spread repeatedly, said John Stolz, professor of biology at Duquesne and co-author of the study reported in January in the peer-reviewed Environmental Science & Technology Online News.

Gee, who would have thought? Arsenic bad? What a revelation! Good thing I don’t eat chicken anymore.

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Overnight mandatory HPV vaccinations have become the nation’s newest polarizing social issue. Are they a good idea or a bad idea? Dangerous or safe? Very good questions, but, if laws are passed requiring children to get the vaccination, the answers to these inquires won’t matter will they?

So, before big brother gears up to infringe on our liberties again. Let’s see how necessary these HPV vaccinations really are. Dr. Fuhrman emailed me a link to a study appearing in The Journal of the American Medical Association. The research examines prevalence of HPV infection among females in the United States. Here’s some of the introduction:

A highly efficacious prophylactic vaccine against HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18 was licensed in June 2006 and recommended for routine use in females aged 11 to 12 years in the United States.11-14 Clinical studies of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine demonstrated close to 100% efficacy in preventing infection and disease (cervical cancer precursors, genital lesions) associated with types included in the vaccine in analyses restricted to those women who were naive to HPV types 6, 11, 16, or 18 (either by HPV DNA or HPV antibodies).


Representative data on type-specific prevalence of HPV DNA detection in the United States could provide a baseline estimate to measure the wide-scale impact of the vaccine for reducing infection and could help guide models evaluating impact and cost effectiveness. With widespread implementation of the prophylactic HPV vaccine, decreases in the prevalence of vaccine HPV types would be expected. To determine a prevaccine population-based prevalence of cervicovaginal HPV in the United States, we performed HPV DNA testing on self-collected vaginal swabs among females participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2004.

Now, I’m sure a large portion of the populous believes that the government is just looking out for us and that this medication will save millions of lives--or is this maybe about millions of dollars? If young girls across the country are being injected with the HPV vaccination Gardasil, wouldn’t the makers of Gardasil stand to make a whole lot of money?

So then, it’s probably a good idea for vaccine manufacturers to kick the hype-machine into overdrive. Especially since according to Dr. Fuhrman Gardasil only protects against a small percentage of HPV cases:

Gardasil, the new Merck HPV vaccine, protects against 4 types of HPV and these four types were only found in 3.4 percent.

1. 44 percent of women studied aged 20 – 24 had infections with HPV.
2. The virus disappears and does not cause a problem in 90 percent of infected women.
3. 100 strains exist, the vaccine protects against only 4, but they include the two strains associated with seventy percent of cervical cancers 16 and 18.
4. The vaccine has not been studied for long-term effectiveness and the protection may wear off in 5 – 7 years.
5. Conclusion, most HPV infections and about 50 percent of HPV related cancers will not likely be helped by the vaccine because its effectiveness will likely wane with time, other strains can also cause disease.

Stuff like this proves how powerful spreading panic can be. Float some new fears out there and people will basically believe anything you tell them. For more the HPV vaccination situation, take a gander at these previous posts:

• Dr. Fuhrman on HPV Vaccinations
• Merck Kind of Ditches Effort to Make HPV Drug Mandatory

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In my opinion the FDA is hit or miss. Sometimes they’re right on the money. And other times, like with the cattle drugs, they’re in La La Land. Well, maybe this redeems them a little. According to Miranda Hitti of WebMD Medical News, the FDA has pulled 15 migraine drugs off the market:

The FDA today announced that it has ordered 15 unapproved migraine drugs containing ergotamine off the market.


Those drugs, sold only by prescription, lack a required "black box" safety warning and haven't been reviewed by the FDA for safety and efficacy.

The unapproved ergotamine drugs are unrelated to migraine drugs called triptans such as Imitrex, Zomig, and Maxalt.

And they’re not stopping there. Steven Reinberg of HealthDay News reports that the FDA will review children’s cold remedies because of their potential health risks:

Dr. Charles Ganley, the FDA's director of the Office of Nonprescription Products, said the agency has been "looking into the issue of safety of children's cough medicine since the middle of last year." He noted that when these medicines were originally approved, in some cases several decades ago, there was no mandate that the effectiveness, safety or dose be determined for children; rather, the guidelines were extrapolated from studies done with adults.


"We have not established a dose that is safe for children 2 and under," Ganley said during a teleconference. "We hope to have our review done in several months and then make recommendations."

Now this is all well and good, but I’m sure some day soon they’ll approve the sale of diet pills linked to chronic stupidity—wait, that might have happened already.

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How do you feel about dairy? Personally, I don’t like it. Of course this wasn’t always the case. As a kid I loved my morning cereal, but, puking it up ten minutes later was no picnic. Yes, it took a while before the family realized I was lactose intolerant. Now I barely touch the stuff, actually I can’t remember the last time I knowingly ate any dairy.

But for lots of people avoiding dairy is total blasphemy. After all, just last week it was reported that diary foods help with fertility. Not to mention people like BellaOnline's Low Carb Editor Lisa Shea consider foods like cheese to be a delicious and nutritious snack:

Cheese is a delicious, nutritious food. It is in essence milk from a cow (or sheep, goat etc.) that has been processed and solidified. Therefore, cheese is full of calcium and can make just about any meal very tasty. It's a perfect snack, too! Just don't put it on bland bread. Try it on a slice of cucumber, or on a pepperoni ring!

So then, how can dairy be bad for us? Come on, America grew up on dairy. Cookies and milk, whip cream on pumpkin pie, and what about sharing a strawberry shake with your sweetheart? Not a good idea according to Dr. Fuhrman.

Maybe it’s our emotional connection with milk and ice cream, but it sure seems like people ignore the dangers dairy. In a previous post Dr. Fuhrman points out the link between Parkinson’s disease, heart disease, ovarian cancer, and dairy consumption. From Milk: Does It Do A Body Good:

The relationship between Parkinson’s and milk consumption has been suspected for decades1 and was first reported by researchers a few years ago. Chen’s and other recent prospective studies have confirmed the earlier, less definitive findings…


…The researchers also concluded that the non-fat aspects of milk have atherogenic effects (plaque-building) both biochemical and immunological, and the simultaneous attack from all these directions explains why milk was found to have such a strong effect on death rate2…

…A recent study of 61,000 women found that those who consumed more than 2 glasses of milk per day had twice the risk of serous ovarian cancer than women who consumed fewer than two glasses. The risk of those who drank two glasses a day was double that of women who rarely drank milk.3

Dr. Fuhrman is especially worried about cow’s milk and children. In Disease-Proof Your Child he explains that consuming milk puts children at risk for a whole bunch of issues, including Crohn's disease and multiple sclerosis. Here’s a bit of the book:

Milk and cheese are the foods Americans encourage their children to eat, believing them to be healthy foods. Fifty years of heavy advertising by an economically powerful industry has shaped the public's perception, illustrating the power of one-sided advertising, but the reality and true health effects on our children is a different story. Besides the link between high-saturated-fat foods (dairy fat) and cancer, there is a body of scientific literature linking the consumption of cow's milk to many other diseases.

When I read stuff like this I don’t feel ashamed about not eating dairy. Although my friends still think its weird that I can walk into a pizzeria and not order a slice. In fact, I’m probably the only full-blooded Italian that orders a salad at the local pizza joint.

So, if all this daunting research isn’t enough to make you think twice about downing that glass of milk, check out this report by The Washington Post. Apparently the FDA is about to approve a cattle drug that could put humans at risk. Rick Weiss has more:

The American Medical Association and about 12 other health groups warned the Food and Drug Administration that giving cefquinome to animals probably would speed the emergence of microbes resistant to that important class of antibiotic, as has happened with other drugs. Those supermicrobes could then spread to people.


Echoing those concerns, the FDA's advisory board last fall voted to reject the request by Intervet of Millsboro, Del., to market the drug for cattle.

Yet by all indications, the FDA will approve cefquinome this spring. That outcome is all but required, officials said, by a recently implemented "guidance document" that codifies how to weigh threats to human health posed by proposed new animal drugs.

You’ve got to love the FDA. They’ve always got our best interests at heart—that was sarcasm folks.
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More bad news about smoking, actually, bad news and smoking kind of go hand in hand. Anyway, the AFP reports Germany has banned smoking in rail stations, public transport, and federal buildings. Also the government will raise the legal age for buying tobacco to 18:

"We regulated what we could at the federal level," health minister Ulla Schmidt said after the vote.


"I think that a lot of people can now literally breathe a sigh of relief."

Consumer Affairs Minister Horst Seehofer said the law would mark "a big leap forward" in protecting Germans from second-hand smoke after attempts to allow facilities to introduce voluntary bans proved ineffective.

A federal study released Monday showed that only 11 percent of restaurants have created non-smoking sections, far below the 60 percent the industry agreed to maintain in March 2005 if the government refrained from passing legislation.

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From the May 2004 edition of Dr. Fuhrman's Healthy Times:

The European Union is requiring salmon farms to cut the dose of pigment found in salmon feed. The pigment, called canthaxanthin, has been found to damage human eyesight by accumulating in the retina. Most of the salmon in the wild get their pink hue by eating lots of shrimp, but in the farms they would be grey if not artificially colored.

United States and Canada list canthaxanthin as “generally recognized as safe for human use” and do not restrict the use of these pink dyes in fish farms.

Dr. Fuhrman comments:

Considering that farm-raised salmon also has been found to be high in cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) levels and are the most PCB-contaminated source in the current U.S. food supply, it does not seem to be the “health” food most people think. Fish raised under such crowded conditions are treated with drugs, pesticides to ward off parasites, and toxic chemicals to keep nets free of algae.

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