Disease Proof

I’m in a New York state of mind. So, time to grab the next train and hit the big apple. This week we’re checking out Counter, right off east Houston Street in the capital of the world—New York City! And this vegetarian bistro certainly makes a good first impression.

I first heard about Counter when I was dining at Eating to Live on the Outside favorite Sacred Chow—I love Sacred Chow! I’ll actually be eating there again this weekend. Alright, enough back-story and brownnosing, time to put Counter to the test. Let’s get to it!

Counter’s got quite a few menus to choose from, but I’m only interested in the dinner and brunch menu; the others are for liquor and kids. There’s a lot of good stuff on both menus. Some bad stuff too, like eggs, cheese, and milk. Okay, what to order? What to order?

I’ll start with the appetizers. This shouldn’t be a shocker. The Market Salad is looking good. It doesn’t say what’s in it, but whatever it is, it’s topped with a fresh herb lemon vinaigrette. Honestly, I highly doubt you can go wrong with a salad at a vegetarian bistro.

The Citrus Greens Salad and The Avocado Basket Salad are also pretty cool. The Avocado Basket Salad for obvious reasons—I STILL LOVE AVOCADO! Between them they’re prepared with bitter greens, grapefruit, toasted almonds, balsamic dressing, hearts of palm, Roma tomatoes, avocado, and lemon herb dressing. If you go easy or omit the dressing, I’m not sure there’s a problem with either one of these.

I love soups, so this next appetizer is right up my alley. The Soupe Du Pistou, which is a nicoise style hearty white bean and vegetable soup with pesto. White beans are fantastic! Loaded with fiber, and, after you eat them, you can serenade your friends—sorry, couldn’t resist. I think the only concession here would be the oil from the pesto. Not bad. Oh, and if any of these are too worrisome for you. You can always order some fresh fruit, Counter gives you that option—pretty cool, right?

Now, the first entrée I like is the Marinated Vegetable Terrine; prepared with sun-dried tomato pesto, herb puree, nut cheese, shaved fennel, and bitter greens. I mainly like this one because it’s raw. Lately I’ve been trying to eat more raw veggies. Probably the only concession here is the oil used to make the pesto. Now worries—I can live with it!

The Vegetable Mosaic also looks mighty tasty—great name too! According to the menu it is a market-fresh array of vegetables; including sautéed haricots verts & escarole, braised fennel with orange, Portobello mushroom roulade, whipped maple sweet potatoes, and steamed & spiced quinoa & cumin emulsion. Wow, quite the compliment of veggies! I guess the only concession would be maple syrup used in the whipped sweet potatoes—but then again—they might not even use it. I’d check with the wait staff.

I love stews. My mom makes a killer lentil-curry stew. So it shouldn't be a huge surprise that I like the Provencal Stew; amaranth & millet dumplings, vegetables & potatoes, simmered in a seaweed-scented broth. Sounds pretty nifty if you ask me!

Finally, the Hale & Heartland looks interesting; multi-grain pancakes with organic blueberry compote & fresh citrus fruit. Well, the grain is the concession. Whole fruits and veggies would certainly rank better on Dr. Fuhrman’s Health = Nutrients/Calories, but, I don’t eat this sort of thing all the time, so, I’m cool with it. What do you think?

Well there you have it. Another one bites the dust. Honestly, I’ll probably drop into Counter one of these days, I’m intrigued. But enough about me—your turn! Check out Counter’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Drop a comment or shoot me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com. Healthy eating!

The New York Times takes a look at what’s in and what’s not in some organic foods—it’s kind of surprising. Take a look:

For many kids, commercial breakfast cereal is the main source of daily vitamins and minerals. Take a look at Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes reduced-sugar cereal. A serving provides 25 percent of the recommended daily intake of seven essential nutrients, including iron, folic acid and other B vitamins. It also provides 10 percent of the recommended intake for vitamins A, C and D.


Now look at its organic equivalent: EnviroKidz Organic Amazon Frosted Flakes. The only ingredients are organic cornmeal, organic evaporated cane juice and sea salt. A serving gives kids only 2 percent of the recommended daily intake for vitamin A and iron, according to the label.

Not every organic cereal is low on vitamins. Several cereals from the Barbara’s Bakery organic line are fortified with extra vitamins. A serving of Barbara’s Bakery Organic Apple Cinnamon O’s, for instance, actually provides higher levels of iron, folic acid and other nutrients than does an equal amount of Kellogg’s Apple Jacks.

For more on organic, check out this video on CNN, and, don’t forget about Dr. Fuhrman on organic. Here’s a taste:

Organic food is certainly your best bet, to further limit exposure to toxic chemicals. No one knows for sure how much risk exists from pesticide residue on produce, but here's what we do know: the younger you are, the more your cells are susceptible to damage from toxins. It seems wise to feed our young children organic food whenever possible.

New research claims a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids can cut children’s risk of Type-1 diabetes. Julie Steenhuysen of Reuters reports:

"It is a relatively large effect," said Jill Norris, whose study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.


"It is exciting because it suggests we might be able to develop nutritional interventions to prevent diabetes."

Type 1 diabetes, formerly called juvenile diabetes, is the most common form of diabetes in children. It occurs when the immune system goes haywire and starts attacking insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

No one knows exactly what triggers this process, but heredity and environmental factors such as diet are thought to play a role.

Hey! Dr. Fuhrman will tell you, omegas are important. Just check out Wednesday’s post Essential Fatty Acids. Here’s a snippet:

Optimal health depends on the proper balance of fatty acids in the diet. The modern diet that most of us eat supplies an excessive amount of omega-6 fat, but often too little omega-3 fat. This relative deficiency of omega-3 fats has potentially serious implications. Also, the consumption of too much omega-6 fat leads to high levels of arachidonic acid (AA). Higher levels of arachidonic acid can promote inflammation.

Even though this dog chews with his mouth open, he still loves his green veggies. Check it out:

• Apparently the FDA has a nasty habit of ignoring proposals that could increase the safety of US food imports. Christopher Doering of Reuters reports:

The FDA is in charge of 80 percent of the U.S. food supply, mostly fruits and vegetables, and has been criticized as being too passive in handling the growing surge of imports into the United States. Total imports, including food, total $2 trillion annually.

"FDA has failed to implement literally hundreds of proposed solutions to specific import problems, which would have enabled the FDA to begin to progressively focus its limited resources where the risks are indeed the greatest," said Benjamin England, a former FDA official who co-founded a consulting firm that helps foreign and U.S. companies meet FDA import rules.

• Are you a runner? If you are, you might want to consider running with a group. It’s a lot more fun. Gina Kolata of The New York Times explains:

Those who run in packs are part of a select society, or maybe a self-selected society. Anyone can join, but you have to run and you have to go to the designated meeting place at the designated time. You might join a club that sponsors runs each week or you might go to a place like a parking lot behind a school where runners gather on weekend mornings. It’s not hard to find these meeting places; local running groups and running stores know where to go. And when you show up, ready to run, the society opens up to you.


For the most part, these groups are not made up of people who are jogging for their health or because they want to lose weight. They are made up mostly of people who have been running long enough to be able to continue for miles and miles. And they love it. They are running for the sheer joy of it and for company to push them to run longer and faster and to share the inevitable pain that comes with the effort to improve.

• More reason to prevent heart disease, a new study claims coronary disease ups your risk of colon cancer. Ed Edelson of HealthDay News reports:

People newly diagnosed with coronary artery disease had nearly double the normal incidence of colorectal tumors and cancers, a study by Hong Kong researchers found.


Both the tumors and the heart disease "probably develop through the mechanism of chronic inflammation," said the report by researchers at the University of Hong Kong that's published in the Sept. 26 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

• Not very surprising, but it seems America’s obsession with soft drinks is a huge driving force behind our fatness. More from Caleb Hellerman of CNN:

"Liquid candy" to detractors, sweetened soft drinks are so ubiquitous that they contribute about 10 percent of the calories in the American diet, according to government data.


In fact, said Dr. David Ludwig, a Harvard endocrinologist whose 2001 paper in the Lancet is widely cited by obesity researchers, sweetened drinks are the only specific food that clinical research has directly linked to weight gain.

"Highly concentrated starches and sugars promote overeating, and the granddaddy of them all is sugar-sweetened beverages," said Ludwig, who runs the Optimal Weight for Life Program at Children's Hospital in Boston.

• Ever wonder how to stay healthy at the buffet? Never fear! Diet Blog passes on some tips that might help you out. Here’s a couple:

1. Get your food and go - Many work and social functions involve a large table covered with tasty looking morsels. Don't be one of those people who stand next to the table. Get your plate, put your food on it, and leave the table. Period.
2. Choose a small plate Seems obvious - But a large plate typically means lots of food and all hope of appropriate portion size is abandoned

• EMaxHealth examines the role of vitamin D in Health. Check it out:

Health Canada is aware of the growing body of evidence on the role of vitamin D in relation to health. While a number of independent recommendations concerning vitamin D intake have been issued by various organizations, Health Canada believes these recommendations are premature and that a comprehensive review that looks at both benefits and safety needs to be undertaken before the Department can issue a revised recommendation.

• More reason not to smoke. Research claims smoking can lead to erectile dysfunction—eek! Reuters is on it:

Erectile dysfunction is the consistent inability to achieve or maintain an erection sufficient for satisfactory sexual performance. In a study of 4,763 Chinese men aged 35 to 74 years who were free of blood vessel disease and who reported that they had been sexually active within the last 6 months, the researchers found a significant statistical link between the number of cigarettes smoked and the likelihood of erectile dysfunction.


"The association between cigarette smoking and erectile dysfunction was found in earlier studies," said first author Dr. Jiang He of Tulane University School of Public Health, New Orleans. "However, most of those studies were conducted in patients with hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes and cardiovascular disease. What distinguishes this study is that it is the first to find this association among healthy men."

• Barb Bergooetz of The Indianapolis Star gives us 10 reasons to do strength training. Here's a few:

• Reduces risk of injury by strengthening muscles and joints.
• Increases and restores bone density, helping prevent osteoporosis.
• Builds lean muscle tissue, which burns more calories than fat.

ParentDish is staring down the devil’s work. She’s been charged with buying the snacks for her junior high Cross Country team—it’s bad, very bad! Look carefully:

When I was in kindergarten, snack time was a graham cracker and little carton of milk. Class birthdays were joyous celebrations because the birthday kid brought in cupcakes or faced shunning on the playground. (Also, we walked to school in our bare feet. In snow past our little ears! Uphill! Both ways!) After kindergarten, snack time was but faint memory, but the birthday cupcakes remained for a couple more years…


…Earlier in the week I received a note about my snack requirement for the junior high Cross Country team. I'm to provide 55 individual bags of potato chips for after the next meet. This will be in addition to the sandwiches, granola bars, a fruit, and beverage other parents will be bringing. (There's a special notation that these are just snacks and the team bus will be stopping at McDonald's on the way back, so send money!)

No wonder why we’re raising the next generation of porkers. Dr. Fuhrman will tell you, all this junk we eat is a killer. Here’s a quote from Eat to Live:

Weight has increased in America simply because total calorie consumption has risen and activity or exercise has fallen. Our diets are more nutrient-deficient than ever.

And I hardly think bags of potato chips and McDonald’s are helping matters. In Disease-Proof Your Child Dr. Fuhrman provides an often overlooked reason why this stuff is so bad for us:

Not only do processed foods and fast foods often contain dangerous trans fats and other additives, but they also can have high levels of acrylamides. When processed foods are baked and fried at high temperatures, these cancer-causing chemical compounds are produced. Many processed foods, such as chips, french fries, and sugar-coated breakfast cereals, are rich in acrylamides.

Oh, and if you want your kids not to crave this garbage. Well, I’ll let Dr. Fuhrman drop some more knowledge on you. Wham:

No rules only for children. If the parents are not willing to follow the rules set for the house, they should not be imposed on the children. Don’t argue about what your children should and shouldn’t be eating; discuss this in private. As parents, we must be consistent, but not perfect. Likewise, it is okay for the children to be consistent, but not perfect either. For example, if the parents decide that an unhealthy food or a restaurant meal is acceptable for the children once per week, then that goes for the adults, too. Setting an example supported by both parents is the most important and most effective way for your children to develop a healthy attitude toward food.

Unfortunately I’m not so sure this is going to help ParentDish at this point—uh, keep hope alive?

EMaxHealth is blogging about Utah’s plan to inspire its citizens to eat more fruits and vegetables. Here’s a snippet:

The old 5 A Day has a new look and name. The latest national campaign to promote fruit and veggie consumption sprang to life in Utah this month as Governor Huntsman signed a proclamation declaring September “Fruits & Veggies—More Matters Month.” Fruits & Veggies—More Matters is a simpler, more inspiring initiative that motivates people to simply eat more fruits and veggies.


The brand was launched after the creators, Produce for Better Health Foundation the CDC and other partners found the 15-year-old 5 A Day campaign wasn’t doing what they had hoped.

I’ll never look at tomatoes the same way. In fact, I can feel the ones I ate last night revolting inside me. Take a look:


Eek!

I’m no daredevil, but you start offering cash and it’s a lot easier to get me to do things. Apparently same goes for weight-loss. New research contends people will lose weight for even a little money. Elizabeth Dunbar of the Associated Press has more:

The research published in the September issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that cash incentives can be a success even when the payout is as little as $7 for dropping just a few pounds in three months.


Unlike providing onsite fitness centers or improving offerings in the company cafeteria, cash rewards provide a company with a guaranteed return, the researchers said.

"They really can't be a bad investment because you don't pay people unless they lose weight," said Eric A. Finkelstein, the study's lead author and a health economist at RTI International, a research institute based in nearby Research Triangle Park.

You’d think a long-healthy life would be incentive enough! Here’s some more ridiculous weight-loss news:

• Diet Mask
• The Bribe Diet
• You're Fat, Blame Others
• Willpower...Dead?
• Get Slim, Get Gila Monster?
• Miracle Expanding Jelly Pills

A new study claims aerobic exercise helps kids control their asthma. Megan Rauscher of Reuters is on it:

In the study of children with appropriately-treated asthma, supervised aerobic exercise training improved aerobic fitness and curbed feelings of breathlessness induced by physical activity.


Moreover, daily doses of inhaled steroids were reduced by 52 percent in children who participated in the exercise training, while the doses remained unchanged or increased for children in a comparison "control" group who did not exercise.

"Physical conditioning in asthmatic children receiving appropriate medical treatment also improved health-related quality of life, especially their asthma symptoms and exercise capacity," study author Dr. Celso R. F. Carvalho, at the University of Sao Paulo, told Reuters Health.

Sure, exercise is important, but did you know asthma can be controlled with proper nutrition? Just check out these success stories:

• Success for Twin Asthmatic Children
• Battling Asthma, Allergies, Psoriasis, and Headaches

Well, if this doesn’t strike you as obvious, than you really need to reconsider your basic knowledge of disease-prevention. New studies have determined that it’s important to take care of your heart before, and, after heart trouble. Steven Reinberg of HealthDay News is on it:

In the first study, researchers said that to avoid heart failure when you're 70 or 80, you must begin by keeping your blood pressure and weight under control when you're 50.


"We tested the hypothesis that higher levels of blood pressure and body mass index (BMI) in midlife would be powerful determinants of heart failure risk in later life, and that the risk posed by preceding measurements would remain even after accounting for these risk factors measured later in life," said lead researcher Dr. Ramachandran S. Vasan…

… The second study found that fewer than 20 percent of patients seek cardiac rehabilitation after a heart attack or coronary bypass surgery.

"It has been shown by many trials that cardiac rehabilitation reduced the risk for new coronary events, re-hospitalization and mortality. The main advantage of cardiac rehabilitation is to reduce mortality," said study leader Dr. Jose A. Suaya, a lecturer and scientist at the Brandeis University Schneider Institutes for Health Policy, Heller School, in Waltham, Mass.

Okay, the whole point of eating as Dr. Fuhrman prescribes is so that you don’t develop heart problems. Here it is from the man himself:

There is no magic to heart health. Educating yourself with the latest scientific findings and eating a diet of delicious, natural, unprocessed food allows you to protect yourself and your family from the heart disease tragedies you see all around you.


Following this approach, you can achieve positive results simply by making the right diet and exercise choices—consistently, without the use of drugs or surgery. Almost everyone can achieve protection against heart disease by reaching the following goals:

• Achieve an LDL cholesterol of 100 or lower.
• Achieve a homocysteine level below 10.
• Achieve healthful weight and blood pressure.

Furthermore, it is true that you need to protect your heart early on because after all, the seeds of heart disease are sown young. More from Dr. Fuhrman:

Not only does the development of coronary atherosclerosis develop in childhood, but earlier development of atherosclerosis and higher serum cholesterol levels in childhood result in a significantly higher risk of premature sudden death relatively early in life. Sometimes the effects of childhood dietary abuses can be seen relatively early, with premature death or a heart attack at a young age.


When we study people who died young of coronary artery disease, we find that the highest risk of an earlier death occurs in those who were above average weight in childhood.1 Findings from the famous Bogalusa Heart Study show that a high saturated fat intake early in life is strongly predictive of later heart disease burden and the higher blood pressure in childhood and adolescence is powerfully predictive of cardiovascular death in adulthood.2

In not, I guess pretty soon kids will be saying, “Mom, Where Are My Statins?”
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Here’s a nice little video from CNN about organic produce. Enjoy:


For Dr. Fuhrman’s thoughts on organic, give this post a whirl: Is Organic Safer?

The two primary essential fatty acids are linoleic acid, an omega-6 fat, and alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fat. The body can make other fatty acids, called nonessential fats, from these two basic fats. Linoleic acid’s first double bond is at the location of its sixth carbon, so it is called an omega-6 fatty acid, and alpha-linolenic acid’s first double bond is on its third carbon, so it is called an omega-3 fatty acid.


Optimal health depends on the proper balance of fatty acids in the diet. The modern diet that most of us eat supplies an excessive amount of omega-6 fat, but often too little omega-3 fat. This relative deficiency of omega-3 fats has potentially serious implications. Also, the consumption of too much omega-6 fat leads to high levels of arachidonic acid (AA). Higher levels of arachidonic acid can promote inflammation.

• Why are kids fat? This Reuters report has an answer for you—look around! Julie Steenhuysen explains:

"The environment that they live in matters," said Lisa Powell of the University of Illinois at Chicago, who studied restaurant and food store options in the neighborhoods and food-related television advertising aimed at teens.

She said when people cannot get to supermarkets but instead must rely on the convenience stores that proliferate in many poor neighborhoods, families end up eating less healthy food.

Lower-income neighborhoods also tend to have a higher proportion of fast-food restaurants, and black urban neighborhoods have the highest percentage of fast-food restaurants.

• Here’s a thought. Could the flu-shot be overrated? Carol M. Ostrom of The Seattle Times investigates:

The benefits of flu shots for elderly people have been greatly exaggerated, according to researchers at Seattle's Group Health Center for Health Studies and George Washington University in Washington, D.C.


Even so, the elderly should continue to get vaccinated against influenza because "even a partly effective vaccine would be better than no vaccine at all," researchers wrote in the report, published Monday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

Many countries, including the U.S., urge those 65 and over — who account for about 90 percent of flu-related deaths — to get flu shots to ward off flu complications.

That public policy has been based on flimsy — even nonexistent — evidence, these researchers conclude.

• Does jarred peanut butter disprove evolution? OverMyMedBody found a real winner here. Take a look:

I’ve heard arguments about creationism and intelligent design before, but the Creationists really shouldn’t have this guy arguing for them (unless he’s secretly trying to take down Creationism from within–if so, nice work!).

• Madeleine Marr of The Detroit Free Press takes a different look a coffee—could it be good? You decide:

The perks: Here's one big silver lining: According to a study published in a recent issue of the medical journal Neurology, a daily caffeine dose may help keep memory loss at bay in women 65 and older. The older you are, the bigger the benefits.


Anti-cancer drug? Another recent study by Rutgers University reported that the combination of exercise and caffeine in mice increased apoptosis (self-destruction) in precancerous cells that were damaged by the sun's ultraviolet rays.

• Here’s something NOT to look forward to. Reuters reports by 2017 cancer deaths could hit 17 million. Read on:

Cancer deaths will more than double to 17 million people each year in 2030 with poor countries shouldering the heaviest burden from the disease, the head of the United Nation's cancer agency said on Monday.


An ageing population will bump up cancer rates worldwide in the coming years, especially in developing countries where the number of people who smoke and drink is on the rise, said Peter Boyle, director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

• SlashFood wants to help us wash our apples—that almost sounds dirty. Anyway, have a look:

We all know we're supposed to wash our fruits and vegetables before we cook or eat them, but how do you know how much washing is enough? And should you use soap or is water plenty? The editors over at Cook's Illustrated recently took on this question, washing apples and pears with four different methods. They discovered that using a scrub brush with water was fairly effective, removing 85% of bacteria, but that using a solution of one part vinegar to three parts water was the best. That method removed 98% of the bacteria.

• Enhanced water? Sounds like a waste of time. Julie’s Health Club examines the nation’s newest liquid fad. Check it out:

We asked several registered dietitians, who agreed that the health claims for enhanced waters are "iffy" and that food is a far better source of nutrients. Consumers, meanwhile, should watch out for added sweeteners and calories.


"None of the ingredients are harmful," said Kris Clark, director of sports nutrition and assistant professor of nutrition at Penn State University. "The question consumers should ask themselves include: Are the ingredients useful to me? Do I need these ingredients? Or do I just need water?”

• We hear about “superbugs” a lot. We know they’re bad, but, could they be good? Rick Weiss of The Washington Post reports:

A high school student gains superpowers after being bitten by a radioactive spider.


An electron beam meant to clean up a bioterrorism site transforms a mild-mannered microbe into a life form able to withstand radiation doses hundreds of times stronger than would kill a person.

Altered by the absence of gravity, an everyday bacterium aboard a spacecraft mutates into a highly lethal bug that poses a surprise threat to astronauts.

Okay, Spider-Man is still fiction. But a pair of independent studies has brought the other two scenarios to life.

This guy is very proud of his cabbage eating pooch—although the dog looks oddly nervous. Take a look:

The New York Times talks to Dr. Walter Willett, a nutritional epidemiologist at Harvard University, about achieving the perfect waistline. Check it out:

What did you weigh at age 20? As it turns out, that’s when your body probably settled into its ideal weight. By 20, almost everyone has stopped growing, and the pounds gained in the years following are mostly fat, says Dr. Walter Willett, a nutritional epidemiologist at Harvard University.


For most of us, what you weighed at age 20 is a far better gauge for judging your ideal weight than the standard weight and body mass index charts. Most of those tables cover such a wide range of weights that they can be misleading. According to many of them, the perfect weight for a woman who is 5-foot-7 could range anywhere from 118 to 159 pounds.

But what if that same woman weighs 159 pounds today, at age 40, but weighed 120 pounds in her early 20’s? That means her body has packed on 39 pounds — a gain of more than 30 percent, or about two pounds a year. The charts may say she’s healthy, but studies show that even a modest weight gain in adulthood is associated with a higher mortality risk.

This sounded familiar. So I asked Dr. Fuhrman about it. Here’s what he had to say:

That is essentially what I have been telling patients in my practice for years and years.

Now, in Eat to Live Dr. Fuhrman sums up how he determines if you’re thin or not. Have a look:

Most people lose weight and then stop losing when they have reached their ideal weight. You are not the judge of your ideal weight; your body is. As almost everyone is overweight, many people think they are too thin when they have reached their best weight. I have many patients who, after following my plan to reverse diabetes or heart disease, report, "Everyone tells me I look too thin now." I then measure their periumbilical fat and check their percentage of body fat, and usually show them they are still not thin enough.

I know a lot of you just pinched your tummy.

It's over at Kevin, MD.

This might shock you, but prostate cancer can be prevented—no! You don’t say? It’s true. According to Dr. Fuhrman the right diet is essential to halting the development of prostate cancer. I’ll let him explain:

Eat a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables, rich not only in lycopene but in thousands of other protective compounds. Each year, researchers find another carotenoid that has powerful beneficial effects and reduces cancer. Spinach was this year’s recipient of the anti-prostate cancer award, with researchers in Japan finding neoxanthin compounds (a class of carotenoids) that powerfully inhibit prostate cancer. In the past, pink grapefruit, watermelon, cooked tomatoes, pomegranate, cruciferous vegetables, red peppers, berries, figs, and many other foods all have been shown to inhibit the development of prostate cancer.

Heck, even the so-called “experts” think more cases of prostate cancer can be prevented or so claims the results of a new 15 year study. Alan Mozes of HealthDay News has more:

According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), cancer of the prostate is the most common non-skin cancer among American men. Most patients diagnosed with the disease do not ultimately die of it. However, because of its high prevalence, prostate cancer remains the third biggest cancer killer for men in the Western world.


By age 40, one-third of men have already developed small carcinomas of the prostate, the researchers noted. By age 60, that figure rises to 60 percent, and, in North America, one in seven men will develop prostate cancer at some point in their lives.

But the disease is also often slow-moving, sometimes taking decades to develop from a single prostate cancer cell to advanced-stage illness.

That fact has led to the hope that doctors could intervene in ways that could halt disease progression at an early stage.

Well, I guess this is encouraging, but, as Dr. Fuhrman explains if you’re currently eating a nutrient-rich vegetable-based diet, you’re already doing a great job helping your body prevent cancer. Here’s Dr. Fuhrman again:

There is still some controversy about which foods cause which cancers and whether certain types of fat are the culprits with certain cancers, but there’s one thing we know for sure; raw vegetables and fresh fruits have powerful anti-cancer agents. Studies have repeatedly shown the correlation between consumption of these foods and a lower incidence of various cancers, including those of the breast, colon, rectum, lung, stomach, prostate, and pancreas.1 This means that your risk of cancer decreases with an increased intake of fruits and vegetables, and the earlier in life you start eating large amounts of these foods, the more protection you get.


Humans are genetically adapted to expect a high intake of natural and unprocessed plant-derived substances. Cancer is a disease of maladaptation. It results primarily from a body’s lacking critical substances found in different types of vegetation, many of which are still undiscovered, that are metabolically necessary for normal protective function. Natural foods unadulterated by man are highly complex—so complex that the exact structure and the majority of compounds they contain are not precisely known. A tomato, for example, contains more than ten thousand different phytochemicals.

For more on all this, check out these posts:

• Dr. Fuhrman's Diet Advice for Prostate Health
• Cancer: Humans Need Plant Matter

That’s some good old-fashioned scare tactics, but in this case, it’s founded. According to new research inadequate sleep can lead to high blood pressure which in turn, increases your risk of heart disease. Ben Hirschler of Reuters reports:

Although the reasons are unclear, researchers said lack of sleep appeared to be linked to increased blood pressure, which is known to raise the risk of heart attacks and stroke.


A 17-year analysis of 10,000 government workers showed those who cut their sleeping from seven hours a night to five or less faced a 1.7-fold increased risk in mortality from all causes and more than double the risk of cardiovascular death.

The findings highlight a danger in busy modern lifestyles, Francesco Cappuccio, professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Warwick's medical school, told the annual conference of the British Sleep Society in Cambridge.

Now, you don’t need to be a medical professional to know this, but, sleep is important. In fact, Dr. Fuhrman considers getting adequate rest and recovery—that means sleep—vital to a long-healthy life. He talks about it:

Adequate sleep is a necessary component of good health. Our modern society stays up late into the night and wakes in the morning to an alarm clock—long before sleep requirements have been fulfilled. To make matters worse, most Americans partake in stimulating substances—such as caffeine and sugar—to remain artificially alert during the day.


During sleep, your body removes the buildup of waste in the brain. Sufficient sleep is necessary for the normal function of your nervous and endocrine systems. Most civilizations in human history recognized the value of mid-afternoon naps. The desire for a rest, short sleep, or “siesta” after lunch should not be seen as an abnormal need, but rather a normal one. People who “cover up” their lack of sleep by using drugs (such as caffeine) as food and/or food (such as highly processed, sugary foods) as drugs sometimes claim (even boast) that they can get by with very little sleep. As you begin to live more healthfully, you may quickly recognize that you need more sleep than you previously thought.

This quote makes me want to take a flamer-thrower to my alarm clock.

Fast Food News has got a couple interesting peaks into the fast food universe. First, apparently McDonald’s uses soiled towels in their milkshakes. Look carefully:

The customer who snapped the photo of the incident reported it to McDonald's corporate headquarters and received the following e-mail:


"The machine was cleaned that morning. They sanitized the bucket to capture milk and after the repair work was done they put the milk back in the machine. This was an isolated incident."

And, I guess these customers didn’t like the service at their local Taco Bell, because they hurled a 3-foot python through the drive-thru window. Back to Fast Food News:

Pranksters at a Texas Taco Bell had drive-thru employee Bryant Simmons running for the border when they threw a 3-foot long Python at him through the drive-thru window.


Simmons has a fear of snakes and this one hit him smack in the chest. But a spokesman for the Taco Bell in Round Rock, Texas said Simmons was physically unharmed, just really shaken up.

Soiled towels and snakes—oh my!

Astrid Pujari, M.D. of The Seattle Times drops a little pomegranate knowledge on us. Take a look:

In 2004, researchers took 10 people with plaque buildup in their carotid arteries. The nice thing about the carotid arteries (other than that they help your brain to get blood so you can think) is that they are located in the neck. This makes it easy to measure how much plaque they have using a simple sound-wave probe.


These 10 people drank pomegranate juice for one year, and the thickness of the plaque dropped by up to 30 percent, and one of their blood pressure numbers (the systolic blood pressure) dropped by 21 percent. By comparison, the people in the study who did not drink the juice had an increase in plaque thickness of 9 percent.

Again, the downside here is that this is a small study. However, it seems to correlate with the results found above, and I think it is worth pursuing further — especially since pomegranate juice costs about $5 at the store. Who knows, it may even save our financially strained health-care system a few dollars if it turns out to work as well as it seems to in these studies.

Here’re some more points on pomegranates:

• Pomegranates, Exciting!
• More On Pomegranates and Your Prostate
• Pomegranates, Atherosclerosis, and Diabetics
• Pomegranate Power

Thai Vegetable Curry

4 cups Wehani brown rice or any brown rice or quinoa
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons peeled, finely chopped fresh ginger
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 cups carrot juice
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 large eggplant, peeled, if desired & cut into 1" cubes
2 cups green beans, cut in 2" lengths
3 cups sliced shiitake mushrooms, stems removed
1 small can bamboo shoots
2 tablespoons Dr. Fuhrman's VegiZest or other no salt seasoning
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
3 tablespoons chunky peanut butter, natural unsalted
2 pounds tofu, cut into 1/4" thick slices
1/2 cup light coconut milk
2 cups watercress leaves
1/2 cup chopped raw cashews

Cook brown rice or quinoa according to package directions and set aside until ready to serve. Finely chop together garlic, ginger root, mint, basil, and cilantro. Save some unchopped fresh herbs for garnish. Place rest of ingredients (except for peanut butter, tofu, coconut milk, 1 cup watercress, and cashews) in wok or large skillet. Bring to a boil and simmer covered, stirring occasionally, until all vegetables are tender. Add peanut butter and mix in with simmering liquid and toss to distribute. Add tofu, simmer and toss until hot. Add coconut milk and heat. Serve on rice or quinoa. Top with the remaining cup of watercress and cashews. Frozen vegetables may be used instead of fresh. Serves 8.

Quick Oriental Wok

1 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash or no salt Oriental seasoning
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup no salt vegetable broth
1/8 cup pineapple juice, added for sweetness
20 ounces frozen mixed vegetables or frozen oriental vegetables (defrosted)
1 onion, chopped
1 can water chestnuts, sliced
1 pound tofu, diced
1 tablespoon apricot spreadable fruit

Drain defrosted vegetables. Place the vinegar, seasoning, garlic, broth and pineapple juice in a covered pot or wok and heat. Add the vegetables, onion, water chestnuts and tofu. Sauté until vegetables are tender. Mix in apricot fruit spread and serve. Serves 3.

Greek Chickpea Salad

1 16-ounce can garbanzo beans (chick peas), no or low salt
3 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 boiled potato, peeled and chopped in chunks
1 green apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped brazil nuts
3 tablespoons Dr. Fuhrman’s Spicy Pecan Vinegar
1 teaspoon chopped cilantro
10 ounces mixed salad greens
2 tablespoons chopped brazil nuts

Mix all ingredients, except for salad greens and 2 tablespoons brazil nuts, together and serve on a bed of mixed salad greens and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons brazil nuts. Note: This is even better the following day when the flavors have mingled overnight. Serves 4.

You can see it at Veggie Chic.

Its over at CatchTheSpoon.

Maybe that title should read, A Profitable Flu Season. Because according to The Pittsburgh Post Gazette the flu vaccine is expected to be plentiful this season—oh joy! Joe Fahy reports:

A record amount of vaccine is expected this flu season, and local providers are hoping enough is distributed to meet demand early on, when people are most interested in shots.


Noting "alarmingly low" vaccination rates among adults and children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged yesterday that Americans get flu shots well into the flu season.

"We need to rethink the influenza immunization season and encourage vaccination throughout the fall and winter," Dr. Julie Gerberding, the CDC's director, said in a statement.

"Every year, we miss the opportunity to get more Americans vaccinated," said Dr. Ardis Hoven, an infectious disease specialist and board member for the American Medical Association, at a news conference with Dr. Gerberding and other health officials in Washington.

"After Thanksgiving, patient demand for vaccine dramatically decreases," often leaving many doses unused and people unprotected, Dr. Hoven said.

Before you line up for your dose of feel-good juice, check out Dr. Fuhrman’s thoughts on the flu shot. Here’s an excerpt from Six Steps to Protect Your Family from Avian Flu:

All medical interventions have a benefit-to-risk ratio. One has to weigh the potential risks with the supposed benefits. Often the long-term risks of medications are not clearly delineated and the supposed benefits are exaggerated by doctors and pharmaceutical companies (because after all, medicine is still a business to make money).


Flu vaccines have benefits and risks too. If you read about the flu vaccine in the information supplied by the manufacturer you will learn it contains formaldehyde and 25 micrograms of thimersol (mercury) per dose, used as a preservative. The injection of even this small amount of mercury repeatedly year after year from multiple vaccines can cause neurotoxicity (brain damage). The American Academy of Pediatrics and the US Public Health Service have issued a joint statement calling for the removal of mercury from vaccines. Chronic low dose mercury exposures may cause subtle neurological abnormalities that rear their head later in life.

If you’re interested, check out my own run in with the flu: Flu, Shot!

The Vegan Diet tells the tale of the mighty strawberry. Take a look:

Nutritionally strawberries are an excellent source of vitamin C and manganese, a very good source of iodine and dietary fiber, and a good source of vitamins B2, B5, B6 and K, potassium, folate, magnesium, copper and omega_3 fatty acids.


Healthwise strawberries are also a rich source of phenols like anthocyanins. These phenols have potent antioxident properties and it is said that they may help in the prevention of cancer and heart disease. The antioxidants with the high level of vitamin C also fight free radical compounds in the body which can cause chronic illnesses. Note that anthocyanins are found in fresh and frozen strawberries but not in canned and processed strawberry products including baby food (refer the U.S. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry).

Dr. Fuhrman digs them too. He considers them one of his top seven foods. Here’s all seven:

• Black raspberries
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Flax Seeds
• Green Leafy Vegetables
• Tomatoes
• Broccoli sprouts

In general, Dr. Fuhrman things berries are amazing foods. From Disease-Proof Your Child:

Add berries to morning cereals. Make dessert sorbets from frozen berries. My kids love frozen strawberries blended with an orange or orange juice. We usually add a slice of dried pineapple and use our Vita-Mix to make a smooth and delicious strawberry sorbet.

And sometimes, strawberries grow inside tomatoes—not!

It’s hard to make a good case for heavy drinking. It’d probably be a waste of breath, especially after you consider this. New research has determined that heavy drinking ups women’s risk of endometrial cancer. Nicholas Bakalar of The New York Times investigates:

Researchers examined a multiethnic group of 41,574 postmenopausal women, following them for an average of eight years and using questionnaires about diet and drinking habits. In that time, the team found 324 cases of endometrial cancer, the type that forms in the tissue that lines the uterus. According to the National Cancer Institute, the United States has 40,000 new cases of endometrial cancer a year and 7,400 deaths.


After controlling for variables including body mass index, age, hormone therapy and whether they had been pregnant, the researchers found that women who had less than two drinks a day had no increased risk of endometrial cancer. But those who had more than two drinks a day had slightly more than twice the risk. It made no difference whether the women drank beer, wine or hard liquor.

For more foods that’ll mess you up, check out DiseaseProof’s hurtful foods category.

Which would you choose? The sugary cookies or the wholesome vegetable soup? You decide:

“An apple a die, keeps the doctor away.” Maybe there’s some truth to that. Diet Blog extols the virtues of the humble apple. Have a look:

A frequent complaint from clients in clinic, is they don't eat fruit in winter because it's boring and the "really healthy fruit" are expensive.


Berries, citrus and stone fruit have long hogged the media spotlight. These glamorous fruits are praised for their colour, antioxidant content and flavour. However, we seem to have forgotten, the humble apple is also a nutritional wonder. Along with a bit of vitamin C, apples are packed full of antioxidant phytochemicals - particularly if you eat the skin.

Okay, you can thank my local cable television network for this week’s restaurant. One night I’m watching South Park—yes, I’m twenty-six years old and I still watch cartoons—and a commercial for House of Souls comes on. This restaurant/nightclub serves up a hefty offering of soul food.

Now, I have to admit, I’m not that versed in soul food, but, I have a sneaking suspicion it’s not very Fuhrman-friendly; a little investigation is in order. Now, I haven’t looked at House of Souls’ menu yet. So let’s find out together! Alright, give me a second. Here we go. Let’s get to work.

Well folks, we’ve already run into trouble. The appetizers are frightening; lots of cheese, meat, and fried thingies. I swear, I’m trying to keep an open mind, but I don’t see any hope for the appetizers. Hopefully the entrees will be a little more inviting. Onward!

Oh boy, problems here too. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here, but, I doubt foods like fried chicken wings, honey ham, grilled cheese, lasagna, and manicotti are high on any Eat to Liver’s list of favorite foods—they’re certainly not on mine! Okay, what should I do? Eureka!

Actually, it’s hardly a eureka—time to order a salad. On the menu there’s something called a Tossed Salad. It’s probably a basic house salad, but it doesn’t say what’s in it. I’d ask the wait staff and ditch any undesirables it may come with and of course, I’d go easy on the dressing.

I’m sad to say, but on the whole front page of the menu, the only thing I’d order would be the salad. But let’s not tuck our tail between our legs just yet, maybe there’s more choices on the next page. Okay, hold on. Let me just click this link. Hey, hey, hey—look at this!

There’re some fish dishes I can work with. Now, Dr. Fuhrman doesn’t recommend eating a lot of fish, largely due to mercury pollution, but if you’re going to eat fish, he suggests fishes like salmon, flounder, sole, tilapia, and trout because they have lowest contamination-risk. And as luck would have it, House of Souls serves up salmon, tilapia, and flounder; OceansAlive doesn’t digs them too.

According to the menu the salmon can be made grilled or steamed, the tilapia is set on fire, and the flounder is breaded and fried. Well, the frying nixes the flounder for me, but steamed salmon and flaming hot tilapia sounds pretty tasty. And as I say all the time, if were to order either fish, I’d make sure I waited awhile before I ate fish again—Dr. Fuhrman’s orders!

Now the fish was good, but the sides are better. Here are the ones that caught my eye: collard greens, beans & rice, garlic potato, string beans, asparagus, mixed veggies, and corn on the cob. Provided none of these are cooked in butter, heavy amounts of oil, or anything that comes out of a cow. They’d all make a great accompaniment to either fish, or, any combination of them would be a nice stand-alone dish. Personally, I’d take a plate of collard greens, asparagus, and mix veggies!

So what do you think? Could soul food work for an Eat to Liver? I think so. Sure, House of Souls’ menu is saturated with plenty of unhealthy fixings, but, there’s clearly hope if you use your noggin. Speaking of that, its time for you to employ you’re Eat to Live skills. Check House of Souls’ menu (page 1, page 2) and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or shoot me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com. Healthy eating!

When you make food choices, what are your criteria? Hopefully you consider a food’s nutrient-content in relation to its calorie-content. Dr. Fuhrman calls this concept, nutrient density. He talks about it in his book Eat to Live. Take a look:

The key to an extraordinary diet is a simple formula: H = N/C.


Health = Nutrients/Calories

Your health is predicted by your nutrient intake divided by your intake of calories. H = N/C is a concept I call the nutrient-density of your diet. Food supplies us with both nutrients and calories (energy). All calories come from only three elements: carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Nutrients are derived from non-caloric food factors—including vitamins, minerals, fibers, and phytochemicals. These non-caloric nutrients are vitally important for health. Your key to permanent weight loss is to eat predominantly those foods that have a high proportion of nutrients (non-caloric food factors) to calories (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins). In physics a key formula is Einstein’s E = mc2. In nutrition the key formula is H = N/C.

Every food can be evaluated using this formula. Once you begin to learn which foods make the grade—by having a high proportion of nutrients to calories—you are on your way to lifelong weight control and improved health.

Now, most people don’t get this concept, even the so-called experts. For example, take diet dunce—oops! I mean “Diet Detective” Charles Stuart Platkin. Here’re his picks for the healthiest fast-food breakfasts. I know, a real oxymoron. Check it out anyway:

McDonald's
English muffin (no butter): 140 calories, 1.5g fat, 0g saturated fat, 0g trans fat, 260 mg sodium, 27g carbs, 2g fiber, 5g protein.


Burger King
Croissan'wich Egg & Cheese: 300 calories, 17g fat, 6g saturated fat, 2g trans fat, 740 mg sodium, 26g carbs, 1g fiber, 12g protein.

Starbucks
Reduced-Fat Turkey Bacon, Cholesterol-Free Egg, Reduced-Fat White Cheddar Sandwich: 350 calories, 11g fat, 4g saturated fat, 0g trans fat, 820 mg sodium, 41g carbs, 4g fiber, 20g protein.

Arby's
Ham & Cheese Croissant: 274 calories, 12g fat, 7g saturated fat, 0g trans fat, 842 mg sodium, 22g carbs, 1g fiber, 13g protein.

This is only a sampling of Platkin’s picks, but as usual, Charles’s main criteria for “good food” is calorie content. In his mind, the fewer the calories, the better the food—not always true. Just look at all the bread, sodium, and saturated fat in this junk. This quote from Dr. Fuhrman seems fitting:

The combination of fat and refined carbohydrates has an extremely powerful effect on driving the signals that promote fat accumulation on the body. Refined foods cause a swift and excessive rise in blood sugar, which in turn triggers insulin surges to drive the sugar out of the blood and into our cells. Unfortunately, insulin also promotes the storage of fat on the body and encourages your fat cells to swell.

Clearly Platkin’s recommendations are more harebrained than health-conscious, but he’s not alone. IateApie has concocted the list of the top ten low calorie breakfast cereals. Yeah, because refined cereals are loaded with nutrients—sigh. Anyway, here’s the top three:

1. Kashi Mighty Bites
Calories: 120 | Sugar: 5 grams


2. Kashi Organic Promise Strawberry Fields
Calories: 120 | Sugar: 9 grams

3. Lucky Charms
Calories: 120 | Sugar: 13 grams

I think this list and Charles Stuart Platkin’s drivel will only confuse people into believing these processed and fast foods are wise choices. It seems to me that calorie driven diet advice does little to satisfy Dr. Fuhrman’s formula of Health = Nutrients/Calories. More from Eat to Live:

If you attempt to follow the perverted diet that most Americans eat, or even if you follow the precise recommendations of the USDA’s pyramid—six to eleven servings of bread, rice, and pasta (consumed as 98 percent refined grains by Americans) with four to six servings of dairy, meat, poultry, or fish—you would be eating a diet rich in calories but extremely low in nutrients, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and vitamins. You would be overfed and malnourished, the precise nutritional profile that causes heart disease and cancer.

Personally, I seldom get caught up on calorie-content. Sure, I avoid junk foods like these, but I judge all my food by its nutrient content. Take avocados for example, they might be high in calories, but they pack the nutrients my body craves and needs; avocados’ Wikipedia page.

If exercise was a stock, it’d be a blue-chipper. According to new research soccer is better for you than jogging. Maria Cheng of the Associated Press reports:

Each period of exercise lasted about one hour and took place three times a week. After 12 weeks, researchers found that the body fat percentage in the soccer players dropped by 3.7 percent, compared to about 2 percent for the joggers.


The soccer players also increased their muscle mass by almost 2 kilograms (4.5 pounds), whereas the joggers didn't have any significant change. Those who did no exercise registered little change in body fat and muscle mass.

"Even though the football (soccer) players were untrained, there were periods in the game that were so intense that their cardiovascular was maximally taxed, just like professional football (soccer) players," said Dr. Peter Krustrup, head of Copenhagen University's department of exercise and sport sciences, who led the study.

They’re both still exercise, so I’m not sure you can go wrong with either one. Now, here’s even better news. Reuters reports exercise is on par with drugs for aiding depression. Read on:

In a study of 202 depressed adults, investigators found that those who went through group-based exercise therapy did as well as those treated with an antidepressant drug. A third group that performed home-based exercise also improved, though to a lesser degree.


Importantly, the researchers found, all three groups did better than a fourth group given a placebo -- an inactive pill identical to the antidepressant.

While past studies have suggested that exercise can ease depression symptoms, a criticism has been that the research failed to compare exercise with a placebo. This leaves a question as to whether the therapy, per se, was responsible for the benefit.

Not sure what else to say, except maybe—get moving America!

The AFP reports that obesity is a hot button issue for many of the United States presidential candidates. Virginie Montet has more:

"As president, I would fight obesity every day," New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a candidate for the Democratic nomination, said at a round-table talk on obesity in Washington on Wednesday.


"I would launch a national obesity prevention effort... We must help people understand that this is a disease, not a behavior," said Richardson, the only candidate to attend the discussion.

Two-thirds of US adults and some 25 million children are obese or overweight, and the fatness of the land is harming Americans' health, straining the health care system and threatening US competitiveness, a report published last month showed.

If you’re interested, check out DiseaseProof’s obesity category.

ParentDish takes a look at a loophole which is letting sugary drinks back into our schools. Read on:

Last year, when the nation's three largest beverage companies agreed to remove their sugary drinks from school vending machines, they were applauded…


… Originally, they agreed to provide only sports drinks and light juices under 66 calories per eight ounces to high schools. In the amended agreement, the wording was changed to include "other drinks" under 66 calories per eight ounces. This allows enhanced water beverages such as sugar-laden Vitaminwater and Propel to be sold alongside regular water.

Could you imagine turning the very ripe, very old age of 112. Tomoji Tanabe of Japan doesn’t have to imagine, he recently celebrated his; reaffirming his status as the world’s oldest man. The AFP has more on this charming and remarkable story:

The world's oldest man celebrated his 112th birthday Tuesday with a healthy Japanese breakfast of rice, miso soup and seaweed, saying he wanted to live forever…


… Tanabe, a teetotaller who has repeatedly said that avoiding alcohol is a secret of his longevity, was given a certificate from the Guinness Book of World Records by the mayor of his local municipality in June…

… Japan has the largest population of centenarians in the world. The number of Japanese aged at least 100 years old is expected to top 30,000 by the end of September, the health ministry said in a recent report.

A lot like last week’s senior gym rat, this is really an inspiring tale, but apparently pretty common. In a previous post we looked at John Robbins’s book Healthy at 100 and in it he includes Okinawans as one of the longest live populations—its part of Japan right? Take a look:

1. Abkhasia: Ancients of the Caucasus
Where people are healthier at ninety than most of us are at middle age


2. Vilcabamba: The Valley of Eternal Youth
Where heart disease and dementia do not exist

3. Hunza: A People Who Dance in Their Nineties
Where cancer, diabetes, and asthma are unknown

4. The Centenarians of Okinawa
Where more people live to 100 than anywhere else in the world

As Dr. Fuhrman points out, living a long time has a lot to do with what you eat, or, what you don’t eat for that matter. He discusses it in this post: Do Primitive Peoples Really Live Longer?

Ever heard of Stevia? I hadn’t until I read Eat to Live. Here’s what Dr. Fuhrman says about it:

Many health gurus recommend substituting Stevia in place of artificial sweeteners. Stevia is natural and its use is permitted in Japan and other countries. Despite its widespread use, there is a surprising lack of human clinical trials evaluating its safety. Unlike with saccharin, no evidence has been reported that stevioside and its metabolites are carcinogenic. However, animal reports of nephrotoxicity do exist, which suggest that Stevia is likely safer than the other sweeteners, but not entirely without risk.1 The extent of risk is unknown at this time.

In general, Dr. Fuhrman’s not a big fan of artificial sweeteners. More from Eat to Live:

This is a controversial subject because much of the research documenting the so-called safety of aspartame was financed by the aspartame industry, and a huge amount of political and monetary pressure led to eventual FDA approval. My opinion is that the possible dangers of aspartame are still unknown. Utilizing such artificial products is gambling with your health. Aspartame also exposes us to a methyl ester that may have toxic effects. I recommend playing it safe and sticking to natural foods.

Maybe that’s why the FDA warned food-maker Hain about its overuse of Stevia. Reuters reports:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent a letter to Hain dated August 17 calling the herb, a natural sweetener made from a South American herb called stevia, "an unsafe food additive." The agency released the letter on its Web site on Tuesday.


Stevia is being eyed by big beverage makers looking for new low-calorie sweeteners. In May, Coca-Cola Co and Cargill Inc said they would work together to market the new sweetener, despite lack of FDA approval. Stevia has been approved in a dozen other countries including Japan, China and Brazil.

The FDA letter said that although it has received requests to use stevia in food, "data and information necessary to support the safe use have been lacking."

I got to side with the FDA on this one—how about you?
Continue Reading

I insist that our low consumption of unrefined plant foods is largely responsible for our dismal mortality statistics. Most of us perish prematurely as a result of our dietary folly.

Populations with low death rates from the major killer diseases—populations that almost never have overweight members—consume more than 75 percent of their calories from unrefined plant substances. This is at least ten times more than what the average American consumes.


Continue Reading

• This’ll scare the pants off you. The New York Times takes a look at the poisonous cocktail you could be creating when you take multiple medications. More from Jane E. Brody:

Dr. Stern, a specialist in geriatric emergency medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, noted that the elderly took about 40 percent of prescribed drugs, roughly twice what younger adults take, and that they suffered twice as many adverse drug reactions as younger people.

“The average community-dwelling older adult takes 4.5 prescription drugs and 2.1 over-the-counter medications,” Dr. Stern reported. Polypharmacy is responsible for up to 28 percent of hospital admissions and, he added, if it were classified as such, it would be the fifth leading cause of death in the United States.

• Curious about back exercises? This article in The Detroit Free Press should give you plenty of ideas. The roman chair—eek—sounds like a torture device! Have a look:

Training your lower back can improve your posture, develop your abdominal muscles and help prevent lower back pain and injury. A great twist on an old favorite is the low-cable back extension. This is a little more challenging than the traditional exercise, but it's a welcome change of pace.


First, position a roman chair or back extension machine inside the cable station. The machine should be squarely facing the weight stack with enough distance between the machine and the weight stack that there is still tension on the cable when you are at the bottom of the exercise.

• More good news for exercise! A new study has determined that any kind of exercise is good for diabetics. Maggie Fox of Reuters is on it:

Weight training works just as well as running on a treadmill or biking to help the most important symptom of type-2 diabetes -- long-term control of blood sugar -- Canadian researchers said on Monday.


Doing both aerobic and resistance training lowered blood sugar levels better than either alone, researchers said -- and both appeared to be safe.

At least 194 million people worldwide have diabetes, and the World Health Organization expects the number to rise to more than 300 million by 2025.

• Well, it’s a lofty goal, but according to the Associated Press the FDA wants kids to start reading food labels. Check it out:

Reading the food labels was "a little bit confusing, but after a while I got used to it," said the fifth-grader from suburban Doral.


"Since I find parents are not doing a bang-up job (teaching nutrition), I think it's important to empower the children with their own information," said Miami registered dietitian Ronni Litz Julien.

The FDA partnered with the Cartoon Network earlier this year to launch a public education campaign encouraging children ages 9 to 13 - or tweens - to read the nutrition facts on food labels.

• In general some websites can be pretty confusing to weed through, but, a new study has determined that hospital info on the web can be misleading. From HealthDay News:

"Patients are using the Internet to find health-related quality information, and the information is out there," noted lead researcher Dr. Michael J. Leonardi, from the department of surgery at David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles. "But the information is inconsistent and varies from Web site to Web site," he said.


A lot of Web sites try to rank hospitals, Leonardi said. But because there is no standard way of calculating quality differences, Internet sites come up with different results for the same hospitals, he noted.

• E. coli, in the news again! Apparently Dole has recalled bagged salad mix due an E. coli scare. The reports:

The tainted bag of Dole’s Hearts Delight salad mix was sold at a store in Canada, officials said. Neither Canadian health officials nor Dole Food Co. have received reports of anyone getting sick from the product.


The voluntary recall, issued Monday, affects all packages of Hearts Delight sold in the United States and Canada with a “best if used by” date of September 19, 2007, and a production code of “A24924A” or “A24924B,” the company said.

• Running is fun! The wind rushing by you, heart pounding—what a rush! But if you’re not a runner, MSN Health & Fitness has a nice little article to help get you interested. Take a look:

Worried that you'll take up running and then quit? No chance. Just follow our simple but surefire training program. It just might be the most exciting time in your entire running career. But you won't necessarily realize it.


First steps...starting out...the beginning of a great adventure. In fact, in lots of ways, it's sort of a declaration of personal independence. A statement that says, "In a world that confronts me with mechanical convenience and idle luxury at virtually every turn, I have decided, nonetheless, to improve my physical fitness."

• Aetiology is blogging about a British hospital’s edict banning doctors from wearing neckties because they spread disease. Here’s more:

Of course, at issue is the fact that for doctors coming into close contact with many ill patients, all that extra fabric and buttons and ties and watches are just additional places for bacteria to colonize and hop on over to the next person.


Will it help? Not sure, but I suppose it falls under the "can't hurt" category. The article also notes that a study of doctors' ties a few years' back showed that almost half were contaminated with a minimum of one species of pathogen--so eliminate the dirty tie, maybe they'll pass around fewer germs? Time will tell, I suppose.

• Wait. Drugs have side-effects? Duh! According to Reuters the FDA has issued a warning that the schizophrenia drug Haldol can cause heart problems. Read on:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said new labeling on the drug will note that ailments, including QT prolongation, a disorder of the heart's electrical system that can lead to a life-threatening condition, have been observed in post-marketing studies.

The drug is also sold generically under the name haloperidol.

Several other drugs for schizophrenia, including a much newer J&J drug including Invega, have warnings about the risk of the serious cardiac effect.

Get a load of these watermelons—they’re total squares! Take a look: