Health experts sent out the first warning flares nearly a year ago that various forms of bacteria were becoming resistant to old-school antibiotics, so you can't complain about this latest report in The Lancet Infectious Diseases (free report link) about the latest superbug -- the wide-spread infiltration of the NDM 1 gene that passes between various kinds of bacteria making them drug-resistant -- spreading from southern Asia to Europe catching you by surprise.

Or, maybe you can. According to Time.com's Wellness blog, news agencies reported panic about the study in some parts of the world. And, Sarah Boseley, award-winning health editor for the British newspaper the Guardian, predicted the death knell of antibiotics era the day after the study appeared.

Amid the gloom and doom, however, there are some positives to take away from this news. For one, our medical world just got a lot smaller. Considering how quickly this NDM 1 gene moved from Asia to Europe, more expert eyes will be watching, and that's a good thing.

What's more, there's an important role for laymen (that's you and me) to play in this fight to reduce the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and it's literally -- pun intended -- in our hands. Wash your hands before and after meals, going to the beach, playing with your pets and working out at the gym.

The Lancet Infectious Diseases August 11, 2010 Free Full Text Study/Registration Required

Time: Wellness August 16, 2010

Guardian.co.uk August 12, 2010

When the state of health in America has been discussed in this space, typically, it's been focused on "big picture" issues like the general decline in cancer rates. What I found particularly interesting and different about this recent Gallup study (a longitudinal sampling of 662 adults combining three independent surveys done in 2009), however, is how it puts a simple dollar value on a person's wellbeing (living a healthy lifestyle).

Researchers codified a patient's wellbeing based on five thriving "dimensions": Career, Community, Financial, Physical and Social. The more dimensions you have, the lower your risk of experiencing an increased disease burden. For example, thriving in all five dimensions lessened one's risk of new health burdens to 11 percent, while possessing none of them more than tripled their chances to 35.3 percent.

The same analogy applies, unfortunately, to individual health care costs too. The disease burden for the average patient thriving in no wellbeing dimensions paid nearly $7,400 annually, some 60 percent more than a person enjoying all five (about $3,000).

By the way, there is some good to be found in this report, especially if you're on the downside of these numbers but moving upward. The steepest bump in health savings/disease burden between dimensions is the nearly $1,700 difference between none (nearly $7,400) and one ($5,700).

Gallup Management Journal August 12, 2010

Unfortunately, health experts will likely be debating the safety of sunscreens long after the FDA finally gets around to doing it. Case in point: A very public disagreement between the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and a trio of scientists over the safety of retinyl palmitate, a form of vitamin A, and an additive used, not only in sunscreens, but in dairy products and other processed foods.

The dispute stems from a recent analysis published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (no abstract link available), dismissing an advisory in the EWG's 2010 Sunscreen Guide that highlighted safety concerns about retinyl palmitate as a carcinogenic substance triggering cancer in humans.

The EWG feels the ongoing research by the FDA and the National Toxicology Program on animals has suggested retinyl palmitate may be carcinogenic when skin is exposed to sunlight. This, coupled with the fact that various forms of vitamin A can be found in 41 percent of the sunscreens in America, prompted the EWG to recommend avoiding retinyl palmitate.

Conversely, the scientists involved in the Journal report argue that retinyl palmitate isn't an active ingredient in sunscreens, and works in concert with other antioxidants "to alleviate the risk of free radical formation seen in these in vitro experiments." And, they were very skeptical that the results of an NTP study involving hairless and albino mice that developed tumors more quickly when coated with retinyl palmitate couldn't be easily linked to humans.

Interestingly, there's one thing, upon which, both groups agree: Limiting heavy exposure (look for the shade) and wearing protective clothing (hats, sunglasses and long-sleeve shirts and pants) -- but not sunscreens -- should be your primary strategy for protecting your skin from the sun.

Consulting Room August 10, 2010

Medscape August 13, 2010 Free Registration Required

Environmental Working Group August 11, 2010

Environmental Working Group August 2010

The most recent cover story in the September 2010 issue of Consumer Reports, entitled The 12 Most Dangerous Supplements, generated a firestorm of comments and controversy all over the MSM and the Internets, albeit at the tail end of what's usually a very slow news month in the middle of the summer.

If you're one of the growing number of folks who have subscribed to our daily health blog over the past few months, however, I wouldn't be surprised if you thought you'd already heard about some of these very same problems before. Fact is, you probably have…

A few months ago in this space, we discussed Reader's Digest's "crash-course" on vitamin safety, 5 Vitamin Truths and Lies. Unlike the aforementioned piece that clocked in at just under 1,500 words, Consumers Digest devoted eight full pages to supplements, providing guidance on a variety of topics.

Even though the Consumers Digest article was very thorough and detailed, I'm not sure how much more you'd learn about supplements that you already have, if you've been following our blog, even for a little while. Arguably, if you've been doing your homework, you may already have a pretty good understanding about what it takes to choose the right supplement for your health.

But this may be your first time reading our 14-month old health blog, or, perhaps, you're just getting around to looking. No matter… We've done the work for you. What follows are six detailed questions you should be asking every time you consider taking a supplement:

1. Has the supplement you're considering ever failed a quality test by an independent source, like ConsumerLab.com?

2. Has the company producing the supplement ever been the target of a regulatory agency like the FDA or FTC?

3. Does the product label of the supplement you're considering include testing data that guarantees its authenticity, purity and potency?

More...

We've discussed many of the health problems associated with obesity so often in this space, you may be thinking, "I'm not obese… I've got a 'little' belly on me, but I workout. I'm good." Not so fast…

You may not be overweight or obese by some measures, but the more abdominal fat you have hugging your waist -- especially at middle age -- the greater your chances are of dying from any cause, according to researchers with the American Cancer Society who tracked the health of more than 100,000 men and women from 1997-2006 based on the association between waist circumference and mortality rates.

Patients with waist sizes exceeding 46 and 41 inches in men and women, respectively, nearly doubled their chances of dying, despite their BMI and weight. Even worse, this link between belly fat and higher mortality rates was strongest among women who maintained a normal weight. And, 4 extra inches of belly fat increased a patient's chances of death by 10 percent.

Just a reminder, obesity contributes greatly to various forms of cancer, but you can do a great deal to protect your health and that of your family in the gym and at the dinner table.

Archives of Internal Medicine, Vol. 170, No. 15, pp. 1293-1301, August 9/23, 2010

Yahoo News August 10, 2010

ScienceDaily August 9, 2010

Just as it's harmful for women who take a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRIs) like fluouxetene (Prozac) and paroxetine (Paxil) or a cardiac or antipsychotic drug along with the breast cancer drug tamoxifen, the results of a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test may be altered by the use of common drugs, like statins, thiazide diuretics and non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

The effect of 10 drugs in these three categories had on lowering serum PSA levels among more than 1,850 men (age 40 and older) with no history of prostate cancer was slight but noticeable after one year, with a high of 6 percent for thaizide diuretics (drugs used to treat edema and hypertension). Real change came at the five-year mark, however, when the use of any one kind of drug artificially and exponentially lowered PSA levels anywhere from four to six times below normal. For example, the use of thaizide diuretics reduced PSA levels by a surprising 26 percent.

The drop in PSA levels was even more pronounced after five years among men who took a diuretic along with a statin drug by 36 percent, although using a calcium channel blocker to treat high blood pressure inhibited that effect. And, because many older patients use at least one, if not more, of these medications at the same time, researchers estimate their effect on artificially lowering PSA levels among far greater numbers of men could be huge.

But there's one more tantalizing possibility scientists are considering: This trio of drug classes may create a protective effect against cancer, not at all a pipe dream, considering statin drugs and NSAIDs are already being studied for that reason.

Journal of Clinical Oncology August 2, 2010

Drugwatch.com August 9, 2010

healthfinder.gov August 6, 2010

The scientific world is getting a bit wiser about the effect emotions can have on your health for better and for worse. How you handle your emotions may also affect the way your body manages the healing process too.

Scientists monitored the progression of healing of 93 patients with diabetic foot ulcers (neuropathic or neuroischaemic) four times during a 24-week span, taking into account their coping skills, cortisol levels and the psychological stress they felt.

Patients with a controlling personality -- My-way-or-the-highway, who-cares-if-you're-right folks -- were the least likely to heal from their foot ulcers. Because this disease requires long-term patience and treatment to recover, researchers believe those who seek to control and speed up the process also experience additional frustration and distress that work against healing.

Depression also contributes to the problem, as patients fighting their emotions demonstrated less healing and overall improvement by the end of the study, one more reason to seek out safer, gentler ways, like meditation, to calm your mind and body.

Diabetologia, Vol. 53, No. 8, pp. 1590-1598, August 2010

Bloomberg Businessweek August 6, 2010

At the same time cancer rates keep dropping in America, medical experts are beginning to realize what they don't know about this second leading killer of Americans. But they're beginning to catch up, as evidenced by a recent joint report by a group of health agencies, including the International Agency for Research on Cancer and American Cancer Society, identifying 20 "new" causes of cancer, including one you wouldn't expect.

Some of these culprits should be very familiar to you -- formaldehyde, lead, chloroform and PCBs. Then, there's relative newbies, like atrazine and indium phosphide, a binary semiconductor made of indium and phosphorus used in the production of flat-screen TVs.

Probably, the most interesting cancer concern comes straight out of left field, isn't a chemical or substance at all, and it's not the RF energy emitted by mobile phones either.

Think shift work, changing 24/7 schedules that often plays havoc with a patient's circadian rhythms, often leaving them sleep-deprived and vulnerable to a slew of health problems.

International Agency for Research on Cancer Technical Publication No. 42 Free Full Text PDF

Environmental Health Perspectives July 13, 2010 Free PDF Supplement

ScienceDaily July 15, 2010

Chicago Tribune July 15, 2010

Recently, I admitted all this lifestyle changes stuff I'd been writing about for a long time in this space finally got to me. I couldn't ignore all the extra pounds on my body weighing me down or my desire to "get old" with my wife of 20 years, my kids, my grandkids and all the family (and extended family) I'd accumulated over a half-century of living a second longer. I don't use the bad genes "defense" to deflect the responsibility, or the "I'm too busy to eat properly excuse" any more.

These changes have been easier for me to make thanks to a renewed commitment to exercise. In my case, it's nearly 40-minute sessions of brisk walking on a treadmill at least twice a week. Granted, this is a small commitment and not enough for many purists, but this makes sense for me based on my personal and professional responsibilities and I feel A LOT BETTER for doing it too.

If you're looking for excuses not to exercise, however, you can find them just as easily. Take, for instance, this recent New York Times piece detailing a position paper from the National Athletic Trainers' Association about that counsels athletes on various skin diseases and how to avoid them. Or, the side-story about a wrestler who developed a staph infection after being exposed to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA.

The aforementioned athlete says he did all the right things that would've prevented any exposure to MRSA, but it happened anyway. And, there are other lesser but annoying problems you'll face at the gym -- think athlete's foot or jock itch -- if you're not careful.

Fortunately, you can sidestep most of these nasties hiding out at the gym by taking some common-sense precautions, like those listed in a recent blog post from Outside magazine. In fact, I had already been following many of these simple suggestions before reading it.

Journal of Athletic Training, Vol. 45, No. 4, pp. 411-428, July/August 2010 Free Full Text Report

New York Times August 2, 2010

Call it another case of Murphy's Law, but just six months after the federal government announced a $30 million appropriation to study the health effects of Bisphenol A (BPA), a recent Environmental Working Group (EWG) report identified another very common source of this controversial, endocrine-disrupting chemical: The thermal paper used to print cash register receipts.

Lead researcher on the report and noted organic chemist, John C. Warner, fingered BPA several years ago, after assigning his University of Massachusetts students to retrieve, then analyze paper receipts generated by cash registers with the help of a mass spectrometer. Many bits of paper, but not all, contained BPA, and you couldn't tell with the naked eye which ones had it. Or not…

In this newest study, 40 percent of the 36 samples (they were collected from a wide range of American retail chains from Whole Foods to CVS, Walmart and McDonald's) contained levels of BPA ranging from 250-1,000 times more than the amounts measured in more well-known sources -- think baby bottles and canned foods. (Starbucks and Target were among a group of retailers who used BPA-free paper.)

The good news in this report is two-fold. For one, Appleton Papers, the leading American producer of thermal paper, eliminated BPA from its formulations in 2006. Most importantly, however, it isn't hard to get rid of BPA altogether. Some suggested tips from the EWG to avoid BPA exposure from paper receipts:

* If you need to save paper receipts, file them in separate envelopes.

* Keep your kids away from receipts.

* After handling paper receipts, wash your hands, but don't use alcohol-based cleaners that boost your body's absorption of BPA.

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Green Chemistry Letters and Reviews July 28, 2010 Free Full Text Study

Environmental Working Group/Kid-Safe Chemicals July 27, 2010

Washington Post July 27, 2010

You may recall a study I posted earlier this year about the link between sugary, sweet soft drinks, often laced with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), and pancreatic cancer. Apparently, the connection between sugary substances and pancreatic cancer may be far deadlier than anyone imagined.

UCLA researchers made their alarming discovery after exposing separate sets of pancreatic tumor cells (extracted from patients, then cultured and grown in Petri dishes) to glucose and fructose, respectively, then used mass spectrometry to monitor how these sugars were used by cells.

Although fructose and glucose have a similar molecular structure, scientists learned both substances were metabolized by pancreatic cancer cells very differently. Fructose activates an important pathway that spurs cell division, thus speeding the growth of pancreatic cancer cells.

These results prompted researchers to suggest the federal government mandate a reduction of HFCS in American diets, while the near century-old Corn Refiners Association slammed the study for "several premature and potentially misleading conclusions."

Just a reminder, another recent study estimated the average American's daily intake of added sugars from eating processed foods alone amounts to 21 teaspoons of sugar and more than 350 calories. Hard to imagine all that extra sugar swimming around in our bodies not having some kind of harmful effect on our collective health.

Cancer Research, Vol. 70, No. 15, pp. 6368-6376, August 1, 2010

EurekAlert August 2, 2010

Yahoo News August 2, 2010

For folks who suffer from celiac disease, their ability to avoid foods with gluten may be much harder than they ever imagined, according to an analysis of "gluten-free" seeds, flours and grains. Of the 22 products bought from grocery stores, seven failed the "gluten-free" test, including flours made of sorghum, soy, millet and buckwheat.

Yes, the survey sampling was very small, says the lead author of the study, just enough information to surprise, yet not enough to serve as a consistent warning to celiac patients, researchers say, about which products to avoid.

Unfortunately, choosing the best and safest products may be even harder for our neighbors to the North if Health Canada follows through on changes to food labeling rules that allow foods made with "pure" oats -- formulated so they haven't been mixed with other grains -- to be labeled as "gluten-free."

Reactions north of the Canada have been surprisingly mixed. After examining the available evidence (more small studies), the Canadian Celiac Association believes patients can eat pure oats safely in small quantities. Conversely, manufacturers that specialize in "gluten-free" foods have been against the proposed change, leading one Ontario-based company to say that they won't be adding "pure" oats out of concern that customers with celiac disease may be harmed.

For the record, there's no current legal regulation or FDA oversight of "gluten-free" foods, although the agency has been contemplating such a move -- strictly on a voluntary basis -- since January 2007.

Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Vol. 110, No. 6, pp. 937-940, June 2010

MSNBC July 16, 2010

The Vancouver Sun July 16, 2010

For all the important news we've shared in this space at the intersection of Emotions Ave. and Cancer Blvd. -- from the importance of laughing at cancer to the toll caregiving can have on a loved one -- it's a bit embarrassing to admit that we haven't touched on one very important subject, until today. Namely, how to share the news that you're fighting cancer with your young children.

No question, the American Cancer Society provides many sources to guide parents who want and need to talk about their illness with their kids gently. But, for this daunting task, a parent needs age-specific guidance.

That's why one of the best ways to get the conversation going with your child also happens to be the easiest: Sharing a book written just for them. A recent book tackling this subject -- Let My Colors Out, lovingly written by Courtney Filigenzi and beautifully illustrated by Shennen Bersani -- has been on the receiving end of many kudos, all of them well-deserved.

Courtney shares her perspectives about cancer as a writer and Mom, along with what parents can do to prepare their children for this difficult journey.

Q: The hardest part of dealing with cancer -- separate from the toll it takes on a person's mind and body -- is how to share that information with loved ones, particularly their children, then observing how they deal with this knowledge. How did you develop the idea for Colors?

More...

Being a needle-phobe, it's hard for me to get my head around the insertion of long, thin needles in various pressure points throughout the body as being anything but painful. That said, acupuncture is growing in popularity as a safe, non-drug option to relieve pain, and an impressive number of studies are backing up its effectiveness too.

Although no heart-related improvements were observed (cardiac ejection fraction or peak oxygen uptake) in a recent study of 17 patients who had suffered from congestive heart failure, the ability to exercise among folks being treated with 10 sessions of "real" acupuncture was very noticeable: They could walk greater distances over a six-minute stretch than those receiving sham treatments that simulated a needle prick but never broke the skin.

What's more, patients in the acupuncture group recovered quicker from their exercise sessions and felt less exhausted than those in the placebo/sham group.

If you hate needles as much as I do, however, acupuncture may not be the best way to treat your pain, no matter how effective it can be. With that in mind, you'll want to read our latest newsletter feature detailing nine strategies that can ease your pain without drugs. Fortunately, only one of them involves needles…

Image source: Kyle Hunter

Heart June 15, 2010

PhysOrg.com July 1, 2010

Having been a Weight Watchers member for a while, the program has really driven home for me the need to drink plenty of clean, fresh water without really understanding why. It have to do, in part, with water safely and naturally elevating your blood pressure, according to a new study from Vanderbilt University Medical School.

Scientists made the initial discovery a decade ago while observing patients whose bodies had temporarily lost their ability to monitor short-term changes in blood pressure, called baroreflexes, until they drank water. Since then, an American Red Cross study found that drinking a pint of water before donating blood reduced the chances of patients fainting by 20 percent.

This latest series of studies on mice took it a step further, by routing water directly into the stomach or duodenum (the front of the small intestine) which raised blood pressure, then a saline solution that didn't. Eventually, researchers determined water dilutes the plasma in blood vessels leading away from the duodenum, thus reducing the concentration of salt in blood and naturally elevating blood pressures.

Here's the kicker: The presence of water promotes activity in the nervous system, the burning of energy in the body and, consequently, weight loss. According to one estimate, a patient could lose up to 5 pounds a year just by drinking three 16-ounces glasses of water, and doing nothing else.

What an easy way, theoretically speaking, to lose weight.

Hypertension, Vol. 55, No. 6, pp. 1438-1443, June 1, 2010

insciences.org July 8, 2010