Bats Quenching Their Thirst

Some rare photos of bats swooping down over a pond at night to drink. (Click to enlarge.)

"Travelling at 20mph, with wing beats not visible to the human eye and flying mostly at night the bats are notoriously difficult to photograph."

"They are so detailed you can even see the night creatures slurping from the pool with their little pink tongues."

Those tongues.




Photos were taken by Kim Taylor of Surrey, England. Here's Kim and his home-made set-up:


He suspended ropes to direct bats to a narrow swooping zone, used an infrared beam that triggered flash bulbs when a bat broke it, and attached a device to his camera that listened for ultrasonic squeaks which opened the shutter.

I love seeing this kind of devotion to a project.
________Photos and story from Daily Mail, September 2009.

Can Omega-3 Fatty Acids (Fish Oil) Predispose Someone To Cancer?

Or to viral infection?

Omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids, which include longer-chain EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and shorter-chain ALA (alpha-linolenic acid), have been shown to reduce inflammation and are beneficial for inflammatory conditions - those involving joints (rheumatoid arthritis), bowels (colitis, Crohn's), lungs (asthma, COPD), arteries (atherosclerosis), skin (psoriasis), and others.

Inflammation is thought to decrease via a change in activity or production of cells involved in the immune response. Our immune response is integral in keeping cancer (and infection) at bay.
________
This study...
Leukocyte Numbers And Function In Subjects Eating N-3 Enriched Foods: Selective Depression Of Natural Killer Cell Levels, Arthritis Research and Therapy, 2008

... found that:

"Natural killer (NK) cell numbers were lower in n-3 supplemented subjects* than in controls, and were inversely related to the amount of EPA or DHA in erythrocytes."

So, the more omega-3 detected in red blood cells, the fewer natural killer cells the subjects had, and:

"NK cells are important in immune surveillance, particularly against viral infections and cancer. ... Individuals consuming these fatty acids may have greater susceptibility to viral infections. NK cells provide a first-line defense against these pathogens."

* Subjects consumed 1 gram EPA + DHA a day.
________
This study described the role of immune-system cells in cancer:
The Innate Immune Response To Tumors And Its Role In The Induction Of T-Cell Immunity, Immunological Reviews, 2002

"Natural killer (NK) cells recognize many tumor cells but not normal self cells, and they are thought to aid in the elimination of nascent tumors."

________
This study elucidated a type of n-3 that may be more immuno-suppressive:
Dietary Supplementation With Eicosapentaenoic Acid, But Not With Other Long-Chain N-3 Or N-6 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, Decreases Natural Killer Cell Activity In Healthy Subjects Aged >55 Y, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2001

"Fish oil* caused a significant reduction (mean decline: 48%) in NK cell activity that was fully reversed by 4 wk after supplementation had ceased.

Thus, it might be inappropriate for groups at risk of viral infection and some cancers to increase their intake of EPA."

* Subjects consumed 1 gram EPA plus DHA a day. (720 mg EPA + 280 mg DHA)
________
Other studies have shown that fish consumption or fish oil supplementation can be protective against cancer. It appears some antioxidant, like vitamin E, also needs be present - probably because it prevents oxidation of the easily-oxidized polyunsaturated omega-3 fats.

There is thinking that fish oil, and some forms of oil-based vitamin D, can be harmful to the liver.¹ Anecdotally - some people experienced elevated liver enzymes while taking fish oil only to have them fall back into the normal range when they stopped. More study needed there.

Like most nutrients, there appears to be an ideal range for n-3 fatty acids in the body, or better, an ideal ratio of omega-6:omega-3, above and below which an individual can experience poor health.
________¹ The Association Of Increasing Dietary Concentrations Of Fish Oil With Hepatotoxic Effects And A Higher Degree Of Aorta Atherosclerosis In The Ad Lib.-Fed Rabbit, Institute of Scientific and Technical Information (France), 1998

Reading Books

Dr. Andrew Weil posted his review of Jonathan Safran Foer's new book, "Eating Animals" yesterday:

The Moral Ferocity of Eating Animals

The topic is polarizing, but it was this part of Weil's review that stood out for me:

"In the Internet age, as our attention is diced into ever-tinier blog posts, blurbs, bleats and tweets, some have speculated that books are obsolete. Millions are satisfied with non sequitur eruptions. What good are works that span 300 pages? One answer is that adopting a truly life-changing idea -- like radically changing one's eating habits -- takes time and persuading."

"Millions are satisfied with non sequitur eruptions." ... Is curiosity on the wane?
________

Doughnut Cheeseburger

Seinberg sent this:

Craz-E Burger: Americans Embrace 1,500 Calorie Doughnut Burger

"Consisting of a bacon cheeseburger with a buttered, grilled and glazed doughnut standing in for a bun ... Its 1,500 calories of sugar and saturated fat did not stop it from becoming a huge hit at a major fair in Massachusetts ... Visitors bought around 1,000 Craz-E burgers each day of the fair's 17-day run."

17,000 of these consumed in 17 days, at one fair. That's one popular sandwich.

What impressed me, besides the outrageousness of it, was the promotion of it: "The perfect rejoinder to the healthy eating lobby." Do people make food choices out of some kind of rebellion?

My friend's take on this:

"It is appealing to the defiance of teenagers to authority. Unfortunately we live in a country where adolescence is nurtured by the media since adolescents are easy to manipulate. So 40 year olds never learn to grow up and become adults and take care of themselves."

He has a point.
________

Found Food

This was unexpected. I don't have a garden, but I do keep herbs on the porch. One day this summer, I squeezed some old potatoes into the soil between the parsley and chives. Never grew potatoes in my life. Don't know what a potato plant looks like - although I do now. I was concerned the monster vines would crowd out the coriander, but I let them go. They grew fast, had small pink flowers (that some insect or worm snipped off at night), and died a few weeks ago in the near-frost. This is what they left behind.
________
Photo: Bix

Does Cheerios Lower Cholesterol?

Cheerios upped the ante this summer by advancing their "lowers cholesterol 4% in 6 weeks" claim to "lowers cholesterol 10% in one month."

The abstract for the study upon which this new claim is being made is:
Ready-to-eat Oat Cereal, as Part of a Reduced Energy Diet, Reduces Low-density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and Waist Circumference in Overweight and Obese Adults, FASEB.

The study is still unpublished. Results were presented in April of this year at the Experimental Biology Meeting in New Orleans.

Of note:

• The abstract shows 8.7% reduction, not 10% reduction.
  
• The 8.7% reduction was for LDL cholesterol.
  
• The 8.7% reduction was achieved not only by eating 3 cups of Cheerios a day, but by reducing calories (by ~500 calories/day) and by reducing fat intake.
  
• The control group (which did not eat Cheerios but ate the reduced calorie, low-fat diet) also experienced lower LDL cholesterol (4.3%) and lower total cholesterol (2.9%).
  
• The 8.7% reduction is, in fact, a 4.4% reduction when compared to control group.
  
• There was no difference between groups in weight loss, HDL cholesterol, or triglycerides.

The following point makes me question the researchers' motives:

• The control group didn't just not eat the Cheerios, but it consumed "low-fiber control foods." It would be interesting to see the fiber types and intakes of both groups, before and during the intervention. How much was the control group's fiber intake suppressed? (For the sake of a positive result?)

The reduction in cholesterol did not occur outside of the context of a reduced-calorie, reduced-fat diet. The FDA sent General Mills a warning letter in May, less than 3 weeks after the results of the above study were presented, addressing this point:

"[Your claim] leaves out any reference to fruits and vegetables, to fiber content, and to keeping the levels of saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet low. Therefore, your claim does not convey that all these factors together help to reduce the risk of heart disease and does not enable the public to understand the significance of the claim in the context of the total daily diet."
- FDA Warning Letter to General Mills, Inc. 5/5/09

"[Cheerios] is not generally recognized as safe and effective for use in preventing or treating hypercholesterolemia or coronary heart disease. Therefore, under section 505(a) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 355(a)], it may not be legally marketed with the above claims in the United States."
- FDA Warning Letter to General Mills, Inc. 5/5/09

One conclusion you might draw from this study is that relative to a low-fiber diet (we don't know how low), Cheerios may reduce LDL cholesterol by ~4%. That's like saying you're going to study thirst; you withhold fluid from the control group, feed Coke to the intervention group, and find that Coke prevents thirst.

Not only was this study funded by General Mills, it was designed by their researchers - who knew exactly what they were doing when they set the parameters.
________

How A Virus Invades Your Body

... And how our immune system fights back.


Gorgeous.

"Most of the time, after a struggle (when you get a fever and need to lie down), your immune system rebounds, and, in time, so do you."
- NPR: Flu Attack!

________

Carolyn Steel: How Food Shapes Cities

If you have 15 minutes, this TED talk by Carolyn Steel about how food has shaped our cities (and how today it's shaping our planet) is worth a watch.



At 12:55 minutes, she cites, with one simple slide, the essential ingredient to our health-giving, planet-sustaining future.

"It's people who think about food, who think ahead, who plan, who can stare at a pile of raw vegetables and actually recognize them. We need these people."

Why? Because these linchpins, these fanatic cooks, create demand for food markets, which in turn create demand for local and regional food plots, greenhouses, landscapes that support livestock, "cows with a view," "steaming piles of humus."

"We live in a world shaped by food, and if we realize that, we can use food as a really powerful tool ... to shape the world differently."

What will that different world look like?

"Well I think it looks a bit like this. ... It's food at the center of life, at the center of family life, being celebrated, being enjoyed, people taking time for it. This is where food should be in our society."

________

Snipping Polyps Reduces Colon Cancer Death Rates

According to the JAMA study upon which the NYTs article in my previous post was based, the increase in diagnoses of breast and prostate cancers - through screenings - has not led to a commensurate decrease in late-stage cancers.

Not so for colon cancer. Snipping polyps has been reducing colon cancer deaths rates. And boy are we snipping polyps. Free colonoscopies in Tennessee last weekend found polyps in half of those scoped:

Gastrointestinal Practice Issues National Challenge After Half Of Needy Patients Screened Show Polyps, Reuters

Of 48 people screened, 25 had polyps removed. That's an unusually high rate, although the sample wasn't random.


Dr. Gene Overholt, who partook in the screening:

"Everyone above the age of 50 should have a screening colonoscopy."

That's all well and good, but colonoscopies are expensive, averaging $3000 for those without insurance, and upwards of $1000 out-of-pocket for those with insurance. ("A Medicare patient at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center would pay $1,477, including deductibles and coinsurance.")

It was unlikely that those 48 uninsured and underinsured would have scraped up $3000 for the pleasure of having their colons inspected. But what are we as a society paying (not just in dollars) to care for late-stage cancers that might have been prevented? Keeping health insurance out of reach for millions seems like cutting off our nose to spite our face, seems penny wise and dollar foolish, seems ...
________

Cancer: To Screen Or Not To Screen

The New York Times on Monday published:
Cancer Society, in Shift, Has Concerns on Screenings

Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society:

"I’m admitting that American medicine has overpromised when it comes to screening. The advantages to screening have been exaggerated."

It's not just that screening may be a nuisance, a costly nuisance, there's admission it may be harmful:

[Screenings find] cancers that do not need to be found because they would never spread and kill or even be noticed if left alone. That has led to a huge increase in cancer diagnoses because, without screening, those innocuous cancers would go undetected.

The very idea that some cancers are not dangerous and some might actually go away on their own can be hard to swallow, researchers say.

Screening has the problem called overdiagnosis - labeling innocuous tumors cancer and treating them as though they could be lethal when in fact they are not dangerous.

"Overdiagnosis is pure, unadulterated harm," [said Dr. Kramer, associate director for disease prevention at the NIH.]

Cancer goes away. All by itself. You can't beat that. We should be putting all this screening money into finding out what makes cancer "go away," and which tumors are actionable.
________

Aromatase's Effect On Testosterone, Estrogen, and Cancer

Below is a post I wrote in 2007 about the enzyme complex called aromatase. I edited it to address briefly the contribution of insulin and insulin resistance. There are one or two other things I'd like to say about aromatase (in an upcoming post) and I thought this would provide context.
________
I'm writing this post for someone I know who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. But it's not just a post for women. Male and female hormones are chemically linked, and are being increasingly implicated in a number of chronic diseases, including cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis.

Read on ... for why you might want to limit your grapefruit juice and alcohol intake. And your fat intake, especially saturated.
________
There's an enzyme in the bodies of both men and women called aromatase. Its primary action is to produce female sex hormones, or estrogens. It produces them from male sex hormones (androgens) such as testosterone and their precursors.

In the diagram below, the molecule on the left is the male hormone testosterone. The molecule on the right is the female hormone estradiol, an estrogen. The arrow in the middle represents the action of the enzyme complex aromatase.


Aromatase also converts androstenedione (a sex hormone precursor) to the female hormone estrone, another estrogen, although weaker than estradiol.

• If you increase the activity of aromatase, you can increase levels of female sex hormones (estradiol, estrone).
  
  
• If you decrease the activity of aromatase, you can decrease levels of female sex hormones, while increasing relative levels of male sex hormones, e.g. testosterone.

There are many things to say about aromatase. I'm presenting just a few here.

Men's bodies normally contain some level of estrogens, in addition to testosterone and their kind. Likewise, women's bodies contain some level of male androgens including testosterone. The ratio of male-to-female hormones contributes to our maleness or femaleness. Aromatase is one chemical that can tweak that ratio. It operates the same in both men and women, although an array of compounds can affect its activity.
________
Who Cares About Aromatase?

• Bodybuilders have been capitalizing on the action of this enzyme for years. They know that aromatase inhibitors will lead to effects of increased testosterone such as a greater percentage of lean body mass, less body fat, improved bone mineral density, etc.
  
  
• Some women with cancers of the breast (or ovaries, or uterus) benefit from treatment with aromatase inhibitors. Since some breast tumors (and other reproductive tissue tumors) are dependant upon estrogen for their growth, aromatase inhibitors can be employed to reduce estrogen production, improving patient outcome.
  
  
• Women who experience problems associated with excess estrogen and/or low progesterone, such as those listed below, also benefit from decreasing the activity of aromatase:
  
  • Fibrocystic breast disease
    
  • Uterine fibroids
    
  • Ovarian cysts
    
  • Heavy menstrual bleeding
    
  • Endometriosis
  
  
• Aromatase inhibitors are used as a fertility treatment for women who are having difficulty getting pregnant. They can stimulate ovulation.
  
  
• The fall in estrogen output from the ovaries of women as they enter menopause can be partially compensated for by aromatase's production of estrogens which occur in liver, fat and muscle cells. (This is one reason why obese menopausal women can have higher levels of estrogens than their thinner counterparts. Unfortunately, although the extra aromatase-containing fat cells may be helpful in reducing menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, they can increase the risk for estrogen-dependant cancers.)
  
  
• Men as they age experience a steady decline of male sex hormones, including testosterone. They also experience a relatively higher level of female sex hormones. These lower androgen/higher estrogen levels have been implicated in symptoms some men experience in middle age, including:
  
  • Decreased libido
    
  • Fatigue
    
  • Flushing and night sweats
    
  • Insomnia
    
  • Impaired memory and difficulty concentrating
    
  • Depression
    
  • Decreased muscle mass
    
  • Increased fat mass
    
  • Osteoporosis
  
  This lower testosterone/estrogen ratio also seems to be linked to problems with male fertility and sperm count, enlarged prostate, and prostate cancer.
  
  Since many of these symptoms resemble those experienced by women during menopause, the term "andropause" is sometimes used to describe this time in a man's life.

________
Non-pharmacological Actors In Aromatase Activity

If you're a man entering middle age who can identify with any of the above symptoms, or if you're a woman concerned about breast cancer, you may find it helpful to manage the activity of aromatase.

The following are associated with a decrease in the activity of aromatase. This decrease would result in reduced production of female sex hormones (estrogens), and a relative increased concentration of male sex hormones (androgens, e.g. testosterone):

• Younger age (Please contact me if you've found a way to achieve this.)
  
• Smoking¹ (I don't know if the risks of lung cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and wrinkles outweigh the benefit in reduced estrogen production. OK, strike the wrinkles.)
  
• Weight loss (Aromatase resides in fat cells.)
  
• Lower levels of insulin
  
• Flavonoids (studies vary):
  • Chrysin, a flavonoid found in the herb Passiflora incarnata. (From my reading, chrysin is one of the more potent natural aromatase inhibitors.)
    
  • Quercetin, a flavonoid found in some fruits and vegetables (cabbage, onions/garlic, apples)
    
  • Apigenin, a flavonoid found in parsley, celery, and chamomile.
    
  • Genistein and diadzein, isoflavones found in soy.
    
  • Red wine flavonoids (Note that while alcohol may increase aromatase activity, other components of red wine decrease it.

The following are associated with an increase in the activity of aromatase (favoring production of female sex hormones (estrogens):

• Older age
  
• Overweight and obesity (Aromatase resides in fat cells.)
  
• Higher levels of insulin (insulin favors weight gain, fat mass increase)
  
• Zinc deficiency
  
• Alcohol intake

________
The Special Case of Grapefruit

I haven't read a study where grapefruit affects aromatase specifically. But compounds found in grapefruit and its juice inhibit an enzyme group in the complex within which aromatase resides (Cytochrome P450). The enzymes inhibited by grapefruit are involved in metabolizing sex hormones - breaking them down. If you reduce degradation or breakdown of estrogens, that may lead to increased concentrations.

This mechanism is implicated in the findings of a large epidemiological study published this summer:

Prospective study of grapefruit intake and risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women: the Multiethnic Cohort Study

In a cohort of 50,000 postmenopausal women spanning 5 racial/ethnic groups, "grapefruit intake was significantly associated with an increased risk of breast cancer." The increased risk was about the same seen in women taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

________
The Special Case Of Alcohol

I read one study from 1990 that suggested aromatase activity was increased by ethanol consumption.² However, this course of study has not been pursued as much as the theory that alcohol interferes with the metabolism or breakdown of female sex hormones, resulting in their increased concentrations.

Either of the above mechanisms may be implicated in the findings of the following studies:

1. The effects of moderate alcohol supplementation on estrone sulfate and DHEAS in postmenopausal women in a controlled feeding study

   In a randomized, controlled trial, 51 postmenopausal women received either 1 drink, 2 drinks, or placebo. After 8 weeks, those drinking alcohol had higher levels of circulating estrogens.

2. Wine, liquor, beer, and risk of breast cancer (Presented at last week's European Cancer Conference.)
   News Summary:
   3 drinks a day raises breast cancer risk: All types of alcohol linked to increase in disease, researchers find

   In a cohort of 70,000 women, alcohol intake was significantly associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. In this particular study, it made no difference where that alcohol was coming from, wine (red or white), liquor, or beer. They all raised risk about the same amount.

In men, excessive intake of alcohol can lead to breast enlargement and shrinking of the testes. This results from a damaged liver's inability to break down estrogens.

"Gynecomastia due to alcoholic cirrhosis - A 32 year old male patient with normal secondary sex characteristics, no testicular mass, no history of drug ingestion, no other endocrine abnormalities and a normal neurological examination. Nevertheless, he had a history of more than 15 years of large amounts of alcohol intake and a liver biopsy confirm alcoholic cirrhosis (Laennec's Cirrhosis)."
- MedStudents.com

________
The Special Case Of Insulin

This warrants a post unto itself. Briefly, a diet that leads to higher levels of circulating insulin has been shown to result in higher levels of estrogens (and lower levels of male androgens).

Insulin resistance, a condition that affects over 25% of the US population (most don't know they have it), a condition that precedes or accompanies diabetes, a condition that is linked to obesity and lack of exercise, can lead to higher levels of circulating insulin.

When it comes to diet, The more fat you eat, and the more saturated that fat, the greater your risk for insulin resistance:

The Influence Of Dietary Fat On Insulin Resistance, Current Diabetes Reports, Oct, 2002

Dietary fat has been implicated in the development of insulin resistance in both animals and humans. ... Clinical trials demonstrate that high levels of dietary fat can impair insulin sensitivity independent of body weight changes. ... Saturated and certain monounsaturated fats have been implicated in causing insulin resistance, whereas polyunsaturated and omega-3 fatty acids largely do not appear to have adverse effects on insulin action.

Dietary Fat, Insulin Sensitivity And The Metabolic Syndrome, Clinical Nutrition, Aug 2004

Insulin resistance:
"Insulin sensitivity is affected by the quality of dietary fat, independently of its effects on body weight. Epidemiological evidence and intervention studies clearly show that in humans saturated fat significantly worsen insulin-resistance, while monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids improve it."

Blood pressure:
"Shifting from saturated to monounsaturated fat intake reduces diastolic blood pressure."

Lipids:
"Substitution of unsaturated fat for saturated fat not only reduces LDL cholesterol but contributes also to reduce plasma triglycerides in insulin resistant individuals."

There's more I'd like to say but I've run out of space on this post. Maybe I'll say more in future posts.

Update: See related post: Mushrooms Inhibit Aromatase. That's Good.
________¹ Nicotine, Cotinine, and Anabasine Inhibit Aromatase in Human Trophoblast In Vitro
² Effects of chronic ethanol intake on aromatization of androgens and concentration of estrogen and androgen receptors in rat liver
Photo of Marie Green's painting, "overlapping male and female with organic lines" from her site.

Dietary Supplements: Drug Companies Have Them In Their Sight

Articles like this are a problem for two reasons:

American Roulette — Contaminated Dietary Supplements, New England Journal of Medicine, Oct. 2009

One: There really is a problem with contamination and unsafe ingredients in dietary supplements. The FDA only looks at their safety post-market.

Two: The pharmaceutical industry indirectly pays for publication of articles such as this (via ghostwriters and other avenues^1,2) that instill fear about supplements or target them for removal from the market. Dietary supplements directly compete with synthetic drugs. As the article above says:

"According to a recent National Health Interview Survey, about 114 million people — more than half the adult population of the United States — consume dietary supplements."

In the eyes of drug companies, those are 114 million people who could be filling prescriptions instead.

The answer is not to reduce access to supplements, which, as we know, are cheap and effective alternatives to pharmaceuticals.³ The answer is increased testing for safety and efficacy.
________¹ Ghostwriting Is Called Rife in Medical Journals, New York Times, Sept, 2009

"Six of the top medical journals published a significant number of articles in 2008 that were written by ghostwriters financed by drug companies."

² Prevalence of Honorary and Ghost Authorship in 6 General Medical Journals, Wislar et al., 2009.
³ There are a number of herbal remedies that rise to the level of effectiveness, for example, Saw Palmetto for urination difficulties related to enlarged prostate, and St. John's Wort for mild-to-moderate depression. Both of these are science-backed and endorsed by the government's National Institutes of Health (given a Grade of A = "Strong scientific evidence for this use").

CNN's Larry King Live: "Should You Eat Meat?" - Part 2

(Part 1)
Here's the entire program. It aired Monday, October 12, Transcript

Excerpts (See Part 1 for the guest list):

Factory farming is criminal:

Anthony Bourdain: "I think the standard practices of outfits like Cargill and some of the larger meat processors and grinders in this country are unconscionable and border on the criminal."

Factory farming is unconscionable:

Jonathan Safran Foer: "There's a certain kind of meat, which is produced on factory farms, that is in every single way unconscionable.
It's unconscionable to feed to our children because of the health.
It's unconscionable because it's the single worst thing we can to do to the environment by a long shot.
And it's unconscionable because of what we're doing to animals who are raised on factory farms."

Factory farming: You can't escape it:

Jonathan Safran Foer: "Upwards of 99 percent of the animals that are raised for meat in this country come from factory farms. When we're talking about meat, when we're talking about the meat they sell in grocery stores, when we're talking about the meat we order in restaurants, we are effectively talking about factory farms."

Factory farming: It's the American way:

Patrick Boyle (American Meat Institute): "The whole comment about factory farming, from my perspective, that's a negative reference to high volume, low cost, efficient meat and poultry processing facilities, that give Americans an abundant variety of safe and wholesome products at a very reasonable price. The lowest price in terms of disposable income spent of any terms of developed country in the world."

Bacon, sex, and reason:

Anthony Bourdain: "I would counter Jonathan's argument [factory farming is unconscionable] just with one word: bacon. It's so delicious."
Jonathan Safran Foer: "I have a counter to that, which is I would say, sex, it's so wonderful. That doesn't mean we have sex with everyone we want to have sex with."
Bourdain: "Not simultaneously, no."
Foer: "Anyway, it's funny that the argument for refraining from eating meat is often cast as a sentimental one, where I would say it's exactly the opposite. Sentimentality is the valuing of our feelings over our reason."

Spinach doesn't have an intestinal tract:

Caller's question: "Isn't the leading source of E. coli over the last five years been through agriculture, leafy vegetables, red peppers and even peanut butter?
Nancy Rodriguez (Nutritionist): "... there have been recalls with regards to E. coli contamination of lettuce and vegetables. Yes, even peanut butter."
Jonathan Safran Foer: "Nancy, surely you know the CDC has said all of those, the primary source was animal agriculture. It may be true that the vehicle was spinach. But if we're wondering where e. Coli -- we know where e. Coli comes from, right? It comes from poop. It's not coming from the spinach. It's coming from run off from factory farms.

One E. coli test for every 3.3 million pounds of red meat does not make an effective testing scheme:

Patrick Boyle (American Meat Institute): "The Department of Agriculture conducts 15,000 tests for E. coli each year."
American Meat Institute: "In 2007, the US produced 48.8 billion pounds of red meat."
Me: Does that mean that the USDA conducts one E. coli test for every 3.3 million pounds of red meat processed in the US annually? Recalling that it takes only about 10 E. coli bacteria to make someone ill, with upwards of 100,000 that can fit on the head of a pin, I'd say we're missing a LOT of E. coli.

Why we need one agency that oversees food safety:

Bill Marler: "I think what the lay person needs to do is spend a little bit more time putting pressure on their Congressmen and Senators to pass some food safety legislation that's been hung up in the House and the Senate."
Patrick Boyle (American Meat Institute): "The legislation actually applies to companies that produce food under FDA's jurisdiction, not meat or poultry companies."

________

CNN's Larry King Live: "Should You Eat Meat?" - Part 1

(Part 2)
Here's the entire program. It aired Monday, October 12, Transcript

Guests (Deep breath):

• Barbara Kowalcyk, Director of food safety at the Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention (CFIRP). Her 2-year-old son Kevin died from E. coli complications.
  
• Pat Buck, Kevin's grandmother, Barbara's mother, Director at CFIRP.
  
• Nicole Fenstermaker, Her 7-year-old daughter Abby died from E. coli complications.
  
• Bill Marler, Foodborne illness attorney and food safety advocate.
  
• Patrick Boyle, President & CEO of the American Meat Institute.
  
• Elsa A. Murano, PhD, Former USDA Undersecretary for Food Safety.
  
• T. Colin Campbell, PhD, Professor of nutritional biochemistry at Cornell, Co-author of "The China Study."
  
• Nancy Rodriguez, PhD, Professor of nutritional sciences at University of Connecticut, Director of sports nutrition in the Department of Sports Medicine.
  
• Anthony Bourdain, Chef, author, host of "No Reservations."
  
• Jonathan Safran Foer, Author, forthcoming book, "Eating Animals."

Excerpts:

E. coli is contagious:

Bill Marler: "[7-year-old] Abbi contracted it by being in contact with her grandfather."

E. coli is potent and stealthy:

Bill Marler: "Between 10 and 50 bacterium are enough to kill. Thousands of them would fit on the head of a pin. You can't see it, you can't taste it, you can't smell it."

Number of E. coli-related illnesses are down:

Patrick Boyle (American Meat Institute): "These illnesses are down 60 percent in the last 10 years."

Number of E. coli-related illnesses are up:

Bill Marler: "Numbers of E. coli illnesses and deaths ... there's been a pretty significant increase over the last three years."

Larry King: "What -- what -- Patrick said it's down 60 percent. That's not a true figure?"

Barbara Kowalcyk (Statistician): "No. In my opinion, it's misleading. The data that I believe Patrick is talking about comes from USDA's regulatory testing program ... which was not designed to ... give us an idea of what the prevalence of pathogens in the food supply are."

Hamburger is riskier than other meats. E. coli? It's in there:

Bill Marler: "When you cook a steak, assuming that steak hasn't been penetrated, you can kill the bacteria that's on the outside of the meat. It's not on the inside of the meat. But when you ground that meat up, that E. coli is in there."

Feces do not a diet make:

Anthony Bourdain: "We may be designed to eat meat. We are not designed to eat fecal choliform bacteria."

Meat isn't essential for humans. Nutritionist Rodriguez had her own, or some other interested party's agenda:

Larry King: "Dr. Rodriguez, you believe that animal proteins can and should be a part of the diet, correct?"

Nancy Rodriguez (Here and in 17 other places): "Yes. I think that animal proteins provide essential nutrients." ... "such as those amino acids or iron, zinc and, in the case of dairy products, calcium."

Colin Campbell: No, I disagree. A plant-based diet -- a whole foods plant-based diet really has all the nutrients that we actually need at optimum levels of intake.

Position of the American Dietetic Association: Vegetarian diets, JADA, July, 2009:
"It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.

Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes.

The results of an evidence-based review showed that a vegetarian diet is associated with a lower risk of death from ischemic heart disease. Vegetarians also appear to have lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension and type 2 diabetes than nonvegetarians. Furthermore, vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index and lower overall cancer rates."

Continued in Part 2...________

Breakfast

Porridge. Whatever is lying around ... oats, barley, wheat, corn grits, quinoa, oat bran, rolled, whole, steel-cut, flaked.

This one is made from a slow-cooked mix of whole oats, rolled oats and oat bran that I cook in quantity and store in the fridge. The true "instant oats." I mixed some freshly cooked wheat flakes and ground flax seeds in this one. And salt. Love salt.
________Photo: Bix

Ireland To Ban GMOs

How about that, Ireland just went GM free. (The map to the right will have to be updated.) Here's a press release from GMFreeIreland.org (pdf):
Ireland Adopts Gm-Free Zone Policy

"The Irish Government will ban the cultivation of all GM crops and introduce a voluntary GM-free label for food – including meat, poultry, eggs, fish, crustaceans, and dairy produce made without the use of GM animal feed."

It looks like the Irish government is doing this not for reasons of science or ethics, although those are promotable effects, but for money.

With an increasing demand for non-GMO foods, and a decreasing world supply owing to agriculture dominance by US, Brazilian, and Argentine GMOs, Ireland sees this as an opportunity to fill a niche.

As an island, they're in a unique position to resist contamination from GM fields. Their livestock are already raised primarily on grass instead of GM feed. And they were having a tough time competing with the big producers anyway:

"The WTO’s economic globalisation agenda has forced most Irish farmers to enter an unwinnable race to the bottom for low quality GM-fed meat and dairy produce, in competition with countries like the USA, Argentina and Brazil which can easily out-compete us with their highly subsidised GM crop monocultures, cheap fossil fuel, extensive use of toxic agrochemicals that are not up to EU standards, and underpaid migrant farm labour."

Interesting how another country views us, at least our agriculture.

Going GM-free isn't the only agricultural change they're making. Others include:¹

• Stepping up supports for the Organic Farming Scheme for conversion to organic production.
  
• Ensuring that new public procurement guidelines for food include criteria based on giving greater weight to sustainable local produce, seasonal menus and organic production.
  
• Promoting and supporting a network of farmers' markets at Local Authority level to encourage more direct selling from producers to consumers.

Those are country-wide changes - a move that would lessen the kind of discrimination you see here in the US against those who do not have access to premium organic foods. Good for them.
________¹ Proposed Renewed Programme for Government (pdf), 10th October 2009

Bill Moyers Explains Why The Public Option Isn't An Option

"Polls show the overwhelming majority of Americans favor a non-profit alternative -- like Medicare -- that would give the private health insurance industry some competition. But if so many Americans and the President himself want that public option, how come we're not getting one?"

Because...

"The people who want a public alternative can't possibly scrape up the millions of dollars Baucus has received from the health sector."

Is Moyers right about lobbyists?
________

Mayo Clinic Says, Sorry, Your Insurance Isn't Enough

What if the group of doctors you normally see suddenly say they aren't going to accept your insurance anymore for basic physician services? What if they say that to continue to receive primary care, you'll have to pay a $250 annual administration fee, plus "agree to make an appropriate number of visits each year, including physicals," ... and pay out of pocket for those visits, between $175-$400 ... for a total cost to you of about $1500/year?

Those costs would be in addition to your premiums, deductibles, and co-pays.

That just happened in Arizona, involving the much revered (even by Obama) Mayo Clinic, specifically its Family Medicine Practice in Glendale, AZ. The insurer in this case is the government's Medicare Program:
West Valley Mayo Clinic Nixes Medicare

According to Maggie Mahar, Mayo "is sending a message" ahead of the Senate Finance Committee's final vote on healthcare reform this Tuesday.

Mayo spokeswoman Shelly Plutowski:

"The message is that something has to change with the way we pay we pay for medical services in this country."

The something that has to change, from Mayo's perspective, is how little the government pays compared to what Mayo says it costs to provide care. It looks like Mayo's administrators don't like the idea of a government-run public option: they won't be able to negotiate with the government as they do right now with private insurers. Their message to the Senate: "Don't pass legislation with a public option."

It should be a scandal that 3000 people have to suffer (overnight find a doc who accepts Medicare) because Mayo wants to send a message.

This is basic primary care we're talking about, not specialty care. Mayo is saying they can't afford to provide basic care. They can only afford to provide expensive, high-tech specialty care.

Say your child has an earache, perhaps an ear infection. You plan to visit your primary doc. Your insurer says they will pay $x for that visit. Your doc says that isn't enough to cover his costs, he needs $z. So your doc decides not to treat your child unless you come up with $z.

If you can't afford $z, and your insurer says he can't afford $z, and the doc says he can't afford to treat without $z, then $z is too high. Or someone is not telling the truth.
________

Preventing Cross-Contamination, A Herculean Feat

The New York Times asked:

"Can consumers prevent cross-contamination by simply following directions on a package of ground beef?"

They conducted this experiment:



Their answer: No.
Consumers cannot prevent cross-contamination by following directions on a package of ground beef.

Those instructions ...

Safe handling Instructions:

• Thaw in refrigerator or microwave.
  
• Keep raw meat and poultry separate from other foods.
  
• Wash working surfaces, including cutting boards, utensils and hands after touching raw meat or poultry.

... appear to be inadequate. To up the ante even more, the FDA says:

"Unlike other food-borne pathogens, E. coli O157:H7 has no margin for error. It takes only a microscopic amount to cause serious illness or even death."
- FDA Consumer Magazine, September-October 1998

Another way of saying that, "100,000 fit on the head of a pin; only 10 needed to kill".

This was a tasty morsel in the above video: E. coli left on surfaces "double in number every 45 minutes."

If it's true, as the meat industry says, that the reason consumers get sick and in some cases lose their lives, is because of their (consumers) own negligence, what additional precautions do they suggest consumers take? How are we to eradicate every last invisible microscopic E. coli 0157:H7 that is increasingly finding its way into our food?
________Thanks to Bill Marler and BL for the video. By the way, Bill is going to be a guest on Larry King Live on Monday. He'll be talking about ... you guessed it, food safety. Tell them (again) to stop blaming the consumer, Bill.

Genetically Modified Organisms: What's The Problem?

There's a new interview with Jeffrey Smith, author of Seeds of Deception (which questions the safety of genetically engineered foods) on a site called the Azure Standard:

An Interview with Jeffrey M. Smith, Oct/Nov 2009
by Susan Booth

Here are excerpts where Smith answers questions often posed about genetic engineering (GE):

Susan Booth: What is the difference between genetic modification versus just regular hybridization or selective breeding?

Jeffrey M. Smith: Genetic engineering is not natural. It carries unique risks and is fraught with unpredicted side effects.

In normal hybridization or selective breeding you take plants from the same species or related species and they essentially have sex and their offspring share genes from both parents. With genetic engineering, you take a single gene or combination of genes from other species, and you manipulate the gene in the laboratory. You add, typically, an "on switch" called a Promoter from a virus and other materials and then you force it into the DNA of the plant. Then you clone the cell into a plant… The process of insertion, whether through "gene gun" technology or bacterial infection, plus cloning, causes massive collateral damage in the DNA. It leads to hundreds or thousands of mutations up and down the DNA, and hundreds or thousands of genes that can change their levels of expression in the natural plant. These changes can lead to unpredicted side effects, such as new or higher levels of toxins, carcinogens, allergens, or anti-nutrients. And this is not theoretical. They have actually found these types of things in the genetically engineered crops already on the market.

Booth: If it’s that dangerous, and has that many problems, why do they do it?

Smith: The White House [George H. W. Bush administration] had been convinced that genetically engineered foods would increase U.S. exports and our domination in world food trade. They ordered the FDA and the other regulatory agencies to fast-track GM foods.

Booth: What are some of the bad things that could happen to children who are consuming a lot of genetically modified foods? I know you talk about allergies, and the fact that soy allergies skyrocketed in the U.K. when genetically engineered soy was introduced.

Smith: Well, with allergies, I just found out… Emergency room visits due to allergies doubled in the United States in the five years following the introduction of genetically modified foods.

One top biologist in the world recently told me that he sees the increase in so many health problems in the US in the last 10 or 15 years, and he believes that the introduction of genetically engineered foods into the American diet is largely responsible for those changes. So, these could be any of the "new" diseases, or the increases in diseases, from autism and allergies to obesity and diabetes, to digestive system cancers to virtually anything.

Children’s digestive systems, their gut bacteria, their whole defense system is not particularly well-developed, and we find in the only human feeding study ever published, that genes can transfer into the DNA of bacteria living inside our intestines. There’s more opportunity for the DNA to transfer into the gut bacteria [in children because their] DNA is broken down at a slower rate or not at all.

Also, the gut bacteria in the infant, I’m told by doctors, is first populated by the bacteria inside the womb of the mother. So if there are already gut bacteria problems and imbalances due to GMOs in the mother, then that’s also a problem.

If the Bt toxin, which is part of genetically modified corn, causes disturbance in the walls of the intestines, as it may in fact be doing, it might cause some kind of leaky gut which could cause toxicity in the blood. And since the blood-brain barrier in children is not well developed, it could also result in toxicity of the brain, which could contribute to a whole host of some of the psychological disorders and learning disabilities.

I’m mentioning just a small list compared to what could be happening due to GMOs. They’ve found, for example, that both soy and corn have higher levels of lignan, which was not supposed to happen. The metabolic pathway that produces lignan also produces Rotenone, a plant pesticide which is linked to Parkinson’s Disease.

________
A follow-up to these uncertainties is often, "What is recent research showing?" Unfortunately, there is little research being conducted, as this article from the New York Times explains:

Crop Scientists Say Biotechnology Seed Companies Are Thwarting Research, New York Times, Feb 2009

Biotechnology companies are keeping university scientists from fully researching the effectiveness and environmental impact of the industry’s genetically modified crops, according to an unusual complaint issued by a group of those scientists.

The problem, the scientists say, is that farmers and other buyers of genetically engineered seeds have to sign an agreement meant to ensure that growers honor company patent rights and environmental regulations. But the agreements also prohibit growing the crops for research purposes.

________

The 50 Most Prescribed Drugs in 2008

If you multiply the number of prescriptions written for these drugs by their retail cost, you come up with $53.2 billion.  According to AARP, which was the source for this list, more than 10% of our annual health care costs are attributed to prescription drugs.

The top 5 money makers were Lipitor ($5.9 billion retail cost), Nexium ($4.8b), Plavix ($3.8b), Advair ($3.6b), and Prevacid ($3.3b).

Brand names are listed in red. AARP: "Though brand names make up only 22% of the names on the list, they represent 62% of the $53.2 billion."

1. Hydrocodone (pain)
2. Lisinopril (hypertension)
3. Simvastatin (high cholesterol)
4. Levothyroxine (hypothyroidism)
5. Amoxicillin (bacterial infection)
6. Azithromycin (bacterial infection)
7. Lipitor (high cholesterol)
8. Hydrochlorothiazide (edema/hypertension)
9. Alprazolam (anxiety/depression)
10. Atenolol (hypertension)
11. Metformin (type 2 diabetes)
12. Metoprolol Succinate (hypertension)
13. Furosemide oral (edema/hypertension)
14. Metoprolol tartrate (hypertension)
15. Sertraline (depression)
16. Omeprazole (ulcers/reflux)
17. Zolpidem tartrate (insomnia)
18. Nexium (ulcers/reflux)
19. Lexapro (depression)
20. Oxycodone (pain)
21. Singulair (asthma)
22. Ibuprofen (pain/inflammation)
23. Plavix (blood clottong)
24. Prednisone oral (allergies/inflammation)
25. Fluoxetine (depression)
26. Synthroid (hypothyroidism)
27. Warfarin (blood clotting)
28. Cephalexin (bacterial infection)
29. Lorazepam (anxiety)
30. Clonazepam (epilepsy/anxiety)
31. Citalopram HBR (depression)
32. Tramadol (pain)
33. Gabapentin (epilepsy/pain
34. Ciprofloxacin HCl (bacterial infection)
35. Propoxyphene-N (pain)
36. Lisinopril (hypertension)
37. Triamterene (edema/hypertention)
38. Amoxicillin (bacterial infection)
39. Cyclobenzaprine (muscle injury/spasm)
40. Prevacid (ulcers/reflux)
41. Advair (asthma)
42. Effexor XR (depression)
43. Trazodone HCl (depression)
44. Fexofenadine (allergy)
45. Fluticasone nasal (allergy)
46. Diovan (hypertension)
47. Paroxetine (depression/anxiety)
48. Lovastatin (high cholesterol)
49. Crestor (high cholesterol)
50. Trimethoprim (bacterial infection)

Let me see...

10 of the top 50 are for anxiety or depression.
That's about 19% of the total cost ($10.3b of $53.2b).  Depression is big business in this country.

4 of the top 50 are for high cholesterol, about 18% ($9.4b of $53.2b).
9 of the top 50 are for hypertension, about 9% ($4.9b of $53.2).
That adds up to 27% of the total cost, a lot of money for conditions that have been shown repeatedly to respond to diet and exercise.

These are a lot of drugs for not a lot of health.¹ You have to wonder what impact disease mongering is having on this.²
________¹ US Ranks Last Among Other Industrialized Nations On Preventable Deaths, Report Shows, ScienceDaily, Jan 2008
² The Fight Against Disease Mongering: Generating Knowledge For Action, PLoSMedicine, 2006

"Disease mongering is the selling of sickness that widens the boundaries of illness and grows the markets for those who sell and deliver treatments. It is exemplified most explicitly by many pharmaceutical industry–funded disease-awareness campaigns—more often designed to sell drugs than to illuminate or to inform or educate about the prevention of illness or the maintenance of health."

Doug Bremner, the author of the book shown, blogs at BeforeYouTakeThatPill.com.

Gourmet Magazine Closing - What Happens To Estabrook?

I read yesterday that Condé Nast is closing Gourmet magazine. Here's the Washington Post's piece:
At 68, Gourmet Is 86'ed

It's not the loss of the magazine that concerns me, it's the future of Barry Estabrook, one of their writers. Estabrook wrote for Gourmet's Politics of the Plate column. He did an excellent job. Not many write so selflessly and factually about food politics. I hope he finds a new venue.
________

Patience

Think about a food you like. If I said you could have a mouthful right now, or three times that amount in 2 minutes, would you wait?

What if the same choice was presented to an ape. Do you think, given a choice, apes would take the goods offered now, or wait for the bigger share?

This study found that chimpanzees were nearly 4 times more likely to wait than humans:
The Evolutionary Origins of Human Patience: Temporal Preferences in Chimpanzees, Bonobos, and Human Adults, Current Biology, 2007

Perhaps patience is not unique to humans. If there is a genetic basis, what role does learning play?
________
On a related note, this story made the rounds last week:
Daily Sweets 'Linked To Violence'

The study's lead investigator, Dr. Simon Moore, said:

"Our favoured explanation is that giving children sweets and chocolate regularly may stop them learning how to wait to obtain something they want.

Not being able to defer gratification may push them towards more impulsive behaviour, which is strongly associated with delinquency."

Hard to say in this case whether aggression caused impulsiveness, or impulsiveness led to more aggression. Which leads me to my original question: What role does learning play in patience? These researchers implied, in humans at least, that patience is learned, can be improved upon, and can overcome a genetic tendency.
________
I see a lot of variables in these experiments. If you choose to be patient, to hold out for something, that may assume:

• The something you're holding out for is more valuable (or so you believe) than what you can have now.
• There is little risk in waiting (or so you believe). No one will get to it and take it away in the interim.
• The cost you have to bear (or that you envision bearing) to get the greater reward is acceptable to you.
• It's obviously a choice, you can't both have it now, and have it later.

Say you want something - to lose weight, or to stop smoking. Or say the want is a collective want - to have more water available to grow crops in a region that's becoming increasingly dry. To succeed, the variables above may have to be satisfied. (Indeed, in the study at the beginning of this post, humans were more willing to wait for monetary rewards than for food. Maybe we value a bankable commodity more.)

Here's a video of the classic Marshmallow Experiment, where researchers investigated differences between those who delay gratification and those who don't. Children were told they could have either one marshmallow, or if they wait and don't eat it, they could have two. A hidden camera recorded their behavior.


Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.
So, what role does learning play in patience? Can patience be taught? (Was chimpanzees' ability to delay gratification learned?) While some of us may be more hard-wired to delay gratification, it's likely we can "teach ourselves how to think so that we can outsmart our desires."¹ Says Walter Mischel, a psychologist who designed the original Marshmallow Experiment in the 1960s:

"If you’re thinking about the marshmallow and how delicious it is, then you’re going to eat it," Mischel says. "The key is to avoid thinking about it in the first place."

________¹Jonah Lehrer in Don’t! The secret of self-control, The New Yorker, May 2009