BPA Exposure Higher From Paper Than From Cans
December 2, 2011 — It seems there’s no escaping the chemical bisphenol A (BPA), which is used to make plastics like water bottles and to coat the insides of aluminum cans.
Now a new study shows that BPA is also in a wide variety of paper products, including napkins, toilet paper, tickets, food wrappers, newspapers, and printer paper. “The concentrations are very high in the paper products,” says study researcher Kurunthachalam Kannan, PhD, a research scientist at the New York State Department of Health.
Kannan tested more than 200 paper samples from 15 different types of products.
He found BPA levels in paper that were 100 to 1 million times higher than amounts detected in canned and packaged foods.
The study is published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. Researchers say that because only a fraction of that is absorbed through the skin, most people probably pick up far less BPA handling paper than they do from their diets. But those amounts may wind up being significant for people like cashiers or printers who have to touch a lot of BPA-tainted paper as part of their jobs.
“We’ve been focused on food, but there could be certain groups of people that could be exposed through other routes and other sources,” says Joseph Braun, PhD, a research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health, who is studying how BPA may affect kids’ behavior. He was not involved in the latest study.
In Braun’s studies, pregnant women who worked as cashiers had BPA levels that were about 30% higher than pregnant women who had different kinds of jobs.
BPA in Recycled Paper
How did BPA get into paper? Probably recycling, researchers say.
A thin coating of powdered BPA is used on some kinds of heat-sensitive paper, like cash register receipts, shipping labels, and lottery tickets.
Researchers estimate that tossed thermal paper contributes about 33.5 tons of BPA to the environment each year. About 30% of thermal paper winds up being recycled, introducing BPA into many different kinds of items. That’s concerning, researchers say, because BPA is chemically similar to the hormone estrogen. It has been linked to problems with reproduction and sexual development, to behavioral and developmental problems in young children, and to some kinds of cancer.
Experts say such studies are suggestive, but not conclusive. And they insist that there’s no danger from BPA in paper.
“These are trivial exposures,” far below the tolerable safe levels of BPA set by the Environmental Protection Agency, says John Heinze, PhD, executive director of the Environmental Health Research Foundation in Chantilly, Va., a nonprofit organization that does research for the American Chemistry Council, an industry group. “They don’t really raise any concerns for safety. That’s really what their data show.”
How Much BPA Do People Pick Up From Paper?
For the study, researchers tested 103 different thermal receipts collected from supermarkets, banks, libraries, gas stations, and restaurants in seven U. S. cities, South Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. Japan phased out the use of BPA in receipts in 2001.
Researchers also tested 14 other kinds of paper products including flyers, magazines, bus and train tickets, envelopes, newspapers, food wrappers and cartons, airplane boarding passes, luggage tags, printing paper, business cards, napkins, paper towels, and toilet paper.
- Ninety-four percent of the thermal receipts tested positive for BPA, including some receipts that claimed to be BPA-free
- The levels of BPA detected on the receipts were much higher than for other paper products.
- The highest concentration of BPA found among other kinds of paper was in tickets, followed by newspapers.
Researchers then estimated how much paper products might contribute to a person’s total daily BPA exposure.
Cutting BPA Exposure
Based on their models, if an average person handled thermal receipts twice each day, and other kinds of paper five to 10 times a day, they’d get about 2% of their total daily exposure to BPA from paper products.
For cashiers, it was assumed they would touch receipts around 150 times a day, which could contribute as much as 51% of their daily BPA exposure.
Researchers say that if people want to cut their exposure to BPA in paper, they should be careful about how they handle receipts.
If you don’t need one, don’t take it, Kannan says. If you do need a receipt, some retailers will email it. If a hard copy is your only option, head to the sink soon after. “Whenever I touch a thermal receipt paper, immediately I wash my hands,” Kannan says.
For cashiers, he says, wearing gloves would probably help cut the amount of BPA absorbed through the skin.
SOURCES:
Kannan, K. Environmental Science and Technology, Sept. 23, 2011.
Kurunthachalam Kannan, PhD, research scientist, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany.
Joseph Braun, PhD, research fellow, department of environmental health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston.
John Heinze, PhD, executive director, Environmental Health Research Foundation, Chantilly.
Prenatal BPA Exposure Effect on Emotional Health in Girls
BOSTON—Exposure to the industrial chemical bisphenol A (BPA) before birth may lead to behavior and emotional problems in preschoolers, particularly girls, according to a new study published in the journalPediatrics. The findings add more fire to the already hot debate about healthy hazards associated with BPA exposure.
Researchers at Harvard School of Public Health examined data from 244 mothers and their young children in the Cincinnati area who were taking part in the Health Outcomes and Measures of the Environment Study. They characterized gestational and childhood BPA exposures by using the mean BPA concentrations in maternal (16 and 26 weeks of gestation and birth) and child (1, 2, and 3 years of age) urine samples, respectively. Behavior and executive function were measured by using the Behavior Assessment System for Children 2 (BASC-2) and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool (BRIEF-P).
They found 85% of the mothers and 96% of the children had detectable levels of BPA in their urine. There was little difference between the mothers’ in-pregnancy and at-birth levels of BPA. The BPA levels in the children’s urine samples decreased from age 1 to age 3, but they were higher and varied more than their mothers’ levels.
After adjusting for other possible influencers, BPA levels in pregnancy were linked to more hyperactive, aggressive, anxious, and depressed behavior and poorer emotional control and inhibition in the girls, but not the boys.
The researchers concluded gestational BPA exposure affected behavioral and emotional regulation domains at 3 years of age, especially among girls. Clinicians may advise concerned patients to reduce their exposure to certain consumer products, but the benefits of such reductions are unclear.
Eat Your Greens, Change Your Genes
You might not be stuck with the genes your parents gave you. New research fromMcMaster and McGill universities found that consumption of fruit and raw vegetables modified a gene called 9p21, the strongest marker for heart disease.
The study involved more than 27,000 subjects from five ethnicities—European, South Asian, Chinese, Latin American and Arab—and the affect that their diets had on the effect of the 9p21 gene. The results suggest that individuals with the high-risk genotype who consumed a prudent diet, composed mainly of raw vegetables, fruits and berries, had a similar risk of heart attack to those with the low-risk genotype.
“We know that 9p21 genetic variants increase the risk of heart disease for those that carry it,” said Jamie Engert, joint principal investigator of the study and researcher in cardiovascular diseases at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and associate member in the Department of Human Genetics at McGill University. “But it was a surprise to find that a healthy diet could significantly weaken its effect.”
“Our research suggests there may be an important interplay between genes and diet in cardiovascular disease,” said the study’s lead author Ron Do, who conducted this research as part of his PhD at McGill and is now based at the Center for Human Genetics Research at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “Future research is necessary to understand the mechanism of this interaction, which will shed light on the underlying metabolic processes that the 9p21 gene is involved in.”
The results of the study are published in the current issue of PLoS Medicine.
Cheaper Natural Smoking Cessation Assistance
Reuters (09/29/11) Emery, Gene
Cytisine, an extract from the seeds of the Golden Rain acacia that was first marketed in Bulgaria in 1964, can give smokers an inexpensive assist in kicking the habit, according to the first large modern study of the drug, published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
In the test on 740 volunteers, 8.4 percent of those who were given cytisine for 25 days stayed off cigarettes for one year, compared with 2.4 percent in the placebo group.
That success rate is comparable to treatment with nicotine patches and other anti-smoking drugs like varenicline (Chantix) and bupropion (Zyban), but costs much less.
A month of cytisine pills, sold in Central and Eastern Europe under the brand name Tabex, costs about $15 in Poland and $6 in Russia.
Nicotine patches and pills to stop smoking typically sell for more than $100 per treatment, depending on the country.
The drug is not approved in the United States, Japan or Western Europe.
Data Show Drug Deaths Outnumber Traffic Fatalities
From the L A Times
Drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in U.S., data show
Fueling the surge are prescription pain and anxiety drugs that are potent, highly addictive and especially dangerous when combined with one another or with other drugs or alcohol.
By Lisa Girion, Scott Glover and Doug Smith, Los Angeles Times
Propelled by an increase in prescription narcotic overdoses, drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in the United States, a Times analysis of government data has found.
Drugs exceeded motor vehicle accidents as a cause of death in 2009, killing at least 37,485 people nationwide, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While most major causes of preventable death are declining, drugs are an exception. The death toll has doubled in the last decade, now claiming a life every 14 minutes. By contrast, traffic accidents have been dropping for decades because of huge investments in auto safety.
Public health experts have used the comparison to draw attention to the nation’s growing prescription drug problem, which they characterize as an epidemic. This is the first time that drugs have accounted for more fatalities than traffic accidents since the government started tracking drug-induced deaths in 1979.
Fueling the surge in deaths are prescription pain and anxiety drugs that are potent, highly addictive and especially dangerous when combined with one another or with other drugs or alcohol. Among the most commonly abused are OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax and Soma. One relative newcomer to the scene is Fentanyl, a painkiller that comes in the form of patches and lollipops and is 100 times more powerful than morphine.
Such drugs now cause more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined.
“The problem is right here under our noses in our medicine cabinets,” said Laz Salinas, a sheriff’s commander in Santa Barbara, which has seen a dramatic rise in prescription drug deaths in recent years.
Overdose victims range in age and circumstance from teenagers who pop pills to get a heroin-like high to middle-aged working men and women who take medications prescribed for strained backs and bum knees and become addicted.
A review of hundreds of autopsy reports in Southern California reveals one tragic demise after another: A 19-year-old Army recruit, who had just passed his military physical, took a handful of Xanax and painkillers while partying with friends. A groom, anxious over his upcoming wedding, overdosed on a cocktail of prescription drugs. A teenage honors student overdosed on painkillers her father left in his medicine cabinet from a surgery years earlier. A toddler was orphaned after both parents overdosed on prescription drugs months apart. A grandmother suffering from chronic back pain apparently forgot she’d already taken her daily regimen of pills and ended up double dosing.
Many died after failed attempts at rehab — or after using one too many times while contemplating quitting. That’s apparently what happened to a San Diego woman found dead with a Fentanyl patch on her body, one of five she’d applied in the 24 hours before her death. Next to her on the couch was a notebook with information about rehab.
The seeds of the problem were planted more than a decade ago by well-meaning efforts by doctors to mitigate suffering, as well as aggressive sales campaigns by pharmaceutical manufacturers. In hindsight, the liberalized prescription of pain drugs “may in fact be the cause of the epidemic we’re now facing,” said Linda Rosenstock, dean of the UCLA School of Public Health.
In some ways, prescription drugs are more dangerous than illicit ones because users don’t have their guard up, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Opferman, head of a county task force on prescription drug-related crimes. “People feel they are safer with prescription drugs because you get them from a pharmacy and they are prescribed by a doctor,” Opferman said. “Younger people believe they are safer because they see their parents taking them. It doesn’t have the same stigma as using street narcotics.”
Lori Smith said she believes that’s what her son might have been thinking the night he died six months shy of his 16th birthday. Nolan Smith, of Aliso Viejo, loved to surf, sail and fish with his brother and father. He suffered from migraines and anxiety but showed no signs of drug abuse, his mother said.
The night before he died in January 2009, Nolan called his mother at work, asking for a ride to the girls basketball game at Aliso Niguel High School. Lori told him she couldn’t get away.
When Nolan didn’t come home that evening, his parents called police and his friends. His body was found the next morning on a stranger’s front porch.
A toxicology test turned up Zoloft, which had been prescribed for anxiety, and a host of other drugs that had not been prescribed, including two additional anti-anxiety drugs, as well as morphine and marijuana.
All investigators could give the family were theories.
“They said they will have parties where the kids will throw a bunch of pills in a bowl and the kids take them without knowing what they are,” Lori said. “We called all of his friends, but no one would say they were with him. But he must have been with someone. You just don’t do that by yourself.”
The triumph of public health policies that have improved traffic safety over the years through the use of seat belts, air bags and other measures stands in stark contrast to the nation’s record on prescription drugs. Even though more people are driving more miles, traffic fatalities have dropped by more than a third since the early 1970s to 36,284 in 2009. Drug-induced deaths had equaled or surpassed traffic fatalities in California, 22 other states and the District of Columbia even before the 2009 figures revealed the shift at the national level, according to the Times analysis.
The Centers for Disease Control collects data on all causes of death each year and analyzes them to identify health problems. Drug-induced deaths are mostly accidental overdoses but also include suicides and fatal diseases caused by drugs.
The CDC’s 2009 statistics are the agency’s most current. They are considered preliminary because they reflect 96% of death certificates filed. The remaining are deaths for which the causes were not immediately clear.
Drug fatalities more than doubled among teens and young adults between 2000 and 2008, years for which more detailed data are available. Deaths more than tripled among people aged 50 to 69, the Times analysis found. In terms of sheer numbers, the death toll is highest among people in their 40s.
Overdose deaths involving prescription painkillers, including OxyContin and Vicodin, and anti-anxiety drugs such as Valium and Xanax more than tripled between 2000 and 2008.
The rise in deaths corresponds with doctors prescribing more painkillers and anti-anxiety medications. The number of prescriptions for the strongest pain pills filled at California pharmacies, for instance, increased more than 43% since 2007 — and the doses grew by even more, nearly 50%, according to a review of prescribing data collected by the state.
Those prescriptions provide relief to pain sufferers but also fuel a thriving black market. Prescription drugs are traded on Internet chat rooms that buzz with offers of “vikes,” “percs” and “oxys” for $10 to $80 a pill. They are sold on street corners along with heroin, marijuana and crack. An addiction to prescription drugs can be costly; a heavy OxyContin habit can run twice as much as a heroin addiction, authorities say.
On a recent weekday morning, Los Angeles County undercover sheriff’s deputies posing as drug buyers easily purchased enough pills to fill a medicine cabinet on a sidewalk a few blocks south of Los Angeles City Hall.
The most commonly abused prescription drug, hydrocodone, also is the most widely prescribed drug in America, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. Better known as Vicodin, the pain reliever is prescribed more often than the top cholesterol drug and the top antibiotic.
“We have an insatiable appetite for this drug — insatiable,” Joseph T. Rannazzisi, a top DEA administrator, told a group of pharmacists at a regulatory meeting in Sacramento.
In April, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy announced initiatives aimed at stanching prescription drug abuse. The plans include a series of drug take-back days, modeled after similar programs involving weapons, in which consumers are encouraged to turn leftover prescription drugs in to authorities. Another initiative would develop voluntary courses to train physicians on how to safely prescribe pain drugs, a curriculum that is not widely taught in medical schools.
Initial attempts to reverse the trend in drug deaths — such as state-run prescription drug-monitoring programs aimed at thwarting “doctor-shopping” addicts — don’t appear to be having much effect, experts say.
“What’s really scary is we don’t know a lot about how to reduce prescription deaths,” said Amy S.B. Bohnert, a researcher at the University of Michigan Medical School who is studying ways to lower the risk of prescription drugs.
“It’s a wonderful medical advancement that we can treat pain,” Bohnert said. “But we haven’t figured out the safety belt yet.”
Reason Why Elderly May be at Cardiovascular Risk
ELDERLY MAY BE AT CARDIOVASCULAR RISK DUE TO VITAMIN B12 DEFICIENCY
Researchers have found that almost five percent of Canadians aged 6 to 79 are vitamin B12 deficient, suggesting a possible cardiovascular risk in Canada and the US among the elderly, a group at greater risk of B12 malabsorption. (Deficiencies of both vitamin B12 and folate are linked with high levels of the amino acid homocysteine, a powerful risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Metabolism of vitamin B12 and folate is interdependent; if folate is sufficient, B12 deficiency alone can cause high homocysteine. After widespread folate fortification in both countries, the researchers examined folate, vitamin B12, and homocysteine levels.)
Folate levels were sufficient, but B12 levels were deficient in 4.6 percent of the general population, confirmed by high homocysteine levels in these individuals. The researchers concluded that in folate-fortified populations, including Canada and the US, vitamin B12 deficiency is a major cause of high homocysteine and a key factor in cardiovascular disease. The deficiency and cardiovascular risk would be much greater among the elderly. Released September 7, 2011 by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, this study will appear in a future issue. It is available now at http://bit.ly/r2kulz.
Vitamin C Linked to Lower Blood Pressure
VITAMIN C LEVELS LINKED TO LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE
A study has concluded that a higher intake of fruits and vegetables, for which a greater blood concentration of vitamin C was used as an indicator, decreases the risk of developing high blood pressure by up to 22 percent for those in the top quarter of vitamin C levels.
The large epidemiological study adjusted for numerous potentially confounding factors, such as age, sex, body mass, alcohol consumption, smoking, blood pressure medications, and even vitamin C supplementation. In other words, the link between higher vitamin C levels and reduced blood pressure risk was found whether the subjects took supplements or not, so long as the vitamin C concentrations were high. Only the systolic blood pressure reading (the number on the top) was included in the study.
This research will not be published until the September 2011 issue of the journal Hypertension, but it is available online now at http://bit.ly/qZlsRX with subscription or access fee.
How 15 Minutes/Day Can Impact Your Life
The minimal amount of physical activity to reduce mortality risk is 15 minutes a day of moderate-intensity exercise, according to the results of a prospective cohort study reported online August 16 in The Lancet.
“Exercising at very light levels reduced deaths from any cause by 14 percent,” said senior author Xifeng Wu, MD, PhD, professor and chair of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Department of Epidemiology, in a news release. “The benefits of exercise appear to be significant even without reaching the recommended 150 minutes per week based on results of previous research.”
The study cohort consisted of 416,175 persons in Taiwan (199,265 men and 216,910 women) who were evaluated between 1996 and 2008 in a standard medical screening program. Average duration of follow-up was 8.05 ± 4.21 years. Participants were categorized according to the amount of weekly exercise self-reported on a questionnaire as inactive, low, medium, high, or very high activity. For each group, life expectancy and hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated for mortality risk, with use of the inactive group as the standard.
The average amount of exercise in the low-volume activity group was 92 minutes per week (95% confidence interval [CI], 71 – 112) or 15 ± 18 minutes per day. Risk for all-cause mortality was 14% lower (HR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.81 – 0.91), and life expectancy was 3 years longer in the low-volume activity group vs the inactive group.
Beyond the minimal amount of 15 minutes of daily exercise, each additional 15 minutes was associated with a further reduction in all-cause mortality risk by 4% (95% CI, 2.5 – 7.0) and in all-cancer mortality risk by 1% (95% CI, 0.3 – 4.5). These benefits of exercise were seen in all age groups, in both sexes, and in persons at risk for cardiovascular disease. Compared with individuals in the low-volume group, inactive persons had a 17% increased risk for mortality (HR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.10 – 1.24).
“15 min a day or 90 min a week of moderate-intensity exercise might be of benefit, even for individuals at risk of cardiovascular disease,” the study authors write.
Limitations of this study include observational design with possible confounding, reliance on self-report to determine exercise amount, lack of generalizability to other populations, and possible loss to follow-up.
In an accompanying editorial, Anil Nigam and Martin Juneau, from Montreal Heart Institute and Université de Montréal in Quebec, Canada, note that “this is the first observational study of this size to report important and global health benefits at such a low volume of leisure-time physical activity with this degree of precision.”
“The knowledge that as little as 15 min per day of exercise on most days of the week can substantially reduce an individual’s risk of dying could encourage many more individuals to incorporate a small amount of physical activity into their busy lives,” Drs. Nigam and Juneau write. “Governments and health professionals both have major roles to play to spread this good news story and convince people of the importance of being at least minimally active.”
The exercise project was funded by the Taiwan Department of Health Clinical Trial and Research Center of Excellence, and the Taiwan National Health Research Institutes supported this study. The study authors and editorialists have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Lancet. Published online August 16, 2011.
Another Benefit of Vitamin D
VITAMIN D PROTECTS AGAINST MORE AGGRESSIVE COLON CANCERS
Researchers have found that cholecalciferol, or vitamin D3, acts on a specific biological pathway that results in a protective effect against more aggressive forms of colon cancer. Evidence that vitamin D inhibits the growth of colon cancer cells is not new, but this study found that vitamin D slows down the action of beta-catenin, a key protein in the carcinogenic transformation process that can cause colon cancers to develop as the more aggressive type.
The study was conducted on mice and also on human colon cancer cells. The scientists reported that treatment with vitamin D in the initial stages of colon cancer could prevent development of aggressive cancers and save lives, but they stressed that this would not be useful in the advanced stages.
Vitamin D is available from some foods such as oily fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines, and tuna), from direct sunlight on exposed skin, and from supplement pills or cod liver oil.
The sole vegan source is UV-irradiated mushrooms.
This study was just published electronically in the online journal PLoS, and the full text is now available at http://bit.ly/mYUAJ0 without cost.
Is that Statin Drug Necessary?
Tens of thousands of patients at low risk of heart attacks or strokes could be taking statin heart drugs needlessly, a study published in Britain says. The study published in The Lancet medical journal is the latest suggesting too many people are taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs who show no evidence of coronary artery calcium, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.As many as 7 million middle-aged and older people in England are thought to take statins at a cost of $825 million a year to the National Health Service, the Telegraph said. Tens of thousands of patients at low risk of heart attacks or strokes could be taking statin heart drugs needlessly, a study published in Britain says.
The study published in The Lancet medical journal is the latest suggesting too many people are taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs who show no evidence of coronary artery calcium, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.
As many as 7 million middle-aged and older people in England are thought to take statins at a cost of $825 million a year to the National Health Service, the Telegraph said.
Researchers said the findings have important public health implications and significant cost savings could be realized if cholesterol-lowering drugs were prescribed only for those who would genuinely benefit.
“The greatest challenge for preventive medicine is identifying people who are at highest risk of heart disease and who should be given drugs, particularly statins, to reduce that risk,” said Peter Weissberg, medical director for the British Heart Foundation.
Is Your Glass of Water A Cocktail of This…?
Source: Chicago Tribune
Aug. 06–Trace amounts of sex hormones, prescription drugs, flame retardants and herbicides are being detected in treated drinking water pumped to more than 7 million people in Chicago and its suburbs.
In the latest round of testing prompted by a 2008 Tribune investigation, city officials discovered that more than two dozen pharmaceutical drugs and other unregulated chemicals pass through Chicago’s massive treatment plants.
Little is known about potential health effects from drinking drug-contaminated water, but scientists and regulators increasingly are concerned about long-term exposure, even at very low levels.
“We need to start addressing the cumulative effects that these low-dose exposures could be having on people,” said Thomas Burke, associate dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“There are no quick solutions,” said Burke, who chaired a National Academy of Sciences committee that called for a dramatic overhaul of the way the U.S. regulates toxic chemicals. “But we need a new approach that is more responsive to emerging science.”
Like other cities, Chicago must notify the public if its drinking water contains regulated contaminants, including lead, pesticides and harmful bacteria. There is no such requirement if pharmaceuticals and other unregulated substances are detected.
Annual water quality reports mailed last month to people in Chicago and the suburbs noted that the city is testing for substances that aren’t on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s list of regulated contaminants. A list of results obtained by the Tribune is dated April 11 but wasn’t posted on the city’s website until after the newspaper asked for it last week.
City officials were prompted to start testing for the substances after the Tribune found trace amounts of pharmaceuticals, residue from personal care products and unregulated industrial chemicals in local tap water. Substances found in the city’s latest tests include the sex hormones testosterone and progesterone; gemfibrozil, a prescription cholesterol-fighting drug; and DEET, the active ingredient in bug spray.
The tests also found perfluorooctane sulfonate, an ingredient in Scotchgard stain-fighting coatings; bisphenol A, a hormone-like plastics additive; and tris (2-butoxyethyl) phosphate, a flame retardant chemical.
“Our very awareness of trace amounts of these chemicals comes in large part because we are aggressively conducting research on water quality and safety,” said Tom LaPorte, a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Water Management.
Drugs end up in drinking water after people take medicines and residue passes through their bodies down the toilet. Conventional sewage and water treatment filters out some of the substances, or at least reduces the concentrations, but studies have found that small amounts still get through.
Although treated sewage from the Chicago area drains away from Lake Michigan, more than 300 other cities discharge treated waste and untreated sewage overflows into the lake and its tributaries, according to the EPA.
“Exposure to some of these chemicals … is cause for consternation for people and concern over fish and wildlife impacts,” said Rebecca Klaper, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who studies the Great Lakes.
The EPA’s position is that it doesn’t yet have enough evidence to limit pharmaceuticals and many other unregulated chemicals in drinking water. Water officials say not enough is known to justify spending millions of taxpayer dollars to upgrade treatment plants.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Drug disposal
The detection of pharmaceuticals in water has prompted new advice about how to properly dispose of unused medicine. The Illinois EPA recommends taking it to collection events for household hazardous waste. If that is not practical, you can place unused drugs in the trash after grinding them up and mixing them with coffee grounds or cat box filler so they can’t be stolen. Questions? Email the agency at EPA.Meds.Mail@Illinois.gov. (This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .)
Vitamin D Deficiency Raises Risk of Metabolic Syndrome
VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY RAISES RISK OF METABOLIC SYNDROME
A study has found that those with low vitamin D levels are 70 percent more likely to have metabolic syndrome.
Also, those with low levels of vitamin D were 2.63 times as likely to be obese in the abdomen; 26 percent more likely to have low levels of HDL (good) cholesterol; 22 percent more likely to have high blood glucose (blood sugar) levels; 46 percent more likely to have high or abnormal blood triglycerides; and 43 percent more likely to have high or abnormal blood pressure readings.
The results of this research on Asian volunteers in Kuala Lumpur confirm similar findings regarding vitamin D deficiencies among non-Asian Westerners.
This study was published in a supplement of the August 2011 issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health and is available now online at http://bit.ly/oGmSXa with subscription or access fee.
Latest Research on Alzheimer’s Prevention
VITAMIN D SUFFICIENCY
Researchers conclude that vitamin D sufficiency helps remove amyloid-beta plaque from the aging brain, across the blood-brain barrier, helping to prevent the excessive buildup that causes Alzheimer’s disease.
(The buildup in the brain, of amyloid-beta plaque is ordinarily controlled by transporter proteins and vitamin D. Although levels of these protein transporters increase with age, production tends to fail eventually. Low levels of vitamin D have been linked with age-related declines in memory and cognition, and with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s.)
The team found that vitamin D injections in mice appear to help regulate protein expression and cell signaling, which helps prevent plaque buildup and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The implication is that maintaining sufficient vitamin D levels with advancing age may provide some preventive benefit, and a potential therapy, for these brain disorders.
This newly released study will be published in a future issue of the journal, Fluids and Barriers of the CNS. It is available early at http://bit.ly/nmFQyC without fee.
GRAPESEED POLYPHENOLS
A new study found that grapeseed polyphenol, a natural antioxidant, suppresses the creation of a specific form of beta-amyloid peptide – a substance in the brain long known to cause the neurotoxicity associated with Alzheimer’s disease – and therefore confirms, according to the researchers, previous research suggesting that grapeseed polyphenol may be an effective treatment for people at risk for the disease to prevent its development or retard its progression.
The authors stress that for grape-derived polyphenols to be effective, it will be necessary to find a biomarker for those at risk, although it may also be beneficial for those in the early stages of the disease. The study is significant because it is the first to examine the effect of this substance on these destructive peptides, illustrating the mechanism behind the apparent protective benefit, and because it was conducted on living subjects, namely mice. However, research is now being conducted to confirm that the results hold true for humans. The full-text of this just-released study is not yet available but will be published in a future issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Can Red Wine & Dark Chocolate Offset the Effects of a Sedentary Lifestyle?
COMPOUND MIGHT OFFSET SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE
A study has suggested that resveratrol, a compound found in small amounts in cocoa powder, boiled peanuts, and red wine, may offset the negative health effects – such as insulin resistance and loss of bone mass – stemming from a lack of exercise in a sedentary lifestyle.
Resveratrol is an antioxidant substance often reported by the mainstream media to be a major component of red wine; in fact, wine contains only trace amounts. Its cardiovascular health benefits are controversial and the subject of ongoing research.
The researchers tested resveratrol on rats that lived in an environment mimicking the weightless of space, which has negative health effects on astronauts. The rats provided resveratrol managed to avoid the insulin resistance and loss of bone mineral density that affected those sedentary rats not fed resveratrol. (Insulin resistance is linked to diabetes risk.) Resveratrol is found in supplements, which are often made from Japanese knotweed, and in small amounts in cocoa powder, red wine, and boiled peanuts. This study was released June 29, 2011 and will appear in a future issue of The FASEB Journal. It is online now at http://bit.ly/lLx6fj.
Study: Green Tea Lowers Cholesterol
GREEN TEA LOWERS CHOLESTEROL
Researchers have completed a comprehensive meta-analysis and found that drinking green tea or taking green tea extract lowered blood levels of total cholesterol, reduced levels of low-density-lipoprotein (LDL or bad) cholesterol, but did not have any effect on levels of high-density-lipoprotein (HDL or good) cholesterol. LDL cholesterol is often referred to by the media as bad cholesterol because some studies have associated higher levels of these fat particles in the blood with health problems and cardiovascular disease.
The effect of green tea on cholesterol has been controversial. The combined results of 14 trials involving a total of 1,136 test subjects showed an average reduction in total cholesterol of 7.20 mg/dL, and an average reduction in LDL cholesterol of 2.19 mg/dL, both of which are considered statistically significant.
This study was released June 29, 2011 by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and will appear in a future print issue. It is accessible online now at http://bit.ly/l4mYEW to subscribers or those who pay the access fee.
Reference:
Green tea intake lowers fasting serum total and LDL cholesterol in adults: a meta-analysis of 14 randomized controlled trials Am J Clin Nutr 2011 ajcn.010926; First published online June 29, 2011.
New Hope for Type I Diabetics (Juvenile)
CHEMICAL MADE BY PANCREAS MAY CURE TYPE 1 DIABETES
A study has found that injection of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a compound that is produced in non-diabetic people by the same pancreatic cells (islet beta cells) that normally make insulin, can prevent and even reverse type 1 diabetes in mice. (In type 1 diabetes, formerly known as juvenile diabetes, the immune system attacks and destroys the beta cells in the pancreas that make and secrete insulin, leaving the patient with little or no insulin. GABA is also known as a brain messenger, or neurotransmitter, but its role in the pancreas was unknown.)
This may be an especially effective therapy and prevention for type 1 diabetes because GABA was found both to regenerate insulin-producing beta cells, and to prevent destruction of those cells by the immune system. This treatment would need human trials before it could be considered a new treatment for type 1 diabetes.
This study was released June 27, 2011 and will appear in a future issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. It is available online now at http://bit.ly/l0YWg9 with subscription or fee.
How Many Commercials Do Kids See a Year?
How much TV do your kids watch?
If you don’t know, you might want to find out, say experts, since the time children spend in front of a TV or computer screen can have a profound effect on their physical and developmental health.
In a new policy statement on the role of media on obesity, the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) Council on Communications and Media warns parents that TV watching doesn’t just make children more sedentary, but also influences their eating habits, which in turn has consequences for their health. In other words, it’s not just that TV watching encourages youngsters to be less physically active, but it also exposes them to food advertisements that contribute to develop poor eating habits that can set kids up for health problems as adults.
“We created a perfect storm between media use, junk and fast food advertising, and physical inactivity,” says Dr. Victor Strasburger, professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and member of the AAP’s Council. “We created a situation where we now have more overweight and obese adults in the U.S, than underweight and normal weight adults; it’s become an urgent public health problem.”
The policy statement highlights the fact that the harms of TV viewing go beyond promoting inactivity. More studies have shown that children who spend more time in front of the tube are more likely to eat higher-calorie foods, drink sugared sodas and grow up to be overweight adults. In a U.K. study that followed children over 30 years into adulthood, for every additional hour of TV youngsters watched on weekends at age five, their risk of being obese as adults rose by 7%. And in some cases, it doesn’t even take that long for the extra pounds to accumulate: a Japanese study found that children who watched more TV at age three were more likely to be overweight at age six.
The culprit: advertising for unhealthy foods.
The average American child sees nearly 8,000 commercials on TV for food and beverages, and only 165 of these are for nutritious options like fruits and vegetables. “Clearly eating behavior changes if you watch a lot of TV,” says Strasburger. “You tend to snack more, eat more unhealthy food and eat more calories if you eat in front of the TV set.”
What can parents do?
- Limiting TV time to no more than two hours a day can help, says the AAP committee.
- Another important step toward breaking the TV-obesity link is to make sure that children don’t have TV sets or Internet connections in their bedrooms.
- Parents should also watch television with their kids, so they can educate them about commercials and learn to distinguish healthy from unhealthy foods.
“Media such as television is the most important and under-appreciated influence on children’s development and behavior,” says Strasburger. “Media affect virtually every concern that parents and pediatricians have about their kids, whether it’s obesity, sex, drugs or school performance. When kids spend up to seven hours a day watching television or on the computer, it’s time to acknowledge that influence and spend money on researching how we can maximize the good effects of media and minimize its bad effects.”
Even Diet Soda Induces Weight Gain in Elderly
June 24, 2011 (San Diego, California) — The perception that diet soft drinks are a benign alternative to highly sweetened beverages might be dangerously wrong, according to the results of the San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging, which were reported here at the American Diabetes Association 71st Scientific Sessions.
Diet soft drinks have long been thought to be a healthier alternative to their sugary counterparts; however, past reports have linked increased incidence of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes to the frequent intake of diet soft drinks.
In the study presented, Sharon P. Fowler, MPH, from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and colleagues examined the effect of the long-term consumption of diet soft drinks by a population of individuals 65 to 74 years of age (n = 474).
At baseline, measures of height, weight, and waist circumference were recorded, as was diet soft drink intake. Three additional exams of the study subjects were conducted over an average follow-up of just over 3.5 years (the study was conducted over a 9-year period).
When the results of these observations were compared with those from subjects who did not drink diet soft drinks, the differences were striking. Overall, consumers of diet soft drinks experienced a 70% greater increase in waist circumference than nonconsumers. Further, among elderly drinkers of 2 or more diet soft drinks per day, mean increases in waist circumference were 5 times greater than those recorded for nonconsumers.
“These results suggest that — amidst the national drive to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks — policies that promote the consumption of diet soft drinks may have unintended deleterious effects,” state the study investigators.
Previous work by Ms. Fowler has evaluated the negative effects of diet drinks (Obesity [Silver Spring]. 2008;16:1894-1900).
Ms. Fowler has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
American Diabetes Association (ADA) 71st Scientific Sessions: Abstract 0062-OR. Presented June 25, 2011.
Reduced Risk of Diabetes with Higher Vitamin D Levels
June 25, 2011 (San Diego, California) — Higher levels of vitamin D in the blood appear to be associated with a reduced risk for incident diabetes among people at high risk for the disease, according to a new report.
Anastassios G. Pittas, MD, from the division of endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism at the Tufts New England Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues presented the findings here at the American Diabetes Association 71st Scientific Sessions.
According to Dr. Pittas, vitamin D might play a role in diabetes by improving insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity. “Most of the evidence focuses on a favorable effect in pancreatic beta cells,” he told Medscape Medical News.
To determine the relation between vitamin D status and risk for incident diabetes, the researchers analyzed data from the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), a 3-group trial comparing intensive lifestyle modification or metformin with placebo for the prevention of diabetes in patients with prediabetes.
The mean follow-up of the 2039-person cohort was 3.2 years. Plasma vitamin D levels were measured at yearly intervals, and subjects were assessed for incident diabetes. For this analysis, only participants in the intensive lifestyle and placebo groups of the DPP were considered.
Participants with vitamin D levels in the highest tertile (median concentration, 30.1 ng/mL) had a hazard ratio of 0.74 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59 to 0.93) for developing diabetes, compared with those with vitamin D levels in the lowest tertile (median concentration, 12.8 ng/mL).
The findings also suggest a dose-dependent effect for vitamin D levels; the hazard ratio for incident diabetes was lowest (0.46; 95% CI, 0.23 to 0.90) in the people with the highest vitamin D levels (50 ng/mL or higher), compared with those with the lowest levels (below 12 ng/mL).
In a subgroup analysis by tertiles of vitamin D, the association was similar in the placebo group (0.72; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.96) and the lifestyle group (0.80; 95% CI, 0.54 to 1.14).
According to Dr. Pittas, “this study offers several methodological advantages over previous studies.” Vitamin D status was assessed multiple times during follow-up, not just once at baseline, which might not reflect long-term vitamin D status.
“Our study also includes a large clinically relevant population at high risk for diabetes, with a substantial proportion of nonwhite participants, which improves the external validity of the results,” he said. However, he added, “this is an observational study and therefore confounding cannot be excluded. It would be premature to recommend vitamin D specifically for prevention of diabetes.”
“This prospective study confirms that there is an association between levels of vitamin D and risk of diabetes, even when correcting for body weight, with no absolute threshold of serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D,” said independent commentator Clifford Rosen, MD, from the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine. Dr. Rosen is a vitamin D researcher and member of the Institute of Medicine Committee that reviewed the evidence on calcium and vitamin D.
“The implications of this study relate to the importance of performing a randomized placebo-controlled trial of vitamin D for the prevention of type 2 diabetes in those at high risk,” he told Medscape Medical News. “In the interim, clinicians should at least focus on maintaining vitamin D levels in high-risk individuals at or around 20 ng/mL,” he added.
The study was not commercially funded. Dr. Pittas and Dr. Rosen have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
American Diabetes Association (ADA) 71st Scientific Sessions: Abstract 0117-OR. Presented June 25, 2011.
Type II Diabetes Reversal
TYPE 2 DIABETES REVERSED WITH EXTREME DIET
A small but landmark study has found that type 2 diabetes patients who followed for two months, an extreme but tightly supervised diet that restricted calories to just 600 a day experienced a return to normal pre-breakfast blood sugar levels after one week and that 70 percent of those patients remained completely free of diabetes a month after returning to their regular, but newly portion-controlled, diet.
Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which blood sugar levels are too high due to insufficient insulin or the inability to use insulin effectively. The researchers believe excess calories eventually cause fat buildup in the liver and pancreas, triggering type 2 diabetes. MRI scans of study subjects showed the pancreas returns quickly to normal fat levels and regains its ability to produce insulin.
This suggests type 2 diabetes may be reversed by calorie restriction alone.
A 600-calorie diet is a drastic, starvation diet that should only be followed temporarily and only under close practitioner supervision.
Presented June 24, 2011 at the American Diabetes Association conference, this study will appear in a future issue of the journal Diabetologia, but is now accessible online at http://bit.ly/mDicGp without cost.
The Polyphenol for Baby Boomers
HUMAN BENEFIT FROM RESVERATROL FURTHER SUGGESTED
Following their research review of the limited number of studies conducted so far that have direct relevance to humans, researchers have suggested that, although the polyphenol compound known as resveratrol may not prevent or retard actual aging, it may indeed help prevent some of the chronic conditions associated with old age, although more long-term human studies are urgently needed.
Despite an abundance of evidence pointing to the beneficial effects of resveratrol, a compound found in grapes and wine, very few studies have been done on humans and the bioavailability of resveratrol in humans, as opposed to animals, is still in doubt.
Gathering together evidence from previous studies on animals, cultures and enzymes, the team found indication that resveratrol may have anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory effects.
Scientists suggest that if the ability of resveratrol to alleviate age-related infirmities is established in humans, it could have vast importance as the baby boomer generation enters old age.
This just-released study will appear in a future issue of the journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research. The full-text study is available online now at http://bit.ly/kG4aWy with subscription or fee.
Smokers & Prostate Cancer
SMOKERS HAVE HIGHER RISK OF PROSTATE CANCER RECURRENCE AND DEATH
A study has found that smokers who develop prostate cancer have a 61% greater risk of a recurrence after treatment, and a 61% higher risk of dying from prostate cancer, compared to nonsmokers diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Researchers also found that smokers who are initially diagnosed with non-metastatic prostate cancer have an 80 percent greater risk of dying from this disease than nonsmokers.
A link was also found between smoking and more aggressive forms of prostate cancer.
Smokers who were diagnosed with prostate cancer also showed a 131% higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. However, men who had quit smoking for ten years or more prior to being diagnosed with prostate cancer had the same level of risk as nonsmokers.
Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed form of cancer in the US.
The team stressed that quitting smoking directly reduces the risk of dying from prostate cancer. This study will be published in the June 22-29, 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. It is accessible online now at http://bit.ly/lnj1Ur with subscription or fee.
Just Say No to Vending Machine Foods
SNACK-BASED, HIGH-FAT DIET RISKIER THAN SIMPLE HIGH-FAT DIET
A study has found that – compared to rats in most studies that are fed high-fat diets through the introduction of foods made from lard – rats fed a high-fat diet comprised of snack foods humans actually eat experienced higher consumption, greater weight gain, more tissue inflammation, and intolerance to glucose and insulin.
Researchers suggest that while rodent studies have often pointed to serious health risks resulting from a high-fat diet, even more severe health risks result from a high-fat diet in which the dietary fat comes from the so-called cafeteria diet, a lab research term describing the common Western diet of buffet-style access to junk food such as processed meats, cookies, and chips. The team found that rats fed the real-life cafeteria diet consumed about 30 percent more calories than those on a high-sugar, or regular high-fat diet, and were more prone to metabolic syndrome (a cluster of factors that increase the risk of coronary artery disease, stroke, and diabetes type 2).
Published June 17, 2011 in the online issue of Obesity, this study is accessible at http://bit.ly/lFVppQ free of charge.
Shellfish Linked to Lower Risk of Diabetes
SHELLFISH LINKED TO LOWER RISK OF DIABETES
Researchers have found an association, for women only, between higher consumption of fish and reduced risk of diabetes type 2, as well as an association for both men and women, between higher consumption of shellfish and reduced risk of diabetes.
Previously, some experts had suggested that long-chain, polyunsaturated, omega-3 fatty acids, which are found mainly in fish, may be a factor in helping to prevent diabetes type 2, but this theory remains unresolved. This study reviewed the diets of 116,156 people and found that women in the highest fifth of fish consumption had an 11 percent reduced risk of diabetes, while men in the highest fifth of fish consumption showed a lower risk that was not statistically significant.
They also found that women in the highest fifth of shellfish consumption had a 14 percent reduced risk of diabetes, while men in the highest fifth of shellfish had an 18 percent lower risk. The team did not find a health risk linked to greater fish consumption. This just-released study will appear in a future issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It is available online now at http://bit.ly/kla0Uw with subscription or access fee.
Another Benefit of Olive Oil
OLIVE OIL REDUCES RISK OF STROKE IN OLDER PERSONS
Scientists have found that older people who regularly consume olive oil both as cooking oil and as salad dressing have a 41 percent lower risk of having a stroke than those who never use olive oil.
The study followed 7,625 people aged 65 and over for five years. The team also looked at blood levels of oleic acid, a biological indicator of olive oil intake, and found that those in the highest third of blood levels had a 27 percent lower chance of having a stroke.
Previous research showed olive oil is linked to a reduced incidence of cardiovascular risk factors, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and high cholesterol. In these cases, and in the current study, there is insufficient proof that any component in olive oil affects these risks; it is possible, for instance, that olive oil makes other healthy food choices such as salads or cooked vegetables taste better, thus increasing consumption of healthier foods.
This study was released June 15, 2011 but will not appear in print until a future issue of the journal, Neurology. It is available online now at http://bit.ly/j9Cyym with subscription or fee.
What Wrinkles Say About Your Bone Health
Skin Wrinkles May Provide a Glimpse Into Bone Health
June 6, 2011 (Boston, Massachusetts) — A close look at the skin of early postmenopausal women might provide a glimpse into their skeletal health, according to a study presented here at ENDO 2011: The Endocrine Society 93rd Annual Meeting.
The study found a significant inverse association between skin wrinkles and bone mineral density (BMD) in a population of women within 3 years of menopause who were not on any hormone therapy and who had not had any cosmetic skin procedures.
“It’s a unique population when changes are happening in a dynamic fashion.” This is a relation “not previously described,” said study presenter Lubna Pal, MBBS, MRCOG, MSc, a reproductive endocrinologist and associate professor at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut.
Common Building Block
The architecture of the skeleton and the skin share a common building block: collagen, Dr. Pal explained. Age-related changes in collagen contribute to age-related skin changes like wrinkles and sagging, and might also contribute to reduced BMD.
“When I am seeing an older patient, her bigger concern is what is happening to her skin; the clinician’s concern is what is happening to her bones,” Dr. Pal said. “So part of the question was: Can I fine tune to the patient’s concern and get a sense of the bone health?”
Dr. Pal and colleagues performed a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data on 114 early postmenopausal women (70% white) enrolled in the longitudinal Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study (KEEPS).
As part of an ancillary study of the skin, the distribution and depth of skin wrinkles were assessed at 11 sites on the face and neck using the Lemperle wrinkle scale. Skin firmness was assessed at the forehead and cheek using a durometer, which has been validated in patients with scleroderma, and bone density was assessed with dual x-ray absorptiometry at the lumbar spine, hip, and total body.
The researchers observed a clear inverse correlation between skin wrinkling and BMD at the spine (r, –0.27; P < .01), femoral neck (r, –0.29; P < .01), and total body (r, –0.26; P =.01), independent of age, body composition, or other factors known to influence BMD.
“Basically, what we found was that the higher the wrinkle score, the worse the bone mineral density,” Dr. Pal said, “so our hypothesis was substantiated by these associations.”
Firmer skin of the face and forehead was associated with higher BMD.
“Powerful Potential Relevance”
Madhusmita Misra, MD, MPH, from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, in Boston, who was not involved in this study, said: “This is a meaningful association if, indeed, it is real; we need future data to confirm that.”
“We have multiple clinical risk factors that are already available that identify an individual’s fracture risk; this may be yet another piece that would enhance the overall predictability. I think it is of powerful potential relevance, but it needs to be substantiated,” Dr. Misra added.
“Ultimately,” Dr. Pal said, “we want to know if the intensity of skin wrinkles can allow the identification of women who are more likely to fracture a bone, especially the femoral neck or hip.” If this is the case, then looking at skin wrinkles plus other clinical risk factors “may allow the identification of fracture risk in populations that do not have access to more costly technology.”
But Dr. Pal agrees with Dr. Misra that much more study is needed.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Dr. Pal said. “It’s a tantalizing association” that needs to be followed-up in long-term studies to substantiate a relation between wrinkles and the risk for bone fracture.
Dr. Pal noted that the women in the study are being followed longitudinally, and that it will be “interesting to see in the coming years whether women with deeper wrinkles are losing bone at a faster rate than other women.”
The study was funded by Aurora Foundation to the Kronos Longevity Research Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. Dr. Pal and Dr. Misra have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
ENDO 2011: The Endocrine Society 93rd Annual Meeting: Abstract P3-126. Presented June 4, 2011.
Another Argument in Favor of Organic Meats
From Medscape Medical News
Poultry Drug to Be Pulled From Market Due to Arsenic Concern
June 8, 2011 — Alpharma, a subsidiary of Pfizer, will voluntarily suspend domestic sales of roxarsone (3-Nitro), a poultry drug, 30 days from now in response to a study by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that found above-average levels of inorganic arsenic — a carcinogen — in the livers of treated chickens, the agency announced today.
However, because these above-average levels of inorganic arsenic are still very low, the FDA stated that continuing to eat chickens already treated with roxarsone does not pose a health risk. It also stated that there is no need to recall such chickens from the marketplace. Still, the suspension of sales is warranted, according to the agency.
“The levels are low, but the fact they represent an added source of human exposure [to a carcinogen], and a source that is completely avoidable, the agency feels it’s important to take action,” said Bill Flynn, DVM, deputy director for science policy at the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine in a press conference this afternoon.
Used primarily in broiler chickens, roxarsone is approved by the FDA to help prevent a parasitic disease called coccidiosis. It is also approved for weight gain, feed efficiency, and improved pigmentation. FDA allows turkeys and pigs to be treated with roxarsone as well, although Pfizer stated in a press release that its use in pigs is negligible.
Roxarsone contains organic arsenic, a noncarcinogenic form of the element that is considered less harmful than inorganic arsenic. The FDA stated that when it approved roxarsone in 1944, it believed that the organic arsenic contained in it would be excreted as organic arsenic. Recent scientific evidence, however, indicates that organic arsenic can transform into the inorganic version.
Based on this new understanding of arsenic, FDA scientists developed a new analytic method capable of detecting very low levels of inorganic arsenic in edible tissue. In a study of 100 broiler chickens, using this method, scientists found that levels of inorganic arsenic in the livers of treated chickens were higher than the levels in untreated chickens.
In a press release, Pfizer described those levels in treated chickens as “equivalent to the amount of inorganic arsenic found in an 8-ounce glass of drinking water.”
The FDA has approved other arsenic-containing animal drugs during the years. In addition to roxarsone, the only one that still appears to be on the market is nitarsone, an Alpharma feed additive for turkeys that prevents and treats a deadly infection called histomoniasis, according to the agency.
Pfizer Subsidiary Will Continue to Sell Roxarsone Abroad
The idea behind allowing domestic roxarsone sales to continue for another 30 days is to give animal producers time to switch to substitute therapies and help ensure that animal health and welfare do not suffer in the meantime. The sales suspension will apply to pigs and turkeys as well as chickens.
When a reporter at the press conference asked whether the suspension of roxarsone sales means that they could possibly resume, the FDA’s Dr. Flynn replied that Pfizer gave his agency “clear assurances that they will not return the product to market until they address all of the FDA’s concerns.” Dr. Flynn added that the company and the FDA will work together to examine all the relevant scientific data on using roxarsone in animals.
Although Pfizer’s Alpharma subsidiary will suspend sales of roxarsone for domestic use, it will continue to sell it for use abroad. Dr. Flynn said the FDA is sharing its new findings on the poultry drug with its foreign partners.
David Goldman, MD, MPH, an official from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), added during the press conference that the USDA will address the issue of imported chickens treated with roxarsone. Dr. Goldman, the assistant administrator of the Office of Public Health Science at the USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service, said that chickens can be imported only from other countries determined to have food-safety systems equivalent to that in the United States.
The USDA, he said, will look at the potential implications of the actions by Pfizer and the FDA “on the equivalence-determinations for those countries that may be using this product in poultry production, and then make further determination about whether those products should be allowed into the country.”
Non-Alcoholic Beer & Athletic Performance: Your Thoughts?
POLYPHENOLS IN BEER BOOST HEALTH FACTORS IN ATHLETES
Researchers have found that foods that contain substantial amounts of a variety of polyphenols, specifically nonalcoholic weissbier or wheat beer, have positive effects on the health of athletes, including a 20 percent reduction in certain indicators of inflammation (leukocytes), a strengthening of the immune system when under physical stress, a one-third reduction in the risk of contracting a cold, and briefer and milder upper respiratory infections.
(Polyphenols are compounds found naturally in plants in the form of pigments, flavors, or tannins, and many polyphenols have been linked with health-promoting and cancer-preventative properties. Many athletes have long suspected that nonalcoholic wheat beer boosts their health.)
The team selected nonalcoholic Erdinger brand weissbier for the study, because it is commonly consumed by marathoners and tri-athletes, and it is rich in varied polyphenols (and vitamins and minerals), making it strongly representative of polyphenol-rich foods. The test group drank 1.5 liters of wheat beer daily for three weeks prior to running a marathon and for two weeks following the race.
This study will be published in the January 2012 issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise and is not yet available for access.
Research Discovers Compound To Prevent Muscle Wasting
APPLE PEEL COMPOUND PREVENTS MUSCLE WASTING
Researchers have discovered that a waxy compound found in the skin of apples, ursolic acid, prevents the muscle atrophy that is common with aging and illness; and causes increased muscle size, decreased storing of fat, and reduced blood levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, and glucose (sugar). This suggests ursolic acid may be a therapy for age- and illness-related muscle wasting, as well as for other metabolic diseases.
For 92 genes linked to muscle atrophy, scientists pinpointed what are known as gene-expression signatures. After comparing those signatures with the signatures of 1300 bioactive small molecules, they found the signature of ursolic acid to be the opposite of the atrophy-inducing genes. When ursolic acid was fed to fasting mice, it prevented muscle wasting; and when it was fed to non-fasting mice, it increased muscle size.
Further research is needed to confirm this apple skin compound has the same effect on humans and to determine whether therapeutic levels can be attained by increased apple consumption or if ursolic acid supplements are needed. This study was published in the June 8, 2011 issue of the journal Cell Metabolism.
The full text is available online at http://bit.ly/jbCyH2 without charge.
3 Different Approaches to Eating – Which is Healthiest?
ON-AND-OFF DIETING HEALTHIER THAN NO DIETING AT ALL…but look to see which was healthiest
A study has found that repeatedly switching between a low-fat diet and a high-fat diet results in greater health and a longer lifespan than not dieting at all.
Many have suggested yo-yo dieting, with its repeated weight loss and gain, may more negatively affect health and longevity than simply remaining obese and not dieting at all; this belief might discourage obese persons from dieting. However, researchers divided study mice into three dietary groups:
- one fed a consistent high-fat diet;
- another alternating between a low-fat and high-fat diet, mirroring people who yo-yo diet;
- and a third group given a consistent low-fat diet.
The high-fat group consumed more calories, weighed more, had greater body fat, experienced higher blood sugar, became pre-diabetic, and lived an average of 1.5 years.
The health profile of the yo-yo diet group worsened during the high-fat phases but bounced back during the low-fat phases, and they lived an average of 2.04 years.
Similarly, the healthy low-fat control group lived an average of 2.09 years.
This study was presented June 6, 2011 at the annual meeting of The Endocrine Society in Boston. It has not yet been published or posted.