The Truth about Sugar

U.S. probes Chinese factory’s ties to heparin ills

WASHINGTON - Government health officials are investigating if a Chinese factory may be a source of problems with a Baxter International blood thinner linked to hundreds of reports of allergic reactions and four deaths. Baxter buys the active ingredient for the drug heparin from a supplier that manufactures it both at the Chinese factory and a facility in the U.S., Baxter spokeswoman Erin Gardiner said. Baxter inspected both facilities last year and found no quality issues, Gardiner said. However, the company plans to reinspect the facilities "very soon" as part of its own investigation, she said.

TWO MAJOR LIFE STYLE CHANGES TO MAKE - Get Rid of these Two Things

HEALTH BOMB #1: High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has become a modern-day plague. Not only does it contribute to our obesity epidemic, but it has also been linked to:

• Pancreas dysfunction, diabetes and insulin resistance
• High cholesterol and heart disease
• Cancer
• High blood pressure
• Anemia
• Liver damage
• Infertility
• And more

Sadly, the average consumption of fructose has doubled between 1980 and 1994. Soft drinks and some fruit drinks are a major source of HFCS, but it is also found in many other products, from crackers to salad dressing.

Fructose contains zero enzymes, vitamins or minerals — and it leeches micronutrients from your body.

Why is it found in so many products? Because, after air, water, and salt, it’s the cheapest ingredient in the American food chain (and we know how the food industry likes to save money…)

I’d also urge you to  be on the lookout for HFCS in its many “disguises” — conveniently (for the food industry) labeled as chicory, inulin, iso glucose, glucose-fructose syrup, fruit fructose, and others.

Another major “health torpedo” you want to watch out for is…

HEALTH BOMB #2: Gluten — Wheat (and other grains containing gluten) is NOT your friend. My experience has shown that you could well be one of the estimated 1 in 10 people who have at least a subclinical intolerance to gluten protein. This is actually a food allergy.

I recommend avoiding gluten, even the organic whole-grain types.

Gluten intolerance has been linked to miscarriage, autism, intestinal disease (including irritable bowel syndrome), malnutrition, rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, and developmental delay in children, just to name a few. Oftentimes, your gluten sensitivity may present with various unexplained symptoms.

Getting rid of these two health bombs will go a long way toward improving your health.

Lab study ties artificial sweetener to weight gain

WASHINGTON - Using an artificial, no-calorie sweetener rather than sugar may make it tougher, not easier, to lose weight, U.S. researchers said Sunday. Scientists at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, studied rats that were fed food with the artificial sweetener saccharin and rats fed food with glucose, a natural sugar. In comparison to rats given yogurt sweetened with glucose, those that ate yogurt sweetened with saccharin went on to consume more calories and put on more weight and body fat.

Kosher sales sizzle as shoppers put faith in foods' safety

"I check everything to make sure it's 100 percent kosher," Farkas said. "I check the vegetables to make sure they are free of insects. We wash them in a vegetable wash." That kind of scrutiny is helping to drive a boom in kosher products, and not just in the Jewish community, experts say.

Insurance Companies Robbing Patients Robbing patients to pay CEOs

leads to unprecedented medical insurance corporation greed.

Thursday, January 3, 2008 8:52 AM By: Michael Arnold Glueck & Robert J. Cihak, The Medicine Men

Over the years, we have frequently commented on the negative role the legal profession and government regulations have had on the healthcare delivery system and rising costs for the patient. Today we comment on greedy and uncaring medical insurance companies and CEO and executive greed that rivals that seen in other American industries the last few decades. This particular story is well documented in a recent Jan. 1, 2008 release from The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. A year ago, William McGuire, M.D., was ousted from his position as one of the highest paid executives in the U.S. because of a backdating scandal. More than 80 corporate officials lost their jobs in the scandal. Dr. McGuire, former chief executive of UnitedHealth Group, agreed to one of the largest executive-pay givebacks in history, forfeiting $620 million in stock option gains and retirement pay, to settle civil and federal claims against stock-option backdating. The final outcome, however, remains uncertain as of Dec. 28, 2007. McGuire still retains about 24 million stock options that currently could be cashed in for a gain of about $800 million on top of the $500 million in pay he received from UnitedHealth between 1991 and 2006. A freeze on these assets was continued by U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum in a Dec 26 ruling, pending a decision by the Minnesota Supreme Court on whether he has the power to examine the settlement beyond just rubber-stamping it. State courts give varying degrees of deference to special litigation committees. The committee, appointed by UnitedHealth¹s board, had concluded that some of the accusations against McGuire might have merit, but the cost and risk of suing him might not be worth it. McGuire neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing. The two former Minnesota Supreme Court justices on the committee wrote that their ability to evaluate McGuire¹s potential defenses were, "hampered by his unavailability for an interview." They interviewed 50 other people over the course of a year (Joshua Reed, Chicago Sun-Times Dec. 7, 2007). Judge Rosenbaum also expressed some thoughts about the amount of money that McGuire had claimed when he was forced out of UnitedHealth. "Words such as 'huge,' 'fantastic,' 'astounding,' 'staggering,' or 'astronomical,' do not describe $1 billion," he wrote. "Such a sum can only be thought of as 'transcendent,' or in terms of the gross national product of smaller members of the United Nations" (Vanessa Fuhrmans and Peter Lattman, Wall Street Journal, Dec. 28, 2007). McGuire is barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for 10 years. He also still faces a criminal inquiry. UnitedHealth's current CEO, Stephen Hemsley, plans to voluntarily have his remaining options repriced, effectively forfeiting $50 million, on top of the $190 million in gains he agreed to give back last year on options with questionable grant dates (Wall Street Journal Dec. 7, 2007). While growing into a colossus, UnitedHealth has repeatedly failed to perform its basic job of paying medical bills. UnitedHealth, which covers 70 million Americans, has been sanctioned in nine states for paying claims slowly; shortchanging doctors, hospitals, or patients; or poorly handling complaints and appeals. One Nebraska woman complained to state regulators thatUnitedHealth's computers had incorrectly rejected claims related to her son's surgery six times. At one point, UnitedHealth owed Dr. George Schroedinger, an orthopedic surgeon, $600,000. He and his clinic sued UnitedHealth of the Midwest in 2004. Deciding for the clinic, U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh of Missouri declared that the company's claims processing systems were "flawed in many ways, denying, reducing, and improperly processing claims on a regular basis. And despite innumerable requests, United was unwilling to remedy the underlying errors in its systems" (Star-Tribune Dec. 12, 2007). Payment troubles continued after the verdict, and Dr. Schroedinger filed a second lawsuit. "These people can never get it right, which says to me that they just plain lie," he said in an interview. Failure to pay isn't the only complaint. The insurer also gives incorrect information on which physicians are in its network, creating enormous problems for physicians' staff. The AMA said that no other insurer has prompted as many complaints as UnitedHealth about abusive and unfair payment practices. AMA officials have met with UnitedHealth executives 16 times since 2000, with little to show for it. "They have always got a new plan to fix it," said Dr. William G. Plested III, past president of the AMA. But "nothing ever happens." It seems to us that this case is just the tip of the insurance iceberg. More and more stories are appearing daily in the news media about how insurance company are instructing employees their jobs are to deny claims and/or delay payments. With such a high percentage of medical premiums and other costs going to the legal profession, to maintain compliance with endless government rules/regulations and being hoarded by the insurance companies and executives — is it any wonder medical costs are increasing so dramatically? It's time to take a closer look at the medical insurance companies. UnitedHealth Group is not the first medical insurance company to rob patients, hospitals and clinics to pay obscene salaries to their executives. It's a modern day robbing patients to pay pimps. Michael Arnold Glueck, M.D., comments on medical-legal issues and is a visiting fellow in economics and citizenship at the International Trade Education Foundation of the Washington International Trade Council. Robert J. Cihak, M.D., is a senior fellow and board member of the Discovery Institute and a past president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.

FDA reviewing safety of Botox

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Regulators said on Friday they were reviewing the safety of Allergan Inc's (AGN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Botox and a competing product after reports of deaths and serious reactions in some patients. The Food and Drug Administration said the most serious cases included hospitalizations and deaths and occurred mostly in children treated for cerebral palsy-associated limb spasticity, a use not approved in the United States.

Women's Health and Diabetes

Bigger Breasted Women More Vulnerable to Diabetes, Says Canadian Study

Patrick Totty
4 February 2008

A Canadian study asserts that girls and young women with big breasts run a 68-percent greater chance of acquiring diabetes by middle age than their smaller-breasted peers.

However, concerned that the finding might inspire some women to seek out breast reductions, researchers emphasize that their conclusion is broad and preliminary. They say there are several other factors besides breast size that they must study before definitively linking size to increased vulnerability to diabetes.

Scientists tracked 92,102 mostly white nurses from 14 U.S. states over a 10-year period to determine if their breast size would increase their chances for developing diabetes by age 35. While preliminarily concluding that large breasts were a common factor in the higher incidence of diabetes, they say weight, family history, smoking, diet and ethnicity probably also play large roles.

The reason for breast size as a factor is that breast tissue tends to be insulin-resistant. Bigger breasts create more insulin resistance in women's bodies, thereby increasing their chances of acquiring diabetes.

The researchers also note that while big breasts can be a genetic endowment, many women acquire them if they become obese - and obesity is often cited as a major factor in developing diabetes.

Source: Canadian Medical Association Journal

Young women not getting enough folic acid

WASHINGTON - More U.S. women are taking daily supplements of folic acid, a B vitamin crucial to prevent some major birth defects, but the number remains too low, federal health officials said on Thursday. Forty percent of women ages 18 to 45 said in a survey last year that they took the supplements each day, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report. That compares to 28 percent in 1995, the CDC said.

Quarter of U.S. women suffer domestic violence

WASHINGTON - About a quarter of U.S. women suffer domestic violence, U.S. health officials reported on Thursday, with ongoing health problems that one activist likened to the effects of living in a war zone.