Every Bite You TakeHow Sysco came to monopolize most of what you eat

A hot dog from Yankee Stadium. Potato latkes from the Four Seasons in Manhattan. Sirloin steak at Applebee's. The jumbo cheeseburger at the University of Iowa Hospital. While it would seem these menu items have nothing in common, they're all from Sysco, a Houston-based food wholesaler. This top food supplier serves nearly 400,000 American eating establishments, from fast-food joints like Wendy's, to five-star eating establishments like Robert Redford's Tree Room Restaurant, to mom-and-pop diners like the Chatterbox Drive-In, to ethnic restaurants like Meskerem Ethiopian restaurant. Even Gitmo dishes out food from Sysco. Should you worry that one source dominates so much of what you eat?

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The Anti-Vaccine Movement Grows.....

Vaccine-wary parents spark public health worry More opt out for fear of reactions, but do they endanger everyone else?Read More

 

ALSO:

Parents sound off on childhood vaccine divide Readers describe how their personal experiences informed their decisionsRead More

Spicy or Bland? 6 Acid Reflux Myths You Should Know

 By Jessica Ryen Doyle

 iStockPhoto

Rice noodles with shrimp, vegetables and tofu.

There are three words an acid reflux patient never wants to hear: “Bland, restricted diet.”

You already feel miserable, with symptoms of heartburn and/or regurgitation.

The last thing you want to do is give up your favorite comfort foods.

You may not have to. It turns out if you are craving that spicy enchilada, you probably can eat it after all.

We sought the truth on six common acid reflux myths concerning diet:

1. Myth: You should cut back on protein.

Fact: “It’s not all proteins, only the meat proteins,” said Tanya Zuckerbrot, nutritionist and author of The F-Factor. “Foods like hummus, peanut butter and soy products like tofu are OK to eat.”...Read More

The Secret to Longevity: Get a Second Wife, Study Says

Some men may think one is bad enough. But a study suggests the key to a long life may be to get a second wife.

Researchers from the U.K.'s University of Sheffield looked at men older than 60 from 140 countries that practice polygamy and found that they lived an average of 12 percent longer than men from 49 monogamous nations, according to a report from the Times of India.

The study's findings were presented last week at the International Society for Behavioral Ecology’s annual meeting in Ithaca, New York, according to the report.

Researchers looked to previous research on women to answer why polygamous men live longer and chalk it up to a variation of the "grandmother effect."

Scientists believe women, who live considerably longer post-menopause than other mammals, do so because the longer they live the more grandchildren they have to dote on. Caring for grandchildren, it seems, gives women a reason to live long after they're no longer able to reproduce.

Doting on grandchildren, however, does not have the same life-lengthening benefits for men. But men are able to reproduce into their 60s, 70s and 80s. So it would seem, researchers said, that polygamous men experience a sort of father effect, meaning, the more wives they have, the more children they father. Fathering children gives them a reason to continue living longer than monogamous men who often stop fathering children at much earlier ages, researchers concluded.

source: Fox News

Are Secret Vaccinations Killing Soldiers?

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The story of marine David Fey reads like a crime novel:

• Secret shots?
• Incomplete, and fake, medical records?
• Deadly illness?

But while it’s shocking, and sad, to think that the soldiers pledging their lives to defend the United States are being used as guinea pigs for unknown vaccinations, it’s nothing new.

How Many Vaccines Does the U.S. Military Require?

This information is not easy to come by, but the following table was derived from Air Force Joint Instruction 48-110, Army Regulation 40-52, BUMEDINST 6230.15, CGCOMTINST M6230.4E, dated May 12, 2004 on About.com:

Immunizing Agent	Remarks
Basic Training and Officer Accession Training
Adenovirus, Types 4 and 7	Air Force recruits receive adenovirus vaccination only when there is evidence of active disease transmission. Coast Guard Recruits only receive this when specifically directed by the Coast Guard Commandant.
Influenza (Flu Shot)	Navy and Marine Corps officer and enlisted accessions receive the influenza vaccine year round in basic training. Other service recruits receive this shot in basic only during the designated flu season (October - March)
Measles	Measles Mumps and rubella (MMR) are administered toall recruits regardless of prior history.
Meningococcal	Quadrivalent meningococcal vaccine (containing A, C, Y, and W-135 polysaccharide antigens) is administered on a one-time basis to recruits. The vaccine is given as soon as practicable after in-processing or training. This vaccine is required routinely only for recruits, although its use may be indicated in other situations based on transmission potential and risk of contracting meningococcal disease.
Mumps	Measles Mumps and rubella (MMR) are administered to all recruits regardless of prior history.
Polio	A single dose of trivalent OPV is administered to all enlisted accessions. Officer candidates, ROTC cadets, and other Reserve Components on initial active duty for training receive a single dose of OPV unless prior booster immunization as an adult is documented.
Rubella	Measles Mumps and rubella (MMR) are administered to all recruits regardless of prior history.
Tetanus-diphtheria	A primary series of tetanus-diphtheria (Td) toxoid is initiated for all recruits lacking a reliable history of prior immunization in accordance with existing ACIP guidelines. Individuals with previous history of Td immunization receive a booster dose upon entry to active duty and subsequently in accordance with ACIP requirements.
Yellow Fever	Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard only
Routine "Booster" Shots while in the Military
Influenza (Flu Shot)	Annual, during "Flu Season" (October - March)
Tetanus-diphtheria	A primary series of tetanus-diphtheria (Td) toxoid is initiated for all recruits lacking a reliable history of prior immunization in accordance with existing ACIP guidelines. Individuals with previous history of Td immunization receive a booster dose upon entry to active duty and subsequently in accordance with ACIP requirements.
Yellow Fever	Navy and Marine Corps only.
Alert Forces
Hepatitis A	Air Force Only
Typhoid	Typhoid vaccine is administered to alert forces and personnel deploying to endemic areas.
Yellow Fever	Army, Air Force, and Coast Guard (Navy and Marine Corps receive all receive this, regardless of "Alert Status").
When Required by Host Country to Enter
Cholera	Cholera vaccine is not administered routinely to either active or reserve component personnel. Cholera vaccine is administered to military personnel, only upon travel or deployment to countries requiring cholera vaccination as a condition for entry, or upon the direction of the appropriate Surgeon General, or Commandant (G-K), Coast Guard.
High Risk Occupational Groups
Hepatitis B
Measles
Mumps
Plague	There is no requirement for routine immunization. Plague vaccine is administered to personnel who are likely to be assigned to areas where the risk of endemictransmission or other exposure is high. Vaccine may not be effective in the prevention of airborne infection. The addition of antibiotic prophylaxis is recommended for such situations.
Rabies	Rabies vaccine is administered to personnel with a high risk of exposure (animal handlers; certain laboratory, field, and security personnel; and personnel frequently exposed to potentially rabid animals in a non occupational or recreational setting).
Varicella
When Deployed to Area Where In-Theater Commander Accesses a Biological Threat
Small Pox	This vaccine is administered only under the authority of DoD Directive 6205.3, DoD Immunization Program for Biological Warfare Defense.
Anthrax	This vaccine is administered only under the authority of DoD Directive 6205.3, DoD Immunization Program for Biological Warfare Defense.

Study Questions Cost-Effectiveness

A new study suggests that giving Merck & Co.'s cervical-cancer vaccine Gardasil to women through their mid-20s may not be worth the price, despite U.S. recommendations that this age group receive the costly shot.

The study, published online Wednesday by The New England Journal of Medicine, comes as Merck already is having difficulty persuading college-age and older women to get the vaccine, which was introduced in 2006 and costs about $360 for a three-dose regimen. This has contributed to a slowdown in Gardasil sales, casting a cloud on Merck's financial outlook.Read More

Trace Arsenic in Water May Be Linked With Diabetes

CHICAGO — A new analysis of government data is the first to link low-level arsenic exposure, possibly from drinking water, with Type 2 diabetes, researchers say. The study's limitations make more research necessary. And public water systems were on their way to meeting tougher U.S. arsenic standards as the data were collected.

Still, the analysis of 788 adults' medical tests found a nearly fourfold increase in the risk of diabetes in people with low arsenic concentrations in their urine compared to people with even lower levels.

Previous research outside the United States has linked high levels of arsenic in drinking water with diabetes. It's the link at low levels that's new. The findings appear in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

"The good news is, this is preventable," said lead author Dr. Ana Navas-Acien of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

New safe drinking water standards may be needed if the findings are duplicated in future studies, Navas-Acien said. She said they've begun a new study of 4,000 people.

Arsenic can get into drinking water naturally when minerals dissolve. It is also an industrial pollutant from coal burning and copper smelting. Utilities use filtration systems to get it out of drinking water.

Seafood also contains nontoxic organic arsenic. The researchers adjusted their analysis for signs of seafood intake and found that people with Type 2 diabetes had 26 percent higher inorganic arsenic levels than people without Type 2 diabetes.

How arsenic could contribute to diabetes is unknown, but prior studies have found impaired insulin secretion in pancreas cells treated with an arsenic compound.

The policy implications of the new findings are unclear, said Molly Kile, an environmental health research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health. Kile wrote an accompanying editorial in the journal.

"Urinary arsenic reflects exposures from all routes — air, water and food — which makes it difficult to track the actual source of arsenic exposure let alone use the results from this study to establish drinking water standards," Kile said.

Also, the findings raise a chicken-and-egg problem, she said, since it's unknown whether diabetes changes the way people metabolize arsenic. It's possible that people with diabetes excrete more arsenic.

The United States lowered arsenic standards for public water systems to 10 parts per billion in 2001 because of known cancer risks. Compliance was required by 2006, years after the study data were collected in 2003 and 2004.

U.S. Food Portions: Monuments to Decadence?

With soaring food prices sparking protests in many countries, and more than 800 million people going hungry every day worldwide, U.S. food portions are under scrutiny.

Portion sizes in the United States not only exceed those in less-developed countries, but also in the developed world. Americans have the highest per capita daily consumption in the world, eating 3,770 calories a day.

One fast-food chain calls its massive burger a "monument to decadence".

"We've looked at large portion sizes almost entirely in terms of whether it's healthy for us, and now we have to consider is that sort of a demand going to be sustainable," said Paul Roberts, author of The End of Food. "It would probably be a way to take pressure off of grain markets if we somehow convinced people to take smaller portion sizes."

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Nano-foods: The next consumer scare?

By Barbara Liston

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Those consumers already worried about genetically engineered or cloned food reaching their tables may soon find something else in their grocery carts to furrow their brows over -- nano-foods.

Consumer advocates taking part in a food safety conference in Orlando, Florida, this week said food produced by using nanotechnology is quietly coming onto the market, and they want U.S. authorities to force manufacturers to identify them.

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MSG Linked to Obesity

People who use monosodium glutamate, or MSG, as a flavor enhancer in their food are more likely than people who don’t use it to be overweight or obese even though they have the same amount of physical activity and total calorie intake, according to a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health study published this month in the journal Obesity.

Researchers at UNC and in China studied more than 750 Chinese men and women, aged between 40 and 59, in three rural villages in north and south China. The majority of study participants prepared their meals at home without commercially processed foods. About 82 percent of the participants used MSG in their food. Those users were divided into three groups, based on the amount of MSG they used. The third who used the most MSG were nearly three times ....Read More